All language subtitles for Strange.Evidence.S02E04.Gateway.to.Hell.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.

[ horn honks ]

It defies the laws of physics.

Man: ah, 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 screams ]

[ whirs ]

Narrator: coming up,
A battle copter's burning halo

Baffles investigators...

It's not supposed to be
Emanating light like that.

Muñoz: these are almost
Angels of death.

It sends chills
Down your spine.

Narrator: ...The ocean's
Deadliest killer

Lurks by a golf course's
15th hole...

What is a shark during in a lake
On a golf course?

♪♪

Narrator:
...And attack of the blob.

Terrified residents flee
This faceless monster.

It would move like a blob.
It looked alive.

Narrator: bizarre phenomena.

Mysteries caught on camera.

What's the truth
Behind this strange evidence?

[ screams ]

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

captions paid for by
Discovery communications

Narrator: night-vision cameras
Capture an unnerving sight --

A u.S. Military helicopter
Radiating a ghostly halo.

It has a kind of
A supernatural air to it.

Moran: my immediate reaction is,
"What is that?"

It's like nothing
I've ever seen before.

Narrator:
Experts fear an intervention

From another dimension.

Just because it's
A military aircraft

Doesn't mean
It's military technology.

Muñoz: this is not just another
Military enemy.

This is something
From a higher power.

[ beeping ]

♪♪

Narrator: herat province in
War-torn afghanistan --

During a u.S. Special operations
Mission,

Night-vision cameras record
An otherworldly phenomenon.

As a helicopter comes in
To land,

The rotos begin to glow
With a ghostly halo.

there's a strange light that's
Emanating from the rotor tips.

♪♪

it's immediately apparent

that something really strange
Is happening.

this is not normal.

Narrator: amazingly,
More footage comes to light

Of the same bizarre phenomenon.

This time, on a marine training
Base in california.

The rotors of two helicopters

Burn fierce
And inexplicable halos.

Muñoz: seeing these helicopters
Come in --

these are almost
Angels of death.

it sends chills down your spine.

moran:
Everybody's heard of a ufo,

but there's something else
Called a uap,

Which is actually "Unidentified
Aerial phenomenon,"

And that's what
We're seeing here.

It's some kind of phenomenon
That we can't explain.

♪♪

Narrator:
Journalist joe pappalardo

Reports on military technology

And can identify
The helicopters.

one is a boeing ch-47 chinook,

veteran workhorse
Of the helicopter fleet.

the other is
A ch-53 super stallion,

the largest helicopter
In the u.S. Military.

The military is not really eager
To advertise

What's happening
On battlefields,

So when footage
Like this comes in

That shows something mysterious,

It piques your curiosity
And really makes you wonder

What's going on
With these helicopters.

Narrator:
Pappalardo recognizes

The location
Of the daylight clip --

The marine corps
Air ground combat center

Known as "Twentynine palms"

In san bernardino, california.

This remote setting
Makes pappalardo wonder

If the military is testing
A new secret battle system.

Twentynine palms is one
Of the largest training areas

In the united states.

It's locked away in the desert.

It's the perfect environment
For the marines to go

And practice blowing stuff up.

There is weird stuff
In the skies over the desert

All the time --
All the time.

There's a lot of research
That takes place,

So there could be
Research and testing

Of some kind of new technology.

♪♪

Narrator: lindsay moran worked
As an undercover operative

For the cia,

Which gave her firsthand
Knowledge of covert operations.

She suspects the demonic-looking
Helicopter blades

Could be testing
A frightening new frontier

In psychological warfare.

You can create terror and
Confusion and lack of confidence

By just messing with the enemy,
Messing with his mind.

♪♪

Psychological operations
Are a big part

Of how
The united states wages war.

Narrator: declassified
Military records reveal

That u.S. Forces used
Fear of the supernatural

To bring terror to the enemy
In the jungles of vietnam.

The vietnamese believed that,

If their loved ones
Were not properly buried,

They would still roam the area.

