Strange Evidence (2017–…): Season 3, Episode 9 - It Came from the Fog - full transcript

Narrator: Worldwide, six
billion cameras are watching us

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

They capture things that seem impossible.

- It defies the laws of physics.
- This is unbelievable, man.

Narrator: Experts carry out
analysis of these unusual events.

♪

I want to know what I'm looking at.

There has to be some sort of explanation.

What else is going on here?

Narrator: Coming up...

A creeping mist followed
by a cataclysmic explosion.



Davis: This looks like a combat zone.

Explosions of this
magnitude are just something

you shouldn't see in an american city.

Narrator: An alien
visitor on a pacific beach.

Is it even from planet earth?

Narrator: And a winter
walk takes a sinister turn

as a man's hands begin shooting sparks.

Moore: This is just utterly not believable.

- Oh, my gosh!
- This guy is about to get fried.

He should technically be dead.

Narrator: Bizarre phenomenon.

Whoa!

Narrator: Mysteries caught on camera.

Well that's an explosion.



What's the truth behind
this strange evidence?

♪

In a quiet american
town, first a weird fog...

[ explosion ]

...Then a mighty explosion.

This video looks like a vision of hell.

All of the sudden, you had
fire and damnation everywhere.

Narrator: Even the
police run for their lives.

Just the air was on fire.

Praying to myself that
good lord gets me out of this.

Narrator: A nearby army
base leads experts to suspect

a deadly military secret.

The speed at which this explosion travels

is reminiscent of dropping
napalm from an airplane.

Explosions of this
magnitude are just something

you shouldn't see in an american city.

♪

♪

Narrator: October 15,
2005, texarkana, arkansas.

♪

Police corporal randy
mcadams has been patrolling

these streets for 20 years.

Responding to a final
call at the end of his shift,

he heads to a local park to investigate.

[ siren blaring ]

everything seems quiet.

But then... [ explosion ]

narrator: Mcadams is blinded
by a gigantic white flash.

Mcadams: I'm just struck by
the massive amount of force.

I can feel it in my chest.

Narrator: He radios into the station.

And attempts to escape, but his car stalls.

Mcadams: At this point,
because it stops moving,

the lights go out.

Narrator: Then to his horror,
a mist approaches him.

Mcadams: I can see what
appears to be a fog in the area.

Your mind's moving a
million miles a minute.

Narrator: As the cloud
continues to creep towards him,

the car miraculously comes to life

just as a fire ball erupts.

[ explosions ]

[ siren blaring ]

mcadams slams his car into reverse

and flees for his life.

Mcadams: And it's just like the
whole world's catching on fire.

And I knew I had to get away from it

because I can tell everything's
starting to explode and burn.

Just a few seconds, a
few feet either direction

well could have ended my life.

[ explosion ]

narrator: Experts are
puzzled by an explosion

in a public park with no
obvious source of ignition.

That's not something you see every day.

It's not something you ever see.

No matter how you
look at it or how size it up,

it was catastrophic.

That's a massive explosion.

Narrator: Lieutenant colonel daniel
davis has 21 years of army experience,

but even he is perplexed by the footage.

Davis: My first reaction was like,

"wow, this looks like a combat zone."

but this is texarkana, a city
in the state where I'm from.

If it was something like

some sort of military-grade explosive,

what was it doing in this area here?

And where could it have come from?

Narrator: The vast
16,000-acre red river army depot

sits just 18 miles west of texarkana.

It stores huge amounts of ammunition.

Davis: A lot of it is made
there and then it's shipped to

where we need for our war
fighters around the world.

Narrator: Colonel davis'
analysis leads him to believe

that the explosion could
be one of the most horrifying

weapons ever used by
the u.S. Military... napalm.

[ explosion ]

one of the things that
makes me think this could be

something like napalm
is because of how rapidly

the flames exploded and
clearly were burning very hot.

Narrator: Napalm is a
descendant of the liquid fire

used by the ancient armies
of the byzantine empire.

The fire was so potent, it
could set the sea ablaze.

