All language subtitles for Strange.Evidence.S04E06.Aliens.of.Hell.Highway.1080p.MAX.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BETHELL_track3_[eng]

[ camera whirs ]

Narrator: worldwide,

27 billion cameras
Are watching us --

On our street,
At work, and in our homes.

They capture things
That seem impossible.

It defies the laws of physics.

Man:
This is unbelievable, man.

Narrator: experts carry out
Forensic analysis

Of these unusual events.

Now,
That's an explosion.

[ screaming ]

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

Something we're not seeing,
Right?

What else is going on here?

Narrator: coming up...

A baffling blitzkrieg
Over the buckeye state.

Is this town under attack?

Narrator: judgment day
Comes to california.

Morales: is that jesus christ?
Please!

I really felt like it was him,
So I started praying.

Narrator:
And havoc on the highways.

Is that slime?
That looks gross.

What the heck just happened?

Narrator: bizarre phenomenon.

Whoa.

Narrator:
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, a shocking but mysterious
Event in an american suburb.

Something weird
Is happening here.

[ explosion ]

it sounded like
A bomb went off.

narrator:
A strange light and a shock wave

that shakes churches
And family homes.

[ explosion ]

definitely flooded the area
With light when it happened.

Narrator: but the event is still
Unexplained and the authorities

Are unwilling to discuss
What's going on.

It would be nice to have
Some answers

Or at least to have them admit
That this is happening,

But it's been basically
Radio silence.

Is this town under attack?

♪♪

Narrator: slavic village
In cleveland, ohio,

Just north of
Wright-patterson air force base.

This is where the military's
T2 intelligent unit

Is known to have carried out
Projects sign and bluebook,

Official investigations into
Unidentified flying objects.

May 12, 2018.

On a spring evening,
The quiet neighborhood sleeps.

It looks like a normal
Neighborhood,

It's nighttime.

You can see there's
A cat mulling around

On like a garbage can
Or something.

Narrator:
But then, the streets light up.

All of a sudden, there's a flash
Of light out of nowhere.

Narrator: dogs begin to bark,

Buildings shake
On their foundations,

And residents
Leap from their beds

At the sound
Of these enormous blasts.

It whitewashed all of it,
So I mean,

It wasn't just one
Particular location,

It was there.

It was across the whole entirety
Of the horizon.

It was the feeling
Of the house shaking

And it was just very usual,
So that's what really got me.

Narrator: slavic village
Resident kim kempke

Rushes to her window.

Kempke: so I woke up and I,
The whole house shook

And the windows shook
And I was like, "What was that?"

It sounded like
A bomb went off.

The people at the church
Right across the street up here

Said that it shook
The whole church,

I mean, that's a big building.

[ cat meows ]

Narrator: kempke's neighbor
Steve hart describes the event.

The night of may 12th, we were
Just sitting enjoying ourselves

In the garage,
Like we normally do,

It's almost another room
In our house.

My son dylan was sitting here.
I was sitting there on the couch

And then all of a sudden,
A huge flash of light happened.

So I came out here

Just to see if there was
Anything that was going wrong.

And then just seconds later,
An enormous explosion.

[ explosion ]

That's when we all said,
"We need to get inside

Because we do not know
That this is."

Narrator: the next morning,
Kempke drives towards

Where she thinks
The explosions happened

And finds police
At the scene.

Kempke: there were a couple
Of sheriffs' cars, two or three.

They weren't in the car,
Though.

They were like walking around,

And I asked one of them
What was going on

Or if they knew anything,
And they really wouldn't

Say anything.
They just kind of blew me off.

I just thought that was weird.

Narrator: usually when things
Explode in the sky,

Traces fall to the ground

But kim finds no evidence
At the scene.

It's just bizarre.
Like, some people tell me

They think it's the government.

Whatever,
I really don't know.

Narrator: explosives engineers,
Physicists, and other experts

Are equally mystified
By the event.

