Strange Evidence (2017–…): Season 3, Episode 6 - The Skinwalker Awakens - full transcript

Narrator: Worldwide, 6
billion cameras are watching us

on our streets, at work, and in our homes.

They capture things that seem impossible.

It defines the laws of physics.

Man: What is this? Unbelievable, man.

Narrator: Experts carry
out forensic analysis

of these unusual events.

[ screaming ]

I want to know what I'm looking at.

There has to be some sort of explanation.

What else is going on here?



Narrator: Weird, spooky lights
advance on panicky partygoers.

[ screaming ]

orzel: It's mysterious sort of behavior,

the kind of thing that
definitely leads people to think

that they've seen a ufo.

Narrator: A fishing boat explodes...

But what's the cause?

These waters are like a powder
keg just waiting to explode.

Narrator: And a man
seems to turn into a beast

on a native american reservation.

I've never seen footage of
a creature that looks like this.

Missing children, unexplained murders,

there's your culprit.

Narrator: Bizarre phenomena... Whoa.



Narrator: ...Mysteries caught on camera.

Now, that's an explosion.

What's the truth behind
this strange evidence?

♪

Now, a quiet port is rocked...

Mccourt: Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

...By a huge explosion.

Oh, look at that.

Narrator: A man moments from death...

Got out of there right in the nick of time.

That looks like a scene from a movie.

Narrator: ...In a region threatened by war,

a simple fishing boat
appears to be under attack.

These waters are a powder keg
of tensions just waiting to blow.

Narrator: Or is there
something horrific hiding inside?

What are these guys transporting?

What's gone horribly wrong here?

Narrator: December 31, 2016,

in the fishing boat of chenggong, taiwan,

sailors are unloing their catch

and refueling their
boats after a night at sea.

Watched by a harbor surveillance camera...

...In an instant, a huge flash...

...The boat is lifted
right out of the water.

This is not an industrial vessel
loaded with dangerous chemicals.

It's a normal fishing boat.

This is no ordinary explosion.

Whatever caused it

pushed the boat up 6 feet out of the water.

Whatever caused it was big.

It's incredible.

The boat is just sitting
there, and all of a sudden,

it rises out of the water,

explodes and settles back down.

Unbelievable.

I want to know where the
explosion orientates from.

It has to be coming from somewhere.

Narrator: Military analyst carlo munoz

considers the location of the footage.

The strategically important
seas around taiwan

have become a hot bed
of international espionage.

These are like two kids
fighting over a candy bar.

Narrator: Spy ships disguised
as fishing boats are so common

in this area, they have a
nickname... sea phantoms.

Could this footage show
a taiwanese sea phantom

being attacked?

There's a long history of spy vessels

disguised as fishing boats.

Napoleon is said to have used one to survey

the british defenses in
the early 19th century,

and in the late 1980s,
the soviet fishery's fleet

equipped thousands of
their boats with electronic

spy equipment, allowing them
to track western naval vessels'

communications while continuing to fish.

But even if this is a spy ship,

an attack goes against all
the rules of international law.

Matt kutcher is a pyrotechnics expert.

He advises the u.S. Military
and police on bomb disposal

and has worked on over
100 hollywood productions.

Kutcher: What we need to
understand is, was the explosion

in the water pushing on the boat,

or was the explosion inside the boat

expanding outwards that causes the damage?

Narrator: Matt has brought a boat to test

if the damage to the ship in the footage

is caused by something explosive

striking the vessel from the outside

or whether it was caused
by a blast from inside.

Kutcher: The charge we're going
to use today for the experiment

is gunpowder, finely
ground 3f-type gunpowder.

It's going to travel somewhere
between 8,000 and 9,000

feet per second, depending
on our containment ratio.

This is pretty tight.

We're going to place it outside the boat.

We're going to use the
same charge inside the boat.

I think the difference between
the two is going to be huge.

We use a steel plate to protect the ground.

It gives us a nice, solid surface

to press against to
get a good lift out of it.

Narrator: First, the
charge is set to simulate

a torpedo strike to
the outside of the boat.

So, chris, we hot?

Here we go.

Okay. We're on. All right.

Sir, go on hot.

And in three, two, one, hit it.

♪

Narrator: The black powder
expands more than 900 feet

a second as the explosive
hits the side of the boat

like a missile.

-Not bad, not bad. -Not bad.