Its chemical composition remained

a closely-guarded secret,

but it inspired chemical
warfare specialists

1,300 years later to create napalm.

Their concoction of
gasoline and thickening jelly

burns instantly on anything

at temperatures of 5,000 degrees,

hotter than the molten lava boiling

over in mount st. Helens.

Once it gets on the skin,
there's nothing you can do.

You can't extinguish it.

It will burn until it doesn't
have any more fuel.

[ explosion ]

narrator: Napalm was most
notoriously used in vietnam.

400,000 tons were
dropped on jungle villages

incinerating everything in sight.

Has a napalm death
trap accidentally exploded

in texarkana?

[ explosion ]

pyrotechnical engineer matt
kutcher worked with explosives

in hollywood for 28 years.

He's going to use his skills to test

if the texarkana blast is napalm.

He is covering a car to re-create the way

this substance reacts
with everyday objects.

You guys doing this?

We've taken gasoline and
mixed it with a thickening agent

to actually replicate napalm.

So I think what I'm gonna do
is I'm gonna place some of it

up on top of the roof and
then maybe over the door area,

and then drop some inside
to create almost like a fuse,

so when we light it, it lights it all up.

Narrator: Napalm is one of
the most volatile substances

in modern warfare.

Kutcher: It's highly
flammable, highly toxic,

and it's nothing to play with.

All right, we should go.

It's more potent now than it'll ever be.

♪

Narrator: Kutcher has rigged
the car with a remote detonator.

Kutcher: We good?

Narrator: When triggered,
a small explosive charge

will ignite the napalm.

[ explosion ]

♪

Kutcher: You don't think that
[bleep] volatile on top of that car.

That was raging.

Narrator: Kutcher's
trained eye spots one crucial

difference between his
explosion and the footage.

You could clearly see the napalm effect

up on top of the car.

You can see the way
all the gelatin is burning.

It doesn't have the expansion ratio

that what I believe is in the video.

Narrator: Napalm is
fueled entirely by gasoline

so it cannot grow and spread into the air

like the texarkana explosion.

This must mean the
texarkana blast is fueled

by something other than gasoline.

But what?

-Coming up... -Oh, my gosh!

Narrator: On a lake
with a sinister reputation,

a man's fingers emit
shafts of electric light.

I've never seen the phenomenon
like I see in this video.

Narrator: Locals fear the
appearance of this blob

means the ring of fire is about to blow.

O'brien: This is a bad
portent, something to fear.

What are we dealing with here?

Narrator: And what chemical
brought destruction to texarkana?

It sends shivers down my spine.

♪

Narrator: A police car
dashcam captures evidence

of a gas cloud.

A sinister smell.

Narrator: And a deadly
blast in the normally quiet

city of texarkana.

[ sirens blaring ]

transport analyst nicole
katskides discovers

the blast occurred in the vicinity

of a major transport hub.

Texarkana is a home
to this major rail yard,

and there's lots of train activity going

in and out every day.

My gut instinct is that

it's a major rail freight disaster.

Narrator: Freight trains
transport over 100 million tons

of hazardous materials every year.

In 2013, an unmanned
freight train's brakes fail.

It begins to roll down hill.

Each one of its 74 cars carries
30,000 gallons of crude oil.

Gathering speed, it heads
straight for the canadian town

of lac-mégantic, quebec just 9 miles

from the american border.
Careening off the tracks

at 65 miles an hour, it
smashes into downtown.

[ explosion ]

47 people are killed and over
40 buildings are decimated

in the blast.

[ sirens blaring ]

firefighter rick pavick fought
the texarkana blaze as it raged.

We found out that a train
was sitting still in the rail yard

and the first full car was propylene.

Narrator: Propylene is an
extremely volatile, highly

flammable gas used in the
steel industry for fusion welding.

The train came in to
town and derailed a car

into the propylene car, punctured the tank.

[ explosion ]

fire burned for a long time afterwards.

Everything there is gone, burned.

Narrator: Over 13,000 tanks of
propylene cross the country every year.

All we can be sure of
is that a blast like this

will happen again.

