Strange Evidence (2017–…): Season 5, Episode 6 - Curse of the Dragon's Fire - full transcript

[narrator] worldwide, 36
billion cameras are watching us,

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

They capture things that seem impossible.

Science says this shouldn't happen.

[man] do you see that?

[narrator] experts carry out forensic
analysis of these unusual events.

Wow. What a blast.

[woman screams]

this doesn't make sense.

There has to be some sort of explanation.

What else is going on here?



[narrator] coming up...

In the land of the dragon,

are these flying creatures
shooting fire from their mouths?

You're fixing to have a shower of
molten metal falling on your head.

[narrator] a family buys a
house said to be haunted,

and captures this on the nanny cam.

That's the most terrifying
thing I've ever seen.

[narrator] and hitler's
escaped pet alligator.

Is it terrorizing a german nudist beach?

They could even hear the
sound of bones snapping.

[narrator] bizarre phenomenon.

Oh, my gosh [gasps]

[narrator] mysteries caught on camera.

[girl screams]



[narrator] what's the truth
behind this strange evidence?

Shenyang.

This sprawling metropolis
of over 7 million people

is the largest city in northeast china.

August 3rd, 2020.

In the tiexi district, as
commuters hurry home,

a man films a dark object
swooping between the skyscrapers.

And then, all of a sudden, boom.

And there's this big flash,
kind of diagonal explosion.

[loud explosion]

there's this sort of finger
of god suddenly appearing,

and it was raining flames
down on the people below.

Oh, my gosh.

[loud explosion]

[narrator] the entire side of a
high-rise with over 100 apartments

is engulfed in fire.

A blazing fire like that shouldn't
just appear out of nowhere.

[loud explosion]

[narrator] the ferocious
tongue of flame appears to come

from this mysterious flying object.

Is this tower under attack?

[loud explosion]

[narrator] the airborne menace seems
to be gliding on enormous black wings.

It's an image that leads
local to speculate the fireball

is the work of a terrifying
legendary creature.

[tony] in china, there's
a belief in dragons

that goes back thousands of
years, six, seven thousand years.

[narrator] dragons are found in
myths and legends all over the world.

But in china, strange stories
have emerged in modern times

of encounters with
mysterious reptilian creatures.

In 1934, in one village, yingkou,

villagers claimed to have actually found
a dragon that had fallen from the sky.

[narrator] the enormous horned skeleton
is put on display and photographed.

But authorities are unable to
identify the supposed fallen dragon

as any known living species.

And during the chaos of world war ii,

the remains disappeared.

Belief in dragons in china is so
engrained that you can imagine,

people see this and think, "my god,
we are under attack from dragons."

[narrator] observers dismiss the
grey creatures with wings as large birds.

[loud explosion]

but science journalist amy
shira teitel finds that in china

even birds aren't always what they seem.

Strangest of all the chinese spy
technology might be the bird drone.

It's so life-like that the
drone is mistaken for a bird

not just by humans but by other birds.

It used gps technology to get around,

and then send information
back via satellite.

[narrator] avian androids, almost
impossible to distinguish from real birds,

are being deployed by more than
30 military and government agencies

in at least five provinces across china.

These robo-birds have a top
speed of 25 miles per hour,

and monitor citizens'
daily lives from above.

So if you can make a drone
that looks convincingly like a bird,

you could gather a massive database
on populations in order to control them.

[narrator] and physicist
antonio paris uncovers evidence

china is going one step further,

unleashing flying machines that would
put the power of dragons to shame.

We do know that china
is weaponizing drones.

[narrator] in 2013, chinese security forces

planned to assassinate a drug dealer

with over 40 pounds of
tnt attached to a drone.

In 2020, the government
unveiled its suicide swarm.

Groups of 200 lethal flying
robots, armed with explosives,

commanded by ai that work as a
team to destroy china's enemies.

You see these unidentified flying objects,

you see this massive
fire engulf this building.

Could this be a weaponized
project by the chinese?

[narrator] physicist athena brensberger

studies weather reports
for the day of the blast,

and finds something incredible
was happening in the sky.

There was about three inches of
rain per hour, over a five-hour period.

Maybe these dark objects
that we see flying in the sky

are actually birds
leaving before the storm?

[narrator] former fbi agent rhonda
glover believes she's found a clue.