About what we expected, yeah?

Let's go take a look.

Kutcher: So that was
impressive and fun to watch,

but the boat is clearly still intact.

The only damage that we
could actually see on the boat

is a bit of bubbling on the fiberglass

and a discolorization
where it's been singed.

Narrator: This suggests that
the boat was not destroyed

from the inside, but suppose the
same explosion came from within.

What kind of difference would that make?

Kutcher: We're going to take
the same basic kind of charge.

We're going to place it inside the boat

so it's more compressed.

When the gas goes,
it's going to hold itself

together for an extra second
and create quite a big bang.

Come on, chris. Let's get out of here.

All right. Here we go on the countdown.

Three, two, one, hit it.

That test proved pretty well, didn't it?

We certainly had some expansion there.

In this explosion,
there's a clear difference.

With a similar charge, the
one that's inside the boat

blew it completely apart.

Clearly, the roof has gone
every bit of 40 or 50 feet

from the boat.

What we saw on the video,
there's no doubt in my mind

that the explosion took
place inside the boat.

Narrator: The footage comes
to the attention of scientist

dave farina.

He considers that the explosion
could have been a freak accident

caused by an unexpected
lethal payload on the boat.

If this ship is a fishing vessel,

it would be reasonable to conclude

that it is full of fish.

Fish seem like they would be pretty inert.

It's actually the case that rotting fish

can exude noxious materials

including flammable
gases like hydrogen sulfide.

Narrator: A spoiled
catch could be the catalyst

for a deadly blast.

Farina: Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless,

flammable, extremely hazardous gas

that has a smell of rotten
eggs, and it's heavier than air,

so it's able to collect in enclosed spaces

like the hull of a ship.

Sanford: It's pretty incredible
to think that something

as benign as dead fish
could be this destructive.

Narrator: Decomposing
marine life can go off with a bang.

Beached whales are known to explode.

When they get beached, they
sit in the sun and decompose,

and the gases build up inside them.

If anything punctures their skin,

that can be a source
of a massive explosion.

When a whale explodes,
well, you've got an amazing

fireworks show of blood and guts.

In the footage, we can
see that there's flames

associated with this explosion.

You don't see flames when
you see a whale explode.

Narrator: Coming up...

What the hell could this be?

...Space slime spatters
over washington state.

If I found this in my yard, I'd freak out.

Narrator: A man seems
to transform into a beast

on a native american reservation...

Oh, my god. What?

Narrator: ...And a deadly
payload that doomed a boat.

I'm looking at the size
and shape of that cargo.

Is that a clue?

Narrator: Experts struggle
to explain security footage

of an ordinary-looking fishing boat

ripped to pieces by an enormous explosion.

When that blows, it takes
everything around it with it.

Narrator: Image analyst
conor mccourt examines

the moments before the blast.

I'm noticing that there's cargo
being offloaded from the boat.

I'm looking at the size
and shape of that cargo.

Is that a clue?

That cargo indicates
that it could be a cylinder.

Cylinders contain gas.

Gas is explosive.

Could this be the cause of the explosion?

Narrator: Frame-by-frame analysis brings

further evidence to light.

We get up to the moment
where there's the first fireball,

and that fireball is in
an upward projection.

This could indicate a propane cylinder

or other type of cylinder explosion.

When you have a gas cylinder

that has a breach in it like a hull,

and that ignites, the
flame is very directional.

Narrator: This expert's best
guess is that this explosion

was caused by a faulty gas cylinder,

but the extraordinary scale of the blast

in the world's most contested sea

makes some still suspect
dark forces at work.

These waters are like a powder
keg just waiting to explode.

Narrator: Now weird
nighttime flashes recorded

in an american backyard.

Next morning...

Honkanen: What the hell is it?

...An invasion of mysterious blobs.

If I found this in my yard, I'd freak out.

Where on earth does this stuff come from?

Is it even from earth?

Narrator: Whatever
this is, it could be lethal.

Is this stuff toxic? I
wouldn't want to touch it.

[ camera whirs ]

narrator: Snohomish, washington state,

a small town famous
for its historic downtown

and antique shops.

April 4, 2015, a bizarre
visitor comes from above.

Security cameras around
carol honkanen's house

record weird flashes that
seem to be falling from the sky.

My property has probably
at least 15 video cameras.

In the nighttime, one of the cameras

was able to video the streaks coming down.

