All language subtitles for Strange.Evidence.S02E01.Freak.of.the.Deep.1080p.MAX.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BETHELL_track3_[eng]

Narrator: worldwide, 6 billion
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.

Kays: aw,
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.

[ screaming ]

[ horn honking ]

Narrator: coming up --
Highway hellfire.

Spontaneous combustion
On the freeway.

It's a giant fireball.

It looks like a special effect,
But this is terrifyingly real.

Narrator: beast from the abyss.

A drill team encounters
An underwater alien

In the ocean depths.

Kays: this creature doesn't look
Like anything else

I've ever seen --
More like an alien

Than any creature
From a textbook.

Narrator:
And a killer fog spreads
Through an illinois town.

Pojman: if you get caught
In this cloud,

Your chances of survival
Are next to zero.

Narrator: bizarre phenomena.

Mysteries caught on camera.

What's the truth behind
This "Strange evidence"?

♪♪

-- captions by vitac --
Www.Vitac.Com

captions paid for by
Discovery communications

A traffic camera in china, and
A truck spontaneously explodes.

Just an enormous explosion.

It's a completely
Heart-stopping moment.

Narrator: investigators sift
The wreckage for clues

About what caused
This freeway fireball.

We've all seen collisions, but
Never an explosion like this.

♪♪

Narrator: hangzhou, one of
China's most congested cities.

There's 7 million people
And 2.5 million cars.

July 17, 2017.

Road cameras are keeping tabs
On a normal rush hour

When one captures
A bizarre event.

♪♪

This is straight out of
A summer action movie.

we see a truck, coming not
At a super high rate of speed,

collide with a truck that seems
To be parked on a highway.

And then a spectacular
Explosion happens.

♪♪

Narrator: road accidents
Are widespread in china,

Killing over 250,000
People a year.

But normal collisions don't
Result in a massive firestorm.

The scale of the blast
Baffles experts.

It looks like a special effect,
But this is terrifyingly real.

Bartolo: amazingly, nobody was
Hurt in this explosion,

but you could easily imagine
A different outcome.

Narrator: professor of chemistry
Andrea sella

Examines the footage.

He speculates that
The mystery explosion

May have been caused
By a deadly chemical cargo.

for me, the principal question
That's in my mind is,

"What's onboard that vehicle?"

The obvious thing that springs
To mind is nitroglycerin,

The great explosive that
Is at the heart of dynamite.

♪♪

Narrator: nitroglycerin is made
Up of unstable molecules.

They burn quickly,
Creating intense heat

And rapidly expanding gas.

The result is devastating.

It's a contact explosive.

A physical shock is enough
To set it off.

China uses vast quantities
Of this explosive

To extract metals and minerals.

All of our mining industry
Is really driven by explosives,

Because that's how you
Break the rocks apart.

♪♪

Narrator:
Pyrotechnics specialist
Mike sansom wants to see

If nitroglycerin's
Explosive properties

Match the fireball
Caught on camera.

so, this here is nitroglycerin.

It's a primary high explosive.

It's impact-
And friction-sensitive,

And when it detonates, it goes
At about 7,000 meters a second.

Let's give it a go.

Narrator: with a substance as
Powerful as nitroglycerin,

Sansom delivers the tiniest
Of droplets to the test pad --

Just 1/480 of a fluid ounce.

Sansom: I'm gonna hit it
With a hammer to see

If this impact
Can set it off.

Oh!

♪♪

I mean, the force of that
Went straight through me.

It just blew up.

I mean, it blew it
To smithereens.

Narrator: but sansom detects
A key difference

Between this explosion and the
Mystery blast in the footage.

Sansom: it's almost like the
Video, but not quite.

There were no flames,
And there's no smoke.

So what was it?

It's got to be something else.

♪♪

Narrator: material scientist
Kishore hari spots a clue

In the footage --
Debris coming out of the truck.

Hari: what seems to be
Coming out are bits of paper.

And that's really
Unusual because,

Even though paper is flammable,

We don't think
Of paper as explodent.

Narrator: when image analyst
Conor mccourt examines

Footage of the aftermath,

He identifies an intriguing clue

In the cargo of
The fire-ravaged truck.

If we look at the video footage,

We see containers
On the back of the truck --

Very suspicious.

