All language subtitles for Strange.Evidence.S02E11.The.Incident.at.Area.51.1080p.MAX.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BETHELL_track3_[eng]

Narrator: worldwide,
Six billion surveillance 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: 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.

[ people screaming ]

Narrator: coming up...

Outside area 51,
Under heavy police escort,

In the wee hours
Of the morning.

Oh, my heart was racing.
There was cops everywhere.

I was really scared
To actually take the video.

This is the closest I've seen

To what we actually imagine
A flying saucer looks like.

Narrator: in the land
Of countess dracula,

Something is stirring.

It's like someone hit
The self-destruct button

On the forest.

Narrator: and engineer
Matt kutcher blows up t.N.T.

To investigate
Potentially lethal,

Unidentified yellow blobs.

Is it manmade, is it chemical,
Is it organic?

We have no idea.

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

Two local men
Overhear a cop talking

And hours later,
They capture this footage.

That's a spaceship.

It was a circle shape

With a white tarp
Covering the thing.

It looks like something
From another world.

♪♪

Narrator: has area 51
Finally been exposed?

There was cops everywhere.
I was really scared.

This has "Top secret"

Written all over it.

♪♪

Narrator: the mojave desert
In california stretches

Almost 50,000-square-miles
From l.A. To nevada.

Deep in this arid wasteland

Lies edwards air force base

And its highly classified center
For black op tests,

Area 51.

Kurth: it's pretty strange.

it's a lot of desert,
Lot of open space.

there's not a lot of people.

Narrator: may 30, 2012,
Late evening --

Friends jeff kurth
And jason moyer

Stop at a gas station

About 20 miles
From edwards air force base.

I overheard these two highway
Patrol officers talking.

They were real secretive.

And they said they had
To move something at 1:30.

And it was very suspicious.

What were they moving
At 1:30 in the morning?

Narrator: the friends park

At a safe distance
From the road,

Turn off the lights,
Lie low, and wait.

At 2:00 a.M.,
In the dead of night,

A massive security presence
Suddenly shows itself.

I did not want to get caught
With -- with the cameras.

Oh, my heart was racing.
There was cops everywhere.

I was really scared
To actually take the video.

Narrator: but not as scared
As they feel when they see

What these cops are escorting.

♪♪

That's a spaceship.

Never seen anything
Like that.

It was obviously something

That was under the control
Of the government.

This incident takes place

Outside the perimeter
Of area 51.

Jeff has his own theory.

Something crashed,

And they're transporting it
To another base.

The footage amazes experts.

it's the dead of night.
There's a police convoy.

what exactly is
On the back of this truck?

this is a close encounter
Of a weird kind.

Moran: that big
Security presence --

They clearly don't want anyone
Getting too close to this thing.

The footage reaches
Lindsay moran.

As an ex-cia
Undercover operative,

She has direct experience
Of top-level cover-ups.

for decades,
Conspiracy theorists

here in the united states

have thought that
The u.S. Government

does possess alien technology.

Narrator: believers insist
This alien technology

Must be stored at the military's
Most secret installation,

Area 51.

But until 2013,
The u.S. Military

Refused to acknowledge
That area 51 even exists.

The timing of this video
Is kind of curious,

Because this was in 2012.

A freedom of information
Act request

Revealed on
The 23rd of june, 2013,

That edwards air force base
Also controls area 51.

If the government knew they were
Going to have to reveal

The existence and location
Of area 51

And they did have
Alien technology there,

It stands to reason

That this might be
The ideal time to move it.

♪♪

Narrator: whatever the nature
And origin of this object,

Why is it being moved
With a police convoy

In the dead of night?

To move something that secret,
Right out in the open,

On the back of a truck,
It's just seems --

It just seems preposterous.

Narrator: was this
An emergency of some sort?

Did something go wrong
On the area 51 base?

♪♪

One persistent theory
About area 51

Is that government agencies

Deliberately fostered rumors
Of extraterrestrial craft

In order to conceal
Their own experimental aircraft.

This is the closest I've seen
To what we actually imagine

A flying saucer looks like,

From all of
The science fiction movies.

If the public is believing
That there's a ufo

Or some kind
Of alien technology,

It might divert
The public's attention

From some controversial
Top-secret technology

That the government doesn't want
The public talking about.

Narrator: does the lack
Of a tarp suggest

That the agency
That runs area 51

Intends for this craft
To be seen?

