All language subtitles for Strange.Evidence.S04E03.When.Bigfoot.Attacks.1080p.MAX.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BETHELL_track3_[eng]

[ camera whirs ]

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:
This is unbelievable, man.

Narrator: experts carry out
Forensic analysis

Of these unusual events.

Now, that's an explosion.

♪♪

[ screaming ]

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

Something we're not
Seeing, right?

What else is going on here?

[ creature roars ]

Narrator:
In the canadian wilderness,

Something big and angry
Goes on the attack.

Man: wow!

Whatever than thing is
Is super strong.

Narrator: a farmer films
A horrific harvest --

Half animal, half vegetable.

Is that a plant
Growing out of a rat?

Are you kidding me?

Narrator: and thousands of miles
From any war zone,

A mysterious object falls
Onto a peaceful village.

Oluseyi:
Hearing these people scream,

You could tell that
Something is very wrong.

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: bizarre phenomenon.

Whoa.

Narrator:
Mysteries caught on camera.

What's the truth behind
This strange evidence?

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

captions paid for by
Discovery communications

♪♪

Now on a remote, fog-bound
Canadian construction site,

Something terrifying
Comes out of the woods.

When the footage is enhanced,

We see what appears to be
A creature

With superhuman strength.

This squat, brownish figure

Seems to have chucked
This tree like,

I don't know, 30, 40 feet.

Narrator: terrified workers
React in panic

As it rampages in the mist.

You know that's got to weigh
A couple hundred pounds,

And he launches it like
It's a tinker toy.

What is this? Is it a man?

Is it a woman?

Is it a creature?

[ creature roars ]

[ camera whirs ]

♪♪

Narrator: alberta,
A vast canadian province

Of mountains and forest.

61% of its land is wilderness,

And its trees
Are a rich resource.

Over 18,000 people here
Work in logging,

Producing timber,
Pulp wood, and biofuels,

An industry worth
$7 billion a year.

[ helicopter blades whirring ]

2015, contractors preparing
To get to work at a remote site

Spot something prowling
In the mist.

[ creature roars ]

One of the men grabs his phone
And starts to film.

it's kind of spooky
To begin with

because it's this kind of
Shadowy, murky figure,

You know, just sort of peeking,

Just barely visible
At the tree line.

Narrator: the terrified men
Watch in horror,

All witnessing the same
Disturbing event unfold.

they're swearing,
They're scared.

narrator: the workers are
Convinced they have seen someone

or something displaying
An immense show of force.

it's a big creature,
And I don't think

that person taking the video
Footage is far enough back.

narrator: former nypd
Image analyst conor mccourt

runs the video through
His enhancement software.

there's a mist, and there are
Shadows from the forest.

this all causes the image
To be blurry.

What I'm gonna do here
Is do a level adjustment.

It adjusts the brightness
And the contrast.

There we go.

This is our target right here.

Narrator:
Mccourt's enhancement clearly
Reveals the figure in the woods

And its incredible strength.

Man: wow!

whatever that thing is
Is super strong.

I don't know the size
Of that tree or its weight,

But man, it really flies.

Kasky: when you look at
The size of canada

And the amount of square miles

That are unexplored,
Uninhabitable,

There's no telling
What's in there.

♪♪

Narrator:
Reports of bigfoot-like
Creatures in north america

Stretch back hundreds of years,

Although no concrete evidence

Has ever been found
For their existence.

♪♪

As forests and wilderness spaces
On the continent are depleted,

The number of sightings has
Increased by 248% since 2011.

there are thousands of reports
In north america alone.

There's something out there that
We're coming into contact with

More and more.

Narrator:
Mccourt's analysis is unable to
Confirm the creature's identity,

But he does believe
The video is genuine.

Mccourt: it doesn't seem like
There's any cuts,

Special effects,
Or anything like that,

But maybe there's
Something going on,

Like a man in a monkey suit,
That has to be considered.

If an ordinary human
Were to do that,

They would need super strength.

