Strange Evidence (2017–…): Season 6, Episode 1 - Haunting on Devil Road - full transcript
Two young men capture a ghostly figure that begins chasing them on a deserted road in the mountains of Jordan; experts investigate and uncover local tales of black magic practitioners and demonic entities with supernatural powers
[mechanical whirring]
[static]
[Harry] Worldwide,
36 billion cameras
are watching us.
[Harry] On our screens,
at work,
and in our homes.
[static]
[Harry] They capture things
that seem impossible. [whooshing]
Science says
this shouldn't happen.
[boy] Do you see that?
[Harry] Experts carry out
forensic analysis
of these unusual events.
[explosions]
Wow, what a blast.
[explosion]
- [explosion]
- [woman screaming]
This doesn't make sense.
[distorted screech]
There has to be some
sort of explanation.
What else is going on here?
[mechanical whirring]
- [Harry] Coming up...
- [snow crunching]
[Harry] Are trucks delivering danger
to Kansas City neighborhoods?
[explosion]
It's like a rolling fireball
moving down the street.
[Harry]
In a remote village...
Oh, my God.
[Harry] A bizarre baby
worshipped as a God.
Could this be a strange
mutant crossbreed
between a human and a goat?
- [Harry] And two friends...
- [yelling]
have a demonic encounter
on a deserted road.
Suddenly, she's running at them.
[yelling in foreign language]
You think it can't get worse?
It does.
[throaty screeching]
[yelling in foreign language]
- [static]
- [mechanical whirring]
[Harry] Bizarre phenomena.
Oh, my gosh.
[gasps]
- [Harry] Mysteries caught on camera.
- [explosion]
[child crying]
- [tires screeching] - [Harry] What's
the truth behind this strange evidence?
[static]
[Harry] The Irbid Mountains,
northern Jordan.
- [mechanical whirring]
- [electronic beeping]
[Harry] December 2014.
[electronic beeping]
[Harry] Two young men
are driving along a dark,
deserted country road
when their car's engine
mysteriously cuts off.
[speaking in foreign language]
- [distorted rattling]
- [hiss]
[Harry] A strange figure
steps out of the darkness.
[Jeff] She's dressed
entirely in white.
She's hunched over,
her hair is wild
and all over the place.
It's absolutely frightening.
[speaking in foreign language]
It appears to be walking
with a walking stick
like a big cane.
[Martin] It's one of the
creepiest things I've ever seen.
Suddenly, she's running at them.
[yelling]
[yelling in foreign language]
This poor driver,
I don't know if he's ever been
this frightened in his entire life.
He's clearly panicked.
[yelling in foreign language]
[indistinct yelling]
They keep backing up
and she keeps coming,
they keep backing up,
she keeps advancing.
And she's pursuing them,
it seems like.
You think it can't get worse?
It does.
[throaty screeching]
[yelling in foreign language]
It's the most terrifying sound
I think I've ever heard.
[throaty screeching]
[yelling]
It sounds like pure evil.
This poor guy, he's terrified.
He sounds genuinely frightened.
[yelling]
[yelling]
- [engine revving]
- [yelling]
What is she
and what does she want?
[static]
[Harry] In Jordan,
locals believe
the video has captured
something supernatural.
[Jeff] In this region, and
really, across the whole world,
there's a belief in this supernatural
or even preternatural power.
For many,
this eerie white figure
is a djinn.
Djinn is actually
the root of the word genie,
which we know from like tales,
Aladdin, Arabian Nights.
[Harry] Djinn are not
the lamp-dwelling,
wish-granting servants
from Hollywood films.
They're widely known
to be shapeshifters
and have other sorts
of superhuman powers.
[distorted wailing]
Basically, in short,
demons.
[Harry] The Quran tells
believers that djinn are real.
[Craig] Some don't even
want to talk about it.
They won't even
mention the word djinn
because they feel that
the djinn derives its energy
from human attention.
If you live in the area
and you see something
like this on the road,
you're going to think, djinn.
[throaty screeching]
[yelling]
[static]
[Islamic music]
[Harry] Like many places
in the world,
there are people here
who claim to be able
to perform black magic.
Could this be
some modern day witch
that was disturbed
during some secret ritual?
- [speaking in foreign
language] - [engine revving]
[Harry] In the Middle East,
fear of black magic
practitioners conjuring djinns
to cause supernatural chaos
is so strong,
that in 2009,
the Saudi state launched
its own anti witchcraft unit
to tackle the problem.
The puritanical police force
claimed to catch witches,
often after a tip off
from a member of the public.
[Rhonda] In 2011,
a Saudi woman was beheaded
for practicing sorcery.
In general, these people who are
accused of being witches are not.
They've just been set up
by irate neighbors
or implicated in some
sting operation.
[Harry] But the authorities
report genuine cases
of people who claim
to practice black magic.
In one raid, the investigators
were confronted
by a naked sorceress.
[woman screaming]
[Harry] The sorceress is said to
have escaped out of the window.
Incredibly, investigators report
that she flew out like a bird.
The woman may have
been in a trance-like state,
making her feel
like she could fly.
[distorted music]
[Harry] Anthropologists
have found that sorcerers,
priests and warriors
in pre-modern societies
all over the world,
can enter a trance-like state
through chanting, dancing
or rhythmic drumming.
Some in this state
believe themselves
to be possessed
by spirits or animals.
And as a result,
are capable of extraordinary,
inhuman feats.
Maybe they really
do have some power,
some ability that we don't have.
[Harry] A University
of Pennsylvania study
found the frontal lobe
of the brain,
the part that directs
conscious, rational behavior,
diminishes as people
enter a trance-like state.
The figure in the footage
could be in a similar
psychological state,
advancing aggressively
on a vehicle
because she believes herself
to be invincible.
The car keeps reversing
and the figure in the footage
keeps coming at them.
It won't stop.
[tank fires]
[Harry] Coming up...
Are war survivors
attacking travelers
on Jordan's isolated roads?
This highly aggressive behavior
could be a result
of some sort of psychosis.
[Harry] And,
heading for a beautiful beach,
a titanic tentacle
dripping with poison.
[Jayde] Forget about Jaws.
This giant is the new definition
of horror from the deep.
[underwater currents]
[static]
[Harry] Two travelers in Jordan
are attacked
by a demonic-looking woman.
- [throaty screeching]
- [yelling in foreign language]
- [keyboard clicking] - [Harry]
Military historian Craig Gottlieb
believes these robes are the
clothes of a Bedouin tribeswoman,
rather than a witch.
And suspects the aggressive
physical actions and screaming
could be a reaction to events
this woman has witnessed nearby.
This person is definitely exhibiting
abnormal psychological behavior,
and one of the root causes
of behavior like this
are shocking events in life,
like being subjected to
horrors of war, for example.
- [throaty screeching]
- [yelling]
This could have something to do
with the decades-long conflict
that this area has experienced.
[tank fires]
[Harry] The Syrian Civil War
begins in 2011
in the city of Daraa,
just ten miles away
from the location
where this was filmed.
- [tank firing]
- [Harry] The entire area
- quickly becomes a brutal conflict zone.
- [explosion]
[Harry] Witnesses describe
systematic killings,
beatings and torture
by the Syrian security forces.
Much of the city is destroyed,
and around 650,000
Syrian refugees
flee across
the border into Jordan.
But sounds of artillery fire
thudding across the frontier
are a constant, terrifying reminder
to those in the refugee camps.
The effects of war can cause
intense psychological damage
on normal, ordinary people.
