Original subtitles

[ electronic whirring ]

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.

[ women shouting ]

[ crash, horn honks ]

Woman: oh, my god.

[ screaming ]

Narrator: coming up,

A city street is Swallowed whole.

In that instant, it was gone. You know, in one second.

[ loud crash, screaming ]

It's disturbing to watch.

Narrator: An eight-legged invasion.

400 foot long wall of web.

You can't escape.

Narrator: is man on the menu?

I just thought that They will eat me alive.

I know they will.

And an unwelcome Visitor from above.

All of a sudden, boom!

[ ice shattering ]

Just another couple of feet,

And these two Would've been on ice.

[ cameras whirring ]

[ bursting ]

Narrator: bizarre phenomena -- Mysteries caught on camera.

What is the truth behind This "Strange evidence"?

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

captions paid for by Discovery communications

[ cameras whirring ]

A texas park is Engulfed in a mega-web.

400 foot long wall of web.

You can't escape. How terrifying?

♪♪

Kays: what kind of prey are They trying to catch?

Could a deer get stuck in that? Could a person?

Narrator: locals fear An eight-legged invader

Has developed a taste For human flesh.

My biggest fear was being Eaten alive by a spider.

♪♪

[ static blips ]

♪♪

Lake tawakoni state park, Texas --

A quiet, rural retreat Just 50 miles west of dallas.

[ various animal calls ]

August 6, 2007.

Park ranger freddie gowin Is checking a trail

When he stumbles on A vision from a nightmare.

I came around this one corner,

I saw the strangest thing I've ever seen in my life.

Narrator: a gigantic spiderweb

Spread right across the trail.

I thought I got caught up in A sci-fi movie or something.

Narrator: the sinister web Towers over 40 feet high

And spreads sticky threads Hundreds of feet across.

♪♪

Woman: it was terrifying.

It would scare you to death.

♪♪

Gowin: what scared me was It could take over

And totally destroy the park.

♪♪

Kays: the first thing I wondered

When I saw all This spiderweb was,

is it from one giant spider?

♪♪

[ whirring ]

Narrator: zoologist roland kays

Fears the world's biggest spider

Has made itself At home in texas.

The largest spider in the world Is called the giant huntsman,

And it's so big that if you Stretch its legs out,

It can be up to a foot long.

Narrator: The giant huntsman is just one

Of a large group of Carnivorous huntsman spiders.

They use their venom To feed on cockroaches,

And in this footage, a mouse.

[ siren wailing ]

But some spiders Also attack humans,

Their bite causing necrosis, Death of human cells.

Woman: oh, ha ha ha. Send help.

Narrator: One aggressive huntsman spider

Even traps this australian Woman in her home.

those are very, very Dangerous spiders.

you don't wish to Have one of those

End up in your sleeping bag.

[ spider screeching ]

♪♪

Narrator: But spider expert kevin kasky

Finds a flaw in kays' Huntsman hunch.

The huntsman isn't A web slinger.

They don't create a web

Because they are what We call active hunters.

They run after their prey.

Narrator: Kasky suspects that the culprit

Might be a spider that Kills not with venom,

But with the stunning Strangulating strength

Of its web.

♪♪

Darwin's bark spider Makes the biggest web,

Measured at 25 meters Or about 82 feet.

Narrator: Darwin's bark spiderweb

Is the strongest biological Material ever studied.

[ gunshot ]

Ten times tougher than kevlar,

One of its 30-square-foot webs

Could support A two-ton family car

Or easily trap a human victim.

I don't think I'd want to Come across one of those

In a dark passage

'cause I don't think I'd Get out of their web.

♪♪

Narrator: But biologist kelly price

Spots a clue in the footage

That suggests the web Can't be the work

Of the darwin bark spider.

webs are usually Built solitarily

and to a very Organized pattern,

But here we see a mishmash

Of a whole bunch Of different webs

In no organized Pattern whatsoever.

Narrator: this leads experts to An alarming discovery.

the monstrous tangle Of spider silk

hasn't been spun by A single giant specimen.