Narrator: mccourt establishes
The size and weight of the tree

Thrown by the apparent humanoid
Creature in the footage.

Mccourt: it looks to be
About 12 feet long.

I've calculated that the
Projectile travels

From left to right
About 40 feet.

narrator: that would mean this
Tree weighs around 175 pounds.

♪♪

Matt kutcher has worked
For over 20 years

As a hollywood explosives
And ballistics expert.

To find out if a human
Is capable of doing it,

Kutcher wants to know
How much force it takes

To make a log of this size

Fly the 40-foot distance
Seen in the footage.

that's what this
Experiment will be.

it will be us with a log

seeing just how to get
Something that heavy

To fly through the air.

Narrator:
Kutcher thinks he's got
The perfect tool for the job.

Come on in, come on in!

Don't be scared.
The water's fine. Let's go.

So, what we have here
Is a car flipper.

It's what we use in hollywood.

It flips cars, buses, boats.

But today, we're actually
Going to put this log on it

And try to mimic
What we've seen in that video.

Narrator: but first, his team
Needs to modify the rig

So that it can
Hurl the tree trunk

In a forward direction.

Kutcher: let's bolt this
Piece on and get this log on it.

We're gonna need a forklift
To get us all the way, right?

Narrator: the flipper operates
Using pressurized nitrogen gas.

Let's go ahead and fill this
Thing with air and make this go.

Narrator: kutcher can adjust
The amount of gas being used

To launch the log
The distance seen in the video.

Kutcher:
Okay, what do you got now?

Man: we're at about 500 psi
On the high side.

Kutcher begins by loading
The pneumatic cannisters

With around 600 pounds
Per square inch of pressure,

The flipper's minimum
Operating force.

We're at 600 now
On the high side.

Kutcher:
Excellent. Here we go.

Disconnect. Let's go.

So, gentlemen,
Let's get in places,

Make sure all the cameras
Are rolling,

And get this thing to fall
Like she's in the forest.

All right, we ready?

All right, let's go hot.

[ air horn blows ]

3, 2, 1, timber.

[ metal clangs ]

♪♪

Kutcher: I mean, come on.
Is that not fun or what?

[ chuckles ]
It's amazing.

It took a lot of force
To get it there,

But it seems like we've hit
The 20 and 40.

Narrator: the log is hurled
Almost 40 feet,

A similar distance as the
Tree trunk in the footage.

But kutcher doesn't believe
This proves an ordinary person

Is capable of this mighty feat.

Kutcher: so, the average
Human could exert

Somewhere around
200 pounds of force.

This, at 600 psi, is about
40,000 pounds of force.

That's a heck of a lot more
Than a human.

Narrator: that means
Whoever chucked this log

Is 200 times stronger
Than a normal human being.

Not even martins licis,
2019's world's strongest man,

Has that kind of power.

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

Something we're not
Seeing, right?

Like, what is it that possibly
Could throw something

That hard and that far?

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: coming up...

Does a secret cyborg technology

Offer a clue to the
Alberta tree chucker?

morgan: the superhuman strength
That we're seeing

may have been created

Through the use of an
Exoskeleton system.

Narrator: and in oklahoma,

Locals report a poltergeist
In a parking lot.

There have been sightings
Of ghosts in old-time clothing,

Lights dramatically
Flashing on and off.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:
Construction-site workers in
The canadian wilderness

Are terrified by an incredibly
Powerful humanoid figure

That seems to pitch
A 175-pound tree

Over 40 feet across the ground.

No ordinary person could do
What is captured in the footage.

Military historian
Marty morgan considers

If loggers could be using
A top secret machine-like suit

That gives them the muscle
To move heavy logs.

so, the superhuman strength
That we're seeing demonstrated

in this film footage
May have been created

through the use of an
Exoskeleton system.

wise: there's an actual suit
That's under development

called the guardian xo suit.

its intended purpose is for,
Like, the construction industry.

this would be a way that
You would enable a worker

to accomplish more.