- [throaty screeching]
- [yelling in foreign language]
This highly aggressive
behavior is very bizarre
and could potentially be
a result of
some sort of psychosis.
[Harry] Symptoms of
psychosis are varied,
but sufferers could be easily
startled or frightened
and can exhibit explosive
anger or violence.
[woman screaming]
[Martin] Was this Bedouin woman
having a psychotic break down?
And if that's true, there's no
telling what she's going to do next.
[Harry] After the men fled,
the figure was never seen again.
Whatever they encountered
on that road
has left them with deep scars
of their own.
This video is a stark reminder
of horrific things that are
lurking in the shadows
when you drive down
desolate roads.
[throaty screeching]
[yelling]
[Harry] Now,
the Indian Ocean,
65 miles off the coast
of Western Australia.
March 16th, 2020.
A scientific research team
explores the 75-mile-long
Cape Range Canyon.
2,000 feet below their vessel,
a submersible scans an area of
the ocean never seen before.
Suddenly, the high-definition
cameras capture something shocking.
This glowing blue spiral
just sitting there
in the dark ocean.
This seems to be
a translucent tentacle.
It looks like it's something
from another planet.
[Jayde] It's so sinister
looking, like it might be
just sitting there,
waiting for its prey.
[underwater currents]
[Harry] The sub's camera
struggles to fit
the enormous spiral
into the frame.
It's really hard
to get a sense of scale.
This thing just goes on
and on and on.
- [mechanical whirring]
- [Harry] Digital analysis
reveals the spiraling entity
is over 150 feet long,
more than half
a football field in length.
But it isn't a loose
undersea cable.
This thing appears
to be organic.
[Greg] If this is
one big creature,
you know, what does it have
to eat to grow this large?
[static]
[Harry] Marine biologist
Eric Hovland
wonders if the spiral is the
limb of a huge deep sea creature.
It could be a tentacle..
A long, long, swirling tentacle.
Are we looking
at the hunting tentacles
of a giant squid?
[Harry] If so,
this is the remains
of a true monster of the deep.
The largest giant squid
ever recorded by scientists
was almost 43-feet-long
and estimated
to weigh nearly a ton.
[Eric] This is
a deep sea creature
to be reckoned with.
- [distorted growling]
- [Eric] With eight arms,
but also two even
longer feeding tentacles
that reach out and grasp their prey
with hooked, horny chitinous suckers
- that dig into the flesh of the prey.
- [distorted growling]
- [squelch] - [Eric] Once
they've got you in those tentacles
and they draw you into
those arms, it's curtains.
Sailors have always
talked about,
you know,
giant squid and it's this
beastly kraken
out there in the ocean.
The fishermen would tell tales
of whole ships being
dragged down into the deep
by these huge squid.
[distorted wood creaking]
[Harry] Only a few of these deep
water monsters have been seen,
washed up on beaches or
holed up accidentally in nets.
And there's evidence
that there could be
far bigger creatures down there.
Scars on the bodies
of sperm whales
suggest ferocious
deep ocean battles
with giant squid measuring
monstrous proportions.
[Greg] Sperm whales
are huge animals,
and by looking
at the size of those marks,
we can get an idea of
the animal that it's battling.
[Harry] Hovland wonders
if the scientists' submersible
has stumbled across
the gruesome remains
of one of Planet Earth's
most epic battles,
a face-off between an enormous
giant squid and a sperm whale.
[Eric] Could that explain
what I'm seeing here?
A severed squid tentacle
of giant proportions.
[waves crashing]
[Harry] Coming up...
Is this tentacle still alive
and poised to attack?
Imagine getting injected
with a chemical
that dissolves you
from the inside out.
It'd be a terrible way to go.
[Harry] And, a hairy,
square-eyed baby shocks doctors.
Are we looking at a science
experiment gone wrong?
[static]
[static]
[Harry] 65 miles
off the coast of Australia,
a submersible encounters what
looks like a 150-foot-long tentacle.
When marine biologist
Greg Szulgit zooms in,
he notices this creepy cable has
other, smaller objects hanging off it.
[Greg] I think that
tells us that this
is probably a siphonophore.
[Jayde] Forget about Jaws.
This giant is the new definition
of horror from the deep.
[Harry] Most animals
grow as a single body.
Siphonophores clone themselves
thousands of times
to create a mega monster,
and each clone
is given a singular purpose.
Some are digesting,
some are moving
and it gives this large
sort of super organism
that's absolutely huge.
[Harry] The clones are
all strung together
into a chain of death,
working as a team
to hunt and feed.
And beneath its frilly fronds,
there is a deadly weapon.
Millions of individual
dangling fishing lines,
with millions more hooks
all set out as bait.
These fishing lines are
bristling with stinging barbs
that are powerful enough to
punch through human skin
and deliver a neurotoxin
that can cause
paralysis and death.
[Harry] The siphonophore
has evolved tricks
to lure creatures
to their deaths.
This one has bioluminescence,
drawing light loving animals
towards their doom.
[Eric] It's enormous,
swirling, flat, sticky,
like a giant
seagoing spider web,
except
the spider's built right in.
Because the web is itself
the venomous predator.
[Harry] For any creature
caught in this deep sea web,
it's not only death they face,
it's an extremely gruesome end.
The way that creatures
like this feed
is particularly disgusting.
Once they've paralyzed
and killed their prey,
they inject
a dissolving chemical
that turns the body of the
creature into a kind of soup,
and then they'll
suck that soup out
and absorb all the nutrients.
Imagine getting
tangled up in one of these
and then injected
with a chemical
that dissolves you
from the inside out.
It'd be a terrible way to go.
[waves lapping]
[Harry] In January 2019,
over 1000 people were stung
by an enormous swarm of
siphonophores off the Australian coast.
[Jayde] I grew up,
as an Australian,
fearing getting tangled up
in one of those in the ocean.
[Harry] And siphonophores
much smaller than this one
have killed humans.
In 1987,
a woman on the Florida coast
died in just minutes
after being stung by a
siphonophore just 30-feet-long.
The colossal creature
in the video
may be 2000-feet-deep,
but there is chilling evidence
siphonophores have evolved
clones into gasbags,
enabling them
to rise to the surface
where prey is more plentiful.
A giant siphonophore
covered in stinging cells
and digestive juices
redefines terror of the deep.
[Harry] And a sighting
of a massive siphonophore
just 65 miles
off the coast of Australia
should make any divers
think twice
before taking the plunge.
If it arrived on a beach,
Australia's tourists
could be in peril.
If you happen
to get ensnared in this thing,
you would die a death
of a thousand cuts.
A little part of me,
sometimes thinks,
"Maybe the mysteries of
the deep are best left alone
when nightmare organisms like
this are right around the corner."
[Harry] Now,
Nimodiya,
a tiny village in Rajasthan,
northwest India.
January 2020.
[percussion music]
[Harry] An infant is born.
Villagers flock to the house,
not to coo and congratulate,
but to gasp in horror.
Oh. [gasps]
Oh. Oh, my God.
What is this creature?
It looks human.
It's just incredibly hairy.
[Harry] This is no monkey.
I'd say we're looking at
a very hairy baby.
[static]
[Harry] Once, all human
babies were born this hairy.
The five million hair follicles
that cover our bodies sprouted
thick fur like a chimpanzee.
But as we evolved
to hunt and run,
cooler bodies became
more advantageous
and our body hair thinned.
But not everyone's DNA
got the memo.
Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy
earned fame in the 19th century
at P.T. Barnum's
The Greatest Show on Earth.
