Original subtitles

Narrator: worldwide, Over 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.

Well, That's an explosion.

♪♪

[ people scream ]

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...

Church of the death eaters -- Now they must feed...

These insects could be consuming Corpses in the graveyard.

Narrator: ...A blast From the beast below...

[ tires screech ]

This video just made My heart seize up.

The pavement just erupted Out of nowhere.

Narrator: ...And the new boar war.

There's the possibility That the animal itself

Is a biological weapon.

♪♪

Narrator: Bizarre phenomenon.

Whoa.

Mysteries caught on camera.

What is the truth behind This strange evidence?

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

captions paid for by Discovery communications

now, to the house of god, Hell pays a visit.

♪♪

It's almost like An invading army

Kind of acting together.

Narrator: millions upon millions Of invaders.

And these are No ordinary insects.

These are The insects from hell.

It turns out that they might Actually have a taste for bones.

Researchers uncovered bones That had clear marks

Of the insects Gnawing on them.

This entire scene is like Something out of a nightmare.

♪♪

Narrator: september 2018, A latin american church

Where locals come to worship, To marry, to get baptized,

And in The surrounding graveyard,

To be buried.

[ bell tolls ]

An evening service.

First, a few large insects. Then more.

Then tens of millions Of insects

Totally overwhelm the church And its congregation.

Boy: mom!

The floor is moving.

There are mounds and masses Of insects

Swarming around the floor, All over the walls.

That's perplexing.

This looks terrifying. There's millions.

If I were in that church, I would have been freaking out.

There's no way I would have sat through that.

♪♪

Narrator: the number of insects On earth is truly terrifying.

This footage Is a chilling reminder

That there are 200 million Insects for every human.

this is absolutely terrifying. There are so many insects.

narrator: Pound for pound,

the planet's insects Outweigh humans 300 to 1.

the insect world has been here Far longer than we've been here.

they'll be here A whole lot longer.

narrator: what's more, insects Are humanity's deadliest foe.

over the entire course Of human history,

it is estimated that insects

have killed half the people Ever born.

their destructive nature Is unimaginable.

Narrator: and they have Many ways of killing.

Kasky: insects have always Been able to carry

A lot of different encephalitic Or other types of diseases

That people will die from.

We're outnumbered. We can Get wiped out very quickly.

You look at The big picture of things,

We're just trying To survive.

♪♪

Narrator: Looking closer at the footage,

Biologist danni washington Believes she knows

The species of insect In the church.

based on the body type,

I'm pretty sure These are termites.

Narrator: termites are The under lords of the earth.

The earliest termites Are solitary scavengers,

Like cockroaches.

But 150 million years ago,

They begin to cooperate In colonies millions strong.

Now these termite terminators Stop at nothing.

Termites are one of The most destructive forces

On the face of the planet.

Narrator: Termite colonies never sleep.

They feed 24/7.

What makes termites so powerful Is their ability to organize.

Kasky: termites have Different castes.

They have the workers,

And those are the ones That actually do the damage.

And then they have soldiers,

And their job Is to defend the colony.

And they're kind of Voracious fighters.

the soldier termites Actually have mandibles

strong enough To pierce skin.

And maybe one wouldn't hurt, But you can imagine

If you have An army of soldier termites.

That's not a battlefield I want to be anywhere near.

And then there's the elites, The the future kings and queens,

The reproductives, If you will.

Narrator: Like transformers,

Termites can alter Their own bodies

Into whatever The colony requires.

If the queen Needs more workers,

A soldier Will become a worker.

If she needs more soldiers, A worker will become a soldier.

There's not many species That can do that.

Narrator: entomologist Kevin kasky knows

That with this many termites On the surface,

Somewhere underground nearby,

There must be A truly massive colony.

Kasky: They need a food source.

Whether it's in that church,

Under that church, Around that church,

That's where those termite Colonies are gonna be operating.

Narrator: but looking closely, Kasky notices

That the church Does not appear

To be made of wood, Termites' usual food.

Kasky: there's different types Of termites.

They're finding that termites

Actually eat More than just wood now.

It turns out That these termites

Might actually Have a taste for bones.

Narrator: These termites may literally

Have risen from the grave.

There are so many of them, And they have been feasting --

Possibly on the dead.

Bondar: Researchers uncovered bones

That had clear marks Of termites gnawing on them.

