Original subtitles

Narrator: worldwide, 27 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: oh, this is Unbelievable, man.

Narrator: experts carry out Forensic analysis

Of these unusual events.

Now that's An explosion.

♪♪

There's got to be something We're missing in this video.

Something We're not seeing, right?

What else Is going on here?

Coming up...

On this city street, Has this vehicle been equipped

With a secret fire weapon?

Wham!

Flame comes rocketing out The side of it.

Narrator: weird weeds Make music blast

Out of a sinister Soviet structure.

[ indistinct music plays ]

This is wild. How is this possible?

That is pretty unusual And weird.

Narrator: and what's This jungle beast

Doing on A british back street?

It has to be there for a reason. That reason may be fatal.

Narrator: Bizarre phenomena.

Whoa.

Mysteries caught on camera.

What's the truth behind This strange evidence?

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

captions paid for by Discovery communications

[ whirring ]

Now a van hurdles Seemingly out of control --

A narrow escape for pedestrians, A collision,

But then a weird fireball.

[ exhales sharply ] Wow.

It's an explosion like no other That I've seen before.

Narrator: After the initial bang,

A sustained river of flame Comes from the van.

Wham! Flame comes Rocketing out the side of it.

Wise: is it possible That this truck

Actually had some kind of A real flame thrower?

♪♪

narrator: Cars, vans, and trucks...

when they crash In hollywood action movies,

they explode like this.

♪♪

In reality, they do this.

[ tires screech ]

Even in massive collisions,

Cars and vans Almost never explode.

[ siren wails ]

♪♪

People are killed From the impact,

Bystanders may be hurt,

But vehicles rarely combust.

And if they did, there would be No sustained ejection of fire.

But on this street, Drivers and pedestrians

Are about to experience

A crash worthy of A tom cruise blockbuster.

First, for some reason,

A yellow van Packed full of people

Drives insanely across A traffic circle.

The driver seems to struggle To control the vehicle,

Which almost kills Bystanders.

[ tires screech ]

That was nuts.

Next, an oncoming car crashes Into the side of the van.

Ouch.

Then the first explosion Followed by a column of fire

Shooting from The side of the van.

I mean, it's huge!

this car goes barreling out Of control for a few seconds.

and the minute Another car hits it,

it just explodes.

There's fire shooting out Of the sides.

You don't really know What's going on.

The bystanders on the street Itself are ducking for cover.

♪♪

physicist adam hadhazy Asks if the type of fuel

used inside the van's engine Could be to blame.

a key clue to figuring out What's going on here

is assessing What type of vehicles

Were involved In the accident.

So if the van Is a diesel vehicle,

That gives us some clues About the type of explosion

That we're seeing.

Narrator: diesel fuel has to be Much more highly compressed

Than gasoline In order to power a car engine.

Hadhazy: gasoline is flammable, But diesel is combustible.

So what that means is that You have to compress diesel

In order to ignite it.

If the van's air intake Had ruptured,

Could that have made the diesel Spontaneously combustible?

Narrator: diesel cars Explode more violently

Than gasoline cars

Because they work At a higher pressure.

But that doesn't explain

The sustained Flame thrower effect

Seen in the footage.

♪♪

In the video, You see this jet of flame,

This tongue of flame, That reaches out of the vehicle.

and it's unusual Because it's not just

a random release Of explosive energy.

it seems to be Very directed.

something else has to be Going on to produce that.

this vehicle literally Turns into a flame thrower.

wise: you could be, You know, flambéed.

is it possible That this truck

actually had some kind of A real flame thrower?

Have been designed specifically To be fitted to vehicles

When this foot switch Is pressed,

Two things happen.

One, a 14,000 volt spark Would appear here.

And then you have these Four jets here shooting out gas.

As soon as it exits Over this fork here,

Will ignite and a ball of flame Will shoot out

On both sides Of the vehicle,

Incapacitating the hijackers Immediately.

Narrator: the reason these Devices were fitted to vehicles

Was a rise in recent decades

In the number of attacks On cars and drivers.

there was a huge spike In the number of carjackings.

Narrator: On september 26, 2014 in mexico,

43 students on a bus Are forcibly abducted

And never seen again.

