Original subtitles

Narrator: worldwide, 300 Million surveillance cameras

Are watching us.

On our streets, at work, and in our homes,

They capture things that seem impossible.

It defies the laws of physics.

Man: this is unbelievable, man.

Narrator: experts carry Out forensic analysis

Of these unusual events.

There's got to be some Explanation for what's going on.

[ screams ]

Narrator: coming up...

Infrared cameras track a mysterious object

In the chilean skies...

We have a genuine u.F.O.

And it seems to be expelling Something into the air.

Narrator: ...A deep-sea dive plunges into

An underwater lake of death...

Cordes: it was surprising to See a lot of these dead animals.

And it doesn't really make any sense.

Narrator: ...Ghostly columns of Light beam down from the heavens...

What it is? It's just so unusual.

Narrator: ...And surveillance Cameras capture

Apocalyptic skies as An earthquake strikes...

Why would earthquakes cause Light? What's actually going on?

Narrator: bizarre phenomena...

...Mysteries caught on surveillance...

What's the truth behind This strange evidence?

A military helicopter Spots a strange object

Emitting an ominous-looking plume.

It looks like spilled ink across the sky.

Narrator: the mystery Craft is invisible to radar.

Maybe there's some Sort of stealth aircraft.

If you something that's unidentified flying

In your airspace,

You need to figure out what it is.

The footage really does Make me think of u.F.O.S.

♪♪

Narrator: santiago, chile ...November 11, 2014.

A chilean navy helicopter patrols the skies

On a routine daytime mission.

Onboard, the captain And a naval technician.

His job... To run tests On a new state-of-the-art

Infrared camera system.

This military helicopter is made To spot things on the ground.

It is looking for targets on the land,

Anything man-made that gives Out a different thermal signature.

Narrator: 1:52 p.M., the Chopper flies to 4,500 feet

At 150 miles an hour.

Out of a cloudless sky, they Spot a strange flying object.

The technician switches On the infrared camera

To get a better image.

You see a black blob that seems to be,

Maybe, almost, oval-shaped,

And you also see that It seems to almost have

A little bit of a halo around it.

Narrator: the pilot estimates the object

Is traveling at the same altitude

As the chopper, around 35 to 40 miles away,

Close enough to pose a threat.

The crew's military training kicks in.

But there was no response, Which rather deepens the mystery.

Narrator: stranger still, the onboard radar

Is unable to detect the object.

♪♪

[ man speaking spanish ]

The pilot checks with air traffic control

At santiago airport 35 miles away.

They get back to them.

They don't see anything in The airspace that he described.

It makes you wonder, what could it be?

What has those properties Of being visible on infrared,

But no visible on radar.

Narrator: the military chopper's Camera picks up anything

With a heat signal.

The hotter the object, the Darker it appears on screen.

Eight minutes into this strange encounter,

The infrared camera Records the unidentified craft

Ejecting a thick plume.

Whatever it is, the plume Is registering intense heat.

The pilot has no idea what Level of threat he's facing.

If you have something That's unidentified flying

In your airspace,

You need to figure out what it is.

Narrator: the crew tracks the Strange object for nine minutes,

But a critically low fuel supply Forces them to return to base.

The encounter is so alarming The pilot's report goes straight

To the chilean government Agency investigating u.F.O.S.

They analyze the tape.

They get all spun up, put An investigation together,

And start really trying to Determine what the image shows,

And what is going on in their airspace.

Narrator: yet, after two Years they draw a blank.

In desperation, the chilean government

Releases the footage online.

Conspiracy theories flood the internet.

What is beyond dispute is That there is something flying

In the air that is a different temperature

Than the air around it,

And it seems to be expelling Something into the air.

Narrator: analysts consider How the object can

Be invisible to radar.

Maybe there's some sort of stealth aircraft

Involved in the incident.

Now, a stealth aircraft is One that's made to evade radar.

The shape of the aircraft, The materials that it uses,

It's all being done to Baffle a radar return.

Narrator: but a stealth craft Doesn't usually show up in infrared

Or emit a visible plume.

So the idea that it's a stealth aircraft

That can't be seen on radar,

But has such a big infrared signature,

Casts some doubt on that theory entirely.