Narrator: code-named
"Operation wandering soul,"

The army pumped out recordings

Of distorted, ghostly voices
At the viet cong troops.

[ indistinct talking ]

That's an example
Of something

That was used to create
A climate of fear

And to really spook out
The enemy.

Narrator:
The u.S. Military

Still uses
Psychological warfare,

Recently announcing
A multimillion-dollar investment

Into creating illusions
On the battlefield,

Like invisibility cloaks
And holographic imagery.

Wise: it's like the devil
Himself is coming for you.

If your enemy's going to be
Terrified by your helicopter

With its flaming rotors,

Maybe that'll be a way
To get the job done

Without actually killing them.

Narrator: but this doesn't
Convince joe pappalardo.

In terms
Of psychological operations,

Making
A helicopter rotor tip glow

Doesn't really do that much.

I think
It's a lot more intimidating

To see a fully armed helicopter
Coming at you

Than to see the,
You know, rotor tips glowing.

[ whirring ]

♪♪

Narrator: the footage comes
To the attention

Of top gun fighter pilot
Paco chierici.

[ engine roars ]

In 20 years of flying
For the u.S. Navy,

He has seen action
Over somalia and iraq.

Chierici suspects
The glowing effect

May be
An electrical phenomenon,

One that he's witnessed
While airborne.

my first impression was that it
Was similar to st. Elmo's fire,

some sort
Of a static-electricity reaction

to the dust clouds
In the helicopter rotor blades.

♪♪

Narrator:
St. Elmo's fire occurs

When pointed
Or sharp objects

Pass through a strong electric
Field in the atmosphere,

Which can be generated
By a thunderstorm.

Chierici: I flew this airplane
Called the a-6 intruder,

And that would get
Just this crazy cone

Of electric blue
Static electricity

Coming off the tip of it.

[ electricity crackles ]

Narrator: the electric field
Around the tip of the plane

Ionizes air molecules,

Producing a faint glow.

It's always around the
Windscreen, and it's incredible.

You can touch the windscreen,
And it'll come to your hand.

It's pretty cool.

[ electricity crackles ]

Narrator:
But analysis of the footage

Shows the weather is clear,

Absolutely the wrong conditions
For st. Elmo's fire.

♪♪

Military reporter carlo muñoz
Examines the clips.

He notices that the halo effect
Is most obvious

When the helicopters
Are about to touch down.

You don't really see this effect

When the helicopters
Are higher up,

So it has to be something
Coming up off the ground,

Being kicked up by the rotors.

[ whirs ]

Moran: one thing
That kind of sticks out

Is it's in the desert,

Where there is
An overabundance of sand,

So it begs the question --

Could the sand have something
To do with creating this effect?

Narrator: if sand is causing
The halo effect,

It could threaten
U.S. Desert operations.

Sand can clog and disable
The engines that power rotors,

Taking the chopper down.

These are not places where
Helicopters are meant to fly,

Yet that's exactly where
Military helicopters fly

All the time.

Narrator: could sand interacting
With helicopter rotor blades

Really explain
These helicopter halos?

Coming up...

A mysterious hole
Appears out of nowhere,

Burning with demonic fury.

The locals actually refer
To this exact spot

As the doorway to hell,
And I completely understand why.

♪♪

Narrator: jaws in
A golf course's water hazard.

This is a shark.
How did the shark get here?

♪♪

Narrator: and
Are u.S. Military helicopters

Flirting with disaster
When they operate in the desert?

Muñoz:
Figuring out what's happening

Could be a matter
Of life or death.

♪♪

[ beeping ]

Narrator:
A ghostly halo gleams

Above a special operations
Chopper in afghanistan.

Investigators discover
More weird halos glowing

On similar
U.S. Military aircraft.

Chemical engineer mike sansom
Is an explosives expert.

He focuses on the helicopter's
Titanium rotors

And notices that the halo light
Effect is not constant,

But appears to flicker.

so, I've watched this video
Several times now,

and the only thing
I can think of is sparks.