Smoking containers here.

Paint container, all charred.

What I suspect is that there's
Another material back there,

Which would make sense to be
In the back of a truck

That's carrying paint,
And that would be paint thinner.

Narrator: strangely,
Neither paint nor paint thinner

Are combustible,

But there's a byproduct
Of them that can be.

♪♪

With paint or other materials
That involve volatile compounds,

They release gas
From the liquid.

And that vapor can be
Flammable a lot of times.

It's not so different
From holding a tank of gasoline.

It's not the gasoline itself
That's combustible.

It's the gasoline vapor.

If you have something flammable
In the back of your truck,

Some kind of flammable liquid,

If it's very hot back there,
It can start to off-gas.

Sella: you can imagine that
On a hot, sunny day,

If the solvent
Began to leak out,

You could quickly reach
A really saturated atmosphere

Inside the back --
An explosive mixture.

And then, it's -- boom.

Narrator: frame-by-frame
Analysis of the video

Confirms flammable fumes

Bursting from the back
Of the truck.

Mccourt: there's a point
Of contact and puff.

We see white smoke come out.

Then, boom!

We see a huge explosion.

That puff of smoke is a clue

That there's some gas

Trapped in that one van.

And I think that's
Our fuel source here

That catches on fire.

Narrator: so, what could have
Caused these fumes to explode?

♪♪

Coming up -- a terrifying,
Toxic fog smothers a town.

People are running away
From something.

They're clearly fleeing
For their lives.

Narrator: deep-sea drillers
Find a monstrous

New life-form in the abyss.

This creature doesn't look like
Anything else I've ever seen --

More like an alien than
Any creature from a textbook.

Narrator: and what's the trigger
That turns this truck

Into a freeway fireball?

It's a completely
Heart-stopping moment.

This truck was a bomb.

♪♪

Narrator: experts investigating
A highway horror

Blast discover that flammable
Fumes from paint solvents

Build up in the confined
Cargo hold of the truck.

But they have no idea
What ignites

This deadly chemical cocktail.

This is a one-in-a-million
Happening on a highway.

Narrator: chemist andrea sella
Suspects

That metal-on-metal impact

May have sparked the explosion.

Sella: that vapor was just
Waiting for a spark,

which was provided

by the collision
With the other vehicle.

The result is going to be
A big, orange fireball.

Narrator: explosives expert
Mike sansom re-creates

The conditions
In the back of the truck.

He wants to see if a gas
Byproduct of paint thinner

Could've created a fireball
Of the ferocity

Seen on the surveillance video.

it's just a tiny, little bit
Of a liquid solvent.

I'm gonna put it in this to
Represent the back of my truck.

Narrator: the solvent off-gases
Into the container,

Combining with the oxygen inside

To create potentially
Volatile fumes.

Sansom: let's see what happens
When I spark it.

Whoa!

[ laughs ]

I mean, it blew
The lid clean off.

♪♪

The crucial thing here
Is that it was

The perfect mixture of air

And solvent that made
This explosive environment.

A single spark,
And it blew it apart.

♪♪

So, in a sense, it is a bomb.

It is an inadvertent bomb,
But this truck was a bomb.

Narrator:
A perfect storm of events

Triggers this
Nightmare scenario.

Worldwide, millions of gallons
Of paint thinner is produced

And transported each year.

It would seem that
No street or town

Can escape the threat of
Just such a freak fireball.

♪♪

Now, a nightmarish creature
Emerges from the deep.

It looks like something out of
"Independence day"

Or a facehugger from "Alien."

What is it?

Narrator: experts have no idea
What it is or what it wants.

Doesn't make any sense at all.

I've never seen
Anything like it.

♪♪

Narrator: the gulf of mexico.

An oil platform 200 miles
Off the coast of houston,

On one of the world's
Deepest drilling sites.

November 11, 2007.

A deep-sea dive team readies
Their remotely operated vehicle,

Or r.O.V., for a safety
Check of the rig's

Stabilizing crane wire cables,

Secured to the seabed
8,000 feet below the waves.

Above the surface,
Superintendent matt dragna

Remotely controls the vehicle.

The depths that we're going to
Are way too great

For a diver to access.