♪♪

Declassified documents reveal
How, in the 1980s,

Ufo hunter paul bennewitz

Stumbled across
A black ops project,

Just like kurth and moyer.

When it was feared
That bennewitz

Was about to expose
A top-secret stealth helicopter,

He was the target of a so-called
"Misdirection operation."

Air force agent richard doty

Actually fed bennewitz
Fake documents

That proved an alien invasion
Was imminent.

Bennewitz believed
These documents to be true

And ran with the story,

Telling the entire ufo community
That an invasion was coming.

[ siren wails ]

Narrator: the plan worked,
Diverting bennewitz away

From the top-secret program

And towards a mental breakdown.

Bennewitz became obsessed

With the idea of an imminent
Alien invasion,

And the idea actually
Ended up driving him mad.

He had to be institutionalized,
And he lost all credibility.

This was a textbook example
Of misdirection

By the air force.

Narrator: are kurth and moyer
The latest innocent pawns

In another sinister
Government program

Of misdirection?

They really don't care
About the well-being

Of individuals caught up
In these stories.

Now, you have to wonder whether
Or not these two witnesses

Are being used in the same way.

Narrator: but kurth and moyer
Are convinced of what they saw.

I really believe that
The government

Has alien technology

And they've
Reverse-engineered crafts.

There's extraterrestrial life

Out there,

Other than us.

Whatever its origin,
A military analyst examines

The shape of the craft
For additional clues.

There are noticeable
Flat sections

On the side of the object,

Which is where
You could attach wings.

It's not uncommon for wings

To be removed or folded over
On an aircraft

To make it easier to transport.

So, I think what we have here
Is something with wings.

Narrator: but wings or no wings,

There's something not right
About this mystery craft.

The profile of this object
Doesn't match any

Of the combat drones
Currently in flight right now.

And that is a pretty
Scary proposition.

Narrator: coming up, ex-dogs.

Is there a genetic mutation
Turning these dogs blue

And could it be passed on
To a human?

It certainly turned
His skin blue --

Seriously blue.

Narrator:
Exploding toxic alien blobs.

♪♪

And a craft controlled
By non-human intelligence.

Narrator: in california,
Two locals capture footage

Of an unidentified craft

Being escorted
In the dead of night,

Close to area 51.

that thing had no visible
Engines or motors

of any technology
That we currently possess.

Military analyst
Carlo muñoz wonders

If this might be something new
In the u.S. Arsenal

That's controlled
By non-human intelligence.

what it does look like is
Something that was tested

by the u.S. Navy in 2011.

and that was northrop grumman's
X-47b carrier drone...

Minus its swings.

♪♪

Narrator: when munoz
Compares both images,

He's left without a doubt

That the craft
On the back of the truck

Is the x-47b drone.

The x-47b launches
Drone technology

Into a new era.

Unlike the predator,

This doesn't need
A ground-based pilot.

It's autonomous and intelligent.

smart enough to land
On an aircraft carrier,

tough enough
To survive at sea,

And have a big enough bomb bay
To drop weapons.

This robotic aircraft makes
Science fiction a reality,

An a.I. Killer
Stalking the skies,

Able to terminate targets
Without a human handler.

But the invention
Of a new generation

Of artificially intelligent
Killer robots

Brings a future,
Which many people dread,

Closer to reality.

Muñoz: you don't have a person
Behind the controls,

So if the program within
The drone somehow messes up,

You could have a catastrophe
On your hands.

They can be hacked by the enemy.

Once the enemy takes control
Of that aircraft,

It can basically do
Whatever it wants with it.

Narrator: whatever
Happens in area 51,

The existence of
This bizarre craft

Is undeniable.

Jason moyer and jeff kurth
Remain mystified

By the strange events
Of that night.

every time I drive by
This gas station,

I think about it.

every time.

It was definitely
A crazy night

To see something
So spectacular.

♪♪

Now, one day,
This is a normal beach,

The next,
It's covered by objects

That scientists don't recognize,

And no one dares to touch.

What's scary is, we don't know
Where this came from.

Who knows what the tide
Could've brought in.

Is it organic or synthetic?
Is it toxic or not?

Narrator: according
To one theory,

These blobs are
A form of weapon.

These things are volatile

And potentially explosive
And dangerous.

Narrator: northern france --

Famous for its vast,
Pristine beaches.

July 18, 2017 --

Local thomas hemberger
Strolls down the beach,

Where he sees something bizarre.