It's actually possible That termites could be consuming

Some of the corpses In the graveyard.

When you think about it, we're Putting a lot of fresh meat

Right there Into the ground.

To a termite, This graveyard is like

An all-you-can-eat buffet.

Kays: Feeding on the entombed

Might explain why the termites Are in the area in general,

But it doesn't explain

Why they're upstairs Inside the church now,

because they always feed On these bones underground,

and that's where the bones Would be, anyway.

so why are they In the church now?

Narrator: what is disturbing Is that these termites

May have acquired A taste for humans.

Science communicator Dustin growick

Also notices that they Have grown to an enormous size.

Most termites are only About a quarter-inch long.

There's a frame in this video Where a man's foot

Enters the frame, Giving it scale,

and you can see One of these bugs

is about an inch long,

four times bigger than a termite You would see underground.

Narrator: coming up,

Are the ravenous roaches Heading for a church near you?

A super colony Could migrate into the u.S.

That would wreak havoc.

Narrator: And a mysterious vortex

Seems to send gravity Into a spin.

Now, some people, When they see that video,

They say, "A-ha it's anti-gravity."

Narrator: A sinister swarm of termites

Descends on a church in peru.

Noting their enormous size,

Science communicator Dustin growick,

Recognizes they must be Kings and queens.

King and queen termites Are about an inch long

And they have That same dark brown body

That we see in the insects In this video.

It appears as though We have royalty in town.

Kasky: Now, the kings and queens,

Those are the reproductives.

Their sole purpose, Nothing else,

Is to propagate The species.

Once a queen mates, All she does her old life

Is produce eggs For as long as she lives.

Narrator: These death eater termites

Could soon be reproducing At a truly terrifying rate.

Termite queens produce

An average of one egg Every three seconds.

That's 30,000 eggs per day.

Proctor: In a year, you could have

Hundreds of thousands Of termites.

And that's from Just one mating pair.

Narrator: These super termites

Could be devouring Human corpses.

If they graduate To the living,

This will be a challenge To our very species.

As peru's neighbor, Brazil,

There was A termite super colony

About the size Of great britain that was found.

Imagine the destruction That that could make.

Could this Massive mating swarm

Be the beginning Of a new super colony?

Narrator: a termite super colony Knows no borders nor boundaries.

A super colony of this size

Could migrate from south america Into the united states.

We have termites In the u.S. Already.

What's to say This couldn't happen here?

Just imagine An entire colony

Just eating their way Across america.

♪♪

Narrator: Now, on an inner city road,

An earth-shattering blow From below.

[ tires screech, crunch ]

[ splashing ]

All of a sudden, It just erupts.

The car had no chance.

Narrator: what shocking power Is awaking below,

Rising after eons To wreak havoc?

Sansom: something is pushing Underneath this road

And trying to burst Its way through.

It's like the road, it just Opened up and tried to eat it.

I would not want to Drive on this road.

♪♪

Narrator: Ekaterinburg, russia,

A center of the country's Military industrial complex.

The city is known For building tanks

And, more recently, High-tech weapons.

November 21, 2013, Drivers speed down

A well-maintained Modern highway.

Dennie: so, this looks like A normal street scene

Somewhere in a city, And -- whoa.

What was that?

The car smashes Right into this explosion.

I wouldn't want to be That guy.

Out of nowhere, The ground just a erupts.

Narrator: a belch of black bile Blasts out from below.

Wolshon: this poor, unfortunate Person gets out of his vehicle

And is basically A little bit shell shocked.

Narrator: experts are baffled By the footage.

my first thought is, Is this some kind of war zone?

is there an improvised Explosive device?

Narrator: there are Many possible explanations

For the asphalt-shattering Explosion,

But none seem exactly to fit What experts see in the footage.

I'd be scared to death.

♪♪

Narrator: Geologist devin dennie

Suspects the footage Could be evidence

Of a new and terrifyingly Powerful kind of earthquake

Only recently confirmed By science --

A supershear earthquake.

when you see earthquakes Like in the movies,

people are hanging Onto doorways for minutes

and sometimes Until the shaking stops.

it is possible, We know now,

to have Extremely rapid earthquakes

that unzip the surface Extraordinarily fast.

maybe this is A supershear earthquake.

they happen so quickly And so violently

and with No warning whatsoever.

