All language subtitles for Strange.Evidence.S04E05.Curse.of.the.Zombie.Graveyard.1080p.MAX.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BETHELL_track3_[eng]

[ camera whirs ]

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:
This is unbelievable, man.

Narrator:
Experts carry out forensic
Analysis

Of these unusual events.

Now that's
An explosion.

[ explosion ]

[ screams ]

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

Something we're not seeing,
Right?

What else is going on here?

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: coming up...

What invisible force
Flips this car?

If I was in a car
And this happened,

I would absolutely freak out.

Narrator: why has this village
Lost its corpses?

If you believed in such things,

You would think maybe
The dead have risen.

Narrator: and how does a truck
Full of rocks just explode?

I'm sorry, but that umbrella
Isn't going to save you.

[ camera whirs ]

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

Now on a street in moscow,
A car appears to collide

With an invisible object.

Pappalardo: I don't see anything

That it physically struck,
Which is bizarre.

Narrator: russia sets a high bar
For crazy drivers

And weird road incidents,
But this is truly bizarre.

If I was in a car
And this happened,

I would absolutely freak out.

Here we go.

Narrator: experts try to
Replicate the incident.

That went really well,
Didn't it?

What are the russians up to?

[ camera whirs ]

♪♪

Narrator: moscow, russia...

A vibrant city of almost
12 million people

And five million cars.

[ horns honking ]

It's so congested,

Drivers here spend up to nine
Days a year stuck in traffic.

July 2017, cctv captures
Something surreal.

Pappalardo:
We have this typically
Bustling street in moscow,

and then all of a sudden,
This freakish thing happens

in the middle of the street.

narrator: a vehicle is
Catapulted into the air

and brought to a crashing halt

as though it's been hit by
An invisible force or object.

here's a car coming in at a high
Velocity, slamming into nothing.

nothing at all.
And tipping over.

you have to wonder what exactly
Put a car

this size on its side like
It was a matchbox car.

narrator: ex-nypd image analyst
Connor mccourt

looks for signs
Of digital manipulation.

this is very interesting to me.

I want to take a good look
And see what's going on here.

Sometimes with video systems,

There's glitches.
There's errors.

There's video artifacts,

But that's not
What's going on here.

This is an actual event.

Narrator: russia's drivers
Have a reputation

For being
Among the world's craziest

With a reckless disregard
For road safety.

Every year there are around
230,000 accidents,

And on average,
50 people a day are killed,

Making the highways here

Twice as deadly as those
In the united states.

But it's unlikely the
Strange event in the image

Is the result
Of dangerous driving.

Is this some kind of
Invisible weapon?

Narrator:
Mccourt looks at a different
Portion of the video

And spots a possible clue.

I can see in the upper
Right-hand part of the video

That there's a police car,
It's stopped.

Something's going on over here.

Narrator: military analyst
Carlo muñoz wonders

What the moscow cops
Are doing there.

Could what we are seeing
In this video

Be some sort of new technology
That the russian authorities

Have developed
To stop cars from speeding away.

Police chases are only fun
In the movies.

In real life,
They're extremely dangerous.

The idea that violent criminals
Are using cars to get away,

Very common.

Drive-by shootings
Are common in rural areas,

Smuggling, extremely common.

There's a lot of reasons why
The russians want

To stop that vehicle.

Narrator:
Catching violent crooks is a
Dangerous business,

And all too often,
Innocent bystanders

Are the tragic victims
Of high-speed pursuits.

Police around the world

Are actively
Working on ingenious new tools

To stop cars...

Dead in their tracks.

Pappalardo:
If you want to stop a horse,
You go for its legs.

If you want to stop a car,
You go for its wheels.

How you do that
Is up to the engineers.

One piece of technology that
U.S. Law enforcement authorities

Have experimented with
And actually used in the field

Is something
Called the grappler.

Narrator:
The grappler is mounted
To the bumper and fires

Out a net that tangles up
The perpetrator's rear wheels,

Forcing them to safely stop.

Now, in the united states
And other countries in europe,

There are rules, there are
Regulations of what police can

And cannot do to stop a car.

You have things like
Spike strips, things like that

That would stop a vehicle,
But not harm the person inside.

Now in russia, as I understand,

Those rules really
Aren't in place.

