All language subtitles for The UnXplained Special Presentation S01E06 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

SHATNER:
Unidentified flying objects

that break the laws of physics.

Bizarre encounters
in outer space

that defy explanation.

And mysterious structures
that may reveal the existence...

of an advanced
Martian civilization.

Are human beings
the only intelligent life

in the universe?

It's a question that we've
asked ourselves for centuries,

and the mystery has inspired us

to look to the stars
in search of answers.

If extraterrestrial life
does exist,

how can we find evidence of it?

And if aliens are actually
visiting our planet,

should we view them as friends

or foes?

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

♪ ♪

SHATNER:
An opinion poll conducted

by the Gallup Organization

reveals two astonishing facts:

one-third of all Americans
have not only seen a UFO,

they believe alien spaceships
have visited the Earth.

In the last few years,
there's been a historic,

dramatic shift in
the entire debate over UFOs.

It used to be that the burden of
proof was on the true believers.

They had to prove that they
were from another planet.

Now, the burden has shifted.
Before, it was hearsay.

Now, we have the videotapes.

And the fact that
everyone has cell phones

has vastly increased
the number of encounters.

And so now we're
running out of excuses.

We're running out
of natural phenomena

that can explain
these UFO sightings.

PAUL HYNEK: MUFON is
the Mutual UFO Network

and the largest UFO
research group in the world.

There were 5,000 reported cases

to MUFON last year alone.

So, what that shows is that
the UFO phenomenon

is not slowing down at all.

This is a real pointer
that this subject

is now absolutely mainstream.

This is no longer a subject

of fringe belief
and conspiracy blogs.

This is absolutely
down the middle,

on your TV screens
every evening.

This is real.

SHATNER:
If the number of recent
sightings is any indication,

then by all means, the UFO
phenomenon is quite real.

But despite
the compelling evidence

presented by true believers,

skeptics are still waiting
for a smoking gun.

Intellectually,
from history, we know

the sorts of things
that people misidentify as UFOs.

Military aircraft activity,
of course,

and commercial airlines.

We know that certain
meteorological phenomena

can give rise to UFO reports.

We liaise with astronomers

and we find out whether
there were any meteor showers,

or debris from a rocket launch.

All of these things we check.

And we essentially try to see

if the UFO
has a conventional explanation.

BILL BIRNES:
When the stealth fighter
was being tested,

one of the things
the Air Force would do

is have its pilots
fly the stealth fighter

under the wing
of commercial flights

from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.

And the pilots would
see this triangular craft,

and they would say,

"What is this thing?
Is it a flying saucer?

"Or is it a UFO? We don't know,"

was actually
the stealth fighter.

SHATNER: While some
may be quick to say

that alien UFOs are figments
of the imagination,

the truth is, sightings
of strange things in the sky

are not a recent phenomenon.

According to both UFO-ologists

and ancient astronaut theorists,

they've been documented
for thousands of years.

The idea of celestial
visitors goes way back,

this is not just
a modern phenomenon.

And it's not just things
that seem like spaceships,

there are celestial visitors
in the form of angels

and random characters
that show up in mysterious ways.

The idea that we would
have some kind of contact

with beings beyond ourselves
is part of ancient cultures.

It varies from
culture to culture,

but there is something
universal about this,

something that seems persistent.

One of the most profound
close encounters in the Bible

is recorded
in the Book of Ezekiel.

The episode begins
by saying that Ezekiel

had the hand of God upon him.

And then he witnessed
this experience

of this profound apparatus,

which he tries to describe

but yet is described
in the most bizarre ways,

talking about types of angels
called wheels, ophanim,

and they have multiple faces
and the like.

Many want to understand
Ezekiel's vision

as either being
some psychological

dream-like experience.

Others want to interpret it
as being a spaceship.

But the reality is,

it was both and more.

SHATNER:
Strange objects raining fire
from the heavens,

celestial bodies streaking
across the night skies

and floating balls
of mesmerizing light.

But believe it or not,
until the mid-19th century,

UFOs like these
were often dismissed

as little more than
delusional daydreams or hoaxes.

So, what changed?

A little invention
called photography.

RICHARD DOLAN:
The first known UFO photograph

is from a place
called Mount Washington

in New Hampshire from 1870.