This park has become The domain of an army

Of thousands of Web-spinning arachnids.

we didn't know what Kind of spider it was.

That's the scariest part.

♪♪

Narrator: What they fear most is a pack

Of the lone star state's Deadliest native spider --

The black widow.

One bite can kill a human.

♪♪

Black widow spiders

Kill seven people In the u.S. Each year.

so to see this many spiders All working together

is kind of terrifying.

♪♪

Narrator: black widow venom Is 15 times stronger

Than a rattlesnake.

Although solitary, they do Socialize in mating season,

And this is Black widow mating season.

♪♪

Female black widows Kill males after mating.

Could these homicidal females

Be turning their violent dating Methods towards bigger prey?

♪♪

When you see a spiderweb This big,

You wonder, what kind of prey Are they trying to catch?

How big of a prey? Could a deer get stuck in that?

Could a person?

♪♪

[ birds chirping ]

Narrator: Spider expert mike quinn

Steps up to the challenge.

But when he examines The massive web,

He spots something incredible.

Quinn: there are at least 16 species of spiders

Living in the web.

Narrator: species of spider

That would normally Fight to the death

Are working together.

♪♪

Quinn: Most spiders are territorial,

so having all these Different spiders all together

was really unusual.

Kasky: spiders are not Normally social insects.

The only time that they Enjoy other spiders' company

Is when it's time for dinner,

And usually meaning that They've invited them over

To be the dinner.

♪♪

Narrator: arachnids have A ferocious appetite.

[ squirming ]

Scientists estimate

The global spider population

Eats up to 800 million Tons of prey each year.

These eight-legged predators Could eat every human on earth

And still have room for dessert.

I just thought they're gonna Attack all at one time.

They will eat me alive, I know they will.

♪♪

[ trilling, camera whirs ]

Narrator: coming up -- Experts race to discover

What these flesh-eating Spiders are feeding on.

It raises the question, why did They build one massive web?

Narrator: And a city street swallows cars.

[ screaming ]

Proctor: the cars move And they disappear,

And the people, They're in shock.

[ static blips ]

Narrator: A monster web in a texas park

Is packed with a skin-crawling Assortment of spiders.

it's not normal behavior

to have spiders On top of spiders.

♪♪

Narrator: With an armored exoskeleton,

Toxic venom, And eight-eyed spidey senses,

The only thing stopping Spiders from world domination

Is that most of them Operate as lone wolves,

Until now.

[ eerie music ]

it raises the question,

why are these spiders Congregating all together,

And why did they Build one massive web?

[ beeping ]

♪♪

Narrator: zoologist roland kays Reexamines the footage

And discovers a clue To the spider behavior.

Vast numbers of small flies Called midges

Have been caught in the web.

if there's lots to eat,

their populations can Grow really quickly

and that seems to be what Happened in this case.

Lovell: it's kind of a spider Feeding frenzy.

with all these Midges in the air,

all the spiders have Come into this one area

to catch them all While they can.

Narrator: The worry for local texans is,

What will happen when The spiders run out of midges?

[ squishing ]

[ cameras whirring ]

In the hometown of horror Writer edgar allan poe,

The earth opens up and swallows A u.S. City street.

[ screaming ]

Woman: oh, my god.

It brings down all the cars,

Much of the pavement, The light posts, the fence.

Woman: oh, my god.

Bam! The cars move And they disappear,

And the people, They're in shock.

Narrator: are secret tunnels Collapsing beneath baltimore

Threatening the entire city?

This is kind of like Watching a disaster

Happening in slow motion.

[ screaming ]

[ loud crash ]

[ cameras whirring ]

♪♪

Narrator: Baltimore, maryland --

Home to over 600,000 people.

At the heart of the 300-year-old historic city

Is charles village.

April 30, 2014, East 26th street.

Beneath the pretty neighborhood,

An ancient godzilla-like Monster appears to be awakening.

[ low growl ]

Reyes: there was a lot Of people outside.