Narrator:
It's no surprise a nation known
For its heavy-handed approach

To policing could be using
A life-threatening technology

To abruptly stop cars.

you know, this is really a risk
That were deemed

to be completely unacceptable
In the west.

Muñoz: knowing the lack of
Regulations

That are involved
In the country,

The russian authorities
Pretty much have any means

At their disposal to stop a car
That may be trying to flee.

Narrator:
Matt kutcher has been
A hollywood

Special effects expert
For over 20 years.

He knows a thing or two
About flipping cars.

there must be some kind of
External force, something else

that's taking place
That makes that video possible.

Narrator:
He's devising an experiment
To see how much force

Russian cops would need to apply
To over turn a vehicle

In the way seen in the video.

To do that, he's going to use
A pressurized mechanical device.

The first thing kutcher needs
Is an old car

He doesn't mind destroying.

Bring it on in,
Matty.

Hold that.

There's no question this car has
Seen much better days,

But we did blow it up
The other day,

So old betty's gonna give us
Another ride, isn't she?

Narrator:
Kutcher fills the machine's
Hydraulic pistons

With pressurized
Liquid nitrogen gas.

He hopes this will be enough
To lift a vehicle

The size of the suv
In the footage into the air.

We're taking this vessel

And transferring all the energy
Into those vessels.

-about 1,800 p.S.I.
-nice.

-on the high side.
-yep.

And 120
On the low side.

That's very sweet.

Narrator:
When enough energy has built up,

The flipper is ready
To explode into action.

All right, gentlemen,
Let's do this.

-effects is hot?
-effects is hot.

Here we go.
In three, two, one. Hit it.

[ crashing ]

Well, we certainly got
A lot more dynamic action

Out of it that time, huh?

Our motor seems to be
A bit strewn.

I mean, that went really well,
Didn't it?

Narrator:
The car, which is lighter
Than the suv in the footage,

Dramatically rotates around

Before landing back
On its wheels.

To achieve this, the flipper
Exerted around 40,000 pounds

Of force.

Kutcher believes this means
The car in the video

Could have been overturned

By something exerting
A similar amount of energy.

But such a device would have
To be visible in the footage.

I certainly don't see anything
In the video, mechanical

Or visually,
That says this device did it.

There must be something
In that footage we don't see.

Something we're missing

That's the missing element,
The missing part to this video.

Narrator:
Coming up, can video analysis
Find the cause

Of moscow's mystery car crash?

Mccourt: just at the moment
Of the accident,

There's three things
That happen.

Narrator:
And in a rural village,

The dead have left their graves.

This is seriously creepy.

I don't like this.

Narrator:
In russia, cctv captures
The moment a car smashes

Into a seemingly
Invisible object and overturns.

Police video analyst
Connor mccourt

Enhances and cleans the image
To find the cause.

Studying the video,
There's nothing obvious here,

But I'm going to go frame
By frame and have a look.

Narrator: mccourt looks not
At the car itself,

But what is happening
Around the car

In other areas of the frame.

So just at the moment
Of the accident,

There's
Three things that happen.

There's a movement on the pole,

The car flips over, and the car
Over here jumps up in the air.

That would indicate that
There's some kind of connection

Between the three.

I think that connection
Is a wire.

Narrator:
Mccourt zooms in closer.

There appears to be what looks
Like a fallen electrical cable.

So right here,
If we play it forward,

We can see on the poles,
Something slide down.

That's the moment that the wire
Gets tangled up

In the front wheel of the car.

Narrator:
It wasn't russia's heavy-handed
Police who caused the crash,

It was its crumbling
Infrastructure --

A downed cable from
The faltering electric system.

It gives you the illusion
That it hit a brick wall

When actually the person
Driving the car

Suddenly swerved
The steering wheel

And the forward momentum kept on
Going, causing it to tumble.

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator:
Now in a rural village,

Locals visit
The graves of their dead.

But to their horror,

The dead have left
Their graves.

Open graves.

This is seriously creepy.

Narrator:
In front of each headstone
Is a gaping hole.

The graves themselves are empty.

What has happened here?

Where have the dead gone?

Szulgit:
If you believed in such things,

You would think maybe
The dead have risen.

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: tajikistan...

The remote mountainous
Neighbor of afghanistan,

Uzbekistan, and kyrgyzstan.

The country is now ruled
By a brutal dictator

Determined to stamp out what he
Sees as superstitious practices.

