Strange Evidence (2017–…): Season 4, Episode 9 - Curse of the Alien Egg - full transcript
When cameras capture footage of a strange, human-sized egg floating in Arctic waters, some experts wonder if it's evidence of alien life; using cutting-edge technology, investigators try to reveal the true origins of this unexplai...
[ camera whirs ]
narrator: Worldwide,
27 billion cameras
are watching us...
On our streets,
at work, and in our homes.
They capture things
that seem impossible.
It defies the laws of physics.
Man: This is unbelievable, man.
Narrator:
Experts carry out analysis
of these unusual events.
Now, that's an explosion.
[ people screaming ]
there's got to be something
we're missing in this video.
Something we're not seeing,
right?
What else is going on here?
[ camera whirs ]
narrator: Coming up...
Why does this man's
dinner detonate?
Ooh, that must have hurt.
Kasky: The last thing you expect
is that food to explode
in your face.
Narrator:
The sewer brain returns.
Farrow: Whoa! What is that?
Some sort of oozing mass of...
I don't even know what it is.
Narrator: And the decapitated
head of a giant wolf beast.
These guys allowed themselves to
be transformed into werewolves.
Narrator: Bizarre phenomena.
Whoa.
Narrator:
Mysteries caught on camera.
What's the truth behind this
strange evidence?
captions paid for by
discovery communications
now, in a restaurant in china...
This is absolutely terrifying.
Narrator:
...Surveillance cameras capture
a detonating dinner.
I hope she's okay,
but that's pretty good spray
that came out of there.
Narrator: Boiling food inflicts
frightening burns
to the face of a waitress.
Ooh, that must have hurt.
Narrator: Could rotting meat
be giving off gases?
Gas can build up that bang,
it just pops.
[ camera whirs ]
narrator: Kunming city, capital
of yunnan province in china.
Local delicacies of the region
include steamed pot chicken
and crossing the bridge noodles.
May 2019.
Diners get a special
they'll never forget.
Ooh, that's terrible.
Narrator: Whatever's in there
has expired.
Orzel:
She's cooking at the table.
She's fishing around
in hot soup.
Whoa.
Narrator: It's a blast of broth.
The last thing you expect
is that food
to explode in your face.
Narrator: This is serious.
The waitress needs
hospital treatment for burns.
Boy, did she get an eyeful.
This looked really painful.
Narrator: Physicist simon foster
reviews the footage and wonders
if this could be food that's
well past its expiration date.
Something has exploded in there.
Something has given off
a large amount
of gas very rapidly.
Could it be the ingredients
has actually caused this?
Narrator: For restaurants
across the world,
storing food at
the correct temperature
is always a challenge.
In the united states alone,
food poisoning sends
128,000 people
to the hospital each year.
3,000 of them die.
When food decays,
it gives off gas.
Microbes basically start eating
stuff and give off methane.
Now, if something starts to rot,
you get a tremendous buildup
of gas very rapidly,
and that could be
what's happening here.
Could there be some sort of
food source in there,
some piece of meat,
that's actually sealed up?
And as it gets hot
and as it decomposes,
enough gas can build up
that bang,
it just pops.
Narrator: It might seem strange,
but the same phenomenon
can happen with the human body.
In the funeral-home business,
it's known as
exploding-casket syndrome.
There are actually stories
of bodies exploding
because there's so much gas
inside them
that, basically,
it has nowhere to go.
And just like a balloon,
people can pop.
Narrator: Taiwan, 2004.
A dead sperm whale
is being transported to a lab.
As the truck carrying it
drives through the city,
the 50-ton whale explodes,
spraying huge volumes
of blood and guts
over cars and people
on the street.
Biologist greg szulgit considers
if something in this dish
could be giving off gases.
If there was rotting food
in here,
the gas would be coming out,
but the bubbles would just be
going to the surface.
The only way to get
this kind of pressure bomb
would be to have a lid on it,
and there's no lid,
so the bubbles are coming up.
If it was rotting food,
sure, it would taste disgusting,
but it wouldn't have
this big explosive effect.
Narrator: Physicist chad orzel
looks into
what supplies the heat
to cook food
in this kind of restaurant.
Orzel: What powers these
cook-at-the-table things
is generally something
like a canister
of, probably, propane
that's feeding a burner,
sort of like a gas grill.
Narrator: Liquefied propane gas
boils at -45° fahrenheit.
At room temperature,
it only stays liquid as the
cylinders are under pressure.
If one ruptures,
then just a single spark can
cause a catastrophic explosion.
This canister of propane
that's connected to the burners
through some sort of hoses,
if those are poorly connected
or improperly maintained,
you could get a leak of gas
that could mix with air.
And then the fire
that's in the burners
heating the soup
could provide the spark
that could make a
quite damaging explosion.
Narrator: But examining
the footage closer,
tim pickens doubts the explosion
in the restaurant
is from the gas supply heating
the hot pot under the table.
The reason I don't think
this was a propane explosion
is because what we see
originated inside of the pot.
There was a big boom
inside of the pot,
not underneath.
The whole restaurant
probably would have
went up in flames,
and we didn't see that.
Narrator: In an attempt
to find new clues,
former nypd video analyst
conor mccourt looks at the clip
from the restaurant.
The waitress has come up.
She's using some utensils.
Is she trying to get
some food out?
It's very unusual
'cause you usually put
your own ingredients in.
You don't really ask
a waitress to do anything.
If I zoom in here, it looks like
she's using the utensils
to look for something.
When we go frame by frame,
we can see where
the origin of the explosion is.
It's within the soup.
If you're inside a pot of soup,
it's hard to find a spark
that's gonna make
an explosion of fire, right?
This is probably just something
over-pressuring,
expanding till it can't
take any more and then popping
and spraying soup around.
Narrator: China accounts for 40%
of the world's
tobacco consumption.
Explosives expert tim pickens
considers if a cigarette lighter
might have been involved
in this blast.
I have a suspicion,
based on the bubble
that we see in that video,
that we probably are looking at
some sort of cigarette lighter,
something with maybe butane,
was dropped in there.
Narrator:
Tim's controlled experiment
involves simply dropping
a standard disposable lighter
into a boiling cooking pot.
This should not
be attempted at home.
My theory is this will
definitely rupture,
and there will be a bubble,
and I'm expecting a fireball.
Butane is normally stored
at less than 50 psi
at room temperature
at 400°, this could easily
approach 400-500 psi
inside this container.
It's a big deal.
So if that happens, you've got
a little bomb inside of this.
And that bomb could really
hurt somebody.
Narrator: In his career, tim's
blown up almost everything,
but never a cigarette lighter
in a boiling hot pot.
For that true restaurant feel,
he's adding some pieces of fish
to the dish.
Okay, cooper,
it's time to get our goggles on.
Narrator: With the oil at 400°,
tim wants to see if the pressure
will build up in the lighter
to a point where it ruptures
and he can get
the same explosion scene
in the restaurant.
Coming up, can tim liven up
this broth?
Pickens: Get ready to run.
Okay. Let's go.
Narrator: And is a toxic,
deadly slime invading our homes?
That's revolting.
What the hell is that?
♪♪
Narrator:
In a restaurant in china,
a dinner disaster
as boiling food explodes,
inflicting severe burns
on the face
of the unfortunate waitress.
Forensic explosives expert
tim pickens
tries to recreate the blast.
My theory is this
will definitely rupture,
but I'm expecting a fireball.
Let me go ahead
and drop this lighter in.
Narrator: This experiment
was performed
in a controlled environment
with proper safety gear.
Do not try this at home.
Whoa!
Whoo!
Man!
Tim's experiment produces
an explosion
just like the one
in the footage.
Whoa!
Look there... the lighter,
it's melted, man.
We got a big hole here.
It's like it's been shot
with a pistol.
Blown open like
a stick of dynamite.
Imagine, if you were
at a restaurant,
look how many people
would have been hurt
and sent to the hospital.
This could have been
serious injury.
Pickens: There's a lot of energy
in a lighter.
So, yeah,
this could really happen.
