The Unbelieveable with Dan Aykroyd (2023-…): Season 1, Episode 5 - Outlandish Inventions - full transcript

What you are about to see

Could be disturbing
to some viewers.

Viewer discretion is advised.

Imagine,

A magic carpet,

Developed in secret by the
united states military.

- You could steer it much
like you could steer a segway.

Lean to the left, go to
the left. I want one.

- How about a cage for babies

That hangs from a
20-story building?

- You can walk down the street



And see these babies
cages filled with babies,

Suspended up to hundreds
of feet in the air.

- Or giant killer
robots powered by

Facial expressions.

- The trigger is a smile.

- Has the human drive
to create new technology

Opened a pandora's box?

- This is an
intrusive contact lens

With a camera on your eyeball.

- This is the technology
that keeps me up at night.

- These are the
inventions so surprising,

They're truly "unbelievable".

The human quest for flight

Has yielded some
bizarre inventions.



One of the oldest and
strangest dates back

To the sixth century when
chinese emperor, gao yang,

Takes on an unbelievably
twisted new hobby.

- So 6th century ce
china emperor gao yang is

A little bit of a wild guy.

He's 24 years old,

And while he can run
government adequately

And everyone seems to like him,

On his off hours he
does what he wants.

- One of gao yang's brilliant
ideas is to figure out

Whether or not human
beings could fly,

By attaching bamboo mats
to the arms of prisoners

And then proceeds to
take these prisoners

To the top of a 10-story tower

And pushes them in the hopes
that these prisoners will fly.

Spoiler alert, they do not.

- So the bamboo mats aren't
working out very well,

But the emperor
has another idea.

In his army he has
these giant war kites

That can soar to
incredible heights.

So surely these could
support a human being

And allow them to fly.

As if this story
wasn't weird enough,

It gets a little
bit more twisted.

- As these people are
thrown off of a building,

He hands the string to this
kite to their loved ones

And urges them to try

And bring their loved
ones safely to the ground.

- But that doesn't happen and
the prisoners just keep dying.

- And then the
unexpected happens.

One prisoner, yuan huangtou,

Actually flies for
about a mile and a half,

Attached to this kite.

And even lands...

Safely.

yuan huangtou
becomes the first person

To achieve flight and
survive to tell the tale.

- He flew for a mile and
a half and he's alive,

And you would think now
he'd be granted his freedom.

Instead, the emperor condemns
him to death by starvation.

- 1300 years later, at the
height of the cold war,

The job of test pilot
is still dangerous,

But at least it's voluntary.

- In the cold war,
the military's looking

For any type of technological
edge that it can get.

So, so many crazy ideas
are being thrown out

To try and figure out what
is going to be the thing

That changes the face
of the battlefield.

- The military becomes very
interested in this idea of

Allowing troops to rapidly
move over the ground,

Not on the ground,
but over the ground.

- Traditionally, one of the
problems in a battlefield,

There are mines or snipers.

So, a way of getting
over those mines

Would be really, really useful.

that goal leads to
this bizarre contraption.

It's the brainchild of
inventor charles zimmerman.

- Zimmerman's background is
in working in helicopters,

And he recognized that
having a rotor assembly

Would provide the lift
capability for the platform.

A rifleman, on a
flying platform,

Will ascend into the air,

Flying across the
battlefield while delivering

Suppressing fire
toward the enemy

Against an opposing force
that cannot do that.

but why be conventional?

Instead of having the
rotor blades on top,

Like a normal chopper, zimmerman
flips the bird upside down

And puts the blades
on the bottom.

This allegedly
makes it more stable

And more useful on
the battlefield.

- The idea is that
you could steer it

Much like you could
steer a segway.

You lean into it, lean to
the left, go to the left,

Lean to the right,
go to the right.

- This thing is, kind
of, like a magic carpet.

It can fly up to 30 feet in the
air and go 16 miles an hour.