[loud explosion]

it appears that it is following
a straight line through the air.

It's not expanding.

So it could be following an
electrical wire of some sort.

Possibly, a lightning
strike has struck the line.

But a typical lightning
strike hitting a power line

would not cause a vaporization
like we see in the video.

[narrator] but perhaps this
is no ordinary power line.

China has a problem.

Over 780 million people,

more than twice the entire
population of the united states,

are living in its crowded cities,

and there isn't enough power.

To stop these cities from
plunging into darkness,

the chinese authorities
are building 20,000 miles

of ultra-high voltage power
lines from west to east,

to bring electricity to the
rapidly expanding metropolises.

Each carries over 800,000 volts,

and experts warn, these
lines are dangerous.

Security analysts see these lines
as being vulnerable to terrorism.

If you were to take out one
of these high-power lines,

not only would it create a huge explosion,

but it could lead to widespread blackouts.

[narrator] and the lines are also
potentially vulnerable to lightning strikes.

This cable runs right
past an apartment block,

putting hundreds of
people at risk if it blows.

[athena] so is it possible
that this power line

could be one of those chinese
high voltage power lines?

[narrator] electrical engineer david
wallace examines the explosion.

[david] we have a massive burst of
fire and flames going across the street.

This is a massive release of
energy that I'm looking at right here.

[loud explosion]

[narrator] wallace sets up an experiment

to find out if lightning striking
an ultra-high voltage cable

would result in an explosion like this.

[loud explosion]

okay, we're getting ready
to start our experiment here.

[narrator] to replicate the
ultra-high voltage lines in shenyang,

wallace suspends a wire 15 feet in the air.

So let's raise it up.

[narrator] the thin wire has a
capacity of over 200,000 volts,

and wallace will overload it

to simulate a lightning strike.

So what we're gonna try
and see is what happens

when this lightning
impulse strikes this cable.

Now for this run, we're gonna
need about 250,000 volts.

So this is a deadly voltage here.

I don't know about you but I don't
want to be anywhere around this.

I'm fixing to go to the safety zone.

All right, let's get ready. In
three, two, one. Energize.

[narrator] coming up... Has
china's passion for power

unleashed a fire-breathing monster?

[loud explosion]

it's just reckless and unsafe.

[narrator] and, from
cradle to beyond the grave,

a nightmare on a nanny cam.

I would never leave my baby alone again.

[narrator] in the chinese city of shenyang,

a mysterious flame shoots down the
side of a high-rise apartment building

over 30 stories tall.

Electrical engineer david
wallace wants to find out

if this is evidence of one of china's
massive ultra-high voltage power lines

being struck by lightning.

His generator readies a
charge of 250,000 volts

to shoot through a
specially constructed wire.

[david] when this lightning
impulse strikes this cable,

will we get sparks?
Will we get vaporization?

I don't know but we will find out.

All right, let's get ready. In
three, two, one. Energize.

[explosion]

[narrator] the explosive
force creates, on a small scale,

the shocking impact of a
lightning strike on a power cable,

a cable capable of carrying over
800,000 volts into a crowded city.

Okay!

That's what I was looking for.

[narrator] when the massive voltage
overloads the maximum capacity of the wire,

the effect is similar to the wall
of flame seen in the footage.

[loud explosion]

[david] what used to be a transmission
line is now nothing but vapor.

It's gone, we completely
nuked it. It's out of here.

So now if you imagine yourself
sitting under this transmission line,

when these events happens,

you're fixing to have a shower of
molten metal falling on your head.

[narrator] wallace's
experiment suggest that the blast

was one of china's deadly
ultra-high voltage cables

being struck by lightning in the
middle of a built-up residential area.

[jeff] this is a case of extraordinarily
bad electrical engineering.

You wouldn't expect a
high-voltage power line

to run from the ground
up to a top of a building.

[athena] you should not have
high-voltage power like this

so close to where so many people live.

It's just reckless and unsafe.

[narrator] now, highland, michigan,

a small township 45 miles north of detroit.

March, 2019.

In an ordinary suburban home,

grandmother kristie higgins
notices strange things happening.

We've had things disappear and reappear.

We've had lights turn on and off

by the switch that we've physically seen,

doors open and close on their own,

and voices, we can hear voices.