I came out and noticed Across the street

was sinking in Farther and farther.

Woman: oh, my god.

Narrator: the terrifying footage Stuns investigators.

Proctor: what is going on?

because you don't normally see The earth swallowing up cars.

The whole street started to Cave in and sink down slowly.

♪♪

[ screaming ]

Woman: oh, my god.

[ screaming continues ]

[ loud crash ]

Narrator: east 26th street Collapses into the gully below.

That instant, it was gone.

[ screaming ]

I lost my car

And then I just had to stand There and watch it fall.

[ loud crash ]

[ panicked chattering ]

Narrator: Residents fear the worst.

Reyes: We didn't know if the entire Street was gonna fall.

We didn't know if our Houses were gonna fall in.

We really didn't know What was going on.

Di bartolo: how can something Like this happen?

it's disturbing to watch.

[ screaming ]

[ loud crash ]

[ camera whirring ]

♪♪

Narrator: One local believes he knows

What caused the collapse,

And it may provide hard evidence For a chilling local legend

That a haunted tunnel system Lies beneath baltimore.

I've been in baltimore My whole life.

There's all kinds of tunnels

That have been built Through the years,

going back to the civil war.

Katsikides: Growing up in baltimore,

I heard lots of folklore About the tunnels

and how they might have Been used in the past.

Lovell: the question is, Was this car-eating event

On 26th street caused by one of These secret tunnels collapsing?

[ loud crash ]

[ woman screams ]

♪♪

Narrator: Although old timers tell tales

Of baltimore's Honeycomb of tunnels,

Most residents believe they Were nothing but folklore.

That was, until the 1950s,

When construction workers Rebuilding lexington market

Discover a long-forgotten Secret doorway.

We're in the sun now.

♪♪

Narrator: guide martha wise

Holds the only key to this vault

And knows subterranean baltimore Better than anyone else.

Wise: around 1951,

They discovered the entrance To the underground vaults

That had been forgotten For who knows how long.

♪♪

Narrator: According to legend,

The subterranean network

Runs from the washington Monument in the city center

To fort mchenry, Two miles away on the coast.

[ cannon fires ]

It is said american soldiers

In the battle of baltimore...

[ horse whinnies ]

...Used them to thwart A british invasion in 1812,

A triumph that inspired Francis scott key

To write "The star-spangled banner."

♪♪

Some believe the ghosts of The 19th century soldiers

Still stalk these tunnels.

Though many dismiss The passageways

As figments of the imagination,

Wise begs to differ.

Wise: there very easily could be More tunnels down here.

Over here is something Very interesting.

We do indeed have Evidence of a tunnel

Behind this wall.

It's now concreted over.

♪♪

Narrator: If wise is right,

The tunnels dug out by hand

Now support areas of a city

With more than 30 skyscrapers.

If they're beginning To collapse,

The whole city is in danger.

Woman: oh, my god!

[ screaming ]

This is kind of like Watching a disaster

Happening in slow motion.

[ screaming ]

[ loud crash ]

[ trilling, camera whirs ]

Narrator: coming up --

An enormous block of ice drops Out of a clear london sky.

Where could this massive Chunk of ice of come from?

Narrator: and investigators in The baltimore street collapse...

Woman: oh, my god.

...Get that sinking feeling.

Landslides usually Don't just happen.

They need a trigger.

[ static blips ]

[ screaming ]

Narrator: could a network of Civil war passageways

Be to blame for the Baltimore street collapse?

♪♪

[ whirring ]

♪♪

According to local legend,

Secret tunnels run from The washington monument

in the city center To fort mchenry on the coast.

but if that's the case,

They don't pass beneath East 26th street.

there are no major tunnels In this particular area,

so something else must Have caused this event.

Narrator: planetary scientist Sian proctor

Studies footage of the collapse.

She spots a detail that Leads her to a fresh theory

About what caused the Retaining wall to fail.

Proctor: when we look at The meteorological records,

the east coast was just Getting hammered by rain.