In 2014, zombies and vampires --
Or people dressed as them

Are reported to have been
Arrested by police.

But in june 2019,
The authorities are confronted

By something beyond
Mere superstition.

you can see that people
Are visiting the graves

of people that they've lost,
But there are just holes there.

There's nobody there.

Narrator:
A villager takes their phone
To film what they're witnessing.

This video is pretty gruesome
Right off the bat.

You're walking
Through a cemetery,

The ground at each grave site
Is wide open.

It is a really terrifying sight.

Narrator: the corpses are gone.

Not one or two,
But all of them.

Szulgit: it looks like somebody
Just grabbed them

And pulled them away.

And you think, "Well,
Why would this happen?"

there are a lot of things
About this video

that on first glance
Just don't make any sense.

Narrator:
Myths of the undead can be
Found across asia,

Though the names for these
Beings vary, bizarrely.

In 2007, a number of
U.S. Soldiers

Reported to a journalist
From an oregon newspaper

To have seen actual vampires

While on tour
In neighboring afghanistan.

In response to this
Incredible footage,

Experts consider
Possible explanations.

What if these people were
Actually buried alive

And they woke up
And dug themselves out?

This does actually happen and
Has happened throughout history.

Narrator: before the advent
Of modern medicine,

Establishing if a person
Was dead was far

From being an exact science.

The victorians in england
Were really afraid of this,

In fact, some caskets
Had bells on them

So that if they
Were buried alive,

They could ring
To let people know.

Narrator:
If a person wakes buried
Inside a coffin,

They have just over five hours
Of breathable air.

It's horrifying to think
That people

Could actually be buried
Before they're dead.

Narrator:
Incredibly, even today,

The chance of being buried
Alive is very real.

In 2014, where a 78-year-old man
In mississippi woke up

Just before he was about
To be embalmed in a funeral home

And started kicking,
And they realized

That he was alive.
He had been declared dead

Because
They couldn't find a pulse.

Narrator:
Tajikistan is one of the
Poorest nations in the world

And the poorest of all former
Soviet republics.

Doctors are often inadequately
Trained,

And there is only
One per 625 people.

The few resources physicians do
Have are severely overstretched.

It turns out in many places,
You literally do

Not need a medical degree
To be the coroner --

The person who declares
Whether somebody is dead or not.

Narrator:
Szulgit highlights
One medical condition

That tajikistan's health service
Might struggle to diagnose.

There's a state called catalepsy
Where you don't feel any pulse,

And actually the muscles
Become rigid,

Much like they were
In rigor mortis.

This can happen if the person
Is suffering from epilepsy

Or parkinson's disease
Or drug withdrawal.

Now, if that were the case,

This would be mistaken
Diagnosis of death

And burial on a massive scale
All in the same place.

[ camera whirs ]

narrator: but this cannot be
The explanation here.

analysts consider if these tombs
Have been plundered.

you might ask whether
This could be grave robbers.

But if so, this is

A very well-coordinated,
Simultaneous attack.

Narrator: coming up...

Could an invasion
Of body snatchers explain

Tajikistan's empty graves?

Sanford:
For an organ donation to work,

The organ has to be
Transplanted within hours.

Narrator:
And what makes an ordinary
Street explode?

The next thing they know,
Kaboom!

Narrator:
In tajikistan, distraught
Villagers arrive at the graves

Of their loved ones
To find them empty.

But this is such a poor part
Of the world,

There's really nothing
Of value to steal.

Unless what is being looted
Is not in the graves,

But rather inside
The bodies themselves.

China recently faced
International condemnation

Because people reported that
They had been harvesting organs

From prisoners
Who had recently died.

Narrator:
According to a 2016 report
By human rights lawyers,

Chinese authorities are accused
Of arresting political opponents

And using their organs
For transplants.

Wolshon: it's been published in
Various online sources

That some prisoners who are
Executed, before they are buried

would actually become organ
Donors, not by their own choice.

Narrator:
China executes more people

Than all other countries
Put together.

But even if they are using
Their prison population

As an organ bank, there would
Still be a worldwide shortage.

And so the black market
Has picked up the slack.

Narrator:
A kidney has a street value

Of $150,000,

But to be usable,
It must be removed from the body

Within hours of death.

