Original subtitles

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: 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 ]

Narrator: coming up,

A woman trapped In a submerged car cheats death.

This great escape Makes harry houdini

Look like an amateur.

[ electricity zaps ]

Narrator: a terrifying Strike in the desert,

But who or what fired the shot?

Wham-o! Seemingly Out of nowhere.

And a legendary monster Terrorizes the waters of alaska.

This is a really, Really big animal.

What could it be?

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

Terrifying footage of a woman Trapped in a sinking suv.

This is a race against time.

They need to get her out Before she drowns.

Narrator: time runs out.

I thought we're gonna Watch this person die.

Narrator: But then, out of nowhere, She suddenly appears.

Khosla: some people have said That they thought

This was a divine intervention.

People can't pass through Glass and metal.

It kind of seems like a miracle.

[ thunder rumbles ]

Narrator: august 26th, 2006.

A devastating storm Hits pueblo, colorado.

Battling through The torrential downpour,

Local doctor rocky khosla's Journey home

Is cut short by a flash flood.

as I came right to the edge Of the water I stopped.

The woman went Right in front of me,

And instead of stopping, Turning,

She just went right through.

I watched the car Move pretty rapidly

Towards the deeper end,

And I was shocked At how it started to tip

And submerge way Faster than I expected.

Narrator: every year, As many as 400 north americans

Drown in their cars,

Which is more than The number of victims

Who drown in boating accidents.

it is generally thought That the first 30 seconds

is the most critical time.

So if we can get Out of the vehicle

Within the first 30 seconds,

That's our best chance Of surviving this event.

Narrator: as an eyewitness Films,

Khosla and another bystander Try to rescue the driver.

But she appears to be sealed Inside with no way out.

I was beating on the windows Trying to break the glass.

I could see the woman In the car screaming.

[ woman screams ]

It's a super terrifying Situation to be in.

Narrator: with the car Almost completely submerged,

Khosla fears the worst.

I just thought This is just horrible.

This is not gonna end well.

Narrator: After struggling for over A minute to rescue the driver,

The seemingly impossible Happens.

I just reflexively Kind of reached down

To see if I felt something,

And I found the arm, And she popped out

Like the cork On a champagne bottle.

How is that possible?

Narrator: the driver Is so traumatized

She is unable to speak About the incident.

Some people have said That they thought

This was a divine intervention.

I don't know.

I still don't understand What's happened.

Narrator: can investigators Solve the mystery

Of the miracle escape?

Physicist john di bartolo Examines the footage.

First he wants to know How hard it would be

To force open the doors.

as the car sinks, the pressure That the water is exerting

on the outside of the door Is gonna get higher.

Narrator: he calculates How much force

The driver would need to Exert on the door to open it.

It turns out to be about 430 pounds of force pushing in.

Narrator: three times more than The average human can exert.

Equivalent to pushing Against a male grizzly bear

Sitting on the car door.

the pressure pushing those Doors shut is tremendous.

it's not something you can With any human means open.

Bartolo believes The next best escape route

Is through the windows,

But that's easier Said than done.

There are couple of Things that are gonna

Keep a window from opening.

Narrator: the suv's Electric windows

Are unlikely to Function under water,

But there is another way.

Di bartolo: what they Typically say to do

Is to try to escape Through the window

By breaking the window.

[ glass shattering ]

Narrator: car windows Are made out of specially

Heat-treated tempered glass

Which is strong Enough to withstand

The force of a hammer blow.

in order to break a car window, You need something very sharp.

you need to hit it With a lot of force.

You need specialized equipment.

Narrator: auto glass hammers

Have specially engineered Pointed tips

Designed to shatter windows.

Di bartolo: if you're The kind of person

That worries about Being in a sinking car,

You should have One of these things

In your glove compartment.

Narrator: Science writer jeff wise Spools to the end of the footage

To check on the State of the windows.

They pulled the car out.

Wait a minute.