After 1,500, 1,600 feet,

A diver's just not
A whole lot of use,

And an r.O.V. Doesn't get tired.

Narrator: the r.O.V.
Passes through 600 feet.

This is as far
As sunlight penetrates.

The further down they go,

The further they enter
Uncharted territory.

At 7,900 feet, the depth of six
Empire state buildings,

The r.O.V. Stops.

The crew think they spot
Something wrong

With the anchoring
Crane wire cables.

We were looking for
The crane wire,

And I said, "Well, there it is."

And then I said, "There's
Another one, and another one."

There was multiple crane wires.

Narrator: dragna zooms
In the onboard camera.

It's not crane wires
He's looking at.

These are giant tentacles.

This strange creature
That's kinda crazy-looking.

It's nothing like you
Would see on the surface.

It's a multi-armed organism,
And it was out of this world.

Narrator:
The monster from the deep
Stares unnervingly at them

For 30 seconds,

Then disappears back into
The inky darkness of the ocean.

Back on dry land,
Dragna asks for help

To identify this alien beast.

Mardis: all of the sudden
Comes this object

that looks like the head
Of an ax with no handle,

with marionette strings
Hanging under it.

it looks like something
Out of "Independence day"

or a facehugger from "Alien."

what is it?

even after watching many hours
Of video footage

down the extreme depths,

I've never seen anything
Like this before.

Narrator: biologists must now
Consider if the deep-sea camera

Has found an alien species.

Coming up -- an unstoppable fog
Brings death to a small town.

Everything that was living
In town ended up dying off.

Narrator: and marine experts
Investigate

If this tentacled terror

Is a creature
From another world.

Actually, "Alien" isn't
A terrible word for it.

The deep ocean is almost
Like a different planet.

♪♪

Narrator: deep-sea engineers
Servicing oil rigs

In the gulf of mexico

Film a bizarre, tentacled beast
8,000 feet below the surface.

♪♪

Marine biologist brendan talwar
Studies the footage.

There are things
About this creature

That he's never seen in
Any other living thing.

what's really strange
About this animal is, first,

the fins on the side of the head
Are really, really large.

You notice this kinda elbow
Joint on the arms

And tentacles that
I've never seen before.

Narrator:
Its distinctive features
Set it apart from any species

Known to science.

this creature is really unique.

it doesn't look like
Anything else I've ever seen --

More like an alien than
Any creature from a textbook.

Narrator: but aliens don't need
Space ships to travel.

Asteroids are potential carriers
For alien life-forms.

♪♪

This might even explain
Life on earth --

A theory known as panspermia.

Panspermia is this idea
That life on earth

Originated from some kind
Of seeding of organisms

From other planets
That seeded the earth with life.

Narrator: evidence suggests
That life began on earth

Nearly 4 billion years ago.

At around this time,
Millions of asteroids

And comets smashed into
The planet during the period

Known as
"The great bombardment."

Meteorite fragments
Discovered in 1969

Contain traces of amino acids.

This leads scientists
To believe that space rocks

Are carrying organic
Material across the galaxy.

Did space rocks carry the dna
Of this alien creature to earth

From some far-flung planet

To make a home
8,000 feet under the sea?

Scientist john farrow speculates
That deep-sea conditions

Might mirror those of
An alien's original home.

actually, "Alien" isn't
A terrible word for it,

because the deep ocean is
Almost like a different planet.

So if you look at temperature,
Pressure, light,

It'll be different in the
Deep ocean than it is on land.

So when you look at these
Very strange creatures,

They're basically adapted
To a different planet.

Narrator:
Marine biologist teresa greely,

From the university
Of south florida,

Examines the film.

She looks at the proportions
Of the creature's body.

Greely:
This particular creature,

We see
A large head-like structure

And some elongated arms

That seem extraordinarily long
For the size of this head.

we most closely could relate
That to a group of organisms,

the cephalopods, which includes
The octopi and the squid.

If we look even closer
At the image

And count the number
Of extensions from the body,

We count 10,
And that's unique to squid.

Narrator: whatever its origin,
The alien-looking beast

Has some things in common

With a group of cephalopods
Known as magnapinna.

Could this be the first
Ever sighting of an adult?