He suffered
from excessive hair growth,
a condition
now called hypertrichosis,
but it was once known
as werewolf syndrome.
And on stage,
Jojo was forced to growl,
bear his teeth
and even chew raw meat
to the cheers of the audience.
Here in India,
different looking children
are not treated as horrors,
but as gods.
An awful lot of the
traditional religious figures
are half-animal, half-human.
Think about the god Ganesh,
for example,
who is half-elephant.
[Harry] In 2015,
people flocked
to worship a child
born with a trunk-like
protrusion between her eyes.
They called her Ganesha's wife.
Is it possible
that the villagers here,
or the people that live here,
might see this creature
as some sort of God
or some sort of higher being?
[Harry] But when biologist
Carin Bondar
searches through local records,
she discovers this infant was
not born to a human mother.
This baby was born to a goat,
but it does look like a human.
[Ashanti]
Its face is quite flat,
it doesn't have a snout.
It has a chin
and quite a large forehead.
It should be a goat,
but it appears very human.
Why are animals being born
with human faces?
[static]
[Harry] Coming up...
Is this new kid on the block
a human-goat hybrid?
I've seen enough movies to know
that scientists
should not be splicing DNA.
[Harry] And,
a suburb is shattered
by a trucking nightmare.
[explosion]
They say,
"Don't shoot the messenger,"
but in this case, it looks like
somebody tried to blow them up.
[distant sirens]
[static]
[static]
[Harry] In an Indian village,
a goat is born
with a human-looking face.
Could this be
a strange mutant crossbreed
between a human and a goat?
[Harry] Visionary author
H.G. Wells
wrote The Island of Dr. Moreau
in 1896.
A story about a crazed scientist
creating animal-human hybrids.
[maniacal laughter]
[Harry] Shaena Montanari
investigates if someone
is attempting
to do the same thing
in this isolated Indian village.
For two species
to successfully mate,
they ideally have to have the
same number of chromosomes.
For example,
dogs and wolves
both have 78 chromosomes,
which means
they can cross breed.
[Harry] Crossbreeding
humans with other animals
would be incredibly difficult,
as even chimpanzees,
with whom we share
99 percent of our DNA,
have two more chromosomes
than we do,
making offspring
almost impossible.
Goats would be
even less of a match.
Goats have 60 chromosomes
and humans have 46.
The difference
is just way too big
for goats and humans
to naturally hybridize.
[static]
[Harry] Biologist Carin Bondar
tries to discover
how the goat ended up
looking so human.
The reason this goat
looks so strange
is because
its eyes are forward-facing,
kind of like
a predator's eyes would be.
Goats are generally
prey animals,
and so their eyes are on both
sides of their head to allow them
to view a lot of the ground
around them
- to keep a lookout for predators.
- [bleating]
[Harry] Bondar believes
the goat is suffering
from a rare deformity.
[Carin] Some mammals experience
a condition called holoprosencephaly,
where the two sides of the brain
fail to distinguish from each other,
and it results in the eyes
appearing far too close together.
[Harry]
In extreme circumstances,
this condition can result in a
single eye in the middle of the face,
a Cyclops.
Historians have speculated
the legendary creature
of Greek mythology
may have been inspired
by a similar deformity.
But Ashanti Davis
believes
the goat's freakish face
is not just a random mutation.
So there are a number
of harmful substances
called teratogens,
and they actually impact the
development and growth of a fetus.
[Harry] Montanari studies the
area for possible teratogens,
the toxic substances
that cause birth defects
and discovers that India's
intensive farming could be to blame.
India has
a lot of mouths to feed.
It's the second most
populous country after China,
and that puts
a lot of pressure on farming.
[distant rumble of machinery]
[Shaena] As a result, farmers
are overfertilizing their fields
to get maximum crop yields.
[Harry] India spreads 50
million tons of chemical fertilizer
on its crops each year.
The excess nitrogen
washes into waterways
and is consumed
by local communities.
[Harry] Nitrogen
and nitrate chemicals
cause abnormal
fetal development,
and in some areas,
they're seeping into the water supply
in quantities far beyond safe limits.
It's likely
that excess nitrogen levels
caused the birth defect
in the goat.
But whatever
the goat is exposed to,
so are the people.
In order to try to feed
its population better,
India could actually
be poisoning them as well.
- [bell chimes] - [Harry] The
gruesome-faced goat is cared for
and worshiped as an avatar of
the Hindu Gods by the local villagers.
But rather than a God,
it may instead
be a prophet of doom,
signifying
the potential devastation
chemical fertilizers
can inflict on the young.
[Ashanti] Harmful teratogens
are closer to home
than we would really like.
The implications for the next
generations are catastrophic.
[Harry] Now,
Kansas City, Missouri.
January 23, 2019.
[snow crunching]
[Harry] In a quiet suburb,
a doorbell camera films
the snowbound street outside.
So it's a peaceful,
pleasant neighborhood.
And all of a sudden, boom.
[explosion]
There's an explosion
right in the middle
of the street.
[Harry] Just yards
from family homes,
a vehicle mysteriously
bursts into flames.
[explosion]
Whoa, this is wild.
It's terrifying how quickly
this car just goes up.
It went from nothing
to a fireball.
[distant flames billowing]
[Harry] Then the blazing
vehicle lurches backwards
and races down the hill
towards the houses.
[distant clattering]
It's like a rolling fireball
moving down the street.
- [distant clattering]
- [distant flames billowing]
The situation is quickly
getting out of control.
- [distant clattering]
- [distant xpl]
[Harry] This isn't
any ordinary vehicle.
Historian Ashanti Davis
analyses the dimensions
of the vehicle
and discovers
it's a type of truck
seen on every street in America.
The shape and size
of this is quite familiar.
It has a very boxy shape
and a very distinct nose.
This is a U.S. Postal Service
mail truck.
[Harry] Former CIA operative
Tracy Walder
believes the raging inferno
could be caused
by a type of package you
definitely don't want to receive.
All sorts of suspicious things
get sent in the mail,
but some of them are deadly.
The initial blast is fast.
This is indicative of an
incendiary device, or a bomb.
[Harry] Mail bombs have been
sent through the American mail
since 1919,
when anarchists mailed
36 explosive devices
to politicians
around the country.
But the threat of death
by mail hasn't diminished.
In 2018,
a 23-year-old college dropout,
Mark Condit, wages a war
of terror on Austin, Texas.
His five homemade
package bombs kill two
and injure five more
over three weeks.
He's finally identified
by a store CCTV camera.
Police pursue him
along Interstate 35,
but when he's pulled over,
Condit blows himself up
instead of being captured.
[Brian] Just imagine
if the item
that caused this explosion
actually was mailed
through your door.
[explosion]
[Harry] The threat of death
by mail is considered so great,
the U.S. Postal Service
employs a full time team
to monitor packages
for explosives
and biochemical weapons.
Weird-shaped items,
no return addresses,
even misspelled names
are all red flags.
Could this be a letter bomb that has
exploded before reaching its target?
[Harry] Coming up...
Reports of mystery fires
in America's mail vans.
[Nick] They've occurred
in the battery compartment,
in the fuel pump,
in the dashboard.
[Harry] And, a pilot films
a weird object from his cockpit.
This is what I would consider
a genuine UFO.
There is a flying object here,
and I have no idea what it is.
[Harry] A mail truck
spontaneously combusts
on a Kansas City street.
[keyboard clicking]
[Harry] Data scientist
Liberty Vittert
isolates and analyzes
the audio from the footage
and notices an unusual noise.
Just before the explosion,
you can hear a whining sound.