Narrator: robert fisher of Edinburgh university, scotland,

Is an expert in optical phenomena.

He suspects the infrared Image could be disguising

A more familiar object.

I think what we're Looking at is, potentially,

A passenger plane,

Kind of, just moving away from us.

It's got it's four jet engines.

It's putting out lots of heat.

Narrator: the problem is that The featureless black blob

On the infrared footage

Doesn't look anything Like a regular airplane.

Fisher constructs an Experiment to test his theory.

Now, what these candles Are going to represent

Are the four heat signatures From the four engines,

And if my theory is correct,

As we move away from Our simulated airplane,

Here, we should see That the heat signatures

Of these four engines Merge into just a single blob.

You can see that they're sort of Merging down to about two blobs,

And as I get a bit further Back, as you can see, really,

We've just got on blob,

One dark blob representing The four very bright lights

Now merged together.

The blob that you see in The video could really be

Just the heat signatures

From the four jet engines of an airplane

Taken at quite a distance,

And all merged down just Like I've done right here.

Narrator: if robert fisher is Correct and this is a plane,

Then his theory may also solve the mystery

Of the trailing plume.

It could be just a Regular, everyday airplane

That we saw its contrails Pointing off to the side.

Narrator: contrails are thin, linear clouds

Created by aircraft engine exhausts.

Water vapor within the exhaust freezes,

Leaving an icy trail across the sky.

Yet, there's an immediate problem,

An anomaly that throws the Aircraft theory into doubt.

The military chopper's infrared image

Registers a clear heat signature On the mystery craft's trail.

Normally, contrails are below freezing,

And yet this looks as though it's hot.

That doesn't make any sense to me.

Narrator: coming up, a Massacre beneath the waves...

Dead animals. I had never Seen anything like that before.

Narrator: ...A close encounter With mysterious lights

From the heavens...

You almost imagine that There's a spaceship up there.

Narrator: ...And investigators Discover why the chilean ufo

Has gone silent.

Walters: a pilot should Respond to all radio calls,

Especially from a military helicopter.

That can be fatal if you ignore it.

Narrator: experts suspect An unidentified object

Captured by a chilean military helicopter

May simply be a regular airplane,

But they're baffled as to how

The craft's freezing cold contrail

Shows up as super-heated On the infrared image.

Aviation specialist, mick west,

Thinks the heat detection Sensors on the camera

May be masking the truth,

And that the problem lies with the camera

Using the cold sky as its reference point.

The temperature of the Sky on infrared footage

Shows up as being very, very cold,

Well below the freezing point of water,

So even things like ice, Even things like contrails,

Actually show up as being hot.

Narrator: yet, contrails Usually form above 30,000 feet.

Mick west believes that this Is a special kind of contrail

Visible at lower altitudes.

This type of contrail is one Called an aerodynamic contrail,

Which forms at much lower altitudes

Than regular contrails,

Like around 15,000 to 25,000 feet.

The problem with this theory is That the helicopter has reported

The altitude of both the helicopter

And the object as being 4,500 feet.

Now, this is way too Low to form a contrail.

Narrator: robert fisher Believes he has an answer.

He thinks the pilots may have Misjudged the craft's altitude.

It's very difficult to work Out by eye out far away

Something is just by looking at it.

Even the most experienced Crew can have some difficulties.

You really need some Kind of a reference point,

But here we don't have anything.

We just have open sky everywhere.

Narrator: if the craft is Flying at a higher altitude,

Then investigators may have Been looking in the wrong place

For an answer.

Mick west reexamines Commercial aircraft flight data

Within 50 miles of the navy chopper.

He identifies an aircraft Flying out of santiago airport

At exactly the time of The chilean chopper's

Mystery encounter.

Further checks confirm It is a four-engine plane

Heading to madrid, spain.

We spotted one that Followed, visually, the same path

That was traced out by this object.

Narrator: west suspects The aircraft's true position

May offer an explanation

For why it doesn't show Up on the helicopter radar.

At the end of the video the Object is actually around

200 miles away from them.

So because they were Only looking for things

That were nearby,

They didn't find the actual object.