♪♪

Narrator: sansom suspects that
The halo phenomenon

Might be related
To technology

We've understood
Since prehistoric times --

Striking flint and steel
To make fire.

So, I'm striking
This ferrocerium rod,

And it's chipping off
Fine particles of the metal,

And these have loads
Of surface area,

Which, when they come in contact
With the oxygen in the air,

They spontaneously ignite.

♪♪

narrator:
Sansom believes that,

as sand grains pepper the
Spinning titanium rotor blades,

They might be chipping off
Tiny fragments of metal,

Which would ignite,
Creating a shower of sparks.

♪♪

To test his sand theory,
Sansom sets up an experiment.

So, I've got
My titanium rotor blade,

My helicopter,

And then I've got
My sand-producing device,

Which is exactly
Like the desert.

When I pull this,
Sand pours out.

Now, I've got eight of these,

And I'm going to place them
All around here.

And then I put my box
On top of the helicopter.

All I need is some power,
Safety, and darkness.

All right.
Here it goes.

[ whirring ]

♪♪

look at that!
Instantly!

♪♪

Narrator:
Sansom's experiment proves

That sand particles
Are hard enough to strike sparks

From the titanium rotor blades.

[ whirring slows ]

The titanium was chipping off,

So you got the sparks burning
In the air.

♪♪

Narrator: investigators agree
Sansom's spark theory

Sheds some light
On the mystery...

But there's a problem.

The experimental rotor blades

Don't reproduce the full
Incandescent circle of light

Seen in
The helicopter halo footage.

Carlo muñoz wonders if the u.S.
Military has made the videos

Deliberately difficult
To decipher.

Muñoz: the problem is, really,
Trying to prove this.

there's a reason why they call
Special operations,

you know, "Black ops,"

because no one's really
Gonna get any information,

As far as why they're there,
What they're doing,

And what the outcome was.

There's a lot of questions
In this video.

Narrator:
For now, sansom's spark theory

Is the closest we can get
To an explanation

For this bizarre
Helicopter halo phenomenon.

♪♪

[ whirring ]

♪♪

Now...Golf-course cameras
Capture a man-eater...

♪♪

...In a landlocked lake
Near the 15th hole.

It was one of the most
Spectacular things

I've ever seen.

Narrator:
Experts are baffled.

This is a shark.
How did the shark get here?

That puts a whole new meaning
To the term "Water hazard,"

Doesn't it?

♪♪

[ whirring, beeping ]

♪♪

Narrator:
Carbrook golf course,

20 miles from the coastal city
Of brisbane, australia.

Scott wagstaff
Is general manager.

my job, really, is just
To make sure the place runs well

in line
With the members' expectations.

Narrator: for years,
Wagstaff hears rumors

Of something strange

In the water hazard
Next to the 15th green.

Wagstaff: there was a bit
Of a myth around the club.

It was almost like we had
A loch ness monster in the lake.

Narrator: wagstaff knows
There's no way

For a shark to get into
This landlocked lake.

He staked out the water hazard
To investigate

What witnesses
Might be seeing in there...

When his camera captures
Something remarkable.

Wagstaff: there, in front of me,
I couldn't believe my eyes.

Kays: you see this fish
Swimming around the lake,

And then you see a fin,

and it's obvious
This isn't just any fish --

this is a shark.

♪♪

Wagstaff:
The shark has just circled.

Big fin.

Probably a 6-to-7-foot shark,

Swimming around
In front of me.

If I had the courage,
I could have got down

And touched the nose
Of the shark,

But, um, I thought that might
Not have been a smart idea.

♪♪

[ static crackles ]

[ whirs ]

♪♪

Narrator: wagstaff posts
His jaws clip online,

Baffling the experts.

what is a shark doing in a lake
In a golf course?

Narrator: wild weather expert
George kourounis

Hears about
The remarkable footage.