[whining sound]
I think
that's the engine revving
or the wheels spinning as the van
struggles to get up the snowy street.
[explosion]
Could this explosion be
attributed to the van itself?
So something wrong with
the design or manufacture.
[Harry] Engineer
Nick Householder discovers
that the aging fleet
of USPS trucks is obsolete.
[Nick] The Long-Life Vehicle
known as the LLV,
was selected in 1987
after a 24,000 mile
durability test.
[engine buzzing]
[Harry] These vans help to deliver
48 percent of the world's mail,
over 170 million items of
first class mail alone each day.
There are over 140,000 LLVs
still in service,
and some are showing their age.
Since 2017,
reports claim over 100 mail
trucks have caught on fire
without being involved
in a crash.
These fires have occurred in
hot climates and in cold climates.
They've occurred in
the battery compartment,
in the fuel pump,
in the dashboard.
[Harry] This fire was likely
caused by tire shrapnel
hitting the engine as the driver
tried to accelerate up the snowy hill.
[siren wailing]
[Harry] The mailman
escapes unharmed.
When firefighters arrive
at the scene in Kansas City,
all they can do is keep the
fire away from nearby buildings.
The 30-year-old truck,
and the mail it's carrying,
is destroyed.
This gives a whole new meaning
to special delivery.
- [wind blowing]
- [Harry] Now,
the sky above
Colombia, South America.
January 1st, 2020.
[jet engine whirring]
[Harry] Pilot
Cesar Murillo Perez,
flying an A320
with a capacity of 180 people,
spies a fast moving object
approaching his aircraft.
[Amy] Imagine sitting in a plane
and seeing this weird object
flying towards you
at a rapid speed.
It looked like
a metallic golf ball
flying through the clouds.
[Harry] It has no propellers,
no exhaust, no wings, no tail.
That thing looks like it
shouldn't even be able to fly,
but there it is, speeding
along at about 30,000 feet.
Passenger planes
are supposed to fly
in carefully
controlled corridors.
Seeing an object like this
outside your window
has got to be shocking.
[Harry] Perez checks
his cockpit radar,
but what he sees
just deepens the mystery.
[George] It doesn't show up.
It's just a thing
that they go flying past.
This is what I would consider
a genuine UFO.
There is a flying object here
and I have no idea what it is.
[computer mouse clicking]
[Harry] Image analyst
Conor McCourt runs the footage
through enhancement software.
What I'm doing here is zooming in
and having a good look at this object.
We have one, two,
three and four corners.
It's cube like,
it has reflective properties
that could be metallic.
They're not seeing
wings or other motors
or any kind of
mechanical devices
that would propel this
through the air.
[Harry] And this
is no inflatable balloon.
[Nick] I don't think
this is a balloon
because they're usually designed
to go to much higher altitudes.
They're more of a teardrop shape
as they're pulling a cargo
up into the atmosphere.
There's nothing that indicates
that this object should fly.
It should plummet
like a stone to the Earth.
[Harry] Coming up...
Is this craft
linked to a scientist
who mysteriously disappeared?
[Tim] So she's claiming she
could make a gravity force field,
something that the American
government wanted to keep as a secret.
- [distorted radio static]
- [pilot speaking]
[Harry] A mysterious craft
is spotted by an airline pilot
30,000 feet
above the skies of Colombia.
Historian Craig Gottlieb finds
more reports of flying objects
that like this spinning cube
seem to defy
the physics of flight.
In 2017, journalists
published leaked footage
captured by Navy pilots
of unidentified
aerial phenomena.
[Harry] In 2004,
the USS Nimitz carrier group
patrolling the waters
off San Diego,
spots an unidentified object
on its radar.
FA 18 super hornets
are scrambled to investigate
and what they find
is mind boggling.
The pilot reports seeing
like a Tic Tac shaped craft
close to the surface
of the water.
- [pilot] IHR2, it's following behind, over.
- [beeping]
[Paco] Hold it up,
It's just hanging there
with no visible means
of lift or thrust.
[beeping]
[Paco] If it was a helicopter
or an aero type V style jet,
there would just be
a massive plume of hot gases
that would be flowing from it.
None of that
occurs on this footage.
[Harry] And it pulls maneuvers which
would tear a normal airplane apart.
And suddenly
it takes off vertically.
[indistinct radio chatter]
- [Craig] Accelerates out.
- [indistinct radio chatter]
[Paco] Very quickly.
You know, it goes
from zero to whatever,
800 miles an hour or more,
1000 an hour almost instantly.
That G Force would be,
I think fatal to any human.
[beeping]
[Harry] In 2015,
a similar craft
is spotted again,
this time,
off the east coast of America.
[Tim] What's
really interesting is
you can hear the pilots' voice
and they're really surprised.
[pilot 1 speaking]
- [laughter]
- [indistinct radio chatter]
[pilot 2 speaking]
[man over radio] Yeah,
it's just strafing.
[pilot 1 speaking]
[Harry] The Pentagon confirms
the footage is genuine,
but has no explanation
for what the object could be.
And if governments are
releasing genuine footage of UFOs
and they themselves
don't know what it is,
then that's something probably
we should worry about.
[Harry] The United States
now acknowledges that UFOs
like the one in the footage
shot by the Colombian pilot,
exist,
but the notion that
they could be alien spacecraft
could be a smokescreen
perpetuated by the military.
So some are claiming
that Pentagon is creating
this quote "UFO hype"
for a cover story
because they don't want people
knowing about their special projects.
[Harry] Special projects that could
change life on Earth as we know it.
For years now,
there have been theories about
the development
of anti-gravity technology.
[Harry] Gravity
is an invisible force
that pulls smaller objects
towards larger ones.
It's what holds the planets
in orbit around the Sun,
and on Earth,
it keeps objects on the ground.
Planes and birds
can overcome the force
with lift and thrust.
But ultimately,
what goes up must come down.
But what if it didn't?
Could scientists discover a way
to shield something
from the force of gravity?
In other words,
an anti-gravity device?
It sounds far-fetched,
but the U.S. military has been seeking
to harness anti-gravity technology
for over 70 years.
The implications of anti-gravity
technology are enormous.
[Harry] Whole cities
could potentially be suspended
in the sky
or deep under the sea.
The design
and layout of buildings
would alter
in unimaginable ways.
I mean, we're talking
science fiction stuff here.
[Harry] But
spaceflight historian
Amy Shira Teitel
has uncovered evidence
that the theoretical world
of anti-gravity
is secretly starting
to move into practice.
[Amy] In the 1990s,
physicist Ning Li releases work,
saying that she's figured out
how to shield the effects of gravity.
[Harry] Dr. Ning Li's theory
declared that if a magnetic field
was applied
to superconductive ions
trapped in a lattice structure,
they would begin to rapidly spin
and create
a gravitational field,
counteracting
Earth's gravitational pull.
And so she's claiming
she can make
a gravity force field.
[Harry] Anti-Gravity technology
would allow craft to move
in previously impossible ways.
They might look
like the object filmed
by the pilot
flying over Colombia.
In 2001,
Dr. Li receives a half a million
dollars from the Pentagon
to further her research.
And in 2003,
she announces a breakthrough.
She had sent an email
to her colleague
saying she had demonstrated a
large amount of anti-gravity phenomena
and she was excited about it.
So had Ning Li
discovered something
that the American government
wanted to keep as a secret?
[Antonio] Is that
what we're seeing here
is some type of
experimental aircraft?
[Harry] If the U.S. government
has knowledge
of these gravity defying craft
flying above the skies
of the Americas...