And what you see is,
in the clouds,

is this horizontal
cigar-shaped object.

Which is odd
because airship technology

really didn't take off
until the early 1900s.

There were attempts even then to
create photographic illusions,

but this is clearly not that.

We don't really have an
explanation for it to this day.

SHATNER:
Despite photographic evidence

and thousands of credible
eyewitness accounts,

there are many who
still refuse to believe

that UFOs are real.

However, there is one incident

that continues to cast doubt
in the minds

of even the most hardened
UFO skeptics.

An incident so infamous

that many researchers believe
it was a tipping point

when UFOs went from
being science fiction

to science fact.

A radar operator with
the 509th Operations Group

detects an unidentified craft
approaching the base.

Moments later,
the object drops from the sky

and crashes into the desert

outside a nearby cattle ranch.

A local rancher found debris,

contacted the local sheriff,
who then

-contacted the air base.
-(phone rings)

You have a couple of days pass

before the 509th Bomb Group

was able to get up to the site.

So it absolutely is clear

that the United States military

was not immediately
on top of acquiring

whatever it was
that came down there.

BIRNES:
People in the city of Roswell
thought it was an airline crash.

They saw a kind
of a delta-shaped object

embedded into the arroyo
that was split open.

DOLAN:
The Roswell Daily Record

had the most famous headline of,
you know, probably of the year,

which was the Army's recovered
one of these flying discs.

That made national,
international news.

After the crash, Roger Ramey,

who was general
of the Eighth Air Force

flew to Roswell.

And Jesse Marcel, who was
the base intelligence officer,

brought all the Army
truck drivers out,

gave them gunny sacks,

and they said, "Look,
just collect this stuff."

Meanwhile, Ramey says to Marcel,

"I want you to pose in front
of this weather balloon."

Marcel is, like, in shock, but
he poses with it with a smile,

and he becomes the poster boy
for the cover-up.

PAUL HELLYER:
The first press release
was the truth

and the second one was a lie.

And that is an indication
of the depth

of the withholding
of information

and the truth embargo,
as it has been called.

SHATNER:
A truth embargo?

Is it possible that the rumors
about Roswell are true

and the United States military
was concealing

physical evidence
that UFOs exist?

Despite the government's
insistence to the contrary,

almost 75 years later,

UFO researchers are still
searching for answers.

Because according
to many firsthand accounts,

Roswell may have been

the government's
first UFO cover-up.

But it wouldn't be the last.

SHATNER: Inside the
International Space Station,

Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner

is recording a video
of the southern lights,

when suddenly,
his camera captures

what appears to be a formation

of unidentified spacecraft
above the Earth.

MERA: It was an amazing
piece of footage.

These objects come into frame,

which seems to be
of five lights,

and then suddenly disappear.

It happens quite fast
in the video.

One minute it's there,
the next minute it's gone.

SHATNER:
Vagner immediately posted
the video on Twitter,

and many people claimed
that the clip was evidence

of an extraterrestrial
spacecraft.

MERA:
The video is very interesting

because when you look
at the video,

it was speeded up.

It turns out that these lights

actually were visible
by the astronaut

for about 50 seconds,
which is quite long.

So, sometime later, he comes
back with a second story,

saying, "Maybe I
misidentified them," you know?

So, we don't know if,
really, NASA leaned on

this astronaut to say,
look, you know,

"Change your story
a little bit."

Or that he genuinely
did think he made a mistake.

SHATNER: A number
of mainstream scientists

quickly dismissed the lights

as misidentified satellites.

Which would have seemed
to put the matter to rest,

except for the fact that
American astronaut Leroy Chiao

had a similar sighting
back in 2005.

We were on a spacewalk to
install navigation antennas

outside of the International
Space Station.

We were in that transition
zone part of the orbit

where we're going
from night to day.

And right at that moment,
I saw what looked like

five lights flying in formation

in kind of an inverted
checkmark.

There was no time
to take a picture of it.

It just happened in just
a couple of seconds,

then we burst into sunrise,
and everything was gone.

When I saw the lights,
I knew they were unusual,

but I really didn't assign
any big deal to them.

I just thought they were
a satellite constellation.