One day, nothing,

And suddenly,
The yellow blob invasion.

Narrator: countless thousands
Of strange yellow blobs

Pepper the sand
Over a 19-mile stretch.

No one knows where
They have come from

Or what they are.

everything about this substance
Is baffling.

Is it manmade, is it chemical,
Is it organic?

We have no idea.

I don't even know
If it's healthy

to pick it up and touch it.

Narrator: the footage reaches

Former army colonel
Daniel davis.

He recognizes this beach

As one which played
A crucial role

In the second world war

And wonders
If these yellow blobs

Could be the lethal remains
Of deadly explosives.

These fortified beaches,
Known as the "Atlantic wall,"

Acted as a dividing line
Between nazi-occupied europe

And the free world.

the atlantic wall was --
Was germany's impregnable wall

Of obstacles
And defensive capabilities

That would prevent the west
From attacking them.

The germans stored
Hundreds of thousands

Of tons of ammunition here,

Because it's the closest point
To britain,

Where they expected
The allies to attack.

But the allies invaded
100 miles south in normandy,

Causing the germans to abandon
This massive weapons cache.

Locals fear this ammunition
Is coming back to haunt them.

Upwards of 300,000 tons

Of conventional
And chemical munitions

Were just thrown into the water.

It's possible that
Something ruptured

And only now, at 70 years later,

It's finally coming
To the surface

And mixing with who-knows-what.

♪♪

Narrator: highly
Combustible t.N.T.

Formed the explosive bases
Of most munitions

During world war ii.

Chemist ken hanson believes

This could be what's washing up
On these beaches.

chemicals like t.N.T.
Are very explosive.

♪♪

They're also typically
A yellow color.

Narrator: it was found
That handling t.N.T.

Has a deadly side effect

When something weird started
Happening to munitions workers.

the canary girls were women

who made shells
During world war I.

They got their nickname

Because prolonged contact
With t.N.T.

Turned their skin yellow.

Narrator: over time,
It caused toxic jaundice,

Killing many.

♪♪

Since this is a public beach,
The first concern is,

Are these spheres toxic,
Are they lethal?

These bombs and bullets and
Things can decompose over time.

And so depending on what
They decompose into,

They can be very unstable.

Narrator: could these
Sinister yellow blobs

Be evidence of a vast
Undersea store

Of unstable and toxic t.N.T.?

Engineer matt kutcher
Is a pyrotechnics

And weaponry specialist.

He thinks the yellow blobs
Look too decomposed

To be live t.N.T.

Instead, he suspects
These blobs are t.N.T.

That has already
Exploded underwater.

To find out, he sets up a test

To see if he can use t.N.T.
To recreate the yellow blobs.

I want to find out
Whether or not these blobs

could be the remnants
Of some kind

of underwater explosion.

Narrator: kutcher sets up
A reinforced plastic tank

Containing just 3 1/2 pounds
Of explosive t.N.T.,

Then adds 100 gallons of water.

The plastic tank will capture

Any debris from the explosive.

We'll be able to look around,

Look inside of it,
Look around it,

And see what remnants
Are left over.

Narrator: with the drum full,
It's time to test the theory.

All right.
Let's get ready and do this.

Narrator: they wire
The explosive charge

Into the detonation desk.

♪♪

3...2...1...

Hit it!

♪♪

Now, that's
An explosion.

Narrator: the powerful explosion
Sends a plume of water 90 feet

Into the air

And rips the plastic tank apart.

Let's go see
What's left, huh?

Inside the shredded tank,

Kutcher spots a layer of debris,

But it's not yellow.

It's just the plastic casing
From the primacord.

Apart from the plastic wrapping
That encased the explosive,

There is no other residue
In the tank.

Everything has been consumed
In the blast.

Kutcher: what this experiment
Has taught us,

Although cool to watch,

It's clearly not
What washed up on that beach.

It must've been the remnants
Of something else.

♪♪

Narrator: but now
The investigation

Takes a bizarre twist.

Could these weird blobs
Be so-called floating gold

Worth millions of dollars?

This stuff is beautiful,
Expensive,

And has a really
Weird origin story.

Comes out of the butt
Of a sperm whale.

Narrator: coming up,

A celestial light
With a dark edge.

This is the kind of weapon that
Can basically destroy armies.

Narrator: scientists fear
A monstrous mutation

Is turning dogs blue.

It happens to one animal
And then it spreads over time.

