All language subtitles for Strange.Evidence.S02E03.Curse.of.the.Mayan.Treasure.1080p.MAX.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BETHELL_track3_[eng]

Narrator: worldwide, six 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.

Man:
Oh, 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.

Woman: [ screaming ]

Narrator: coming up,
The real-life iron man

On his way to mars
Causes panic in l.A.

-ah! Ah.
-oh, [bleep].

Narrator: terror from the deep
Causing fish to flee the water.

Those are frightened fish.
They are escaping something.

Narrator: and the car from
Another dimension.

[ tires screeching ]

Where did that car come from?

It seems to have just
Materialized out of thin air.

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

Cameras capture a huge,
Complex shape

Forming in the night sky
Over los angeles.

Man: wow, what is that?

Millions of people
Are staring up,

Thinking what the heck
Is going on here?

And more importantly,
What's gonna happen next?

Man: it's some weird stuff.
Look at all that.

Narrator:
This is a mass sighting

Caught on multiple cameras.

It's an unidentified flying
Object is really what it is.

♪♪

Narrator: los angeles,
December 22, 2017,

The start of the holiday season.

Local resident robert brooks

Prepares to head out of town
For the long weekend.

it was a beautiful night,
Typical of los angeles.

millions of stars in the sky.

And I turned around
And there it was.

♪♪

It looked like
It was coming right at me.

Narrator: whatever it is,

It's caught on surveillance
Cameras throughout l.A.

Man: that's some weird stuff.
Look at all that.

Narrator: witness robert brooks

Fears he's filming
The end of the world.

I absolutely wondered,
Is it spiritual?

You know,
Is there a reckoning coming?

♪♪

Narrator: on the freeways,
It's the middle of rush hour.

Something is happening
To the unidentified object,

And it's captured on
Car dash cams.

Man:
It's glowing like -- whoo!

narrator: the object
Seems to expand then split.

a smaller entity appears active

within what looks like
A balloon of smoke or gas.

Man: wow, what is that?

I've never seen that halo effect

surrounding a brilliant
Center item,

Moving so rapidly
Across the sky.

Narrator: shock turns to
Confusion and terror.

[ tires screech ]
-ah!

[ bleep ]

-damn.
-damn.

it's not normal to see something
That big and that bright

overhead in the sky.

It sets off a primal fear
In people.

whatever this thing is,
It's big,

and it's making a big impact
On the skyline.

Man: what kind of [bleep]
Is that, man?

♪♪

Narrator: los angeles
Is used to alien invasions.

Being burned to the ground,
Flattened, or vaporized,

But that's in the movies.

This time, it's for real.

[ siren wailing ]

Man: what is that?

Narrator: this is just
The most recent mass reporting

Of strange objects over l.A.

In 1942, authorities received
Widespread reports

Of lights over the city.

The military responded
With such ferocity,

It became known as
The battle of los angeles.

The military, thinking that
There was a japanese attack,

Started shooting pretty much
Everything into the sky.

It lit up the sky,
Terrified the citizens.

[ explosions ]

Narrator:
Over 1,000 anti-aircraft shells

Are fired at the lights in
The sky, but to no effect.

Afterwards, when they tried to
Find some wreckage

Of maybe some japanese planes,
There was nothing.

♪♪

Narrator: many believe that
Whatever was in the sky

Over l.A. That night in 1942,

It wasn't japanese planes.

They thought it was
A government cover-up.

Some people think that
The explanation

Is a little bit more alien.

Narrator: it's 75 years later.

The same skies over l.A.,

And another set of unexplained
Bright lights cause mass panic.

-any idea what it is?
-I don't know, man.

Man: that's some weird stuff.
Look at all that.

Cars hit each other.
Ufo reports pour in.

Social media, radio stations,

Television, everyone had
A all-purpose freakout.

♪♪

Narrator: ex-nypd video analyst
Conor mccourt

Studies the dashcam footage.

It's like nothing
He's ever seen before.

it's an unidentified flying
Object is really what it is.