You can imagine somebody,

Perhaps, testing a prototype
Of this suit in the wilderness

In, maybe, kind of a logging
Camp kind of environment.

♪♪

Narrator: but after kevin kasky
Studies the footage, he suspects

This might be a powerful animal
Native to alberta.

in the canadian woods,
The apex predator

is probably the grizzly bear,

so it could be
What we're seeing there.

[ roars ]

Narrator: grizzly bears can
Weigh up to 1,700 pounds

And can easily lift
Over a 1/2 a ton.

But they don't have
Arms like us.

They have four legs.

It's not physically possible
For them to throw an object

In the way seen in the footage.

we do know examples where bears
Play with rocks

or manipulate them and possibly
Even throw them a little bit.

But the idea of
A single-handed launch

Of something like a javelin,

To my knowledge,
Is completely new.

Narrator:
One animal that does possess
Both the strength and dexterity

To chuck a tree trunk

Is the silverback gorilla.

The male can easily lift
1,800 pounds

And, if in danger,
Will aggressively defend

Their territory.

But that's still not
Powerful enough

To explain the incredible
Strength seen in the footage.

There's no way of knowing what
We're seeing in these woods.

Whatever it is, it's big
And it's powerful.

But we do know that if you're
Working in the outdoors

And you see whatever that was,
That threw that tree that far,

I don't think you'd want
To venture off alone.

[ cameras whir ]

Now, in an oklahoma parking lot,

All the lights start
To flash wildly.

[ electricity crackling ]

This is literally a scene
From a horror movie.

Narrator:
This sinister flickering rages

As though beating out a message
From beyond the grave.

Normally, you don't see
The lights flashing at all.

I mean, they're either on
Or they're off.

Something is warning people,
"Stay away."

Narrator: locals connect
This ominous flashing

To a nearby schoolhouse

With a disturbing reputation.

Even the security guards
Have quit

Rather than spend the night
At this location.

The guy in that video
Needs to get out of there.

[ camera whirs ]

♪♪

Narrator: edmond, oklahoma.

This sleepy railroad town...

[ train horn blares ]

Established in 1889 during
The great oklahoma land run

Is one of the oldest
In the state.

Considered the crown jewel
Of oklahoma,

93,000 people call this home.

January 8, 2018.

Local resident joshua trope

Is returning from
An evening shopping trip.

As I was walking out
Of the store,

I saw people running
Very fast to their cars,

Just kind of covering
Their eyes,

And my initial thought went,
"What is going on?"

Narrator: then he sees
The lights flashing

As though controlled
By some inhuman intelligence.

He starts to film.

It's kind of spooky --
You're in the middle

Of a parking lot
In the middle of the night.

It's pitch black.

And the lights just kind of
Flash in a sort of pattern.

I've never seen anything
Like that.

if I came out of a store and saw
Lights flashing like that,

I'd think something
Was very wrong,

And I'd be really concerned,
"What's going to happen next?"

My initial thought was,

"Wow, I am in a horror movie
Like 'poltergeist.'"

[ electricity crackling ]

♪♪

Narrator: trope is one of
A number of locals

Who believe they know
The cause of the lights

Flashing with strange menace.

Just a few blocks away
From here,

There's supposedly
A ghost that roams

Around central middle school.

Historians have said
That this school was built

On unmarked graves of
Early pioneers in the 1800s.

Narrator: not long after
The school opened,

Teachers and pupils
Begin to report

A series of
Disturbing phenomena.

There have been sightings
Of ghosts in old-time clothing,

Lights dramatically
Flashing on and off.

Narrator: the alarming activity
In the schoolhouse

now seems to have spread
To the parking lot

that lies just beyond it.

they're almost coordinated
In the way

they're turning off and on,
And it looks very spooky.

[ electricity crackling ]

♪♪

narrator:
Stephen granade wonders if
The strangely flashing lights

could be a sign
Of a deadly natural danger.

when I see something like these
Kinds of industrial lights

in a parking lot,
Flickering, that indicates

That something is wrong
With the power distribution,

And I start to worry,
Is something going to blow?