And I really didn't
give it any other thought.

And it wasn't till later
that we got these reports

that people reporting,
were reporting that I had

spotted UFOs
and there were theories that

that might be
an alien spacecraft.

SHATNER:
Is it possible that
the various recent sightings

of strange phenomena above
Earth are evidence

that there is intelligent
life in the universe,

and that extraterrestrials

are secretly
monitoring our planet?

Many researchers claim
that the answer is yes,

because astronauts are
highly credible witnesses.

When you look at the number
of sightings of UFOs

and anomalous phenomena
by astronauts,

the possibilities
are hugely exciting.

Because generally, astronauts
are the sorts of people

who, as witnesses,
are unimpeachable.

Astronauts are absolutely
the best observers

of anything that's out there.

Their attention
to detail is incredible,

and they make absolutely
amazing observers.

So, when we do get reports
of something strange being seen,

you can pretty much
take that to the bank

because they've
kind of looked at all

the possible
rational explanations

and not come up with anything.

SHATNER:
The recent sightings
made by astronauts

are not the first time
that mysterious objects

have been encountered
above our planet.

In fact,
there are similar reports

that date back to the beginning
of the space age.

In 1965,
during the Gemini 4 mission,

astronaut Jim McDivitt
reported photographing

a mysterious object
outside his capsule.

Jim McDivitt was one
of the first astronauts

to see something
unexplained in space.

He saw what looked like
a cylindrical spacecraft

or a cylindrical object
with antennas sticking out.

He didn't know what it was.

MERA: He said it was quite
a large object

and was moving
quite fast towards them.

He described it as
a shape of a can of beer

with a prong sticking out
of one end.

And he had absolutely
no idea what this thing was.

So he grabs the nearest camera

and snaps it, but he's clever.

In case there's something
wrong with this one,

grabs a second camera
and takes another photograph.

And of course, he relays this
information back to-to NASA.

SHATNER:
Two days after
McDivitt's encounter,

the Gemini 4 mission ended,

and the crew returned to Earth.

The film from McDivitt's camera

was then processed
by NASA technicians.

But when McDivitt
reviewed the images,

he didn't see
a cylindrical object

with a large antenna
sticking out.

MERA:
James McDivitt was curious

what the hell was up there
that was close to his craft?

So, sometime later
he's looking through

the images of this camera,
and he can't find it.

All he can find
is some blur obscurity.

And he thinks to himself,
well, is it because

the camera was out of focus?

So, he grabs the images
of the second camera,

and he's looking
at those photographs.

And lo and behold,
it's not on there neither.

Just another obscurity.

POPE:
The photos didn't
come out really well.

So, what was it?
We still don't know.

Now, a lot of people say, wait,

there was a cover-up about this,

that there was indeed
a genuine photo

buried in a vault somewhere
at NASA Headquarters.

SHATNER:
Is it possible that NASA
has photographic evidence

of a real
extraterrestrial spacecraft,

that they have kept secret
for more than 50 years?

Perhaps, but many
researchers believe

that another orbital encounter
provides even stronger evidence

of an extraterrestrial presence
around our planet.

On the 155th day
of their mission

aboard the Soviet
space station Salyut 7,

Russian cosmonauts Oleg Atkov,

Leonid Kizim
and Vladimir Solovyov,

witness an extraordinary event.

The Salyut 7 sighting
is one of the most bizarre

and mysterious encounters
that we've had in space.

These Russian cosmonauts
are up there

and suddenly, they report

that the entire space station

is bathed in this
mysterious light.

It's this orangey glow.

And they look out,

they see strange entities
out in space.

POPE:
There are theories that
it was a hallucination

or something like that.
But come on.

A shared hallucination where
everyone sees the same thing?

That's not very likely.

So, it leaves you
with the impression

maybe this isn't
a hallucination.

Maybe this was real.

SHATNER:
Astronomer Seth Shostak
is at home,

getting ready to have dinner

when he receives
an urgent phone call.

SETH SHOSTAK:
The phone rings and it's my boss

at the SETI Institute.

And he says,
"Seth, I think you ought

to get down to the office."

Now, he never calls me at home,
and certainly not at dinnertime,

and he never, never, ever says,
"Get down to the office."