Narrator: As dawn breaks,
carol is awoken by her gardener.

He alerts her to the substance
that's appeared overnight.

What is this?

This looks like ice?

It's like a jelly.

- Mm-hmm. I don't know.
- What the hell is it?

What the hell could be,
like, all over our grass?

Narrator: At first, honkanen
thinks it might be fuel

from an aircraft.

Honkanen: I put it right
here in this spot and thought,

"okay, I'm going to try to light it."

narrator: But the blob
did not react as expected.

-Not. -No, it doesn't seem

to catch fire.

It doesn't do anything to it.

What the hell could this be?

I was thinking it would catch fire

because I really thought it
was probably a fuel, but it didn't.

It didn't really do anything.

It's like an alien dropped it.

Narrator: Carol posts the footage online.

If this stuff suddenly
appeared in my own garden,

I would want to know what it is.

I personally have never
seen anything like this before.

This seems really weird.

Gel isn't something that just appears.

Narrator: Weird jelly
appearing from out of nowhere

has been reported for centuries.

Sanford: Blobs found on the ground

has been historically
correlated with meteor showers,

leading some people to think

that they have extraterrestrial origins.

There are reports from as
far back as the 14th century

about gelatinous substances
appearing on the ground,

on the limbs of trees,

so they got the name of star jellies.

It makes sense that we
would be afraid of things

falling from the skies,
and throughout history,

just the hint of something
like a comet or a meteor

has put fear and suspicion
into the hearts of man.

Narrator: A comet passing
close to earth caused

widespread panic in 1910.

When halley's comet
passed, numerous people,

including astronomers, were
fearful that us passing nearby

was going to result in millions
of things falling from the sky,

even noxious chemicals
that would kill us all.

People were so incredibly
concerned that they

locked themselves in their houses

and sealed up all of their windows.

Narrator: But the comet
flew by without incident.

Living organisms coming to earth from space

is an idea that modern
scientists seriously consider.

We know that there are
still comets and asteroids

that do come in that hit the earth.

Maybe some of those
things could be hosting life

from outer space, little bacteria.

It is possible.

Narrator: This bacteria
could even be the basis

of all life on earth.

There's a concept called
panspermia that life on earth

today, all of the life around
us, came from somewhere else,

that it came from another planet.

It came from mars,

or it came from somewhere
else in outer space.

Narrator: But physicist
chad orzel doubts the jelly

in the footage fell from space.

For something to come down from orbit,

it has to pass through the atmosphere,

and it would be coming
in moving very rapidly.

These de-orbiting objects
generally get very, very hot

on the way, and they tend to burn up before

they reach the ground.

Narrator: Coming up, some
native americans believe

this film is proof a
werewolf walks among them.

Their souls are dark.
Their intentions are evil.

Narrator: A torrent of weird sludge

tears through an arid desert.

This is clearly a freak of nature.

Narrator: And do the blobs have
a weird connection to human dna?

Price: If human white
blood cells were to be raining

from the skies of washington state,

something very strange indeed
would have to be going on.

Narrator: Security cameras capture strange

nighttime flashes in a
washington state backyard.

The next morning, homeowner carol honkanen

finds weird blobs lying on the ground.

Neurophysiologist
dr. Kiki sanford discovers

similar events recorded nearby

which could hold an answer
to the origin of the odd blobs.

Back in August of 1994,

residents of oakville
near the washington coast

reported seeing little
gelatinous blobs on the ground

that were about the size of rice.

Narrator: Local resident
sunny barclift reported

to doctors that after coming
into contact with the substance,

her mother became ill
and her pet cat had died.

She sent samples of
these blobs for analysis.

Sanford: When they looked at
the substance under a microscope,

they first thought that it contained human

white blood cells, which are
the immune cells of our body.

Price: If human white
blood cells were to be raining

from the skies of washington state,

something very strange indeed
would have to be going on.

Narrator: And under further analysis,

these blobs got even weirder.

They didn't contain a nucleus.

There was no dna.

Narrator: But before scientists
could do any further testing

on this weird jelly,

the samples disappeared
from the laboratory.

And as honkanen prepared
to take samples of her blobs

for scientific testing, history
seemed to repeat itself.

I was thinking, "well, maybe
I should collect the stuff

and figure out what it is."

and then I noticed it wasn't as abundant

as when we first saw it.