You can hear their footsteps.

You can see their shadows.

[narrator] then one morning,
her 15 month old grandchild

wakes up with three deep
scratches on her cheek.

The family reviews footage
from a night time nanny cam.

Did you just see that? What was that?

Did that thing just come out of nowhere?

[narrator] a human shaped figure
appears to materialize out of the gloom.

And stalk across the room next to the crib.

Seeing the entity in the video was a shock.

After taking it all in,
it wasn't a surprise.

[jeff] it's semi-transparent,
you can see right through it.

The baby clearly sees it too,

because, look, it's getting
up, peering over the crib.

There's something unnerving in that room.

Can you imagine watching a
nanny cam and seeing this?

[tracy] their daughter had
three deep scratches on her face.

And they think that whatever
this was was responsible.

[narrator] image analyst,
ben radford studies the footage

and notices an important detail
about this apparently ghostly figure.

What we're seeing here is casting a shadow.

[ben] the shadow is being
cast from that source of light

on to the ceiling.

That tells us that what
we're seeing is solid.

It's blocking light.

[narrator] physicist chad
orzel thinks the answer might lie

in the type of camera
that took the footage.

The camera is fitted with an
infrared light source to better illuminate

the scene.

[narrator] the camera floods
the room with infrared light.

A special chip inside the
camera processes this light

into an image.

What's interesting is
that the edge of the table

at the bottom of this
footage is very bright.

[narrator] orzel thinks if an
object like the table is overexposed,

something moving through
frame could appear faint.

He positions an infrared camera on a table.

We also need a version of the
baby in the foreground of the shot.

So we'll use this little toy dog.

The plan is, we'll turn the lights off.

And then I'll walk across
the back of the room,

and we'll see if this camera can
turn me into a ghostly phantom.

[narrator] coming up...
Poltergeist or predator?

Is a notorious child killer on the prowl?

These monsters are everywhere.

[narrator] and a "nazi" surprise
for germans at a nudist beach.

What we could be looking at here is a distant
relative of hitler's personal alligator.

[narrator] a michigan family who
believes they live in a haunted house

discover three deep scratches
on their daughter's face.

The night time nanny cam captures
a sinister figure passing by her crib.

And when they saw this
entity or whatever it was,

they think that was responsible.

[narrator] physicist chad
orzel believes the camera setup

may hold a clue.

He positions himself
at the back of the room.

[flips switch]

dims the light.

And begins to creep through frame.

So look at that, the baby
in the front of the camera

is overexposed, leaving me
fading into the background.

From what we see
here, it's fairly clear to me

that there was another person in that room.

And the camera just made them look ghostly.

[narrator] biologist kiki sanford
wonders if the bedroom visitor

could be a person who is fast asleep.

[kiki] as I am watching this video,

I have to wonder if, is this
somebody who's been sleepwalking?

[narrator] scientists estimate four
percent of all adults are sleepwalkers

and some can be violent.

In 1987, ken parks drives over 12 miles

and beats his mother-in-law to death
with a tire iron and stabs her husband.

Covered in blood, he
drives to a police station

and turns himself in.

In the trial, his lawyers pleaded

that he'd been asleep
at the time of the attack

and the jury agreed.

Scientists used to think that
we were either asleep or awake.

But now we know that different
parts of the brain can be active

while others are inactive.

[narrator] the child's parents
insist they were downstairs all night

and they never sleep walk.

Former cia agent tracy walder

looks through local news archives

and discovers this house
is in an area associated

with an evil man with a
sadistic interests in children.

Oakland county is home
to an infamous serial killer

who was never caught.

The papers called him the babysitter killer

because he would bathe his victims
and feed them before killing them.

[narrator] four children
are brutally murdered

between 1976 and 1977.

Their killer lays their
bodies out to be discovered

in a game of cat and mouse with the cops

the police released details of a suspect

but no one is ever caught.

He was tall, scruffy hair,

about 20 years old,

but that was the closest they
ever came to identifying him.

[narrator] if the babysitter
killer is alive today,

he'd be in his mid-60's,

and still capable of
chilling acts of horror.

[girl screams]

these monsters are everywhere.

[narrator] no other
injuries or ghostly figures

have been recorded in this room

since the creepy video was captured.