So, I didn't know
what was going on.

SHATNER:
Moments later, Seth arrives
at the SETI Institute,

a nonprofit organization

tasked with the search

for extraterrestrial
intelligence.

I go in, and there
are about a dozen

of my colleagues all looking
at computer screens.

There was a signal
that we had picked up.

(electronic screeching)

And it had the characteristics

that we look for
when we're trying to find

whether ET is on the air
somewhere else in the galaxy.

So, this was
pretty darn exciting.

SHATNER:
After attempting to pinpoint

the source of the signal
for hours,

Seth and his colleagues'
initial excitement

gave way
to profound disappointment.

As it turned out,
one of my colleagues

had been busily looking up
the frequencies,

the telemetry frequencies

of known satellites,

and he found
a European satellite

that sent data back to Earth

just at the frequencies
that we were picking up,

and it was in the direction
we were looking,

and he said, you know,

"Everybody can
go back to bed now."

SHATNER:
Despite the false alarm,

there are many
leading scientists

who believe that SETI's work

is a key component

in the investigation
of the UFO phenomenon.

Because if there are aliens
visiting Earth,

programs like SETI
may be able to tell us

where they came from.

SHOSTAK:
The universe has been
around a long time,

a lot longer than the Earth
and our solar system.

There could be very advanced
societies out there,

and maybe they've sent
probes to our solar system.

You know, maybe they've sent
probes to lots of solar systems,

and we just have one ourselves.

HYNEK:
My father thought that SETI

was a tremendously
important effort.

He felt that it was incumbent
upon us as a civilization

to reach out, to try to find
life elsewhere in the universe

as opposed to only waiting
for it to land in our laps.

We know that there are planets
around pretty much every star.

So now we have to look
at those planets

and see if there are things
called technosignatures.

These are signatures
that civilization is occurring.

Are they creating what
we call greenhouse gases?

Or outgassing materials,
or properties

that we could detect
with our instruments

using normal, natural,

astronomical technologies
that we have?

One thing they might
be producing is light.

Do they have cities
that make light,

or radio waves, or whatever?

SETI has so far turned up
empty-handed.

For all the millions of dollars,
for all the stars

that they've analyzed,
they have yet to pick up

a single signal indicating
intelligence in outer space,

but maybe we're barking
up the wrong tree.

After all,
what do we do with SETI?

We analyze
radio from outer space.

But the aliens out there
may laugh at us, saying,

"What? You're looking for
our civilization using radio?

"That's so 20th century.

We got rid of radio
centuries ago."

SHATNER:
Is it possible
our current technology

is too primitive to detect
advanced alien civilizations

throughout the galaxy?

Perhaps.

But if some UFO researchers

are to be believed,
it hardly matters.

Because according to them,

astronomers already have
the evidence they need

to confirm the existence
of alien spaceships.

Evidence that is hiding
in plain sight.

Scientists working at
the Panoramic Survey Telescope

detect a mysterious,
oblong object

that has wandered
into our solar system.

Named Oumuamua,

which means "scout from
a distant place" in Hawaiian,

it is the first
interstellar asteroid

ever observed by astronomers.

And many believe its journey
from across the galaxy

to our solar system
is no accident.

SHOSTAK:
It's just a little dot
on a photograph.

You don't really know what
it looks like up close.

We knew it was kind of
cigar-shaped,

and beyond that, we didn't know.

It was about the size
of a football stadium.

Well, Avi Loeb, who is the chair

of the Harvard Astronomy
Department,

suggested that there
was a good reason to think

that maybe this
wasn't just a rock,

that maybe it was a spacecraft,

deliberately sent by aliens
from some other solar system.

Astronomers were shocked to find

that it tracked backwards
into outer space

from another solar system.

Not only that,
but the trajectory

was acting irregularly.

This sent shockwaves
through the community.

Even reputable astronomers said

we cannot rule out the fact

that this irregular trajectory

means that it's piloted.

It seems very, very unlikely

that a rock that's just
randomly thrown out by nature

would so accurately get to
the center of our solar system,

swing around the Sun, and leave.

That's pretty unlikely.

This may be a directed rock,

and maybe it's
an alien spacecraft.