I think if this went off
In the middle of the night

with your loved ones,
Kids in the house,

I don't know whether
You would shelter in place

or want to go outside
And see if the war just started.

is this town under attack?

my sister lives in ohio
And, you know, I'm concerned.

something big blowing up
That makes that much light

and that much noise
Is probably bad news.

[ explosion ]

narrator: it's hard to determine
The altitude of the blasts.

science journalist
Amy teitel

considers where
The suburban security cameras

could have captured
A strike from space.

one possibility
Is that it's a meteor.

there is a pretty loud
Bang seconds after

the flash of light.

as a meteor is entering
The atmosphere

it's traveling so fast,

it's actually traveling faster
Than the speed of sound,

This creates a sonic boom.

We have that experience with
Jet aircraft.

They're traveling so fast
That it sends out a shock wave,

Sound wave, and that's
What we're hearing here.

An estimated
25 million meteoroids

And other pieces of space
Debris enter

The earth's atmosphere
Every day.

Narrator: are the blasts
In the sky over cleveland

The beginning of
A catastrophic bombardment?

♪♪

But when physicist david wallace
Looks at the footage,

He is reminded of a special type
Of aerial bomb

Used in he second world war.

there is a scenario back
In world war ii

where the japanese used
What was called a fu-go

And this was an attempt to send
Bombs across the pacific ocean

To hit the united states.

Narrator: 6,000 miles
Of pacific ocean puts america

Out of range
Of the japanese bombers.

The imperial solution
Is fiendishly cunning --

The fu-go,
Or hydrogen balloon bomb.

Wallace: it would float up,
Get into the jet stream.

Around three days,
They would cross the pacific,

Come over continental
United states.

At this point, they would
Fall down to the earth

And cause destruction,
Blow up buildings, kill people,

Or just wreak
All sorts of havoc

Amongst the population there.

Narrator: the first balloon bomb
Is released

On november 3, 1944.

It is followed
By almost 9,000 more.

During world war ii,
Fu-go bombs

Failed to achieve their goal
Of mass destruction

But only 284
Have yet been found.

In 2014,
A fully functional fu-go

Was discovered in canada.

Local resident steve hart
Discovers a modern spin

On the fu-gos --

An internet craze for
Turning hydrogen balloons

Into homemade floating bombs.

Hart: what I saw were people
Filling huge balloons

With this stuff and then
Setting them off for parties

Or just their group of friends.

And it makes this kind of flash
And it makes that kind of boom.

[ explosion ]

Narrator: coming up,
Can hollywood pyrotechnics

Blow open the mystery
Of the buckeye blitzkrieg?

I suppose we made
A bit of a bomb.

And over burbank, california,
A spirit in the sky.

Morales:
Is that jesus christ?

The bible describes him
As coming down from the sky.

Maybe that's what
We're seeing here.

♪♪

Narrator: mysterious blasts
Of light and sound

Over cleveland, ohio,
Baffle residents.

Definitely flooded the area
With light when it happened.

Narrator: pyrotechnics expert
Matt kutcher considers

If the explosions
May be caused

By someone playing
With explosive balloons.

mischievous kids figuring out
How to get balloons

up in the air
And detonate them?

Entirely possible.

Narrator: to test this theory,
Kutcher sets up an experiment.

We're gonna take a big balloon,
Like a weather balloon,

Fill it full of hydrogen
And blow it up.

Narrator: hydrogen is very
Flammable and it floats.

Don't try this
At home, kids.

So actually what we've tied it
With is our detonation cable.

We're going to send a charge
Of electricity up it.

That'll burst
The balloon and spark.

I suppose we made
A bit of a bomb.

Let's go get this done, guys.
Come on.

We ready?

And in three, two, one.
Hit it!

Narrator: the balloon detonates
In mid air, causing an explosion

And a small sonic boom
Across the yard.

Kutcher: just like the video,
Right?

I mean, you had a huge,
High-powered flash,

You get a nice concussive bang.

I think it's quite the success!