As a result, There were several companies

That tried To develop countermeasures.

Narrator: hundreds of vehicles Were fitted

With defensive flame throwers.

But the defensive flamethrowers Attached to vehicles

Eject a relatively Small amount of fuel --

Enough to deter a carjacker Standing by the vehicle,

Not enough to roast Dozens of pedestrians.

Civil engineer Brian wolshon considers

If this nightmare explosion

Could be An unintended consequence

Of a type of fuel called Liquid petroleum gas, or lpg.

and it's a fuel source That comes from the refining

of both natural gas And oil.

One of The significant advantages

To liquid petroleum gas

Is it only costs about half The price of diesel fuel.

In fact, in poland,

There are over two million Lpg vehicles on the road.

Narrator: lpg is being promoted As a green fuel

Since it gives off Less carbon dioxide.

But its critics claim That if handled incorrectly,

It can be unstable And explosive.

Kutcher: when you see The impact, it's so violent,

It's just rocketing Right out the side of it

As almost if somebody is inside Holding a flame thrower,

Just shooting it right Out of the side of the van.

so this is most certainly

something other than Gasoline or diesel.

Narrator: pyrotechnics expert Matt kutcher

Has spent over 20 years

Working with explosives For hollywood movies.

It did quick business of that, Didn't it?

Hit it!

I just love it When a plan comes together.

Narrator: kutcher sets up An experiment

To test the theory

That the explosion was caused By a ruptured lpg tank.

Let's do this, guys. Let's get this up here,

Bring out the hose.

So we're gonna fill This tank up with lpg.

So then we have fuel And pressure to simulate

The fuel tank that we see In this van exploding

And acting Like a flame thrower.

[ crash ]

♪♪

We're gonna take This knife.

We're gonna push it Through this propane tank.

That'll be just like That van, right?

Big puncture from The impact of the crash,

Right through The propane tank.

And now that We've ruptured the tank,

We're gonna add ignition.

So we're gonna put A pyrotechnic charge outside,

A flash pack.

Hopefully, it'll look exactly Like the flame thrower...

Effect that we see In the video.

♪♪

so now, let's run it Through the paces

and get a big bang, huh?

♪♪

Guys, we're all but hot. Let's get ready to go.

[ horn blares ]

Narrator: coming up, Matt kutcher discovers

If the blast from the van Was a result of lpg gas...

This is gonna be big.

Hit it.

...And in ukraine,

Two men stumble across Freaky foliage

That has the ability To communicate.

How does it sound Like grass is talking?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: an out-of-control van Collides with a car

On a city road Followed by an explosion

And a mysterious jet of flames

Bursting from The side of the vehicle.

Pyrotechnics expert Matt kutcher

Has filled a fuel tank With liquid petroleum gas.

To see if it matches The explosion in the video.

Kutcher: let's go ahead And do this thing, right?

We're gonna have to Get out of the way.

This is gonna be big.

And in 3, 2, 1, Hit it.

♪♪

♪♪

Now, that was a bang!

Let's go. Come on.

Go check out What we got.

You can see that There's a split second of time

That all the gas escaped.

It became a flame thrower, And we saw the flame effect.

so I think With our experiment,

we certainly have the answer To what we see in that video.

♪♪

narrator: lpg creates A deadly threat on our streets.

wolshon: So unlike diesel fuel,

lpg is stored As a compressed liquid.

but if an lpg tank Is ever ruptured,

that liquid will rapidly Turn into a gas.

munoz: now, depending on how The tank is ruptured,

you may have One, two, three,

or several streams Of lpg gas shooting out.

now, if any of those streams Happen to catch aflame,

you've got a flame thrower.

♪♪

Narrator: the number of lpg cars In north america

Has increased by 35 percent In the past four years.

Wolshon: With more and more vehicles

Being converted to lpg In the united states,

We could be seeing a lot more Flame throwers on the road.

♪♪

Narrator: now, weird noises from A large rusting metal tower.

[ groans ]

Two men touch the tower With a weed.

The plant burns, And incredibly,

Starts to sing and speak.

[ indistinct music plays ]

[ laughs ]

[ indistinct music plays ]

What the heck Is going on here?

Woman: every time He takes the grass

And touches the object,

It seems to sing, And that is so weird.