So I started to look at
All the specific things

In that ufo to see,
Is it identifiable?

Narrator: he analyzes
The footage frame by frame

And notices there's not one,

But two streaks which look like
Fiery vapor trails.

at 01:30:14,
The second trail appears.

something happens
In between there,

indicating maybe a stage
In a rocket.

Narrator: if this is some kind
Of rocket leaving a vapor trail,

The gap in the trail might mark
The shutting down

Of a first-stage engine
And the firing up of the next.

But what of the weird object

Hovering strangely within
The gas or vapor balloon?

when we zoom into
This video image,

Inside the vapor trail,
We see a dot in the middle.

is that the back of
The rocket falling off?

♪♪

Narrator: mccourt examines
The dashcam footage

To locate where the object
Might've come from.

Mccourt:
It's coming from the northwest

Because we have the coordinates
In the bottom of the screen.

So we have to find out,
Is anything scheduled to happen

In the north
And west of the city?

Narrator: a check of the area
Reveals a military facility

Within 140 miles.

The vandenberg air force base.

if there were any launches to
Take place from that base,

it would be visible
From the city.

Narrator: military correspondent
Carlo muñoz

Compares the object
Caught on camera

With the type of weapons
Believed to be present

On the vandenberg base.

You could very clearly see that
This is something moving

At an incredible rate of speed
And hitting very high altitudes.

Now there's not that many things
That can move that fast,

That high.

Narrator: vandenberg air base
Is under the control

Of the 30th space wing,
Air force space command.

If there's ever a war in space,

These are the guys
Who will fight it.

Among the weaponry at this space
War base are four so-called

Interceptor rockets capable of
Leaving earth's atmosphere.

Each of these invader-busting

Weapons has multiple rocket
Engines which fire in stages.

As each stage separates,

It allows the warhead
To accelerate further

And higher into the sky.

So with each subsequent
Separation,

The missile travels further
Towards it target,

Which would be an incoming
Missile to the united states.

Narrator: of the terrestrial
Threats to the united states,

The biggest at the moment is
Believed to come from asia.

Right now,
Things are very tense,

Particularly on the west coast
Of the united states.

Narrator: the north korean
Military has said they developed

Long-range,
Ballistic missile technology

That actually has the ability to
Reach the west coast,

Which puts california
Within range.

Narrator: but would this
Mad marxist dictator

Be crazy enough
To pick a fight with america?

♪♪

Coming up,
The underwater smog monster.

A creeping cloud killing
Everything in its path.

Everything this cloud
Touches seems to die.

Narrator: deep-sea death wish.

What's frightening
The kamikaze fish?

This looks like mass
Fish suicide.

Narrator: scientists investigate
How ice can be on fire.

This is really strange
Because you imagine ice

Would be impossible
To catch on fire.

Narrator: and an extra planetary
Puzzle in the skies over l.A.

One of those stages
Seems to be moving on its own,

And that's not something
That rockets do

In the u.S. Military arsenal.

♪♪

Narrator: a strange object
Crossing the sky over l.A.

Caught on multiple cameras
Causes panic on the freeway.

[ tires screeching ]
-ah!

[ bleep ]

Narrator: could it be
An interceptor missile

Launched by the u.S. Air force
Space command?

Aviation expert joe pappalardo
Is not convinced.

He spots something strange
About the object

which appears
To have been jettisoned.

it doesn't fall back to earth.

it's not behaving like
A missile normally does.

one of those stages seems to be
Moving on its own,

so there's something else
That's up there.

Narrator:
But there is one company

That has the technology to build
Something like this,

And running it is a guy
Who has been called

The real-life iron man.

When you see something moving
Around on the back-end

Of a rocket like that,

It's a good bet
That it's gonna be spacex.

Narrator:
Spacex is run by elon musk,

The man on whom
Robert downey jr.

Based the character of
Tony stark.

The u.S. Military allows
Musk's company

To operate out
Of vandenberg air force base.

