Strange Evidence (2017–…): Season 6, Episode 2 - Conjuring of Demons - full transcript
A young woman captures a doll that mysteriously comes to life inside a closet as she house sits alone in Dallas; experts investigate and reveal terrifying accounts of haunted dolls possessed by demonic souls.
- [camera whirring]
- [suspenseful music playing]
[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.
[explosions]
[woman screams]
This doesn't make sense.
There has to be
some sort of explanation.
What else is going on here?
[camera whirring]
[narrator] Coming up.
In Texas, a doll mysteriously
comes to life.
Uh, no. [gasps]
[narrator] Are these crystal
tears a miracle or a curse?
This is one of the most gruesome
human body phenomena
I have ever seen.
[narrator]
And a speeding fireball
tears along the freeway.
Has a wannabe superhero
gone bats with his car?
Somebody figures,
"Okay, I'm just gonna take
my jet powered Batmobile
out onto the road
and fire it up."
[engine roaring]
This certainly takes
the word "hot rod"
to a new level.
[camera whirring]
[narrator] Bizarre phenomena.
Oh, my God. [gasps]
[narrator] Mysteries caught
on camera.
- [woman screams]
- [narrator] What's the truth
behind this strange evidence?
- [static]
- [theme music playing]
[narrator] Now, Dallas, Texas.
August 2nd, 2020,
house sitter Holly Armstrong
is home alone
when she hears a strange sound
coming from the closet.
[heels clicking]
[Holly] Oh, my God.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
[Kiki] Uh, no.
[gasps]
Inside the door is a doll
and its feet
are clicking together.
[heels clicking]
It looks like this doll
has just come to life.
[ominous music playing]
That click, click,
click of the heels,
it looks like this doll
is possessed.
And then, one leg
begins to rise.
I've seen a few creepy dolls
in my lifetime,
but this takes the cake.
[narrator] Holly has
no rational way to explain
the doll moving on its own
and gets out of there fast.
[Holly] Oh, my God.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
You can hear the fear
in that woman's voice.
She is clearly freaked out.
[narrator] Every child
has a toy or a doll
that they treasure.
But sometimes,
something sinister
seems to move in.
Mallie Fox is familiar
with accounts of dolls
supposedly haunted
by troubled souls.
Rumors of possessed dolls
are rife in the world
of paranormal.
[narrator] One of the most
famous haunted dolls
in America is Annabelle.
Supposedly inhabited
by the spirit
of a deceased
seven-year-old girl.
[Mallie] It looks like
a Raggedy Ann doll.
It's from the 1970s.
Apparently, the mother
bought it for her daughter.
[ominous music playing]
[Mallie] And when
she brought it home,
people were getting scratched.
Then, they called
a demonologist,
because some people think
it's demonic,
Ed and Lorraine Warren.
And they came in and they said,
"Oh, yes.
This doll is haunted.
It's possessed."
Anybody that would come
in contact with it
could be harmed.
[narrator] Annabelle spawned
several movies
in the multimillion-dollar
The Conjuring franchise.
But she's not the only doll
that's supposed to be possessed.
In 2017 in Peru,
a kid's plastic toy doll
is filmed moving and speaking.
[narrator] Normal behavior
for mechanized toy.
Except when they open up
the battery pack,
- it's empty.
- [woman gasps]
[woman speaking]
So, where is her power
coming from?
[narrator] In England,
another doll, Elizabeth,
is said to behave
even more strangely.
Dressed in a bridal outfit,
her owners complained
she hates married men
and will attack them.
There are reports that people
have been scratched.
She's not your normal
average everyday doll.
[narrator] Biologist,
Kiki Sanford,
discovers there are
psychological reasons
why humans might find
dolls creepy.
When we see a machine, a robot,
that looks like a machine,
we think of it as friendly.
But then, when they start
looking really close
to what a person looks like,
but not quite right,
we can tell and it makes us
feel uncomfortable.
It triggers a reaction
called the uncanny
valley effect.
[narrator] But psychological
factors can't explain
why this doll,
which is not mechanized,
is moving.
We're always on edge
waiting for dolls like this
to stand up
and take a life of their own.
What is horrifying
about this clip
is that the doll
is doing exactly that.
[ominous music playing]
[narrator] Nick Householder
thinks the answer may lie
in the earth beneath this
apparently haunted house.
It could be possible
that there's something
in the environment that's
causing the doll to move.
Could this, for example,
have been an earthquake?
Texas is seismically active
and has experienced
a number of earthquakes.
There was an earthquake
reported in Dallas
in early August.
[narrator] On August 9,
the US Geological Survey
reports a minor quake
registering 2.3
on the Richter scale.
Just enough to make
your house shake.
But the phenomenon
was witnessed in this closet
on the 2nd of August.
There must be something else
specifically making
the doll's legs move.
[narrator] Entomologist,
Kevin Kasky,
has been called to many
allegedly haunted houses.
Scratches on the walls,
pets staring
at one particular spot.
Hmm.
I wonder what that could be.
Well, before you go
calling a priest,
maybe you should call
an exterminator.
No matter how clean you are,
from the moment you move in,
there are things living
within the walls
or the ceilings of your house.
It could be rats.
It could be mice.
There could even be bats
scurrying around in there.
These housemates
from mites to large rats,
all have the ability
to move our stuff around.
Sometimes making it seem as if
it's moving on its own.
[narrator] In 2017,
a British woman
got a nasty surprise
when she opened
her niece's doll.
She found it completely
infested with maggots.
Could an infestation of critters
be making those
doll's legs move?
- [narrator] Coming up.
- [Holly] Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
[narrator] Does this house
have uninvited guests?
Clicking doll heels
should be the least
of Holly's worries.
[ominous music playing]
[narrator] And these diamonds
are not a girl's best friend.
[Jeff B] Oh, man. Ow?
There's a massive chunk
of crystal
that just came out of her eye.
[theme music playing]
[theme music playing]
[narrator] In Dallas, a doll
terrifies a young woman
as it appears to move by itself.
- [heels clicking]
- [Holly] Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
[narrator] Kevin Kasky thinks
this could be
a real-life house of horrors.
With so many
different house invaders,
can we ever truly say
that we are home alone?
[helicopter blades whirring]
[narrator]
The Dallas Metro region
is in the middle
of a rat epidemic.
These rodent intruders come in
looking for food
and in exchange,
leaves some unwelcome deposits.
A little known fact
about rodents
is that every time
they take a step,
they leave
a little drop of urine.
Glowing tracks along the floor
are likely urination paths
of rodents.
So whether you see
the urine or not,
it's there on your food.
And if they're infested,
it could infest you.
[narrator] Rats' fleas,
urine, and feces
can be loaded
with vicious pathogens
such as the bacteria
that cause salmonella
and typhus.
One of the most severe ailments
is Weil's disease.
Leptospirosis or Weil's disease
is caused by consuming
rat urine.
This disease will cause
feverish symptoms
and eventually attack
your kidneys and liver.
If you've got vermin
in your house,
you really want to get them out.
[narrator] Moving toys
in a Dallas home
may not be a sign of a ghost,
but of a virus-carrying rodent.
Clicking doll heels should be
the least of Holly's worries.
If we were aware of the diseases
that those pests carry,
we'd all pick the ghost.
[music box music playing]
[narrator] But with no reports
of a vermin infestation
in the house,
some are convinced
the house sitter
captured a paranormal event.
And there is nothing, so far,
to disprove the theory.
[narrator] Now, Fakiha,
a village in Northern Lebanon.
October 3rd, 1996,
a news crew films
a stomach-churning sight.
[Jeff B] No, no, no, no.
No. Oh. Oh, man.
Ow.
There's a massive chunk
of crystal
that just came out of her eye.
This is one of the most gruesome
human body phenomena
I have ever seen.
[narrator] A 12-year-old girl,
Hasnah Mohamed Meselmani,
sits calmly
as lumps of a clear
crystal-like substance
come out of her eye.
How is that even possible?
[Raven] Oh. Oh, ooh.