However, other tissues
Like heart valves or corneas

Can remain viable for longer.

Now, this footage
Is from tajikistan

And the people would no doubt
Be muslim.

In islamic tradition,
The dead should not be cremated

And should be buried
Within 24 hours.

Narrator:
The organs in the bodies here
Are almost certainly unusable.

But to a ruthless street gang,

Passing off valuable body parts
As fresh

Could be an irresistible source
Of illegal revenue.

If this graveyard had been full
Of recently buried bodies,

It's very possible that
Grave robbers were after organs.

The idea that a loved
One's grave has been desecrated,

That's traumatizing.
It's terrible.

Narrator:
But chemist simon foster
Wonders whether this might be

The freak result of bad weather
Combined with rotting corpses.

looking for an explanation
Behind this,

you can see that actually
Similar events

happen around flooding

when unfortunately, there's been
A hurricane or a typhoon.

nature can do some
Pretty gruesome things.

and is that
What's happened here?

narrator:
It may be that the coffins
Used here are airtight

and watertight.
As corpses decompose,

They give off gases,
Including hydrogen sulfide,

Carbon dioxide, and methane.

Foster:
Inside this sealed container,

Not only have you got air,

You've got more
And more gas, so basically,

That's gonna make it more
And more buoyant.

Narrator:
The color of the soil
In the video

Indicates it has a high clay
And silt content.

Torrential rain could quickly
Turn this type of ground

Into a wet, light mud.

It would have been
A bizarre sight,

But the gas-filled coffins

Might have risen up
From the ground by themselves

And floated away,
Carried by torrents of rain.

So wherever that floodwater
Goes, unfortunately,

The coffins
Are going to go with it.

Narrator:
But no coffins have been found
Along the path of the mudflow.

What happened to the dead
Of this tajikistan village

Remains a mystery.

So the question is,
"Where are the coffins now?

Where did they end up?"

That's the real tragedy here
That basically you could have

Lost the body and coffin
Of your loved one.

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator:
Now, a rainy day on an ordinary
Looking chinese street.

Kaboom!
What the heck just happened?

Oh. Oh, my god. Whoa.

Big explosion, shattering,
Just stuff flying.

Narrator: a terrified local
Runs for cover.

How does that person
Not get hurt? It's amazing.

Narrator: the footage offers
No obvious clues

As to the cause of the blast.

Even seeing this a few times,
It's unclear to me

If the explosion's
Coming from the truck

Or if it's coming from below.

Did a bomb just go off?

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: august 2018...

China's shandong
Province, in tianjin,

A sprawling industrial city
Of 1.4 million people,

A lone pedestrian
Takes a morning stroll.

this person is walking alone
On a rainy day,

carrying their umbrella,
Minding their own business.

the next thing they know,
Kaboom!

narrator:
A passing truck appears to
Explode with disturbing force.

I'm sorry, but that umbrella
Isn't going to save you.

narrator:
Experts are not certain
If the blast is

from the vehicle itself

or if the explosion has
Come from under the road.

Now we're seeing
The aftermath --

Smoke, rubble, and
Confused-looking people.

some catastrophic event
Has just happened,

and we have absolutely
No idea why.

Narrator:
Geophysicist sian proctor
Studies the footage.

It appears to bear none of
The telltale signs of terrorism.

She thinks there could be
A connection to

The vast coal mining industry
That dominates this region.

The whole area is just riddled
With tunnels and shafts.

Could a mining accident

Deep below the city
Trigger this huge blast?

Narrator: it's been reported,
Chinese miners are 100 times

More likely to die
In an accident

Than their
American counterparts.

At their worst,

The poor safety standards kill
Around 5,000 workers every year.

Going down a coal mine in china

Is a bit
Like playing russian roulette.

the vast majority
Of mining disasters in china

are caused by gas explosions.

Proctor:
We're talking about things
Like methane

Suddenly being ignited and boom.

Narrator:
But there are no mine tunnels
Reported to be

Under this part of the city.

Journalist jeff wise
Examines the footage and wonders

If the explosion
Is coming from the truck itself.

When you think about
A truck exploding,

The mind immediately goes to
Like a propane tanker truck

Or some other kind of
Flammable liquid that they could

Actively immediately turn
Into a giant bomb.

Narrator: tanker trucks loaded
With gasoline

Carry the equivalent
Of 100 tons of tnt,

Easily enough to level
Several city blocks.