And it is known that spacex
Is working on a program

To send humans to colonize mars.

That involves building
A new kind of reusable,

Multiple-stage rocket.

Pappalardo:
When a fuel tank is empty,

They'll guide it down.

The stage will separate,
Move in these very unnatural

Weird ways to position itself to
Settle back down to the ground

So it can be reused.

♪♪

Narrator: what angelenos
Witnessed that night

Is a spacex falcon 9 rocket
Blasting towards space.

This successful launch
Is one step toward

Humans reaching other worlds.

Robert brooks
Has accidentally witnessed

A bit of space history.

I'm very pleased that I got to
Be there on the front row seat

of all of this
With a fantastic view.

The fact that we can do all
These great things,

And we might even be going to
Mars pretty soon?

I mean, how awesome is that?

♪♪

Narrator: now, the horror
From the blue lagoon.

It looks like some kind of
Portal to the underworld.

I'd never seen anything
Quite like it.

Narrator: nothing can survive
This mystery cloud.

It's a floating serial killer.

Everything this cloud
Touches seems to die.

It's pretty terrifying.

♪♪

Narrator:
Yucatán peninsula, mexico.

Mysterious ruins
Are all that remains

Of the cities
Of the mighty mayans,

But the strange fate
Of this civilization,

More than a thousand years ago,
Remains unexplained.

Many of these cities
Are built around giant,

Natural holes
Leading into the earth.

To the mayans, these cenotes,
Or sacred wells,

Were feared and revered,

The site of ritual,
Human sacrifice.

To archaeologist
Guillermo de anda and his team,

They are rich, but treacherous
Hunting grounds

For ancient treasure.

It's a dream come true
For an archaeologist.

there's not only a lot of
Artifacts,

they are very well preserved.

Narrator: may 2015, de anda has
Ventured into the thick jungle

10 miles south
Of the long-abandoned

Mayan city of tulum.

He prepares to dive into one of
The mayans' sacred wells.

De anda descends into
The gloomy, echoing hole.

The water is shockingly cold,

But de anda and his team
Are used to diving

In these conditions.

90 feet down,

He encounters something
He's never seen before.

Below him, a vast,
Underwater cloud.

As he approaches
The edge of the cloud,

He starts to feel pain.

It actually burns your lips.

We don't take our masks off

Because I don't know what effect
That could have on your eyes.

Narrator: de anda
Realizes something's wrong.

Mayan sacred wells are normally
Teeming with life, but here,

Everything is dead.

I have never seen something
Like that in any other cenote.

Narrator:
Searching for answers,

He posts footage
Of the cloud online.

in the middle of the jungle,
Where life is abundant,

one of the most biodiverse
Places on earth,

You find this pocket of death.

when he realized that
It's killing everything there,

you have to ask yourself,
What is that?

♪♪

Narrator: the killer cloud
Is in a sacred mayan well.

Science journalist john farrow

Looks for clues
In mayan religious beliefs

And their obsession with death
And the end of the world.

The mayan civilization, which
Was quite advanced for its time,

Had a calendar system.

But this calendar
Actually had an ending.

It was in the year 2012 when
The world was supposed to end.

People really believed this,
And in 2012,

They were counting down
The minutes

To the end of the world.

Narrator: around the world,

There were some
Who feared the mayan prophecy

Would come true.

But when the clock ultimately
Hit zero, nothing happened.

So when people see a cloud of
Death in the middle of a cenote,

A religious place
For the mayans, they think,

Maybe we just got
The date wrong,

And the end of the world
Is coming,

And it's coming from here.

♪♪

Man:
[ speaking foreign language ]

Narrator:
But ex-cia agent lindsay moran

Has a less mystical
Possible explanation.

This cenote sits inside
Narco territory.

There was a 2017 report that
Showed that there was cocaine

In the cave systems.

If some huge amount of cocaine
Got into the water,

This could be what's creating
This cloud of death,

And essentially, causing
All the life down there

To have overdoses.