Narrator: matt's experiment
Proves that exploding

Hydrogen balloons
Create a flash and a bang,

But it would take
A truly vast hydrogen balloon

To create an explosion as big
As the ones in the footage.

[ explosion ]

Eyewitnesses
Are unconvinced.

I find it hard to believe
That something like that

could shake my whole house

And wake me up
Out of a dead sleep,

It just felt too powerful.

I definitely think
It's a possibility

That there's something
Bigger going on.

♪♪

Narrator: now a figure appears
Descending from the heavens.

It bears an incredible
Resemblance

To depictions of christ
Dating back centuries.

Morales:
Is that jesus christ?

I really felt like it was him,
So I started praying in spanish,

Saying "Please lord,
Father god".

Narrator: the bible predicts
A second coming,

When the messiah returns to
Judge the living and the dead.

Morales: please.
Oh, my god.

Narrator: scientists speculate
As to what else this might be.

It's so silent, it's actually
Kind of creepy.

♪♪

Narrator:
Los angeles, california,

Home of hollywood,

The glitzy dream factory
Of the world.

May 8, 2019. 9:30 p.M.

Union carpenter pablo morales

Steps out of his home
For some air.

Morales: that night,
It just seemed weird,

the gray sky,
The thunder, no lightning,

it just felt like a real
Like weird night that night.

Narrator: morales looks up
And sees what appears to be

A christ-like figure
Floating from the sky.

At first,
I thought it was jesus.

Is that jesus christ?

Please, please,
Our father god.

The way the apparition
Was moving,

It was just hovering.

Like, you could see his arms

And it was just
Hovering in place.

Narrator: the figure
Clearly resembles

Depictions of christ

Common in christian homes
And churches across the world.

You can't really see it
In the video

Because it's a little grainy,
But live,

It has like a sash,
A robe.

Es un hombre!

Woman: a what?
Are you sure?

Yes, mom.

Kind of looks like it
Turns back at us,

So it kind of seems like it
Didn't want to be filmed

Or it didn't want to be seen,

So that kind of put me
A little bit unsettled,

You know, because that was
End of the world type stuff.

Narrator: the christ-like shape
Briefly stops, looming over him,

And then descends out of sight.

Morales: it went behind
The neighbor's house.

It was maybe 100 feet past
The neighbor's house.

Narrator:
Morales rushes to investigate.

Morales: me and my wife decided
To jump in the car

To see if we could
Find out what it was.

So this is where the apparition
Flew behind.

This is the street
Where it should have landed.

It should have landed either
In these trees, in this street.

We couldn't
Find anything at all.

Narrator:
The second coming of christ

Is foretold in
The book of revelations.

the idea of the second coming
Is central

to a lot of christian belief

and that's that jesus,
Having risen to heaven,

Will descend one day
Back to earth again.

Narrator: the gospel of matthew
Foretells the son of man

Will appear in the sky
To vanquish satan...

And save the faithful.

there is one thing the experts
All seem to agree on.

it definitely looks like
It's a person.

morales: es un hombre.

yes, mom.

if it's human, it defies
The laws of physics.

narrator: former nypd
Video analyst conor mccourt

studies the footage.

my first question is,
Is this authentic video?

to me, it's hand held,

It doesn't seem like
There's any after effects,

No special effects.

That's the first thing
I look for.

What we have here is
A humanoid figure

Gently descending to the ground

And it's passing
Right across a tree,

So it gives us perspective
Of how big it is.

What we have here is actually
Something

That's about the size
Of an average man.

Narrator: science writer
Linda zimmerman

Considers the location

Where the footage was shot
And sees a possible clue.

well, this takes place
In california,

where there were a lot
Of hoaxes and cults.

Narrator: one such cult,
Heaven's gate,

Used holograms
To fake miracles,

Like making people
Appear to levitate.

These illusions, or tricks,

Are convincing enough
To persuade

Cult followers
To take their own lives.

On march 26, 1997,
39 members commit ritual suicide

In order the reach
The extraterrestrial spacecraft

That they believe is following
The comet hale-bopp.