That's crazy.
[narrator] Doctors are stumped
as these mysterious objects
appear one by one
and fall from her eye socket.
[Ashanti] There's not just one.
There is another,
and then another.
Are those diamonds
falling from her eyes?
[narrator] The girl's father
claims the fragments
are sharp enough to scratch
the cover of a book.
The fact that these are
so close to her eyeball
and could slice it open
at any moment
makes me wanna puke.
What are these foreign fragments
and how are they coming
from her eyes?
I've woken up with sand
in my eyes before,
but this is insane.
[narrator] Hasnah's parents
claim their daughter
has been shedding seven
or eight clear crystals daily
for over six months.
[man speaking]
The family claims
that this is a miracle.
It's a gift from God
and that they're blessed.
For centuries,
legends have talked about
how diamonds are the tears
from gods
or the fragments of stars
that have fallen
from the heavens.
But unless these are really
actual diamonds,
it's hard to see
how this is a blessing.
These crystals look like
they're broken glass
or something with
razor sharp edges
that just must be
slicing her open.
[glass shatters]
[narrator] Getting glass
in your face
can cause horrific injuries.
[indistinct radio chatter]
[narrator] In 2017 alone,
ordinary drinking glasses
caused more than 56,000
emergency room visits
in America.
Sometimes, the injury
is deliberate.
- [glass shatters]
- [indistinct shouting]
[narrator] In the UK,
assaults using drinking glasses
had been estimated
to cost the health system
more than $3 billion a year.
[glass shatters]
[narrator] If this substance
is broken glass,
the girl should be bleeding
and in agony.
What kind of accident
could this be
where shards of glass
are being removed
from this girl's eye
with minimal injury?
There's something
not right here.
[narrator] Biologist,
Carin Bondar,
discovers a case in Brazil
of a nursery school teacher,
who weeps weird solid objects.
These are soft as they form,
but they begin to harden up
as they're exposed to the air.
[narrator] The unfortunate
woman's eyes
are more obviously inflamed
than young Hasnah's.
But the strange tears
share distinct similarities.
[Doctors have analyzed
these tears
and found that they contain
a large amount of keratin,
the same material
in your fingernails.
So, in a way, this woman
is crying fingernail tears.
[narrator] Medical experts
believe the woman's corneas
are producing excess keratin
as an immune response
to some kind of infection.
It must be like
having sharp nails
gouged into your eye
all day long.
It's got to be excruciating.
[narrator] Coming up.
Are these crystal tears
a sign of organ damage?
A disorder like this is quite
terrifying to look at.
And it must be equally
terrifying to have.
[narrator] And is a deadly
legendary monster
stalking Australia's rivers?
There's very few creatures
that the aboriginals fear.
But this is one of them.
[theme music playing]
[theme music playing]
[narrator] A 12-year-old
Lebanese school girl,
Hasnah Meselmani,
is seen weeping
mysterious crystal tears.
Ashanti Davis suspects
she could be suffering
from a disorder
called cystinosis.
Cystinosis is a rare
genetic disorder
caused by a mutation
on a recessive gene.
It causes the build-up of
an amino acid called cystine.
[baby cries]
[narrator] Around one in
one hundred thousand infants
are born with cystinosis.
Crystals of cystine
form inside cells
causing organ damage.
It first shows up in the kidneys
where it causes renal failure.
And then, it shows up
in the eyes
where it creates a light
sensitivity and blurriness.
[narrator] Crystals form
in the cornea,
the outer window of the eye,
focusing more light
directly onto the retina.
In England, a six-year-old boy
had such severe cystinosis,
his parents blacked out
the windows of their home.
Can you imagine
what it would be like
to have sunlight directed
straight into your eye
every time you walked outside?
It would be agony.
[narrator] But physician,
Siobhan Deshauer,
doubts it's cystine crystals
that we see coming out
of Hasnah's eye the footage.
I don't think this is cystinosis
because it classically creates
these very small microscopic
crystals...
[digital trilling]
that you normally can't
even see with the naked eye,
which makes me think
something else
must be going on.
[narrator] A few months later,
the girl's eyes stop shedding
the bizarre crystalline lumps.
Nobody seems
to be able to explain
how or why these crystals
get to be in her eyes.
This condition is somewhat
terrifying to see
and it must be
terrifying to have.
A serious medical problem,
a psychological response,
or a clever trick?
Whatever it is,
it can't be good.
[narrator] Now, the remote
Daintree River
in the wet tropics
of Northern Queensland,
Australia.
August 8th, 2017,
river tour guide, David White,
snatches footage of a beast
he has never seen before.
I just notice
this creature come up
out of the water.
I yelled to my partner,
"Oh, look at that.
Look at that."
We were mystified by it.
It looked like a whale coming up
out of the ocean vertically,
and then going back down again,
sliding down to the depths.
[man] Oh, wow.
[laughs] Ooh, what?
[narrator] The mysterious
mud monster
doesn't look like
any known animal
on the continent.
I'm Australian and I've seen
a lot of weird creatures,
but this one is something else.
[Kevin] It looked so weird.
Is it a head
or is it different part
of the body?
It's like a predator
waiting to ambush its prey.
[David] I've been
working out here
on the river for 24 years
and this thing had us baffled.
Makes me shudder to think
what's down below the surface?
What's the rest of it look like?
[narrator] Australia
is a 2.9 million
square mile island,
almost the same size
of United States,
but it has less than
a tenth of the population.
The continent's isolated
geographic location
in the vast southern oceans
has led evolution
to spawn unique creatures
not seen anywhere else on earth.
Australia is definitely known
for some pretty
crazy-looking animals,
but I've never seen
anything like this.
[narrator]
Re Monteith discovers
the inhabitants here
have reported
a strange unidentified creature
lurking in the country's
swamps and rivers
for centuries.
Aboriginal folklore
speaks of a terrifying
swamp creature
called the bunyip.
[growling]
[Re] The bunyip grows
up to 12 feet tall
with razor sharp teeth
and a huge head.
Worst of all,
it has a taste for humans.
[Karen] It would lay and wait
in the swampy waters
and grab passers-by
and pull them under the water.
What the descriptions
all have in common
is the absolute dread
associated with this
insidious creature.
[roaring]
[narrator] Some say
it's an enormous star fish,
others a large walrus-like beast
with tusks and flippers.
Historian Karen Bellinger
considers that the bunyip
could be a creature
that used to inhabit this
continent in huge numbers.
This part of Australia
in Queensland
has, for a million years,
actually been host
to a crazy variety of animals
that are not found
anywhere else.
[narrator] Archeologists
have found Australia
was once the land of giants.
Just 50,000 years ago,
in the Pleistocene Era,
mega beasts ruled the continent.
- [screeching]
- [narrator] Dromornis,
a giant 9-foot tall goose
with a skull-crushing beak.
Megalania, a 16-foot long
fresh shredding reptile.
The largest land lizard
the world has seen
since the dinosaurs.
And marsupial lions,
a tree climbing terror
with teeth like sword blades.
It resembled a Tasmanian devil,
just 10 times bigger.
Aboriginal cave paintings
depict a terrifying
primordial landscape
teeming with enormous creatures.
What these depictions of
fearsome Pleistocene animals
brings to mind immediately
is the question of,
how they coexisted
with the humans.
Were the humans the hunters
or the hunted?
[narrator] Coming up.
Is this an undiscovered
prehistoric creature
hiding out in the
Australian wilderness?
If I were
to encounter a Diprotodon,
I would try to run as fast
as humanly possible.
[static noise]
[narrator] And is a vigilante
super hero
cutting a blaze through
the streets of Florida?
God Almighty,
what the heck is that?
[static noise]
[narrator] On the banks
of the remote Daintree River
in northern Australia,
a local wildlife guide
films a mysterious monster
emerging from the mud.
Whatever this thing is,
it sure doesn't like people.
[narrator] Aboriginal people
have pointed
to skeletal remains
of one creature in particular
and referred to it as a bunyip.