Narrator:
It sounds incredible,

But the volume of cocaine

Handled by the narcos
Was staggering.

In a single year, the cocaine
Smuggled into america

By pablo escobar alone
Was equivalent in weight

To 25 statues of liberty.

Pablo escobar is famous
For being historically

The most prolific drug
Trafficker in this area.

Narrator: escobar's men were
Moving 15 tons of cocaine a day,

Much of it through mexico.

And when there was a risk of
Capture, the cocaine was dumped.

Man: this raid yielded about
6,500 kilograms

Of processed cocaine
Worth well over $1 billion.

Narrator:
Escobar's drug runners

Could have used
The well-concealed

Mayan sacred wells
As drug depots

Or dumping grounds
On their smuggling route.

For a drug lord like escobar,

These cenotes might present
The perfect place

To stash
Huge amounts of cocaine.

Narrator:
If this is a cloud of cocaine,

Hundreds of additional tons
Could be lying in other cenotes,

Posing a possibly
Terrifying threat

To the region's water supply.

♪♪

Coming up, the driver from
Another dimension.

A wormhole car crash
Caught on camera.

[ tires screeching ]

I mean, cars don't
Come out of nowhere.

[ tires screeching ]

Narrator: burning ice.

A freaky frozen inferno
Baffles fire investigators.

I have never seen it
Before like this.

Fire and ice don't miss.

Narrator:
And experts fear the spread

Of the mayan killer cloud...

That is toxic,

Very toxic, and that will kill
Anything that comes in there.

♪♪

Narrator:
Divers encounter a fog of death

In an ancient mayan sacred well.

Experts wonder if this could be
A killer cloud of cocaine

Dumped by narco
Drug lord pablo escobar.

Chemist andrea sella looks
At the physical properties

Of cocaine
And how it acts with water.

Now, cocaine
Is extremely soluble.

if you dissolve salt up into
Water, you can't see it anymore.

well, exactly the same thing
Would happen to the cocaine.

It just vanishes.

The fact that you've got that
Cloudiness means that clearly,

Whatever that material is,
It isn't soluble in the water.

It's actually tiny particles,
Which are suspended.

What the nature of those
Particles is, we have no idea.

♪♪

Narrator:
Archaeologist guillermo de anda

Risks his life to investigate.

Though the toxic cloud
Burns his skin,

He swims into it
And emerges from the other side.

Whatever the cloud is,

It's not sitting
On the floor of the well.

something was strange
Because we realized,

this is not the bottom.

this is something else,
And then we put our hand,

Our hand does go through.

Then we venture a little bit
More and a little more

Until we get to the other side
Of the layer.

It looks like there's a huge
Tarp on top of you.

♪♪

Narrator: physicist simon foster
From imperial college, london,

Wants to know why the cloud is
Hovering in this particular part

Of the well.

what I think we're seeing here

are two separate
Bodies of water.

one freshwater and one seawater.

We've actually got that
In play here.

On one side, I've got saltwater,

And on the other side,
I've got freshwater.

When I remove the separate
Between the two,

You'll see that
The saltwater moves

Below the freshwater
Because it's denser,

It's heavier, and you get this
Clear, distinct separation

Of the two layers.

Narrator: foster's test suggests
That denser saltwater

Is sitting at the bottom
Of the mayan well,

Freshwater lies above.

The lethal cloud
Is held in place,

Trapped between these layers.

Now, the real mystery
In this footage is this cloudy,

Murky fog that's sandwiched
Between the two bodies.

What is it?

That's what
We've got to discover.

♪♪

Narrator: fluid dynamics expert
James bird

Sets to work trying to identify
The killer substance.

The first clue
Are the dead trees

Lying in amongst
The killer cloud.

it's interesting to see
The sticks and other debris that

seems like it could be rotting.

Generally,
During the rotting process,

The bacteria can create gases.

Narrator: is the cloud killing
All life in its path,

Or is the unusual quantity of
Dead matter itself

Creating the killer mist?