It just kind of dissipated or evaporated.

Narrator: Just like the
sinister blobs that fell

on washington before, the
mysterious jelly vanished

into thin air, leaving
their identity a mystery.

Strange as it is that this stuff
showed up in the first place,

the weirdest part is that it
disappeared without a trace.

Narrator: Now, on a native
american reservation...

It's almost as if it's
part human, part animal,

some sort of hybrid.

Are we dealing with some
supernatural creatures here?

Narrator: ...The thing seems to be a human

turning into an animal.

Missing children, unexplained
murders, there's your culprit.

Narrator: A legendary shape-shifter

with a taste for human blood...

This could be an example of a skin-walker.

Sands: They want to hurt
you, they're going to hurt you.

They're not there to do good things.

[ camera whirs ]

narrator: The navajo
nation reservation, utah,

home to the largest native american tribe

in the united states.

The navajo's connection with
the land here goes back centuries.

January 2017, a man
driving in the reservation films

a strange movement in the rocks,
its shape humanoid and prone.

Leaning against the cliff face,

it appears to have two powerful legs,

a long, straight back and slender arms.

Experts struggle to interpret
the thing in the footage.

I've never seen footage of
a creature that looks like this.

When you watch this video,
you think you're looking

at something solid, and
it just begins to move,

and it does look, for all appearances,

like it is changing from
one shape to another.

Is it a biped? Is it a quadruped?

Question is, well, what the hell is it?

Narrator: Finally, it seems to
form into a four-legged animal

and runs away.

Oh, my god. Oh, my god.

What?

Wait a minute.

It really feels like it knows
that the camera is watching it.

♪

Narrator: Local navajo pete
sands agrees to examine

the footage near where it was shot.

Sands: Seems to have
very unnatural-looking legs.

It seems to be almost
like the back legs of a deer

but has paws of some sort.

It has human qualities,

but this is definitely something abnormal.

Shape-shifters, or better
known as skin-walkers,

u know, a lot of people

always confuse shape-shifters and shamans.

Shamans are not shape-shifters.

They are two different things.

Because a shaman is
working for your spirit,

and a skin-walker is
working to hurt your spirit.

Their souls are dark.

Their intentions are
evil, and they are people,

creatures or people,
whichever you want to see them.

They should not be messed with in any way

because they will hurt you
physically and spiritually,

and they will not hesitate
to do either of those.

♪

Skin-walkers are best
known in terms of their abilities

is to don the skin of an animal

and somehow be able to
transform oneself into that animal.

Narrator: Many still
fear these legends today.

A woman driving near
sedona claims a half-man,

half-beast skin-walker
ran alongside her car

at 60 miles per hour and
even tapped on the window.

Truck drivers in arizona

have reported similar roadside encounters.

If this thing is a skin-walker,
that's probably not a place

you want to be around.

♪

[ camera whirs ]

narrator: Image analyst
ben radford inspects

the footage to determine

if the picture has been manipulated.

When you see a video like this,

one of the first questions
is, is it real, right?

Is it a hoax? Is it a fake?

Is it misidentification?

In this case, I don't think
this is a hoax or a fake.

I think this is some
animal actually recorded

probably where it was claimed to be.

Is it bipedal? Is it a quadruped?

You can sort of see there's clearly a back,

what appears to be a hindquarter here,

and maybe part of a tail.

Then the question is, what the hell is it?

[ horn honks ]

narrator: Coming up, freezing
mush suddenly appears

in a baking desert...

Whatever it is that's flowing
along through this river

isn't something that's
behaving like normal material.

Narrator: ...Terror from
above in milwaukee...

It's like the sky opened
up and just rained fire down

on whoever is below.

Narrator: ...And the true identity

of the navajo shape-shifter.

They're the stuff of my
childhood nightmares.

Narrator: On native american land in utah,

a traveler films what
appears to be a skin-walker

transforming from a man into an animal.

How is it so elongated?

How does it have such long arms and legs?

It's almost as if it's
part human, part animal,

some sort of hybrid.

It's really weird.

Narrator: Biologist kelly price believes

the mysterious creature's
humanoid appearance

at the start of the
footage can be explained

by a deadly animal that's native to utah.

Based on the physiology
that we can see in the video,

my best guess would be that it's a bear.

It has kind of stocky hind
legs, the black coloring,

and bears are known to
stand on their hind legs.