The car windows are intact.

It seems impossible.

The driver had to escape By some other means.

Science journalist Jon farrow believes

There is only one other Possible explanation,

But it needs the driver To be able to remain calm

In the face of extreme danger.

Farrow: so, there is one Kind of scary solution.

You need the water pressure On both sides to equalize,

And the only way For that to happen

Is if the cabin Fills with water.

Narrator: as the water floods in From the engine compartment,

Farrow believes the Driver holds her breath

And waits for the car To completely fill up

Before attempting To open the door.

Once the water pressure Equalizes

On both sides of the car,

It's pretty easy To open the door.

Narrator: trauma expert Raj prabhu

Has spent 10 years Researching how the body reacts

In life-and-death situations.

it must have been A very scary situation.

she must be panicking

and wondering How long does she have

Before she passes away.

Narrator: Water-safety expert andy long

Wants to see if, On the verge of drowning,

A driver could stay Calm enough to escape.

He recreates the incident In his training pool.

For this test, Long will be the driver.

And just like the woman In the footage,

He must wait for The cabin pressure to equalize

Before opening the door.

Long: what I'm gonna Attempt to do is

Wait until it totally fills up,

And on a breath hold Wait more than 30 seconds

Before I come out and see If we can make this escape.

narrator: if long Is able to escape

after holding his breath For 30 seconds,

Then he'll have shown how The driver could have escaped

From her submerged vehicle.

The water is rushing Up to my chest now.

It's on my chest. It's reaching to my neck.

It's up to my neck.

I need to take a good breath.

Here we go!

[ inhales deeply ]

♪♪

narrator: 10 seconds in,

long shows the first Signs of stress.

at 16 seconds, He loses some of his breath,

starting a chain reaction

that could lead Into full-blown panic.

when panic mode sets in, It's either fight or flight.

adrenaline kicks in. The heart rate goes up.

the blood pressure goes up,

which starts demanding Even more oxygen.

narrator: with 30 seconds gone,

long's body is getting Dangerously short of oxygen.

prabhu: the brain is screaming For more oxygen,

but it's not there, And there's a good chance

that the brain may Actually get damaged.

narrator: long is panicking, And now his life is in danger.

Coming up, an ice monster Surfaces in alaska...

People thought it was some Kind of mythological creature.

Narrator: ...A terrifying near-miss With a passenger jet...

This thing is moving Really fast.

Narrator: ...And investigator andy long Puts his own life in danger

In a bid to solve the mystery Of the miracle escape.

Narrator: water-safety expert Andy long

Is trying to solve the mystery

Of how a woman miraculously Escapes from a submerged car.

He's attempting To hold his breath

For 30 seconds and remain calm

While the water Pressure equalizes

on both sides of the door.

only then Can he make his escape.

but after 30 seconds, Long is panicking.

the safety diver moves in And helps long escape.

Despite years of training,

He's not able to Get out on his own.

and even with my comfort level And my experience in the water,

I can tell you the first Thing I thought of is...

[ laughs ] ...The headlines

That andy, the water-safety Expert, drowned.

Narrator: if long couldn't open The door and escape,

Then it's extremely unlikely The driver could, either.

So how did she get out?

Long: based on What I see in the video,

My best guess is Somebody opened the door,

Although the rescuers Don't make those claims.

In the heat of the moment In these types of situations

You can certainly do things And not recall them.

So it certainly Could have happened.

Narrator: long believes The rescuers

Might have opened the door And forgot that they had.

Nothing that we did led to this.

I mean, I didn't Break the window,

And yet we were in the presence Of this woman

Who just got out of the car.

It was wonderful.

Narrator: for many people This event really is

A miracle caught on camera.

her survival is incredible.

it looks like She has beaten the odds.

I truly thought this was Gonna be a bad outcome,

and I was overjoyed To see this woman make it.

[ cameras whirring ]

Narrator: Now, a creature unknown To science appears in alaska.