Accounts suggest that the bunyip
is actually rooted
in a real animal
that is documented
archaeologically in Australia.
[narrator] The Diprotodon.
This terrifying beast
could grow to 12 feet long
and weigh around 6,000 pounds.
Heavier than most
modern rhinoceros.
It's easily the largest
marsupial ever discovered.
If I were to encounter
a Diprotodon,
I would try to run as fast
as humanly possible.
The fossil records suggest
that most, if not,
all of these megafauna
died out 40,000 years ago.
[narrator]
But could a descendant
of one these beasts survive,
hidden deep
in the unexplored swamps
and rivers?
There had been recent
reported sightings
of other Australian mega mammals
thought to be long dead.
The thylacine, an Australian
wolf-like marsupial
that first evolved
millions of years ago,
was believed to be extinct.
But in 2016,
Australian wild life trackers
in Tasmania catch footage
of what looks like
a surviving specimen
of the creature.
The Australian continent
is so vast and wild
and some in respects,
largely unexplored.
Anything really is possible.
[narrator]
Perhaps the Diprotodon
is hiding in the swamps
of the Daintree River.
Every year in Australia,
thousands of people
go missing and many
are never seen again.
We usually think
that this is because
of the salt water crocodiles,
so it's really scary to think
that there could be a creature
that is as yet undiscovered
that lives in these waters
and can drag people
to their deaths.
[static noises]
[narrator]
Now, southern Florida.
[digital trilling]
[narrator]
October 24th, 1999,
2:10 AM,
a police helicopter camera
films a huge ball of light
streaking along the highway,
flashing past
other vehicle on the road.
God Almighty,
what the heck is that?
This thing is so bright
it looks like a shooting star.
It appears to be moving
at a very high rate of speed.
[Rachel] There's no way
that's normal.
It's like a speeding fire ball.
[narrator] The chopper
races to catch up
with the fast-moving
flaming orb.
This is a thermal camera,
so brightness equals heat.
This is not normal.
The heat and the light
that this is giving off
is very intense.
What is this thing
that's sort of flaming
its way down the highway?
How are you gonna stop it?
[static noise]
[narrator]
As the footage progresses,
engineer,
Nick Householder thinks
he is able to identify
the object.
As this fireball
flies down the road,
it kind of
comes into more focus.
And you can start
to see something
that looks like a car.
[narrator]
But this doesn't appear
to be your average sedan.
A normal car engine
might put out something
like 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
It's pretty hot.
But this thing
must be putting out
many hundreds more, if not,
thousands more degrees.
[helicopter rotor whirring]
This car is glowing so much,
it's even lighting up
all the cars around it.
I think the heat signature
this intense
could be a sign of a jet engine.
[engine roaring]
[narrator]
Engineers have been strapping
jet engines to cars
for more than half a century.
The fastest jet car
can achieve speeds
in excess of 763 miles per hour,
breaking the sound barrier.
[whizzing]
[narrator] To increase thrust
by an extra 50%,
add an after burner.
This injects fuel
into the exhaust stream
and will produce
some impressive flames.
[whizzing]
[narrator]
This souped-up Chevy Lumina
is capable of doing
zero to three hundred miles
per hour in under six seconds.
[whizzing]
[narrator]
But like all jet cars,
it's illegal to operate
on the highway.
A jet-powered car racing
through night time streets,
it sounds like a comic book.
[indistinct radio chatter]
But maybe
that's what's going on here,
maybe this is some kind
of nighttime vigilante
justice seeker.
[suspenseful music playing]
[narrator] Comic book
superhero crime fighters,
armed with gadgets
and special powers
have never been more popular.
Most superhero fans
stick to reading the books,
collecting the toys,
and watching the movies.
But some take it
one step further.
There is an uptick
in the United States of, like,
real-life vigilante
"caped crusaders"
going out and attempting
to fight crime.
You've got to think.
What kind of person
would go through
all of that trouble and why?
How about Seattle's
Phoenix Jones?
He travels around
spraying people with mace
to break up fights.
Well, what does he get for it?
Things like getting kicked
in the face
and a broken nose.
After I got stabbed
the first time,
I got some stab protective gear.
Then, when I got shot,
I got a bulletproof vest.
You might think this is funny,
these guys taking their cues
from comic book heroes, uh,
but it's not so funny
to the police.
The outfit's capabilities
are pretty awesome.
I've got D3O material,
which is a material
that gets hard
when you punch it.
I've got a phaZZer.
It shoots two prongs
that electrocute people
and drop them.
It's also got
a rubber ball shooter
and tracking links.
[narrator] For any
determined superhero wannabe,
a cool crime fighting suit
might not be enough.
They need their own Batmobile
to chase down the bad guys.
Although
vigilante activity is both
highly dangerous
and often illegal,
Phoenix Jones is not alone.
Other real life superhero groups
operate in cities
across America.
There's Fallen Boy,
and the Grim in San Diego,
Master Legend in the Littlerock,
and Neuromyth in New York.
On this night,
did crime-ridden Florida
have its own vigilante
superhero?
It's not completely impossible
that somebody figures,
"Okay, 2:00 AM.
Cops are asleep.
I'm just gonna take
my jet-powered Batmobile
out on to the road
and fire it up."
It would probably
look a lot like this
on a thermal camera.
[indistinct radio chatter]
[static noise]
[narrator]
Engineer Brian Wolshon
suspects the extreme
heat signature
is evidence
of an unfolding disaster
and the driver
is in imminent danger.
Seeing this type
of sustained heat signature
suggests to me that this vehicle
might actually be on fire.
Vehicles are loaded
with materials
that can catch fire and burn.
We have plastics,
upholstery, lubricants,
and of course, fuel.
All of those can burn.
[narrator] In 2019,
there were around
a hundred ninety thousand
highway vehicle fires
in the US alone.
Five hundred and fifty people
were killed.
So once this fire start to burn,
it can cause releases
of toxic chemicals
within the passenger
compartment.
Within seconds,
the entire vehicle
can become engulfed in flames.
So, if a vehicle catches fire,
you need to pull over, stop,
and get out.
[narrator] But this driver
isn't slowing down.
In fact, he seems determined
to keep going.
[Nick] This is terrifying
to watch.
It looks like
the entire underside
of the car is on fire now.
[static noise]
[narrator]
Explosives professional,
Matt Kutcher
has spent over 20 years
as one of Hollywood's
top pyrotechnics experts.
He believes this can't be
a gas tank fire
as the car would have ground
to a halt.
[Matt] As you can see in
the footage, it's very hot.
And since it's probably
not the gas tank,
it would have
to be something else.
Another source of fuel,
if you will.
And the best source
of that is tires.
So, if you're looking
at something like 30 pounds
of tire, that's a lot of rubber,
that's a lot of fuel.
I wonder if the vehicle
was under pursuit
and maybe they used
one those spike strips.
[narrator] Spike strips
are used to immobilize
the targeted vehicle
by puncturing its tires.
Flat tires make get away
driving almost impossible
as they quickly disintegrate
and ultimately catch fire.
If the tires went flat
and they're flapping around,
maybe that's what caused
the tires to catch fire.
I think we go get ourselves
a car,
light the tires on fire,
and see if we can't get
the heat signature to match
what we see on that video.
[helicopter whirring]
[static noise]
[narrator] Coming up.
Kutcher puts the tire fire
theory to the test.
Matthew, you light the tire.
Rolling hot stuff.
[machine whirring]
[narrator] And sinister
vibrations from underground.
This weird sound
could actually be
the last sound
that he ever hears.
[static noise]
[narrator] In Florida,
a camera catches
a red hot car speeding
down the freeway.
Hollywood special effects
expert Matt Kutcher
believes the car's tires
might be on fire.
To test the idea,
Matt and his team
are using an old SUV
drained of gas
and stripped of combustibles.
They set up a pulley
to safely tow the car
using an endless cable loop.
This is a system
we've used many times
while making motion pictures
to pull cars.
You know, whether the cars
are on flames
or whether
we're gonna blow them up.