[indistinct radio chatter]
[Harry]
they're not admitting it.
[Tim] This footage is proof
that there's a whole lot more
going on in the skies
that we don't know about.
[static]
[Harry] Worldwide,
36 billion cameras
are watching us.
[Harry] On our screens,
at work,
and in our homes.
[static]
[Harry] They capture things
that seem impossible. [whooshing]
Science says
this shouldn't happen.
[boy] Do you see that?
[Harry] Experts carry out
forensic analysis
of these unusual events.
[explosions]
Wow, what a blast.
[explosion]
- [explosion]
- [woman screaming]
This doesn't make sense.
[distorted screech]
There has to be some
sort of explanation.
What else is going on here?
[mechanical whirring]
- [Harry] Coming up...
- [snow crunching]
[Harry] Are trucks delivering danger
to Kansas City neighborhoods?
[explosion]
It's like a rolling fireball
moving down the street.
[Harry]
In a remote village...
Oh, my God.
[Harry] A bizarre baby
worshipped as a God.
Could this be a strange
mutant crossbreed
between a human and a goat?
- [Harry] And two friends...
- [yelling]
have a demonic encounter
on a deserted road.
Suddenly, she's running at them.
[yelling in foreign language]
You think it can't get worse?
It does.
[throaty screeching]
[yelling in foreign language]
- [static]
- [mechanical whirring]
[Harry] Bizarre phenomena.
Oh, my gosh.
[gasps]
- [Harry] Mysteries caught on camera.
- [explosion]
[child crying]
- [tires screeching] - [Harry] What's
the truth behind this strange evidence?
[static]
[Harry] The Irbid Mountains,
northern Jordan.
- [mechanical whirring]
- [electronic beeping]
[Harry] December 2014.
[electronic beeping]
[Harry] Two young men
are driving along a dark,
deserted country road
when their car's engine
mysteriously cuts off.
[speaking in foreign language]
- [distorted rattling]
- [hiss]
[Harry] A strange figure
steps out of the darkness.
[Jeff] She's dressed
entirely in white.
She's hunched over,
her hair is wild
and all over the place.
It's absolutely frightening.
[speaking in foreign language]
It appears to be walking
with a walking stick
like a big cane.
[Martin] It's one of the
creepiest things I've ever seen.
Suddenly, she's running at them.
[yelling]
[yelling in foreign language]
This poor driver,
I don't know if he's ever been
this frightened in his entire life.
He's clearly panicked.
[yelling in foreign language]
[indistinct yelling]
They keep backing up
and she keeps coming,
they keep backing up,
she keeps advancing.
And she's pursuing them,
it seems like.
You think it can't get worse?
It does.
[throaty screeching]
[yelling in foreign language]
It's the most terrifying sound
I think I've ever heard.
[throaty screeching]
[yelling]
It sounds like pure evil.
This poor guy, he's terrified.
He sounds genuinely frightened.
[yelling]
[yelling]
- [engine revving]
- [yelling]
What is she
and what does she want?
[static]
[Harry] In Jordan,
locals believe
the video has captured
something supernatural.
[Jeff] In this region, and
really, across the whole world,
there's a belief in this supernatural
or even preternatural power.
For many,
this eerie white figure
is a djinn.
Djinn is actually
the root of the word genie,
which we know from like tales,
Aladdin, Arabian Nights.
[Harry] Djinn are not
the lamp-dwelling,
wish-granting servants
from Hollywood films.
They're widely known
to be shapeshifters
and have other sorts
of superhuman powers.
[distorted wailing]
Basically, in short,
demons.
[Harry] The Quran tells
believers that djinn are real.
[Craig] Some don't even
want to talk about it.
They won't even
mention the word djinn
because they feel that
the djinn derives its energy
from human attention.
If you live in the area
and you see something
like this on the road,
you're going to think, djinn.
[throaty screeching]
[yelling]
[static]
[Islamic music]
[Harry] Like many places
in the world,
there are people here
who claim to be able
to perform black magic.
Could this be
some modern day witch
that was disturbed
during some secret ritual?
- [speaking in foreign
language] - [engine revving]
[Harry] In the Middle East,
fear of black magic
practitioners conjuring djinns
to cause supernatural chaos
is so strong,
that in 2009,
the Saudi state launched
its own anti witchcraft unit
to tackle the problem.
The puritanical police force
claimed to catch witches,
often after a tip off
from a member of the public.
[Rhonda] In 2011,
a Saudi woman was beheaded
for practicing sorcery.
In general, these people who are
accused of being witches are not.
They've just been set up
by irate neighbors
or implicated in some
sting operation.
[Harry] But the authorities
report genuine cases
of people who claim
to practice black magic.
In one raid, the investigators
were confronted
by a naked sorceress.
[woman screaming]
[Harry] The sorceress is said to
have escaped out of the window.
Incredibly, investigators report
that she flew out like a bird.
The woman may have
been in a trance-like state,
making her feel
like she could fly.
[distorted music]
[Harry] Anthropologists
have found that sorcerers,
priests and warriors
in pre-modern societies
all over the world,
can enter a trance-like state
through chanting, dancing
or rhythmic drumming.
Some in this state
believe themselves
to be possessed
by spirits or animals.
And as a result,
are capable of extraordinary,
inhuman feats.
Maybe they really
do have some power,
some ability that we don't have.
[Harry] A University
of Pennsylvania study
found the frontal lobe
of the brain,
the part that directs
conscious, rational behavior,
diminishes as people
enter a trance-like state.
The figure in the footage
could be in a similar
psychological state,
advancing aggressively
on a vehicle
because she believes herself
to be invincible.
The car keeps reversing
and the figure in the footage
keeps coming at them.
It won't stop.
[tank fires]
[Harry] Coming up...
Are war survivors
attacking travelers
on Jordan's isolated roads?
This highly aggressive behavior
could be a result
of some sort of psychosis.
[Harry] And,
heading for a beautiful beach,
a titanic tentacle
dripping with poison.
[Jayde] Forget about Jaws.
This giant is the new definition
of horror from the deep.
[underwater currents]
[static]
[Harry] Two travelers in Jordan
are attacked
by a demonic-looking woman.
- [throaty screeching]
- [yelling in foreign language]
- [keyboard clicking] - [Harry]
Military historian Craig Gottlieb
believes these robes are the
clothes of a Bedouin tribeswoman,
rather than a witch.
And suspects the aggressive
physical actions and screaming
could be a reaction to events
this woman has witnessed nearby.
This person is definitely exhibiting
abnormal psychological behavior,
and one of the root causes
of behavior like this
are shocking events in life,
like being subjected to
horrors of war, for example.
- [throaty screeching]
- [yelling]
This could have something to do
with the decades-long conflict
that this area has experienced.
[tank fires]
[Harry] The Syrian Civil War
begins in 2011
in the city of Daraa,
just ten miles away
from the location
where this was filmed.
- [tank firing]
- [Harry] The entire area
- quickly becomes a brutal conflict zone.
- [explosion]
[Harry] Witnesses describe
systematic killings,
beatings and torture
by the Syrian security forces.
Much of the city is destroyed,
and around 650,000
Syrian refugees
flee across
the border into Jordan.
But sounds of artillery fire
thudding across the frontier
are a constant, terrifying reminder
to those in the refugee camps.
The effects of war can cause
intense psychological damage
on normal, ordinary people.
- [throaty screeching]
- [yelling in foreign language]
This highly aggressive
behavior is very bizarre
and could potentially be
a result of
some sort of psychosis.