This is a really, really big Animal, so what could it be?

Narrator: Investigators race to identify This terrifying menace.

It's not something That's easily explainable.

Seeing something that big, I was Glad I was up on the bridge.

Narrator: fairbanks, alaska.

An isolated city 140 miles South of the arctic circle.

October 2016.

Local resident craig mccaa Takes a break from work

And heads down To the chena river.

Mccaa: I went down To the river that day

Because ice was starting To form on the riverbanks,

And I thought I'd Get some photos

Of ice starting to Build up for the winter.

I walked out onto the bridge And turned downstream...

And I was caught by this Motion beneath me in the water.

And I looked down And saw a strange object there.

Mccaa is struck dumb

By a sinewy giant Swimming upstream.

The object was beneath The surface of the water.

Though the water was murky,

I could see what looked Like chunks of ice on it.

It rolled a little Bit in the current

And it also undulated Like a fish swimming.

Mccaa records The terrifying creature

From a safe distance.

I have to admit seeing Something that big in the river

I was glad I was Up on the bridge.

When mccaa shares the footage With locals,

It causes a sensation.

I still don't know Exactly what I saw,

But people were convinced

It was some kind of Mythological creature.

The scientific Community is baffled.

When I first saw this I Thought it looks really big,

And it's just bizarre.

so imagine something Like a fairly large

dinosaur-ish-looking Creature coming at you.

this is highly unusual.

The footage comes To the attention

Of william dranginis,

An image analyst who has Worked in surveillance

For over 22 years.

Dranginis: what I observe In this video

is what looks like The head of the creature

Just under the water surface Followed by individual segments

That seem to taper back Into a smaller portion

That looks like it could Possibly be a tail.

Narrator: although Dranginis can't make out

The exact shape of the ice Monster by studying its motion,

He is able to narrow down The search for what it is.

Observing this movement, The head turns first,

And then the body follows Directly behind it

Similar to an alligator Or something similar.

Narrator: cryptozoologist Scott mardis

Has spent 15 years looking For real-life lake monsters

And sea serpents.

Examining the reptilian Motion of the creature,

He is reminded of an ancient Predator from alaskan legends.

This sounds like some of The traditional descriptions

The inuit have of a monster That they talk about

In the rivers in that same Region called the tizheruk.

Narrator: the tizheruk Is a seven-foot long serpent

With a taste for children It snatches from the shore.

The tizheruk has a reputation Of being a vicious animal

That attacks other Animals and people.

Mardis believes the ice monster

Could be this mythical beast.

There must be some Kind of a real creature

Behind some of the stories.

Narrator: coming up, A shocking scene

At the united kingdom's Busiest airport.

It's the kind of thing That makes hairs on Your arm stand up.

[ light whirring ]

Experts struggle to explain

A massive stadium collapse.

It's unbelievable. This is a solid structure,

And it's just melting away.

[ water splashing ]

Narrator: And is a super-sized version

Of one of nature's Most fearsome parasites

Loose in alaskan waters?

They have this horrendous Mouthful of teeth.

Narrator: investigators Are mystified by the ice monster

Prowling the chena river In fairbanks, alaska.

Some have suggested A child-snatching reptile

From inuit folklore.

Biologist roland kays Believes reptiles

Would have a hard time Surviving so far north.

Kays: reptiles -- They're cold blooded,

so they don't have the ability To create their own body heat.

If a reptile is put In cold temperatures

Their muscles just Can't function,

And eventually they'll die.

There's no way That a reptile could survive

In a climate this cold.

Narrator: kays searches His database

Looking for A cold-water creature

That matches The monster's description.

He finds something Extraordinary.

Lays: arctic lampreys Are bizarre parasitic fish.

They look like eels.

They're long and skinny. They look like snakes.

But they're parasites, And they grab onto other fish.

They have this horrendous Mouthful of teeth,

So they're really not something

I would personally want To run into in alaska.