[ explosion ]

now, on a frozen american
lake with a sinister reputation,

a couple take a walk
in the depths of winter.

Then, the man experiences a bizarre force.

Woman: Oh, my gosh!

Where is this electricity coming from?

Surely it's impossible
for humans to do this.

Narrator: His hands
flash with spectral light

and he revels in the moment.

Woman: Oh, my gosh!

Moore: This is just utterly not believable.

I was aghast. We were both excited.

Narrator: But he has no idea
that he is in mortal danger.

This guy is about to get fried.

He should technically be dead.

♪

Narrator: Dane county, wisconsin,

known as america's dairy capital.

It is also famous for its 15,000 lakes.

And one of the biggest is lake monona,

a 3,000-acre body of water.

46-year-old rudy moore
has lived by it for seven years

without incident, but on the freezing night

of January 25, 2016, that all changed.

Moore: The lake was frozen solid.
We had a night out and came back

and decided to walking out on the lake.

Narrator: Moore and his friend
venture 1,000-feet onto the ice.

The darkness, the clouds, the frozen lake,

it magnifies that sense
of isolation that you feel.

For a brief moment, you are
out in the middle of nowhere.

Narrator: And that's when it happens.

I felt this strange
sensation in my fingertips

coming through my gloves.

I couldn't place what was going on.

And then when I took the
glove off, I was shocked.

Woman: Oh, my gosh!

Narrator: Moore's fingers erupt with light.

Moore: It was incredibly bizarre.

It reminds me of a super power or something

from a sci-fi movie. It's crazy.

Of all my years of playing around lightning

inside my lab, I've never
seen the phenomenon

like I see in this video.

Narrator: This isn't the first time

that something strange
has happened on the lake.

December 10, 1967,

a plane carrying the
prince of soul, otis redding,

mysteriously sputters in midair.

It plunges head first into the lake,

killing all but one person on board.

To this day, the cause of the plane crash

has never been determined.

In 1970, mike butler and denise fritz

are attacked by a mysterious flying disc.

It fires beams of light
towards the terrified couple,

and they flee to the shore.

They are so traumatized,
they never return to the lake.

Physicist bill beaty wonders if the source

of the strange energy could have come

from rudy moore himself.

There's one phenomena that this could be

and that's electric human
syndrome or sliders.

And that's where humans
are electric generators

creating high voltage.

Narrator: People all over
the world are reporting

a personal electromagnetic
field that creates havoc.

Everything malfunctions around them.

They can't wear digital watches.

Their cellphone gets ruined.

Electrical lights will turn
off as they walk along

in sequence one after another.

Narrator: Author colin wilson
reports that a 14-year-old

missouri girl, jennie morgan,

has an electromagnetic field that knocks

nearby people to the floor.

Could a slider person
start having actual sparks

coming out of their fingers?

Narrator: Electricity
firing out of living creatures

does occur in the natural world.

Some animals can actually
create a lot of electricity.

Narrator: The notorious knifefish,

the electric eel, is one of the
most extraordinary predators

in the animal kingdom.

It stalks its prey in the amazon basin

firing 800-volt electric
shocks at its victims.

The electric eel has a specialized organ

that works kind of like a battery.

The amount of charge that an electric eel

can generate is huge.

We're talking about 800 volts.

The human body just can't tolerate

that amount of electricity.

Narrator: Bill beaty
proposes an alternative theory.

Beaty: When you put your
hand too close to extreme

high voltage, that's enough to get little

sparks off your finger,
but this glowing thing

needs an immense voltage like a generator.

Narrator: Just 1 mile away from where rudy

stood that night is the
blount generating plant.

The power station produces 69,000 volts

of electricity and serves
over 140,000 people.

High voltage electrical
expert david wallace

wants to determine if a human could pick up

and transmit electricity
from a nearby power source

such as the generating plant.

To replicate the electromagnetic field

found in power lines,
wallace is using a tesla coil.

What we're gonna do
real quick is hit a hit.

Let's see if we get a charge.

[ buzzing ]

yes, we get a charge.