Narrator: There are more than
300 million smokers in china,
so this won't be
the last exploding entree.
This is just a more
unusual reason than most
why smoking is bad for you.
Narrator: Now a slithering mass
of pulsating alien goo...
That's revolting.
What the hell is that?
Narrator: ...Creeps across
a suburban kitchen floor.
I don't know what this creepy,
black, wiggling creature is.
Narrator: Scientists are still
struggling to explain it.
It looks like some kind of
symbiotic organism.
Narrator: What is it?
Where does it come from?
And what does it want?
[ camera whirs ]
thailand.
People often comment on the
weird, alien landscape here,
but it's not just
the landscape that's strange.
May 2017.
This thing is filmed
crawling across a kitchen floor.
It's a really weird, black blob
that's moving in one direction.
Narrator: A pulsating ooze
crawling towards
or away from something...
Last time I saw something
like that in a movie,
the guy turned into venom.
Narrator: ...Leaving behind
a trail of slime.
Some sort of oozing mass of...
I don't even know what it is.
Narrator: Experts are still
at a loss to explain it.
It's something I haven't seen
before, so I'm fascinated by it.
Narrator: When marine biologist
eric hovland
looks at the footage,
he wonders if this creeping blob
could be some kind of
fearsome parasite.
Nature can be weird
and freaky and wild.
This is no single organism.
It looks to be a whole cadre
of worm-like animals
all working together.
Worms sometimes
do work together,
and that's when
they're parasites
and they're focused
on the same host.
Could that be
what's happening here?
The line of mucus tells me
that this is a large group
of invertebrates,
perhaps something like slugs or
maybe even a worm of some sort.
But unlike groups of ants
or bees, slugs and worms
aren't known to work together
in such an organized fashion.
Judging from the size
of this mass,
the sheer number of hundreds,
perhaps thousands of worms.
Is this a whole new parasite
that we have yet to discover?
A parasite capable
of taking over and controlling
a larger species,
perhaps controlling us?
♪♪
Narrator:
Entomologist kevin kasky
thinks that if this is an army
of creatures acting as one,
then they mean business.
When things are going
into a war footing,
they operate as one unit,
almost like they're
connected together.
So when they operate
to go into a battle,
whether it's offensive
or defensive,
they will move in sync,
almost like
they are plugged into each other
so that each critter
knows what they're doing
when the other one
is doing something else.
Narrator: There are some species
of spider that hunt in groups.
This phenomenon is known
as a war party.
As they work together,
these small individuals
take down much larger prey.
When a victim falls
into their web,
multiple spiders pounce
and inject it with venom.
Then they share their meal
with the community.
There's a lot of creatures
that will make themselves
look bigger somehow,
either by moving in a collective
and making them
look much larger.
Narrator: Large ant colonies
with tens or hundreds
of thousands of members
engage in all-out war
with their rivals
as they compete for resources.
Matabele ants are raiders
who specialize in attacking
and eating termites.
Their success comes from their
overwhelming numbers.
And no one gets left behind.
Fallen comrades are
carried back to the nest.
Sometimes, when they're in
an aggressive formation,
just the sheer numbers
of overwhelming your opponent
is what makes that
such a frightening aspect.
So when you're going
into battle,
you want them to think
that there's no hope,
and they just give up,
roll over, and die.
Narrator: Coming up,
has an animal army invaded?
I hope they called
the exterminators immediately
after taking this video.
Narrator: And a mystery blast
in an ancient city.
[ people screaming ]
there's chaos.
What exactly is going on here?
♪♪
Narrator: In a thai kitchen,
something creeps
across the floor.
Exactly what this is
baffles experts.
But when zoologist roland kays
examines the footage closer,
he concludes this is
a composite monster
made of many creatures.
If you look at the back of this
group, you can see
there's a couple that are
kind of struggling to keep up.
I've been looking into
whether this is a one-off
or whether there have been
more sightings.
And in fact, there's quite
a few of these in recent years.
I don't know if this is
good news or bad news.
Narrator: In belgium, another
similar swarm is recorded...
Thousands of caterpillars
joined together
to create a snake-like creature.
In the end, the army
is called in to repel them.
Some species of caterpillar
are poisonous, even deadly.
Narrator: In 2018,
thailand was invaded
by swarms
of deadly caterpillars.
Farrow: In thailand,
some types of caterpillar
have toxic hairs
all over their body.
Narrator: Death by caterpillar
can be horrific.
One touch of the
tasar silkworm caterpillar's
hair-like bristles releases
dangerous toxins
into the bloodstream that can
cause total kidney failure.
[ sirens wailing ]
this thing moving across the
kitchen floor could be lethal.
But there's something not right
about this many-headed monster.
One of the mysteries here
is the slime that's left behind.
Caterpillars don't generally
leave slime.
We know that slugs and snails,
they'll leave a trail
behind them.
But caterpillars,
when they move, are dry.
So what is that trail?
Kays: This footage
was uploaded in may,
which is the rainy season
in thailand,
when they start to get heavy
rainstorms and even monsoons.
Narrator: Has the rain flushed
some unknown creature
up from the ground?
In 2017, nasa recorded frequent
and persistent downpours
in thailand.
The extreme rainfall
totals over 27 inches.
Whatever this is, it's unlikely
to be the only one of its kind,
and experts are advising humans
to stay clear.
I hope they called
the exterminators immediately
after taking this video.
Narrator:
Now a mystery explosion...
Oh, wow.
Narrator: ...That threatens to
spark a chain reaction
that is one high-energy
explosion.
Narrator: But what caused it?
There's people
kind of freaking out.
Narrator:
So much depends on the answer.
It's chaos.
What exactly is going on here?
[ camera whirs ]
narrator: Istanbul, turkey,
where east meets west,
a powder keg of global conflict
and tensions.
September 2019.
A warm summer's day
is shattered...
By a huge explosion.
This is just like terror
raining from the sky.
Narrator: Clouds of smoke
and debris fly through the sky.
There's black smoke everywhere,
this huge thing
shooting up in the air.
Narrator: Heavy metal
rains down, smashing cars
and narrowly missing people
on the street.
We see people running all
over the place,
running for their lives.
You have to ask, was it
man-made and intentional,
or was it man-made
and accidental?
Narrator: Science journalist
joe pappalardo
studies the footage,
searching for clues.
The video is the best
first piece of evidence
when it comes to determining
what this explosion was
and whether it was
an intentional act or not.
And you see a barrel
flying through the air,
and you have to ask,
"is that significant?"
turkey is at the crossroads
of the world.
It borders
a couple of continents,
a lot of different nations,
and as such,
there's been a lot of turmoil
and conflict in the region.
Narrator: Pappalardo believes
the barrel could point to this
being an attack.
In that part of the world,
you immediately think,
"is it a barrel bomb?"
narrator:
A barrel bomb attack here
could have repercussions
that are felt around the world.
These are crude devices...
Simple metal drums
packed with tnt,
shrapnel, and deadly chemicals.
Syria, which borders
to the south,
has seen them used
in their civil war.
Narrator: You essentially
kick it out of a helicopter
and drop it onto a target.
Now, it's very simple,
but it's also
incredibly devastating.
It's essentially
a chemical weapon.
If it's a chlorine bomb,
you have people on the ground
suffering from burns,
inhalation.
It's really a gruesome
way to die.
Narrator: Barrel bombs are
indiscriminate and destructive.
But according to the
syrian network for human rights,
nearly 70,000 of them
have been dropped in the country
during their bloody civil war,
killing more than
11,000 civilians.
Looking at the clip,
military expert carlo muñoz
believes this
is not a barrel bomb.
Muñoz: The biggest indication
in the video that this explosion
was probably not a barrel bomb
is the barrel itself.
Now, in the video,
when we see it land
on the street,
it's in one piece.
Now, if there was
2,000 pounds of tnt
packed into this barrel,
there'd be nothing left
once it hit the ground.
Narrator: Coming up,
is this a new kind of bomb...
[ people screaming ]
...And a new kind of target?
Brensberger: If this is
a new tactic for terrorists,
then we all have to be worried.