Narrator: if the ice monster Is one of these giant

Bloodsucking eel-like fish, Then it's extremely dangerous.

Biologist bradley young

Has studied these oversized Parasites for years.

Young: the sea lamprey Has a special tongue,

and on its tongue there's Teeth that it uses to rasp.

so it'll kind of take its tongue

And kind of dig a hole On the side of a species.

It won't chew.

It'll just use like sandpaper And kind of gently rub it away

Until it becomes raw.

And then that's how they extract Fluids from a host species.

Studies show that the size Of these vampire fish

Varies according to The creatures they feast on.

Young: lamprey Tend to get larger

As their host species Gets larger.

For instance, sea lamprey That live in the atlantic ocean

Tend to get up to about Three feet in length.

Narrator: to find out Whether the monster

Could be a lamprey, Investigator william dranginis

Needs to know its size.

from maps we determine The width of the river,

Which we could utilize

To measure the length Of the creature.

Narrator: the river At this point is 55 feet wide.

By taking this measurement,

Dranginis discovers Something remarkable.

Dranginis: We were able to prove

That the creature Is at least 10 feet long.

Narrator: the ice monster Is far too big to be any lamprey

That is currently known To science.

Roland kays checks local records

To see if any other Large creatures

Could be prowling The chilly waterways of alaska.

One type of fish that can Grow quite big is a shark,

And there actually is a shark From really cold waters

Called the greenland shark That gets really big,

And it's even been seen In the mouths of rivers.

Greenland sharks Have small dorsal fins,

Grow to over 20 feet, And thrive in cold water.

Kays: greenland sharks are one Of the oldest-living creatures

Living 300, sometimes Maybe even 400 years old

And also have this Chemical in their blood

That serves as antifreeze

And allows them to swim In this cold water.

Narrator: these gigantic Apex predators

Can swim up river estuaries

And feed on elk And even polar bears.

♪♪

Kays reexamines the footage

And spots another similarity Between the greenland shark

And the ice monster.

When they're swimming, they're Actually swimming really slow.

They're one of the slowest Fish out there,

Sort of one to two Miles an hour.

So could this be A greenland shark?

Narrator: william dranginis Studies the movement

Of the greenland shark

And compares it to that Of the ice monster.

The shark's forward Momentum is produced

By the tail going Back and forth producing thrust.

This has a more Serpentine movement

Similar to an eel or a snake.

So it's completely different Than that of a shark.

Narrator: with no other leads,

The investigators Face two possibilities.

Either the ice monster Is a previously unknown

Giant arctic lamprey,

Or it's an entirely new species.

And how it can survive

With so much ice attached To it is a mystery.

But when craig mccaa Returns to the river

To get more evidence, The monster has gone.

I went back a few days later And didn't see anything,

Nor has anyone else ever Told me that they saw it.

I guess what seeing this object In the river made me realize

Was just how many mysteries There are out there.

I still don't know Exactly what I saw.

[ mechanical whirring ]

Narrator: Now, a white-hot projectile On a collision course

With the planet's Second-busiest airport.

Whatever is happening is Clearly tearing across the sky

At terrific speed.

Narrator: investigators fear An attack from the skies.

It's the kind of thing That makes the hairs On your arm stand up.

It's hard Not to think the worst.

Narrator: heathrow, london, u.K.

This international airport hub

Hosts over 200,000 people And 1,300 planes every day.

[ cameras whirring ]

Behind the scenes, Hundreds of surveillance cameras

Scan the ground and skies For potential threats.

November 19th, 2017, At 8:00 p.M.

They capture something Extraordinary.

Something flying through the sky

In close proximity to not Only a plane but an airport.

Our thoughts inevitably Go to terrorism.

[ camera whirring ]

Narrator: With the safety of thousands Of travelers on the line,

Experts race to uncover The nature of this new danger.