Zimmerman wonders if the figure
In the footage

Is intended to deceive.

Zimmerman: there are many
Reasons to create

A religious hoax,
But for the most part,

It brings the hoaxer
Fame and fortune.

Narrator: but material scientist
Sian proctor considers

Whether the u.S. Military
Could have a hand

In this apparently
Miraculous visitation.

Where this was filmed

Is actually one of the aviation
Capitals of the united states.

When you think of the history
There,

You've got people like
Howard hughes's aircraft,

Amelia earhart's aircraft.

They were all built
In burbank.

It's a hotbed of aviation
Technology development.

Narrator: coming up,
Is the figure of christ

Really a flying soldier?

It's not beyond the realm
Of possibility

That somebody in this area

Is working on hoverboard
Technology.

Narrator:
And on an oregon highway,

Ectoplasmic alien slime.

It's really hard not to think
About slimer

From the "Ghostbusters" movies

And the trail of snot
That he leaves behind.

♪♪

Narrator:
In burbank, california,

A figure resembling
Historic depictions

Of jesus christ
Descends from above.

Morales: please.
Oh, my god.

Narrator: investigators wonder
If the area's

High tech companies
Could be responsible.

it's not beyond the realm
Of possibility

that somebody in this area

is working on hoverboard
Technology

or something similar.

if there's gonna be a hoverboard
In someone's backyard,

it might as well be there.

Narrator: the working hoverboard
Is first developed in 2015

And quickly takes off.

In 2019, a french inventor,
Franky zapata,

Built a hoverboard

And flew it across
The english channel.

Pappalardo: one thing
You can say about franky

Is that he is not shy
And he's got a lot of daring.

Narrator: the next time
Zapata appears,

It's bastille day in paris.

at this mind blowing
Demonstration,

zapata flew around the
Champs-elysee holding a rifle

while he was in the air.

a bit of a nod to the potential
Military application

for this kind of hoverboard
Technology.

narrator: but science journalist
Jon farrow spots a problem

with the hoverboard theory.

farrow: hoverboards are
Basically jet engines

that you strap to your feet.

morales:
Is that jesus christ?

and sure, they can lift you up
Into the sky

but they're gonna make
A lot of noise doing it

And we just don't hear it
In this clip.

Narrator: experts are unable
To explain

This mysterious vision,

But pablo morales is convinced

He saw something beyond
Human understanding.

I just think, you know, it was
Something unnatural,

Something unexplained,
Something not of this world.

Whatever it is, it remains
A mystery needing to be solved.

Narrator: now
A mysterious ectoplasm mass

Of alien-like worms

Causes cars to crash
On an oregon road.

Is that slime?

That looks gross.

I've never seen anything
Like that before.

Narrator: baffled scientists
Still do not know

What precisely is going on here.

This is really disgusting,

This entire road
Seems to be covered in mucus

And it's obviously led to
Several car accidents already.

It's unsettling because there's
No immediate explanation

For what caused the road
To be covered with slime.

♪♪

Narrator: highway 101 runs
All the way along the west coast

From california through oregon
And all the way to washington.

It connects the tech companies
Of silicon valley

With the many military bases
In southern california.

July 13, 2017.

Highway 101 near depoe bay,
Oregon.

A motorist makes
An emergency stop

As he encounters a mysterious
Slime oozing across the asphalt.

Morgan: oh, there's
A wrecked car

Covered in slime.

There's all this viscous,
Slippery mucus on the road.

Narrator: writhing around
In the weird mucus

Are the twisting bodies
Of strange creatures.

I don't have any conventional
Explanation

For why slime would be
Covering everything

On a modern major highway.

We're just seeing
This absolute disaster.

♪♪

Narrator: marine biologist
Danni washington

Thinks that this ocean of filthy
Slime might be produced

By the alien-like creatures that
Are using it to move around.

when I look at the footage
I can see

that this animal
Is producing the slime

And this is obviously not
Their natural environment,

They're meant to be
In the water.