They should have Looked a little bit further.

♪♪

Narrator: but the mystery of Why the jet fails to respond

To calls from the Military helicopter remains.

A pilot should respond to all Radio calls directed at them,

Especially from a military helicopter.

That can be fatal if you ignore it.

Narrator: mick west believes The commercial aircraft crew

Is simply following Standard aviation protocols.

West: because this was a plane That was departing the airport,

It would have been in contact With the departure control

For santiago airport.

It would have been talking to them,

And so it wouldn't have Heard the helicopter

Trying to hail it on the open frequency.

Narrator: west believes evidence Points to the mystery craft

Being a regular commercial aircraft,

But for the chilean government,

It remains an unidentified Aerial phenomenon.

Considering their many resources,

If they aren't able to identify what it is,

It really makes us wonder Will we ever be able to know.

♪♪

Narrator: next, a deep-sea Diving craft captures images

Of a macabre underwater graveyard.

I had never seen anything like that before.

Narrator: a deadly ambush Awaits on the ocean floor.

Kays: this is where sea life goes to die,

The eeriest underwater Kingdom in the darkest depths.

♪♪

Narrator: the gulf of Mexico... May 8, 2014.

Biologist, eric cordes, And his team of researchers

Pilot their submersible 3,000 feet down into the abyss.

My favorite thing about my Job is being able to go places

That no one has ever been.

Narrator: cordes' mission ...To capture images

Of rarely seen deep-sea creatures.

The team hopes to find new species

In the darkest depths of the ocean.

It's like a big fish bowl, Except you're in the inside,

And you can see out.

You can see, you know, right Past your feet to the sea floor.

You can see the surface When you're coming down,

All the bioluminescence all around you.

Narrator: cordes pilots the sub Down towards the ocean floor.

They reach 4,000 feet.

Yeah, sean.

We're going to start driving Towards target two and three.

The sun's light can't reach this far down.

The submersible's lights are the only thing

Piercing the darkness.

Out of nowhere, cordes Spots something alarming.

Cordes: dead animals.

I had never seen anything like that before.

Narrator: cordes has stumbled Upon what biologists call

A dead zone.

You see dead crabs. You see This sort of blue-gray color.

Man: these larger organisms Really don't like to be in this fluid.

Maybe they just come here to die.

There are quite a few Dead animals we can see.

You know, crabs lying on their back.

We can see shrimp-like animals That have obviously expired.

Narrator: the series of unexplained deaths

Appears to be random,

But closer inspection of the Footage reveals a possible clue.

The dead creatures are Contained in one area.

You have this strange vertical container,

This tub, sitting down there,

And then inside the tub is a murky water,

Sort of a very dilute Milk-looking substance.

Narrator: it's a deadly lake Bizarrely deep beneath the sea.

It sits on the sea bed.

It doesn't float up and kind Of mix with the ocean above.

It sits there like a Lake on the ocean floor.

You see this blue lake, And then you realize,

Wait a second, we're already underwater.

How is there a lake underwater?

Narrator: coming up, Weird lights in the sky

Foretell a massive earthquake in ecuador.

Pablo: I was sure I was going to die,

And I'm sure a lot of People felt the same way.

Narrator: and scientists find evidence That ancient geological forces

Have triggered an undersea death zone.

You can see animals get disoriented,

And then die very quickly.

Narrator: marine biologist, eric Cordes, discovers a lake of death

Deep beneath the waves In the gulf of mexico.

His findings hits the headlines.

Other research teams send Submersibles to the ocean floor

In search of answers.

It is suggested that man-made Activity in the gulf of mexico

May be to blame for this marine death zone.

Kays: this is the gulf of mexico,

An area famous for its oil production,

And maybe this is connected

With this poisonous lake We're seeing down here.

For example, there was Deepwater horizon disaster

Where millions of barrels of Oil spilled out of a borehole

And polluted the ocean.

Narrator: deepwater horizon Is the biggest accidental

Oil spillage in history.

The oil rig explosion kills 11 people.

More than 200 million gallons Of oil discharge into the sea.

The spill devastates marine life,

Impacting an area the size of oklahoma.