And every year
In the united states,

There are around
3,000 truck accidents.

[ explosion ]

If one of these things happened
In a major city,

It would be like a bomb

Going off in the middle
Of the downtown area.

Narrator:
Doug holmes considers
If something similar

Is happening
To the truck in the video.

Is there some sort of hazardous
Chemical in there

That when there's
A spark, can explode?

Narrator: coming up...

Can investigators
Find the source

Of china's
Mysteriously exploding truck?

I'm looking at this video

And I'm seeing
Some interesting clues.

Narrator:
And an alien-looking lifeform
On a vietnamese beach.

Why would it need
So many little tiny tentacles?

It would use these
To capture its prey.

Narrator:
In china, a vehicle carrying
A mysterious payload

Explodes with no apparent cause.

[ explosion ]

Connor mccourt studies
The clip and finds no evidence

This is a fuel truck.

looking at the back end
Of this truck,

doesn't indicate any kind of
Tanker metal encasement.

It's more like maybe could be

A tarp or a cloth
Or something like that.

Narrator: further analysis
Reveals a vital clue.

In this post explosion image,
We can see

What's left of the truck.
On the bed of the truck,

There are rocks.

Could this be the source
Of the explosion?

Narrator:
Yet rock is typically one of
The most stable substances

On earth
And doesn't normally explode.

Proctor believes the payload
On the truck may look similar,

But is actually something
Far more dangerous.

There are highly explosive
Chemical compounds

That look like rock,
And it is possible

That this truck
Was transporting some of that.

Narrator:
China is the world's biggest
Producer of calcium carbide,

A harmless looking rock-like
Substance

Used for ripening bananas
And other fruit.

Under the right circumstances,
It's also highly explosive.

ballistics expert matt kutcher
Studies the footage and spots

the unlikely source of ignition.

kutcher:
It's because it's raining,

and that's the key
To this video.

that's the ingredient
That adds the mass destruction.

Narrator: calcium carbide reacts
With water to create acetylene,

A highly explosive gas

Commonly used in welding.

The volatile chemical burns

At over 5,000 degrees
Fahrenheit,

Half that of the sun's surface
Temperature.

If this truck were loaded with
Many tons of calcium carbide

That became wet,

All the released gas needs
Is a spark.

We actually don't know exactly
Where the spark came from.

The next thing you know,

You have this runaway
Chain reaction

That explodes with the force
Of a bomb going off.

narrator:
This isn't the first time
Careless

handling of calcium carbide
Has caused devastation in china.

A 2015 explosion at a warehouse
In tianjin kills 173 people

And horrifically injures
Almost 800 more.

For days after, a cloud
Of poisonous gas billows

Into the atmosphere,

Turning the air toxic.

Anybody caught in that is
Probably not going to survive.

Narrator:
Three years later, it appears
The authorities have done little

Or nothing
To improve safety standards.

And it's the country's
Long-suffering citizens

That are paying
The ultimate price.

I think that the people
Of this city have to be

In fear of any trucks

That might be carrying
Dangerous explosive rocks.

You just don't know
When an accident like this

Is going to happen.

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator:
Now, a nightmare from the deep
Washes up on a vietnamese beach.

Oh, god.
What the cheese is this?

It looks like a plant,
But it's moving.

Brenserger:
It doesn't really look like
It's from this planet,

It kind of looks alien.

Is it a creature
We just don't even know yet?

Narrator: it's a monster out
Of a horror movie,

Except this alien creature
Is 100% real.

It seems to have layers
Of branching tentacles

That are folding in
And out on itself.

Narrator:
Locals fear chemical waste

Dumping has produced
A terrifying mutant.

Man:
They're pretty brave just to be
Reaching out and touching that,

I hope they know
What they're dealing with.

[ camera whirs ]

♪♪

Narrator: kien giant, vietnam,
July 2018,

150 miles
From ho chi minh city.

Locals are returning from
Fishing on the mekong delta,

As they have done
For thousands of years

When they encounter
The most extraordinary creature.

this looks like something
Straight out

of a science fiction film.

narrator:
The fishermen have seen
Every kind of sea life,

but absolutely nothing
Like this.

so it looks like some clump
Of seaweed or something

until you see it start to move,

and it all starts
To get all creepy.

narrator: this thing has
Countless tentacles,

which themselves have tentacles.

they appear to writhe
Independently,

reaching out to devour
Or grasp anything they can.

it looks like it could be
Trying to grab something.