One minute you could be Walking down the road,

And the next minute It's coming apart at the seams

Right underneath your feet.

Narrator: in 2018,

On the indonesian island Of sulawesi,

A supershear earthquake Wreaks havoc.

It ripped the road apart As if someone had reached up

From deep below The earth's crust

And tore their way through.

Narrator: Supershear earthquakes happen

When the earth rips apart

Faster than The shock waves can travel,

Creating an effect Like a seismic sonic boom.

Normal earthquakes tend To propagate in every direction.

Imagine throwing a pebble Into a calm pond.

You see those Ripples and waves

Traveling in Every single direction.

In these Supershear earthquakes,

You can have two sides Of a fault shifting,

But one of them is traveling At a much faster speed

Than the other.

And those waves that propagate Through the ground

Tend to be more directional,

Almost like a giant gunshot That mother nature has fired.

That energy is coming For one particular spot --

Maybe for you.

Narrator: but comparing The explosive puncture hole

In ekaterinburg

To the longer cracks Seen in indonesia,

Experts doubt that A supershear earthquake

Can explain The single-point rupture

Seen in the footage.

♪♪

studying the breathtaking Blacktop bust up in the video,

science writer jeff wise Suspects a catastrophic cocktail

of geological activity May be to blame.

there's certain geothermal areas Of the world

Where there is magma or lava, Hot rock,

Close to the surface, Including parts of russia.

And there's also groundwater.

If these two things Come in contact,

Could that create Some kind of a steam explosion?

Narrator: hollywood pyrotechnics Expert matt kutcher

Has over 25 years experience Of explosions and ballistics.

To test the theory that lava Can make water explode

With enough force To rip asphalt apart...

Nice.

...He sets up An experiment.

Okay.

[ groans ] Okay.

Now I figure we got to Get some water in it.

We have certainly made A lot of devices

For different hollywood Experiences, right?

This is a bit Of a custom piece.

To replicate molten lava,

Matt will use a special effects Mineral powder,

Which will heat Until it turns to liquid.

Then he'll drop it Into the tank of water.

Basically, we're gonna make Molten lava.

How could this Possibly go wrong?

♪♪

To melt it, he needs To heat the mineral powder

To a deadly 1,500 degrees,

The same temperature As lava.

So I'd say it's about 50 percent liquid,

And there's still A ball in there

That I'm able to rotate To try to see

If I can't get it To turn to liquid, too.

The more liquid, The more boom.

Coming up, Can matt kutcher

Recreate russia's Ripped-up road?

Cleanup on aisle six.

And a star destroyer Brings havoc to a british beach.

What on earth has happened?

It was like...

Armageddon.

♪♪

Narrator: On a russian highway,

An asphalt-shattering blow From below.

Matt kutcher wants to test Whether lava meeting groundwater

Could cause this Car-crunching explosion.

I want to get the liquid In there as fast as we can.

So as fast As safe allows,

I'm gonna kill The propane.

Go ahead and open it.

The liquid is heated To a scorching 1,500 degrees --

That's as hot as The magma in a volcano.

All right, guys, Let's get in position.

Everybody gets safe.

3, 2, 1, drop it!

♪♪

♪♪

That was A loud bang.

That was pretty cool.

Cleanup on aisle six.

Matt's lava Instantly boils the water.

As it turns From a liquid to a vapor,

Its volume expands 1,600 times.

if this happens fast enough, It is explosive.

Narrator: but geologist Devin dennie

Doubts that molten lava Might be involved.

There are No active volcanoes

In this area of russia.

here in this image, You don't see any indications

that any volcanic activity Is happening at all.

♪♪

Narrator: Looking closely at the footage,

Astrophysicist Athena brensberger

Notices evidence Which suggests

That the explosion Could be caused

By rotten Russian infrastructure.

Brensberger: it's actually A clue in this video --

If you look, you can actually See water bursting out.

So that would make me think

That this may be A water main break.

Narrator: Underneath our cities,

Hundreds of miles of pipes

Or pumping millions Of gallons of water.

This explosion occurred In russia,

And we all know that russia Can be very cold.

now, these pipes freeze,

and that can Cause damage to the pipes,

if there's one little crack, That water moving extremely fast

can end up Bursting through the pipe,

resulting in an explosion.