We're likely seeing lots of
Small bubbles that would give

A cloud-like appearance.

Narrator:
Marine biologist erik cordes

Investigates how a killer cloud
Of underwater gas could come

From rotting, dead trees.

In environments
Starved of oxygen,

The bacteria
Digesting the vegetation

Can create toxic gas.

When cordes checks oxygen
Readings from the cenote,

He finds that the oxygen levels
Are nearly zero.

if there's no oxygen,
All the plant matter and leaves

and sticks and everything that
Sunk down into the bottom

Would degrade by the bacteria,

And they would start producing
Hydrogen sulfide.

Narrator: hydrogen sulfide
Is a corrosive acid.

It can suffocate any life that
Inhales the poisoned waters

Within seconds.

These chemical reactions

Trigger an unstoppable chain
Reaction of death.

Hydrogen sulfide is toxic,
Very toxic.

And that will kill anything
That comes in there.

And so you get more dead animals

And more hydrogen sulfide
Being produced,

And it'll just keep going
And going and going

Until the whole thing
Becomes toxic.

Narrator:
This mayan sacred well is,

Indeed, a well of death,

And this killer cloud could be
Hard to contain.

these are caves that are
Connected by a system of

essentially underwater rivers.

If one cenote gets polluted,

The rest of them are going to be
Polluted, too.

♪♪

Narrator: now, a dashcam
Captures a crazy collision.

So where did that car
Come from?

It seems to just materialize
Out of thin air.

Narrator: experts struggle to
Explain this phantom car.

One, I'm just missing something

Or two, this car is invisible.

♪♪

Narrator: yaroslavl, russia.

160 miles northeast of moscow.

This city is a hub of high-tech
Research institutes.

From automotive developers

To a branch of the russian
Academy of science.

♪♪

August 30, 2012.

A dash-mounted camera
Records a journey

Through the city streets.

Then what happens next...

[ tires screech ]

...Is straight out
Of the twilight zone.

We've got a car driving down
The road at a normal pace.

Everything's completely normal.
Everything's fine.

And then wham!

The approaching vehicle
Seems to just materialize

Out of thin air.

I've investigated
Many car crashes,

but I've never seen one
Like this before.

I mean, cars don't
Come out of nowhere.

[ tires screech ]

Narrator:
The footage of this phantom car

Comes to the attention
Of investigators.

when you see something
This strange,

you start to think
Of science fiction.

If that car was a delorean,

Then maybe it might be
Some time travel,

But there has to be
A different explanation.

♪♪

Narrator: coming up,
Mass suicide at a lake

As thousands of fish leap in
Terror out of the water.

I've heard of
Flying fish before,

But this is a little crazy.

Narrator:
A freaky frozen inferno

Baffle chicago firefighters.

This looks like the ice
Itself is on fire.

♪♪

Narrator: and are car wars
A new phantom menace?

That's a game changer.
They'd basically be unstoppable.

♪♪

Narrator: dashcam footage
Shows a phantom car

Coming out of thin air.

[ tires screech ]

An invisible car sounds crazy,

But invisibility
Stealth technology

Is something that's being
Actively pursued

In secret weapons programs.

exploration and development of
Some kind of invisibility

Providing technology is
Something that's very real.

And one thing that
Every military

Would love to have is some kind
Of cloak of invisibility.

Narrator: russia's skies
Have been a testing ground

For invisibility programs
For decades.

The sukhoi su-57 fighter jet has
Advanced stealth technologies.

Its angled shape minimizes
Radio waves reflecting back

To enemy detecting systems,

Allowing it to penetrate enemy
Air space, undetected by radar.

[ explosion ]

But these jets are still visible
To the naked eye.

If a country were able to
Develop some kind of technology

That provided for invisibility
On the battlefield, I mean,

That's a game changer.
They'd basically be unstoppable.

♪♪

Narrator: but the newest
Stealth technology

Costs billions of dollars
And is top, top secret.

It will be tested on fighter
Plants, tanks, and ships,

Not on a small hatchback
At a busy intersection.