Until more evidence can be produced,

the identity of this sinister
scratcher remains a mystery.

Christy stays in the house

but the sinister shadowy figure

was enough to convince her son and
daughter-in-law they were no longer safe.

[christy] after this incident
it really frightened them

so they ended up moving out.

This is a good reminder that you
should lock your doors at night.

[cameras zooming]

[narrator] now, bremen, a
historic town in northern germany.

July, 2019.

The river weser, a popular
waterway for wild swimming,

with germany's 600,000 nudists.

The tranquil scene is suddenly disturbed

when an alarming vision
emerges from the water.

All of a sudden, you see what
looks exactly like a very big reptile

with its nose, its long mouth, its teeth,
beady eyes, swimming through he river.

[narrator] it's a sight to
strike terror into swimmers,

as a beast with monster jaws appears
to stalk the river for its next victim.

It seems to be some type of crocodilian,

in order of reptile including
alligators, crocodiles and caiman.

They represent a clear danger
to all of the living creatures

including human kind.

[man speaking over walkie-talkie]

[narrator] the authorities
raced to stop the bathers

from being eaten alive.

Then, other reports come in
of more man-eating monsters

spotted in nearby german waterways.

A woman claims to see a crocodilian

on the banks of the river unstrut.

Mouth wide open as though poised to attack.

Local fishermen back up her claim.

The first step of enforcement,
"swimming is banned in this river."

[narrator] but these cold-blooded killers

rely on the sun for warmth.

Northern europe is not their
traditional hunting ground.

This would be a bit like seeing
polar bear in new orleans.

This is something that
does not belong there.

[narrator] marine biologist eric hovland

believes it could be an alligator.

And he's reminded of
events said to have happened

during the country's nazi past.

This is not the first
crocodilian seen in germany.

A 9-foot long, 400lbs american alligator

was imported from
mississippi to the berlin zoo

which became a favorite
of, of all people, adolf hitler.

[narrator] hitler, a famous animal lover,

is said to have paid many visits
to the zoo to see the creature

who was named saturn by the keepers.

A true case of monster meets monster.

It was love at first sight.

[narrator] but in 1943

the zoo was bombed by the allies.

The aquarium building
was completely destroyed

but somehow saturn escapes into the
sewers and waterways around berlin.

Hitler's pet gator survives

in the war ravaged city for three
years before being recaptured.

But there are rumors,

saturn might not have been
the only alligator to escape.

What we could be looking
at here is a distant relative

of hitler's personal alligator.

[narrator] but this can't be an alligator.

This creature has a long snout,

and a row of teeth that
overlaps its upper jaw.

Just like a crocodile.

A beast that grows up to
5-feet longer than an alligator.

Is this the future of
germany's river and lakes?

Are crocodilians making
themselves at home in germany?

[narrator] coming up...

Is germany about to declare war...

-[crocodile growls] -...On crocodiles?

There are very few things that can fight
off an attack by one of these animals.

[narrator] and watch this
mysterious object tracking the iss.

[jeff] the international space
station is really vulnerable,

and it's one catastrophic accident
away from complete destruction.

[narrator] in bremen, germany,

a man films what looks like a crocodile

swimming close to a famous nudist camp.

Snap-happy crocs have the
biggest bite force of any living animal,

over three times stronger than a lion.

[martin] they are an apex predator.

There are very few things that can fight
off an attack by one of these animals.

[crocodile snarls]

[narrator] in 2019, in indonesia,

a woman is ripped from an enclosure wall

by a saltwater croc

measuring over 14-feet long.

She has her arm and most of her
abdomen eaten in a deadly attack.

Her body is found in the
croc's mouth the next morning.

They could even hear the
sound of bones snapping.

[narrator] but how could a crocodile
be swimming in a german river?

Morgan analyzes the dates of the sightings,

and discovers they coincide
with a controversial modern event.

In germany, every year
there's a large reptile fair,

in the city of hamm.

[reptiles hissing]

[roland] the fair took place just about a
month before this mysterious sighting.

Has this crocodilian escaped
an exotic pet collection?

[narrator] no animals are reported
to have escaped from the hamm fair.

But absconding reptiles have
gone on to kill before elsewhere.

In new brunswick, canada,

two sleeping brothers, aged four and six,

are crushed to death
in their bed by a python

that escaped from a pet
shop below their apartment.