He wonders
If this could be evidence

Of a real-life sharknado.

the idea of a "Sharknado" has
Been made popular by hollywood,

but here's the thing --

There is a nugget, a grain,
If you will,

Of truth behind that idea.

Narrator: kourounis has
Researched many cases of animals

Inexplicably picked up
And transported

Somewhere outside
Of their natural habitat.

Throughout history,
There are all kinds

Of stories of creatures
Raining down from the sky --

Frogs and even fish.

Narrator: in the past,

Witnesses thought
This was the work

Of mischievous gods or spirits,

But, today, scientists believe

That freak weather patterns
Are responsible.

Sharks are big, they're heavy,

But there
Are some weather phenomena,

Like water spouts or tornadoes,

That could pick up something
As big and as heavy as a shark.

♪♪

Narrator:
Wind speeds in tornadoes

Have been measured
At up to 300 miles per hour.

The strongest storms could rip
Whole houses

From their foundations

And snatch 20-ton trucks
Into the air.

Over water,
Tornadoes become water spouts,

Which could easily carry off
A 300-pound shark.

Well, if one of these happens

Over top of a school of fish
Or a group of frogs,

It's totally conceivable

That those could be lofted up
Into the storm

And then dropped
Maybe miles away.

Is it possible for it
To rain sharks?

[ whirs ]

Narrator: coming up...

A mysterious ring hovers
Over the windy city...

Wise:
Is it an alien spaceship?

The imagination
Kind of goes there.

Narrator: ...A fiery hole
Appears from nowhere...

Imagine if this thing explodes.

[ whirs ]

Narrator: ... And investigators
Try to figure out

How jaws wound up
In a golf-course lake.

We don't want anyone
Going in there

Because it's a matter
Of life or death.

They may not come out.

[ beeping ]

♪♪

Narrator: a deadly shark

Lurks in a landlocked lake
On a golf course,

Baffling investigators.

Wild-weather expert
George kourounis

Believes it could be evidence

Of a shark picked up
And dropped

By a powerful storm,
A sharknado.

weather phenomena,

like water spouts or tornadoes
In particular,

Are well-known for ripping
Apart the landscape

And lofting all kinds of debris
Up in the air.

[ thunder crashes ]

[ whirs ]

Narrator: marine biologist
Brendan talwar

Studies marine predators.

He believes the way sharks
Behave in a storm

Undermines
The sharknado theory.

typically,
If a big storm comes through,

What we generally think
Happens with big fish like that

Is they go to deeper water.

♪♪

[ beeping, whirs ]

♪♪

Narrator: talwar analyzes the
Alignment of the shark's fins,

And it leads him to suspect

This is one of the most
Dangerous fish in the world.

♪♪

It certainly looks like
A bull shark.

You can see that the first
Dorsal fin

Starts right above
The pectoral fins.

[ whirring ]

Then you see the black tips
On the fins,

Which is characteristic
Of young bull sharks, as well.

What's interesting is that they
Have this really unique ability

Where they can
Actually tolerate freshwater.

♪♪

Narrator:
Oceanographer teresa greely

Of the university
Of south florida

Is an expert
In marine predators.

She's alarmed to discover
The golf course

Is home to one of nature's
Most lethal killing machines.

bull sharks are not
A selective feeder.

they'll eat just about anything
That they encounter,

And they are one of
The more aggressive sharks.

Narrator: bull sharks attack
And kill intruders

Because
Of their aggressive nature.

They pack a powerful bite,

Enough to crack a human skull
In a single chomp.

♪♪

These golfers are within putting
Distance of a grisly death.

Greely: the question is,
How did the bull shark

Get into the water hazard
On the golf course?

[ beeping ]

Narrator:
Greely knows that people keep

All kinds of exotic
And dangerous animals,

Including sharks.

She suspects the golf-course
Shark may be an unwanted pet.

♪♪

This could be the case
In this water hazard,

That somebody's released a shark
Into the water.

Narrator: bull sharks survive
In aquariums,

But they're hard to keep.