Researchers have found juveniles
Of this species before,

But we've never
Caught an adult.

So that would be my best guess.

Farrow: the deep ocean is
Relatively unexplored.

And in our first forays into it,

We're discovering very weird,
Alien-looking squid,

So imagine what we can find
If we look deeper.

♪♪

Narrator: now, surveillance
Cameras capture a toxic cloud

Engulfing an illinois town.

Knoup: you're drowning.
You can't breathe.

You have a burning
Feeling in your lungs.

Narrator: the killer cloud
Leaves livestock dead.

The humans are next.

Pojman: if you get caught
In this cloud,

Your chances of survival
Are next to zero.

Pappalardo:
Could it be terrorism?

Could it be an industrial
Chemical that's been weaponized?

♪♪

Narrator: seward, illinois.

April 23, 2007, 7:00 p.M.

Surveillance cameras
Keep a watchful eye

On a parking lot
In the center of town.

All appears normal, until...

Pappalardo: people are running
Away from something.

they're clearly scared.

they're clearly fleeing
For their lives.

Narrator: the camera records
The mass panic

As people flee the vicinity.

♪♪

And then it appears.

A fog creeping along the ground,

Engulfing everything
In its path.

Pappalardo:
The way that it moves,

It almost has its own
Sort of life behind it.

It behaves as if it's alive.

Narrator:
Firefighter mike knoup,

Based at the nearby town
Of pecatonica,

Reacts to a 911 call.

Knoup:
We could actually see the cloud

starting to develop
On the south edge of town,

So we decided to
Evacuate the community.

We needed to get them
Out quickly,

So they were
Running door to door

Saying you needed
To get out now.

Narrator: the first, briefest
Contact with the cloud

Sends firefighters running.

Knoup:
It feels like you're drowning,

Kind of a burning
Feeling in your lungs.

It hurts to take a breath.

Narrator: ambulances rush knoup
And five firefighters

To the hospital,

Where they're treated
For chemical burns.

After the cloud has
Drifted through town

To destinations unknown,
Seward slaughterhouse manager

Tom eickman returns to work.

He makes a terrible discovery.

The vegetation in the evacuation
Area is turning a deathly color.

Everything that was living
In town ended up dying.

Wherever that cloud had traveled
To tended to die off.

Narrator:
But there's worse to come.

Eickman had been forced
To leave live animals

In the slaughterhouse,

But they weren't anymore.

we had four cattle that
Were off in our back pen,

and those four cattle
Were all laying on the ground.

Of the six hogs in the pen,
Two of them were deceased.

Narrator: they're unfit for
Human consumption.

But before destroying them,
Eickman cuts one animal open

To see the effects of the cloud.

What he sees is truly chilling.

The typical hog lung is just
A pink kind of mass,

And here we have these hog
Lungs, all turned black.

Whatever that hog had breathed
In looked like it had burned

And had killed off
The lung tissue.

Narrator: material scientist
Kishore hari

Thinks he's seen a gas

Before that kills like this.

this reminds me of scenes
That played out in world war I,

with gases slowly creeping
Over the battlefield,

Sinking into the trenches,
And poisoning the soldiers.

Narrator: the incident suggests
Something terrifying --

A mustard gas attack
On american soil.

In world war I, mustard gas
Took thousands of lives,

Victims suffering
Agonizing blisters

And bleeding in their lungs.

It was german forces
Who unleashed this gas,

The first true weapon
Of mass destruction, in 1917.

The surveillance footage
Is examined

By local historian
David lawrence.

He believes,
If it is mustard gas,

He knows a potential source
For this world war I

Toxic terror weapon.

It might be stored just a couple
Of hundred miles from seward

In a michigan town.

Lawrence: midland was
The epicenter of the nation

for the production
Of mustard gas.

During world war I, in midland,

Several thousand tons
Of mustard gas were made.

Narrator: lawrence discovers
That in 1917, a top-secret

Program code-named g-34

Produced mustard gas
For use on the battlefield.

When the first world war ended,

Most of the remaining deadly gas
Was dumped in the atlantic,

But it's believed some never
Left the factory in midland.

They buried it there
In a disposal area,

And supposedly it's still there.

Pappalardo: these things persist
For decades and decades.