Former c.I.A. Operative Lindsay moran

Is trained to identify Terrorist threats.

a lot of times, We think about airport security

as someone coming Into the airport

with some kind of weapon Or with a bomb or something.

We don't really think about

Could there be An outside attack?

Narrator: This wouldn't be the first Assault on the airport.

In march 1994, The ira strike heathrow

With a series Of homemade mortars

From beyond the perimeter.

Analysts fear today's Advanced technology

Could make another Attack even worse.

[ mechanical whirring ]

Military correspondent Carlo muñoz

Reports from terrorist Flash points around the world.

[ gunfire ]

He examines the footage

And notices that the Mysterious projectile

Is far too fast To be a mortar round.

Looking at the video,

There are things That sort of stand out.

There are very few things That move that fast.

one of them could be a Shoulder-fired rocket or an rpg.

Narrator: rpgs travel At over 650 miles per hour.

Terrorists use these weapons

To take out armored vehicles And aircraft.

[ explosion ]

Muñoz: they are highly portable, They're incredibly destructive,

And they can also be disposed Of relatively quickly.

An rpg is probably the perfect Weapon you're looking at

To take down an airliner.

Narrator: Have terrorists found a new way Of causing mass carnage?

[ mechanical whirring ]

Coming up, a giant Stadium appears to melt.

It's a slow motion disaster.

Narrator: experts are shocked By a bolt from the blue.

Where did this come from?

[ electricity zaps ]

Narrator: ...And scientists Face a new danger

At london's heathrow airport.

Graphing the speed at which this Object moves across the frame,

This thing is Moving really fast.

Narrator: surveillance footage Shows a projectile

Hurdling in front Of a 400-seat passenger jet

At london's heathrow airport.

Science writer Jeff wise believes

The projectile is far too Luminous to be

A rocket-propelled grenade.

what we've got here is something That's very, very bright.

There seems to be a tremendous Amount of energy involved.

Narrator: As a space reporter, he's seen This kind of thing before.

This looks very much Like what we see

When space debris Enters the earth's atmosphere.

[ mechanical whirring ]

Narrator: since 1957,

Thousands of rockets Have launched into space.

Now half a million pieces Of used rocket parts

And satellites orbit the earth.

Every year, hundreds Of chunks of space debris

Plummet back down to earth.

Most burn up in the atmosphere.

There actually was A chinese space station

That had been put up.

It had lived past its lifetime, And it was being deorbited.

Narrator: in april 2018,

China's nine-ton space station, Tiangong-1,

Plummeted back to earth And burnt up in the atmosphere

Over the pacific ocean.

It's very easy to imagine That something like that

Could be responsible for this Fireball over the airport.

Narrator: hakeem oluseyi Is a leading astrophysicist.

He studies the footage and Notices the projectile's speed.

When I see this footage,

we see that this thing Is moving really fast.

Narrator: the object Is estimated to be traveling

At over 60,000 miles per hour.

It can't be space junk,

Because space junk just Would not move that quickly.

Narrator: the terrific speed Of the projectile

Is closer to the speed Of hundreds of tons

Of meteor particles that crash Into the earth every day.

There is a big difference Between space junk and a meteor.

A meteor comes From much farther away,

And just like dropping an object From a higher height,

When it hits the ground It hits much faster.

Narrator: meteors come From a region

Between mars and jupiter Known as the asteroid belt.

When they fall to earth, Most burn up in the atmosphere

In just a few seconds.

But oluseyi believes This projectile

Is no ordinary meteor.

Seeing a fireball that's This big that lasts this long

Tells me that this must be

A pretty substantial Piece of rock.

Narrator: and if one meteor Can survive long enough

In the earth's atmosphere To endanger an aircraft,

Then it opens up the Terrifying possibility

That these space rocks Are a real threat

To passengers in the sky

And could explain a series of Mysterious airplane disasters

Such as the egypt air flight

That crashed into The mediterranean sea in 2016

Killing all 66 on board.