So it's pretty fast compared

To somebody moving
over the ground.

the vz-1 pawnee as
it's known, sounds promising,

But there's a problem.

- Talking about shooting
fish in a barrel.

Here this loud thing is coming
at you at 16 miles per hour.

You hear it from far off

And you have plenty of time
to take aim and unleash.

- So they ask the inventor,

Make it be able to fly
higher and go even faster.

but instead
of higher and faster,

The new version goes
lower and slower.

- It also turns out that wind

Is a huge problem
for this platform.

Even a little bit
of wind can cause it

To become incredibly unstable,

Which means it's not usable
in basically any situation.

- Every idea does not pan out.

It just didn't perform in a
way appropriate for warfare.

But, I want one.

if a flying
platform sounds insane,

What about an
inflatable airplane

You can pack inside an airplane?

- Another interesting
idea that comes

Out of cold war thinking
is how do you help

A downed pilot behind
enemy lines get back home.

So goodyear comes
up with the idea

Of dropping an inflatable
aircraft behind enemy lines

To assist that pilot
in escaping quickly.

in 1956, goodyear,
the company known for tires,

Unveils the inflatoplane,
also known as the inflatobird.

It's made of a special
rubber nylon blend.

Unbelievably, when it's
unpacked, it actually flies.

- So the pilot
opens up this crate

And there's a motor in there
that does the inflating

And it inflates itself
in five minutes.

Kind of, like when
you go camping

And you have a motor
on your air mattress

And you're inflating it, but
instead of sleeping on it,

You're going to fly in it.

- This is not a toy airplane.

Its range is 400 miles.

It can go up to 70 miles an hour

And it can get up
to 10,000 feet.

Not only that, the way
the plane is constructed,

As the engine is running
is actually pushing air

Back into the structure
of the airplane.

And so it can take up to six
30 caliber gunshot punctures

Without deflating.

if you're
thinking this invention

Is too good to be true,
you might be right.

- During testing, there
are some problems.

This is not a rigid
framed aircraft.

There are pilots who go
up in the inflatoplane

And they find that they
have to fly it delicately,

Otherwise the wings
fold in on themselves.

- One test pilot tried
to go up too fast

And the wing buckled and
actually folded over onto itself

Totally cutting their lift.

That pilot fortunately survived.

Another pilot is not so lucky.

As he's flying, a support cable

Holding the wing
structure breaks

And the wing folds
over onto the propeller

Causing the entire
plane to go down.

- Sadly, the pilot loses
his life and after that,

This project was killed.

It's a great idea.

It sounds amazing, but
it's just not practical.

remarkably,
the inflatoplane

Isn't even the strangest
plane of its time.

- In 2012, the united
states government decides

To declassify documents that
are labeled "project 1794",

Dated 1956, and we're
seeing what appears to be

A ufo.

the plans
describe a flying disc

That's able to reach
speeds of mach 4

And an altitude of 100,000 feet.

But why would the military
need this alien looking flyer?

- So during the cold war,

If america goes to war
with the soviet union,

They might take out all
the military runways

To prevent our aircraft
from taking off.

So what does someone think of?

Well, we need a vertical
takeoff and landing aircraft.

- Enter jack frost who
comes up with an idea.

Instead of creating an
aircraft that has wings,

Why not create an aircraft that

Looks just like a giant disc?

frost believes his
curved disc will have the lift

To leave a more traditional
plane in the dust.

- The us military is extremely
excited by this concept,

And they throw a bunch of
money in this guys direction

To build this aircraft.

- And so in 1959, frost
presents the avrocar vz-9,

And it works,

Kind of.

- The avrocar goes
into its test flight.

And remember, he's
trying to achieve

Mach 3, 4 at 100,000 feet.

He gets three feet
off the ground

And goes 30 miles per hour.

And as you might imagine, the
people who wrote the check,

And as you might imagine, the
people who wrote the check,

They had a few
questions for jack.