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: coming up...

Are these lights
Flickering out a warning?

This flashing could be
A precursor

To a potentially deadly event.

And a disturbing
Plant-rat hybrid.

There's so many
Questions about this.

It's a car wreck.

I have to look away,
But I got to keep looking back.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:
In oklahoma, the lights of
A parking lot flash ominously.

Locals connect it
To a nearby school

With a sinister reputation.

Chris walcek believes
Eyewitness joshua trope

Has found himself in the middle
Of a deadly blast

Of pure electricity.

Walcek: if this is the beginning
Of a power surge,

Anyone near here is in danger.

[ sparks crackle ]

Narrator: a power surge is
A massive explosion

Of uncontrolled
Electrical energy.

Unchecked,
These bursts of current

Coursing through
America's power networks...

[ alarm blaring ]

Kill over 400 people per year.

a power surge in a home
Can be deadly,

but this is a whole parking lot.

the amount of electricity
Involved here is huge.

I would be tempted to hightail
It out of there very quickly.

[ electricity crackling ]

narrator: if this is a
Potentially fatal power surge,

what might have triggered it?

one cause is an unusually
High spike in voltage

that comes directly
From the power grid itself.

what's strange about this

is it's only localized
To this parking lot.

if you look behind it,
All the other lights are normal.

So what is going on here?

Narrator: journalist jeff wise
Examines the footage.

He suspects the eerily
Flashing lights

Could be the work
Of a criminal gang.

well, this is taking place
In oklahoma, and oklahoma

has been experiencing
A spate of copper thefts.

so what could be happening here

is someone is stealing
Key pieces

of the electrical grid
That powers this light.

Narrator:
Copper has rocketed in value,
And in just eight months,

Oklahoma city has been stripped
Of over 13 miles of cable

Worth hundreds
Of thousands of dollars.

The brazen gangs disguise
Themselves as maintenance crews

Wearing safety vests
And hard hats.

In order to steal the copper,
They'll open up

The boxes at the base
Of two different lamp posts,

Cut the wires at one,

And pull the cabling
Through from the other,

And then cut it off
And carry it away.

Wallace:
Once you take the copper,

You've now lost the ground
To the system.

When the system
Has lost the ground,

You have the possibility
Of the lights flickering,

Being damaged.

Narrator: it's a theft that can
Have deadly consequences.

Now, this can be
A very dangerous

Proposition for the thief.

If he cuts the wrong wire,
He's not a thief anymore.

And in august of 2019,
A man was killed

While trying to steal

Some copper cable
From a radio transmitter.

Narrator: despite the risks,

the illicit trade continues to
Cause chaos across oklahoma.

and the threat to the public
Could be catastrophic.

If the lights go out
In the city,

Nighttime highways
Will become death traps.

Alleyways a mugger's paradise,

And hospitals without power
Will turn into morgues.

So knowing the history
Of this area

With the amount of
Copper thefts that we see,

It's a pretty good explanation

For what we're seeing
In this video.

[ electricity crackling ]

♪♪

[ cameras whir ]

Narrator: now, in an
Indian farmer's field,

A harvest of horror.

I that a plant growing
Out of a rat?

Are you kidding me?

What the heck? No!

Narrator: a living rat lies
Helplessly on the ground

As a plant seems to be
Emerging from its head.

That's pretty horrific.

I mean, I didn't even think
That it was possible.

Kasky: it's like some
Sort of sci-fi flick

Where the plants
Take over the host.

♪♪

[ camera whirs ]

♪♪

Narrator: india --
An agricultural powerhouse.

The world's biggest producer
Of mangoes, bananas, and lemons.

♪♪

In august 2018,
A farmer goes to check his field

And finds a very
Strange crop, indeed.

it looks likes someone's
Inspecting a field of crops,

and then they stumble upon
This rat that's stationary

And not running away.