[ crackling ]

sansom: unlike gases, Water can't be compressed.

so if it builds up, It's got nowhere to go.

so it will push anything Out of its way,

including this road.

Narrator: across america,

There are 1.2 million miles Of water mains --

That's 26 miles for every mile Of interstate highway.

The system is so old That on average,

Each mile breaks Once every six years.

we're all Walking and driving around

potential explosions Every day.

Narrator: in one fiscal year, New york city records

459 water main breaks.

In just one incident In january 2020,

Pipes explode, turning Lincoln center into a lake

And flooding The subway system

With 500,000 gallons Of water.

Water that is out of control Can be very destructive.

It's almost like An explosive wrecking ball.

Brensberger: It's a really disturbing thought

That there's something Underneath our feet

That we walk on every single day That could just explode.

And it's not a natural disaster. It's something we built.

[ tires screech ]

♪♪

Narrator: now, Mass death from the deep.

Carnage as far As the eye can see.

It's a total massacre.

What on earth has happened? It was like armageddon.

Narrator: fears of a new kind Of ocean predator...

There's a killer In the water.

Narrator: ...And beaches piled high

With the walking dead.

Hovland: your body is melting Down right before your eyes.

Your arm falls off Like a zombie apocalypse.

Kays: why did they die?

And is the cause Still out there in the ocean?

♪♪

Narrator: the small district Called thanet

On the coast of kent In england,

March 4, 2018.

One of the residents, Chris constantine,

Is walking to the harbor With his daughter.

They notice from a distance

That the beach Has changed color.

As we got to about this point On the harbor arm,

Looked across Down on the beach,

And it was like, "What's that?"

The beach is covered With creatures

Normally found On the ocean floor.

It was just sea stars As far as you could see,

Millions of the things covering What was normally sand.

But you couldn't see the sand, Couldn't see the pebbles.

All there were Were just sea stars.

There is no movement On the beach.

These creatures are dead.

The thoughts going Through my mind were,

"Something terrible Had happened."

Chris records the scene On his camera phone.

It was eerie. That's one way I would describe it.

It was eerie -- It was quite chilling

To be on the beach That day.

It was like Sea stars armageddon.

There's something strange About thanet.

Its name is said to have come From the ancient greek,

"Ynys thanatos," The isle of death.

There are more bronze age Burial mounds here

Than anywhere else In england,

And it's not Just dead humans.

According to 1,300-year-old records,

Soil transported From this island

To other countries Was believed to kill serpents.

I've never seen anything Like this before.

Woman: What's happened?

Our minds were just racing With questions.

Within days, Nature sweeps the beach clear.

All the sea stars vanish.

When the chilling footage Hits the internet,

Investigators are baffled.

Whoa! It's the whole beach.

Washington: This is an utter scene

Of carnage and devastation.

Those animals are Meant to be under the waves.

Something powerful, Something big is happening here.

♪♪

narrator: This is a weird event,

and it involves one of The ocean's strangest creatures.

washington: Sea stars are unique animals.

sea stars are benthic, Meaning that

they spend their entire lives On the sea floor.

Narrator: among its Many bizarre abilities,

A sea star can eat Outside its own body

By extruding its stomach Out through its mouth.

The stomach oozes Inside a shellfish

Surrounding and digesting The unfortunate animal.

Hovland: all these little Tube feet are moving.

And as that animal's Moving along,

Here's where they get, Like, a superpower.

Narrator: they have the Strange ability to regenerate.

They're able To regenerate their limbs.

if I'm a crab and I go up And grab one of these legs

and rip it right off For a meal,

Well, that sea star isn't now Four-legged forever.

That leg Grows back completely.

It's remarkable

That they can regenerate Their limbs like that.

Narrator: But these little monsters

Are not immortal.

They are susceptible to And have the power

To spread A truly horrible disease.

Sea stars do have a superpower, Regenerating limbs,

But they do have A kryptonite, as well,

Which is a wasting disease.

Sea star wasting disease Eats away at their flesh.

So slowly but surely,

These sea stars start to Disintegrate in the water.

Narrator: Scientists don't know yet

What causes The wasting disease,

And no species of sea star Appears immune.

Their limbs will start To degenerate,

Break down kind of into A milky substance.

They just don't Look like themselves.

And in fact, They will reject their limbs,

Break them off.