Narrator: And is a legendary
sea beast multiplying?
Oh, this thing is massive.
It looks like something
out of the "alien" movie.
♪♪
Narrator: A mysterious explosion
rocks the city of istanbul.
Neurophysiologist kiki sanford
looks into the footage
and wonders
if the location gives a clue.
The place where this video
was shot
is a heavy industrial area
with a lot of chemical plants
on the outskirts of istanbul.
This particular
industrial location
has a lot of factories
that produce plastics,
which involve the use
of many volatile chemicals.
Maybe this is the information
we need to give us an answer.
The white vapor trail looks like
it's coming out of the barrel.
Maybe that's what launched it up
into the air in the first place.
If this explosion is involving
dangerous chemicals,
then the people who are
standing around in this video
could be in serious trouble.
[ people screaming ]
♪♪
Narrator: Soft targets are
easy to attack
with potential to cause
significant damage
and loss of life.
After the attacks
of September 11, 2001,
the united states made a big,
concerted effort
to try and mitigate
all the risks of attack
on industrial targets...
Chemical plants, power plants,
anywhere where these kinds
of attacks could take place.
Narrator: The aftermath
of a terrorist attack
on a chemical plant
would be horrific.
Vapor from leaks and fires
can blind people
and attack the lungs,
causing difficulty breathing.
Without urgent
medical assistance,
victims can suffer
serious injury and death.
There's really two things
that make this frightening
for someone
in the united states.
One, we have a lot
of infrastructure.
We have an open society.
We can't guard everything
all the time,
and a crude explosive
could do a lot of damage.
Narrator: Disturbingly,
a terrorist group
has claimed responsibility
for the explosion.
The fear is this incident
could trigger similar attacks
around the world.
If this is a new tactic
for terrorists to target
and blow up chemical factories,
then we all have to be worried.
An industrial area
like new york city
has dozens of
chemical factories,
so a terrorist attack on one
of those would be devastating.
Narrator:
Now an unworldly blob...
What is inside that
huge, alien thing?
Narrator: ...Floats menacingly
in the arctic sea.
Oh, this thing is massive.
Narrator: A giant egg, it seems,
of a giant sea monster.
That looks like something
from another world.
No matter what it is, I wonder,
are there more of them around?
[ camera whirs ]
narrator: Orstafjorden, norway.
The crystal-clear arctic waters
are prime diving territory.
2019.
Divers explore
a world war 2 shipwreck
when they see
something extraordinary.
It looks like an enormous egg.
Narrator: A gigantic, floating
blob, bigger than a man.
It looks like something
out of the "alien" movie.
Narrator:
What colossal undersea creature
could have produced
this monster?
I mean, I'd say
burn it with fire,
but that's not
gonna work, is it?
Narrator: Science journalist
steve potvin
looks at the footage.
This thing is so huge,
it must surely have something
to do with a whale.
We've seen pregnant
humpback whales,
and we've seen baby
humpback whales,
but we've never actually seen
that process in between.
We rarely see whale placentas,
but when we have seen them,
they've been about
the same size as this.
Narrator: The strange structure
is egg-like,
but whales don't lay eggs.
One sea monster that does
is the shark.
40 or 50 different kinds
of sharks actually lay eggs.
Narrator: In these waters,
there lives
a true shark monster,
one of the biggest in existence.
The greenland shark is enormous.
It's about 20 feet long
and weighs about 2,500 pounds.
It's a really slow swimmer and
normally lives in cold waters.
The greenland shark lives
a very long time,
somewhere between 300
and 500 years of age.
It makes it the world's
longest-living vertebrate.
Narrator: The oldest specimen
caught so far
was around 400 years old.
But biologists believe
that these sharks can live
for more than half a millennium.
And that's just the oldest one
that we've found.
There could be older ones
yet out there.
These things are just bizarre
in so many ways.
Narrator: This creature is still
a mystery to science.
Autopsies on dead
greenland sharks
show they eat seals,
but also horse and reindeer.
But there's a problem
with this shark egg theory.
As mysterious as
greenland sharks are,
one thing we do know about them
is that they're ovoviviparous,
meaning they give birth
to live young.
So they don't lay eggs.
This can't be
a greenland shark egg.
Narrator:
For biologist greg szulgit,
what's confusing is that
although the object is gigantic,
it looks like
a single-cell organism.
Most people think of
single cells
as teeny, tiny little things,
which is usually true,
but actually,
cells can get to be quite large.
There are organisms, there are
algae, where a single cell
can be 6 to 12 inches long.
Narrator: Single-celled
organisms are
some of the oldest forms of life
and found almost
everywhere in nature.
Steve potvin considers whether
this otherworldly entity
is, in fact,
not from this world.
There's this theory
called panspermia,
which basically says
that all life on earth
evolved from this
single-celled organism
that originally came
from outer space.
Narrator: In theory, material
from an icy asteroid
could be hiding microorganisms
as they impact the earth,
these creatures
are released and grow.
There was evidence of this
deep freezing of life
found in siberia in 2018.
Microscopic worms
called nematodes
are dug up from the permafrost,
having been frozen
for 42,000 years.
After defrosting,
the worms start
moving and feeding.
This natural cryopreservation
opens up the possibility of life
surviving the vast
distances of space
in a state of
perpetual hibernation.
If this is a monster egg,
then there is a monster legend
to match it.
In ancient scandinavian legend,
the kraken is a large
and dangerous creature
that comes from the depths.
Narrator:
The norse were expert sailors,
using the sea
like interstate highways.
But the kraken was one creature
all vikings feared.
They believed that with
its enormous tentacles,
it was capable of taking
whole vessels with their crews
down to the bottom of the sea
to an early grave.
You can see how in other times,
people would have looked
at something like this
and thought that it was possibly
the egg of some mysterious beast
like the kraken.
Narrator: Coming up,
a skin-crawling discovery.
I don't think it's one
big creature that's inside.
I think it's tens of thousands
of little creatures.
Narrator: And could this
monstrous head
be a super-sized weapon of war?
It is the stuff of nightmares.
♪♪
Narrator:
Divers off the coast of norway
find what appears to be
a man-sized egg
floating in the arctic waters.
Engineer lisa lazareck-asunta
believes cameras have captured
something incredibly rare.
I don't think it's one big
creature that's inside.
I think it's tens of thousands
of little creatures.
One possibility, and the one
that I'm betting on,
is that this is not
a single egg,
but it might be thousands,
tens of thousands,
maybe hundreds of thousands
of eggs packed together
into a into a
jelly-like egg mass.
I think that this is actually
an egg sac from a squid.
Narrator: Sightings of
squid egg sacs are so rare
that we don't know
what species this is from.
We now know that this is
actually a massive egg sac
of 50,000 to 200,000
tiny little squid.
Narrator: In 2006, the legendary
giant squid was caught on camera
for the first time.
They are deep-water monsters,
the most alien-like creatures
on the planet.
Something dark and sinister
yet fascinating about them.
Cephalopods are older
than dinosaurs.
They've been around for hundreds
of millions of years,
and they do this by being
exceptionally good hunters.
I think most creepy of all,
they're also cannibals.
They eat each other.
Narrator: Scientists now believe
this is the giant egg sac
of a deep-sea cannibal monster.
I sort of preferred it when I
thought it was just one creature
because having it be tens
of thousands of creatures
is a little bit creepy.
Narrator: Now a severed head
in a shallow grave...
This is clearly
no ordinary wolf.
Narrator: ...Discovered in
the land of the gulags.
The russians have a long history
of animal experimentation.
Narrator:
A monster back from the dead.
These guys allowed themselves to
be transformed into werewolves.
[ camera whirs ]
narrator: Siberia.
The banks of
the tirekhtyakh river.
A frozen wilderness.
The average winter temperature
is more than 30° below.
2018.
Locals are horrified when
they discover the severed head
of a monstrous creature
buried in the ice.
It's got fur, it's got teeth,
it's got eyes,
and its brain is still intact.
It kind of has, like,
a snarling expression,
like it was fighting at a time
when it was killed.
Narrator: Experts are baffled
by this ferocious-looking
frozen beast.