Narrator: and investigators
Believe this beach might have

Struck gold --

Floating gold.

They've hit the lottery.

A couple kilos of this substance
Is worth thousands of dollars.

♪♪

Narrator: thousands
Of unidentified yellow blobs

Invade a french beach.

Locals and experts
Struggle to understand

What they are.

But marine biologist
Danni washington knows

One substance
Which looks just like it.

based on the evidence,
The color of the substance

looks a little bit
Like ambergris,

or floating gold.

ambergris --
It's beautiful, expensive,

And has a really weird
Origin story.

Comes out of the butt
Of a sperm whale.

Ambergris is a byproduct
Of a sperm whale's

Voracious appetite for seafood.

A sperm whale's diet
Primarily consists

Of cephalopods, or squid.

They love squid.

The only thing is, with a squid,

They have a couple of hard parts
In their body,

Including the beak.

Narrator: scientists
Consider squid beaks

A marvel
Of biological engineering.

Set between its tentacles,

It's tougher than any known
Metal or polymer.

A beak can be as big as my fist.

What the whales do
Is produce a substance,

Kind of a waxy coating,

That coats over all those beaks,
Compresses it down,

And then they pass 'em
Right out of their body.

Once the ambergris,
Or floating gold,

Reaches the surface,
The sun rays hit it,

Eventually bleaching it
And changing its color,

Which looks very similar

To the yellow blobs
Seen in the footage.

Narrator: ambergris produces
A highly-prized musky scent

That perfumers pay
Handsomely for.

Washington: if this town has
Ambergris on its shoreline,

Well, they've hit the lottery.

A couple kilos of this substance
Is worth thousands of dollars.

♪♪

Narrator: but chemist
Ken hanson believes

The blobs are simply too bright
To be ambergris

And that their garish
Yellow color must be manmade.

that color is not part
Of the natural kingdom.

♪♪

Narrator: investigators
Analyzing the footage

Look beyond the beach,
To the sea, for answers.

These beaches flank the busiest
Shipping route on earth,

Carrying one-quarter
Of all the world's traffic.

Rapp: did it spill
Off some ship?

kind of makes me concerned

that this could be
A public health issue.

Narrator: the man who first
Came across the beach blobs

Musters up the courage
To touch one.

♪♪

The blobs' toxic smell
And waxy texture

Suggests to ken hanson
Another possibility.

Could this be a substance
Known as paraffin wax?

Paraffin wax is
A hydrophobic material,

Which means it basically
Doesn't like to be

In contact with water.

And so when you take
Liquid paraffin wax

And you throw it in water,
It starts to solidify

And generate these yellow blobs.

We use paraffin wax
For beauty treatments,

To make candles,
And as a lubricant.

If it is paraffin wax,

How did so much of it
End up on the beach?

Paraffin is also
A component of crude oil.

It can clog the storage tanks
And hoses on tankers,

Adding to transportation costs.

It's possible that such
A large quantity of this stuff

Washed up on the beach
From an unscrupulous captain

Dumping the stuff
Close to shore.

Narrator: but with
No official report,

We can still only guess
As to the origin

Of these yellow blobs
And their legacy.

It might get in,
Even our own food,

Working its way up
The food chain.

♪♪

Narrator: now, a bizarre sight
That defies nature.

Moran: the dogs are
Actually bright blue.

I've never seen any animal
That color.

I've seen black labs,
And I've seen golden retrievers,

But I haven't seen
Blue mangy dogs.

Narrator: investigators fear
These dogs are undergoing

Some sort of grotesque mutation.

Genetic mutations
That change color do happen.

Chemicals can do some really
Weird things to animals.

And if it's doing that
To the dogs,

What is it doing
To the local population?

♪♪

Narrator: mumbai, india,

Home to the bollywood
Film industry,

And the 12th wealthiest city
In the world.

♪♪

But mumbai has a darker side.

Half of the population
Lives in squalor

And scavenges for food,

Alongside 90,000 stray dogs
In this city alone.

[ dogs bark ]

August 11, 2017 --

Locals can't believe their eyes,
A bright blue dog.

♪♪

Then, more.

The sight of powder-blue hounds

Shocks and baffles scientists
Across the globe.

What has colored these canines?

Narrator: in hindu culture,

The powder-blue color
Of these dogs

Is the shade of many gods,

Including kali,

The goddess of death.

Some locals fear these dogs'
Bizarre blue hue

Is a portent of doom.