Narrator: animal behavior expert
Kevin kasky

Thinks the creatures bear
A striking resemblance

To terrifying parasites
Normally found

In the deep ocean
A mile beneath the surface.

they're the only creature
Known to man

that has a skull
And no vertebrae.

So as food floats down to them,
They bore into the creatures

And they eat them
From the inside out.

Narrator:
These monstrous freaks

Are known as slime eels
Or hagfish.

Washington: they can produce up
To five gallons of slime

From the hundred slime glands

That they have all
Over their body.

Kasky:
It's a slippery, gooey mucus,

Hence why there was a car crash
Involved with it.

This slime allows them
To wriggle their way out

Of the mouths
Of the predator and get away.

Narrator: experts ask how
Body munching monsters

From the deep ocean

Could end up devouring cars
On the freeway.

Muñoz: researchers have gone
To places like depoe bay

to just gather them
By the thousands and truck them

to research facilities
All over the united states.

So what we could be seeing here
Is a truck full

That may have
Jack-knifed on the highway.

Narrator: neurophysiologist
Kiki sanford

Looks into the human uses

Of this hagfish creature's
Slime.

What she discovers leads her
To suspect the mess on the road

Could be the remains of
A top secret military pay load.

their slime does have military
Applications.

could it be possible

That they had
A military destination in store?

Now, the interesting thing
About this slime

Is that really it's quite
A durable type material.

It's actually five times
Stronger than steel.

The u.S. Navy is looking into
Hagfish slime

As a potential shield
That's flexible like a fluid

But then when it's struck,
Gets hard like a solid.

Kind of like
A non-newtonian fluid.

Narrator: non-newtonian fluids
Like this hagfish slime are

So-called super materials,

Almost like black panther's
Vibranium armor.

the navy even has an idea that
The slime from the hagfish

can be used as a coating
On the outside of the submarine

That might even
Potentially stop a torpedo.

Could you imagine a submarine

Surrounded by this kind
Of a slime shield?

This would revolutionize
Underwater warfare.

Narrator: coming up,
The danger to earth

From alien super slime.

That slime could pose a threat
To humanity.

Narrator: and a rain of fire
On the freeway.

Are we under attack?
What's gonna happen next?

♪♪

Narrator: an oregon highway
Is overtaken

By a mass of mysterious
Worm-like slime monsters.

Material scientist doug holmes
Considers

If the alien slime is part
Of some weird medical experiment

That has possibly gone
Disastrously wrong.

actually there's a research team
From newcastle, england,

working on trying to see if they
Can turn slime from the hagfish

into something that can
Slow bacteria growth.

narrator: bacteria are easy
To experiment on

but hard to control

and can bring life or death.

there's a worry
With that as well --

can it be reverse engineered

to actually create
A bacterial infection.

Narrator: maybe it's fortunate
That the slippery cargo

Never reached
Its final destination.

♪♪

Now in a quiet english town,

A weird light falls
From the sky.

Almost like it's being
Controlled.

Narrator: it quietly lands
In a woman's garden

As she prepares to go to bed.

This is very strange.

So, what is this thing
And what does it want?

Narrator: some fear
This glowing orb

Could be a drone
With an agenda.

People are using drones to spy
On their neighbors,

Hoping to catch them
In amorous acts.

♪♪

Doncaster, a blue collar town
In northern britain

With a history
That dates back to roman times.

January 17, 2019.

A local woman is disturbed
By a noise outside

And checks her security camera.

it's an awfully strange sight.
Suddenly, you get this object

descending from the heavens,
It seems.

It's glowing, it's flashing,

It seems sort of circular
And orb-like.

It reminds me of

"Close encounters
Of the third kind."

Narrator: the brightly shining
Ball of energy

Is just feet away
From the woman.

It throws out a blinding,
Otherworldly glow,

Then is starts to pulsate.

It feels like some
Glowing object settled in,

Just waiting for
The homeowners to come out.

Narrator:
Science writer amy teitel

Looks into the aerospace
Records of the area.