It's like a giant wolf,
but it's bigger
than any wolf I've seen.
The idea of an animal
of this size and this ferocity
just walking around
the earth today is terrifying.
Narrator: The head is
unquestionably wolf-like.
What doesn't make sense
is the size.
In the video, you can see
there's a hand
that's moving this beast's head.
Using the hand, you can see how
large this head actually is.
From the tip of its snout
to the back of its head,
it's about 16 inches.
Narrator: A normal adult wolf's
head is around 10 inches long.
The rest of the animal
must have been between
6 and 7 feet long.
That is enormous.
Narrator:
Forensic examination shows
that this giant wolf's head
was decapitated,
and that could have been
the act of humans.
Archeologists in russia
have recently discovered
the 4,000-year-old remains
of charred bodies
of wolves and dogs.
Montieth: And it showed evidence
that the animals
had been roasted.
That's a pretty good sign that
whoever did that also ate them.
Narrator:
Modern humans don't eat wolves,
but thousands of years ago,
they did here,
and it wasn't just for food.
Gottlieb: The theory goes that
by eating these animals,
these boys would become men.
It was like a rite of passage,
and they would, in essence,
become these wolves
metaphorically.
[ wolf howling ]
narrator: Stories of a wolfman
monster go back centuries.
[ growling ]
records show in 1521,
a murderous werewolf pack
was hunted down and captured
in the town of poligny, France.
These men effectively claimed to
have made a deal with the devil.
They allowed themselves to be
transformed into werewolves.
They were found guilty
and executed shortly thereafter.
Narrator: Former cia operative
lindsay moran
looks into
russian scientific records
for evidence
of genetic tampering.
The russians have a long history
of animal experimentation.
This is clearly
no ordinary wolf,
and it's very rare that animals
become super-sized on their own.
They usually have a little help
from science.
In the early 90s,
the russians actually embarked
on this experiment
to try to cross-breed
wolves and dogs,
and these were specifically
intended for military use.
[ dog barking ]
they called these super-sized,
mutant wolf dogs the volkosoby.
Narrator:
The russian military wanted
a stronger, more resilient dog,
able to survive
in harsh conditions
guarding their border.
Moran: Russia is huge.
It shares borders
with more countries
than any other country
in the world.
There's 16 in total.
It's no secret that russia
has a lot of enemies,
and policing these borders
is no easy task.
And so the canine component
of that is really critical.
Narrator: But when
biological engineer raj prabhu
studies the footage,
he thinks he knows where,
or rather when,
it has come from.
This wolf was designed
for one purpose.
Looking at its jaw
and its teeth, it was designed
for crushing bone.
And considering the size
of its head,
there's only one wolf
that can match this.
The weird thing is the wolf
that matches the size
has died off
thousands of years ago.
Narrator:
The pleistocene steppe wolf
roamed the planet
during the last ice age.
Wooly mammoth would have been
on the menu,
but this giant wolf
is supposed to have died out
30,000 years ago.
Could it really be alive today?
Narrator: Biologist carin bondar
believes the location
where the head was discovered
is a vital clue.
Most of siberia is completely
covered in snow and ice
for the entire winter.
This picture was taken
when it was the springtime.
Narrator: In the spring,
when the permafrost softens,
paleontologists head to siberia
in search of relics
from the last ice age.
Could it be that this
wolf specimen that looks like
it was killed just yesterday
could have been perfectly
preserved in the permafrost?
Narrator: The giant wolf head
looks fresh,
but forensic tests reveal
it's actually 32,000 years old.
It's got fur, it's got teeth,
it's got eyes,
and its brain is still intact.
The timeline makes sense
for this
to be some kind of
prehistoric wolf.
Narrator: Coming up,
are secret weapons being tested
in the desert?
For me, it screams cover-up.
♪♪
Narrator: Now, over the desert,
a large light hangs in the sky.
It's not really moving.
It's just hanging there.
It has this weird form.
It's a weird thing to see.
Narrator: It's close to a
mystery military facility.
Nobody knows
what goes on in there.
It's strictly off-limits
to the general public.
Narrator: Is the light
the fallout from
a secret weapons program?
Lukes: It's eerie. It is creepy.
It almost looks like a vortex
opening up in the sky.
For me, it screams cover-up.
[ camera whirs ]
narrator:
Queensland, australia...
More than 700,000 square miles
of wilderness,
almost three times
as big as texas,
but with a population much
smaller than new york city.
Indigenous people arrived here
over 50,000 years ago,
establishing the oldest
continuous culture on earth.
In this empty land,
the night sky is untainted
by light pollution,
except on July 22, 2019.
There's a glowing ball
that looks like it
almost has a tail on it.
Wise: One of the things
that's so uncanny about it
is that it's impossible
to get a sense of scale.
It could be 100 feet up
and be a couple of feet across,
or it could be like a way out
in space and it's vast.
Narrator: Science writer
amy shira teitel considers
if this could be a space launch.
Shira teitel: The light
in the sky looks like
it could be a rocket
doing a prolonged burn
in the upper atmosphere.
As it's rising from one orbital
stage to the next,
the rockets will fire.
That will then be visible
from the ground.
Narrator: But there's a problem
with this theory.
Rockets move, but this light
appears to be stationary.
Astrophysicist
athena brensberger
examines the footage.
Definitely looks like
it's some type of
unidentified flying object.
The tail looks like
it's going downward,
like, towards the earth.
It looks like something that's
not coming from the earth.
It looks alien.
Narrator: The aboriginal worrora
people of northern australia
believe that the world
is created
by sky beams called wandjina,
who came from the milky way.
Wise: You can imagine people
in australia
looking up into the night sky
and seeing this and thinking,
"is this some kind of
extraterrestrial object?
Is it a ufo?"
australia has a huge
treasure trove of ufo sightings.
Narrator: Aboriginal tribesmen
have a name
for unexplained lights
in the sky over australia.
They call them min min lights.
But it's not just tribesmen
that see them.
One sighting in particular has
become famous across the world.
There's one really
interesting case
where a young pilot disappeared
without a trace.
His name was
frederick valentich,
he was actually flying
in an area
known as the
australian bermuda triangle.
Narrator: October 21, 1978,
20-year-old valentich
is piloting
a single-engine cessna
over the bass strait between
australia and tasmania...
[ airplane engine rumbling ]
...A stretch of water over which
numerous aircraft and ships
have disappeared.
He radios in to report
an unknown aircraft
following him at 4,500 feet.
He was reporting that there was
bright landing lights,
and he was moving
at fast speeds.
Air traffic control looked
at the data in the region
and went back to him and said,
"there's nothing on the radar
that says there's
another plane around you."
valentich said that
there was an object
that was maneuvering
alongside of his plane,
and he felt quite threatened
by this.
His call was interrupted
by loud,
metallic scratching sounds.
It almost sounds like a tin can
that is really
just being crumpled up,
and then we completely
lose any contact with him.
The sounds
are absolutely terrifying.
[ thunder crashing ]
shira teitel: Valentich
disappeared without a trace.
No one knows
what happened to him.
This case is one of
the most notorious
australian ufo sightings.
Narrator: Science journalist
joe pappalardo
thinks the light could be linked
to a weapons-testing facility.
You've got the woomera
rocket range right there.
Has to be a prime candidate
to consider
when you see something like this
in the sky,
narrator:
The woomera rocket range,
the largest weapons-testing site
on the planet.
49,000 square miles has been
sealed off from the public.
This secret facility is bigger
than north carolina.
Nobody knows what goes on
in there.
It's strictly off-limits
to the general public.
Narrator:
The little that is known
is cause for concern.
In the 50s and 60s,
the uk conducted
nuclear-weapons tests
right at this very range.
[ explosion ]
♪♪
Narrator: Indigenous australians
are angry that nuclear fallout
has poisoned great tracts
of their ancestral land.
But there's more going on here
than atom-bomb tests.
Scores of files
about the program
have gone missing from
the british national archives.
It makes you wonder,
what are they trying to hide?
And are we seeing their newest
secret-tech test in action?