Those chemicals are still
Waiting to be released.

It's a time bomb
Waiting to go off.

Narrator: have clouds
Of deadly mustard gas

Been released in the u.S.,

Threatening everything
In its path?

Coming up -- fierce flashes
Terrify onlookers.

Is this american city
Under attack?

Luenser: it was just what looked
Like a battlefield.

I thought we were being bombed.

Narrator: and experts race
To solve the mystery toxic gas

Before the death toll rises.

Knoup:
We did not know the severity

Of the burns to the lungs.

They had to run for their lives.

♪♪

Narrator: when a deathly fog
Descends on seward, illinois,

Eyewitnesses report similar
Injuries to those inflicted

By world war I killer
Mustard gas.

It starts to attack your skin,
And it's actually a hot,

Burning sensation on your skin.

Narrator: professor john pojman,

A chemist
As louisiana state university,

Forensically examines the cloud.

He reveals that
The mysterious vapor

Does not have the characteristic
Yellow color of mustard gas.

Instead, he suspects the
Location of the parking lot

Is a key to identifying
The toxic cloud.

there are some clues
In the video.

it's clearly an
Agricultural area,

and fertilizers are extremely
Important for agriculture.

Fertilizer
Can be applied as a solid.

It could be applied
In a solution

That's sprayed onto a crop.

But, surprisingly, they also
Can be applied as a gas.

Narrator: pojman is aware of
One nitrogen-rich gas

Which behaves like the
Mysterious creeping mist

In the footage.

Ammonia.

Pojman:
Ammonia is a simple molecule.

It's important because
It can be used

As a source of nitrogen
For plants.

That's why it's used
As a fertilizer.

Narrator: experts identify an
Agricultural plant close-by

As the source of the deadly
Ammonia gas leak.

Deputy fire chief mike knoup
Confirms

That these two people
Running from the gas

Are employees of the plant.

you can see the operators
Running from the cloud.

They handle ammonia on
A regular basis and realize

That this was a danger.

Narrator: investigators discover
The ammonia leaks

From a malfunctioning valve

As the operators pump
The gas into a holding tank.

It was an 8,000-gallon tank

That was releasing all of its
Contents into the community.

With that valve malfunction
And the gas releasing quickly,

They had to run
For their lives.

Narrator:
Remarkably, no humans die

In this terrifying
Toxic gas leak.

But some fear it's only
A matter of time

Before another such
Deadly cloud breaks free.

You would really be surprised
What chemicals are around you.

There's an inherent danger
That you could be in the area

Of a hazardous chemical or gas.

♪♪

Narrator:
Now, terrifying flashes

Light up the texas skyline.

I knew something
Was going wrong.

Something was going
Horribly wrong.

Narrator: fears of foreign
Military action.

Hari: there's something really
Damaging happening.

These are giant explosions.

♪♪

Narrator: fort worth, texas.

May 10, 2011, 9:30 p.M.

Amateur photographer
Brian luenser

Returns to his
34th-floor apartment.

A big storm is on the horizon,

And he wants to go
Get some photos.

the storm kind of passed us by.

and I was kind of disappointed,

And that's when all of the
Sudden the craziness started.

Narrator: witnesses watch
In horror as blue flashes

Light up the city skyline

In several places at once.

Luenser:
It wasn't just in one location.

I'm seeing it left and right.

I don't know
What I'm looking at.

It wasn't like anything
I'd ever seen before.

I couldn't really process it.

Narrator: whatever it is,

He fears the city
Is in mortal danger.

I was just scared.
I was in panic mode.

How could you have so many
Different explosions

In so many different areas
At the same time?

Narrator:
Military tech journalist

Joe pappalardo analyzes
The footage for clues.

He knows this part of the world

Is close to military
Installations.

Pappalardo suspects the citywide
Explosions in the footage

Could be some
Kind of friendly fire.

Pappalardo: it's not implausible

That the military would be doing

an exercise
In a downtown urban area.

they've done military exercises
In fort worth before.

♪♪

Narrator: but when image analyst
Conor mccourt

Studies the footage,

He believes clues in the color

Of the flashes point

To a different explanation.

Mccourt:
We're getting a series of blue
Flashing lights over here,

Over here, over here.