- Eventually the
avrocar is shelved,

Another cold war big swing that
doesn't live up to the hype.

- Parents are always
looking for ways

To keep their babies
happy and healthy.

In the early 1920s,

That desire yields a
particularly strange invention.

- 1920 is the first year that

The us census reveals

That a majority of
americans live in cities.

- It's a period of
hyper urbanization.

Steel has just absolutely
changed the game.

We've gone from having
buildings that at most could be

About five to six
stories tall to suddenly

With steel, the sky's the limit,

Hence skyscrapers.

electric elevators
suddenly make the highest floors

Go from the least
desirable to the most.

But while folks are enjoying
their sweeping new views,

They realize they've lost
something very important.

- If you're living
in an apartment,

You might not want to lug
your baby in the elevator

Or down the steps, but you
still have this understanding,

This sense that fresh
air is a good thing.

- So we have a few people
that are thinking about ways

To get that fresh
air to the kids

Despite being on the 10th,
15th floor, you name it.

And enter emma read.

In 1922, she applies for a
patent for a cage, essentially,

That's just going to hang
right outside the window,

Just like you'd hang an
air conditioning unit.

Except it's not an
air conditioning unit,

It's your baby.

- Baby cage is pretty much
exactly what it sounds like.

It's made of essentially
chicken wire and wood.

And supposedly these baby cages
could hold up to 500 pounds,

But who's going to test that?

- The real thing
driving the baby cage

Is the threat of tuberculosis.

Doctors are telling
moms that the best way

To prevent tuberculosis is
to get your kid fresh air.

And it seems like a good idea.

- In some cities,
this idea takes off.

You can walk down the street

And see these baby cages
filled with babies,

Suspended up to hundreds
of feet in the air.

even a future first lady

Jumps on the baby
cage bandwagon.

- Eleanor roosevelt
before she's first lady,

Living in new york
city with fdr,

Ends up using a baby
cage for her kid

On the recommendation
of a doctor.

So one of eleanor roosevelt's
neighbors looks out the window

And sees a baby hanging
out over the city,

So she complains,

And the roosevelts have to
take down their baby cage,

but it's
not just the us.

By 1930, the cages are
especially popular in london.

In fact, the chelsea baby
club is giving them away

To anyone without a backyard.

- Let's also keep in mind
people are experiencing

So much rapid shifts in
their lives in this era.

You've got a lot of
experiments going on.

Whether it's subways,

These crazy new things
called automobiles.

Well, maybe it just makes
sense that one of those shifts

Is putting your child in a
cage that hangs out a window.

by the 1940s, vaccines
calm fears of tuberculosis

And the cages fall out of favor,

Before anyone falls out of them.

- But perhaps more importantly,

There's a real change in the way

We understand science and
we understand disease.

So it's not that we're
uninterested in fresh air,

But we don't see it as the
cure-all to everything,

So much so that we're willing
to stick our kids in cages

Outside of upper
west side apartments.

- There's no word on whether a
generation of big city babies

Suffer from terrible acrophobia

Or are immune to it.

But the 1930s introduced more
than one strange invention

To concerned parents.

As another world war looms,

London town councils hand
out tiny green outfits

To perplexed new mothers.

Officials casually explain,

It's a gas mask

For your baby.

- From the first world war,

There were a hundred
thousand deaths

From mustard and chlorine gas.

So you have the
military and scientists

Trying to develop technology

To keep the population
safe from gas attacks

And baby gas masks are invented.

- Gas mask is probably
the wrong word.

This is like a full body suit.

This is like a
helmet with a visor

And a metal grate
over the kid's face.

in an effort to
make them seem less scary,

The government names them
the 'mickey mouse' mask.

Not sure how much that helps.

- Getting a baby
into these gas masks

Isn't exactly the easiest thing.

You have to load them into
this metal visor thing

And then wrap canvas
around them like a diaper

With their little legs
hanging out from the bottom.