They grow from 2 feet at birth

To a massive 8 feet in maturity

And quickly overwhelm even
The biggest domestic tanks.

Unless the pet owner
Is a james bond villain,

They will eventually have to
Get rid of their bull shark.

Greely:
This is actually not atypical.

We find a lot
Of non-native species.

People release them
Into the natural setting,

And they tend to adapt
And sometimes thrive.

Narrator:
But zoologist roland kays

Thinks this is unlikely.

this is brisbane, australia.
It's right on the coast.

So you have to think,

Wouldn't they take him
And dump him in the ocean

Instead of a golf-course lake?

[ whirring ]

♪♪

Narrator:
Course manager scott wagstaff

Comes up with a theory
Of his own

After researching
The history of the lake.

He uncovers evidence
Of a natural disaster

That may hold the key
To this fishy mystery.

in the 1990s, we had about three
Floods over about four years,

With two river systems
Right next to our property.

They burst their banks,
Flowed across the golf course,

And all those waters
Went into the lake.

Narrator: the gold-course shark
May have swam in

During those floods
Over 20 years ago.

Greely:
I think it's very likely

That the bull shark came to be
In the water hazard

Because of a flooding event
From the river.

♪♪

Narrator:
It's a plausible theory,

But wagstaff still doesn't have
A definitive answer

About where
The shark came from.

[ choir vocalizing ]

Wagstaff: it's a bit of a scary
Situation, really, for the club.

It was really
Only until each golfer

Possibly saw it
For themselves

That they really believed

That we had something special
In our lake.

We don't want anyone
Going in there

Because, if they do,
It's a matter of life or death.

They may not come out.

Narrator: for now,

The question of how the shark
Got into the water hazard

Remains a mystery
That's lost none of its bite.

[ vocalizing continues ]

[ whirring ]

Narrator:
Now...A slithering blob

Attacks
The streets of california.

You see this large, white mass

That's just kind of moving
And undulating along,

Filling up the streets.

This is an unstoppable monster,
Straight out of a 1950s b-movie.

♪♪

Narrator: experts fear
The blob is a killer.

Hari: and it could be
Chemical in nature --

Toxic and carcinogenic.

My biggest fear is,
Can it hurt me?

[ beeping ]

♪♪

Narrator: november 18, 2016,
Santa clara, california.

Sabrina lochner's regular
Lunchtime stroll is interrupted

By a bizarre, advancing mass.

Lochner:
As I started walking closer,

All I could see
Was this whiteness.

almost looked like someone
Had dumped snow.

Where we are in california,
We don't get snow.

Narrator:
Passers-by freeze in amazement

As the unstoppable blob
Devours whole cars.

It would actually make waves.

It almost looked alive.

I mean,
This is completely bizarre.

people in the video
Are just stunned.

[ indistinct conversations ]

Narrator: the rampaging blob

Swiftly overwhelms
An entire city street.

Man: holy smoke.

it makes you think,
"What the hell's going on?"

[ beeping, whirs ]

Narrator: the clip is posted
To andrea sella,

A chemist
At university college london.

He wonders
If the santa clara blob

May have crawled
Out of the nearby pacific ocean.

♪♪

Every so often, when you go
Down by the seaside,

Particularly
In quite windy locations,

What you'll get is
A very, very strong

And resistant sea foam
That will persist

And will be blown on land,

Where it will hang around
For many hours.

[ birds calling ]

♪♪

Narrator: santa clara lies
In the san francisco bay area,

Where over 300,000 gallons
Of garbage

Flows into the sea every year.

Sian proctor fears this sea foam
Could contain anything,

From heavy metals
Like mercury

To dioxins
And pesticide residues.

Proctor:
Sea foam can be dangerous

To wildlife and to people.

If there are pollutants that
Are caught up in that foam,

It can irritate your eyes,
Mess up your skin,

And if you ingest it,
You could be in big trouble.

♪♪

Narrator: environmental chemist
Kishore hari

Specializes
In pollution hazards.