Godfrey: I'm sure many people
Had in their minds,

are we being told something,
Is it an omen?

Should we be taking special care
Of these dogs,

Because they're this blue color?

Narrator: could dogs have
Unknowingly inhaled

Or ingested something
That's given them the blues?

Scientists know
Of one substance that,

If consumed regularly,

Can dramatically
Alter skin color.

Users swear that silver
Is good for their health,

Provided it's ingested
In tiny particles,

Known as colloidal silver.

Medical studies have
Found no benefits.

there's a number of people
Who believe that

if you eat colloidal silver,
Or drink colloidal silver,

It'll help treat diseases
And prevent diseases.

Narrator: in 2007,

Reports reveal that
Paul karason from oregon,

Turned blue after
Taking colloidal silver

As a health supplement
For more than a decade.

he would drink silver ions
In water every day.

I'm not sure if
It improved his health or not,

But it certainly turned
His skin blue --

Seriously blue.

others, like montana politician
Stan jones, follow suit.

silver has
Antibacterial properties

And featured in
Over-the-counter medicines,

Until 1999.

The f.D.A. Banned it,
Because of its

Skin discoloration side effects.

It ends up going
Through the body,

Through the bloodstream,
And, ultimately,

Ends up in the skin,

Which is why we see
The blue coloration.

Could it be possible
That these dogs

Found a puddle full
Of colloidal silver?

Narrator: the historic
Zaveri bazar in mumbai

Boasts 30,000 artisans
Crafting jewelry,

Often on the streets,

But the low-tech melting

And molding of silver
Can leave residue.

Samuel: they don't really
Even need to eat it.

if we have a bunch of
Silver particles in the air,

could that get into their skin

And could that be causing
What we're seeing?

Narrator: but journalist
Joshua rapp spots a flaw

In comparing the color
Of these dogs

To silver-induced
Blue human skin,

Like that of paul karason's.

Rapp: the thing
About karason is,

His hair remains unaffected.

With these dogs,
It's just the opposite,

It's their hair that's blue.

I don't think these dogs
Ingested silver.

♪♪

Narrator: ex-cia agent
Lindsay moran

Analyzes the footage of
The blue dogs frame-by-frame

And spots a clue
In the background.

when you see more of the video,

you realize that these dogs
Are located in,

essentially, an industrial zone.

It certainly appears like
Pollution has caused this

And, without a doubt,
This has got to be harmful.

Narrator: coming up,
A death-ray targeting earth

Baffles investigators.

You have this
Massive beam of light.

If it's not the sun,
Then what the heck is it?

Narrator: terror for tourists,
When trees go on the attack.

There's trees everywhere.

There's nowhere to run.

Narrator: and experts fear
A frankenstein-like mutation

Is turning these dogs blue.

[ dogs bark ]

Narrator: blue dogs roam
The streets of mumbai, india,

Alarming experts.

The images are sent
To mumbai city authorities

For analysis.

They confirm that the dogs
Were filmed in taloja,

An industrial hub
On the outskirts of mumbai,

And home to almost

1,000 pharmaceutical
And chemical factories.

this waste must be the trigger

that's turning these dogs blue.

number one,
What chemicals are they,

and number two,
Are these dogs now in danger?

Chemicals can do some really
Weird things to animals.

Makes dogs act erratically
And viciously.

So, could it have
Affected life down there

And caused mutations
That spawned this thing

That we're seeing?

moran: and if it's doing
That to the dogs,

what is it doing
To the local population?

Narrator: the authorities
Trace blue textile dye

In the local river
To a nearby plant,

Which they shut down.

They clean up the dogs,

Who show no ill effects.

But many remain fearful
That kali,

The goddess of death,

Has issued a dire warning.

♪♪

Now, sunlight,

But it's going
In the wrong direction.

What the heck is going on here?

Narrator: some believe
It's a miracle

Or message from god.

This absolutely looks biblical.

Others fear
A "Star wars" death-ray

Connected with the nazis.

This is the kind of weapon

That could burn whole cities
To the ground.

♪♪

December 29, 2015 --

In the city of salta,
Northwest argentina,

All eyes look to the sky.

♪♪

and what's cool
About this video,

is it's kind of backwards
From what we usually see.

Beautiful rays of light
Shooting up from the ground,

To the sky.

Narrator: what is the source

Of this massive and intense
Beam of light?