But then it is actually
convenient for the parents

Because you can wear your gas
masked baby like a backpack,

Like a gas masked babybjorn.

- This suit is
meant to be airtight

And you as the parent have
to keep pumping air into it,

So your kid has enough
fresh air to survive.

It's not hard to imagine this
isn't going to work well.

- So the british start testing
out this brilliant idea,

But then the nurses
notice a little problem.

The babies are falling asleep.

and it isn't
because the babies

Are so warm and cozy.

- So it becomes rather clear

That they aren't
actually getting

As much air as
they're supposed to.

And ultimately the
project is scraped

Because of course, better to
run the risk of a gas attack

Than inadvertently
wipe out a generation

By suffocating them
in baby gas masks.

but it does inspire
yet another bizarre invention.

- As the british people are
facing the prospect of war,

We also have the baby
gas mask stroller.

For the parent-on-the-go
who wants to make sure

Their child's protected in
the event of a mustard attack.

Basically it looks like a
coffin with a visor over it,

So you can see the baby,

Make sure everything
looks good there.

and like
the baby gas mask,

The gas stroller is
also airtight

With a cute little pump.

Just don't forget to give
it a squeeze now and then.

- You put your baby in
this airtight, coffin-like,

Metal container that
has an air filter

That you have to consistently
pump oxygen into,

And you go for a stroll
in piccadilly circus.

what happens to
the person walking the baby

Isn't quite clear,

But the intent behind
it somehow makes sense.

- During wartime, you still
want to go to the park

With your baby even though
you're under threat.

So, people are just
grasping at straws

To maintain their
sense of normalcy.

- And luckily, london
and the rest of England

Were not attacked
with chemical weapons,

Were not attacked
with chemical weapons,

And so the baby stroller
was never needed.

- Since the first
moving pictures,

We've been dreaming of
how to make movies better.

First with dialogue,
then with color.

So in 1960, two producers
wonder what's next.

- By 1960, 75% of american
households have a television.

That's more than the
number of households

That have a refrigerator.

And hollywood's box office sales

Have fallen off almost
50% in 20 years.

- So hollywood is scrambling
trying to figure out a way

To get people back
into the theaters.

And in the words
of gypsy rose lee,

"you gotta get a gimmick".

movie producer
mike todd jr.,

Elizabeth taylor's stepson,

Thinks he has the idea
hollywood needs, smell-o-vision.

- Mike todd jr. Works with
this inventor named hans laube,

And they come up with
this revolutionary

Piece of technology

That's going to
completely change

The movie theater viewing
experience, the "smell brain".

- The "smell brain" is
synced up with the projector,

It has a belt.

And attached to this belt
are small pouches of scent.

There's a small needle that
punctures these little pouches,

Releasing the scent
in exact synchronicity

With whatever you're
meant to smell on camera.

If you see roses, it'll
pierce that rose pouch

And you smell roses.

It seems foolproof.

- So in 1960, mike and
hans produced a film

Specifically shot
for smell-o-vision,

And they call it
"scent of mystery".

- So this is not
like a minor film.

It features among
others,

Elizabeth taylor and
peter lorre.

But what's cool about
the film it's smells

Are crucial to the plot.

You know when the
villain is coming

Because the villain
smokes a pipe

And we get the
smell of pipe smoke.

And we actually know
the heroine in the film

Before you see her because
the scent of her perfume

Is supposed to fill the theater.

This smell is not
just incidental,

It's actually
intrinsic to the plot.

- Yuck!

- Now this technology
does not come cheap.

It costs $15,000 just for
the chicago theater alone,

Which is over a hundred
grand in today's dollars.

So they're really banking
on a success here.

but unfortunately,
on opening night,

Smell-o-vision has
some rank problems.

- Number one, you can't
clear out the previous smell

When the next smell comes in.

If the first smell is gasoline

And the next smell is perfume,

And the next smell is garlic,
you are having a theater

That smells like a
combination of gasoline,

Garlic and perfume.