[ speaking hindi ]

Narrator: the creature,
At first, appears lifeless.

Then the farmer tries
To move it.

Incredibly, it's alive,

And it's got a green stalk
Protruding from its head.

Washington: there's a plant
Growing out of the rat.

How is this possible?

Kasky: there's so many
Questions about this.

It's a car wreck.

I have to look away, but I got
To keep looking back.

♪♪

[ explosion ]

Narrator: science journalist
Steve potvin

Analyzes the footage and wonders

If the rat has been
Somehow impaled by the plant.

Looking a bit more closely,
It seems as though

the rat is stuck in place,

so maybe this plant
Has grown from the ground

and up through
The poor little rat.

Narrator: historian tony mcmahon
Considers if this plant

Could have the same
Qualities as bamboo.

He is reminded of
A gruesome punishment

Used by the japanese
Against american soldiers

During the second world war,

Recorded by author
Woon ping chin.

The accounts of bamboo torture
Are pretty grotesque,

the idea being that
The person to be tortured

is suspended in some way
Above some young bamboo shoots,

which are then deliberately
Sharpened into points.

kasky: bamboo can grow
An inch per hour,

so it wouldn't take very long

for that to pierce
The body of the captive.

narrator: this horrific torture
Was thought to be a myth

until 2008, when an
Experiment proved bamboo

really could puncture and
Push through human-like flesh.

the thought of plants growing
In living bodies

is the stuff of nightmares.

narrator: kevin kasky considers
If the rat in the video

has somehow become
The unlucky victim

of a similar
Plant-based torture.

kasky: when you look at
How a sprig grows,

it's a very powerful organism.

It has the ability to push
Rocks out of its way

As it busts through
The surface of the soil.

So the rat, if it was injured
And laying there,

It's no different
Than a rock laying there.

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: coming up...

Is this rat the victim
Of a killer crop?

It's hard to see how
This rat could survive,

Given what's happened to it.

Narrator: and a weird object
Falls from the sky and explodes.

Holy moly.
Was that supposed to happen?

[ indistinct shouting ]

♪♪

♪♪

narrator:
In an indian farmer's field,

a rat appears to have been
Impaled by a green plant.

but when tony mcmahon looks
Closer at the footage,

he makes a horrific discovery.

the stalk isn't coming
From the ground.

if you look at the video,
You'll see that the farmer

Turns the rat over,
And to our surprise,

There's nothing growing
Out of the other side.

So the plant hasn't grown
Through the rat.

It appears to be
Growing out of the rat.

Narrator: zoologist roland kays
Wonders if this plant

Could be some kind of parasite,
Harvesting the rat's brain.

it looks like the sapling is
Growing out the animal's brain,

and it seems
To be having an effect

because the animal itself

Doesn't seem to be able to have
Much control over where it goes.

Samuel:
Is it sucking out its brain?

Is it a zombie plant?

Washington: plants taking over
Another body has been a trope

In sci-fi movies for years,

but this right here looks like
It could be happening for real.

Narrator: danni washington
Studies other examples

Of organisms hitching a ride
On the brains of their hosts.

Washington:
In the amazon jungle,
There is a parasitic fungus

That takes over
The body of tarantulas.

So it can serve its own purpose
Of regenerating.

Narrator: the fungus spores
Burrow into the tarantula's body

And begin to devour the spider
From the inside out,

Slowly replacing
The host's tissue with its own.

When the unfortunate
Victim is dead,

The killer fungi embarks on
The next stage of its plan

For jungle domination.

the fungus grows out of its head
And puts its little spores out

At the top where there's
A lot of wind,

And the spores
Are caught by the wind

And go on to
Infect more victims.

Could this rat
Have fallen victim

To a similar parasitic organism?

Narrator:
Biologist leslie samuel
Identifies the species of plant

Growing out of the rat.

It's a soya bean seedling.

Samuel:
It looks like a sapling plant,

And when they grow up
From the seed,

All they need is somewhere dark,

They need some water,
And some nutrients.