So, I know with high degree
of certainty
this is gonna be
a really safe method
to pull a car
with flaming tires.
[narrator] The team uses
Hollywood special effects
techniques to ignite the tires.
What we're adding to it
is a little extra energy.
A little extra va-va-voom.
[narrator] Matt's movie magic
will speed up the process
of the tires catching fire,
simulating the effect
of the car's brakes overheating
or driving after punctures
from a police spike trap.
[hissing]
All right.
Everybody standby.
Matthew, light the tire.
We're gonna get the car rolling,
film it
with our infrared camera,
and see if we can get
a comparable shot
between our car and the car
we see on the video.
Yeah, a little rolling
hot stuff.
Rolling hot stuff.
[narrator] Camera readings
indicate the heat
from the flaming tires
is intense,
reaching hundreds of degrees.
We're not in a high speed chase,
but I do think
if you scaled it up,
I think we're onto something.
I mean, look right there.
You see all the...
How it's white?
I think it's a good experiment.
I think the one that we got here
definitely shows the same
heat signature.
[suspenseful music playing]
[narrator] It's clear
to Craig Gottlieb
that the driver
is not planning on stopping
even though
he's in serious danger
because he's being chased
by the cops.
[Craig]
This is a police pursuit.
This guy is trying
to evade capture
and he's probably pushing
his vehicle to the limit.
You can see that this guy
will do anything
to avoid being caught.
[narrator] As the tires
reach 750 degrees Fahrenheit,
they ignite and start
to disintegrate.
[Brian] I see flames coming out.
I see sparks out of the back.
It almost looks like
this whole thing
is ready to explode.
[narrator] The car now
seems to be rolling
on its metal rims.
The heat seems to be
spreading forward in the car,
enveloping more and more of it.
The vehicle is just
coming apart at the seams.
To drive like this,
you have to be a madman
or seriously bad dude.
[Nick] This is terrifying
to watch.
The only thing
I can think is that
we are seconds
from an explosion.
[narrator] Finally,
the desperate crook
makes a run for it on foot.
They knew that they were on fire
but it's like they were
saying to themselves,
"I'm gonna keep going
because if they catch me,
I'm done."
[narrator] Patrol cars
cut off his escape
and an officer
tackles the fleeing man.
It's the end of the road
for the driver
of the Florida freeway fireball.
You can outrun a patrol vehicle,
but you can't outrun
a helicopter.
[static noise]
[narrator] Now, for Vejle,
a small town
on the island
of Zealand, Denmark.
[digital trilling]
[narrator] October 7th, 2020
Kispa Newlan
hears a mysterious rhythmic
noise in his backyard.
When he investigates,
it appears to be coming
from under the ground.
If I go out in my backyard
and it's making noises
and shaking like that,
I'm not okay with that.
Seeing the earth
vibrate like that
is not natural.
There's absolutely
something weird going on.
It's beating,
it's causing vibrations.
It's making a lot of noise.
It's hard to tell
if it's a natural occurrence
or if it's something mechanical.
[narrator]
When Newlan starts digging,
the mystery deepens.
[Craig] The deeper he digs,
the louder it gets.
So, either he's getting
closer to it
or it's getting closer to him.
You can see the ground
physically shaking.
What could possibly
be down there
making all that noise
and why can't we see it?
[static noise]
[narrator]
Author Jeff Belanger
finds stories
of weird underground chambers
beneath Denmark going back
over a thousand years.
Beowulf is this epic tale
from the Dark Ages
where Beowulf
battles these various beasts.
The worst of which is Grendel
who lives in these vast
underground caverns.
Grendel is a fearsome half man,
half beast, who is terrorizing
King Hrothgar's feasting hall
at Lejre.
Grendel kills and eats
King Hrothgar's men,
and then retreats
to his underground lair.
Beowulf has to travel
into these caverns
to fight Grendel and his mother.
[Grendel growling]
When you hear
the ground rumble and shake,
it's easy to see
why people might think
that an ancient creature
is stirring.
[static noise]
[narrator] Coming up.
Does this man have something
sinister in his soil?
The temptation
is to keep digging,
but you might not like
what you find.
[static noise]
[narrator]
In Zealand, Denmark,
a man is spooked
by a strange noise
and eerie vibrations
coming from under his backyard.
Historian Craig Gottlieb
discovers
Denmark is crisscrossed
by a labyrinth
of secret manmade tunnels.
Declassified documents show
that the Danish government
did in fact build
lots of underground tunnels
and bunkers during the Cold War.
Take for example, Stevnsfortet.
Sixty feet deep, one mile long,
it's a tunnel system built
to monitor Soviet activity.
[narrator]
In the 20th century,
Denmark was on the front line
of the Cold War.
[announcer] Denmark has been
the traditional gatekeeper
of the Baltic.
[narrator] Any Soviet ship
trying to get
to the Atlantic quickly
has to pass
within a few miles
of the Danish coast.
The role of gatekeeper
puts the entire nation
in the crosshairs
of the nuclear superpower.
Declassified Soviet battle plans
reveal how in the event
of an attack,
the invaders
would devastate Denmark
with dozens of tactical
nuclear weapons
before landing troops
on Zealand.
To protect its people
from nuclear holocaust,
the Danish government
digs 2,000 fallout shelters.
[Craig] Another state secret.
Regan Vest,
built in Northern Denmark
in the 1960s
to protect the royal family
and the government
in case of nuclear war.
60,000 square feet, 230 rooms,
it can house over 300 people.
This place is massive.
[narrator] Patrick Tomlinson
discovers that former
top secret Cold War bunkers
are now being monetized
by 21st century tech firms.
Denmark has extensive
underground facilities
and sometimes, they're used
for server farms.
Is that what we're seeing here?
[narrator] The cool
consistent temperatures
in these 20th century silos
and the high security
which comes with them is perfect
for this 21st century
application.
In Montgomery, Texas,
a 40,000 square foot
nuclear bomb shelter now houses
a state of the art data center.
[upbeat music playing]
[narrator] Protected
by a 16-inch steel door,
submarine engines provide power
to the network operation center
of one of the country's
internet service providers.
And in Butler County,
Western Pennsylvania,
a data center
sits more than 200 feet
down in a former limestone mine.
The 200 acre campus is protected
by armed guards and booby traps.
Much of the information
we all think of
as stored in the cloud
is actually hosted
deep beneath the earth.
But engineer, Nick Householder,
doubts the mystery sound
is coming from a tech bunker.
Underground complexes
are typically placed
many tens of feet
below the ground
to gain the natural protection
of the rock above.
[rumbling]
These vibrations
seem to be occurring
very close to the surface
which maybe discounts the idea
of something occurring
deep underground below.
This must be some kind
of surface-level phenomenon.
But the question is, what?
[narrator] Householder
listens to the noise
and believes this could be
some kind of excavation device.
The vibrations we're observing
seem to be happening
in a very rhythmic way.
This reminds me of a mechanical
drilling machine of some kind.
[narrator] The backyard
disturbance could be evidence
of an engineering technique
known as horizontal
directional drilling.
You effectively have
a drill head on a long line.
[machine whirring]
[Nick] The clever part
is that you're capable
of stealing
the drill head from afar.
Oftentimes, magnetic sensors
allow the operator to tell
where the drill head is,
but that doesn't tell them
what they're drilling through.
It sounds
like a useful invention.
But if it goes wrong,
it goes really wrong.
[narrator] Sometimes,
the drills cross-bore
cutting through other utilities.
The results can be catastrophic.
[narrator] 2013, Kansas City.
A horizontal drilling
operation hits a gas line.
The resulting explosion
destroys a restaurant
killing one person
and injuring 15 others.
The idea that people are messing
with the earth underneath you
and you are helpless
to do anything
is really disturbing.
[narrator] In Denmark,
Newlan's backyard dig
hits pay dirt.
He unearths a drill,
boring through under his garden.
And the sharp spinning bit
was just inches below his lawn.
If that directional
drill comes out right now,
the results could be disastrous.