For me, it screams cover-up.
Narrator: Whatever this light is
remains the subject
of speculation.
People try to rationalize
the sighting.
That's human nature.
That's what we do.
narrator: Worldwide,
27 billion cameras
are watching us...
On our streets,
at work, and in our homes.
They capture things
that seem impossible.
It defies the laws of physics.
Man: This is unbelievable, man.
Narrator:
Experts carry out analysis
of these unusual events.
Now, that's an explosion.
[ people screaming ]
there's got to be something
we're missing in this video.
Something we're not seeing,
right?
What else is going on here?
[ camera whirs ]
narrator: Coming up...
Why does this man's
dinner detonate?
Ooh, that must have hurt.
Kasky: The last thing you expect
is that food to explode
in your face.
Narrator:
The sewer brain returns.
Farrow: Whoa! What is that?
Some sort of oozing mass of...
I don't even know what it is.
Narrator: And the decapitated
head of a giant wolf beast.
These guys allowed themselves to
be transformed into werewolves.
Narrator: Bizarre phenomena.
Whoa.
Narrator:
Mysteries caught on camera.
What's the truth behind this
strange evidence?
captions paid for by
discovery communications
now, in a restaurant in china...
This is absolutely terrifying.
Narrator:
...Surveillance cameras capture
a detonating dinner.
I hope she's okay,
but that's pretty good spray
that came out of there.
Narrator: Boiling food inflicts
frightening burns
to the face of a waitress.
Ooh, that must have hurt.
Narrator: Could rotting meat
be giving off gases?
Gas can build up that bang,
it just pops.
[ camera whirs ]
narrator: Kunming city, capital
of yunnan province in china.
Local delicacies of the region
include steamed pot chicken
and crossing the bridge noodles.
May 2019.
Diners get a special
they'll never forget.
Ooh, that's terrible.
Narrator: Whatever's in there
has expired.
Orzel:
She's cooking at the table.
She's fishing around
in hot soup.
Whoa.
Narrator: It's a blast of broth.
The last thing you expect
is that food
to explode in your face.
Narrator: This is serious.
The waitress needs
hospital treatment for burns.
Boy, did she get an eyeful.
This looked really painful.
Narrator: Physicist simon foster
reviews the footage and wonders
if this could be food that's
well past its expiration date.
Something has exploded in there.
Something has given off
a large amount
of gas very rapidly.
Could it be the ingredients
has actually caused this?
Narrator: For restaurants
across the world,
storing food at
the correct temperature
is always a challenge.
In the united states alone,
food poisoning sends
128,000 people
to the hospital each year.
3,000 of them die.
When food decays,
it gives off gas.
Microbes basically start eating
stuff and give off methane.
Now, if something starts to rot,
you get a tremendous buildup
of gas very rapidly,
and that could be
what's happening here.
Could there be some sort of
food source in there,
some piece of meat,
that's actually sealed up?
And as it gets hot
and as it decomposes,
enough gas can build up
that bang,
it just pops.
Narrator: It might seem strange,
but the same phenomenon
can happen with the human body.
In the funeral-home business,
it's known as
exploding-casket syndrome.
There are actually stories
of bodies exploding
because there's so much gas
inside them
that, basically,
it has nowhere to go.
And just like a balloon,
people can pop.
Narrator: Taiwan, 2004.
A dead sperm whale
is being transported to a lab.
As the truck carrying it
drives through the city,
the 50-ton whale explodes,
spraying huge volumes
of blood and guts
over cars and people
on the street.
Biologist greg szulgit considers
if something in this dish
could be giving off gases.
If there was rotting food
in here,
the gas would be coming out,
but the bubbles would just be
going to the surface.
The only way to get
this kind of pressure bomb
would be to have a lid on it,
and there's no lid,
so the bubbles are coming up.
If it was rotting food,
sure, it would taste disgusting,
but it wouldn't have
this big explosive effect.
Narrator: Physicist chad orzel
looks into
what supplies the heat
to cook food
in this kind of restaurant.
Orzel: What powers these
cook-at-the-table things
is generally something
like a canister
of, probably, propane
that's feeding a burner,
sort of like a gas grill.
Narrator: Liquefied propane gas
boils at -45° fahrenheit.
At room temperature,
it only stays liquid as the
cylinders are under pressure.
If one ruptures,
then just a single spark can
cause a catastrophic explosion.
This canister of propane
that's connected to the burners
through some sort of hoses,
if those are poorly connected
or improperly maintained,
you could get a leak of gas
that could mix with air.
And then the fire
that's in the burners
heating the soup
could provide the spark
that could make a
quite damaging explosion.
Narrator: But examining
the footage closer,
tim pickens doubts the explosion
in the restaurant
is from the gas supply heating
the hot pot under the table.
The reason I don't think
this was a propane explosion
is because what we see
originated inside of the pot.
There was a big boom
inside of the pot,
not underneath.
The whole restaurant
probably would have
went up in flames,
and we didn't see that.
Narrator: In an attempt
to find new clues,
former nypd video analyst
conor mccourt looks at the clip
from the restaurant.
The waitress has come up.
She's using some utensils.
Is she trying to get
some food out?
It's very unusual
'cause you usually put
your own ingredients in.
You don't really ask
a waitress to do anything.
If I zoom in here, it looks like
she's using the utensils
to look for something.
When we go frame by frame,
we can see where
the origin of the explosion is.
It's within the soup.
If you're inside a pot of soup,
it's hard to find a spark
that's gonna make
an explosion of fire, right?
This is probably just something
over-pressuring,
expanding till it can't
take any more and then popping
and spraying soup around.
Narrator: China accounts for 40%
of the world's
tobacco consumption.
Explosives expert tim pickens
considers if a cigarette lighter
might have been involved
in this blast.
I have a suspicion,
based on the bubble
that we see in that video,
that we probably are looking at
some sort of cigarette lighter,
something with maybe butane,
was dropped in there.
Narrator:
Tim's controlled experiment
involves simply dropping
a standard disposable lighter
into a boiling cooking pot.
This should not
be attempted at home.
My theory is this will
definitely rupture,
and there will be a bubble,
and I'm expecting a fireball.
Butane is normally stored
at less than 50 psi
at room temperature
at 400°, this could easily
approach 400-500 psi
inside this container.
It's a big deal.
So if that happens, you've got
a little bomb inside of this.
And that bomb could really
hurt somebody.
Narrator: In his career, tim's
blown up almost everything,
but never a cigarette lighter
in a boiling hot pot.
For that true restaurant feel,
he's adding some pieces of fish
to the dish.
Okay, cooper,
it's time to get our goggles on.
Narrator: With the oil at 400°,
tim wants to see if the pressure
will build up in the lighter
to a point where it ruptures
and he can get
the same explosion scene
in the restaurant.
Coming up, can tim liven up
this broth?
Pickens: Get ready to run.
Okay. Let's go.
Narrator: And is a toxic,
deadly slime invading our homes?
That's revolting.
What the hell is that?
♪♪
Narrator:
In a restaurant in china,
a dinner disaster
as boiling food explodes,
inflicting severe burns
on the face
of the unfortunate waitress.
Forensic explosives expert
tim pickens
tries to recreate the blast.
My theory is this
will definitely rupture,
but I'm expecting a fireball.
Let me go ahead
and drop this lighter in.
Narrator: This experiment
was performed
in a controlled environment
with proper safety gear.
Do not try this at home.
Whoa!
Whoo!
Man!
Tim's experiment produces
an explosion
just like the one
in the footage.
Whoa!
Look there... the lighter,
it's melted, man.
We got a big hole here.
It's like it's been shot
with a pistol.
Blown open like
a stick of dynamite.
Imagine, if you were
at a restaurant,
look how many people
would have been hurt
and sent to the hospital.
This could have been
serious injury.
Pickens: There's a lot of energy
in a lighter.
So, yeah,
this could really happen.
Narrator: There are more than
300 million smokers in china,
so this won't be
the last exploding entree.
This is just a more
unusual reason than most
why smoking is bad for you.
Narrator: Now a slithering mass
of pulsating alien goo...
