All language subtitles for Strange.Evidence.S02E05.Return.of.the.Ice.Monster.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: 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.