Narrator: The experiment is so dangerous

wallace must use a mannequin
instead of a living subject.

He wants to know if the mannequin can

transmit the charge without
being in direct contact

with the electrical wires.

Okay, so we have our tesla coil powered up.

Now, as you can right here,
we do not have anything

directly connected to the mannequin.

With this tesla coil, we're
expecting to see voltages

of around a couple of thousand volts.

So we're gonna have
a space about 1/2 a foot

to a foot distance.

All right, lights out.

♪

[ buzzing ]

wow, see, now that's awesome.

We're getting sparks
coming out of the fingertips.

Narrator: The sparks
the mannequin shoots out

from its fingers are hauntingly similar

to those that came out of rudy moore.

Coming up...

A phantom motorcycle stops traffic dead.

Is it haunted or is someone controlling it?

Narrator: An ancient
omen of disaster appears

on the shore.

At this point, I think the filipinos

are a little bit nervous.

Narrator: And is this a
super power or a warning?

That is a sure sign that you might be

the destination for
the next lightning bolt.

♪

Narrator: On a frozen lake in wisconsin,

a weird fire shoots from a man's fingers.

High voltage expert david wallace believes

a nearby power plant could be the source

of this strange energy,
but there's a problem.

So for this theory to work

the man would have to be standing near

the generating plant.

Narrator: But moore was a mile away

from the blount generating station,

which produces 69,000 volts.

By wallace's calculations,

the power plant would have to be generating

over 4.8 billion volts of
electricity to reach him,

over 60,000 times its capacity.

That much power would
also instantly kill him

and everyone in the surrounding area.

Meteorologist angela
fritz studies the footage

and believes there may be
clues in the sky behind moore.

The location and the
time of year is really key

to know what's going on.

You can see in the video
there's very low visibility

behind their hands, which
means that it's snowing very hard,

maybe even blizzard conditions.

In heavy snowfall,

the snow particles rubbing
together can super charge

the atmosphere with electrical energy.

It can appear as a flame on
the highest points in the area.

Jon farrow is aware of this phenomena.

We call this st. Elmo's fire.

Usually it's with ships.

And it looks like fire is
coming from the masts.

Instead of a ship's
mast, it could be his body

that's being charged by the atmosphere

and creating lightning in his hands.

Narrator: If true, this is the first time

st. Elmo's fire has
been reported and filmed

erupting from a living being.

But experts warn that rudy moore was lucky

to escape with his life.

If I saw this on my own hands,

I'd be running indoors
because that is a sure sign

that you might be the destination

for the next lightning bolt.

[ thunder crashes ]

narrator: Now, on an island
racked by natural disasters,

a shapeless organic
horror appears on the beach.

Is this a creature from the
sea? Is it from somewhere else?

Narrator: Whatever
it is, it is or was alive.

I mean, is it even from planet earth?

Narrator: But locals know all
too well what this monster means.

Filipinos take this as a bad omen.

They would definitely be worried.

Narrator: Is this creature the
portent of geological disaster?

♪

The philippine island of mindoro,

may 11, 2018, at the
tip of the most diverse

marine ecosystem on earth.

This area is home to 75%
of the known coral species.

But scientists have never
seen anything like this before...

A monstrosity from the ocean.

The locals try to capture the beast.

A grotesque blob looking
and smelling like a creature

from another world.
- This creature is massive.

It's like the size of a winnebago.

Narrator: Coming up...

A riderless motorcycle
brings terror to a city.

It kind of looks like it's being haunted.

What's happening? Is it
a self-driving motorcycle?

Narrator: Campers flee
as mobile homes and cars

disappear into a mysterious abyss.

The ground just disappears.

I mean, it's a ground, for goodness sake.

Narrator: And an extraordinary clue

in the hunt for the
origin of the filipino entity.

This blob has fur.

♪

Narrator: A huge unidentified
creature washes up on a tropical beach.

Investigative journalist
chris o'brien knows

that some locals believe this fleshy thing

is the sign of a terrible event to come.

When a strange blob like
this washes up on the beach,

filipinos would think this is a bad omen.