There has been speculation

That pieces of debris Coming in from the solar system

Have entered the atmosphere

And actually crashed into Airplanes bringing them down.

It's hard for me to imagine What would run through my mind

If we're about to land And I see a fireball

Arcing across the sky.

That would really freak me out.

[ mechanical whirring ]

Narrator: now security cameras Capture a catastrophic collapse

Inside a football stadium.

It's unbelievable. It's just melting away.

It's a slow-motion disaster.

Narrator: A massive unknown force

Lays waste to a state-of-the-art Structure.

This is a solid structure. It's completely unbelievable.

The metrodome turns Into a potential death dome.

Narrator: minnesota's metrodome Football stadium.

Built for $55 million in 1982,

It seats 64,000 people

And plays host to big sports Events like the super bowl.

The stadium's crowning Glory is a vast roof

Built to a high-tech design.

so this is not A conventional roof.

This is an air-supported dome,

Which means that it gets Its structural integrity

Because of the air pressure That's inside the dome.

Narrator: the stadium's roof Is like a giant balloon,

Which relies on air pressure To stay inflated.

20 huge 100 horsepower fans

Pump nearly 250,000 Cubic feet of air

Into the stadium every minute.

The continuous flow of air Keeps the roof pumped up

And maintains its Strong curved shape.

Admired around the world,

Like the titanic it is thought To be unsinkable.

December 12th, 2010,

The day before a big game, The unthinkable happens.

Security cameras Inside the huge stadium

Capture a bizarre and Extremely dangerous event.

I can't believe this Roof is collapsing.

Narrator: hundreds of tons Of beams, equipment,

And awning fall as Maintenance staff flee.

luckily they make it out

before the roof Totally collapses.

Narrator: if this happened During an event,

Thousands could be Crushed to death.

We need to find out what just Took down a whole stadium.

[ mechanical whirring ]

Narrator: investigators Analyze security footage

From the unbreakable dome.

Science journalist jon farrow Believes air-supported domes

May have a weakness.

Looking at the footage, The moment where the dome rips,

Is a key piece of evidence.

Narrator: Farrow believes a tear

In the reinforced canvas And fiberglass roof

Could cause the dome To deflate and collapse.

To test this theory, Physicist simon foster

From imperial college london

Builds a quick and dirty Model of the stadium.

He uses scaled-down Nine-volt fans

For the stadium's giant fans

And a plastic Sheet to replicate

The structure's canvas roof.

Foster: this is beautiful.

This is exactly what's going on With the metrodome.

Narrator: when he cuts the roof,

He finds something surprising.

The dome can Withstand holes in it.

A small puncture does not Bring down the structure,

But when foster creates a tear In the material,

His scaled-down roof collapses.

For foster, it's evidence That the metrodome roof

Suffers the same fate.

A large tear Right across the dome

Would cause this kind of Catastrophic failure

That we can see.

[ mechanical whirring ]

Narrator: experts consider The possibility

That a massive freak event Somehow slashed a huge tear

Through the stadium's Reinforced roof.

Mechanical engineer Douglas holmes believes

A meteorological force Could be responsible.

Wind is something that's gonna

Exert a pressure On that structure,

And it's not really A small amount of pressure.

It can really exert A large pressure on there.

Narrator: on the night The dome collapses,

A storm is blowing

With wind speeds between 30 and 40 miles per hour.

Structural engineer David campbell

Examines the stadium's Blueprints

To see if the wind Could have torn through

The stadium's reinforced roof.

the wind acts over the vast Majority of its surface

like an airfoil, which makes The whole roof stiffer,

Increasing the tension in The cables and in the membrane.

The dome could have easily Survived 30-mile-an-hour winds.

Narrator: so what did doom This state-of-the-art dome?

[ mechanical whirring ]

Coming up, a strike in the Desert conjured out of thin air.

They are very lucky That they weren't killed.

Narrator: and investigators Discover a freak force at work

On the night of the catastrophic Stadium collapse.