And a lot of that oil is still there,

And it's still moving around,

And it's still causing Impacts years after the event.

We were looking to see if there Was evidence that an oil spill

Impacted the sites,

And we did find different Places in the deep sea

Where the oil was present,

So it's no inconceivable that That could have been a cause.

Narrator: yet, cordes highlights a problem

With the oil spill theory.

Oil usually poisons, killing slowly.

Toxins take time to enter A body and do serious harm,

But anything entering this Lake faces instant oblivion.

Cordes: you can see Animals get disoriented,

And then die very quickly.

I've watched eel-like Fish swim into the lake,

And they kind of go into Death throes almost instantly.

Very rarely do they escape its grasp.

Narrator: biologist, roland kays,

Focuses on the liquid in the lake.

He notices it looks strangely different

From the surrounding water.

You have to wonder, What's creating this liquid.

Could it be an organism?

Could it be the by-product of an organism.

Narrator: some of the weirdest, Most terrifying creatures

Lurk at the bottom of the ocean.

They're perfectly adapted To thrive in, perhaps,

The most hostile environment on earth.

Marine biologist, jon copley,

Of southampton university, england,

Is a deep-sea specialist.

He knows of one incredible Creature that could be creating

A mucus-like liquid... The hagfish

Copley: the hagfish is a Great deep-sea scavenger,

And it's a descendant of a very ancient

And primitive kind of fish.

It doesn't have proper jaws,

And it's also able to produce Huge amounts of slime.

Cordes: when they find a big fish carcass

They'll scrape a hole in it,

And then go inside and Eat it form the inside out,

And they secrete this Mucus that covers their body.

I've seen one of these hagfish

Fill a five-gallon bucket full of slime

In about 15 minutes on the deck of a ship.

Narrator: this lake is much Larger than a five-gallon bucket.

Climate scientist, joe lacasce Believes if the liquid is slime,

The amount in the video Rules out a hagfish.

It would be surprising if a fish,

Or even a school of Fish, were causing this.

It's too much volume for that.

Narrator: roland kays Returns to the footage.

He's puzzled by the strange Contrast between the lake's edge

And the lake interior.

He wonders if this anomaly Could yield vital clues.

On one side you have this amazing,

Beautiful biodiversity under the ocean

With all these different animals,

And all these different colors,

And then inside it's just Death and destruction.

There's almost, like, a Wall made out of mussels,

And amongst the mussels, there's A lot of other animals, as well.

There are shrimps.

There are some little squat Lobsters, crab-like animals.

Narrator: joe lacasce suspects This abundance of life

So close to the death zone Hints at geological processes

Beneath the ocean floor.

Lacasce: so you have Cracks in the ocean bottom,

And you have leakage of Hydrocarbons, primarily methane.

Methane is a food for bacteria, So bacteria scavenge methane,

And the mussels will then eat the bacteria.

Narrator: the escaping methane Isn't killing the sea creatures,

But some other Geological activity might be.

The team needs to Venture into the death zone.

Cordes takes the sub Down to the lake's surface

For a closer look.

We just set down.

But there's a problem.

The submarine can't Actually penetrate through it,

So you land and you're Floating on this water

At the bottom of the ocean,

And it doesn't really make any sense.

Narrator: coming up, apocalyptic skies warn

Of terrible destruction

Sella: why would earthquakes cause lights?

What's actually going on?

Narrator: towering beams of Light bring a city to a standstill.

You almost imagine that There's a spaceship up there.

Narrator: and sea creatures Face an agonizing death

On the ocean floor.

If they blunder into that, They instantly asphyxiate,

And then they die.

Narrator: a deadly lake on the ocean floor

Is baffling scientists.

The fact that we've got These two water bodies

Means there must be Something different about them.

One must be heavier, denser than the other,

Such that we've had this separation.

Narrator: geologist, rebecca bell,

Thinks there could be clues In the lake water's composition.

So one possibility that can make Water heavier than normal water

Is if it's got lots of Salt dissolved into it,

If it's become brine.

Narrator: physicist, simon foster,

Constructs an experiment To test the brine theory.