Narrator: the brain is the
Perfect fertilizer for plants --

Moist, dark,
And full of nutrients.

great news for
The parasitical plant.

bad news for the rat.

What will follow will be a slow
And agonizing death as the roots

Suck out the nutrition
In its tiny cerebellum.

Did, somehow, a seed
From a soya plant

Get underneath the rat's skin
And grow there?

Narrator: cases of parasitical
Plant growth have been found

In other mammals,
Even humans.

Amazingly,
There have been some cases

Where plants have germinated
Inside of a body.

In 2010, massachusetts man
Ron sveden

Is rushed to the hospital
Suffering a collapsed lung.

An emergency x-ray reveals
A horrifying dark entity.

The mass actually turned out
To be a pea shoot

That went down the wrong way
And sprouted in his lung.

It wouldn't have got the
Leaves and the branches yet,

But it did germinate,
And it was 2 inches long

When the doctors pulled it out.

narrator:
This rat somehow seems to be
Suffering from the same fate.

the plant doesn't care whether
It's soil or brain tissue,

as long as it has what it needs.

So it's perfectly plausible
That, you know,

If a seed got into a wound

Or some opening, into the head,
It started growing.

♪♪

That's kind of scary
If you think about it.

[ cameras whir ]

♪♪

Narrator: now the tranquility of
An ancient village is shattered

By an unidentified
Falling object.

[ explosion ]

Wow.

It just comes plummeting
Out of the sky.

It looks like a bomb.

Narrator:
But its shape and trajectory

Are like no bomb
Ever seen before.

Panicking locals watch
As their buildings burn.

You can tell how terrified
These people are.

Their screams make
My blood run cold.

[ screaming ]

[ camera whirs ]

♪♪

Narrator:
Guangxi province, china.

The mountainous region
In the south

Is one of the most beautiful and
Unspoiled parts of the country.

January 2018.

A small village where little
Has changed for centuries,

When suddenly,

A weird object falls from
The sky and violently explodes.

this looks like
A rural area in china,

and clearly,
The people living there

have been startled by something
That's whizzing,

Hurtling through the air.

Narrator: a villager spots the
Mysterious object in time

To capture it on their phone.

Wise: it's kind of small.

It looks sort of cylindrical
Or elongated.

Narrator: whatever it is,

It's unlikely to be
From a passing aircraft.

This is a remote part of china,
Not on any regular plane routes.

[ explosion, screaming ]

Hearing these people scream,
You can tell

That something is very wrong.

They are afraid.

they must think
They're under attack.

it looks like
They're under attack.

This is a village far from
Any modern theater of war

In the heart of a country

That has seen no conflict
For over 70 years.

It's like instant panic.

One minute,
You're going about your day,

And the next minute,
You're in a war zone.

[ explosion ]

♪♪

Narrator: ex-cia analyst
Lindsay moran considers

If it could be a stray ordnance

from secret chinese
Military tests.

this looks unmistakably like
A pretty substantial explosion,

and what's really alarming is
It lands in a residential area.

Narrator: china has over 260
Fully armed nuclear missiles,

Almost one for every city
In the united states,

Including the dongfeng-41,

The world's
Longest-range missile.

At its unveiling in 2019,

Beijing issues
The chilling warning

Its deadly payload
Can be delivered

To any target in the u.S.
Within 30 minutes.

Moran wonders if the footage
Is evidence the chinese

Are testing their latest
Hardware in a remote area,

Away from the west's
Prying eyes.

[ explosion ]

It really makes me question
If the leadership

Even value these people's lives.

Narrator:
But historian tony mcmahon

has reason to believe
The mystery object

is the property
Of a foreign aggressor.

China's ambition to achieve
Super-power status

Has made them few friends.

If it is a bomb, immediately,
The question you have to ask is,

Who would decide
To attack china?

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: coming up...

Does the mystery explosion point

To a superpower's
Secret military plan?