That's revolting.
What the hell is that?
Narrator: ...Creeps across
a suburban kitchen floor.
I don't know what this creepy,
black, wiggling creature is.
Narrator: Scientists are still
struggling to explain it.
It looks like some kind of
symbiotic organism.
Narrator: What is it?
Where does it come from?
And what does it want?
[ camera whirs ]
thailand.
People often comment on the
weird, alien landscape here,
but it's not just
the landscape that's strange.
May 2017.
This thing is filmed
crawling across a kitchen floor.
It's a really weird, black blob
that's moving in one direction.
Narrator: A pulsating ooze
crawling towards
or away from something...
Last time I saw something
like that in a movie,
the guy turned into venom.
Narrator: ...Leaving behind
a trail of slime.
Some sort of oozing mass of...
I don't even know what it is.
Narrator: Experts are still
at a loss to explain it.
It's something I haven't seen
before, so I'm fascinated by it.
Narrator: When marine biologist
eric hovland
looks at the footage,
he wonders if this creeping blob
could be some kind of
fearsome parasite.
Nature can be weird
and freaky and wild.
This is no single organism.
It looks to be a whole cadre
of worm-like animals
all working together.
Worms sometimes
do work together,
and that's when
they're parasites
and they're focused
on the same host.
Could that be
what's happening here?
The line of mucus tells me
that this is a large group
of invertebrates,
perhaps something like slugs or
maybe even a worm of some sort.
But unlike groups of ants
or bees, slugs and worms
aren't known to work together
in such an organized fashion.
Judging from the size
of this mass,
the sheer number of hundreds,
perhaps thousands of worms.
Is this a whole new parasite
that we have yet to discover?
A parasite capable
of taking over and controlling
a larger species,
perhaps controlling us?
♪♪
Narrator:
Entomologist kevin kasky
thinks that if this is an army
of creatures acting as one,
then they mean business.
When things are going
into a war footing,
they operate as one unit,
almost like they're
connected together.
So when they operate
to go into a battle,
whether it's offensive
or defensive,
they will move in sync,
almost like
they are plugged into each other
so that each critter
knows what they're doing
when the other one
is doing something else.
Narrator: There are some species
of spider that hunt in groups.
This phenomenon is known
as a war party.
As they work together,
these small individuals
take down much larger prey.
When a victim falls
into their web,
multiple spiders pounce
and inject it with venom.
Then they share their meal
with the community.
There's a lot of creatures
that will make themselves
look bigger somehow,
either by moving in a collective
and making them
look much larger.
Narrator: Large ant colonies
with tens or hundreds
of thousands of members
engage in all-out war
with their rivals
as they compete for resources.
Matabele ants are raiders
who specialize in attacking
and eating termites.
Their success comes from their
overwhelming numbers.
And no one gets left behind.
Fallen comrades are
carried back to the nest.
Sometimes, when they're in
an aggressive formation,
just the sheer numbers
of overwhelming your opponent
is what makes that
such a frightening aspect.
So when you're going
into battle,
you want them to think
that there's no hope,
and they just give up,
roll over, and die.
Narrator: Coming up,
has an animal army invaded?
I hope they called
the exterminators immediately
after taking this video.
Narrator: And a mystery blast
in an ancient city.
[ people screaming ]
there's chaos.
What exactly is going on here?
♪♪
Narrator: In a thai kitchen,
something creeps
across the floor.
Exactly what this is
baffles experts.
But when zoologist roland kays
examines the footage closer,
he concludes this is
a composite monster
made of many creatures.
If you look at the back of this
group, you can see
there's a couple that are
kind of struggling to keep up.
I've been looking into
whether this is a one-off
or whether there have been
more sightings.
And in fact, there's quite
a few of these in recent years.
I don't know if this is
good news or bad news.
Narrator: In belgium, another
similar swarm is recorded...
Thousands of caterpillars
joined together
to create a snake-like creature.
In the end, the army
is called in to repel them.
Some species of caterpillar
are poisonous, even deadly.
Narrator: In 2018,
thailand was invaded
by swarms
of deadly caterpillars.
Farrow: In thailand,
some types of caterpillar
have toxic hairs
all over their body.
Narrator: Death by caterpillar
can be horrific.
One touch of the
tasar silkworm caterpillar's
hair-like bristles releases
dangerous toxins
into the bloodstream that can
cause total kidney failure.
[ sirens wailing ]
this thing moving across the
kitchen floor could be lethal.
But there's something not right
about this many-headed monster.
One of the mysteries here
is the slime that's left behind.
Caterpillars don't generally
leave slime.
We know that slugs and snails,
they'll leave a trail
behind them.
But caterpillars,
when they move, are dry.
So what is that trail?
Kays: This footage
was uploaded in may,
which is the rainy season
in thailand,
when they start to get heavy
rainstorms and even monsoons.
Narrator: Has the rain flushed
some unknown creature
up from the ground?
In 2017, nasa recorded frequent
and persistent downpours
in thailand.
The extreme rainfall
totals over 27 inches.
Whatever this is, it's unlikely
to be the only one of its kind,
and experts are advising humans
to stay clear.
I hope they called
the exterminators immediately
after taking this video.
Narrator:
Now a mystery explosion...
Oh, wow.
Narrator: ...That threatens to
spark a chain reaction
that is one high-energy
explosion.
Narrator: But what caused it?
There's people
kind of freaking out.
Narrator:
So much depends on the answer.
It's chaos.
What exactly is going on here?
[ camera whirs ]
narrator: Istanbul, turkey,
where east meets west,
a powder keg of global conflict
and tensions.
September 2019.
A warm summer's day
is shattered...
By a huge explosion.
This is just like terror
raining from the sky.
Narrator: Clouds of smoke
and debris fly through the sky.
There's black smoke everywhere,
this huge thing
shooting up in the air.
Narrator: Heavy metal
rains down, smashing cars
and narrowly missing people
on the street.
We see people running all
over the place,
running for their lives.
You have to ask, was it
man-made and intentional,
or was it man-made
and accidental?
Narrator: Science journalist
joe pappalardo
studies the footage,
searching for clues.
The video is the best
first piece of evidence
when it comes to determining
what this explosion was
and whether it was
an intentional act or not.
And you see a barrel
flying through the air,
and you have to ask,
"is that significant?"
turkey is at the crossroads
of the world.
It borders
a couple of continents,
a lot of different nations,
and as such,
there's been a lot of turmoil
and conflict in the region.
Narrator: Pappalardo believes
the barrel could point to this
being an attack.
In that part of the world,
you immediately think,
"is it a barrel bomb?"
narrator:
A barrel bomb attack here
could have repercussions
that are felt around the world.
These are crude devices...
Simple metal drums
packed with tnt,
shrapnel, and deadly chemicals.
Syria, which borders
to the south,
has seen them used
in their civil war.
Narrator: You essentially
kick it out of a helicopter
and drop it onto a target.
Now, it's very simple,
but it's also
incredibly devastating.
It's essentially
a chemical weapon.
If it's a chlorine bomb,
you have people on the ground
suffering from burns,
inhalation.
It's really a gruesome
way to die.
Narrator: Barrel bombs are
indiscriminate and destructive.
But according to the
syrian network for human rights,
nearly 70,000 of them
have been dropped in the country
during their bloody civil war,
killing more than
11,000 civilians.
Looking at the clip,
military expert carlo muñoz
believes this
is not a barrel bomb.
Muñoz: The biggest indication
in the video that this explosion
was probably not a barrel bomb
is the barrel itself.
Now, in the video,
when we see it land
on the street,
it's in one piece.
Now, if there was
2,000 pounds of tnt
packed into this barrel,
there'd be nothing left
once it hit the ground.
Narrator: Coming up,
is this a new kind of bomb...
[ people screaming ]
...And a new kind of target?
Brensberger: If this is
a new tactic for terrorists,
then we all have to be worried.
Narrator: And is a legendary
sea beast multiplying?
Oh, this thing is massive.
It looks like something
out of the "alien" movie.
♪♪
Narrator: A mysterious explosion
rocks the city of istanbul.