Can you imagine being impaled
by a giant drill?
Not a way to go.
This weird sound
could actually be
the last sound
that he ever hears.
- [suspenseful music playing]
[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.
[explosions]
[woman screams]
This doesn't make sense.
There has to be
some sort of explanation.
What else is going on here?
[camera whirring]
[narrator] Coming up.
In Texas, a doll mysteriously
comes to life.
Uh, no. [gasps]
[narrator] Are these crystal
tears a miracle or a curse?
This is one of the most gruesome
human body phenomena
I have ever seen.
[narrator]
And a speeding fireball
tears along the freeway.
Has a wannabe superhero
gone bats with his car?
Somebody figures,
"Okay, I'm just gonna take
my jet powered Batmobile
out onto the road
and fire it up."
[engine roaring]
This certainly takes
the word "hot rod"
to a new level.
[camera whirring]
[narrator] Bizarre phenomena.
Oh, my God. [gasps]
[narrator] Mysteries caught
on camera.
- [woman screams]
- [narrator] What's the truth
behind this strange evidence?
- [static]
- [theme music playing]
[narrator] Now, Dallas, Texas.
August 2nd, 2020,
house sitter Holly Armstrong
is home alone
when she hears a strange sound
coming from the closet.
[heels clicking]
[Holly] Oh, my God.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
[Kiki] Uh, no.
[gasps]
Inside the door is a doll
and its feet
are clicking together.
[heels clicking]
It looks like this doll
has just come to life.
[ominous music playing]
That click, click,
click of the heels,
it looks like this doll
is possessed.
And then, one leg
begins to rise.
I've seen a few creepy dolls
in my lifetime,
but this takes the cake.
[narrator] Holly has
no rational way to explain
the doll moving on its own
and gets out of there fast.
[Holly] Oh, my God.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
You can hear the fear
in that woman's voice.
She is clearly freaked out.
[narrator] Every child
has a toy or a doll
that they treasure.
But sometimes,
something sinister
seems to move in.
Mallie Fox is familiar
with accounts of dolls
supposedly haunted
by troubled souls.
Rumors of possessed dolls
are rife in the world
of paranormal.
[narrator] One of the most
famous haunted dolls
in America is Annabelle.
Supposedly inhabited
by the spirit
of a deceased
seven-year-old girl.
[Mallie] It looks like
a Raggedy Ann doll.
It's from the 1970s.
Apparently, the mother
bought it for her daughter.
[ominous music playing]
[Mallie] And when
she brought it home,
people were getting scratched.
Then, they called
a demonologist,
because some people think
it's demonic,
Ed and Lorraine Warren.
And they came in and they said,
"Oh, yes.
This doll is haunted.
It's possessed."
Anybody that would come
in contact with it
could be harmed.
[narrator] Annabelle spawned
several movies
in the multimillion-dollar
The Conjuring franchise.
But she's not the only doll
that's supposed to be possessed.
In 2017 in Peru,
a kid's plastic toy doll
is filmed moving and speaking.
[narrator] Normal behavior
for mechanized toy.
Except when they open up
the battery pack,
- it's empty.
- [woman gasps]
[woman speaking]
So, where is her power
coming from?
[narrator] In England,
another doll, Elizabeth,
is said to behave
even more strangely.
Dressed in a bridal outfit,
her owners complained
she hates married men
and will attack them.
There are reports that people
have been scratched.
She's not your normal
average everyday doll.
[narrator] Biologist,
Kiki Sanford,
discovers there are
psychological reasons
why humans might find
dolls creepy.
When we see a machine, a robot,
that looks like a machine,
we think of it as friendly.
But then, when they start
looking really close
to what a person looks like,
but not quite right,
we can tell and it makes us
feel uncomfortable.
It triggers a reaction
called the uncanny
valley effect.
[narrator] But psychological
factors can't explain
why this doll,
which is not mechanized,
is moving.
We're always on edge
waiting for dolls like this
to stand up
and take a life of their own.
What is horrifying
about this clip
is that the doll
is doing exactly that.
[ominous music playing]
[narrator] Nick Householder
thinks the answer may lie
in the earth beneath this
apparently haunted house.
It could be possible
that there's something
in the environment that's
causing the doll to move.
Could this, for example,
have been an earthquake?
Texas is seismically active
and has experienced
a number of earthquakes.
There was an earthquake
reported in Dallas
in early August.
[narrator] On August 9,
the US Geological Survey
reports a minor quake
registering 2.3
on the Richter scale.
Just enough to make
your house shake.
But the phenomenon
was witnessed in this closet
on the 2nd of August.
There must be something else
specifically making
the doll's legs move.
[narrator] Entomologist,
Kevin Kasky,
has been called to many
allegedly haunted houses.
Scratches on the walls,
pets staring
at one particular spot.
Hmm.
I wonder what that could be.
Well, before you go
calling a priest,
maybe you should call
an exterminator.
No matter how clean you are,
from the moment you move in,
there are things living
within the walls
or the ceilings of your house.
It could be rats.
It could be mice.
There could even be bats
scurrying around in there.
These housemates
from mites to large rats,
all have the ability
to move our stuff around.
Sometimes making it seem as if
it's moving on its own.
[narrator] In 2017,
a British woman
got a nasty surprise
when she opened
her niece's doll.
She found it completely
infested with maggots.
Could an infestation of critters
be making those
doll's legs move?
- [narrator] Coming up.
- [Holly] Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
[narrator] Does this house
have uninvited guests?
Clicking doll heels
should be the least
of Holly's worries.
[ominous music playing]
[narrator] And these diamonds
are not a girl's best friend.
[Jeff B] Oh, man. Ow?
There's a massive chunk
of crystal
that just came out of her eye.
[theme music playing]
[theme music playing]
[narrator] In Dallas, a doll
terrifies a young woman
as it appears to move by itself.
- [heels clicking]
- [Holly] Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God.
[narrator] Kevin Kasky thinks
this could be
a real-life house of horrors.
With so many
different house invaders,
can we ever truly say
that we are home alone?
[helicopter blades whirring]
[narrator]
The Dallas Metro region
is in the middle
of a rat epidemic.
These rodent intruders come in
looking for food
and in exchange,
leaves some unwelcome deposits.
A little known fact
about rodents
is that every time
they take a step,
they leave
a little drop of urine.
Glowing tracks along the floor
are likely urination paths
of rodents.
So whether you see
the urine or not,
it's there on your food.
And if they're infested,
it could infest you.
[narrator] Rats' fleas,
urine, and feces
can be loaded
with vicious pathogens
such as the bacteria
that cause salmonella
and typhus.
One of the most severe ailments
is Weil's disease.
Leptospirosis or Weil's disease
is caused by consuming
rat urine.
This disease will cause
feverish symptoms
and eventually attack
your kidneys and liver.
If you've got vermin
in your house,
you really want to get them out.
[narrator] Moving toys
in a Dallas home
may not be a sign of a ghost,
but of a virus-carrying rodent.
Clicking doll heels should be
the least of Holly's worries.
If we were aware of the diseases
that those pests carry,
we'd all pick the ghost.
[music box music playing]
[narrator] But with no reports
of a vermin infestation
in the house,
some are convinced
the house sitter
captured a paranormal event.
And there is nothing, so far,
to disprove the theory.
[narrator] Now, Fakiha,
a village in Northern Lebanon.
October 3rd, 1996,
a news crew films
a stomach-churning sight.
[Jeff B] No, no, no, no.
No. Oh. Oh, man.
Ow.
There's a massive chunk
of crystal
that just came out of her eye.
This is one of the most gruesome
human body phenomena
I have ever seen.
[narrator] A 12-year-old girl,
Hasnah Mohamed Meselmani,
sits calmly
as lumps of a clear
crystal-like substance
come out of her eye.
How is that even possible?
[Raven] Oh. Oh, ooh.
That's crazy.
[narrator] Doctors are stumped
as these mysterious objects
appear one by one
and fall from her eye socket.