Narrator: the diseased Starfish limbs twist and wriggle

Until lesions open And they tear themselves free,

Leaving the doomed animals' Interior to spill out.

The starfish literally Rips itself apart.

The wriggling arms Then wander off

And roam the seabed Like headless zombies.

♪♪

Now, imagine that human beings Had a wasting disease.

One day you're thumbing a ride At the side of the road,

And next day, Your arm falls off

Like a zombie apocalypse.

You used to be able To grow that arm back,

But your body is melting down Right before your eyes.

Narrator: since 2013,

This wasting plague Has killed so many sea stars

Scientists are calling it The largest epidemic

Ever observed In wild sea creatures.

Could we be seeing A similar epidemic

Hitting British populations?

Is that a cause For wiping them out, too?

Narrator: coming up, What hidden harr

Is driving sea stars Onto the beach?

Could they be attempting To outrun some predator?

Narrator: and is this Rampaging animal

A communist super soldier?

Bondar: could this boar In the restaurant

Be part of A coordinated attack?

[ woman screams, Boar snarls ]

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: Thousands of dead sea stars

Cover a beach in england.

They still have their arms,

So they're not victims Of disease.

To find out what killed them, Marine biologist roland kays

Looks for clues In similar events.

It's not the first time We've seen this kind of

Mass stranding And mass die off on a beach.

Narrator: Around the world,

Mass animal die offs Are on the rise.

In the single month Of january 2020,

There are 48 mass death events.

Kourounis: what killed them? And why are they there?

I can only imagine

There's something More sinister going on.

Narrator: in 2019 alone, 279 dolphins strand themselves

Along america's gulf coast --

Three times The normal number.

Along the u.S. West coast,

123 gray whales Die on the beaches --

Another massive increase From the years before.

Kays: they follow each other To their death --

Massive, Unintentional suicide.

Could it be possible That these sea stars

Walked their way up Onto the beach?

Could this be How they got there?

Narrator: but what could make These simple sea creatures

Leave the ocean?

Is there anything That we're not considering

That's driving them out Of the water onto the beaches?

Narrator: Looking for more clues,

Marine biologist roland kays Studies meteorological records

From the time of The sea star stranding.

Kays: usually the waters In this area

Are pretty peaceful in march.

But in 2018, this area endured Two the most extreme

Weather events The country's ever seen.

frigid air came down From siberia

in what is commonly referred to As a polar vortex.

That cold air settles in Much further south

Than it normally would, Bringing with it a cold snap --

A really cold snap.

So powerful, in fact, That it was nicknamed

"The beast from the east."

Narrator: The beast from the east

Sends temperatures plunging To a freezing 22 degrees

As freak blizzards Blanket the country in snow.

The storm kills 10 people.

Before the country Could recover,

They were hit by storm emma On march 2.

Winter storm emma comes Ripping across the atlantic,

Pushing with it A tremendous amount of water.

♪♪

Narrator: Why sea creatures

Are dying on beaches In greater numbers

Remains a mystery.

But in the case of these,

The answer may be Falling temperatures.

Kays: when starfish Are subjected to extreme cold,

They go into A kind of torpor

That could cause them To release their grip

On the bottom of the ocean.

So you have These crashing waves

That then take These poor frozen starfish

And washing them All ashore en masse.

Woman: What's happened?

So what you end up with Is this perfect synchronization

Of these different Weather patterns coming together

At the exact right time

To cause this display of death On the beach.

♪♪

Narrator: now, a downtown Noodle restaurant

In south korea

The target Of a bizarre attack.

[ indistinct speaking ]

[ woman screams ]

It's like it has a purpose. It wants to attack humans.

Narrator: a deadly wild boar, The latest weird chapter

In the cold war Between north and south.

Morgan: there's a possibility That north korea

May be weaponizing These animals.

Narrator: experts fear This hog of horror

Is a battle boar.

It could be devastating For the entire human population.

♪♪

Narrator: Gumi, south korea,

January 1, 2018.

At a downtown diner,

Customers are enjoying An evening meal after work.

Suddenly, a wild animal Bursts into a restaurant!

[ indistinct speaking ]

This thing's big.

Whoa, it just goes For that guy.

People trying to hide, Get up on tables --

Whatever they can To get out of the way.

It's like, "I don't care. I'm coming for you."

[ woman screams, Boar snarls ]

Narrator: there is no question, This is a rampaging wild boar.