It's an avalanche.

Narrator: meteorologist Angela fritz

Examines the footage of A supposedly indestructible dome

Catastrophically Collapsing in minneapolis.

I have no idea what's happening

until we start to see the ice And the snow come through.

Narrator: fritz discovers The day before the collapse,

Minneapolis experiences one Of the most severe snowstorms

In its 200-year history.

Minnesota Definitely got hit hard.

Narrator: over 17 inches Of snowfall in just 18 hours.

Fritz: on this particular storm,

It was very moist, So the snow was very heavy.

Narrator: on the morning Of the collapse,

Fritz estimates that Over 900 tons of wet snow

Weighs down on the metrodome.

That's the equivalent Of four statues of liberty.

Fritz: so you have multiple feet Of very wet, dense snow,

That's piling up On top of this roof,

And so it's no wonder that this Thing cannot take the load.

Physicist simon foster Puts this idea to the test.

The roof is so vast, That 900 tons of wet snow

Scales down to the Weight of a cell phone.

The roof handles the Weight with ease.

Foster: there is a small Amount of sagging here,

but not that much, And this represents

snowfall landing on top.

So there must have Been something else,

That caused this Catastrophic failure.

[ mechanical whirring ]

Investigators trawl through Hours of security footage

Hoping to find a missing clue.

Campbell: as we dug into it, It turned out that there was

new security-camera footage,

and it showed that there

Had been a slide of snow That had taken place

Down one of the triangle panels,

On the side of the dome.

It's an avalanche.

Avalanches are dangerous Because of the energy

Embodied in the moving Mass of material.

And this mass could be tons.

It's moving, And it's got some velocity,

And it burst the fabric.

Once a tear gets beyond A certain length,

It will deflate the roof.

And it did.

Narrator: The high winds combined with Over a foot of wet, heavy snow

Give birth to a freak avalanche.

Even the supposedly Indestructible metrodome

Could not withstand This perfect storm.

[ mechanical whirring ]

Now, in the deserts of arabia, Under a clear blue sky,

A sudden attack.

[ electricity zaps ]

Wham-o! Seemingly Out of nowhere.

One-in-a-billion chance That it's gonna happen.

Narrator: fearing Another strike,

Scientists search for answers.

They are very lucky That they weren't killed.

Where does come from?

Saudi arabia.

A mother filming her family

Has no idea that a blast Of pure energy

Strong enough to light Up to 42 million houses

Is about to strike.

[ electricity zaps ]

[ speaking native language ]

[ electricity zaps ]

Narrator: a deadly torrent Of electric charge,

Flows inches from where The children were playing.

It's really kind Of a miracle to see

That someone can live Through something like this.

A single lightning bolt Can be a hundred million volts,

And burn five times hotter Than the surface of the sun.

Narrator: The nature of this unexpected

And potentially deadly Strike is a mystery.

If you look at the sky,

You notice it's pretty much A clear skyline --

No clouds, no indication Of bad weather or anything --

And then suddenly Out of the blue...

Bam!

Narrator: if this is lightning,

Then it's not lightning As we know it.

[ mechanical whirring ]

When the footage is released,

It sparks a worldwide Investigation.

Meteorologist angela fritz Searches for clues.

With no rain clouds visible,

Fritz believes strange forces

Must have created This death blast.

In saudi arabia, you would Have a lot of dust in the air.

And so, if you could Have those dust particles

Creating the static Electricity that you would need

To generate the lightning bolt.

[ thunder rolls ]

Narrator: blast and trauma Expert raj prabhu,

Checks records for any examples Of electrostatic dust bolts.

Prabhu: in the 1930s, we know Of this case in the midwest

of this dust bowl That was swirling

and creating enormous Amounts of static charge.

It was so intense that Anyone who was in their path,

Were literally Electrocuted to death.

It just goes to show that dust Has this incredible potential

To create a vast Amount of charge.