I've never seen
An organism like this.

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: coming up...

Does a toxic chemical spill
Offer a clue

To the strange creature's
Monstrous appearance?

There are records
In the literature of mutations

Causing extra eyes
And extra limbs.

Narrator: and over japan's
Mount fuji a weird cloud-like

Object looms ominously.

The way it moves, it does not
Look natural.

The way it is shaped,
It does not look natural.

Narrator:
In vietnam, a bizarre sea
Monster washes up on the beach.

The experienced fishermen

That find it have never seen
Anything like it before.

Zoologist roland kays
Studies the footage.

It looks almost like seaweed,
But this is surely no plant.

This is an animal
Or multiple animals or else

It is some corrupted,
Mutated life form.

sci fi films show
Terrible monsters

being created by toxic waste,

but these things actually
Are based in reality.

Narrator:
Vietnam has a terrible record of
Environmental disasters.

In 2016, this country faced its
Worst environmental disaster

Ever with toxic chemicals
Seeping into its waters.

Narrator:
Protests by ordinary vietnamese
Broke out as chemicals

Like cyanide and carbolic acid
Flowed into the water.

scientists believe that these
Chemicals are stable enough

to withstand many years
In the ocean.

So the sea life
Is still very much

Impacted by the toxicity levels.

Narrator:
It is well-established that
Certain chemical cocktails

Cause mutations in the dna of
The creatures exposed to them.

With such local pollution,

Could the marine life
Be evolving new ways to survive?

♪♪

Narrator:
Biologist craig szulgit attempts
To analyze the weird creature.

Why would it need so many
Little tiny tentacles?

It would use these
To capture its prey.

Bondar:
The tendrils can be outstretched
For quite long distances

To be able to draw
In any little creatures

That happen to be swimming by.

Narrator:
But this creature is almost
Certainly not a one-off mutant,

There are probably more.

What's worrying is this may be
An infant not yet fully grown.

What if there's something
Out there

That's much larger than this?

You can see how it kind of
Squiggles around

When someone tries to touch it.

It looks like it could probably
Strangle someone

If it's big enough
And strong enough.

Narrator: biologist dustin
Growick examines the video.

There is good reason
This creature looks alien.

It appears like it
Could be a sea star,

But it doesn't look like any sea
Star you'd expect to see.

Narrator:
Normally found in the planet's
Deepest oceans,

The creepy-looking
Marine invertebrate

Is a distant relative
Of the sea star.

But these creatures of the abyss
Are rarely seen by humans.

Those who have, called it
The gorgons head

Because of their likeness
To the mythical gorgon medusa.

It can grow up
To three feet long,

Has no blood, no eyes,
And grows back severed limbs,

Which it uses to drag victims
Towards its five-jawed mouth.

Great. Yet another nightmare
To distract me

When I'm trying to sleep.

Like I didn't have enough
To be scared of.

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: now, in japan,
Beside mount fuji,

A cloud-like form or a spinning
Mist-covered object?

The way it moves,
It does not look natural.

The way it is shaped,
It does not look natural.

Kind of has that artificial
Sheen.

It's smooth.
It's symmetrical.

It really does give me
An uneasy feeling.

Narrator:
Locals report a mystery craft

Flying
Over the outskirts of tokyo.

That's a really weird
Looking cloud.

I mean, it looks like a flying
Saucer.

♪♪

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: mount fuji, japan,

60 miles southwest
Of the country's capital,

The snow capped summit soars
12,380-feet into the sky.

Followers of the shinto faith
Believe

The mountain to be sacred.
And every year,

Thousands of pilgrims
Ascend the hallowed slopes.

But none were expecting
What happened in march 2019.

gottlieb:
Imagine a beautiful sunny day
Over mount fuji.

and then you have
This massive disc-shaped object

hovering next to the mountain,
Like, what is that?

narrator:
The texture looks cloud-like,

but it's not shaped
Like a normal cloud,

and it doesn't behave
Like a normal cloud.

it's persistent,
It keeps its shape.

it's moving in a different
Direction

in the sky
From the other clouds.

and it appears to almost be
Spinning and not moving.