Video analyst conor mccourt

Studies the collision
Frame by frame.

The answer to
This wormhole weirdness

Is in the footage itself.

If you look on the back
Right side of the car,

There's a little protrusion
Right there.

I believe that's the back
Of the phantom car

as it strikes the front
Of the car.

[ tires screech ]

Narrator: replaying the footage,

Mccourt notices parked cars
Beside the crash site.

He begins to suspect
The phantom car is always there.

It's just not visible
Before the crash

Because it's blocked
From the dashcam's view.

As the phantom car
Is coming along

And entering the intersection,

There's only a moment
Where we can see it,

And that the phantom car
Is obscured by the car

That's just about to be hit.

Narrator:
The analysis reveals

This is a perfectly timed
Optical illusion.

♪♪

What we have here is a very
Amazing coincidence.

where, at the exact time
That that black car was entering

into the intersection,

It was obscuring the entry of
That phantom car

Into the intersection.

So when the collision occurred,

It was almost as if
It came out of nowhere,

But it was there the whole time.

[ tires screech ]

♪♪

Narrator: now, in china,
Fish are freaking out.

I've heard of
Flying fish before,

But this is a little crazy.

What the heck
Are these fish doing?

Why are they all jumping out of
The water at the same time?

Narrator: kamikaze fish,
Driven to their doom

By something super scary
In the lake.

Those are frightened fish.
They are escaping something.

What could be under the water?
They can't breathe.

It's almost like fish suicide.

♪♪

Narrator: jiaozuo, china,

An area of waterfalls and lakes.

It attracts thousands of
Sightseers each year.

June 13, 2017.

As tourists take pictures
In the tranquil surroundings,

The peace is shattered.

Onlookers are shocked
And disturbed

To witness
An aquatic horror show.

all of a sudden,
Madness breaks out,

and fish start
Leaping out of the lake,

And they're just flopping
Everywhere.

Narrator: the bizarre sight
Baffles scientists.

It's chaos.

This looks like
Mass fish suicide.

These fish are absolutely
Jumping to their doom.

♪♪

Narrator: coming up,
Firefighters battle burning ice.

It looks like some kind of
Demonic, frozen ice hell.

♪♪

Narrator: and experts fear
These suicide fish

Could be an apocalyptic warning.

It might be
There's an earthquake

Right around the corner.

♪♪

Narrator:
In a nightmare scene,

Thousands of fish leap onto
Dry land from a chinese lake.

Marine biologist
Danni washington

Studies the footage.

she zooms in
On an individual fish.

The species they belong
To could provide a clue

To this bizarre behavior.

looking closer at the fish,

you can see that it's got
A blunt nose, large size,

A silvery shimmy on the sides.

It leads me to believe that
It's an asian silver carp.

These fish can grow up to
Three feet long and 60 pounds.

That's a really big fish to be
Jumping randomly out of a lake.

Narrator: asian silver carp
Come from china and siberia,

But they're spreading
Across the world.

Their numbers are growing
Rapidly in american

And european rivers and lakes

With some fearing these fish
Will overwhelm the waterways.

♪♪

But across the globe,

There are reports of these carp

Displaying strange behavior
When frightened.

Washington:
They will get spooked,

And they'll start showing
This weird, crazy behavior

Where they're jumping out
Of the water.

They can jump nearly 10 feet
Out of the water.

Narrator: scientists
Are trying to figure out

What's causing these carp
To kill themselves.

Marine expert jay hemdal
Analyzes the footage.

The fish, he thinks, are trying
To get away from something.

Something inside the lake.

those are frightened fish.
They are escaping something.

it's difficult to say
What that could be.

there could be a predator,

Or it could be what they
Perceive to be a predator.

When you're a fish
And there's a predator around,

One of your responses is to
Actually jump into the air.

Narrator: but to cause such
An extreme reaction,

Whatever is down there must be
Truly frightening.