[Harry] Symptoms of
psychosis are varied,
but sufferers could be easily
startled or frightened
and can exhibit explosive
anger or violence.
[woman screaming]
[Martin] Was this Bedouin woman
having a psychotic break down?
And if that's true, there's no
telling what she's going to do next.
[Harry] After the men fled,
the figure was never seen again.
Whatever they encountered
on that road
has left them with deep scars
of their own.
This video is a stark reminder
of horrific things that are
lurking in the shadows
when you drive down
desolate roads.
[throaty screeching]
[yelling]
[Harry] Now,
the Indian Ocean,
65 miles off the coast
of Western Australia.
March 16th, 2020.
A scientific research team
explores the 75-mile-long
Cape Range Canyon.
2,000 feet below their vessel,
a submersible scans an area of
the ocean never seen before.
Suddenly, the high-definition
cameras capture something shocking.
This glowing blue spiral
just sitting there
in the dark ocean.
This seems to be
a translucent tentacle.
It looks like it's something
from another planet.
[Jayde] It's so sinister
looking, like it might be
just sitting there,
waiting for its prey.
[underwater currents]
[Harry] The sub's camera
struggles to fit
the enormous spiral
into the frame.
It's really hard
to get a sense of scale.
This thing just goes on
and on and on.
- [mechanical whirring]
- [Harry] Digital analysis
reveals the spiraling entity
is over 150 feet long,
more than half
a football field in length.
But it isn't a loose
undersea cable.
This thing appears
to be organic.
[Greg] If this is
one big creature,
you know, what does it have
to eat to grow this large?
[static]
[Harry] Marine biologist
Eric Hovland
wonders if the spiral is the
limb of a huge deep sea creature.
It could be a tentacle..
A long, long, swirling tentacle.
Are we looking
at the hunting tentacles
of a giant squid?
[Harry] If so,
this is the remains
of a true monster of the deep.
The largest giant squid
ever recorded by scientists
was almost 43-feet-long
and estimated
to weigh nearly a ton.
[Eric] This is
a deep sea creature
to be reckoned with.
- [distorted growling]
- [Eric] With eight arms,
but also two even
longer feeding tentacles
that reach out and grasp their prey
with hooked, horny chitinous suckers
- that dig into the flesh of the prey.
- [distorted growling]
- [squelch] - [Eric] Once
they've got you in those tentacles
and they draw you into
those arms, it's curtains.
Sailors have always
talked about,
you know,
giant squid and it's this
beastly kraken
out there in the ocean.
The fishermen would tell tales
of whole ships being
dragged down into the deep
by these huge squid.
[distorted wood creaking]
[Harry] Only a few of these deep
water monsters have been seen,
washed up on beaches or
holed up accidentally in nets.
And there's evidence
that there could be
far bigger creatures down there.
Scars on the bodies
of sperm whales
suggest ferocious
deep ocean battles
with giant squid measuring
monstrous proportions.
[Greg] Sperm whales
are huge animals,
and by looking
at the size of those marks,
we can get an idea of
the animal that it's battling.
[Harry] Hovland wonders
if the scientists' submersible
has stumbled across
the gruesome remains
of one of Planet Earth's
most epic battles,
a face-off between an enormous
giant squid and a sperm whale.
[Eric] Could that explain
what I'm seeing here?
A severed squid tentacle
of giant proportions.
[waves crashing]
[Harry] Coming up...
Is this tentacle still alive
and poised to attack?
Imagine getting injected
with a chemical
that dissolves you
from the inside out.
It'd be a terrible way to go.
[Harry] And, a hairy,
square-eyed baby shocks doctors.
Are we looking at a science
experiment gone wrong?
[static]
[static]
[Harry] 65 miles
off the coast of Australia,
a submersible encounters what
looks like a 150-foot-long tentacle.
When marine biologist
Greg Szulgit zooms in,
he notices this creepy cable has
other, smaller objects hanging off it.
[Greg] I think that
tells us that this
is probably a siphonophore.
[Jayde] Forget about Jaws.
This giant is the new definition
of horror from the deep.
[Harry] Most animals
grow as a single body.
Siphonophores clone themselves
thousands of times
to create a mega monster,
and each clone
is given a singular purpose.
Some are digesting,
some are moving
and it gives this large
sort of super organism
that's absolutely huge.
[Harry] The clones are
all strung together
into a chain of death,
working as a team
to hunt and feed.
And beneath its frilly fronds,
there is a deadly weapon.
Millions of individual
dangling fishing lines,
with millions more hooks
all set out as bait.
These fishing lines are
bristling with stinging barbs
that are powerful enough to
punch through human skin
and deliver a neurotoxin
that can cause
paralysis and death.
[Harry] The siphonophore
has evolved tricks
to lure creatures
to their deaths.
This one has bioluminescence,
drawing light loving animals
towards their doom.
[Eric] It's enormous,
swirling, flat, sticky,
like a giant
seagoing spider web,
except
the spider's built right in.
Because the web is itself
the venomous predator.
[Harry] For any creature
caught in this deep sea web,
it's not only death they face,
it's an extremely gruesome end.
The way that creatures
like this feed
is particularly disgusting.
Once they've paralyzed
and killed their prey,
they inject
a dissolving chemical
that turns the body of the
creature into a kind of soup,
and then they'll
suck that soup out
and absorb all the nutrients.
Imagine getting
tangled up in one of these
and then injected
with a chemical
that dissolves you
from the inside out.
It'd be a terrible way to go.
[waves lapping]
[Harry] In January 2019,
over 1000 people were stung
by an enormous swarm of
siphonophores off the Australian coast.
[Jayde] I grew up,
as an Australian,
fearing getting tangled up
in one of those in the ocean.
[Harry] And siphonophores
much smaller than this one
have killed humans.
In 1987,
a woman on the Florida coast
died in just minutes
after being stung by a
siphonophore just 30-feet-long.
The colossal creature
in the video
may be 2000-feet-deep,
but there is chilling evidence
siphonophores have evolved
clones into gasbags,
enabling them
to rise to the surface
where prey is more plentiful.
A giant siphonophore
covered in stinging cells
and digestive juices
redefines terror of the deep.
[Harry] And a sighting
of a massive siphonophore
just 65 miles
off the coast of Australia
should make any divers
think twice
before taking the plunge.
If it arrived on a beach,
Australia's tourists
could be in peril.
If you happen
to get ensnared in this thing,
you would die a death
of a thousand cuts.
A little part of me,
sometimes thinks,
"Maybe the mysteries of
the deep are best left alone
when nightmare organisms like
this are right around the corner."
[Harry] Now,
Nimodiya,
a tiny village in Rajasthan,
northwest India.
January 2020.
[percussion music]
[Harry] An infant is born.
Villagers flock to the house,
not to coo and congratulate,
but to gasp in horror.
Oh. [gasps]
Oh. Oh, my God.
What is this creature?
It looks human.
It's just incredibly hairy.
[Harry] This is no monkey.
I'd say we're looking at
a very hairy baby.
[static]
[Harry] Once, all human
babies were born this hairy.
The five million hair follicles
that cover our bodies sprouted
thick fur like a chimpanzee.
But as we evolved
to hunt and run,
cooler bodies became
more advantageous
and our body hair thinned.
But not everyone's DNA
got the memo.
Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy
earned fame in the 19th century
at P.T. Barnum's
The Greatest Show on Earth.
He suffered
from excessive hair growth,
a condition
now called hypertrichosis,
but it was once known
as werewolf syndrome.
And on stage,
Jojo was forced to growl,
bear his teeth
and even chew raw meat
to the cheers of the audience.