POPE: The fact that we're
even having this debate

shows how much the landscape
has changed

in the last two or three years.

I think previously
this sort of theory

would have been just
dismissed as nonsense.

Mainstream media would have
not covered the story at all

and if they had, they would
have simply ridiculed it.

But now, stories like this
are treated very seriously

and it's reported
in an absolute levelheaded way.

You're not shocking people
by telling them

something they already believe.

Is Oumuamua just a giant rock
flying across the galaxy?

Or could it really be
a massive spacecraft,

hiding in plain sight?

Perhaps further evidence
of extraterrestrial technology

can be found by investigating
the planet Mars,

where there may be ruins

of massive alien structures.

SHATNER:
The Cydonia Institute,

a group of researchers that
investigate strange formations

on the surface of Mars,
publishes a study

analyzing satellite photographs
taken of the planet.

The images show
what the researchers

claim look like
four- and five-sided pyramids

and a series of curious mounds.

This whole idea
for the Cydonia Institute

started when NASA
announced in 1991

that they were gonna return
to Mars with the Mars Observer.

And over the last 30-some years

of our group
studying NASA photographs,

we have found
an enormous amount of evidence

that led us to believe

there are artificial
structures on Mars.

What we're trying to do

is get a preponderance
of evidence together

so that we can prove the point

that there's ruins
all over the planet.

And just as you would
here on Earth,

you're going to look
for straight lines,

parallel lines, circles,

squares, rectangles,
things of this nature.

And when you find them,

then you can start
to zoom in on areas

and look for even,
uh, stronger details.

HAAS:
When the Perseverance landed,

one of the first things
that I noticed

was a conical pyramid
in the distance.

The camera there took a
beautiful couple pictures of it.

It doesn't make any sense
to me geologically

how that could happen.

That was one of the biggest
anomalies that was seen.

We're still gonna get
better and better pictures,

we're going to have more
to look at

as NASA releases all of these
images from Perseverance.

But we haven't gotten there yet
because the Perseverance,

they landed in the middle
of a big lake.

And I think the only thing
we're going to find there

is probably shells, things
from an aquatic environment.

I think all of the ruins
that people are looking for

are gonna be found
once they drive

a little further
in the perimeter.

SHATNER:
Cities and ruins
on the surface of Mars?

Could the remnants of
an ancient Martian civilization

have really been hiding
in plain sight?

It's a question that researchers

have pondered for
more than four decades,

ever since NASA sent
the first satellites

into orbit
around the red planet.

Mars has piqued
the curiosity of scientists

and the public for millennia,

but it really wasn't until
the dawn of the space age

that we started getting

an idea of what the planet
was really all about.

Mariner 4 in 1965
flies past the planet,

sends back 22 fuzzy photographs

and Mars looks
just like the moon.

Then we sent two spacecraft,
Viking 1 and Viking 2, in 1976

so we got tens of thousands
of photographs from orbit.

Since then, as we get
better resolution photographs

from the surface of Mars,

people have thought they saw
all kinds of things there.

There is a not insignificant
group of people

that think that we have
already discovered life on Mars,

that there are structures there,

that there are buildings,
obelisks,

some kind of indicator
of ancient cultures

that is being covered up.

POPE:
You look at images of this

and people are spotting

all sorts of strange shapes

and pyramids,

structures of some kind,
on the Martian surface.

Is it something left
by a lost civilization,

as maybe a monument
to themselves

and their achievement?

SHATNER:
For some, the most
compelling evidence

that an ancient civilization
once existed on Mars

can be found in a photograph

which shows what appears
to be a large structure

that has come to be known as:

The Face on Mars.

In Viking lander photographs,

it was discovered
that there was this

weird-looking structure
that looks for all the world

in the Viking photos
like a face.

MILLER:
Everything is proportional.

The face is a mile and a half,
two miles long.

The eyes are a quarter mile.

The nose about a half a mile.

So it's not small structure,

it's very large structure.

I believe that the Face on Mars

was created from
possibly an existing mesa.

SCHOCH:
It's not just the face,

but on top of that,
people saw what they called

the D&M Pyramid,
which is this weird

five-sided structure that looks
like a five-sided pyramid.