[ alligator growling ]

The region's most ferocious
Aquatic beast

Is the chinese alligator.

They are fearsome,
Apex predators.

Opportunist feeders
That will devour anything

That gets too close.

From mammals near the water edge

To any fish in the waters.

If a chinese alligator
Were in this lake,

The carp would have cause
For concern.

They don't necessarily
Have a directional ability,

And they land on the ground by
Accident, not on purpose.

Narrator:
But this can't be the answer.

This lake is manmade
With no connecting rivers

To natural waterways.

No alligator population
Has been introduced here.

This is not an apex predator's
Hunting ground.

♪♪

Biologist roland kays
Studies the footage.

A specialist in animal behavior,

He knows that some species
Seem to be able

To predict natural disasters.

there's a lot of stories
Going back millennia,

told all around the world,

About animals detecting
Seismic events,

Earthquakes, or volcanoes,
Before they happen.

Narrator:
Reports from across the globe

Reveal giant oarfish
Beaching themselves

Before an imminent earthquake.

[ siren wails ]

In 2010, oarfish beached
Themselves in japan.

Soon afterwards,

The 9.1 magnitude tohoku
Earthquake spawns a tsunami.

Scientists now believe
Finding these fish on the coast

Is the sign of
A coming catastrophe

And believe they've unpacked
The complicated process

That allows fish to predict
Upcoming seismic events.

When there's tectonic stress in
The earth's crust,

It releases positive ions
Into the air.

And when those ions
Reach a body of water,

It oxidizes and then creates
Oxygen peroxide,

Which is an extreme irritant
For fish.

The fish could be jumping
Out of the water

Because hydrogen peroxide
Is building up in the lake,

And they need to escape.

Which means there's
An earthquake

Right around the corner.

Narrator:
But if this is a case of fish

Predicting seismic events,
The earthquake never comes.

There was no seismic activity
Detected anywhere in the region.

seismic activity is not
What's happening here.

there has to be something else.

♪♪

Narrator:
When local authorities released

Their official explanation,

Residents can't believe
The finding.

Authorities lay the blame on
A popular chinese pastime.

The local government revealed

What they believed caused this
Strange phenomenon.

It was a singing contest.

♪♪

Narrator: it seems that
Chinese singers

And chinese songs were so loud
And so disturbing,

Even underwater,
That they drove the carp crazy.

A sound wave travels through
The water for great distances

With a lot of pressure.

A lot of aquatic animals
Can sense that pressure

Using something called
The lateral line.

It's a series of sensitive pores

That run down the side
Of their body.

They can feel the movement of
Larger fish around them,

And those larger fish
Are usually predators.

So, when you send a lot of
Soundwaves through the water,

They feel through their bodies
That they're being atacked by

A number of predators
At the same time.

Narrator:
Locals seem to like it,

But to a carp, some music is
Simply unbearable.

Can you imagine that
Your singing is so bad

That you caused an entire school
Of fish to jump out of the water

And commit suicide?

That's really bad.

♪♪

Narrator: coming up, a frozen
Inferno baffles experts.

It doesn't seem like
It could be possible.

Narrator:
And scientists investigate

How ice can be on fire.

This is really strange
Because you imagine ice

Would be impossible
To catch on fire.

♪♪

Narrator:
Cameras capture an ice-entombed

Chicago building
Engulfed by fire.

It seems impossible.

It looks like some kind of
Demonic, frozen ice hell.

Narrator:
Fire experts are baffled.

I have never seen it before
Like this.

Fire and ice don't mix.

♪♪

Narrator: chicago, illinois.

In this city
Of 2.7 million people,

Emergencies are inevitable.

The chicago fire department

Responds to nearly
1,000 alarms every day.

January 22, 2013.

Photographer tim olk receives
A call from engine 42.

His job is to capture images
For forensic analysis.

I heard over the radio
There was one block wide,

one block building about five
Stories, heavy timber,

Just well-involved with fire.

I automatically go over there

And just start shooting
The pictures.