On top of that, some
parts of the theater

Aren't getting the scent
right as it's released,

So it's wafting down
to them scenes later.

And then you have an entire
theater going...

It is a complete
and total disaster.

mike and hans
scramble to fix the problem,

But it's too late.

Critics and audiences agree,
smell-o-vision stinks,

And the movie's a total flop.

- So they tried to
salvage some part

Of this very expensive
experiment

And they
rebrand the movie

And they call it a
"holiday in Spain",

Which is already a pivot,

But this time it's without
the smell-o-vision technology.

But that doesn't really work
because this was the film

Shot entirely for the purpose
of smell in the scenes.

So you've got these
weird long pauses

Because you were
waiting for an audience

To be able to smell something

And you have nothing
to smell now.

- You just, kind of, have a
weird movie with long shots

Of gas pumps and a long shot
of a dude smoking a pipe,

Which resembles a
real holiday in Spain

About as much as I
resemble beyonce.

- If you think smelling your
entertainment is strange,

Brace yourself for
this next invention.

- Video game technology
keeps advancing,

Keeps becoming more
and more realistic.

So what's the next step?

How about feeling what's
happening in the game.

aahh!

Aahh!

That's actually been invented,

And it's called a haptic vest.

It gives you the
experience of feeling

What your game character feels.

So if you're in a combat
game and you're stabbed,

Punched, whatever's going on,

You actually feel
that through the vest.

It hurts you.

- When you read the
sensations this haptic vest

Is promising to give you, it
sounds like a police report.

Shot, shot with exit
wound, stabbing,

Axe wound, abdominal wound,
severe abdominal wound.

Why would people want this?

- Game players claim
that it's very realistic.

Get hit with a battle
axe in the back

Feels just like the real thing.

My question is, how the
heck do you know that?

as crazy as this sounds,

There's actually a
practical application.

- It's very useful in
training scenarios for police,

For military personnel,
for firefighters.

So people are finding multiple
uses for this technology.

- I just hope we don't
have to wear them

To watch movies one day.

To watch movies one day.

aahh!

Aahh!

'cause I
prefer pretending

To be attacked by monsters.

- For millennia, pests
have plagued farmers,

But some of the most
damaging are slugs.

It's a billion dollar a year
problem across the globe,

Until 2001 when a strange
solution is suggested.

- College student, ian
kelly comes up with an idea.

He says, "what if I
could create something

That not only kills slugs,
but also uses them for fuel?"

And so he comes up with the idea

That is affectionately
known as slugbot.

- So the vision for the
slugbot is, sort of,

Like an automatic
lawnmower type machine

That moves through the
fields, identifying slugs

And scooping them off the ground

And putting them into a digester

That will make fuel to
keep the machine running.

- This is a robot that is
consuming organic flesh.

it's a
terrifying concept,

Yet if it works, it could
change farming forever.

- So the slugbot
has immense promise.

Everyone wants
this idea to work.

Everyone loves it.

It's going to save
hundreds of millions

Of dollars in destroyed
crops annually.

It's so promising, that's
even on time magazine's,

Inventions of the
year list in 2001.

but can this
flesh-eating robot put its money

Where its mouth is?

- The technology
isn't 100% there.

The slugbot is fine
at identifying slugs

And picking them up,

But the process of
decomposing slugs

To convert them into energy

Hasn't actually been
employed on the robot itself.

20 years later,

Researchers develop an
unsettling new iteration.

- What they want to do
is they want to use ai,

So that it can determine
where slugs are in your crops.

It can attack them and deliver
a lethal dose of poison.

- So rather than devouring
slugs to power itself,

This new product goes out
there like half terminator,

Half roomba, zapping all the
slugs up and down the field

With laser guided ai precision.

- First you have this machine

That's killing to
eat and power itself,

And now it evolves to a machine
that's killing just to kill.