Narrator: the men cry out, Writhing in pain.

The guy holding the grass, He's there screaming in pain.

Pickens: They definitely have access

To something that They shouldn't be playing with.

♪♪

Narrator: ukraine.

This is a country with A truly dark and weird past.

Once part of The soviet empire,

It's the site of chernobyl,

The worst nuclear disaster Of all time.

30 years later,

Children are still being born With severe birth defects.

♪♪

October 2015,

In a suburb on the outskirts Of the ukrainian capital, kyiv,

Two men approach A metal structure.

One of them touches it With the stem of a weed.

[ static ]

[ indistinct speaking ]

Immediately As the weed burns,

Strange voices and music Seem to come from the plant.

[ indistinct speaking ]

This is wild. How is this possible?

How does it sound Like grass is talking?

[ indistinct speaking Continues ]

Holy cow. That's pretty Unusual and weird.

Narrator: the plant appears To be talking and singing,

But then it transmits Searing pain

In the man holding it.

Pickens: The grass is burning.

People are getting Really excited.

They're dropping it. What is going on here?

♪♪

Narrator: The tower is rusty and old.

It looks like a relic From the soviet era.

If it was erected During the cold war,

What was its purpose?

I mean, it looks like it could Be beaming out a message...

or receiving one.

Man #2: so it makes you wonder, Is this something

We don't know about, Some operation going on

And they happened to get Caught up in it?

Narrator: coming up,

Is the weird grass Singing a secret message,

Or a warning?

Teitel: if the guy Holding the grass

Were to touch The metal himself,

He would be severely burned Or potentially even killed.

Narrator: and a legendary beast Hunts for prey

In england's Second biggest city.

Whoa. That thing's huge.

♪♪

♪♪

[ speaking in Native language ]

Narrator: on the outskirts Of kyiv, ukraine,

Two men have stumbled across A giant metal tower.

When they touch it With weeds,

The vegetation Appears to play sounds.

[ rhythmic music plays ]

It seems beyond doubt

That the plant Is making this strange noise.

But how?

if it is A radio transmitter,

it would have to be operating At an extremely high voltage.

narrator: but even then, Radio transmitters

don't normally cause

the surrounding countryside To sing.

tim pickens decides To conduct an experiment

to see if he can replicate The effect seen in the video.

what I want to do is see If we can transmit music

through, like, A blade of grass

And see If this really works.

Narrator: tim uses A 50,000 volt transformer

To replicate the giant metallic Radio transmitter in the video.

This is a very high-powered Device for a lab scale.

So, yeah, this thing Is really dangerous,

And it is not advisable.

We got to be careful.

Narrator: then tim plugs The transformer into a computer

Through which He will play an audio file.

We are not using The speaker from here.

We're just using An audio out

And it's going into This device.

I want to Take this leaf and see,

Could this become a speaker?

I didn't like their music,

So I chose "The ride of the valkyries."

So let me go ahead And turn this device on.

No music playing.

Got about A 50,000 volt spark

Coming off there.

Let's see what happens When we touch it,

Just like They touch the tower.

What would happen here?

Narrator: when tim touches The transmitter with the leaf,

The effect is extraordinary.

Pickens: This is playing music.

You can hear it. There is no speaker here.

This is the speaker.

[ music plays ]

Narrator: as the massive voltage Hits the leaf,

It transforms the air around it, Not into a solid or a liquid,

But into a fourth Fundamental state of matter,

Straight out of Science fiction.

It is creating plasma.

When the grass burns, It ionizes the air,

Effectively ripping The air molecules apart

And creating a plasma.

It also releases A huge amount of energy.

The cool thing here Is the amount of energy

Passing through the metal

Affects how much the air Is being ripped apart.

And every time That changes,

It changes the sound To higher and lower pitches.

[ music plays ]

This effectively creates What's called a plasma speaker.

Narrator: Despite appearances,

The leaf is not acting As a speaker.

The noise is coming From the plasma itself

Around the leaf.

[ music plays sporadically ]

A huge and dangerous Invisible force is at work.

Whew! So it got me.

It came through here, Shot the fire at me.

Not good. You can smell skin burning.

So this is definitely A phenomena that's no fun.

Whew.