Narrator: mother nature dumped Nearly four inches of rain

In an hour.

That's the second largest In recorded history.

A tremendous amount of rain.

Narrator: The torrential downpour Overwhelms the city drains

And saturates the ground.

if you suddenly combine water With dirt, what happens?

it turns into mud, it liquefies, And the mud moves.

And mud moves downhill.

[ screaming ]

Proctor: When I look at this video,

I am absolutely Seeing a landslide.

♪♪

Narrator: landslides cause Widespread destruction,

Killing up to 50 people In the u.S. Each year

And costing $3.5 billion.

The largest ever recorded

Struck mount st. Helens, Washington state, in may 1980,

Shifting enough debris to Fill 250 million dump trucks.

[ beeping ]

Proctor believes East 26th street's construction

Above the rail line Sealed its fate.

When the ground becomes Super saturated,

That can trigger a landslide,

And this is what's Happening here.

♪♪

Narrator: proctor thinks that Mud had been building up

Against the retaining wall.

The rainwater turned the mud To heavier liquid,

which caused the wall to Buckle, then collapse,

bringing down the street With it.

This amazing amount of Rainfall is literally the straw

That broke The retaining wall's back.

Narrator: once again,

Nature overpowers A manmade structure,

Miraculously injuring no one.

[ loud crash ]

♪♪

Although this collapse

Hasn't uncovered baltimore's Legendary tunnels,

Locals haven't given up hope

That one day they Will be discovered.

baltimore is still Holding some secrets

very close to its chest

And it will show them to us When it's ready.

♪♪

[ cameras whirring ]

Narrator: Now, a sleepy suburban street

Receives an unwelcome Visitor from above.

All of a sudden, bam!

[ ice shattering ]

Something falls from the sky.

Narrator: it leaves locals Frozen with fear.

Just a few feet further Over, I would be dead.

Narrator: And a cold case to be solved.

Price: could this be some type Of extreme weather event

With super-sized hailstones Smashing the streets of london?

[ ice shattering ]

[ whirring ]

[ ice cracks ]

♪♪

Narrator: february 7, 2018, London, england --

Three million londoners Start the working day.

Among them is Dentist howard stean.

There was a whistling sound As if a bomb was falling.

Narrator: a camera captures A shocking event.

[ ice shattering ]

all of a sudden, boom, Something giant

comes crashing down on 'em.

Narrator: an enormous block of Ice explodes on the ground

Just feet from two Unsuspecting men.

[ ice shattering ]

that guy came so close To getting iced.

[ trilling, camera whirs ]

Narrator: coming up -- An unidentified light

Spells disaster for a city.

They must have looked up And thought,

"This is the end of the world."

Narrator: and the ice bomb Investigation gets a lift.

We're at 140 miles an hour, And there we go.

♪♪

[ beeping ]

Narrator: an ice bomb

Falls out of a clear-blue London sky.

it is a miracle that Nobody was hit.

just a few feet further over, I would be dead.

[ ice shattering ]

[ trilling ]

Narrator: This isn't the first case

Of unexpected things Falling from the sky.

In 1954, a woman in alabama

Was struck by A grapefruit-size meteorite

That crashed through her roof.

She lived to tell the tale,

Unlike the unfortunate Boy in turkey

Who was killed by a goat That fell off a building.

Ex-nypd video analyst Conor mccourt

Studies the surveillance footage

To work out the size of the Mysterious falling ice block.

we have things that We can compare it to.

We have people In the foreground here,

and we can use that as a base.

[ camera whirs ]

it's about the width Of a human being.

[ beep ]

Narrator: mccourt calculates That an ice block that size

Would weigh around 45 pounds.

wow, 45 pounds!

that's like a microwave Smashing on top of your head.

where could this massive Chunk of ice have come from?

[ shattering ]

Narrator: in freezing climates,

Falling ice is a known hazard.

In the united states, About 15 people are killed

By icicle-related Accidents each year.