Is this something dangerous?
Should I be concerned?

Narrator: coming up...

Does a weird cloud-like form
Spell danger

For the people of tokyo?

One of the very worst
Gas attacks

In living memory was in japan.

narrator:
In japan, eyewitnesses report
A mystery craft

has been spotted
Hovering near mount fuji.

the media describes
This widely as a ufo.

analysts search
For other explanations.

mcmahon:
If you look at that image,
You can see a plume.

it's almost like a cord
Connecting the cloud

down to the ground.

so you have to wonder, is this
Coming from a manmade source?

this worries me because
There is a dark history

surrounding mount fuji,
Especially with deadly gases.

Narrator:
The spinning object appears

Over the former headquarters
Of aum shinrikyo,

A brutal, deadly cult

With tens of thousands
Of japanese followers

Led by a maniac
Called shoko asahara.

The ohm shinrikyo cult believed
That the world was about to end.

That there would be
An apocalyptic world war,

But they would emerge from the
Dust from the nuclear holocaust

As the triumphant elites
And inherit the earth.

Narrator: on march 20, 1995,
The cult plants

Five bags of lethal sarin gas
On tokyo's subway.

When it's released,
Within seconds,

Passengers are writhing in pain,
Blinded, vomiting, and choking.

Sarin is a nerve agent, and what
That means is it interferes

With the way that our nerves
Talk to our muscles.

Gottlieb:
Imagine inhaling and then
Having your lungs not work

And you start to suffocate.
That must have been terrifying.

Narrator: 6,000 are seriously
Injured and 13 killed.

There is a connection between
This cult and mount fuji

Because near mount fuji,

This cult had their weapons
Manufacturing plant.

This is where
They produced their sarin.

Narrator:
In 2018, the cult's leader
Is executed along

With six of his most
Deranged disciples.

But the cult continues.

Two offshoots of aum shinrikyo
Are still preaching

That the end is coming.

Could this cloud above
Mount fuji

Be the release of a deadly gas?

Narrator:
But geologist devin dennie

Believes the proximity
To the volcano is revealing.

this scene may look serene
And peaceful, and mount fuji

is an iconic part
Of being in japan,

but it's also
A very dangerous thing.

Narrator:
Is the swirling haze a sign
The sleeping giant

Is beginning to wake?

This is a stratovolcano,
An active volcano

That poses a threat
To the people all around it.

Narrator: in the past 2,200
Years, mount fuji has erupted

No fewer than 75 times.

During the last eruption in
1707, 20,000 people died.

But since then, tokyo has
Turned into a mega city.

Well, there's 10 million people
That live

In the immediate vicinity
Of this volcano.

If some kind of activity

Stirring to life
Is indicated by this cloud.

That would be very worrisome.

Dennie: the cinder cones
On the side of the volcano,

Maybe the easiest path
For that hot gas

And lava
To make its way to the surface.

That could be potentially

The source of
The material we see in the sky.

Narrator: poison gas escaping
From volcanoes can be

As lethal as exploding lava.

In 2006, three ski patrol
Members

On california's mammoth mountain

Are asphyxiated after
Tumbling into a snow pit filled

With toxic fumes that spewed
From a concealed volcanic vent.

But dennie worries
The gas cloud in the video

Is a sign of even
Deadlier danger to come.

Dennie:
The type of magma that we have
At mount fuji is very explosive.

So when it does blow,
It really blows.

If you were in the path
Of a pyroclastic flow

Containing hot gas,

Ash, and rock was coming at you
At 200 miles per hour,

You would be terrified.
You'd need to get out fast.

Narrator:
Meteorologist chris walcek
Examines the footage.

He suspects the swirling mist
Is connected to the volcano,

But not because
Of its explosive contents.

I've been looking at this video
And it seems to match

the characteristics of
An extremely rare form of cloud.

narrator:
If this is an auto cumulus
Standing lenticular,

it's been caused by the presence
Of the volcano,

lenticular clouds form in
An extremely stable environment

where air is pushed
Over a mountain.

as that air goes up,
It cools,

so what we're seeing
Is a cloud that's formed

because the air is coming up
And over mount fuji.

narrator:
But not everyone is convinced

that this is
A natural cloud formation.

at some point when you don't
Know what the thing is doing,

it's going against
Your expectations.

you're going to start
To get afraid of it.