[ inhales deeply, Groans ]

Narrator: these men Have stumbled on

Strange And incredibly powerful forces,

Which they probably Don't understand.

If the guy holding the grass Were to touch the metal himself,

He would be severely burned Or potentially even killed.

Narrator: What this old soviet tower

Is transmitting Remains a mystery.

But one thing is certain,

Local ukrainians would be Well advised to steer clear.

This phenomenon is Ridiculously incredible.

It's so super cool, But also super dangerous.

So you might want to stick To normal speakers.

[ man laughs ]

♪♪

Narrator: now, in england, A savage beast

That is supposed to have died Out from here centuries ago.

What is it? And how did it get there?

Whoa. That thing's huge.

Narrator: Great britain is an island,

And there have been No big cats here

For more than 1,000 years.

To the british, this looks More like a mythical beast,

The equivalent of bigfoot.

The most notorious Big cat story in england

Is the beast Of bodmin moor.

[ helicopter blades whir ]

Narrator: The bustling, sprawling

Metropolis of birmingham.

After london, This is england's biggest city.

A city that dates way back

To the industrial revolution And beyond.

May 14, 2018. It's late evening.

In this urban area,

Home security cameras Capture an impossible site.

That is one massive animal On the loose.

Narrator: coming up, Why is this alpha predator

On the nighttime streets Of a british city?

Samuel: the really Terrifying thing here

Is that these big cats

Can be looking for live prey.

And a drug lord's mansion Is seconds away from demolition.

But do cameras capture him Still inside?

Wise: as this thing's About to go down,

It looks like this person Dressed in white moving inside.

What is that? Who is that? And why are they in there?

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: In birmingham, england,

Security cameras Have caught images

Of a large creature Prowling the streets.

Local residents Are terrified.

The largest carnivore In the u.K. Is the badger.

Its diet, Largely earthworms.

This is not what I want to see Stalking my parking lot.

Man: it has to be there For a reason.

And unfortunately, If someone crosses that path,

That reason may be fatal.

♪♪

Narrator: the last wolf On the island of britain

Was killed Over 250 years ago.

The last big cats left Over 1,000 years before that.

Tomlinson: this was filmed In birmingham --

not alabama, england.

and there, they don't have Any large predators.

mccourt: what I'm trying To do here

is get A frame of reference

to see how big This creature is.

the standard size of a dumpster In the u.K. Is over 3 feet.

I can extrapolate that this Creature is about 2 feet tall.

Narrator: other creatures That can grow to 2 feet tall

Include jaguars, Pumas, and wolves.

In the u.K., They don't have wild animals

Just roaming Around the streets.

Narrator: there are Horrifying beasts here,

But they're meant to be The stuff of legend and fiction.

[ howling ]

The most famous is "The hound of the baskervilles,"

Where sherlock holmes Investigates

A series of murders On a moor

Attributed to a fearsome Supernatural hellhound.

The book was inspired By the real story

Of squire richard cabell Of brook hall,

Who murdered his wife

And is said to have Sold his soul to the devil.

♪♪

After his death, He is said to have been seen

Hunting on dartmoor With a phantom pack of hounds.

[ barking and howling ]

♪♪

but the beast in the footage Is no hound.

this creature Doesn't look like a dog.

it holds its head low

And it rolls its shoulders Back as it walks.

It also has A long upturned tail.

It looks kind of Like a cat to me.

Narrator: it reminds Many british people

Of a creature said To stalk the moors

Of the english west country.

They call it "The beast of bodmin moor."

Montieth: for many centuries, There's been reports of big cats

On the english countryside.

The most notorious big cat story In england

Is "The beast Of bodmin moor" --

a big cat that roams The moor at nighttime.

there've been Hundreds of sightings.

narrator: most believe This creature to be a myth.

but in 1993,

a woman claimed she was attacked By the beast of bodmin.

jane fuller was walking Her dogs out on bodmin moor

and a huge beast Sprang out,

Knocked her down, And knocked her out.

When she Regained consciousness,

She saw what she said Looked like a puma

Only about 30 feet away.

Fortunately, her dogs protected Her from it and scared it away.