But with no ice and snow In london that day,

Experts race to discover the Source of this lethal missile

Before someone else is hit By an ice bomb from the sky.

could this be some type Of extreme weather event?

Narrator: Aviation expert joe pappalardo

Studies the location

And discovers The near-death ice event

Occurred directly under A flight path to heathrow,

One of the world's Busiest airports.

if you look at The flight records,

you see that there was An airplane that flew overhead

not so long before This ice ball dropped.

[ airplane engine roars ]

Narrator: 3,000 aircraft swoop Low over london every day,

And things do occasionally Fall out of inbound aircraft.

In 2015, police discovered A body on the roof

Of a building Two miles from here.

He's identified as a stowaway On a flight from south africa.

Usually, these stowaways Try to stow away on, say,

The landing gear on the Outside of an airplane cabin.

Usually, they pass out Because up above 25,000 feet,

The oxygen is so thin that You can't stay conscious.

Narrator: Investigators believe

The man tragically Fell from the plane

When the landing gear lowered.

Lovell believes the chunk of Ice also dropped from a plane.

Lovell: while frozen human Bodies falling from planes

Is quite rare, there have been A number of cases

Of blue ice falling from planes.

Blue ice is the term that People use for latrine water

That is dropped From an airplane.

Narrator: airplane toilet water Is blue in color.

If it leaks from the aircraft,

It freezes in the subzero Temperatures at high altitude,

Forming a solid bomb that Plummets to the ground.

[ bombs whistle, explosion ]

What a way to die,

Being hit by a huge ball Of plane toilet waste.

Airplanes aren't flying around

Opening up the lavatory doors

And dropping human waste All over the place.

That's not how That works at all.

Blue ice occurs when there's A leak in those systems

And it's a very rare accident.

Narrator: But image analyst mccourt

Notices something in the clip

That challenges The blue ice theory.

Mccourt: looking at the color of The object that hits the ground,

It's very white.

When they have Airline discharge,

It's usually accompanied By some blue chemical.

We're not seeing that here.

[ trilling, camera whirring ]

Narrator: Planetary scientist sian proctor

Believes a freak weather event Is a possible explanation.

The first thing that Comes to mind is hail.

Narrator: Most hailstones are pea-sized.

[ hail crashing down ]

But sometimes super-sized Stones plummet to the earth.

The largest hailstone ever Recorded in the united states

Was in south dakota in 2010.

It was just under two pounds, Eight inches across.

It was the size of a grapefruit.

[ shattering ]

Narrator: Meteorologist chris bell

Has seen the devastating effect Of giant hailstones.

♪♪

there's been instances In america and in africa

where herds of cattle Have been wiped out

By a large hail storm,

So they can Potentially be deadly.

Narrator: but bell finds a hole In the hail theory.

Bell: when you get hail,

You're not just gonna get one Or two hailstones falling.

You're gonna get lots Of hailstones falling.

So just seeing one massive Chunk of ice hit the ground,

That almost rules out The potential of hail.

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: Meteorologist chris walcek

Examines the latest Academic research

And comes across A frightening possibility.

This ice bomb has the Hallmarks of a megacryometeor.

a megacryometeor is A very large piece of ice,

larger than any Known hailstone,

Falling out of the sky Under clear sky conditions.

The formation mechanism is Not too well understood.

Narrator: some scientists Believe the origins

Of these mysterious ice bombs Are extraterrestrial.

Walcek: maybe it's the core Of an icy comet

That re-entered the atmosphere

And this is the piece Of what survived.

[ ice shattering ]

Comets are sometimes Many kilometers across.

If you have a big ball of ice

hitting the earth at huge speed, It's gonna do a lot of damage.

[ explosion ]

Narrator: Other scientists believe

That the lethal megacryometeors

Are an extreme weather event In the tropopause,

Miles above the earth.

But the mystery is how a giant Block of ice can grow so big.

[ ice shattering ]

In order to hold A 45-pound hunk of ice

Up in the atmosphere,

You would need a huge updraft Carrying very moist air

Up to colder regions of the Atmosphere where it freezes.