But experts are bemused.

First, this is not The countryside.

This city is One of south korea's

Largest industrial centers.

Global electronics giant samsung And lg have factories here.

There should be no wild boars For miles around.

how does a wild boar Get into a busy restaurant

in the middle Of an urban center?

narrator: wild boars Are truly deadly animals.

bondar: The tusks are very strong,

and they can actually Sharpen them on the ground

to be used for foraging

And, of course, To attack.

Morgan: they can cause Serious injury.

They can bite you. They can ram you.

They're nothing but muscle.

This makes them lethal animals Against humans.

Narrator: coming up...

Does this boar Have murder on its mind?

It's a living, breathing Bio weapon.

Narrator: And could this vortex

Be a visitor From a parallel planet?

You can have antipeople.

You can have an earth Made out of antimatter.

♪♪

Narrator: a wild boar Runs rampant

In a south korean restaurant.

How did this happen? Where did this boar come from?

[ woman screams, Boar snarls ]

Narrator: for decades,

South korea has been Rapidly growing

More industrial and urban.

Wild boar attacks on humans Should be freak incidents

Confined to the countryside.

But official records show

That in south korea's Urban areas in 2012,

There were no fewer Than 56 boar encounters.

What's stranger still,

The number has risen To 623 in recent times.

they're roaming the streets, They're coming into schools,

they're coming into buildings. They're everywhere.

narrator: so what could account For this strange explosion

of wild boar encounters?

[ woman screams ]

the animal kingdom Proves to us, once again,

that this is their world, Not ours.

Narrator: science journalist John farrow maps the locations

Of south korea's Wild boar encounters

And notices A distinct pattern.

They're often spotted Near the demilitarized zone.

Narrator: The demilitarized zone, or dmz,

Is a no man's land.

160 miles long, 2.5 miles wide.

A buffer zone Separating north from south.

This is asia's berlin wall.

The dmz is one of the most, If not the most,

Heavily guarded borders In the world.

If a person sets foot In the dmz,

That person is fair game,

They can be fired at From the opposing side.

And so it literally creates An area that is no man's land.

Narrator: the dmz Is not safe for humans,

But it is An effective nursery

For a population explosion Of killer boar.

Farrow: The demilitarized zone

Is the perfect breeding ground For wild boars

Because there's no humans To keep them under control.

Narrator: as the number Of killer boars

In the dmz expands Exponentially,

The animals get Ever more wild and mean.

As the population Of these boars grows,

All of the easy food Is taken.

And so they need to start Venturing further afield

To find their next meal.

it's very possible That this wild boar

is acting so aggressive

and is attacking people In this restaurant

because it is hungry.

Narrator: wild boar, like Their relatives hogs and pigs,

Are omnivores And opportunistic carnivores.

They will eat Almost anything.

Sanford: they have Extremely sharp tusks

That are great For ripping open skin.

Narrator: these sinister swine Even eat human flesh.

In 2012, oregon farmer Terry vance garner

Goes out to feed His 700-pound hogs

And does not return.

His family finds his dentures In the pig enclosure.

Investigators suspect The beasts attack him

And make a meal Of their master.

In china in 2014, A child is left alone

For a moment Playing in the garden.

He crawls into the pigsty Where a hungry sow

Knocks him down And begins to eat him.

The toddler's parents hear His screams and come running,

But they are too late.

♪♪

The diners In the noodle restaurant

May have had A narrow escape.

This is a dangerous animal.

Narrator: but military historian Martin morgan

Suspects that the invasion Of killer boar from north korea

Is no mere accident.

Morgan: boars are an Extraordinarily smart animal.

They're also robust.

And the combination Of intelligence and robustness

Is what makes it possible That north korea

May be weaponizing These animal.

If you can't send people in, What can you send in?

You could send boars.

Narrator: There is historical evidence

Of boars in battle.

Morgan: boars have been used For the purposes

Of human warfare In the past.

Alexander the great, When he confronted an enemy

That used war elephants,

They would release boars, And the boars but run forward

And startle the elephants.

And by startling them,

They would lose The tactical advantage.

And so, it's not out Of the question to consider

The possibility of boar

Being bred For the purposes of warfare.

the south koreans Are taking this so seriously

that they're actually having Their soldiers track and capture

The boars that are on the edge Of the demilitarized zone.