♪♪

He casts doubt
On the sea-foam theory

Because of the uniform
Appearance of the blob.

The color is really consistent
Across this.

That tells me that
This is produced by man.

[ beeping ]

♪♪

Narrator:
Geologist sian proctor

Studies mysterious phenomena
Around the world.

She believes she has witnessed
A man-made foam

Like the santa clara blob
Before,

And it was a killer.

In india, there's this foam
That forms in bangalore

Along bellandur lake.

The froth is full of chemicals
That are toxic and carcinogenic,

Chemicals that have been placed
In that lake

Over a number of years,

And in some cases
Even flammable,

So it's incredibly dangerous.

[ whirs ]

Narrator: coming up...

Locals believe this mysterious
Pit is a gateway to hell...

What is this?
Why is it on fire?

[ rumbling ]

[ siren wailing ]

Narrator: ...Terror in chicago

As a sinister circle spins
Above the skyline...

Gallegly:
That's really bizarre.

Do you watch, or do you run?

Narrator:
...And is the santa clara blob

About to poison
The entire city?

This is an incredibly
Dangerous situation.

♪♪

Narrator:
A fast-moving blob is engulfing

The streets
Of santa clara, california.

♪♪

Environmental chemist
Kishore hari

Examines the huge,
Metal building

The blob seems to be
Escaping from.

this building appears to be
Right next to the airport.

hari discovers that the building
Is a private jet hangar.

it might be a clue to the nature
Of the rampaging white mass.

what many airports have

Is a number
Of fire-retardant foams.

This looks like
A fire-suppression system

Out of control.

-yeah.
-this is crazy.

♪♪

Narrator: experts want to know
How so much fire-retardant foam

Could escape from one building

To take over
An entire city street.

Sian proctor uses chemicals
Similar to the ones present

In the blob to see
If they expand at the rate

We see in the footage.

so, in this beaker, I have
Hydrogen peroxide

with some dish soap.

Narrator: proctor adds
Potassium permanganate

To show how a chemical reaction
Allows a tiny amount of liquid

To produce a huge
And fast moving blob.

Whoa! [ laughs ]

Look at that!

♪♪

The foam expands to over 1,000
Times its condensed volume.

Proctor believes
A similar reaction

Is happening
Inside that hanger.

We just produced millions
And millions of bubbles.

And that's what we're seeing
In the video.

We're seeing gas
Being trapped in foam.

♪♪

This is just what we'd see
With a fire extinguisher --

Bubbles that expand
Thousands of times

More than their size
Inside the tank.

It's just an out-of-control
System that hasn't shut off.

Narrator: water-based
Fire-retardant foam

Contains sodium sulfates

That are also found
In domestic detergents.

It poses no serious risk
To people or animals,

Although it can cause
Skin and eye irritation.

What triggered the avalanche
Of foam remains a mystery,

But local witnesses will never
Forget the santa clara bob.

weird things don't happen
In santa clara.

not like this.

This was not normal. Not at all.

♪♪

♪♪

Now, a sinister circle appears
Over the chicago skyline.

Wise: it's in the sky.
It's unexplained. It's round.

This is a ufo.

Narrator: experts fear
The unidentified aerial object

Could be the beginning
Of a disaster.

You wondered if it was something
That was about to get worse.

Do you watch or do you run?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: july 17th, 2010 --
Wicker park, chicago.

Local photographer
Michael gallegly

Stops for a coffee.

Gallegly:
It was just a normal day.

It's a popular shopping area,

A lot of good bars
And restaurants.

We would be out here often,
Just having a good time.

But when he looks up,
Gallegly witnesses

What looks like an intruder
From another world.

♪♪

Man:
That's really bizarre.

I said, "Whoa, what is this?"

Other people around us
Started to notice it as well.

Narrator:
Gallegly grabs his camera to
Capture the sinister object.

You know, it was kind of above
Two-story buildings.

I mean, it looked large.

it didn't look like just
Some small puff of smoke.

it -- it was sizable,
And as it got higher in the sky,

It just got wider and wider.