Having vicious animals like this
in an area with so many people

could have really dangerous consequences.

[narrator] germany's 600,000 nudists

should be worried about
losing more than their clothes.

We might face a situation

where there are german sun-worshippers

who are being dragged down the riverbank

down into the water into a death roll.

[narrator] now.

The international space station.

Over 240 miles above earth.

February 21, 2020.

Three astronauts, two
americans and one russian,

film something weird with
the station's onboard cameras.

[jon] there's a very strange object

floating just beside the
international space station.

Is it supposed to be there?

[narrator] the object
seems to be keeping pace

with the orbiting space station.

[amy] clearly, the guy operating the camera

is curious about what this object is.

[narrator] it's metallic and pointed

like some kind of craft.

[martin] the international space station

is not robust, it can't stand
up to much punishment.

Anything that could get close to it

could potentially damage and destroy it.

And so, for this object to be nearby

is an extremely alarming thing.

[narrator] science journalist jon farrow

notices the object moving away from the iss

appears to have power and control.

So it goes towards the earth.

But then it starts going
away from the earth again.

That's almost even more worrying

because how does it do that?

It must have some sort
of propulsion system.

[narrator] coming up...

Is the iss being tailed by
a clandestine space craft?

[amy] is this something

that the us government
want to keep a secret?

[narrator] and two-headed mutant monsters

are terrorizing argentina.

I'm not sure I would get too close to that.

[narrator] three astronaut orbiting earth

aboard the international space station

observe a pointed object
which seems to be tracking them.

Military historian martin morgan

discovers this is not the first time

mysterious objects have been spotted

from american spacecraft.

[martin] astronauts and
space travelers have seen

unexpected things in earth orbit before.

This is not new.

[narrator] us astronaut, jim mcdivitt,

orbiting the earth during
the gemini 4 mission,

reports a white, cylindrical
object with an aerial

appearing outside his window.

Mcdivitt attempts to record

whatever is tracking his capsule

but when he tries to
photograph what he's seen,

his two cameras fail to capture an image.

Buzz aldrin, during the
apollo 11 moon landing,

claims to see unexplained lights

tracking the lunar landing module

as it descends to the moon's surface.

The people who are on
the spacecraft are scientists.

I tend to find them to
be very, very believable

as eye-witnesses.

[narrator] but the authorities deny

any of these reports
relate to unexplained craft.

And they also deny this
object is any kind of spaceship.

But america has not always been transparent

about what it's launching into space.

[amy] is this something

that the us government
want to keep a secret?

[narrator] in 2019,

a pilotless shuttle called the x-37b

landed in florida after a
two-year mission in space

the american public was never told about.

What it was doing orbiting
the earth in that time

remains a complete mystery.

Nasa has worked with the
department of defense before.

The payload bay of the space shuttle

was the size it is so nasa
could launch dod satellites.

It's conceivable that nasa's
working with the government

on something that we can't know about.

[narrator] but science journalist
jon farrow examines iss records

and discovers the footage

could have captured
nasa taking out the trash.

[jon] the logs show

that a communication module was ejected

from the iss at, almost exactly, this time.

[narrator] the 680-pound
module is no longer needed

and thrown from the space station

using a 55-foot long robotic arm.

But that's just the tip of
the space-garbage iceberg.

Astronauts on the iss

create over half a ton of waste each year

and with a capacity crew of six,

that trash has to go somewhere.

So there's been a real proliferation

of objects in space, and debris.

[narrator] over 34,000
pieces of discarded space junk

rip around the planet at
over 17,000 miles an hour.

Ten times faster than a speeding bullet.

It's like a minefield for
the fragile space station

where all that stands
between the astronauts

and the unforgiving vacuum of space

is just a tenth of an inch of
aluminum with a kevlar lining.

If the space station was
hit by a piece of debris,

substantial enough to rupture the skin,

the astronauts would be thrown into space

meeting rather painful and certain death.

[narrator] the iss has executed

29 debris-avoidance maneuvers

between 1999 and 2020.

And near misses are becoming more common.

It may only be a matter of time

before the $150 billion
space station is lost forever.

[jeff] the international space
station is really vulnerable.

And it's always, you know,
one catastrophic accident away

from complete destruction.