Introducing a biological weapon Like this could be devastating.

♪♪

Narrator: now, dark objects Float mysteriously

Around a pillar of smoke.

This looks so otherworldly.

Farrow: What are these dark shapes

Circling around So quickly and so dangerously?

It seems to that this is Violating the laws of physics.

Narrator: Gravity seems to have reversed.

This is the perfect recipe For disaster.

I would not stand Near this thing.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: The rocky mountain arsenal

Near denver, colorado.

In the 20th century,

It's a manufacturing center For chemical weapons

Like mustard gas, Sarin, and napalm.

Now most of the area protected As a national wildlife refuge.

[ bird squawks ]

March 14, 2014.

Experts are baffled

As a mysteriously swirling flock Of dark objects

Churns around A tower of smog.

♪♪

What's most disturbing is that Everything's just sort of

Hanging in air, Slowly twisting around.

The whole thing Is drifting in a way

That makes me very uneasy.

Farrow: the way that they're Spinning and staying afloat

Doesn't look normal.

The questions come to mind, "Okay, what are they?"

Of course. "Where do they come from?"

But the big clue About what's happening

Is who is in the frame. There's firefighters here.

♪♪

Narrator: looking more intensely At the footage,

Explorer george kourounis Spots telltale signs

Of a terrifying phenomenon He has seen before.

Kourounis: these are not Just levitating

On their own power.

Something is throwing them Up in the air.

and there's a few other clues In this video.

it's not just these objects.

there's dust flying around And what looks like smoke.

it's like there's A small apocalypse.

you have fire. You have smoke rolling around.

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

As the video progresses,

We get more of The bigger picture

As to what's going on here.

And all this debris

Is being lofted into the air By a vortex of wind.

Basically, It's a type of dust devil.

Narrator: Dust devils form

When hot air at ground level Rises quickly,

Creating an updraft.

Meteorologist chris walcek Hones in on the flames rising

From the parched grassland Under the mysterious spiral.

Walcek: this isn't Your average dust devil.

It's a fire devil.

what you're seeing here is air Heated up by the fire

Becomes much less dense Than the surrounding air,

And so it rises like A helium balloon.

As cooler air around rushes in To replace that rising air,

It's like a skater Pulling their arms in.

It spins up into A larger and larger swirl.

Szulgit: it's picking up ash As it goes.

And because it is so light

And yet has So much surface area,

it has a lot of air resistance. It won't fall very easily.

much like a feather.

Narrator: this combination Of flames and whirlwind

Is a firefighter's Worst nightmare.

When a dust devil forms Overtop of a fire,

Now you've got Double trouble.

Just like the dust devil Can pick up grass and shrubs,

If that's on fire, It'll pick up the fire, also.

if they get flung outside, They could start new fires.

Kourounis: these firefighters Are standing back

Because they know That these winds

Can be very unpredictable And dangerous.

You get a moving column of fire That you have no idea

Where it's gonna go next.

Narrator: kourounis knows That a blaze like this

Can quickly accelerate Into a cataclysmic danger.

There are documented examples Of these fires getting so big

That they produce Violent tornadoes of fire

That rip trees Out of the ground

And destroy Everything in their path.

for example, when you take A look at firestorms,

firestorms during The bombing of dresden

And the bombing of tokyo During world war two,

We see literally tornadoes Made out of fire

Swirling As the hot air rises.

The car fire in california Is an example of this phenomenon

On a much bigger scale.

Narrator: On july 26, 2018,

The car wildfire Turns into a monster.

The car wildfire was so intense That it created a fire tornado.

Narrator: a 40,000-foot column Of smoke and flames

Rotating at 143 miles per hour,

Spins up to the cruising Altitude of jet airliners.

The fire tornado is so intense That it creates its own weather.

Rising air Actually creates clouds --

These pyro Cumulonimbus clouds.

think of it as the fire Creating its own thunderstorm,

which then can create lightning, Which then sparks more fires.

narrator: temperatures inside The whirling inferno

rise to more than 2,700 degrees.

you wouldn't want to be in The path of one of these things.

narrator: the fire whirl In the footage

is a small But deadly example

of one of the most Destructive forces on earth.

walcek: those firefighters In colorado

should probably watch out.

that vortex could intensify Into a twisting inferno

that could move Right towards them.