Neurophysiologist kiki sanford
looks into the footage
and wonders
if the location gives a clue.
The place where this video
was shot
is a heavy industrial area
with a lot of chemical plants
on the outskirts of istanbul.
This particular
industrial location
has a lot of factories
that produce plastics,
which involve the use
of many volatile chemicals.
Maybe this is the information
we need to give us an answer.
The white vapor trail looks like
it's coming out of the barrel.
Maybe that's what launched it up
into the air in the first place.
If this explosion is involving
dangerous chemicals,
then the people who are
standing around in this video
could be in serious trouble.
[ people screaming ]
♪♪
Narrator: Soft targets are
easy to attack
with potential to cause
significant damage
and loss of life.
After the attacks
of September 11, 2001,
the united states made a big,
concerted effort
to try and mitigate
all the risks of attack
on industrial targets...
Chemical plants, power plants,
anywhere where these kinds
of attacks could take place.
Narrator: The aftermath
of a terrorist attack
on a chemical plant
would be horrific.
Vapor from leaks and fires
can blind people
and attack the lungs,
causing difficulty breathing.
Without urgent
medical assistance,
victims can suffer
serious injury and death.
There's really two things
that make this frightening
for someone
in the united states.
One, we have a lot
of infrastructure.
We have an open society.
We can't guard everything
all the time,
and a crude explosive
could do a lot of damage.
Narrator: Disturbingly,
a terrorist group
has claimed responsibility
for the explosion.
The fear is this incident
could trigger similar attacks
around the world.
If this is a new tactic
for terrorists to target
and blow up chemical factories,
then we all have to be worried.
An industrial area
like new york city
has dozens of
chemical factories,
so a terrorist attack on one
of those would be devastating.
Narrator:
Now an unworldly blob...
What is inside that
huge, alien thing?
Narrator: ...Floats menacingly
in the arctic sea.
Oh, this thing is massive.
Narrator: A giant egg, it seems,
of a giant sea monster.
That looks like something
from another world.
No matter what it is, I wonder,
are there more of them around?
[ camera whirs ]
narrator: Orstafjorden, norway.
The crystal-clear arctic waters
are prime diving territory.
2019.
Divers explore
a world war 2 shipwreck
when they see
something extraordinary.
It looks like an enormous egg.
Narrator: A gigantic, floating
blob, bigger than a man.
It looks like something
out of the "alien" movie.
Narrator:
What colossal undersea creature
could have produced
this monster?
I mean, I'd say
burn it with fire,
but that's not
gonna work, is it?
Narrator: Science journalist
steve potvin
looks at the footage.
This thing is so huge,
it must surely have something
to do with a whale.
We've seen pregnant
humpback whales,
and we've seen baby
humpback whales,
but we've never actually seen
that process in between.
We rarely see whale placentas,
but when we have seen them,
they've been about
the same size as this.
Narrator: The strange structure
is egg-like,
but whales don't lay eggs.
One sea monster that does
is the shark.
40 or 50 different kinds
of sharks actually lay eggs.
Narrator: In these waters,
there lives
a true shark monster,
one of the biggest in existence.
The greenland shark is enormous.
It's about 20 feet long
and weighs about 2,500 pounds.
It's a really slow swimmer and
normally lives in cold waters.
The greenland shark lives
a very long time,
somewhere between 300
and 500 years of age.
It makes it the world's
longest-living vertebrate.
Narrator: The oldest specimen
caught so far
was around 400 years old.
But biologists believe
that these sharks can live
for more than half a millennium.
And that's just the oldest one
that we've found.
There could be older ones
yet out there.
These things are just bizarre
in so many ways.
Narrator: This creature is still
a mystery to science.
Autopsies on dead
greenland sharks
show they eat seals,
but also horse and reindeer.
But there's a problem
with this shark egg theory.
As mysterious as
greenland sharks are,
one thing we do know about them
is that they're ovoviviparous,
meaning they give birth
to live young.
So they don't lay eggs.
This can't be
a greenland shark egg.
Narrator:
For biologist greg szulgit,
what's confusing is that
although the object is gigantic,
it looks like
a single-cell organism.
Most people think of
single cells
as teeny, tiny little things,
which is usually true,
but actually,
cells can get to be quite large.
There are organisms, there are
algae, where a single cell
can be 6 to 12 inches long.
Narrator: Single-celled
organisms are
some of the oldest forms of life
and found almost
everywhere in nature.
Steve potvin considers whether
this otherworldly entity
is, in fact,
not from this world.
There's this theory
called panspermia,
which basically says
that all life on earth
evolved from this
single-celled organism
that originally came
from outer space.
Narrator: In theory, material
from an icy asteroid
could be hiding microorganisms
as they impact the earth,
these creatures
are released and grow.
There was evidence of this
deep freezing of life
found in siberia in 2018.
Microscopic worms
called nematodes
are dug up from the permafrost,
having been frozen
for 42,000 years.
After defrosting,
the worms start
moving and feeding.
This natural cryopreservation
opens up the possibility of life
surviving the vast
distances of space
in a state of
perpetual hibernation.
If this is a monster egg,
then there is a monster legend
to match it.
In ancient scandinavian legend,
the kraken is a large
and dangerous creature
that comes from the depths.
Narrator:
The norse were expert sailors,
using the sea
like interstate highways.
But the kraken was one creature
all vikings feared.
They believed that with
its enormous tentacles,
it was capable of taking
whole vessels with their crews
down to the bottom of the sea
to an early grave.
You can see how in other times,
people would have looked
at something like this
and thought that it was possibly
the egg of some mysterious beast
like the kraken.
Narrator: Coming up,
a skin-crawling discovery.
I don't think it's one
big creature that's inside.
I think it's tens of thousands
of little creatures.
Narrator: And could this
monstrous head
be a super-sized weapon of war?
It is the stuff of nightmares.
♪♪
Narrator:
Divers off the coast of norway
find what appears to be
a man-sized egg
floating in the arctic waters.
Engineer lisa lazareck-asunta
believes cameras have captured
something incredibly rare.
I don't think it's one big
creature that's inside.
I think it's tens of thousands
of little creatures.
One possibility, and the one
that I'm betting on,
is that this is not
a single egg,
but it might be thousands,
tens of thousands,
maybe hundreds of thousands
of eggs packed together
into a into a
jelly-like egg mass.
I think that this is actually
an egg sac from a squid.
Narrator: Sightings of
squid egg sacs are so rare
that we don't know
what species this is from.
We now know that this is
actually a massive egg sac
of 50,000 to 200,000
tiny little squid.
Narrator: In 2006, the legendary
giant squid was caught on camera
for the first time.
They are deep-water monsters,
the most alien-like creatures
on the planet.
Something dark and sinister
yet fascinating about them.
Cephalopods are older
than dinosaurs.
They've been around for hundreds
of millions of years,
and they do this by being
exceptionally good hunters.
I think most creepy of all,
they're also cannibals.
They eat each other.
Narrator: Scientists now believe
this is the giant egg sac
of a deep-sea cannibal monster.
I sort of preferred it when I
thought it was just one creature
because having it be tens
of thousands of creatures
is a little bit creepy.
Narrator: Now a severed head
in a shallow grave...
This is clearly
no ordinary wolf.
Narrator: ...Discovered in
the land of the gulags.
The russians have a long history
of animal experimentation.
Narrator:
A monster back from the dead.
These guys allowed themselves to
be transformed into werewolves.
[ camera whirs ]
narrator: Siberia.
The banks of
the tirekhtyakh river.
A frozen wilderness.
The average winter temperature
is more than 30° below.
2018.
Locals are horrified when
they discover the severed head
of a monstrous creature
buried in the ice.
It's got fur, it's got teeth,
it's got eyes,
and its brain is still intact.
It kind of has, like,
a snarling expression,
like it was fighting at a time
when it was killed.
Narrator: Experts are baffled
by this ferocious-looking
frozen beast.
It's like a giant wolf,
but it's bigger
than any wolf I've seen.
The idea of an animal
of this size and this ferocity
just walking around
the earth today is terrifying.