[ thunder crashing ]

one of the traditions they
have is of an aquatic dragon.

Narrator: The dragon is
known as the bakunawa,

a creature whose arrival is always followed

by a catastrophe.

If it shows up, that could
be foretelling an earthquake

or a tsunami. At this point,

I think the filipinos
are a little bit nervous.

Narrator: The philippines
lie in the world's

biggest geological disaster zone.

The ring of fire is a
continuous 25,000-mile stretch

of deep oceanic trenches, active volcanoes,

and overlapping tectonic plates.

Just days after the blob appeared,

69 major earthquakes shook the ring of fire

over a 48-hour period.

The philippines now
fear they are next in line.

After the wave of earthquakes,

author linda godfrey understands why locals

believe there's some truth behind the myth

of the bakunawa.

People wonder if there can be such a thing

as a real sea monster because we don't know

what's in much of our ocean especially down

at the lower depths.

Narrator: In the uncharted
territory of our oceans,

new species are being
discovered at the astonishing rate

of around five per day.

But marine biologist eric hovland

doesn't see any of the features
a marine animal would have.

Where's its head?

Where are its eyes?

Did it have flippers,
fins, arms, tentacles?

♪

Narrator: Biologist danni
washington looks at the blob

and wonders if this
creature originated on land.

When I take a closer look at the footage,

I notice that there are
little hairy projectile pieces,

which could indicate this blob has fur.

A polar bear decomposing
is made of skin and tissue

that would break down
in sea water like this.

Narrator: Polar bears are
the biggest and deadliest

bears on earth.

They hunt on ice at the edge of the sea,

preying on seals as they come up for air.

They spend more than six
months a year in the water,

and they have been sighted
more than 80 miles away

from the shore.

A polar bear could have been swept far away

from its arctic home.

Washington: All oceans are connected,

so ocean currents can
carry objects or things

for thousands of miles.

Narrator: Ocean currents
are swirling water movements

generated by the wind, temperature,

and the gravitational pull
of the sun and the moon.

The fastest pacific
currents move at a speed

of 100 miles a day,

the same as the walking
speed of a human being.

But environmental scientist sian proctor

knows this wouldn't be fast enough.

Proctor: The location of
this video in the philippines,

polar bears live in the
arctic circle 4,000 miles away.

By the time that bear's
carcass would have gotten there,

it would have been picked clean,
basically eaten by scavengers.

Narrator: Proctor examines
the footage and believes

the blob could be the body
part of a much larger being...

A whale.

Proctor: They're huge mammals
in the ocean and when they die,

as they decay and get eaten and scavenged,

parts could still survive.

Narrator: Whales are
the largest living creatures

ever to inhabit earth.

Some weigh 200 tons,
as heavy as 22 t-rexes.

They are so immense
that even a small body part

can look like a separate animal.

Hovland: What we're lookin'
at here is a big broken down

hunk of whale blubber.

It turns out it's not hair after all.

This is hair. That was muscle fibers.

As the tissue breaks
down, some of the material

withers away while the
stronger muscle fibers

stay back and they look like hair.

Narrator: But hovland suspects
that there may be some truth

in the locals' belief that
the arrival of the blob

is a sign of impending disaster.

Hovland: This was sitting
at the bottom of the ocean.

Maybe some kind of
tectonic activity thrust it back

onto the shore.

Narrator: 90% of the world's earthquakes
strike here in the ring of fire.

Perhaps the locals are
right to treat the arrival

of blobs from the ocean floor
as a pungent early warning sign.

O'brien: This is a bad
portent. Something to fear.

What are we dealing with
here? Filipinos want to know.

♪

♪

Narrator: Now, on the
streets of a modern city,

a ghostly motorcycle cruises
through an intersection.

♪

What happened to the
rider? Was there ever a rider?

Narrator: Experts ask,
"is this a bike from hell?"

is it haunted or is someone controlling it?

You wonder how something
like this could be happening.

♪

Narrator: January 16, 2018.

Kolkata, the former
capital of british india.

The tech industry here is booming,

moving faster than ever before.