At first, experts assume

It's the sun shining
Below the horizon,

Until the camera turns
To reveal the sun in the sky,

Behind a thick layer of clouds.

you have this massive
Beam of light.

if it's not the sun,
Then what the heck is it?

Narrator: military analyst
Carlo muñoz can't think

Of anything ground-based

That could create
Such an intense light.

He believes it's coming
From outer space

And is more concentrated
At the horizon

For a chilling reason.

You have this concentrated
Beam of light

Coming straight from the sky

Onto some unknown target
Onto the ground.

Whatever it is,
It's not very good.

Muñoz fears this is a
"Star wars" weapon

In outer space

And the brain child of history's
Most evil regime.

This makes me think of a program

That was being run
By nazi germany,

Who had actually come up
With a crazy idea --

A massive sun gun.

♪♪

Narrator: coming up,

Investigators fear a forest
Is in meltdown.

Imagine every leaf, every twig,

Just being eventually burned
And dissolved away.

Narrator: and has someone
Finally perfected

The nazi's most devastating
Weapon design?

Narrator: a syrian
Sinister ray of light

Blasts the horizon in argentina.

Many nazi scientists found
Refuge here after the war

And some of them continued
To work on evil projects.

the nazis were looking for
Any battlefield advantage

they can get over their enemies.

German scientist hermann oberth,

He had actually come up
With a crazy idea --

A massive sun gun.

♪♪

Narrator: oberth planned
To launch a parabolic dish,

Measuring 3-square-miles,
Or 1,000 football fields,

Above the earth on a satellite

To direct the sun's rays
Onto a specific point on earth.

Oberth predicted
That his sun gun

Could boil sections of the ocean
And torch entire cities.

It can focus a tremendous amount
Of light and heat

On a particular target
On the ground,

From space.

After the end of
The second world war,

Many nazi scientists carried on
Their experimental work,

Some of it funded by
The u.S. Government.

♪♪

Now, this strange footage of
An intense beam above argentina.

This is the kind of weapon that
Can basically destroy armies,

Burn whole cities to the ground,

With an immense amount
Of light and heat

Directed on a particular target.

And what it might look like

Is what we're seeing
In this video.

Narrator: the sun gun
Would certainly explain

Why this light ray
Gets more intense

The closer it is to the ground

And the fact it doesn't appear

To come directly from the sun,

But could a parabolic mirror

Really be converted
Into a lethal weapon?

To explore the power
Of such a device,

Engineer matt kutcher
Sets up an experiment.

Kutcher: we all have an idea
Of how powerful the sun can be,

but if it's singularly directed,

what damage can it really cause,
What can it do?

♪♪

Narrator: sunlight consists
Of 54% infrared rays,

Which the parabolic mirror
Focuses into a single hot spot.

Kutcher and colleague
Chris reynolds

Use a smoke machine

To locate the exact point where
The deflected light rays

Converge into a single
White hot spot.

There it is there,
Yeah.

Oh, there you go.

That's sweet, right?
Can you see it?

Let's see what
This can generate.

Kutcher's dish has a surface
Area of 5-square-feet,

Focusing 1,800 watts of energy
Into a single point.

The heat generated by the dish

Could boil a half-pint of water
In about 20 seconds.

A device the size
Of 1,000 football fields

Could create 30 billion watts,

The equivalent of
52 nuclear power stations.

I mean, it's kind of amazing.
You could take a --

A dish that one person
Can carry,

In a dish this small,
That could create so much energy

That it lights
A piece of wood on fire.

I mean, that's a focused
Amount of energy.

Seems like you could make
A weapon out of it.

But if this concentrated beam
Of light in argentina

Is a white-hot death-ray,

By now, we'd be seeing
It's catastrophic effects.

Meteorologist angela fritz

Believes what we're seeing
May not be manmade,

But instead,
A rare atmospheric event.

this is an awesome example

of something that is
An optical phenomenon

that is one of my favorites.

It's called
Anticrepuscular rays.

Narrator:
An anticrepuscular light ray

Appears to come from the ground,

But is a rare spectacle.

It occurs when clouds
Act like a funnel

And focus sunbeams onto
A concentrated point

On the earth's surface.

If the clouds are situated
In a very particular way,

You can get that light
To converge in

On a point on the horizon.

And so it's --
It's really an optical illusion,

That the source of the light
Is -- is the horizon,

But really, it's the sun.

I did not expect such
An incredible example

Of this atmospheric
Phenomenon.

It's truly amazing.