Here in India,
different looking children
are not treated as horrors,
but as gods.
An awful lot of the
traditional religious figures
are half-animal, half-human.
Think about the god Ganesh,
for example,
who is half-elephant.
[Harry] In 2015,
people flocked
to worship a child
born with a trunk-like
protrusion between her eyes.
They called her Ganesha's wife.
Is it possible
that the villagers here,
or the people that live here,
might see this creature
as some sort of God
or some sort of higher being?
[Harry] But when biologist
Carin Bondar
searches through local records,
she discovers this infant was
not born to a human mother.
This baby was born to a goat,
but it does look like a human.
[Ashanti]
Its face is quite flat,
it doesn't have a snout.
It has a chin
and quite a large forehead.
It should be a goat,
but it appears very human.
Why are animals being born
with human faces?
[static]
[Harry] Coming up...
Is this new kid on the block
a human-goat hybrid?
I've seen enough movies to know
that scientists
should not be splicing DNA.
[Harry] And,
a suburb is shattered
by a trucking nightmare.
[explosion]
They say,
"Don't shoot the messenger,"
but in this case, it looks like
somebody tried to blow them up.
[distant sirens]
[static]
[static]
[Harry] In an Indian village,
a goat is born
with a human-looking face.
Could this be
a strange mutant crossbreed
between a human and a goat?
[Harry] Visionary author
H.G. Wells
wrote The Island of Dr. Moreau
in 1896.
A story about a crazed scientist
creating animal-human hybrids.
[maniacal laughter]
[Harry] Shaena Montanari
investigates if someone
is attempting
to do the same thing
in this isolated Indian village.
For two species
to successfully mate,
they ideally have to have the
same number of chromosomes.
For example,
dogs and wolves
both have 78 chromosomes,
which means
they can cross breed.
[Harry] Crossbreeding
humans with other animals
would be incredibly difficult,
as even chimpanzees,
with whom we share
99 percent of our DNA,
have two more chromosomes
than we do,
making offspring
almost impossible.
Goats would be
even less of a match.
Goats have 60 chromosomes
and humans have 46.
The difference
is just way too big
for goats and humans
to naturally hybridize.
[static]
[Harry] Biologist Carin Bondar
tries to discover
how the goat ended up
looking so human.
The reason this goat
looks so strange
is because
its eyes are forward-facing,
kind of like
a predator's eyes would be.
Goats are generally
prey animals,
and so their eyes are on both
sides of their head to allow them
to view a lot of the ground
around them
- to keep a lookout for predators.
- [bleating]
[Harry] Bondar believes
the goat is suffering
from a rare deformity.
[Carin] Some mammals experience
a condition called holoprosencephaly,
where the two sides of the brain
fail to distinguish from each other,
and it results in the eyes
appearing far too close together.
[Harry]
In extreme circumstances,
this condition can result in a
single eye in the middle of the face,
a Cyclops.
Historians have speculated
the legendary creature
of Greek mythology
may have been inspired
by a similar deformity.
But Ashanti Davis
believes
the goat's freakish face
is not just a random mutation.
So there are a number
of harmful substances
called teratogens,
and they actually impact the
development and growth of a fetus.
[Harry] Montanari studies the
area for possible teratogens,
the toxic substances
that cause birth defects
and discovers that India's
intensive farming could be to blame.
India has
a lot of mouths to feed.
It's the second most
populous country after China,
and that puts
a lot of pressure on farming.
[distant rumble of machinery]
[Shaena] As a result, farmers
are overfertilizing their fields
to get maximum crop yields.
[Harry] India spreads 50
million tons of chemical fertilizer
on its crops each year.
The excess nitrogen
washes into waterways
and is consumed
by local communities.
[Harry] Nitrogen
and nitrate chemicals
cause abnormal
fetal development,
and in some areas,
they're seeping into the water supply
in quantities far beyond safe limits.
It's likely
that excess nitrogen levels
caused the birth defect
in the goat.
But whatever
the goat is exposed to,
so are the people.
In order to try to feed
its population better,
India could actually
be poisoning them as well.
- [bell chimes] - [Harry] The
gruesome-faced goat is cared for
and worshiped as an avatar of
the Hindu Gods by the local villagers.
But rather than a God,
it may instead
be a prophet of doom,
signifying
the potential devastation
chemical fertilizers
can inflict on the young.
[Ashanti] Harmful teratogens
are closer to home
than we would really like.
The implications for the next
generations are catastrophic.
[Harry] Now,
Kansas City, Missouri.
January 23, 2019.
[snow crunching]
[Harry] In a quiet suburb,
a doorbell camera films
the snowbound street outside.
So it's a peaceful,
pleasant neighborhood.
And all of a sudden, boom.
[explosion]
There's an explosion
right in the middle
of the street.
[Harry] Just yards
from family homes,
a vehicle mysteriously
bursts into flames.
[explosion]
Whoa, this is wild.
It's terrifying how quickly
this car just goes up.
It went from nothing
to a fireball.
[distant flames billowing]
[Harry] Then the blazing
vehicle lurches backwards
and races down the hill
towards the houses.
[distant clattering]
It's like a rolling fireball
moving down the street.
- [distant clattering]
- [distant flames billowing]
The situation is quickly
getting out of control.
- [distant clattering]
- [distant xpl]
[Harry] This isn't
any ordinary vehicle.
Historian Ashanti Davis
analyses the dimensions
of the vehicle
and discovers
it's a type of truck
seen on every street in America.
The shape and size
of this is quite familiar.
It has a very boxy shape
and a very distinct nose.
This is a U.S. Postal Service
mail truck.
[Harry] Former CIA operative
Tracy Walder
believes the raging inferno
could be caused
by a type of package you
definitely don't want to receive.
All sorts of suspicious things
get sent in the mail,
but some of them are deadly.
The initial blast is fast.
This is indicative of an
incendiary device, or a bomb.
[Harry] Mail bombs have been
sent through the American mail
since 1919,
when anarchists mailed
36 explosive devices
to politicians
around the country.
But the threat of death
by mail hasn't diminished.
In 2018,
a 23-year-old college dropout,
Mark Condit, wages a war
of terror on Austin, Texas.
His five homemade
package bombs kill two
and injure five more
over three weeks.
He's finally identified
by a store CCTV camera.
Police pursue him
along Interstate 35,
but when he's pulled over,
Condit blows himself up
instead of being captured.
[Brian] Just imagine
if the item
that caused this explosion
actually was mailed
through your door.
[explosion]
[Harry] The threat of death
by mail is considered so great,
the U.S. Postal Service
employs a full time team
to monitor packages
for explosives
and biochemical weapons.
Weird-shaped items,
no return addresses,
even misspelled names
are all red flags.
Could this be a letter bomb that has
exploded before reaching its target?
[Harry] Coming up...
Reports of mystery fires
in America's mail vans.
[Nick] They've occurred
in the battery compartment,
in the fuel pump,
in the dashboard.
[Harry] And, a pilot films
a weird object from his cockpit.
This is what I would consider
a genuine UFO.
There is a flying object here,
and I have no idea what it is.
[Harry] A mail truck
spontaneously combusts
on a Kansas City street.
[keyboard clicking]
[Harry] Data scientist
Liberty Vittert
isolates and analyzes
the audio from the footage
and notices an unusual noise.
Just before the explosion,
you can hear a whining sound.
[whining sound]
I think
that's the engine revving
or the wheels spinning as the van
struggles to get up the snowy street.
[explosion]
Could this explosion be
attributed to the van itself?