With a population density of over 15 bears

per 38 square miles,

encounters with dangerous
bears are on the rise.

Narrator: Stacy ramkisoon spots
a problem with the bear theory.

Ramkisoon: This footage
was taken in January,

and that's prime hibernation time,

so it's unlikely that it's a bear.

♪

[ camera whirs ]

narrator: Ben radford
analyzes the final frames

of the creature's
appearance in the footage.

In that split second we see it
going over a small hill there,

and the motion is fluid.

It's walking on all fours.

That's how it normally moves.

Therefore, it's clearly a quadruped.

This animal, as far as we can tell,

is approximately 6 feet long.

Based on all of the
criteria that I've looked at,

I think it's a cat.

Narrator: Mountain lions are
one of the most deadly predators

in the united states.

These creatures can reach up to 8 feet.

They have a reputation for killing humans

that has carried on into the present day.

They were responsible for
two deaths in america in 2018.

In one lethal attack near seattle,

a mountain lion pounced on a cyclist

and feasted on her in its den.

Price: They're the stuff of
my childhood nightmares.

They areeadly.

Narrator: Experts agree
the footage most likely shows

a mountain lion, a creature
whose deadly exploits

may have given rise to the
legend of the skin-walker.

Though the strange change
in the creature's shape

makes some wonder if these
stories are more than a myth.

There are many stories about beasts

who roam this land that are unnatural.

There's a saying in the
navajo culture where it says,

"the desert will bring out
the true essence of your soul,"

and I believe that to be true.

[ camera whirs ]

narrator: Now, an american family barbecue

gets uninvited guests.

It's moving very rapidly.

Narrator: A close encounter
of the terrifying kind

as the ball splits into
a series of fiery orbs.

It's like the sky opened up

and is just raining fire
down on whoever is below.

Narrator: And they advance
towards the partygoers

with a sinister intelligence.

[ screaming ]

you hear all kinds of
screams and exclamations

as people seem to wonder,
"what the heck is going on?

Is this the end of the world, or what?"

[ camera whirs ]

♪

Milwaukee, wisconsin, a
city built by german settlers.

It's home to more than two dozen
breweries, the biggest of which

produces over 10 million
barrels of bear every year.

June 2015, a backyard
party is in full swing

when partygoers panic
as the flaming lights hurdle

towards the city.

Then the object splits.

They change direction as
though under intelligent control.

One partygoer keeps
filming even as the crowd

around them melts into panic.

[ screaming ]

experts are disturbed by the footage.

You don't see something
like this in your backyard.

It looks like a dangerous situation.

It's very eerie.

Orzel: It's mysterious sort of behavior,

the kind of thing that
definitely leads people to think

that they've seen a ufo.

Narrator: This isn't the first
time wisconsin has been gripped

by fear of unidentified aerial phenomenon.

1976, police officer george wheeler

sees a strange light
and drives to investigate.

He radios into the station.

Then he is hit by a flash from the sky.

He is found hours later barely conscious,

claiming he's been struck by a beam fired

from a mysterious craft.

The state is considered a hot spot

for strange aerial activity.

Video analyst conor mccourt
inspects the footage for signs

of manipulation by a hoaxer.

Something like this is very hard
to replicate in post-production.

It's a handheld video, so very hard to do.

This indicates to me
that it's probably authentic.

This isn't a pure optical illusion

or something that's caught
on an isolated camera.

You can hear from the reactions

that the people are near the camera.

Narrator: Physicist chad orzel considers

if this could be an
object falling from space.

This is the kind of that
you would expect initially

from something falling down to earth.

It's moving very rapidly. It's very bright.

This is what you get for things
coming in from orbit heating up

very dramatically as they
encounter the earth's atmosphere

and emitting a lot of light.

Narrator: But science journalist
jeff wise is unconvinced.

When a meteorite
reenters, it tends to break up

in kind of a chaotic
way into multiple pieces

of different size and heading in

different directions and different speeds.

What we have here looks
much more organized than that.

It looks like something that was
planned to come apart like that.

[ camera whirs ]

narrator: Coming up, a weird substance

rushes across the iraqi desert.

If you jumped into it, you would
just be immediately drowned.

Narrator: And a sinister
intelligence seems to be

controlling the mysterious
lights over milwaukee.

It has all the indications
of a potential cluster bomb.