♪♪

narrator: civil engineer Brian wolshon finds a clue

in a change to british law Made over 40 years ago.

wolshon: well, the 1976 Dangerous wild animals act

Effectively was targeted

at people who were Actually keeping wild animals,

in some cases, Very large wild animals,

In their houses.

Narrator: In the swinging '60s,

It was all the rage To own a big cat.

Paul raymond, a porn baron And property magnet,

Famously kept a pet cheetah In his soho apartment.

It was even possible To buy lion cubs

From the luxury Department store harrods.

And the intent of the act Was to say

That if you do have One of these animals,

You have to keep them, Number one,

In an appropriate enclosure.

The second part of this Was to make sure

That these animals would never Endanger the public.

Narrator: but many Wild animal owners

Didn't want to keep their pets Cooped up in cages,

And they effectively just Released their animals

Into the wild.

Narrator: The most famous individual

To have allegedly Defied this act

Is the animal trainer Mary chipperfield.

So she actually supplied Many of the animals

That were used in the 1967 film "Doctor dolittle."

she also worked At the plymouth zoo.

now, when the plymouth zoo, When it ran out of money

and closed down In the 1970s,

It's rumored That she actually released

Three pumas into the wild.

So it's possible that This animal we see on the clip

Could be one of These missing pumas

Or a descendent Of one of these cats.

Narrator: it's thought Chipperfield's pumas

Are not the only beasts To be roaming england.

so it's rumored that there Are big cats being raised

and released In the cornwall area

Just so wealthy hunters Can go and shoot them.

Kind of like a safari, But not in africa.

It's on the moor.

Narrator: but if it's true That big cats

Have been released Deliberately,

The hunted appear to have Turned into the hunters.

In the u.S., It's common for wild bears

To roam into residential areas In search of food.

And even in india,

With a very, very high Population density,

Leopards have been known,

Actually, to enter into cities Looking for food.

[ people screaming ]

Leslie samuel fears That it may not be

Just people's garbage That this giant cat is after.

Samuel: the really Terrifying thing here

Is that these big cats Can be looking for live prey.

It could be looking to prey On our own beloved pets.

Narrator: over 70,000 pets Are reported missing

In the u.K. Every year.

In september 2017,

A londoner saw What they believed to be

A large predator eating The carcass of a domestic cat.

Could this creature In birmingham be on the hunt

For a pet cat to munch on?

♪♪

Narrator: wherever this big cat Has come from,

It looks dangerous.

Big cats have to eat,

And your pets Are probably very tasty.

And once they eat the pets, Will they be coming for you?

[ growling and snarling ]

♪♪

Narrator: now, in the city Of medellín in colombia,

The luxury home Of pablo escobar,

The most successful drug lord In human history,

Stripped bare And about to be blown up.

Escobar's life Was full of controversy,

Full of violence, Full of death.

Narrator: A camera is set up

To film The explosive demolition,

But captures something else Seconds before.

What is that? Who is that? And why are they in there?

Narrator: experts fear That the king of cocaine

May have a final score To settle.

♪♪

Columbia, the criminal base Of pablo escobar,

The wealthiest drug lord In history.

[ indistinct speaking ]

Worth the equivalent Of 70 billion dollars,

More than 20 times as rich

As businessman And president donald trump.

♪♪

At its height, Escobar's drug cartel

Is exporting to the u.S. 15 tons of cocaine a day.

It has been estimated That their criminal activities

Led to the death Of 5,000 people.

Man: this is The most violent of cities.

There's a killing here Every three hours.

Gottlieb: this man was Single handedly responsible

For about 80 percent Of the cocaine

That was exported To countries around the world.

Pablo escobar Is the number one

Most notorious Violent drug kingpin

The world has ever known.

Narrator: medellín in colombia, February 22, 2019,

It's late morning.

The local government decreed That pablo escobar's

Luxury six-story Private apartment complex

Should be destroyed As a symbolic act.

The giant deluxe home called "Monaco" was built for his wife,

But it was from here That escobar and his lieutenants

Planned many Of their most daring acts.

There was nothing or no one He couldn't buy,

And that meant politicians And beautiful homes,

Including this one...

Where this footage Was filmed.

Narrator: it was a maze Of unimaginable luxury.

Two swimming pools, A tennis court,

And countless Hidden passageways,

Exits, And secret chambers.