Their firepower could reach
Across the globe,

And they could launch
Full-scale assaults

On any country they wanted to.

Narrator: and in a
Drought-stricken country,

The rain shower
No one could explain.

This looks impossible, but I'm
Seeing it with my own eyes.

♪♪

♪♪

[ man speaking chinese ]

Narrator: in china, an exploding
Object in a rural village

Sparks rumors
Of a foreign attack.

I mean, which of their neighbors
Would aim a bomb at china?

Narrator: during the cold war,

China and russia
Were locked in a bloody conflict

Over a disputed
Border territory.

For seven months in 1969,
Bitter fighting raged,

Bringing the two former
Communist allies

To the brink of war.

Relations have remained
Volatile ever since.

is this the first shot in a new
Conflict that we're seeing here?

Narrator:
Yet military analyst carlo munoz

Thinks there is only
One superpower with the muscle

To go toe-to-toe with china.

the only country in the world
With the military strength,

technological know-how,
And kind of the fortitude

To carry out an attack,
Much less a military operation,

Against the chinese
Would be the united states.

Narrator: the u.S. Military
Has previously bombed

Chinese buildings and people.

In may 1999,
During the war in kosovo,

American fighter jets destroyed
The chinese embassy in belgrade.

[ sirens wailing ]

Official reports declare it
To be a terrible accident,

But some claim the cia
Discovered the building

Was being used to assist
Yugoslav war criminals.

So the question now is

Whether or not what we're
Seeing in this video

Is another example of
A covert u.S. Strike

Against chinese interest.

Mcmahon: we could be looking
At the return of, kind of,

The horror of the cold war.

anybody taking on china
Really is very foolhardy.

Narrator: after the initial
Explosion, villagers run towards

The wreckage
And continue filming.

Space journalist
Amy shira teitel

Spots debris with distinct
Red markings on the side.

china is the only country
That uses this specific pattern

on its booster rockets
For tracking during launches.

So, what normally happens is
That these boosters are then

Jettisoned as the rocket
Goes up into space.

In the u.S.,
When we test rockets,

We do it at places like
Cape canaveral, florida,

Which is near an ocean,

Or vandenberg air base
In california -- desert.

So, when things fall out
Of the sky, nobody gets hurt.

♪♪

Narrator: why, then, are these
Boosters being jettisoned

Very populated areas?

The footage reveals china
Is conducting launches

From remote locations,

Deep in the interior
Of the country.

Munoz can think of only one
Reason beijing would do this.

These launches are carrying
Payloads the communists

Want to keep secret,
At any cost.

The space domain is one
Where many countries --

China, the united states,
And others --

Are really focusing
Their efforts

In terms of their militaries.

Narrator:
For the last three decades,
China has quietly amassed

An arsenal of
Space-based weapons

And sophisticated
Surveillance technology.

In 2018 alone,

The country successfully
Put 38 satellites into orbit,

More than any other nation
In a single year.

Most terrifying of all,
Chinese scientists are rumored

To be developing
Directed-energy weapons

That can obliterate
Ground- or space-based targets

Using lasers, microwaves,
Or particle beams.

their firepower could reach
Across the globe,

and they could launch
Full-scale assaults

on any country they wanted to.

Narrator: if the
Chinese government persists

With its alarming
Quest to control space,

the people of rural china

will continue to live in fear
Of fire from the skies.

It really is incredibly
Irresponsible

To have these things
Falling near residential areas.

[ cameras whir ]

♪♪

Narrator: now in the
Parched heat of southern italy,

The sinister rain for which
Science can find no explanation.

My first question is
What is this?

And my second one --
Is it dangerous?

Narrator: shocked pedestrians
Look on in horror

As a strange column of liquid
Falls to the street

From a clear night sky.

If this is just ordinary rain,

Why is everybody
Driving around it?

Narrator: in this ancient city
Steeped in religious belief,

Locals fear this is
No natural downpour.

This isn't normal.

I mean, it just doesn't
Rain like that.