This would indicate that maybe
It's electrical in nature,

Whatever's going on.

Narrator: mccourt notices
Whole blocks losing power.

It's the absence of city lights
That confirms his theory.

If this was an electrical
Occurrence,

I might expect a blackout
Where it's happening.

There is a dark spot
Right in the middle.

Could be indicative
Of a blackout.

Narrator:
A check of records reveals

Fort worth does suffer
A severe blackout that evening.

Over 4,000 people lose power.

David wallace,
An electrical engineer

At mississippi state university,

Investigates
If there is a connection

Between the frightening
Blue flashes and the blackouts.

if you think about exotic
Military weapons

that could cause damage
Like we're seeing here,

There's one that comes to mind

That was really a byproduct
Of the nuclear bomb.

Narrator:
During tests in the 1960s,

The u.S. Government discovers

An unexpected side effect

Of a nuclear explosion.

Aside from the power
Of the blast, a nuclear bomb

Also releases a powerful
Electromagnetic wave,

Capable of knocking out
Streetlights

And telecommunications

Hundreds of miles
From ground zero.

The military calls it emp.

Emp stands for
Electromagnetic pulse.

It's enough energy emitted
That anything

With an electrical component

Can be burned out
And rendered useless.

Narrator: u.S. Cold war warriors
Realize emps can be weaponized.

Wallace discovers that,
Over the decades,

The united states perfected
The technology to wipe out

And erase enemy
Communications.

What they've been doing
Is trying to miniaturize it,

Make it more small-scale,
More portable,

And be able to do
The same effect

But without having
A nuclear explosion.

Could this be something
Like we're seeing in the video?

Narrator: coming up -- sky-fall.

It's big, it comes from above,

And it almost kills
A mother and child.

They're lucky to be alive.

Narrator: and forensic
Investigation of the flashes

That bring terror to texas.

Wallace:
It's like a bomb going off.

And when they explode,
It ain't pretty.

♪♪

Narrator: david wallace,
An electrical engineer

At mississippi state university,

Investigates the cause
Of a series of explosive power

Outages across
Fort worth.

He devises an experiment
To find out

If an emp could cause
The same blue flashes

As seen in
The surveillance footage.

So, what we want to do today
Is build an emp.

I think we should be able to get
This good little system going.

Narrator: the team sets
An impulse generator

To create
The electromagnetic pulse.

Designed for high-energy
Physics experiments,

The generator harnesses
The power stored

In multiple capacitors

And releases it
In a nanosecond.

They'll direct the massive
Voltage spike into this regular

Working computer.

it's gonna generate
Approximately 80,000 volts.

We're gonna discharge
All of this power,

And anything underneath
This will experience

The full force of the emp.

Will it turn it off?
Will it blow it up?

Let's find out.

All clear!
Everybody out.

We're getting ready to go hot.

Let's start the system,
And give me a charge of 80,000.

10,000!

All right, looking
Good so far.

20,000!

30,000!

So it's gonna be
A lot of juice here.

-70,000!
-let's get ready to fire.

All right,
We're at 80,000.

All right.
3, 2, 1, fire.

♪♪

All right, let's go see
What this baby did.

Well, looky here.

The computer's off.

Everything's dead.

The computer's dead.
The monitor's dead.

Nothing's coming up.

So we've obviously fried
The electronic circuitry in it

With the pulse.

Narrator: wallace's emp kills
The computer,

Creating a blackout
Just like in the clip.

But that's where
The similarities end.

The experiment creates
No explosions

Or vivid blue bursts
Of electrical energy

As seen in
The fort worth footage.

This tends to lead me
To believe it was not an emp

That we witnessed
Inside the video.

Narrator:
When image analyst conor mccourt

Returns to the footage,

He spots a vital clue

That may crack the mystery

Of the texas meltdown.

we have a key piece
Of evidence right here

next to this blue flash.

right just to the left,
We see a series of power lines

Going right up to
The explosion area.

So if we go step by step,
The power lines are revealed.

They're illuminated right there.

♪♪

Narrator: mccourt also spots
Another clue in the footage --

A flash in the sky.

He realizes the storm
Hadn't fully passed

When the explosions erupt.

there's an incredible
Amount of energy

crackling through the air
When these explosions happen.