It was just hard to imagine
What it could be.

You wondered if it was something
That was about to get worse.

Man: that's insane.

♪♪

Procter: it had to be something
Very explosive.

Holy moly, what's going on?

♪♪

Narrator: if the mysterious
Aerial object really is

A giant ring of smoke,

Geologist sian proctor needs to
Find out what might generate it

Over downtown chicago.

To try to re-create the effect,

Proctor sets up an experiment.

Proctor: to understand
What we're seeing in the video,

We need to create a spinning,
Rolling column of air.

Narrator: to generate
A similar smoke ring,

Proctor needs a cylinder with
A circular opening and smoke.

That smoke is going to roll up
The sides,

And it's going to come
Out of this little opening.

There we go.

We can see those rings of smoke

Coming out just like
In the video.

♪♪

Based on the size
Of the smoke ring,

Whatever created it had to
Be something very explosive.

♪♪

The sinister smoke-ring footage

Comes to the attention
Of physicist simon foster

Of imperial college london.

there's no smoke without fire,

so that's the first thing you've
Got to start thinking about.

Narrator: foster believes
That the color of the smoke

Might offer a clue
About the source of the fire.

Foster: it's probably some sort
Of an electrical fire,

An electrical fire
Giving off a lot of smoke

In a very confined space
Very rapidly.

[ siren wails ]

Narrator: across the u.S,

Home electrical fires number
More than 50,000 a year.

Foster discovers
That the electric company

Supplying chicago manages over
90,000 miles of power lines.

♪♪

Experts fear the smoke ring
Above the city

May be a sign of imminent
Electrical armageddon.

You've got electrical energy,
You've got a spark,

And you've got a fuel source.

Boom.
It's going to go off.

Narrator: is chicago's
Massive grid melting down?

♪♪

Coming up...

Is this pit a doorway
To damnation?

Farrow: if this is actually
The gate to hell,

Then guess it's open
For business.

Narrator: and investigators
Race to discover

If the sinister smoke-ring
Is the start

Of a city-wide catastrophe.

Any of them can go off
At any time.

♪♪

A sinister ring of smoke
Looms over downtown chicago.

Physicist simon foster
Suspects a fire,

And some part of the city's vast
Electrical system is to blame.

♪♪

Foster investigates
The grid network

And identifies a possible clue
To the source of the smoke.

Power is transmitted
At up to 765,000 volts,

But for home use,
It must be converted

To a much lower voltage
Using a step-down transformer.

outside your house,
You might see a utility pole.

on it,
You might see a metal box.

That's probably a step-down
Transformer,

But unfortunately, whenever
You've got high voltages,

Things get hot and these
Transformers can break down.

♪♪

Narrator: foster discovers
That the chicago transformers

Are tubular.

Though they seem small,

They are exactly
The right cylindrical shape

To create the smoke ring
In the footage.

You've got a tube,

And all it needs
Is a little spark.

Suddenly, you've got fire.

You got a rapid expulsion
Of gas.

It's going to produce
A smoke ring.

♪♪

Narrator: a single blast
Like this is bad enough,

But when more footage of smoke
Rings appear across the city,

Experts fear
For residents' safety.

♪♪

Wise: the implication being
That, time and time again,

transformers are somehow
Exploding in chicago --

big things --
Yeah, that's worrying.

♪♪

Narrator: local authorities
Are racing to replace

The city's transformers
Before they wear out,

But with thousands lining
The street,

Another electrical explosion
Seems inevitable.

There's electrical transformers
On every street corner.

Any one of them can go off
At any time.

♪♪

[ siren wails ]

♪♪

narrator: now, cameras
Capture an infernal vision.

kourounis: the locals actually
Refer to this exact spot

as the doorway to hell,
And I completely understand why.

Narrator: a huge pit
Opens up out of nowhere,

Belching hate and flame.

What is this?
Why is it on fire?

The question is, what is it?