[narrator] now.

Bigand, a small town

in the province of santa
fe, central argentina.

February 12, 2017.

A woman finds something
writhing on the ground

outside her home.

[re] what is that?

Is that a snake? A worm?

[narrator] to her horror,

she sees the creature has two heads.

It's got multiple heads,
multiple eyes, stripes.

It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen.

[narrator] the gray tubular creature

appears to attack when it
senses something nearby.

This looks very, very disturbing.

I'm not sure I would get too close to that.

What is this freaky creature?

And where did it come from?

[narrator] coming up...

In south america,

two heads are not better than one.

Twisted mutations that
seemed spawned from hell.

[narrator] a woman in bigand, argentina,

encounters a two-headed
monster outside her home.

Biologist carin bondar

studies the creature in the footage

and thinks it may have
a disturbing condition.

Although rare, it's possible

for animals to be born
with more than one head.

A condition called polycephaly.

[narrator] in 2019,

a team in new jersey discover
a double-headed pit viper

they nickname double dave.

He's capable of delivering lethal bites

from both his functioning heads.

The same year,

a lethal and fast-moving
two-headed venomous cobra

is discovered in a remote forest.

A single bite from either of its two mouths

is enough to kill a man in 30 minutes.

It must be an incredibly weird sensation

telling your body to do one thing,

but then feeling it being
controlled by something else.

[narrator] but these two-headed snakes

have heads that are side-by-side.

It's almost unheard of for
nature to produce a snake

or any animal with a head
at either end of its body.

And these heads aren't twins.

They look different and distinct.

The discovery of this double-headed horror

comes at a time when doctors in argentina

are reporting a spate of
weird mutations in humans.

Children are being born

with missing limbs and organ defects.

[liberty] what we are seeing here

is causing terrible harm to children.

[narrator] a doctor reports
over three percent of children

born at his hospital have birth defects.

A more usual figure is around one percent.

Experts cannot explain
the cause of the horror

haunting some area of argentina.

[liberty] reports show

that birth defects and
cancer are at four fold.

[narrator] some blame
chemicals used in agriculture.

Some, arsenic in the water.

Or even household
chemicals getting into the soil.

But no clear evidence has yet been found

to explain the mystery
mutations blighting argentina.

Looking at the footage,

could this crazy, snake-like creature

be one of these mutants?

[narrator] but entomologist kevin kasky

examines the writhing creature

and rules out a genetically corrupt freak.

When a genetic mutation happens,

most of the time, it
doesn't function right.

This appears to be moving normally,

it's responding to being
prodded with a stick.

[narrator] a snake born with two heads

could never be this short.

There is no room in its body

for two sets of internal organs.

So therefore, we can
conclude that it's not a mutation.

[narrator] ashanti davis
thinks its freakish appearance

could be an elaborate and deadly deception.

It looks like it has two heads.

One side is bigger than the other,

if you get a little bit closer,

I think what we're seeing
here is a fake head.

What we're seeing here may actually be

a case of aggressive mimicry.

This false head allows it to
lure unsuspecting animals in

and make them its victim.

[narrator] aggressive predators in nature

don't always need to attack.

Many lure their unsuspecting
victims to their deaths.

Ant-mimicking spiders

wave their front legs near their head

like the antenna of an ant.

When unwary ants get
too close, the spider attacks.

The spider-tailed viper is
a highly venomous snake

found on cliffsides,

its camouflaged body
hidden against the rocks.

Using its spider-shaped tail as bait,

it draws in birds looking for an easy meal

before turning its
winged victim into dinner.

Bondar studies the creepy creature close up

and spots an important detail.

If we watch the video again and take a look

at the entire size of the creature,

we can see that the head

is, actually, about a quarter
of the entire body length.

This so-called snake has tiny, little feet.

I think we might be looking
at some kind of caterpillar.

An earlier life stage of a moth.

[narrator] its distinctive markings reveal

this creature is the caterpillar

of the death's-head hawkmoth.

It has evolved

the face of a snake on the back of its body

to terrify other creatures
including humans.

It's an animal whose appearance

strikes fear into the superstitious.

Many believe it's an omen of death.

And anyone who sees
it has not long to live.

They say two heads are better than one,

but in this case, I really
don't think that's true.