People were claiming this
had to be artificial structures.

HAAS:
The D&M Pyramid is
a five-sided structure.

The five faces have all this
very symmetrical geometry

of 30 degrees,
60 degrees, and 90 degrees.

It's just a remarkable

out-of-place artifact
on the surface of Mars.

What researchers
looking at this found

is that because
of its exquisite geometry,

there's no way that this
could be created naturally.

SHATNER:
Decades after the famous
photograph was taken,

the Face on Mars
continues to inspire

both fascination and debate.

Many researchers believe it,

and other curious formations
on the red planet,

merit further study
and discussion.

POPE:
Some of this may just be
a trick of the light,

funny-shaped rocks,
that sort of thing.

But only one of these things
has got to be the real deal

and we're in
game-changing territory.

SHATNER: 100 miles
off the coast of San Diego,

a group of U.S. warships

are conducting
routine training exercises

when they detect a number

of unidentified flying objects
near Catalina Island.

They were picking up multiple
targets on the radar system,

but they had a new system
they were testing.

So, the theory was
that it was just glitches,

so they rebooted.

But sure enough,
these targets showed up again.

And this goes on for
a series of some days

and then they vectored jets
to go and investigate.

SHATNER:
As Navy F-18 fighter jets

approach the area where the UFOs

had been detected on radar,

the pilots see
a white, oval-shaped object

that has no wings
and resembles a giant Tic Tac.

But then suddenly, it rapidly
descends 80,000 feet

in less than a second,

and hovers above
the surface of the water.

Naval Officer Ryan Weigelt

was stationed
on the nearby USS Princeton

on the day of the encounter.

I was called
to the bridge by the CO

and when I got up to the bridge,

the whole office was
much more crowded

and chaotic than normal.

People were raising their voice

on seeing some of the things
that they were seeing.

It was a very
excited atmosphere.

I noticed that
to my left-hand side

was a video monitor
where the FLIR footage

was being fed
into the Princeton,

so I could see
what the jets were seeing.

On my right-hand side,

I am watching them
on a radar screen

that gives information on
altitude and speed and heading.

And seeing what I saw,
it's impossible for anything

that we own or have created

to withstand the g-forces

that would be created
from doing any type of thrusts

like what this Tic Tac
was doing.

Two of the pilots involved
in the Tic Tac incident,

Commander David Fravor

and Lieutenant Commander
Alex Dietrich

have stated that under
the infamous Tic Tac,

there was an area of water
that was roiling,

as if there was this object
under the waves.

And this object was about

the size of a Boeing 737.

SHATNER:
Navy eyewitnesses have
reported that the Tic Tac

was moving erratically
above the surface of the water,

as though it appeared
to be interacting

with the unidentified object
located beneath the waves.

Moments later,
the Tic Tac made

a series of seemingly
impossible maneuvers

to evade the Navy jets,

before accelerating away
at thousands of miles per hour.

And the pilots claim that when
they tried to get a second look

at the underwater object,
it had somehow vanished.

I am a person who needs to see

to really believe.

And seeing what I saw
during that timeframe,

I think any
rational-minded person

would be somewhat alarmed

that there is
this technology out there

that is far superior to us.

POPE:
That technology
isn't something we have.

So, if not us, who or what?

And what we're hearing about now
is just the tip of the iceberg.

There have been, consistently,

a lot of reports of unidentified
objects under the ocean.

People have seen them
from the shore,

going into the sea
and coming out of the sea.

KAKU:
We've all heard of UFOs because
they fly in our atmosphere,

but what happens if they can hit
the oceans and go underwater?

These are USOs.

Unidentified submerged objects

are objects that have
the ability

to plunge right into
the ocean and disappear.

This is something that we cannot
duplicate with our technology,

and so these objects
are of very intense interest

because it means
that a new technology

is being harnessed
by some unknown party.

They could be, even, perhaps,
extraterrestrial.

SHATNER:
Extraterrestrial USOs?

Flying into and out of
the world's oceans?

For some, that may sound

like something
out of science fiction.

But curiously,
more than a decade

after the Tic Tac incident,

the United States Navy
continues to detect USOs

off the coast
of Southern California.