She uncovers
More similar reports

Of mysterious flying objects.

this isn't the first time people
In this area of the u.K.

have seen glowing lights.

In the year before
This sighting,

There have been two or three
Other reports

Of glowing lights
Falling to the ground.

If these incidents
Are connected,

We need to figure out
What exactly is going on.

Narrator: science journalist
Jeff wise wonders

If the woman in the house

Is the target of this
Brightly lit object.

I mean, given the size of it
And how fast it's moving

and the way
That it kind of settles down

Fairly gently out of the sky,

Maybe it could be
Somebody's drone.

I mean, maybe somebody's flying
A drone around at night.

Narrator: there are over
A million of these flying robots

Owned by americans,
And it's estimated

There are around
130,000 drone users in britain.

Anyone over the age of 18

Can legally fly a drone
After passing a test online

And paying
An annual registration fee.

Wise: one of the kind of creepy
Things about drones,

It's very difficult to track
Who's operating them.

Narrator: anyone could be
Stalking you from the skies

With complete anonymity.

People are using drones to spy
On their neighbors,

Hoping to catch them
In amorous acts.

Narrator: as drones become
Smaller and cheaper,

They're increasingly being used
To spy on individuals

And couples in their most
Intimate moments.

In 2017, a couple in utah
Was arrested for using a drone

To spy on a guy in the bathroom.

Narrator: in orem, utah,
In 2017,

John henson steps out
Of his shower

Only to hear
The whirring of a drone

Hovering outside
The bathroom window.

He runs from the house and
Pursues the drone until it lands

And he's able to grab it.

He takes it to police,

Who review what they describe
As disturbing footage.

Wise: maybe something like that
Was happening here.

It's nighttime,
Maybe some kind of person

In a dirty overcoat

Was looking for some stimulation
And they, you know,

Were flying around
Peeping in people's windows.

Narrator: military analyst
Joe pappalardo

Looks at the nearby area

And sees another suspicious
Use for a late night drone.

The footage is taken close to
One of britain's toughest jails,

Her majesty's prison, doncaster,
Or as the locals call it,

Doncatraz, after america's
Notorious island prison.

there are prisons nearby
And drones

have been used to
Smuggle contraband into prisons.

that would be one reason you
Might want to fly it at night.

If you smuggle in a weapon
Or a cellphone,

That's one flight
And, as an inmate,

Changes your life incredibly.

Narrator: strange and sometimes
Dangerous things

Are also smuggled out of jails.

Palestinians in israeli prisons
Have managed to impregnate

Ten women outside the jail.

Some believe
They're using drones

To smuggle their sperm
Over the walls.

drones are great for hopping
Over that natural barrier.

narrator: terrified by
The glowing orb,

the woman is too scared

to leave her house
And investigate.

I can see why people would be
Freaked out

By this video, to be honest.

Narrator: by dawn,
The glowing object has gone,

Leaving no clues behind.

Its true identity
Remains a mystery.

This is very strange.

It's really not like anything
I have ever seen before.

Narrator: now on a highway
Packed with cars,

Fire and brimstone rain down.

[ crashing ]

What the heck just happened?

The cars were getting rained
Down on, just molten metal,

There's no escaping that.

How would you know
Which way to run?

Narrator: a burning, fiery rain
Falls on cars and humans below.

The most terrifying part of this
Is that it looks, to me,

Like an incendiary bomb.

♪♪

Narrator: shenyang is
The capital of china's

Liaoning province
And is headquarters of

The people's liberation army's
Northern theater command.

May 11, 2017.

Commuters are driving to work

On an ordinary weekday
Morning...

But then, what sounds like
A giant moan from above...

There's this deep noise...

[ deep groan ]

Narrator: ...And a shocking
Blast from the heavens.

Oh, my god. That's an incredibly
Bright light.

Had I been in that situation,

I'd really be wondering,
Are we under attack?

What's gonna happen next?

Narrator: coming up,
To solve the mystery

Of the rain of fire,

Investigators break out
The big guns.