So something wrong with
the design or manufacture.
[Harry] Engineer
Nick Householder discovers
that the aging fleet
of USPS trucks is obsolete.
[Nick] The Long-Life Vehicle
known as the LLV,
was selected in 1987
after a 24,000 mile
durability test.
[engine buzzing]
[Harry] These vans help to deliver
48 percent of the world's mail,
over 170 million items of
first class mail alone each day.
There are over 140,000 LLVs
still in service,
and some are showing their age.
Since 2017,
reports claim over 100 mail
trucks have caught on fire
without being involved
in a crash.
These fires have occurred in
hot climates and in cold climates.
They've occurred in
the battery compartment,
in the fuel pump,
in the dashboard.
[Harry] This fire was likely
caused by tire shrapnel
hitting the engine as the driver
tried to accelerate up the snowy hill.
[siren wailing]
[Harry] The mailman
escapes unharmed.
When firefighters arrive
at the scene in Kansas City,
all they can do is keep the
fire away from nearby buildings.
The 30-year-old truck,
and the mail it's carrying,
is destroyed.
This gives a whole new meaning
to special delivery.
- [wind blowing]
- [Harry] Now,
the sky above
Colombia, South America.
January 1st, 2020.
[jet engine whirring]
[Harry] Pilot
Cesar Murillo Perez,
flying an A320
with a capacity of 180 people,
spies a fast moving object
approaching his aircraft.
[Amy] Imagine sitting in a plane
and seeing this weird object
flying towards you
at a rapid speed.
It looked like
a metallic golf ball
flying through the clouds.
[Harry] It has no propellers,
no exhaust, no wings, no tail.
That thing looks like it
shouldn't even be able to fly,
but there it is, speeding
along at about 30,000 feet.
Passenger planes
are supposed to fly
in carefully
controlled corridors.
Seeing an object like this
outside your window
has got to be shocking.
[Harry] Perez checks
his cockpit radar,
but what he sees
just deepens the mystery.
[George] It doesn't show up.
It's just a thing
that they go flying past.
This is what I would consider
a genuine UFO.
There is a flying object here
and I have no idea what it is.
[computer mouse clicking]
[Harry] Image analyst
Conor McCourt runs the footage
through enhancement software.
What I'm doing here is zooming in
and having a good look at this object.
We have one, two,
three and four corners.
It's cube like,
it has reflective properties
that could be metallic.
They're not seeing
wings or other motors
or any kind of
mechanical devices
that would propel this
through the air.
[Harry] And this
is no inflatable balloon.
[Nick] I don't think
this is a balloon
because they're usually designed
to go to much higher altitudes.
They're more of a teardrop shape
as they're pulling a cargo
up into the atmosphere.
There's nothing that indicates
that this object should fly.
It should plummet
like a stone to the Earth.
[Harry] Coming up...
Is this craft
linked to a scientist
who mysteriously disappeared?
[Tim] So she's claiming she
could make a gravity force field,
something that the American
government wanted to keep as a secret.
- [distorted radio static]
- [pilot speaking]
[Harry] A mysterious craft
is spotted by an airline pilot
30,000 feet
above the skies of Colombia.
Historian Craig Gottlieb finds
more reports of flying objects
that like this spinning cube
seem to defy
the physics of flight.
In 2017, journalists
published leaked footage
captured by Navy pilots
of unidentified
aerial phenomena.
[Harry] In 2004,
the USS Nimitz carrier group
patrolling the waters
off San Diego,
spots an unidentified object
on its radar.
FA 18 super hornets
are scrambled to investigate
and what they find
is mind boggling.
The pilot reports seeing
like a Tic Tac shaped craft
close to the surface
of the water.
- [pilot] IHR2, it's following behind, over.
- [beeping]
[Paco] Hold it up,
It's just hanging there
with no visible means
of lift or thrust.
[beeping]
[Paco] If it was a helicopter
or an aero type V style jet,
there would just be
a massive plume of hot gases
that would be flowing from it.
None of that
occurs on this footage.
[Harry] And it pulls maneuvers which
would tear a normal airplane apart.
And suddenly
it takes off vertically.
[indistinct radio chatter]
- [Craig] Accelerates out.
- [indistinct radio chatter]
[Paco] Very quickly.
You know, it goes
from zero to whatever,
800 miles an hour or more,
1000 an hour almost instantly.
That G Force would be,
I think fatal to any human.
[beeping]
[Harry] In 2015,
a similar craft
is spotted again,
this time,
off the east coast of America.
[Tim] What's
really interesting is
you can hear the pilots' voice
and they're really surprised.
[pilot 1 speaking]
- [laughter]
- [indistinct radio chatter]
[pilot 2 speaking]
[man over radio] Yeah,
it's just strafing.
[pilot 1 speaking]
[Harry] The Pentagon confirms
the footage is genuine,
but has no explanation
for what the object could be.
And if governments are
releasing genuine footage of UFOs
and they themselves
don't know what it is,
then that's something probably
we should worry about.
[Harry] The United States
now acknowledges that UFOs
like the one in the footage
shot by the Colombian pilot,
exist,
but the notion that
they could be alien spacecraft
could be a smokescreen
perpetuated by the military.
So some are claiming
that Pentagon is creating
this quote "UFO hype"
for a cover story
because they don't want people
knowing about their special projects.
[Harry] Special projects that could
change life on Earth as we know it.
For years now,
there have been theories about
the development
of anti-gravity technology.
[Harry] Gravity
is an invisible force
that pulls smaller objects
towards larger ones.
It's what holds the planets
in orbit around the Sun,
and on Earth,
it keeps objects on the ground.
Planes and birds
can overcome the force
with lift and thrust.
But ultimately,
what goes up must come down.
But what if it didn't?
Could scientists discover a way
to shield something
from the force of gravity?
In other words,
an anti-gravity device?
It sounds far-fetched,
but the U.S. military has been seeking
to harness anti-gravity technology
for over 70 years.
The implications of anti-gravity
technology are enormous.
[Harry] Whole cities
could potentially be suspended
in the sky
or deep under the sea.
The design
and layout of buildings
would alter
in unimaginable ways.
I mean, we're talking
science fiction stuff here.
[Harry] But
spaceflight historian
Amy Shira Teitel
has uncovered evidence
that the theoretical world
of anti-gravity
is secretly starting
to move into practice.
[Amy] In the 1990s,
physicist Ning Li releases work,
saying that she's figured out
how to shield the effects of gravity.
[Harry] Dr. Ning Li's theory
declared that if a magnetic field
was applied
to superconductive ions
trapped in a lattice structure,
they would begin to rapidly spin
and create
a gravitational field,
counteracting
Earth's gravitational pull.
And so she's claiming
she can make
a gravity force field.
[Harry] Anti-Gravity technology
would allow craft to move
in previously impossible ways.
They might look
like the object filmed
by the pilot
flying over Colombia.
In 2001,
Dr. Li receives a half a million
dollars from the Pentagon
to further her research.
And in 2003,
she announces a breakthrough.
She had sent an email
to her colleague
saying she had demonstrated a
large amount of anti-gravity phenomena
and she was excited about it.
So had Ning Li
discovered something
that the American government
wanted to keep as a secret?
[Antonio] Is that
what we're seeing here
is some type of
experimental aircraft?
[Harry] If the U.S. government
has knowledge
of these gravity defying craft
flying above the skies
of the Americas...
[indistinct radio chatter]
[Harry]
they're not admitting it.
[Tim] This footage is proof
that there's a whole lot more
going on in the skies
that we don't know about.