I'm not sure I like
where this is headed.

maybe the
key to harnessing

The potential of future robots

Is controlling them
ourselves, from the inside.

- It is 1980s japan,
and kogoro kurata

Is like most boys of his
age, obsessed with anime.

Specifically mecha,
giant fighting robots.

- And like most kids of the
'80's, kogoro kurata thinks,

"wouldn't it be cool if these
things existed in real life?

Wouldn't it be cool if you
could get into the driver's seat

And control it and fight?"

by the time
kogoro grows up,

There are still no
giant rideable robots.

So he wonders, "why not?"

- He gets tired of
waiting and in 2012,

He builds one himself.

It's called "kuratas".

It's 13 feet tall and
you climb up into it.

You close the hatch and you
get behind the controls.

It's every boy's dream.

My own 13 foot tall,
giant killer robot.

- "kuratas" is the
first robot of its kind

That is built to this scale
and for this function.

- This robot is an
amazing machine.

It has 30 robotic joints
and weighs five tons,

And it actually shoots
bbs with a gatlin gun.

I'm talking like 6,000 a minute,

That's a hundred a second.

But what's really interesting

Is how you trigger
shooting these bbs.

The trigger is a smile.

- If I am sitting
in the "kuratas",

This thing is not going to
stop shooting bbs anytime soon,

'cause I'm smiling
from ear to ear.

"kuratas" even takes
on a challenger in 2017,

California's megabots.

and there's the
horn.

Here we go.

he's
firing! He's firing!

those six
barrels can fire

Up to 2000 rounds per minute.

"eagle
prime", "kuratas"

Engage in close combat.

That chainsaw is now activated.

- Megabots is the first winner

Of the first ever live
action mecha battle.

history
has been made.

- But don't feel
bad for "kuratas"

Because we have both
"kuratas" and megabots

To thank for bringing
our childhoods

Into actual real existence.

believe it or not,

"kuratas" briefly goes on
sale for a mere $1.3 million.

Though in the end, no
one pulls the trigger

To bring their
childhood fantasy home.

To bring their
childhood fantasy home.

- And honestly, that
sounds like a bargain,

Considering it's
cheaper than a bugatti

And way more smiles per minute.

- Like most of us,
I'm sure you've come to

Work in a bad mood before,

But those days may soon be gone.

Whether you are happy
about it or not.

- It's 2009 and keihin
electric express railway

Decides that happy employees
are good employees.

So, how do we prove
that you're happy?

- This japanese railroad
company comes up with a test

That the employees
do every morning.

They walk up to this
camera and they smile.

The computer analyzes the smile

And grades the employee
from zero to 100.

- It's not just your
smile in your teeth,

It analyzes your full smile.

It's your eyes
and your wrinkles.

So if your smile is fake,
this will call you out on it.

it even gives you tips
on how to improve your smile,

Like, "lift up your
mouth corners,"

Or my favorite, "you
still look too serious."

Believe it or not,

There's actually science behind
this weird little device.

- A lot of people
think that your actions

Follow your feelings,

But psychiatry shows that your
feelings follow your actions.

So when you do the smile,

It can trigger your brain
to release endorphins,

Which is a happy chemical,

And you can actually feel better

Just by the action of smiling.

- The keihin railway company

Was using this technology
just to give advice,

To try to get them to smile
more at the customers.

But in 2018, another company
takes this one step further.

- E-cometrue has you
clock in every morning

With a smile device.

And if you fail,

You're not allowed in
the office for the day.

- So you have to re-smile

Until you're exhibiting
true happiness.

But you know what could
make people feel better

Even more effectively?

Money. Give them a pay raise,
give them some bonuses,

Smiles throughout the room.

- But it gets worse.

The university of tokyo,
it goes one step further.

You want to get your food
out of the office fridge,

You have to unlock
it with a smile.

If you don't smile
adequately enough,

The fridge won't unlock for you.

- If it's lunchtime
and you're hungry,

Hunger can lead to
not being so happy.