Narrator: In wisconsin, a
weird light appears in the sky.

It splits into pieces,

then advances towards
the city of milwaukee,

causing panic and fear on the ground.

[ screaming ]

military journalist carlo munoz

investigates the location of the footage.

He discovers it was
shot near a military base.

Fort mccoy is one of the
primary training grounds

for the u.S. Military.

Narrator: The fort is
nearly as big in land area

as milwaukee itself.

Over 100,000 soldiers a
year pass through its gates.

Munoz: Spanning over 240 kimeters,

it could make a tantalizing
target for any attack.

[ gunshots ]

has all the indications of
a potential cluster bomb.

The object splits into
several different pieces

as it comes crashing to the ground.

Now, these weapons, which are
banned under international law,

is basically one big bomb

that holds a bunch of
different bombs inside.

Narrator: The scattered bomblets
cause widespread destruction

as they hit the ground.

Jeff wise doubts the footage
shows this kind of explosive.

Wise: The problem with
the cluster bomb theory

is that cluster bombs
don't really emit light

until they explode on impact.

This isn't what a cluster bomb looks like.

[ camera whirs ]

narrator: Chad orzel
reexamines the footage and tracks

the eerie movements of the five lights

after they have separated
from the initial orb.

After it breaks up into pieces,

these pieces decelerate very rapidly.

They seem to freeze in place

and then move much more
slowly in a changing pattern.

This isn't just an unpowered
object that's falling.

Instead, they sort of rearrange
into a different configuration,

which suggests there may be
some sort of control going on here,

that they're being manipulated in some way.

Narrator: Jeff wise considers
if these lights could be

under human control attached
to people who are in the air.

What we're witnessing here
could be a team of skydivers.

What we might be seeing
is all of the jumpers sort of

leaping out of the plane together

and then splitting apart
as their chutes open.

Narrator: The date on the footage confirms

wise's suspicion.

It's german fest.

The streets downtown
are full of partygoers,

and in the skies above, the golden knights,

a crack u.S. Military
display team, descend.

Wise: Sometimes when
they're performing at fairs

or what have you, skydivers
will jump from a plane

wearing flares to create
kind of a light show.

Narrator: While the skydivers
caused excitement for many,

they drove some into a terrified panic.

If you're going to do a light
display in a ufo hot spot,

you're asking for trouble.

[ camera whirs ]

narrator: Now, in a parched
desert, a weird torrent of

a mysterious substance
appears out of nowhere.

Why is this stuff

flowing through the middle of the desert?

This is clearly a freak of nature.

Narrator: Where has it come
from, and what is it made of?

We've got this almost
impossible to explain phenomenon.

Narrator: Could this be behind a series

of mysterious disappearances?

One thing is for sure...

I wouldn't want to try
swimming out of that.

[ camera whirs ]

narrator: The arabian desert, iraq,

an area more than three
times the size of texas,

one of the world's great wildernesses,

temperatures here soar to over 159 degrees.

November 16, 2015,

a group is driving through
this inhospitable terrain.

Their path is blocked
by a very strange sight,

a torrent of mysterious sludge
rushing through the landscape.

Orzel: There's this river
flowing through the middle

of this desert, but the river
seems to be made of sand.

So, you know, what is
making a big chunk of sand flow

as if it were a liquid?

Wise: It seems like we've got this

almost impossible to explain phenomenon.

Narrator: As strange as it might seem,

you can drown in a desert.

From out of nowhere, a bone-dry valley

can unexpectedly fill with a raging deluge.

Flash floods occur in the desert
when you have a heavy rainstorm.

The ground can only absorb so much water,

so that excess water is going to run off

in streams and tributaries,

and dry riverbeds will soon
become a raging wall of water.

Narrator: But physicist
chad orzel is convinced

this is no normal flood.

Orzel: This doesn't seem to be water.

It seems to be particles
that are moving along.

Narrator: Analyzing the
footage, orzel suspects

this mysterious torrent
could be an extreme example

of one of the most notorious
death traps in nature.

Whatever it is that's flowing
along through this river

isn't something that's
behaving like normal material.

Narrator: The desert itself
could actually be liquefying

into a deadly new form.

The classic example is
quicksand, which is fine sand

mixed with water in a way
that makes it flow very easily.

So if you step on it, you
sink into it very rapidly.

Narrator: Quicksand can be lethal,

trapping unwitting individuals,

sucking them down into heavy, wet sand.