On the right-hand side, dyed blue,

We've got a body of Water that's really salty,

And on the left-hand side We've got a clear body of water,

And that's got a really Low salt concentration.

Narrator: foster's setup Reveals what happens

When the extra salty and Regular sea water combine.

♪♪

Foster: so you've got the Less salty, less dense water,

Sitting on top,

And you've got the denser Salty water stuck to the bottom,

And the reason is very, very Salty water is a lot denser.

You've got these two separate bodies.

They're not mixing.

Narrator: rebecca bell develops a theory

For how this sinister underwater Lake could have formed.

In the gulf of mexico, in the mid-jurassic,

That was 165 million years ago

Where there were Dinosaurs wandering around,

This area of the world was a shallow basin.

Every now and again it Got filled with salty water.

That water evaporated Due to the heat of the sun,

And we started to build Up this layer of salt.

Narrator: the salt layer Builds up to 5,000 feet thick.

Over millions of years, Sediment piles on top of the salt.

Then the oceans re-flood the area.

So deep, deep, deep beneath the sea floor

There's actually a layer of rock salt

Where we are here in the gulf of mexico.

That rock salt is lighter Than all the sediments

That are above it, the ocean mud,

So it's always pushing its way up

Towards the surface of the sea floor,

And in some places it Makes it to the surface.

Narrator: when the salt Bursts through the sediments

It dissolves to form a brine Lake on the ocean floor.

So we end up with hypersaline water,

Which is much denser than Typical salty sea water.

Eventually, we might get some minerals

Starting to crystallize out of the brine,

Which in this case seems to produce

These rims to the brine pool.

Narrator: jon copley believes This hypersalinity explains

The mystery of the dead zone.

As gases bubble up through the salt crust,

They are stripped of oxygen.

There are a lot of dead Animals in that brine lake

Because the brine, itself, Doesn't have oxygen in it.

When you eliminate oxygen from A habitat you're going to exclude

Almost every kind of Animal that we know of.

If they blunder into that Brine they instantly asphyxiate,

And then they die and Sink to the bottom of it.

Narrator: marine creatures Are literally drowning

In these creepy deep-sea lakes of death.

♪♪

Now, a surveillance camera Captures mysterious flashes

In the dead of night.

You got lights appearing all around you.

What on earth was going to happen next?

Narrator: moments later, disaster strikes.

All of a sudden, the earth starts shaking.

Sella: why would earthquakes cause lights?

What's actually going on?

Narrator: guayaquil, the largest City in ecuador, south america.

It is the main city for commerce,

For entertainment, for everything,

So it's pretty much considered A big city within south america.

Narrator: april 16, 2016, 6:54 p.M.

A surveillance camera records A series of unexplained lights

Illuminating the city skyline.

As I was looking out at The sky I saw some lights,

Some white and bright blue lights.

I froze up. I didn't know what that was.

Narrator: a dazzling light show in the sky,

Or something far more menacing.

Some are even appearing Directly in the center of the city.

What are these lights That we're seeing here?

Narrator: and then, disaster.

I felt like the houses were coming down.

Pablo: I was sure I was going to die,

And I'm sure a lot of People felt the same way.

Narrator: the magnitude 7.8 earthquake

Takes the lives of almost 700 people.

Some believe the lights are warning signs

Of an impending disaster.

Scientists examine the Surveillance footage.

Most believe any connection

Between the strange bursts of light

And the devastating Earthquake is coincidental.

Experts explore what could

Really be triggering the phenomenon.

Physicist, david wallace, of Mississippi state university,

Focuses on the color of the lights.

He suspects one of nature's Most spectacular events

Could be to blame.

They are a bright white, Or a bright blue-ish color,

Which could tend to lead itself

To being an electrical Phenomenon occurring.

My first reaction was That it looks like lightning.

Narrator: wallace checks The atmospheric conditions

In the surveillance tape.

Wallace: it does appear to Be a rather cloudy night,

So it would give prevalence to lightning

Being able to form and striking.

Narrator: worldwide, Lightning flashes occur

Around 8 million times a day.

Five times hotter than The surface of the sun,

Each bolt releases around 1 billion volts of electricity.