Because it could be
Something terrible.

♪♪

Narrator: turkmenistan,
A former soviet territory

In central asia.

In the middle
Of the karakum desert,

160 miles from the capital city,
Ashgabat,

A traveler comes upon
Something terrifying --

A 230-foot blazing hole
In the ground.

It seems almost like something
From another planet.

it literally looks like
The gateway to hell.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: a mysterious hole
Suddenly appears in the desert.

Locals fear it's a gateway
Between the living and the dead.

♪♪

Legends tell of many portals
To the underworld

Hidden in wild places.

♪♪

Medieval christians feared
The hell mouth of satan,

A gaping hole
Swallowing sinners down

To a world
Of eternal punishment.

♪♪

if this is actually
The gate to hell,

then I guess
It's open for business.

♪♪

Narrator: myths of many cultures
Describe volcanoes

As gateways to the underworld.

Geologist sian proctor considers

If this could be
A natural explanation

For the burning pit of fire.

there is a lot of volcanic
Activity in turkmenistan,

And based on
What this looks like,

It's a dropped-in hole,
Circular,

With the burning crater below.

This could be volcanic.

But when experts examine
The crater in broad daylight,

They find another gaping hole
In the volcano theory.

several pieces of evidence

that one would expect
From a volcano are missing.

there's no central peak.
There's no lava lake.

There's no ash being emitted.

Something's not right.

♪♪

Narrator: scientist journalist
Jon farrow discovers

That this fiery crater first
Appeared over 45 years ago

When the soviet union
Controlled turkmenistan.

He speculates that
The pit of fire

Could be a smoldering remnant
Of the cold war.

From the 1970s, the soviet union
Was developing nuclear weapons

And so was testing them.

I mean, maybe those two
Things are linked.

♪♪

Farrow discovers that
Between 1969 and 1971,

The soviet union conducted
43 nuclear tests in this region.

In one test alone,

They detonated 165 kilotons
Of atomic energy,

Enough to destroy
The city of new york.

♪♪

If you're looking for places
To test weapons,

The deserts of turkmenistan
Are pretty good candidates.

They're quite remote,
They're quite secretive.

In the 1970s, this is exactly
What the soviet union was doing.

Narrator:
But sian proctor's research

Reveals that atomic energy

Always leaves
One signature clue.

If this is a nuclear explosion,

We can test for that
Because nuclear explosions

Will actually change
The structure of the rock.

Material gets sucked up
In the fireball,

Mainly sand, and it melts.

When it falls back
Down to the earth,

It forms this green,
Glass-like material.

We call it trinitite.

Narrator: proctor examines
The footage frame-by-frame,

Looking for traces of
The distinctive green mineral.

So when we look at this rock
Around this crater,

We don't see any evidence
Of trinitite here.

Narrator: proctor instead
Pinpoints a vital clue

In the way the flames behave.

Proctor: when I look at
The video, what I see is fires

That are popping up and burning.

That leaves me to believe
That there is some kind of gas

That is burning from below.

♪♪

Narrator:
Turkmenistan sits on top

Of over 600-trillion cubic feet
Of natural gas,

Enough to fuel the whole u.S.
For half a century.

Proctor makes an amazing find
In the state archives.

♪♪

Back in 1971, a team of russian
Geologists set up a rig here

To start drilling
With terrible consequences.

They didn't realize that there
Was this big cavity of gas

Below the earth's surface.

Narrator:
With a cavern of gas below,

The surface could not support
The drill rig,

Which weighed over 60 tons.

Proctor: well, the equipment
Collapsed into the cavity,

And suddenly they have all
Of this gas that's leaking up

To the surface, and they've
Got to do something about it.

♪♪

panicking, the soviets
Made a disastrous decision.

♪♪

imagine it's your job
To figure out

how to make
This situation safe.

there's natural gas
Coming out from the ground.

"Oh, I know what I'll do.
I'll set it on fire."

and decades later,
It's still on fire.

there's no sign of it stopping.

♪♪