Some sort of lightning strike
Caused a bunch of outages

At different places
Throughout the city

And that ripple effect
Of multiple explosions

Along the way.

Narrator: hari concludes
That a lightning bolt

Hits one of the city's
Power transformers,

Generating temperatures hotter
Than the surface of the sun --

More than enough
To blow up a transformer,

Which in turn sets off
A domino effect.

We have some sort of voltage
Spike that entered

A transformer, blew it up.

And that voltage spike
Just continued,

Creating a cascading effect
Of transformers

Blowing up and up and up.

Wallace:
It's like a bomb going off.

And when they explode,
It ain't pretty.

Narrator: the electric company
That serves fort worth confirms

That lightning strikes caused
These fluorescent flashes.

But witnesses will never forget
The intensity of the impact

It had on them.

Luenser: I was in panic mode.

My wife was, also.

She thought the world
Was coming to an end.

♪♪

Narrator: coming up -- a russian
Surveillance camera

Captures a terrifying near miss.

Wolshon:
This is very dramatic footage.

They're lucky to be alive.

♪♪

Narrator:
A russian surveillance camera

Captures a terrifying near miss.

There was no way
You could have anticipated that.

Narrator: analysts
Suspect a sinister force

Is behind this massive structure
Falling from the sky.

Could it be some
Kind of explosion?

Comes out of nowhere.

♪♪

Narrator: southwest russia.

March 19, 2016, 4:00 p.M.

A surveillance camera

Keeps watch on the town
Square of labinsk

And records a horrifying moment.

♪♪

It just lands, you know,
Where this woman and child

Were moments before.

Is this some kind of
A natural phenomenon

That we just don't understand?

Narrator: physicist simon foster

Notices that the structure falls

From a nearby building.

He also spots a tiny clue
That points to freak weather

As the roof-raising culprit.

it may not be that obvious
At the street level.

What's interesting
Is actually in the distance,

If you see those trees.

The trees are swaying a lot.

♪♪

Narrator: civil engineer
Brian wolshon knows

Of one wind phenomenon
Powerful enough

To cause the destruction
In the surveillance footage.

when I see a roof
Flying through the air,

that would normally make me
Think of a hurricane.

Here in louisiana,
Where we've had hurricanes

Like hurricane katrina
And hurricane rita

And hurricane gustav,

I've actually seen roofs
Torn clear off of buildings.

Those were very,
Very powerful storms.

Narrator: but storm chaser
George kourounis

Has firsthand experience
Of weird and wild weather.

When he analyzes
The passersby in the footage,

He sees a problem
With the hurricane theory.

Kourounis: the curious thing
About this video

Is that these people
Are walking down the street,

and they're not bracing
Against the wind.

they're not in some
Giant windstorm.

♪♪

Narrator: physicist simon foster
Turns his attention

From the elements
To the roof itself.

Although the footage only
Captures the roof landing,

He wonders if its shape
Might hold the key.

Foster:
The way the roof has come off,

It has come off
In one solid piece.

That indicates to me
The structure of it,

How it's built, as being a key
In why it's come off.

This sounds bizarre, but the
Roof was actually angled,

And it could almost
Be like a wing.

Narrator: nyu physicist
John di bartolo

Considers how a wing-shaped roof
Might take flight.

Di bartolo: if you were to cut
A cross-section

Of the airplane wing,

You would see that the upper
Part is more curved

than the lower part.

that forces the air
To travel faster

Over the top of the plane
Than underneath.

That causes the pressure
To be lower on the top part

Of the wing than underneath,
Which provides a lift.

Foster: the airflow around
This roof structure

Has given a huge amount of lift,

Just like a wing on a plane.

Basically, it ripped it off

And deposited it
In the middle of this square.

Narrator: this raises another
Intriguing question.

How can even a wing-shaped roof
Take flight

On a relatively calm day?

when we think of
Destructive winds,

we imagine things like
Tornadoes or hurricanes.

well, yes, but under
The right conditions,

you only need
A wind speed of 30, 40,

50 miles an hour to cause
Some tremendous damage.

and I think that's probably
What's going on here.

di bartolo: if those people were
Walking a little bit slower,

they would've been
Under that roof,

and that would've been
The end of it.