♪♪

Narrator: Meteorologist chris bell Designs an experiment

To find out what wind speed Would be needed above london

To keep a 45-pound block Of ice suspended in the air

Before crashing down to earth.

All right.

We're turning on The wind tunnel now

And we're gonna be Simulating wind speeds

Of up to 30 to 40 Miles per hour,

Which is gale force winds.

And, at the moment, The block of ice is not moving.

Narrator: Bell cranks up the wind machine.

We're at 140 miles an hour, And there we go.

We can see the block of ice is Now being lifted into the air

At 140 miles an hour.

This suggests that the ice

Could have been suspended in The air by powerful updrafts,

But bell spots a problem.

Those are the types of winds That we would only find

In some of the strongest Hurricanes on the planet.

And it's just not the Type of conditions

We would have seen over London at that time.

The origin of the ice bomb Remains a mystery.

It's absolutely worrying. If these chunks of ice that big

Can fall from the sky Without warning,

Then any one of us could be Hit at any time.

[ ice shattering ]

[ cameras whirring ]

Narrator: In a war-torn city under siege,

A ceasefire's nervous calm Is shattered

By an incoming fiery orb.

People must have Looked up and thought,

"This is the end of the world."

Narrator: is it an attack by The enemy at the gate,

Or is it something Even more terrifying --

A visitor from another world?

Don't know where it came from,

Don't know what its Impact could be,

But it's bad and it's Coming in your direction.

♪♪

[ beeping ]

Narrator: City of donetsk, ukraine,

February 24, 2015.

[ missiles launching ]

For over a year, the country Has been tearing itself apart.

[ gunfire ]

Its citizens are used To cowering in fear

As the glow of missiles Fill the night sky.

But then comes a ceasefire

And an eerie quiet Descends on the city.

♪♪

Lindsey moran, a former Clandestine officer for the cia,

Is an expert On modern war zones.

Moran: this ceasefire Was very tenuous, at best.

and nobody knew if it Was really going to hold.

but it was a dangerous, Dangerous time in the ukraine.

Narrator: Day six of the ceasefire,

10:50 p.M. --

A surveillance camera Spying on the city

Captures a fiery object none Of the war-weary inhabitants

Have ever seen before.

Wallace: so you have this ball Of light up above the city.

is it a friend or is it a foe?

Seeing something like this, The immediate thought might be,

"That's a u.F.O."

♪♪

Narrator: this isn't the first U.F.O. To spook the ukraine.

In 1982, reports of a large, Mysterious object

Hovering above a nuclear base Nearly starts world war iii.

Senior base officials Claim that the u.F.O.

Takes control of the missile Launch codes for 15 seconds,

Plunging the military Into red alert.

No explanation has ever been Found for the incredible event.

Moran: the people of donetsk, They must have

Looked up and thought, "This is the end of the world."

Narrator: coming up -- Residents of donetsk

Fear a weapon Of mass destruction

Is heading their way.

It's like no weapon I've ever seen before.

Narrator: And the tree that gushes blood.

It's like a horror movie, It really is.

Trees don't bleed.

[ saw buzzes ]

[ beeping ]

♪♪

Narrator: a dazzling, Unidentified orb of light

In the sky is approaching The war-torn ukrainian

City of donetsk.

♪♪

Military analyst carlo muñoz Fears the fragile ceasefire

Is about to be shattered.

Muñoz: If you're a soldier in donetsk

And you see this Light orb kind of

Moving towards your position,

your automatic assumption Is that it's a weapon.

it's a weapon being used Against you by your enemies

To kill you.

Narrator: Paco chierici, a former U.S. Navy fighter pilot,

Inspects the footage.

He believes the object is Actually moving too slowly

To be any kind of Incoming missile.

Chierici: What seems to be a time lapse,

there's no time stamp On the video itself,

so it's hard to know exactly How long it takes place,

But it seems to be A matter of many minutes,

Just by looking at the cars, You know,

The rate of the car lights That go by.