Physicist, scott dubowski,

Considers if it's possible earthquakes

Could also generate lightning.

Anything where you have a very Large amount of stored energy

That can be discharged in some form,

Lightning usually follows it.

Narrator: but closer Analysis of the ecuador tape

Reveals these light Flashes appear to behave

Differently from most lightning strikes.

What I would expect to see in the footage

Is at least some sort of the Traditional thing you think

About with a lightning strike,

Some sort of bolt-like Structure from cloud to cloud,

Or from cloud to ground.

Narrator: eyewitness accounts Seem to support this.

So the question then is what is this?

Narrator: coming up, ghostly beams of light

Appear in the night sky over oslo, norway.

Is it extraterrestrial?

Is it some sort of government thing

To contact people in space?

Narrator: and scientists race to explain

One of the strangest phenomena on earth.

Sella: we're talking about Enormous pressures taking place,

And that might generate Those extraordinary flashes.

Narrator: scientists are Baffled by the weird lights

Captured on surveillance camera

Moments before a deadly earthquake.

They consider whether the City's electrical power supply

Triggers the flashes.

If you have an earthquake You could cause generators

To blow and electricity cables to collapse,

And that also can produce lights.

Narrator: but local scientists Argue that built-in safeguards

Make this idea unlikely.

Geologist, rebecca bell, Notices that the time stamp

On the surveillance footage

Rules out a power-grid explosion.

Those flashes of light occurred two minutes

Before that earthquake hit.

There's nothing that I can think Of that would cause transformers

To blow before the earthquake Tore apart the power grid.

Narrator: a review of Historical records reveals

That this isn't the first time

People have witnessed strange lights

Before an earthquake.

There have been reports of lights

Associated with earthquakes for centuries.

But there hasn't been confirmed sightings

Of these earthquake lights.

Narrator: some geologists believe

The guayaquil surveillance Tape could be a smoking gun,

Evidence that earthquakes Do generate lights.

Scientists consider how.

Andreas sella is a chemist At university college london.

He proposes earthquakes release Such massive amounts of energy

That some form of Electrical charge is possible.

Sella: we're talking about Millions, if not billions,

Of tons, enormous pressures taking place.

Narrator: sella sets up a Laboratory-level version

Of tectonic plates colliding During an earthquake.

What I have here are Two lumps of rose quartz,

And what I'm going to do is I'm Going to strike them together,

And you need to look very, Very closely at the rock.

If the theory is right, he expects to see

An electrical discharge Around the impact point.

There are tiny, little flashes On the edge just at the point

Where the two rocks strike each other.

This isn't simply down to friction.

Narrator: sella believes the impact must be

Charging the atoms in the rocks.

When we actually strike The two rocks together,

A shock wave travels through the material,

Which shifts the relative Positions of the atoms,

And in doing so, the rock Becomes partially electrified.

Narrator: could this effect, Scaled up a thousandfold,

Explain the mystery lights?

Sella: what if we take huge land masses

And start pressing them together,

And releasing that pressure As part of an earthquake?

And that might generate Those extraordinary flashes

We see on the horizon.

Narrator: sella's experiment Shows that crystalline rocks

Like quartz can generate sparks,

But geological surveys of the Earthquake epicenter in ecuador

Reveal a problem.

The geology of this area in ecuador

Is dominated by sedimentary rocks,

Which don't have the Same crystal structure.

Narrator: scientists are still Searching for an answer

To the mystery of these bizarre lights.

Earthquake lights are one of the Great challenges of geophysics.

As you strip away the Layers of the obvious,

What you're gonna be Left with is an unusual,

And so far, unexplained phenomenon.

♪♪

Narrator: now, ghostly Columns of light tower above

Norway's capital city.

It's absolutely spectacular.

I've never seen anything quite like that.

It looks supernatural in some kind of way.

Narrator: some fear an alien invasion.

You almost imagine that There's a spaceship up there.

It's unidentified object.

♪♪

Narrator: oslo, norway... January, 2016.

It's an icy midwinter night.

Local photographer, chris-havard berge,

Takes in the view.

I was just looking out the window,

And then I saw some strange, Unique light on the sky

In different colors Like blue and a bit yellow.