[Ashanti] There's not just one.
There is another,
and then another.
Are those diamonds
falling from her eyes?
[narrator] The girl's father
claims the fragments
are sharp enough to scratch
the cover of a book.
The fact that these are
so close to her eyeball
and could slice it open
at any moment
makes me wanna puke.
What are these foreign fragments
and how are they coming
from her eyes?
I've woken up with sand
in my eyes before,
but this is insane.
[narrator] Hasnah's parents
claim their daughter
has been shedding seven
or eight clear crystals daily
for over six months.
[man speaking]
The family claims
that this is a miracle.
It's a gift from God
and that they're blessed.
For centuries,
legends have talked about
how diamonds are the tears
from gods
or the fragments of stars
that have fallen
from the heavens.
But unless these are really
actual diamonds,
it's hard to see
how this is a blessing.
These crystals look like
they're broken glass
or something with
razor sharp edges
that just must be
slicing her open.
[glass shatters]
[narrator] Getting glass
in your face
can cause horrific injuries.
[indistinct radio chatter]
[narrator] In 2017 alone,
ordinary drinking glasses
caused more than 56,000
emergency room visits
in America.
Sometimes, the injury
is deliberate.
- [glass shatters]
- [indistinct shouting]
[narrator] In the UK,
assaults using drinking glasses
had been estimated
to cost the health system
more than $3 billion a year.
[glass shatters]
[narrator] If this substance
is broken glass,
the girl should be bleeding
and in agony.
What kind of accident
could this be
where shards of glass
are being removed
from this girl's eye
with minimal injury?
There's something
not right here.
[narrator] Biologist,
Carin Bondar,
discovers a case in Brazil
of a nursery school teacher,
who weeps weird solid objects.
These are soft as they form,
but they begin to harden up
as they're exposed to the air.
[narrator] The unfortunate
woman's eyes
are more obviously inflamed
than young Hasnah's.
But the strange tears
share distinct similarities.
[Doctors have analyzed
these tears
and found that they contain
a large amount of keratin,
the same material
in your fingernails.
So, in a way, this woman
is crying fingernail tears.
[narrator] Medical experts
believe the woman's corneas
are producing excess keratin
as an immune response
to some kind of infection.
It must be like
having sharp nails
gouged into your eye
all day long.
It's got to be excruciating.
[narrator] Coming up.
Are these crystal tears
a sign of organ damage?
A disorder like this is quite
terrifying to look at.
And it must be equally
terrifying to have.
[narrator] And is a deadly
legendary monster
stalking Australia's rivers?
There's very few creatures
that the aboriginals fear.
But this is one of them.
[theme music playing]
[theme music playing]
[narrator] A 12-year-old
Lebanese school girl,
Hasnah Meselmani,
is seen weeping
mysterious crystal tears.
Ashanti Davis suspects
she could be suffering
from a disorder
called cystinosis.
Cystinosis is a rare
genetic disorder
caused by a mutation
on a recessive gene.
It causes the build-up of
an amino acid called cystine.
[baby cries]
[narrator] Around one in
one hundred thousand infants
are born with cystinosis.
Crystals of cystine
form inside cells
causing organ damage.
It first shows up in the kidneys
where it causes renal failure.
And then, it shows up
in the eyes
where it creates a light
sensitivity and blurriness.
[narrator] Crystals form
in the cornea,
the outer window of the eye,
focusing more light
directly onto the retina.
In England, a six-year-old boy
had such severe cystinosis,
his parents blacked out
the windows of their home.
Can you imagine
what it would be like
to have sunlight directed
straight into your eye
every time you walked outside?
It would be agony.
[narrator] But physician,
Siobhan Deshauer,
doubts it's cystine crystals
that we see coming out
of Hasnah's eye the footage.
I don't think this is cystinosis
because it classically creates
these very small microscopic
crystals...
[digital trilling]
that you normally can't
even see with the naked eye,
which makes me think
something else
must be going on.
[narrator] A few months later,
the girl's eyes stop shedding
the bizarre crystalline lumps.
Nobody seems
to be able to explain
how or why these crystals
get to be in her eyes.
This condition is somewhat
terrifying to see
and it must be
terrifying to have.
A serious medical problem,
a psychological response,
or a clever trick?
Whatever it is,
it can't be good.
[narrator] Now, the remote
Daintree River
in the wet tropics
of Northern Queensland,
Australia.
August 8th, 2017,
river tour guide, David White,
snatches footage of a beast
he has never seen before.
I just notice
this creature come up
out of the water.
I yelled to my partner,
"Oh, look at that.
Look at that."
We were mystified by it.
It looked like a whale coming up
out of the ocean vertically,
and then going back down again,
sliding down to the depths.
[man] Oh, wow.
[laughs] Ooh, what?
[narrator] The mysterious
mud monster
doesn't look like
any known animal
on the continent.
I'm Australian and I've seen
a lot of weird creatures,
but this one is something else.
[Kevin] It looked so weird.
Is it a head
or is it different part
of the body?
It's like a predator
waiting to ambush its prey.
[David] I've been
working out here
on the river for 24 years
and this thing had us baffled.
Makes me shudder to think
what's down below the surface?
What's the rest of it look like?
[narrator] Australia
is a 2.9 million
square mile island,
almost the same size
of United States,
but it has less than
a tenth of the population.
The continent's isolated
geographic location
in the vast southern oceans
has led evolution
to spawn unique creatures
not seen anywhere else on earth.
Australia is definitely known
for some pretty
crazy-looking animals,
but I've never seen
anything like this.
[narrator]
Re Monteith discovers
the inhabitants here
have reported
a strange unidentified creature
lurking in the country's
swamps and rivers
for centuries.
Aboriginal folklore
speaks of a terrifying
swamp creature
called the bunyip.
[growling]
[Re] The bunyip grows
up to 12 feet tall
with razor sharp teeth
and a huge head.
Worst of all,
it has a taste for humans.
[Karen] It would lay and wait
in the swampy waters
and grab passers-by
and pull them under the water.
What the descriptions
all have in common
is the absolute dread
associated with this
insidious creature.
[roaring]
[narrator] Some say
it's an enormous star fish,
others a large walrus-like beast
with tusks and flippers.
Historian Karen Bellinger
considers that the bunyip
could be a creature
that used to inhabit this
continent in huge numbers.
This part of Australia
in Queensland
has, for a million years,
actually been host
to a crazy variety of animals
that are not found
anywhere else.
[narrator] Archeologists
have found Australia
was once the land of giants.
Just 50,000 years ago,
in the Pleistocene Era,
mega beasts ruled the continent.
- [screeching]
- [narrator] Dromornis,
a giant 9-foot tall goose
with a skull-crushing beak.
Megalania, a 16-foot long
fresh shredding reptile.
The largest land lizard
the world has seen
since the dinosaurs.
And marsupial lions,
a tree climbing terror
with teeth like sword blades.
It resembled a Tasmanian devil,
just 10 times bigger.
Aboriginal cave paintings
depict a terrifying
primordial landscape
teeming with enormous creatures.
What these depictions of
fearsome Pleistocene animals
brings to mind immediately
is the question of,
how they coexisted
with the humans.
Were the humans the hunters
or the hunted?
[narrator] Coming up.
Is this an undiscovered
prehistoric creature
hiding out in the
Australian wilderness?
If I were
to encounter a Diprotodon,
I would try to run as fast
as humanly possible.
[static noise]
[narrator] And is a vigilante
super hero
cutting a blaze through
the streets of Florida?
God Almighty,
what the heck is that?
[static noise]
[narrator] On the banks
of the remote Daintree River
in northern Australia,
a local wildlife guide
films a mysterious monster
emerging from the mud.
Whatever this thing is,
it sure doesn't like people.
[narrator] Aboriginal people
have pointed
to skeletal remains
of one creature in particular
and referred to it as a bunyip.
Accounts suggest that the bunyip
is actually rooted
in a real animal
that is documented
archaeologically in Australia.
[narrator] The Diprotodon.