Narrator: The head is
unquestionably wolf-like.
What doesn't make sense
is the size.
In the video, you can see
there's a hand
that's moving this beast's head.
Using the hand, you can see how
large this head actually is.
From the tip of its snout
to the back of its head,
it's about 16 inches.
Narrator: A normal adult wolf's
head is around 10 inches long.
The rest of the animal
must have been between
6 and 7 feet long.
That is enormous.
Narrator:
Forensic examination shows
that this giant wolf's head
was decapitated,
and that could have been
the act of humans.
Archeologists in russia
have recently discovered
the 4,000-year-old remains
of charred bodies
of wolves and dogs.
Montieth: And it showed evidence
that the animals
had been roasted.
That's a pretty good sign that
whoever did that also ate them.
Narrator:
Modern humans don't eat wolves,
but thousands of years ago,
they did here,
and it wasn't just for food.
Gottlieb: The theory goes that
by eating these animals,
these boys would become men.
It was like a rite of passage,
and they would, in essence,
become these wolves
metaphorically.
[ wolf howling ]
narrator: Stories of a wolfman
monster go back centuries.
[ growling ]
records show in 1521,
a murderous werewolf pack
was hunted down and captured
in the town of poligny, France.
These men effectively claimed to
have made a deal with the devil.
They allowed themselves to be
transformed into werewolves.
They were found guilty
and executed shortly thereafter.
Narrator: Former cia operative
lindsay moran
looks into
russian scientific records
for evidence
of genetic tampering.
The russians have a long history
of animal experimentation.
This is clearly
no ordinary wolf,
and it's very rare that animals
become super-sized on their own.
They usually have a little help
from science.
In the early 90s,
the russians actually embarked
on this experiment
to try to cross-breed
wolves and dogs,
and these were specifically
intended for military use.
[ dog barking ]
they called these super-sized,
mutant wolf dogs the volkosoby.
Narrator:
The russian military wanted
a stronger, more resilient dog,
able to survive
in harsh conditions
guarding their border.
Moran: Russia is huge.
It shares borders
with more countries
than any other country
in the world.
There's 16 in total.
It's no secret that russia
has a lot of enemies,
and policing these borders
is no easy task.
And so the canine component
of that is really critical.
Narrator: But when
biological engineer raj prabhu
studies the footage,
he thinks he knows where,
or rather when,
it has come from.
This wolf was designed
for one purpose.
Looking at its jaw
and its teeth, it was designed
for crushing bone.
And considering the size
of its head,
there's only one wolf
that can match this.
The weird thing is the wolf
that matches the size
has died off
thousands of years ago.
Narrator:
The pleistocene steppe wolf
roamed the planet
during the last ice age.
Wooly mammoth would have been
on the menu,
but this giant wolf
is supposed to have died out
30,000 years ago.
Could it really be alive today?
Narrator: Biologist carin bondar
believes the location
where the head was discovered
is a vital clue.
Most of siberia is completely
covered in snow and ice
for the entire winter.
This picture was taken
when it was the springtime.
Narrator: In the spring,
when the permafrost softens,
paleontologists head to siberia
in search of relics
from the last ice age.
Could it be that this
wolf specimen that looks like
it was killed just yesterday
could have been perfectly
preserved in the permafrost?
Narrator: The giant wolf head
looks fresh,
but forensic tests reveal
it's actually 32,000 years old.
It's got fur, it's got teeth,
it's got eyes,
and its brain is still intact.
The timeline makes sense
for this
to be some kind of
prehistoric wolf.
Narrator: Coming up,
are secret weapons being tested
in the desert?
For me, it screams cover-up.
♪♪
Narrator: Now, over the desert,
a large light hangs in the sky.
It's not really moving.
It's just hanging there.
It has this weird form.
It's a weird thing to see.
Narrator: It's close to a
mystery military facility.
Nobody knows
what goes on in there.
It's strictly off-limits
to the general public.
Narrator: Is the light
the fallout from
a secret weapons program?
Lukes: It's eerie. It is creepy.
It almost looks like a vortex
opening up in the sky.
For me, it screams cover-up.
[ camera whirs ]
narrator:
Queensland, australia...
More than 700,000 square miles
of wilderness,
almost three times
as big as texas,
but with a population much
smaller than new york city.
Indigenous people arrived here
over 50,000 years ago,
establishing the oldest
continuous culture on earth.
In this empty land,
the night sky is untainted
by light pollution,
except on July 22, 2019.
There's a glowing ball
that looks like it
almost has a tail on it.
Wise: One of the things
that's so uncanny about it
is that it's impossible
to get a sense of scale.
It could be 100 feet up
and be a couple of feet across,
or it could be like a way out
in space and it's vast.
Narrator: Science writer
amy shira teitel considers
if this could be a space launch.
Shira teitel: The light
in the sky looks like
it could be a rocket
doing a prolonged burn
in the upper atmosphere.
As it's rising from one orbital
stage to the next,
the rockets will fire.
That will then be visible
from the ground.
Narrator: But there's a problem
with this theory.
Rockets move, but this light
appears to be stationary.
Astrophysicist
athena brensberger
examines the footage.
Definitely looks like
it's some type of
unidentified flying object.
The tail looks like
it's going downward,
like, towards the earth.
It looks like something that's
not coming from the earth.
It looks alien.
Narrator: The aboriginal worrora
people of northern australia
believe that the world
is created
by sky beams called wandjina,
who came from the milky way.
Wise: You can imagine people
in australia
looking up into the night sky
and seeing this and thinking,
"is this some kind of
extraterrestrial object?
Is it a ufo?"
australia has a huge
treasure trove of ufo sightings.
Narrator: Aboriginal tribesmen
have a name
for unexplained lights
in the sky over australia.
They call them min min lights.
But it's not just tribesmen
that see them.
One sighting in particular has
become famous across the world.
There's one really
interesting case
where a young pilot disappeared
without a trace.
His name was
frederick valentich,
he was actually flying
in an area
known as the
australian bermuda triangle.
Narrator: October 21, 1978,
20-year-old valentich
is piloting
a single-engine cessna
over the bass strait between
australia and tasmania...
[ airplane engine rumbling ]
...A stretch of water over which
numerous aircraft and ships
have disappeared.
He radios in to report
an unknown aircraft
following him at 4,500 feet.
He was reporting that there was
bright landing lights,
and he was moving
at fast speeds.
Air traffic control looked
at the data in the region
and went back to him and said,
"there's nothing on the radar
that says there's
another plane around you."
valentich said that
there was an object
that was maneuvering
alongside of his plane,
and he felt quite threatened
by this.
His call was interrupted
by loud,
metallic scratching sounds.
It almost sounds like a tin can
that is really
just being crumpled up,
and then we completely
lose any contact with him.
The sounds
are absolutely terrifying.
[ thunder crashing ]
shira teitel: Valentich
disappeared without a trace.
No one knows
what happened to him.
This case is one of
the most notorious
australian ufo sightings.
Narrator: Science journalist
joe pappalardo
thinks the light could be linked
to a weapons-testing facility.
You've got the woomera
rocket range right there.
Has to be a prime candidate
to consider
when you see something like this
in the sky,
narrator:
The woomera rocket range,
the largest weapons-testing site
on the planet.
49,000 square miles has been
sealed off from the public.
This secret facility is bigger
than north carolina.
Nobody knows what goes on
in there.
It's strictly off-limits
to the general public.
Narrator:
The little that is known
is cause for concern.
In the 50s and 60s,
the uk conducted
nuclear-weapons tests
right at this very range.
[ explosion ]
♪♪
Narrator: Indigenous australians
are angry that nuclear fallout
has poisoned great tracts
of their ancestral land.
But there's more going on here
than atom-bomb tests.
Scores of files
about the program
have gone missing from
the british national archives.
It makes you wonder,
what are they trying to hide?
And are we seeing their newest
secret-tech test in action?
For me, it screams cover-up.
Narrator: Whatever this light is
remains the subject
of speculation.
People try to rationalize
the sighting.
That's human nature.
That's what we do.