♪♪

Narrator: when slowed down, The footage shows

That the object Traverses the skyline

In approximately eight minutes.

moran: if it's a weapon,

it's like no weapon I've ever seen before,

because it's Really going through the sky

at a snail's pace.

[ gunfire ]

Narrator: instead, Moran believes the footage

Could show a weapon designed To wreck the morale

Of the besieged city's Jittery inhabitants.

Psychological warfare has Been used throughout history.

So, psychological warfare Includes doing things

To intimidate Or unsettle a population.

[ gunfire ]

[ heavy metal plays ]

[ soldier shouts ]

Narrator: In present-day afghanistan,

The u.S. Army blasts out Metallica to strike fear

In the taliban.

New laser technologies Allow moving images

To be projected onto Clouds from aircraft.

In one particularly Outlandish plan by the u.S.,

They were going to project a god Above an enemy stronghold

To scare them into giving up.

Muñoz: seeing something Completely alien

To what you've been Surrounded by,

It raises the fear level By a factor of 10.

Narrator: Military analyst carlo muñoz

Has seen the use of Intense light to create

Panic in war zones.

Muñoz: the u.S. Military Has experimented

With technologies To blind or confuse.

They were called dazzlers.

Any weapon designed to blind A city the size of donetsk

Would likely have taken out the Camera that took this video.

So, I have to assume that Something like this is

Not what we're seeing right now.

[ cameras whirring ]

♪♪

Narrator: experts struggle To explain the composition

Of the mysterious orb.

It's burning so brightly And it's moving so slowly,

It's almost like a mini moon Lighting up the night sky.

Narrator: chemist andrea sella Believes there is one

Obvious candidate For the chemical compound

That can create Such bright light.

Sella: could it be that white Phosphorus is being used here?

it's well known for the fact That it ignites

spontaneously in air.

[ gunfire ]

Narrator: White phosphorus has been used As a terrifying weapon.

It burns continuously At 1,500 degrees.

If it strikes a victim,

It can melt skin from bone Like butter.

Phosphorus has been banned Under the geneva convention

And basically deemed A chemical weapon.

Narrator: but moran reveals That while phosphorus

Cannot be used in weapons, It is still used in warfare.

It does have a military purpose.

It can be used to Illuminate a battle space.

[ gunfire ]

It does show some More characteristics

Of an illumination flare.

This is in common use By militaries

In the united states, in russia, Other world powers.

Narrator: If the russians use phosphorus

To light up donetsk in advance Of a night attack,

Then the ceasefire Will be over.

For something weird, glowing, And unexplainable

To be menacingly traversing Over their city sky,

It must have been really scary.

♪♪

[ cameras whirring ]

[ chainsaw buzzing ]

Narrator: now, a chainsaw Cuts into a tree

And it spurts crimson blood.

It's bizarre, it's unnatural,

And it's bleeding All over the place.

Trees don't bleed.

Narrator: if it's not the trunk Itself that's bleeding,

Is it something it ate For breakfast?

[ screaming ]

A man-eating tree Uses its tendrils

To ensnare prey, including Large prey like people,

And it can drain their blood.

Woman: this looks like Absolute carnage,

Like a chainsaw massacre.

Narrator: China, fujian province, September 2015 --

A lumberjack sawing a tree trunk Triggers a bloodbath.

it's almost like he hit An artery or a vein

inside the tree, but trees Don't have arteries,

so I don't know what's going on.

I have never met a tree That even bled once

a little bit, let alone Spewed like bleh, bleh --

spewing blood and guts. It's like a horror movie.

we know what tree sap Looks like.

this doesn't look like tree sap.

Sap comes out like Drip, drip, drip.

This is like... [ exploding noise ]

The blood just Comes gushing out.

♪♪

Narrator: incredibly, Cultural anthropologist

Deborah hyde discovers this Is not the first report

Of a tree with a bloody history.

19th century explorers mapping The jungles of madagascar

Returned with terrifying Stories of a man-eating tree.