The more they struggle to
escape, the deeper they sink.

Its victims are hopelessly stuck.

August 2012, antigua,

vacationer nicola raybone
vanishes on a beach.

Police are alerted to cries for help.

Her body is sucked into the wet quicksand

until the cries stop, a
truly horrific way to die.

If this is a fast-moving
river of quicksand,

these men are inches from being
sucked down to a certain death.

Wise: If you jumped
into it, you would just be

immediately drowned and
probably pummeled to death

as well by the churning debris and rocks

and whatever was in there.

Narrator: But how can
there be quicksand in a desert

without water?

Incredible as it seems, scientists know of

a lethal phenomenon known as dry quicksand.

Without a drop of water anywhere,

these men could still drown.

It could be that we're witnessing somehow

some kind of manifestation
of this phenomenon.

Narrator: Dry quicksand isn't
created by water, but by gas.

[ camera whirs ]

coming up, sian proctor
experiments with sand

to try to recreate the
mysterious sludge in the lab.

Something like this, not normal.
I want to know what's going on.

Narrator: A bizarre flow
of a mysterious material

is filmed tearing across a desert.

It may be a rare and terrifying substance

known as dry quicksand.

Geoscientist sian proctor
wants to investigate

if sand mixed with gas
coming up from below the desert

can act like the liquid in the footage.

This video fascinates me
because as a geoscientist,

I'm interested in earth processes,

so something like this, not normal,

I want to know what's going on.

All right. Let's do this.

Narrator: Proctor is using a
process known as liquefaction,

which is when a soil's strength is reduced

so that it can no longer
support structures on its surface.

Proctor: Liquefaction occurs

when the soil particles separate.

Narrator: Proctor will place
small balls into the sand.

Then she'll attempt to liquefy it,

not with water, but with gas.

If the gas-aerated sand
does act like a liquid,

the ball should float to the surface.

So as a result of liquefaction,

anything that's trapped
in the soil can be released.

Building those muscles.

Narrator: Proctor is going
to pump compressed gas

into the sand pit.

The air is going to cause
those sand grains to separate

and cause the sand's
structure to begin to act more like

a fluid, the same thing that
you would get in a liquefaction.

Let's give it a go.

Oh, ooh, oh!

[ laughs ] that was great.

Both of my air bubbles
popped right up to the surface,

and we can see my
sand is acting like a fluid.

Based on this, liquefaction
could be involved

with what we're seeing in the video.

Narrator: The test proves
that in the right conditions,

sand can act and kill just like a liquid.

But chad orzel analyzes
the geology of the area

and finds no evidence of gas deposits,

puncturing the dry quicksand theory.

Orzel: To get air content
into a big river of sand,

you'd need some source
of gas underneath the sand

to push gas up in between the grains

and lubricate their flow in that way,

which seems like a very
unusual thing to have happen.

[ camera whirs ]

narrator: Science writer
kevin folta analyzes the footage

and notices a strange detail
in the sides of the torrent.

Folta: If you look towards
the edge of the river,

you start to see that there's
something kind of pelleted there

and something that
looks very clear as pellets,

and he picks it up in his hand,

and you can see that it's
actually small spheres of ice.

Narrator: Folta studies the weather records

for the day the footage was shot.

Folta: This is in November of 2015,

and in this particular
area during this time frame,

8 years worth of rain fell
inside the time of 2 days.

Narrator: Weather reports
reveal a once-in-a-lifetime event

for this hot, dry region.

With no channels or
drains to swallow the deluge,

it smashes through everything.

The rain came down in the desert

and brought substantial hail to the area.

You could see that hail
start to flow over the sand,

taking the sand with it.

Narrator: A state of emergency
is called as the ice storm

inundates schools,
hospitals, and transport.

The hail and water that
would come down in a cold area

may even nucleate around
individual pieces of sand

to form ice crystals that then would flow

as part of that large sea of ice and sand

that these gentlemen are looking at.

Narrator: The source
of this bizarre torrent

is even stranger than it looks,

an impossible river of
ice in a baking desert,

evidence of just how weird nature can be.

This initially seems to
be a river of sand flowing,

which would be weird but
maybe less out of place in a desert.

But in fact what we've
got is a river of ice.

So it's an amazing example
of many things coming together

to make this bizarre looking phenomenon.