This terrifying beast
could grow to 12 feet long
and weigh around 6,000 pounds.
Heavier than most
modern rhinoceros.
It's easily the largest
marsupial ever discovered.
If I were to encounter
a Diprotodon,
I would try to run as fast
as humanly possible.
The fossil records suggest
that most, if not,
all of these megafauna
died out 40,000 years ago.
[narrator]
But could a descendant
of one these beasts survive,
hidden deep
in the unexplored swamps
and rivers?
There had been recent
reported sightings
of other Australian mega mammals
thought to be long dead.
The thylacine, an Australian
wolf-like marsupial
that first evolved
millions of years ago,
was believed to be extinct.
But in 2016,
Australian wild life trackers
in Tasmania catch footage
of what looks like
a surviving specimen
of the creature.
The Australian continent
is so vast and wild
and some in respects,
largely unexplored.
Anything really is possible.
[narrator]
Perhaps the Diprotodon
is hiding in the swamps
of the Daintree River.
Every year in Australia,
thousands of people
go missing and many
are never seen again.
We usually think
that this is because
of the salt water crocodiles,
so it's really scary to think
that there could be a creature
that is as yet undiscovered
that lives in these waters
and can drag people
to their deaths.
[static noises]
[narrator]
Now, southern Florida.
[digital trilling]
[narrator]
October 24th, 1999,
2:10 AM,
a police helicopter camera
films a huge ball of light
streaking along the highway,
flashing past
other vehicle on the road.
God Almighty,
what the heck is that?
This thing is so bright
it looks like a shooting star.
It appears to be moving
at a very high rate of speed.
[Rachel] There's no way
that's normal.
It's like a speeding fire ball.
[narrator] The chopper
races to catch up
with the fast-moving
flaming orb.
This is a thermal camera,
so brightness equals heat.
This is not normal.
The heat and the light
that this is giving off
is very intense.
What is this thing
that's sort of flaming
its way down the highway?
How are you gonna stop it?
[static noise]
[narrator]
As the footage progresses,
engineer,
Nick Householder thinks
he is able to identify
the object.
As this fireball
flies down the road,
it kind of
comes into more focus.
And you can start
to see something
that looks like a car.
[narrator]
But this doesn't appear
to be your average sedan.
A normal car engine
might put out something
like 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
It's pretty hot.
But this thing
must be putting out
many hundreds more, if not,
thousands more degrees.
[helicopter rotor whirring]
This car is glowing so much,
it's even lighting up
all the cars around it.
I think the heat signature
this intense
could be a sign of a jet engine.
[engine roaring]
[narrator]
Engineers have been strapping
jet engines to cars
for more than half a century.
The fastest jet car
can achieve speeds
in excess of 763 miles per hour,
breaking the sound barrier.
[whizzing]
[narrator] To increase thrust
by an extra 50%,
add an after burner.
This injects fuel
into the exhaust stream
and will produce
some impressive flames.
[whizzing]
[narrator]
This souped-up Chevy Lumina
is capable of doing
zero to three hundred miles
per hour in under six seconds.
[whizzing]
[narrator]
But like all jet cars,
it's illegal to operate
on the highway.
A jet-powered car racing
through night time streets,
it sounds like a comic book.
[indistinct radio chatter]
But maybe
that's what's going on here,
maybe this is some kind
of nighttime vigilante
justice seeker.
[suspenseful music playing]
[narrator] Comic book
superhero crime fighters,
armed with gadgets
and special powers
have never been more popular.
Most superhero fans
stick to reading the books,
collecting the toys,
and watching the movies.
But some take it
one step further.
There is an uptick
in the United States of, like,
real-life vigilante
"caped crusaders"
going out and attempting
to fight crime.
You've got to think.
What kind of person
would go through
all of that trouble and why?
How about Seattle's
Phoenix Jones?
He travels around
spraying people with mace
to break up fights.
Well, what does he get for it?
Things like getting kicked
in the face
and a broken nose.
After I got stabbed
the first time,
I got some stab protective gear.
Then, when I got shot,
I got a bulletproof vest.
You might think this is funny,
these guys taking their cues
from comic book heroes, uh,
but it's not so funny
to the police.
The outfit's capabilities
are pretty awesome.
I've got D3O material,
which is a material
that gets hard
when you punch it.
I've got a phaZZer.
It shoots two prongs
that electrocute people
and drop them.
It's also got
a rubber ball shooter
and tracking links.
[narrator] For any
determined superhero wannabe,
a cool crime fighting suit
might not be enough.
They need their own Batmobile
to chase down the bad guys.
Although
vigilante activity is both
highly dangerous
and often illegal,
Phoenix Jones is not alone.
Other real life superhero groups
operate in cities
across America.
There's Fallen Boy,
and the Grim in San Diego,
Master Legend in the Littlerock,
and Neuromyth in New York.
On this night,
did crime-ridden Florida
have its own vigilante
superhero?
It's not completely impossible
that somebody figures,
"Okay, 2:00 AM.
Cops are asleep.
I'm just gonna take
my jet-powered Batmobile
out on to the road
and fire it up."
It would probably
look a lot like this
on a thermal camera.
[indistinct radio chatter]
[static noise]
[narrator]
Engineer Brian Wolshon
suspects the extreme
heat signature
is evidence
of an unfolding disaster
and the driver
is in imminent danger.
Seeing this type
of sustained heat signature
suggests to me that this vehicle
might actually be on fire.
Vehicles are loaded
with materials
that can catch fire and burn.
We have plastics,
upholstery, lubricants,
and of course, fuel.
All of those can burn.
[narrator] In 2019,
there were around
a hundred ninety thousand
highway vehicle fires
in the US alone.
Five hundred and fifty people
were killed.
So once this fire start to burn,
it can cause releases
of toxic chemicals
within the passenger
compartment.
Within seconds,
the entire vehicle
can become engulfed in flames.
So, if a vehicle catches fire,
you need to pull over, stop,
and get out.
[narrator] But this driver
isn't slowing down.
In fact, he seems determined
to keep going.
[Nick] This is terrifying
to watch.
It looks like
the entire underside
of the car is on fire now.
[static noise]
[narrator]
Explosives professional,
Matt Kutcher
has spent over 20 years
as one of Hollywood's
top pyrotechnics experts.
He believes this can't be
a gas tank fire
as the car would have ground
to a halt.
[Matt] As you can see in
the footage, it's very hot.
And since it's probably
not the gas tank,
it would have
to be something else.
Another source of fuel,
if you will.
And the best source
of that is tires.
So, if you're looking
at something like 30 pounds
of tire, that's a lot of rubber,
that's a lot of fuel.
I wonder if the vehicle
was under pursuit
and maybe they used
one those spike strips.
[narrator] Spike strips
are used to immobilize
the targeted vehicle
by puncturing its tires.
Flat tires make get away
driving almost impossible
as they quickly disintegrate
and ultimately catch fire.
If the tires went flat
and they're flapping around,
maybe that's what caused
the tires to catch fire.
I think we go get ourselves
a car,
light the tires on fire,
and see if we can't get
the heat signature to match
what we see on that video.
[helicopter whirring]
[static noise]
[narrator] Coming up.
Kutcher puts the tire fire
theory to the test.
Matthew, you light the tire.
Rolling hot stuff.
[machine whirring]
[narrator] And sinister
vibrations from underground.
This weird sound
could actually be
the last sound
that he ever hears.
[static noise]
[narrator] In Florida,
a camera catches
a red hot car speeding
down the freeway.
Hollywood special effects
expert Matt Kutcher
believes the car's tires
might be on fire.
To test the idea,
Matt and his team
are using an old SUV
drained of gas
and stripped of combustibles.
They set up a pulley
to safely tow the car
using an endless cable loop.
This is a system
we've used many times
while making motion pictures
to pull cars.
You know, whether the cars
are on flames
or whether
we're gonna blow them up.
So, I know with high degree
of certainty
this is gonna be
a really safe method
to pull a car
with flaming tires.