This is my tower
Of destruction,

A three million volt
Lightning impulse generator.

Narrator: and security cameras
Capture a bizarre vanishing act.

Wise: he's like a fog.
He turns into fog...

And then he's gone.

♪♪

Narrator: on a busy highway...

Burning fire rains
Down from the sky.

Physicist stephen granade
Considers

If the footage shows
An act of terrorism.

something like that makes me
Wonder

is there a bomb,

has something dramatic
Like that happened?

most terrifying part of this

is that it looks like
It's burning metal.

it looks to me like
An incendiary bomb.

narrator: these lethal weapons
Leave ribbons of fire

streaking through the air.

they melt everything they touch,

including metal,
Buildings, and people.

incendiary bombs are probably
Some of the most

vile things man's ever created.

I mean, they are just designed
To create

As much devastation
As possible.

Maximum killing,
Maximum maiming...

Maximum pain.

Not so dissimilar to what we see
In this video.

[ deep groan ]

Narrator:
But when biologist leslie samuel

Looks more closely
At the footage,

He finds a clue that points
In a different direction.

it looks like it's raining
In the video.

I'm wondering if that
Had something to do with it.

was there a storm?

is this a potential result
Of a lighting strike?

narrator: weather records
Show that there are

several lightning strikes
In the region on that day.

lightning is very dangerous.

24,000 people are killed
Each year by lightning strikes.

Narrator:
But a lightning bolt on its own

Couldn't produce a blast
Of such biblical proportions.

Holmes: one thing I am curious
About is,

Is there anything nearby that,
If struck by lightning,

Kind of would be a source

For a kind of further explosion
Or fuel for flames?

Narrator: david wallace
Is a professor

Of electrical engineering
At mississippi state.

He examines the video and spots
A clue in the footage.

so, watching the video,
I noticed right before

you see the sparks come out,
I hear this hum off to the side.

[ deep groan ]

Now, this hum reminds me
Of an electrical transformer.

They give you
A very similar hum like this.

Narrator: to find out if
Lightning hitting a transformer

Could cause a rain of fire
Like the one in the footage,

Wallace builds a scale model
Of the shenyang street.

So here to help me recreate what
We see in the video is my toys.

Now, if you look here
To my left,

This is my tower of destruction,

A three million volt
Lightning impulse generator.

This is what we're gonna use
To recreate

The lightning strike
Hitting a transformer.

Narrator: power lines can carry
Up to 765,000 volts,

Which could easily electrocute
Anyone within ten feet.

Transformers on the line are
Meant to prevent a power surge

But they aren't designed
To withstand a lightning strike.

So here we're making
The connection,

So we can guarantee
That our lightning bolt

Will strike our transformer.

We're gonna direct it
Straight down.

Okay, we've got a rain storm
Started...

So let's get ready
To make a lightning strike.

Let's go ahead and shoot it.

Okay.

♪♪

[ blast ]

So we had our transformer
Explode,

We had the nice flash.

[ blast ]

We saw the sparks come out
From the vaporization

Of the water.

Pretty good indication
Of what we saw in the video,

Just on a much smaller scale.

[ deep groan ]

Narrator: david wallace's
Experiment

Proves the rain of fire

Could be caused by a lightning
Strike hitting a transformer.

But there's a problem.

So, the one thing though
That sort of throws me

For a curved ball,
Is we do not see any power lines

That indicate there's
A transformer there,

So could this be something else?

Narrator:
With no further evidence,

The true origin
Of the deadly fire attack

Must remain a mystery.

Now a soldier parades across
A kentucky parking lot.

Ricky:
Then just disappears.

Narrator: this one got his
Marching orders 160 years ago.

One minute he's there,
The next second he's gone.

Narrator: one of almost
A million men

Killed in the civil war.

He died in battle
Clutching his memoir.

Narrator: on a final mission.

Has he come back to get
His personal property?

Narrator: henderson, kentucky,
A small and sleepy town

On the banks
Of the ohio river.

But in march 2018, residents
Ricky and pamela carter

Catch something unexpected
On their home security camera.