It looked supernatural in some kind of way.

I grabbed my camera and my tripod

And went out to try to see if I could get some photos of it,

And I fired up the time-lapse.

I thought, "Wow. Something Strange is going on."

It was moving, like, up and down.

I was wondering what Would make this happen.

Narrator: chris-havard posts his pictures

Of the otherworldly light beams online.

The footage goes viral.

It was really cool to see that This was quite a unique capture.

Narrator: his images send the Internet into a frenzy of speculation.

Some believe alien invaders Are poised to attack.

You almost imagine that There's a spaceship up there

Because of the verticalness of The light coming down that way.

It looks so strange. I Mean, is it extraterrestrial?

Is it some sort of government thing

To contact people in space?

♪♪

Narrator: oslo residents fear That ghostly columns of light

Illuminating the norwegian city

Could be a sign of an alien invasion.

Experts suspect the spectacular light show

Originates closer to home.

So you might think that there Was a heavenly explanation

For it.

Narrator: analysts Consider if the time of year

May be significant.

Eerie light shows are a regular Feature of the winter skies

In oslo.

Quite often, actually, the northern lights

Is visible in oslo.

This winter it was Visible maybe 10, 12 times.

Narrator: the northern lights Of aurora borealis form

When the sun ejects solar winds

That travel at a million miles an hour.

The charged particles within the winds

Hit the earth's atmosphere.

Actually, moving down towards the earth

They will eventually Align with the atmosphere,

And they will transfer Some energy to these atoms,

And they get excited.

Narrator: the energy is released In the form of colored lights,

The aurora.

Physicist, gabby provan, Focuses in on the colors

That make up the mystery shafts of light.

She spots a similarity With the northern lights.

Provan: you can get auroras almost a, like,

A white, light-green color,

And there was a white Light there in the middle

That looks similar to the aurora.

Narrator: but closer Inspection of the footage

Reveals something about the Shape of the mystery columns

That rules out the northern lights.

Gay: with the aurora Borealis we see the movement,

We see the dance,

And we don't see these Perfectly straight lines

That vary with the blowing wind.

♪♪

Narrator: experts switch their Search to terrestrial possibilities.

Provan: it almost looks like Someone switched on a floodlight

And pointed it right up in the sky.

It reminds me of when you go To a rock concert or something,

That they're putting on these light shows

For the concert

Because there are so many colors.

Narrator: a check of the records Confirms there are no floodlit concerts

On the night of the ghostly lights.

♪♪

Meteorologist, helene Muri, from oslo university,

Studies the images.

She suspects the weather may play a role

In producing the laser-like light show.

You can see that there Are some mid-level clouds,

And also some high-level clouds there,

And these high-level clouds, in particular,

Would be made out of ice.

Narrator: muri believes The high-level clouds

Are a sign that conditions are Cold enough for ice crystals

To form in the lower atmosphere.

It has to be below freezing, minus-5,

And down to, sort of, minus-40,

So you need it to be just cold enough,

And just right the level of Humidity to form ice crystals.

Narrator: climate scientist, joe lacasce,

Believes the ice crystal structure

Is crucial to creating This spooky phenomenon.

Lacasce: these ice particles Tend to have a hexagonal shape,

And they tend to be flat,

So they're like these little mirrors.

And they would sort of hover, so to say,

And be suspended in the air.

Narrator: helen muri searches For the type of light

That can create this effect.

If you have a light source from The ground, say street lamps,

Or whatever, hitting the Small ice crystals from below,

They act as a mirror to Get refraction of the light.

What you're seeing with a light pillar

Is the, basically, reflection of light.

It's light from another Source that's being reflected

Off these ice particles towards you.

Narrator: helen muri Confirms chris-havard images

Be a stunning example Of a rarely seen event.

You would be quite lucky To get the opportunity

To see and film this Because they are so rare.

It's rare that you get enough humidity

And cold enough Temperatures at the same time.

Berge: it was amazing just to watch it.

You should have been there.

Narrator: oslo citizens can rest easy.

The towering columns of Light looming over their city

Are not an alien invasion... This time.