Hyde: It allegedly was sacrificed to.

There was a woman that was Taken up, and its tendrils

Gathered her and it ate her.

Narrator: more recent reports Describe a creeper

In central america with A thirst for human flesh.

♪♪

It's the tale of the so-called Vampire vine of nicaragua,

Which uses its tendrils To ensnare prey,

Including large prey Like people,

And it can drain their blood.

Narrator: no specimens Of the vampire vine

Have ever been found.

But have lumberjacks in china Stumbled upon

A tree with a taste for blood?

[ whirring ]

♪♪

Coming up -- bloody botany Gives experts the shivers.

Nature is weird And sometimes disgusting.

[ beeping ]

[ saw buzzing ]

Narrator: a chainsaw Cutting a tree in china

Triggers a fountain of red.

it's not just oozing a bit, It's actually gushing.

♪♪

Narrator: the footage comes To the attention

Of biologist jeffrey dean.

Dean confirms that Flesh-eating plants

Aren't just a creepy plot device In horror movies.

there are a few hundred Species of carnivorous plants.

Narrator: the most ravenous Thrives in the wetlands

Of north and south carolina And traps living creatures

With booby trap hairs On its leaves.

When an invading insect Or beetle touches a hair,

It triggers the leaves To slam shut

Like a spring-coil trap.

It then breaks down its prisoner For consumption

By releasing digestive enzymes.

It's called the venus fly trap.

Once the insect's trapped, It's going to die

And it's going to degrade.

And as it comes apart, It releases nitrogen

That the plant is able To absorb and feed on.

Narrator: the four-foot high Pitcher plant,

Discovered in the jungles Of southeast asia,

Has an even more Voracious appetite.

The skeletal remains of Mice and lizards and snakes

Have been found in The bottoms of these

Larger pitcher plants.

♪♪

Narrator: for dean, A carnivorous plant's ability

To eat a creature raises A tantalizing possibility,

That a plant could develop The ability to consume a human.

If there were such a thing As a venus fly trap

With a trap big enough that A human could walk into it,

There's nothing that would Prevent that leaf from

Eventually absorbing you When you passed away.

That's just the nature Of how it operates.

Narrator: The average human body contains

Four pounds of nitrogen, More than enough

To keep a tree healthy.

But dean doubts that there Are man-munching trees.

There's never been Any evidence at all

Of a plant that would be large Enough to trap and devour

A creature the size Of a human being.

[ wailing ]

[ beeping, camera whirs ]

♪♪

Narrator: Zoologist tara pirie

Analyzes the huge Quantity of blood

And considers if the logger

May have sliced through An animal inside the tree.

Pirie: usually snakes are very Sensitive to their surroundings.

However, when it Is in hibernation,

Obviously, it is very Lethargic, very slow moving.

and there has been Occasions where people have

chopped down trees and cut Snakes in half.

Man: oh, my god!

Narrator: but zoologist Roland kays' analysis

Of the amount of red liquid Coming out of the tree

Casts doubt on the snake theory.

when you see all this goop Coming out of this tree,

you have to ask, What size animal would it take

To make that much blood?

So it would've had to been Too giant of an animal

To make this much blood,

And it just couldn't have Fit in that tree.

Narrator: jeffrey dean Steps through the footage

Frame by frame.

He identifies the tree As a eucalyptus.

A fully grown eucalyptus tree Can contain

Over five gallons of sap,

And its most active ingredient

Is a gum called kino, Whose color is blood red.

This red sap, Or kino material,

Is used in a wide variety Of traditional medicines.

narrator: the sap in the footage Is easily mistaken for blood,

due to a unique quality Both fluids share.

sap and blood both have Clotting compounds to prevent

the liquid from just flowing Out of the tree or the body.

so that could be why the sap Looks like the consistency

of clotted blood.

it's like when you bite Into that jelly donut

and you hit the pocket With the jelly in it

and it comes squirting out And gets all over your slacks.

♪♪

nature is weird And sometimes disgusting.