Narrator: could dust bolts Be powerful enough

To explain this 100-million-volt Desert strike?

Narrator: david wallace Of the high voltage laboratory

At mississippi state

Examines footage of the Mysterious bolt from the blue...

...To see if it could Have been caused

By lightning from a dust storm.

He notices a key Ingredient is missing.

wallace: when you look At this video,

you don't have The atmosphere moving.

the rapid rotations, The big billowing dust storms,

That you would expect to see To generate enough power

To create a lightning strike Like we see in the video.

Narrator: wallace spots Something unusual in the footage

Which may help Solve the mystery.

The deadly bolt flows Effortlessly over a material

That should stop It in its tracks.

So when you look at the strike,

You first get the initial Bolt coming right down

Behind them, but then after That, it's sort of traveling

Across the surface Of the ground.

And that's rather odd,

Since sand is a Very good insulator.

There's something else here That is allowing that surface

To have the bolt Travel across it.

Narrator: wallace spots A dark channel in the sand,

Indicating the possible Presence of water.

Now, one method of making the Sand a little more conductive

Would be to add water to it,

Which would increase The conductivity.

Narrator: wallace Sets up an experiment

To find out if wet Sand could explain

The unusual flow of charge.

So what I wanna do now, is Sort of build me a little

Piece of saudi arabia right here In the lab in mississippi.

Wet the sand.

Take my impulse tower, Let's shoot us about a million

Volt impulse lightning Strike right into the sand.

Narrator: To see if lightning flows Over the surface of wet sand,

Wallace places voltage sensors In his sandpit.

Earphones on -- This will be loud.

Stabilizing up.

We're at 18.

Get ready for the shot.

[ bell rings ]

Narrator: Wallace blasts the sand With a one-million-volt charge.

He's hoping to see the Charge flow across the Surface of the sand.

I definitely saw a pattern That goes through there.

What did it look Like on the camera?

Narrator: the camera Captures the bolt,

But fails to pick up Any evidence

Of the charge across the sand.

Now let's take a look at The scope, see what we got.

Narrator: But the voltage sensors pick up What the camera can't.

And you look here, When we take the shot,

You see a majority Of the current

Now flowing across the surface.

Narrator: wallace's Oscilloscope readings

From the sensors Confirms the wet sand

Is receiving a strong current...

Straight into the sand!

Beautiful!

Narrator: ...Supporting the idea

That the sand In the saudi arabian footage

Is most likely wet, too.

So, you think about it, This is saudi arabia,

Where it should be dry.

Now if there was a wet channel,

That would be A very strong indication that

There was possibly a rainstorm That had come through earlier

That had wet the ground Through that area.

Oh, yes!

Narrator: wallace may have Discovered the missing link

That explains the bolt From the blue.

Although the storm Has long gone,

Angela fritz believes it may Still be the source of the bolt.

it appears to come from nowhere,

but it always comes From somewhere,

And that somewhere Must be a thunderstorm.

Narrator: as the footage Shows clear blue skies,

Fritz believes the thunderstorm Must now be beyond the horizon.

This was a bolt that came From miles and miles away.

[ thunder crashes ]

Narrator: fritz Searches the records

To find out how far A lightning bolt can travel.

A report in oklahoma where There was a lightning strike,

The closest thunderstorm Was 200 miles away.

Narrator: on june 20th, 2007,

The longest-ever lightning bolt On record stretches halfway

Across the state of oklahoma.

The energy from a thunderstorm Can travel hundreds of miles.

the conditions Must be just right,

but this report is proof That it can happen.

wallace: it's a little crazy To think about the fact

that you could be Hundreds of miles away

from a thunderstorm And get struck by lightning.

it seems that the old phrase "A bolt from the blue"

may have its origins In scientific fact.

lightning is one of the most Bizarre and fascinating

forces of nature.

there might be a storm brewing,

and a bolt of lighting Can reach out from that storm

and strike you And kill you dead.