Every day, over three million vehicles pass

through these streets, but
none of them look like this.

♪

When the bike is first
spotted, it has no rider

and there's no sign of an accident.

The bike isn't just riderless,
it is driving on its own.

It's not even traveling in a straight line.

It's following the curve
of the road perfectly.

It kind of gives you the
creeps to think about it.

My first thought seeing
this was it's a ghost rider.

Narrator: This isn't the first time

a spectral vehicle has been reported.

On the karak highway
in malaysia, locals say

a phantom car creeps along
daring drivers to overtake it.

But once alongside, they
find the driver's seat empty.

Dartmoor, England.

A narrow stretch of hillside,
motorcyclists have reported

a ghostly presence gripping their hands,

forcing them to swerve off the road.

Survivors tell of being seized by a pair

of incredibly strong,
murderous, hairy hands.

Science journalist jade lovell
believes the bike could be

under technological control.

It kind of looks like it's being haunted.

What's happening? Is it
a self-driving motorcycle?

Narrator: Self-driving motorcycles are

currently being developed by
companies around the world.

They claim the bikes will be safer vehicles

and will lead to safer roads.

But environmental scientist
sian proctor believes

we could be heading
in a dangerous direction.

We really have to be mindful
of the potential dangers

that are inherent with
this type of technology.

Could it be dangerous
for society in the end?

Absolutely.

Narrator: Coming up...

Campers fall into oblivion.

You can see the raw terror
on those people's faces.

[ indistinct shouting ]

narrator: And is a robot bike
roaming the streets of kolkata?

That shouldn't be possible.

♪

Narrator: In an indian city,
a motorcycle cruises calmly

through an intersection
without any visible rider.

Physicist john di bartolo
examines the footage

and is able to identify the
motorcycle as a t.V.S. Apache.

He thinks it's unlikely that
it is a self-driving model.

If this were a self-driving motorbike,

you would expect that it
would look a little modern

than the classic model that you see.

Narrator: Examining the
movement of the motorcycle,

di bartolo believes there
is a physical explanation.

Di bartolo: If you have a
stationary motorbike, and it tilts

to one side, it's gonna fall over.

However, if the bike is moving,

there's this corrective
mechanism that happens due

to the laws of physics.

Narrator: There are three
parts to this stability...

A motorcycle's heavy spinning wheels

provide gyroscopic stability.

The angle of the forks makes
the front wheel recenter itself,

and the wheel's movement
as a motorcycle leans means

it steers into the fall.

Together, these things help a riderless

motorcycle stay upright.

There's evidence of bikes
recovering after crashes

and continuing to drive without a rider.

2005... auburn, california.

Veteran dirt bike rider bobby
hedin is leading the pack

when his attempted power
slide throws him off his bike.

The throttle jams
feeding fuel to the engine.

The motorcycle rears
up and flies out of control,

heading straight for track
workers and bystanders

at more than 50 miles an hour.

[ engine revving ]

incredibly, the spectators survived.

For as long as there's
nothing in front of this bike

and for as long as this
bike sustains this velocity,

it could presumably keep moving like this.

♪

Narrator: Now, a popular family
campsite is plunged into terror.

[ indistinct shouting ]

narrator: Dashcam footage
captures 300 tourists fleeing

for their lives.

You can see the raw terror
on those people's faces.

[ indistinct shouting ]

narrator: As a deadly abyss
opens up beneath the camper's feet.

The earth is literally
falling away to one side.

Narrator: The mysterious void
swallows the campsite whole.

You'll never sleep soundly again.

This is truly the stuff of nightmares.

♪

Narrator: Inskip point, australia.

Every year, over 40,000 tourists flock

to this stunning peninsula
for sunshine and fun.

But on the night of September 26, 2015,

the good times turn horrifically bad.

♪

Campers are terrified as
mobile homes and cars disappear

into a mysterious abyss.

[ indistinct shouting ]

narrator: News spreads across the globe.

Vehicles and tents were sucked into the sea

at the popular queensland site.

Narrator: Experts are
shocked by what they see.

Hyde: The ground just disappears.