Narrator: now, a pleasure drive
In the mountains

Ends in disaster.

All hell breaks loose.

Narrator: tourists are
Crushed in their car.

The forest starts to collapse
All around them --

Behind them, in front of them,
On top of them.

There's nowhere to run.

There's trees everywhere.

Narrator: this attack
Of the trees

Baffles experts.

I've never seen this many trees
Falling all at once,

In unison.

Narrator: have these
Human intruders angered

An ancient forest spirit?

Slovakia, europe --

Among these forests
Are the strangest,

Most terrifying
And forbidding medieval castles.

One of them, cachtice castle,

Is the seat of a blood-
Thirsty noblewoman,

Who became known to legend
As the countess dracula.

May 2014,
A russian couple on vacation

Explore the tree-covered
Mountains.

But then, something stirs
In the dense and ancient woods.

The forest attacks.

They reverse to
Escape the carnage,

Only for trees to fall
Behind their van,

Trapping them.

Each of the trees weighs
Around 2,000 pounds,

About as much
As two grand pianos.

After their miraculous escape,

They post the footage online.

The trees come down
Almost like dominos.

Kourounis: it's like someone hit
The self-destruct button

On the forest.

Fritz: it's very strange that
They're just falling,

Seemingly out of nowhere,
At this exact moment.

Narrator: in the homeland
Of countess dracula,

Trees go on the attack.

♪♪

trees don't normally
Just fall on their own.

Narrator: investigators struggle
To work out why so many trees

Topple over.

♪♪

Beneath the beauty
Of the carpathians

Lie ancient horrors.

Legend goes,
That countess dracula

Killed over 650 peasant women
And bathed in their blood.

But folklorists know
That it's not vampires

That the locals fear the most.

Monteith: leshy is
The protector of the forest

and if you disrespect
His territory,

he's coming after you.

Narrator:
Leshy the tree thrower,

Is feared across eastern europe

For stealing children
And killing humans

Who wander into the woods.

He uses nature itself
As a weapon

Against those who anger him.

It doesn't surprise me
That leshy is mad.

They've put a road
Right through his forest

And they cut down his trees.

If it was my land, I'd be mad.

♪♪

Narrator: the footage reaches

Atmospheric scientist
Chris walcek.

He locates the incident

In the northern carpathians
Of slovakia,

Which leads him
To a fresh theory.

slovakia lies in
The black triangle

of pollution
Of central europe.

Narrator: the black triangle

Lies behind
The old iron curtain.

In the 1940s,
Soviet forces built

So many coal-burning, chemical,
And steel plants here,

That it unleashed a mass killer
From the skies, acid rain.

Kourounis: acid rain --
It's bad for everything.

I've experienced acid rain
That's been so strong,

that it has burned my eyes
And stung my skin

and corroded anything metal.

Narrator: over decades,

Acid rain kills
Thousands of people

And 80% of the region's forests.

♪♪

Kourounis: almost nothing
Can live in these

Dense, acid rain environments.

Imagine, just every leaf,
Every twig,

Just being eventually burned
And dissolved away.

♪♪

Narrator: but communist russia
Collapsed decades ago

And when kourounis
Examines the footage

For tell-tale signs
Of toxic acid rain,

There are none.

Taking another look
At the video,

The leaves are not
Really scorched,

There's no evidence
Of long-term exposure

To tremendous amounts
Of acid rain,

And it really wouldn't
Affect the roots so much,

That an entire forest would
Come down that quickly.

There's more at play here.

Meteorologist angela fritz

Checks the weather
Records for 2014

And comes up
With a fresh theory.

She discovers that prior
To the tree collapse,

The area suffers eight days
Of the heaviest rainfall

Since records began.

maybe the rain had something
To do with this.

they're driving on a slope,

they're all falling
In the same direction.

It -- it does make me wonder.

Narrator: analyzing the footage,

George kourounis sees that

The trees position
On a steep slope

Makes them particularly
Vulnerable to water.

The weight and the mass of that
Tree being anchored in place,

Just by the mud,
Is not much at all.

So, when that soil
Becomes really saturated

By flooding rains
Over many days,

suddenly, the root system
Is ineffective,

and gravity takes over.

♪♪

narrator: experts agree
The most likely explanation

is that water-logged soil
Dislodged all the trees at once.

however, the couple who narrowly
Escaped death that day

remain convinced that it was
The wrath of the forest gods.

♪♪