So you could go up to
the refrigerator, hangry,

And never get your lunch,
which only makes you hangrier.

You got to be careful.

You got to think
these things through.

while a future
of forced smiles

May not actually make us happy,

This next invention
could literally

Change the way we see the world.

- Smartphones have been
getting smaller and smaller,

But sony corporation wants
to take it to a new level.

Google glass was a
set of ar glasses

Where you're looking
at the real world,

But you have augmentation
overlaid on top of it.

It's essentially
what you would see

On your smartphone screen, just
transparent in your glasses.

But the price point of
$1,500 made it hard to sell.

- Another limitation is
they, kind of, look dorky.

And so, ultimately
the best solution

Would be to remove the
glasses altogether.

many believe the answer

Is to hide the
hardware in your eyes.

So in 2016, sony files a patent
for a 'smart' contact lens.

- Instead of having
a pair of glasses

With information overlaid on it,

The information is displayed
in the contact lens itself.

- The technology behind
this is pretty incredible.

It has a battery
that gets charged up

By the mechanical
action of you blinking.

You know, just charging
my contact camera.

the developers
say smart contacts

Will change our lives as much
as smartphones did in 2007.

- Ostensibly, you would
be able to do anything

On these lenses that you can
do on your cell phone screen.

Check your email, find
navigation directions,

Look at pictures, and
it also has a camera

And onboard storage
that can record video.

- Imagine you could just
look around the room

And identify
everyone in the room.

It's like you googled
them or an ai face search,

And identify each person and
get their full background.

This thing is limitless.

it's not just a fun toy.

It might even be
able to save lives.

- Because they're
embedded in your eye,

They might be able to
monitor your vital systems

And maybe even trigger
the release of medication

If they're perceiving
that your vitals

Are getting out of control.

And that is an incredible thing.

but a fully integrated
digital visual future

May also come with
some dark consequences.

- There are a number of
privacy issues involved here.

If somebody is wearing them,
they could be recording

And the people around
wouldn't actually be aware

That they're being recorded.

Not only that, we are
already at a state

Where we're a highly
distractible culture.

And bringing something
that takes up

Your entire field of vision
with additional information,

Seems like it could be
a recipe for disaster.

whether the idea
of 'smart' contact lenses

Makes it to stores
anytime soon or not,

One thing's certain,

Our future will look much
different than our present.

- When I got my glasses,

My sister encouraged me
to get contact lenses

And I went in for my contact
lens training session.

And I went in for my contact
lens training session.

Sticking my finger
in my eyeball,

Is not the technology for me.

- Have you ever dreamed you
woke up trapped in a casket?

You can't move.
You can't breathe.

In the 19th century,
this fear is so real,

The question for many becomes,

Can modern innovation save us

From such a ghastly
second death?

- Taphophobia is the fear
of being buried alive.

This is a persistent
fear throughout the ages,

But taphophobia is really,

Really prominent in
the 19th century.

Cholera is a huge issue.

Cholera is one of these diseases
that are wiping people out.

- So when you have 5% of a
population dying from cholera,

You have a massive
amount of bodies

That also need to be buried in
a very short period of time.

- Cholera can induce coma.

So you have a number of
people who are afraid

They're going to be
buried in a coma state

And wake up, reaching up,
to only find a coffin lid.

This just feeds into
all these fears,

This taphophobia that's
already so rampant

In the 19th century.

so, in 1829, a
german engineer comes up

With an unusual solution.

- Dr. Johann taberger
devises this system

Where there's a bell
on top of the grave

And the string runs
into the coffin.

And when you wake
up and you realize,

"my gosh, I'm buried alive."

You pull the string and
it rings above your grave.

- And crucially,
we have an air tube

Because you got
to have fresh air.

So, you've got your air
tube, you can breathe,

You're moving your hand,
you're ringing that bell.

Out come the spades,
you're being dug out,

Everything's going to be okay.