♪♪

seconds before Escobar's mansion is blown up,

something or someone Seems to be still inside.

as this thing's About to go down,

it looks like This kind of figure, a person,

dressed in white Moving inside.

Narrator: moments later, There is a huge explosion

And the building collapses,

Taking with it The figure seen in the image.

♪♪

to see this kind of ghostly Apparition moving through

what appears to be An abandoned building

is kind of shocking In and of itself.

and then when you find out

who used to occupy That building,

it turns Even more sinister.

Narrator: is this the ghost Of escobar, as some claim?

Or is it escobar himself Still hiding out

Years after His reported death?

♪♪

Coming up...

Have cameras captured The final moments of a monster?

There are Very conflicting accounts

About how pablo escobar Was killed.

Narrator: And in the skies above china,

An astonishing megacity Appears in the clouds.

That is not what I expect When I look up in the sky.

♪♪

♪♪

narrator: in the city Of medellín in columbia,

a camera captures A strange white figure

in pablo escobar's mansion Seconds before it's destroyed.

♪♪

Pablo escobar is The al capone of our generation.

He wrote The book on ruthless.

Narrator: after committing A multitude of heinous crimes,

In 1991, The colombian authorities

Put pressure on escobar To surrender himself.

He agrees to be In his own luxury prison,

Which is guarded By escobar's own men.

pablo escobar Was someone who felt

like he was entitled To own everyone and everything.

Narrator: the so-called prison Was nicknamed "Hotel escobar."

Among the luxuries, Its sole prisoner enjoyed

A rotating bed, a jacuzzi, A soccer field,

And even a nightclub.

But none of this Was enough,

And he soon went Back on the run.

In december 1993, he is reported To have been shot dead.

♪♪

Columbia is A christian country,

But religious belief here

Carries echoes Of an older pagan past.

And for poor colombian's,

Escobar's immeasurable Wealth and power

Bordered On the supernatural.

so it's been thought That this may be

the restless soul Of pablo escobar

that, for some reason, Is roaming around the building.

♪♪

Narrator: But maybe this is not a spirit,

But a very real person --

One of escobar's own men Or a looter

Desperate to retrieve Some hidden hoards of cash.

Escobar literally made

Billions and billions Of dollars, gobs of money.

It's not like pablo Could just walk into a bank

With a billion dollars And deposit it.

there's a reason he bought So many properties

he had to have a place To stash his loot --

under the floorboards, In the walls, in the gardens.

he had to Put this money somewhere,

and he did. Billions.

and some of it Has not been found.

♪♪

Narrator: this, escobar's Main penthouse block,

Was literally Stuffed with money,

Much of it Possibly undiscovered.

Is it possible This is a looter

Inside one of Pablo escobar's properties

Looking for gold, Money, weapons? Yeah.

If that's the case, This is someone who's having

A very, very bad day.

♪♪

Narrator: or could escobar Have faked his own death?

There is no doubt That he had

The resources, means, And ingenuity to do it.

There's a lot of contention Surrounding

How pablo escobar Actually died.

Narrator: suspiciously, It's still not clear

Who exactly killed escobar.

Moran: the police officially Took credit for his death,

But a vigilante group

Comprised of Many of escobar's enemies

Also said That it was one of their forces

Who took the final shot.

Narrator: different accounts Come from escobar's own family.

Mcmahon: pablo escobar was, Needless to say,

A very proud man.

And his son says That he would never wanted

to have been taken alive.

that he was determined, If it was the end,

if he was cornered, He would take his own life.

There are Very conflicting accounts

About how pablo escobar Was killed.

♪♪

Whether a looter, A henchman, or the man himself,

If this thing was human, Then it's surely dead now.

This is one of those cases You just don't know

What the camera Caught on tape.

Narrator: it's a fittingly weird And dramatic end

To the story Of pablo escobar.

Escobar's life Was full of controversy,

Full of violence, Full of death.

So it seems quite fitting That when his own mansion

Is blown up, There's controversy.

♪♪

Narrator: Now, in the skies above china,

A ghostly city appears.

Wow.

That is not what I expect When I look up in the sky.

Narrator: It's not an ancient city,

But a modern metropolis Suspended in the clouds.