[narrator] The team uses
Hollywood special effects
techniques to ignite the tires.
What we're adding to it
is a little extra energy.
A little extra va-va-voom.
[narrator] Matt's movie magic
will speed up the process
of the tires catching fire,
simulating the effect
of the car's brakes overheating
or driving after punctures
from a police spike trap.
[hissing]
All right.
Everybody standby.
Matthew, light the tire.
We're gonna get the car rolling,
film it
with our infrared camera,
and see if we can get
a comparable shot
between our car and the car
we see on the video.
Yeah, a little rolling
hot stuff.
Rolling hot stuff.
[narrator] Camera readings
indicate the heat
from the flaming tires
is intense,
reaching hundreds of degrees.
We're not in a high speed chase,
but I do think
if you scaled it up,
I think we're onto something.
I mean, look right there.
You see all the...
How it's white?
I think it's a good experiment.
I think the one that we got here
definitely shows the same
heat signature.
[suspenseful music playing]
[narrator] It's clear
to Craig Gottlieb
that the driver
is not planning on stopping
even though
he's in serious danger
because he's being chased
by the cops.
[Craig]
This is a police pursuit.
This guy is trying
to evade capture
and he's probably pushing
his vehicle to the limit.
You can see that this guy
will do anything
to avoid being caught.
[narrator] As the tires
reach 750 degrees Fahrenheit,
they ignite and start
to disintegrate.
[Brian] I see flames coming out.
I see sparks out of the back.
It almost looks like
this whole thing
is ready to explode.
[narrator] The car now
seems to be rolling
on its metal rims.
The heat seems to be
spreading forward in the car,
enveloping more and more of it.
The vehicle is just
coming apart at the seams.
To drive like this,
you have to be a madman
or seriously bad dude.
[Nick] This is terrifying
to watch.
The only thing
I can think is that
we are seconds
from an explosion.
[narrator] Finally,
the desperate crook
makes a run for it on foot.
They knew that they were on fire
but it's like they were
saying to themselves,
"I'm gonna keep going
because if they catch me,
I'm done."
[narrator] Patrol cars
cut off his escape
and an officer
tackles the fleeing man.
It's the end of the road
for the driver
of the Florida freeway fireball.
You can outrun a patrol vehicle,
but you can't outrun
a helicopter.
[static noise]
[narrator] Now, for Vejle,
a small town
on the island
of Zealand, Denmark.
[digital trilling]
[narrator] October 7th, 2020
Kispa Newlan
hears a mysterious rhythmic
noise in his backyard.
When he investigates,
it appears to be coming
from under the ground.
If I go out in my backyard
and it's making noises
and shaking like that,
I'm not okay with that.
Seeing the earth
vibrate like that
is not natural.
There's absolutely
something weird going on.
It's beating,
it's causing vibrations.
It's making a lot of noise.
It's hard to tell
if it's a natural occurrence
or if it's something mechanical.
[narrator]
When Newlan starts digging,
the mystery deepens.
[Craig] The deeper he digs,
the louder it gets.
So, either he's getting
closer to it
or it's getting closer to him.
You can see the ground
physically shaking.
What could possibly
be down there
making all that noise
and why can't we see it?
[static noise]
[narrator]
Author Jeff Belanger
finds stories
of weird underground chambers
beneath Denmark going back
over a thousand years.
Beowulf is this epic tale
from the Dark Ages
where Beowulf
battles these various beasts.
The worst of which is Grendel
who lives in these vast
underground caverns.
Grendel is a fearsome half man,
half beast, who is terrorizing
King Hrothgar's feasting hall
at Lejre.
Grendel kills and eats
King Hrothgar's men,
and then retreats
to his underground lair.
Beowulf has to travel
into these caverns
to fight Grendel and his mother.
[Grendel growling]
When you hear
the ground rumble and shake,
it's easy to see
why people might think
that an ancient creature
is stirring.
[static noise]
[narrator] Coming up.
Does this man have something
sinister in his soil?
The temptation
is to keep digging,
but you might not like
what you find.
[static noise]
[narrator]
In Zealand, Denmark,
a man is spooked
by a strange noise
and eerie vibrations
coming from under his backyard.
Historian Craig Gottlieb
discovers
Denmark is crisscrossed
by a labyrinth
of secret manmade tunnels.
Declassified documents show
that the Danish government
did in fact build
lots of underground tunnels
and bunkers during the Cold War.
Take for example, Stevnsfortet.
Sixty feet deep, one mile long,
it's a tunnel system built
to monitor Soviet activity.
[narrator]
In the 20th century,
Denmark was on the front line
of the Cold War.
[announcer] Denmark has been
the traditional gatekeeper
of the Baltic.
[narrator] Any Soviet ship
trying to get
to the Atlantic quickly
has to pass
within a few miles
of the Danish coast.
The role of gatekeeper
puts the entire nation
in the crosshairs
of the nuclear superpower.
Declassified Soviet battle plans
reveal how in the event
of an attack,
the invaders
would devastate Denmark
with dozens of tactical
nuclear weapons
before landing troops
on Zealand.
To protect its people
from nuclear holocaust,
the Danish government
digs 2,000 fallout shelters.
[Craig] Another state secret.
Regan Vest,
built in Northern Denmark
in the 1960s
to protect the royal family
and the government
in case of nuclear war.
60,000 square feet, 230 rooms,
it can house over 300 people.
This place is massive.
[narrator] Patrick Tomlinson
discovers that former
top secret Cold War bunkers
are now being monetized
by 21st century tech firms.
Denmark has extensive
underground facilities
and sometimes, they're used
for server farms.
Is that what we're seeing here?
[narrator] The cool
consistent temperatures
in these 20th century silos
and the high security
which comes with them is perfect
for this 21st century
application.
In Montgomery, Texas,
a 40,000 square foot
nuclear bomb shelter now houses
a state of the art data center.
[upbeat music playing]
[narrator] Protected
by a 16-inch steel door,
submarine engines provide power
to the network operation center
of one of the country's
internet service providers.
And in Butler County,
Western Pennsylvania,
a data center
sits more than 200 feet
down in a former limestone mine.
The 200 acre campus is protected
by armed guards and booby traps.
Much of the information
we all think of
as stored in the cloud
is actually hosted
deep beneath the earth.
But engineer, Nick Householder,
doubts the mystery sound
is coming from a tech bunker.
Underground complexes
are typically placed
many tens of feet
below the ground
to gain the natural protection
of the rock above.
[rumbling]
These vibrations
seem to be occurring
very close to the surface
which maybe discounts the idea
of something occurring
deep underground below.
This must be some kind
of surface-level phenomenon.
But the question is, what?
[narrator] Householder
listens to the noise
and believes this could be
some kind of excavation device.
The vibrations we're observing
seem to be happening
in a very rhythmic way.
This reminds me of a mechanical
drilling machine of some kind.
[narrator] The backyard
disturbance could be evidence
of an engineering technique
known as horizontal
directional drilling.
You effectively have
a drill head on a long line.
[machine whirring]
[Nick] The clever part
is that you're capable
of stealing
the drill head from afar.
Oftentimes, magnetic sensors
allow the operator to tell
where the drill head is,
but that doesn't tell them
what they're drilling through.
It sounds
like a useful invention.
But if it goes wrong,
it goes really wrong.
[narrator] Sometimes,
the drills cross-bore
cutting through other utilities.
The results can be catastrophic.
[narrator] 2013, Kansas City.
A horizontal drilling
operation hits a gas line.
The resulting explosion
destroys a restaurant
killing one person
and injuring 15 others.
The idea that people are messing
with the earth underneath you
and you are helpless
to do anything
is really disturbing.
[narrator] In Denmark,
Newlan's backyard dig
hits pay dirt.
He unearths a drill,
boring through under his garden.
And the sharp spinning bit
was just inches below his lawn.
If that directional
drill comes out right now,
the results could be disastrous.
Can you imagine being impaled
by a giant drill?
Not a way to go.
This weird sound
could actually be
the last sound
that he ever hears.