♪♪

Narrator: palermo, capital of
The italian island of sicily,

One of the most drought-ridden
Parts of europe,

Just 24 inches of rain
Falls a year.

In the summer,
None normally falls at all.

September 2016.

The daytime temperature
Has soared to 80 degrees.

As night falls,
So does a mysterious shower.

Proctor: when I look at
The video, you can see that

There's this really
Narrow column of rain

That's just falling in one spot.

Narrator: the weird downpour
Falls in the middle

Of an otherwise dry street,

Creating a wet patch
Only a few feet across.

you might think,
"Oh, maybe there's a sprinkler

or something overhead,"
But then the camera tilts up

and you see
It's just open skies.

this looks impossible, but I'm
Seeing it with my own eyes.

Narrator: cars drive around
The bizarre liquid,

Scared to pass through it.

Palermo resident jessica sacco

Is drawn to the
Curious manifestation.

Sanford: when you see
Something like this,

you should really be careful

because who knows
Where it's coming from?

It just doesn't seem
Right or normal.

Narrator: coming up...

Can a secret
Government experiment

Explain italy's strange shower?

The whole event was
A terrible tragedy.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: in palermo, italy,

A mysterious rain shower
Falls from nowhere.

Neurophysiologist kiki sanford

Examines the footage
And can find no obvious cause.

Whatever this is, it's like
Nothing she's ever seen before.

I really can't think of any
Scientific reason

why this would happen this way.

No rain cloud acts like that.

Narrator:
But when astrophysicist
Athena brensberger

Studies the clip of bizarre rain
In a drought-stricken city,

It reminds her of a post-war
British government experiment

To create artificial weather.

they nicknamed it
Operation witch doctor,

and it was designed to create
Very heavy rainfall.

Narrator: on august 15, 1952,

A royal air force plane releases
An unidentified substance

Into clouds
Over southwest england.

Sanford: we don't know what
Chemicals they were using,

But the experiment seems
To have been successful

Because shortly after
They sprayed them into the sky,

There was rain.

[ rain falling heavily ]

Narrator: over 24 hours,

9 inches of
Torrential rain falls.

A wall of water surges towards
The unsuspecting rural community

Of lynmouth
In the county of devon.

The rainfall was so intense

That it sent
90 million tons of water

Rushing toward the village.

Reporter:
lynmouth lies shattered,

as though blitzed
by a saturation raid.

♪♪

39 buildings were destroyed,
35 people killed,

And many were washed out to sea,
Never to be found again.

♪♪

The whole event was
A terrible tragedy.

Narrator: to this day,
The british government refuses

To confirm its role
In the disaster.

Although the flood was never
Officially linked

To the military's actions,

The r.A.F.'s experiments
Were halted the very next day.

But geophysicist sian proctor

Wonders if the weird rain
Captured on camera

Is evidence of a different kind
Of meteorological event.

there actually is a type of
Weather phenomenon

where you can get a very
Localized shaft of rain,

and it's called
A wet microburst.

it's very deadly.

microbursts form
When rainwater evaporates

as it's falling out
Of a thunderstorm.

Shapiro: this process is tied to
Heat exchange in the atmosphere,

This intense downdraft of air

That brings precipitation
With it.

but it's also something
That comes with high winds,

up to 150 miles an hour.

[ thunder crashes ]

Microbursts are
Intense processes.

There's a lot of water
Coming down

In a very quick amount of time.

Narrator: but when
Weather expert chris walcek

Takes a closer look
At the video,

he doesn't believe it shows
A typical microburst.

if this was a micro-burst,
You would be seeing tremendous,

swirling, destructive winds
In the vicinity, also.

and it's apparent from the video

that this is a pretty calm
Weather environment.

narrator:
The weird rain vanishes

shortly after the eyewitness
Stops filming,

and nothing like it
Has been reported since

in the italian city.

its origin remains a mystery.

is it some kind of
A meteorological phenomenon,

never documented before?