- The problem is
when a body decays,

Gases build up, the body bloats.

And what happens is that the
bell might start to ring.

- People were hired to sit in
cemeteries just to make sure

That these bells
did or did not ring.

Yes, they could be
rung from a finger,

But the wind could cause
just as much ringing.

as far as we
know, there are no cases

Of anyone actually being
'saved by the bell'.

But why wait for someone
to come dig you up

If you can get out yourself?

- In 1843, christian
eisenbrandt,

He takes this idea of a safety
coffin one step further.

He calls it the "life
preserving coffin".

- "the life preserving coffin".

It's a great paradox.

So christian's idea is
that if you move at all,

Then the lid of the coffin

Is just going to
spring right open.

That's going to be a
problem, of course,

If you've got the weight
of six feet of dirt on you.

So he does recommend
being laid to rest

In more of a
mausoleum situation.

But barring that issue,
it's a great invention.

eisenbrandt
really stands by his work

Because when he dies,

He's actually placed
in his own invention.

Unfortunately or fortunately,
he never comes out.

In 1868, another german inventor
has a more practical idea.

- Franz vester, he ups
the escape coffin game.

Escape coffins should not
just be something for the rich

Who can afford a
above ground tomb.

It can be something to save

Those who are buried
in the ground.

- This coffin has a
built-in escape route.

He has a two foot square tube

That goes all the way
down to the coffin.

So if you were buried
alive, all you have to do

Is shimmy your way up
this pipe to freedom.

and in case you're
not quite up for the climb,

It's equipped with
a wine holder,

Giving you time to gather
up some liquid courage.

- Franz decides there's
no better marketing

Than to demonstrate
that this truly works.

He invites the media, he
invites people to buy tickets.

Hundreds flocked to see him
buried alive in his coffin.

The coffin's put in
place, he climbs in,

Dirt is thrown down,
the whole works.

He is truly buried alive.

- 15 minutes goes by,

Everyone's looking
around going, ""

30 minutes goes by,

Vester has not come up
out of the tube yet.

45 minutes goes by

And people are starting
to become concerned.

- They're waiting and they're
waiting and they're waiting.

And he finally pops up out
of the tube, alive and well.

And the crowd goes wild.

no one knows for
sure if the long wait

Was for a dramatic effect

Or if he was just enjoying
his pinot noir down there.

Meanwhile, by the late 1800s,

There's a new market
to stop people

Who are trying to
get in to coffins.

- Grave robbing becomes a big
problem in the 19th century.

The us has just been
through the civil war,

The economy has suffered greatly

And people are in need of
ways to make money fast.

- So I can imagine a
world in which people

Are desperate to get jewelry
or gold or other valuables,

They might dig
down and grave rob.

people aren't
thrilled to learn

Their dear old granny is
getting dug up and robbed.

So inventors decide the best
way to stop grave robbers

Is to make sure they
never leave the cemetery.

- In 1881, thomas
howell, he files a patent

For a very unique
kind of casket.

This casket is meant
to deter grave robbers

And not just one.

His casket is designed

With essentially a
landmine inside of it.

- This "torpedo
coffin" has a canister

That contains a
pound of black powder

Just under the surface.

And as soon as you hit
it with a shovel...

according to an
ohio newspaper in 1881,

It actually works.

- Two grave robbers
go after a coffin

Protected by thomas
howell's invention.

Boom goes the coffin,
flynn ends up dead.

The other has a mingled,
gnarled leg as a result.

- So imagine you die
in a cemetery,

Which is rather ironic,

But at least you're
already in your grave.

- Grave robbing
becomes such an issue

That finally state law, kind
of, catches up with them.

and I'm
guessing the heat

The cemeteries were
packing, helped too.

Humankind is constantly
striving to reinvent

Our way of life
from birth to death,

From how we move to how we see.

But to achieve our outlandish
dreams of the future,

We have to start with
the "unbelievable".