I mean, it's the ground, for goodness sake.

Shapiro: Whatever's
happening to this entire beach,

the effects are devastating.

Narrator: Analyzing the
footage, environmental scientist

alan shapiro believes this could be one

of planet earth's most
terrifying silent assassins.

Sinkholes often open
up with no warning at all.

Once you've got a
sinkhole and it's just ready

to collapse, it could be
triggered by something

as minor as someone
setting up camp right on top.

Narrator: Sinkholes open without warning.

The surface layer falls
away to reveal a massive hole

as deep as 2,000 feet.

Nowhere is safe.

February 2013, in the suburbs of florida,

an abyss opens up directly
underneath 36-year-old

jeff bush's bed as he sleeps.

His brother rushes to save
him, but bush disappears

into the void.

His body has never been
recovered and the cause

of the sinkhole remains unknown.

Analyzing the footage,
environmental scientist

sian proctor sees a crucial difference

between the video of the
campsite and sinkholes.

Proctor: When you have a
sinkhole, generally that collapse tends

to happen rather quickly.

In the video, the area
is sliding slowly away.

[ indistinct shouting ]

narrator: Coming up...

What ate an entire australian
campsite in one night?

If you think you're walking
on steady ground all the time,

you're kidding yourself.

♪

Narrator: Campers are
terrified as the ground opens up

beneath a popular
campsite, swallowing vehicles

as tourists flee.

The video comes to the
attention of environmental engineer

imad al-qadi who believes
this could be evidence

of a rare type of landslide.

The first thing came to my mind is,

"could this be a quick clay problem?"

narrator: Quick clay is a natural soil

so structurally unstable that it can behave

like a liquid, becoming a deadly killer.

[ indistinct shouting ]

man: Get back! Get back!

Get back!

♪

Narrator: Quebec, canada, February 2010,

a family gathered to watch hockey.

Without warning, the quick clay

under their house
disintegrates, killing them all

as they tumble 100
feet into the valley below.

But proctor doubts anywhere
in australia would have

a quick clay problem for one key reason.

Proctor: Quick clay
actually forms in regions

that have experienced intense glaciation.

And so this typically is
north america, canada,

norway, places like that.

Narrator: 2.5 million years ago,

a 2-mile deep ice sheet
covered north america.

But due to the prevailing
weather patterns at the time,

australia was virtually
untouched by the March

of the ice and quick
clay has not formed here.

And so as a result, maybe there's

something else going on here.

Narrator: Proctor believes the solution

to the mystery of the collapsing site comes

from the ocean beside it.

She's built a test to see
if the theory is correct.

- Where that camper is.
- Might go before then.

It might go before then? Okay.

Narrator: She is simulating
the campsite on the beach.

The camper is at the
ocean level on the beach.

And then underneath
here is below the ocean.

Move the back hoe in position and then

we'll take it from there. Okay.

Narrator: Proctor is using heavy machinery

to replicate strong ocean currents eroding

a sandy beach from below.

Proctor: These campers had
no idea that this might've been

a ticking time bomb.

Narrator: If proctor's correct,
the campers didn't know it,

but their solid-looking
campsite was balancing

on a precipice.

Oh, oh, oh!

It's so close!

Oh, oh, wow!

Yes!

That's what's happening!

The current just off the coast is eroding

what you can't see.

It's below the ocean, and so
these campers are coming along

thinking that everything is just fine.

But it's not.

Narrator: Inskip point faces
the fastest ocean current

on australia's coast.

Water speeds at 48 miles
a day, gouging out chunks

of the coast beneath waves,
undermining the beach.

What's happening is that the
currents are actually eroding

away part of the coastline
causing the beach

to become unstable and slip away.

Narrator: Next day, the full
scale of the devastation is clear.

500 feet of coastline
swallowed by the ocean.

No one was killed in this beach collapse,

but over 85% of the
australian population live

on the coast.

It's only a matter of
time before the ground

beneath their feet is eaten
away by the merciless ocean.

If you think you're
walking on steady ground

all the time, you're kidding yourself.