In July of 2019, Navy aircraft
flying in the same area

recorded video
which appears to show

an unidentified flying object
disappearing into the ocean.

POPE: What's really
interesting about this

is that all this is happening

in a fairly small
geographical area.

So, you've got a series
of encounters happening

off the coast of San Diego.

To have all this going on

in one very concentrated spot,

one has to say,

is this just a coincidence
or is there a connection?

SHATNER:
If there are, in fact,

extraterrestrial USOs
lurking in this area,

then where are they hiding
when they go underwater?

Satellite imagery
reveals a strange

underwater formation
only six miles off the coast.

The three-mile-long anomaly lies
2,000 feet below the surface

of the Pacific Ocean,
and the discovery led many

to wonder if this formation
might actually be

an artificial structure.

A lot of people got
very excited by this discovery.

It's really quite striking, and
it really does look artificial.

It looks like the thing's got
this huge flat roof.

It looks like it's got
pillars or columns.

And it makes you wonder, is this

the remains of
some ancient civilization

that's just hidden
by rising sea level?

Or is it, as some believe,
an extraterrestrial base?

KAKU:
If all these objects
are buzzing our aircraft,

they must have
a base of operations.

But you see, if they have
a base of operations

that's easily detected
by us humans,

it would sort of defeat
the purpose of observing us.

So perhaps
there's an underwater base

that is away from
prying eyes of humans

so that we don't interfere
with their plans.

That cannot be ruled out.

SHATNER:
In the early morning, a soldier
is patrolling the grounds

of this highly guarded
nuclear missile base

when he suddenly spots
a glowing red light

hovering in the sky.

Malmstrom Air Force Base
is where we have many

intercontinental nuclear-tipped
ballistic missiles.

(alarm blaring)

And this red, glowing light
showed up

right at the front gate.

The whole base was
on red alert as this object

was reported
to Captain Robert Salas,

who was underground
monitoring this base.

At that point,
Salas sees the controls

for 10 ICBMs that were
right there in front of him,

and he sees them all go offline.

"Bing, bing, bing, bing, bing."

All ten of them.
They could not find any

scientific explanation
as to why those missiles

should have gone offline,

and they were
concerned about it.

SHATNER:
Reportedly,
when Captain Salas dispatched

a team to investigate the UFO,
it quickly departed.

And then the missile launch
systems came back online.

Due to the alarming nature
of the encounter,

the Air Force Office
of Special Investigations

classified
the Malmstrom incident

at the Top Secret level.

Our government has
refused to acknowledge

that this event even happened,

though documents released

through the Freedom of
Information Act show

that this incident did,
in fact, take place,

and it's one of many
in which UFOs have hovered over

nuclear power stations
and nuclear missile sites.

If you scour the databases
of various UFO organizations,

you will see that these UFOs
are hovering over

nuclear power stations,
nuclear missile sites,

nuclear-powered vehicles, ships,
and submarines of all kinds.

SHATNER:
For many, the idea
that nuclear facilities are

hot spots for UFO visitation
is alarming.

But on the other hand,
some researchers suggest

that extraterrestrials
do not intend

to attack these military bases.

Rather, they propose
that otherworldly beings

simply want to protect us
from ourselves.

DOLAN:
From the end of World War II

until the end of
the 20th century,

this world detonated
over 2,000 nuclear devices

in the upper atmosphere.

It was incredible.

And so I don't think
there's any surprise

why any alien

or extraterrestrial group
would be interested in

our nuclear technology
and wonder, like,

are these people
gonna blow themselves up?

POPE:
Frankly, there are
different viewpoints.

Some people think
that we're being visited,

and any day now it is possible
we will have definitive,

smoking-gun proof
of the nature of

what we're actually
dealing with here.

Maybe something seen
with a telescope,

maybe something buried
in an old government file.

But I think
we're closing in on the most

exciting discovery
that humanity has ever made.

The evidence suggesting

that extraterrestrial beings
not only exist,

but are also visiting Earth,
is compelling.

Most scientists believe
that it's only a matter of time

before we are finally able
to prove, once and for all,

that we're not alone
in the universe.

But until that day comes,
we'll just have to continue

to seek out new life

and new civilizations

that, for the moment, remain...

unexplained.

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