The people on the ground Had to be terrified.

This looks like a genuine city In the sky above them.

♪♪

narrator: Guangdong, china.

this urban industrial sprawl

was once a land of peasants, Farms, and temples.

♪♪

People here are still followers Of buddhism, taoism,

And other ancient forms Of worship.

October 2015,

Thousands of residents In the city of foshan

Report a vision In the skies above.

It's captured on video.

♪♪

foster: so, it looks like A modern metropolis --

these huge tower blocks floating In the sky above the clouds.

and it looks like It's just hovering there,

just off in the distance.

narrator: within hours, The video goes viral.

and as even reported On official state t.V.

What on earth is it?

I-I don't know How this is possible.

Narrator: whatever it is, It doesn't look natural.

It's a ghost city Over a neighborhood.

Foster: If you've ever watched

Star wars and "The empire strikes back,"

There's cloud city Floating in the cloud.

The question is, could this be An actual floating city?

♪♪

narrator: coming up, experts ask If this strange city in the sky

is a threat to the west.

is this some kind of signal That the chinese authorities

are manufacturing Virtual cities,

or even virtual armies?

♪♪

♪♪

narrator: In guangdong province, china,

cameras have caught What appears to be

a floating city Looming in the clouds.

♪♪

science author linda zimmerman Studies the footage

and recalls medieval accounts Of a city seen in the sky.

zimmerman: floating cities Are not the idea

of a modern world.

it actually goes back To the 9th century

when there was this myth

of a land That was floating above us.

Narrator: the medieval french Called it "Magonia."

It was believed to be A hellish city in the sky

Occupied by pirates.

It's a tantalizing concept

To think That there's some sort of,

Perhaps, other civilization That's above us

And we only get a glimpse of it On very, very rare occasions.

Narrator: in china, too, There was a belief

In such a kingdom In the sky.

It was said to have been The home of the jade emperor.

the jade emperor is reckoned To be the king of heaven

in charge Of all of the other deities.

he's also got A very important role

as the avenger of evil.

some people believe He's the crowned prince

of the celestial kingdom In the sky.

♪♪

narrator: but what could explain This very modern celestial city?

former cia operative Lindsay moran

considers A worrying possibility.

deepfake is a technique Essentially involving

image synthesis.

And it takes images or videos And superimposes them

Onto other source images Or videos,

Creating what is essentially One really realistic looking,

But entirely fake Image or video.

Narrator: Deepfake is a powerful weapon

In the hands Of a totalitarian regime.

Western leaders Can be made to say

And do things they haven't.

An american president Could be made

To insult Whole populations,

To make threats of war, Or even order a nuclear attack.

♪♪

but this cannot be Video manipulation,

for it was seen widely By locals with their own eyes.

news reports stated That thousands of people

had actually witnessed This phenomenon.

♪♪

Narrator: when theoretical Physicist michio kaku

Views the footage,

He wonders if the floating city Could be some kind of

Natural reflection of nearby Tower blocks on the ground.

fata morgana refers to A very specific kind of mirage.

Mirages seem to defy The ordinary laws of logic.

Narrator: fata morganas Usually form

When cold air at the surface

Is covered by a warm layer Higher in the atmosphere.

Rays of light pass through

The different air masses And bend,

Causing objects In the distance to appear

As if they're floating.

Granade: our brains assume

That light travels In a straight line.

it does most every other time That we look at things.

so our brains say, "Oh, that curved light,

It's not that it's curved, It's that it's coming

In a straight line From somewhere up in the air."

It's sort of like A funhouse mirror.

Man: so I've got a feeling That getting a mirage of a city

That is nearby to this location Appearing in the sky.

Narrator: but there's a problem With this theory.

You need a setup where

The air is cold near the ground And hot slightly above that.

These things tend to happen Over oceans and over deserts

And often happen Near the horizon,

not up In the middle of the sky.

♪♪

narrator: To some chinese people,

this remains a vision Of the celestial city

of the jade emperor, The king of gods.

but to scientists, It remains a mystery.

foster: obviously, my dream Would be that it is

actually a floating city

and someone Has conquered gravity.

but honestly, Looking at it again and again,

I just can't figure out What it is.