Narrator: what he witnesses
Defies explanation.

An inferno inside a building
Entombed in ice.

I've seen every
Kind of disaster,

Any kind of incident
You can imagine.

I've never seen that before.

You got big plumes of smoke

Coming up through
The middle of this building,

But the whole thing's
Encapsulated in ice.

♪♪

Narrator: firefighters battle
The blaze into the night.

Scientists struggle to explain
What appears to be burning ice.

it's literally fire and ice,

which are supposed to be
Complete opposites.

How can these two things
Co-exist?

Narrator: chemist john pojman
From louisiana state university

Studies the footage.

Fire department reports
Reveal that the building

Is an industrial warehouse.

It makes pojman
Suspect the burning ice

Could be explained by
Chemical associated

With metal processing.

although it may seem strange,
There are chemical reactions --

violent chemical reactions that

Can happen on
The surface of ice.

One of them being the reaction
Of carbon carbide with ice.

Narrator: calcium carbide
Is a chemical

Used in the production of steel.

It's added to molten steel
To remove sulfur,

Making the steel stronger.

But there's a problem with
Calcium carbide

That makes it extremely
Dangerous to store.

Calcium carbide, when added to
Water, produces acetylene gas.

Narrator: acetylene is
A highly volatile gas

That burns at over
2,500 degrees.

Pojman devises a test to see
If calcium carbide

Reacting with ice
Could release enough acetylene

To create flames.

So I have a block of ice,

And I'm gonna take some of
This calcium carbide.

And you can see now,
It's starting to fizz,

And that should be
Acetylene gas. Let's see.

Narrator: pojman realizes
The intense heat

Means the reaction feeds itself,

Making the blaze
Even more violent.

So now what's happening
Is the acetylene is burning,

Which is melting the ice,
Producing water,

Which is reacting with
The calcium carbide

To produce more acetylene.

But it is remarkable.

It really does look as if
The ice is burning.

Narrator: in the lab, less than
One ounce of calcium carbide

Reacting with ice creates
Large flames.

Scale that up and pojman
Believes tons of calcium carbide

Inside the warehouse could
Create the ice inferno.

And it's not hard to imagine
That this reaction

Is what's responsible for
The phenomena

Observed in the video.

♪♪

Narrator: journalist jeff wise
Checks city reports

To discover more about
The fire-ravaged ice building.

it was an abandoned building.
It had fallen into disuse.

The building had sat empty
For years,

But we don't have any evidence

That that kind of chemical
Was stored in this building

At this time.

♪♪

Narrator: the bizarre inferno
Comes to the attention of

Scientist kishore hari.

He scans through the footage of
The blaze for clues

And discovers a breakthrough
For the investigation.

He notices that
When the firefighters arrive

At the warehouse, there's no ice
On the building.

And realizes the fire
Comes first.

we have the fire naturally

burning things
Inside the warehouse.

paper, wood,
A number of other things.

And the ice, I think, is coming
From a different place.

Narrator:
Meteorologist angela fritz

Checks the weather records
For the day.

She discovers that the fire
Erupts at the exact time chicago

Plunges into arctic conditions.

This winter, in particular,
Was very, very bad.

Temperatures were 10,
15 degrees below 0.

Fires can burn in cold weather,
But at minus-10 degrees,

Any water that you try and use
To put out this fire is going to

Freeze instantaneously.

Narrator:
In the frozen conditions,

Even the intense heat of
The inferno can't melt the ice.

And as the firefighters
Keep battling the blaze,

It creates even more ice.

It's a vicious cycle of
Freezing,

Leading to a once-in-a-lifetime
Disaster.

nature's really working
Against these guys

because as soon
As that water comes out,

it's turning into ice, and none
Of it is actually getting to

where it needs to go.

narrator: firefighters wait
Three days for temperatures

to rise and the fire
To melt the ice, at which point,

they finally put out this
Bizarre ice inferno.

you had the cold weather.
You had large amounts of water.

and you mix those all together,

it made like a perfect storm.