You see a man walking across
A parking lot.

He almost seems to be marching.

Narrator:
But then, he begins to fade,

As though vanishing
Into thin air.

He's like a fog.
He turns into fog...

And then he's gone.

Narrator: the couple are
Terrified by what they see.

Pamela: that's weird.

Ricky: and then he just
Disappears.

It defies explanation.

I think there are definitely
People who would look

At something like this
And say, "Okay that's a ghost."

Narrator: coming up,
Could this mysterious

Marching man be the victim
Of a military monstrosity?

The pentagon is spending
A lot of money

Building what they call
Directed energy weapons.

You can actually make
The human body disintegrate.

♪♪

Narrator: in henderson,
Kentucky, a security camera

Reveals a man
Walking into oblivion.

Science author linda zimmerman
Studies the footage.

She spots two details that might
Help identify

This shadowy figure.

on second look, he does not seem
To be strolling along

like an ordinary person.

he almost seems to be marching.

there's a purpose to the way
He's walking.

and plus his clothing,

it doesn't look like
Modern clothing.

it almost looks like
An old uniform of some sort.

narrator: former secret agent
Lindsay moran

digs into the area's
Military history.

kentucky was hugely important
During the civil war.

so important that
President lincoln once said,

"To lose kentucky would be
To lose the whole game".

Narrator: kentucky is
A front line state

In the civil war.

35,000 kentuckians joined
The confederates

And over 100,000
Joined the union army.

Brother battles brother in
Some of the most savage

Fighting of the conflict.

Moran discovers one key
Civil war document

Which might explain
The apparition.

The henderson historical society

Holds the diary of confederate
Sergeant eugene johnston,

A henderson resident
Who died in battle.

[ grunts ]

When he died, he was
Clutching his diary.

Narrator: the diary chronicles
The battles johnston fights in,

The routes of his marches,

Even the food he eats
In amazing detail.

Has he come back to get
His personal property?

♪♪

Narrator: but when physicist
Stephen granade

Studies the footage,

He wonders
If this is a real person,

Rather than a ghost,
How does he disappear?

you might ask yourself,
Did he disintegrate?

Narrator:
This is extremely unlikely,

But it is not beyond
The realms of possibility.

The u.S. Military is working
On weapons

Capable of doing just this.

Woman: it projects a long range
Man-sized beam

Of millimeter waves at a range
Of up to 1,000 meters.

the pentagon is spending a lot
Of money

building what they call

directed energy weapons
Where you can, like,

You know, beam a laser
At a target.

Narrator: incredibly, this laser
Is designed to be used

By the american government
Against its own citizens.

The government claims the system
Is not meant

To vaporize its target.

Now, the u.S. Military will use
That for crowd control

To give a burning sensation

Without actually
Setting anyone on fire.

Narrator: the technology works
Like a microwave oven,

By heating up water molecules
In the skin,

Causing a burning sensation.

Granade believes the same
Technology could be used

For a far more sinister purpose.

What you can imagine is jacking
That power up tremendously to

Instead put up enough energy
Into a target to break it apart,

I mean, you can actually
Make solid things disintegrate.

You're looking at molecules,

Which are atoms
That are bonded together.

If you pump enough energy
Into that matter,

You can actually rip
Those bonds apart

And turn everything back
Into its constituent atoms,

The elements that
It's made out of.

That is actually something
That you can scientifically do.

Narrator:
But using current technology,

It takes a lot of power
To make a human disappear.

If you wanted to break all of
The molecular bonds

in a human body,
You'd be looking at about

three million kilojoules
Of energy.

now, that's enough energy
To take one kilogram

and throw it into space
So hard, it's not in orbit,

it's gone. It will never
Come back to earth.

it will have achieved
Escape velocity.

narrator: it's unlikely
That superpowers

are testing novel weapons
In this parking lot,

so right now, this footage
Remains unexplained.

I'm curious about
Who this man is.

I'm even more curious about
Where exactly he went.