Original subtitles

[ 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.