All language subtitles for Strange.Evidence.S05E07.Possessed.by.an.Alien.1080p.MAX.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BETHELL_track3_[eng]

[narrator] Worldwide,
36 billion cameras
are watching us.

On our streets,

at work,

and in our homes.

They capture things
that seem impossible.

Science says,
"This shouldn't happen."

[man] Do you see that?

[narrator] Experts
carry out forensic analysis
of these unusual events.

Wow. What a blast!

[woman screaming]

This doesn't make sense.

There has to be
some sort of explanation.

What else
is going on here?

[narrator] Coming up,
in Thailand,

a trucker hits the road.

Good God,
that is terrifying.

This is basically
a laser-guided lightning bolt

delivered in a nanosecond.

[narrator] In California,

a muscle memory
you'd want to forget.

[man] Oh my God,
it won't stop.

I don't know if this guy
should call a doctor,
or a priest.

[narrator]
And in the 18th century,

she was murdered.

In the 21st century,
she's back.

[Leslie] Her eyes open

and they're staring
right at you.

Isn't she supposed
to be dead?

[narrator]
Bizarre phenomena...

Oh, my gosh!
[gasps]

[narrator] ...mysteries
caught on camera...

[girl shrieks]

[narrator] What's the truth
behind this strange evidence?

Phuket, an idyllic
tropical island in Thailand.

But on August 20th, 2020,

there's trouble in paradise.

[Jeff] A truck
is on a street,

the door opens,

and a guy climbs down
out of the cab...

And as soon as he
touches pavement, kaboom!

He catches on fire.

Did that guy just
spontaneously combust?

One minute he's fine,
and then bam!

He falls like
a sack of potatoes. Boom.

It looks like he's dead.

[narrator]
Incredibly, he survives.

But suffers severe burns.

What just happened
to that poor man?

[narrator] Mysteriously,
a second passenger

then leaves
the vehicle unharmed.

Why is the first guy
struck down

and the second guy
escapes uninjured?

Makes me think
some shady stuff

must have gone on

in the front seat
of that truck.

[man] There's a lot
of questions here

and very few answers.

[narrator] Author
Patrick Tomlinson

notes how
the first man's body
suddenly becomes

rigid as he steps
out of the truck.

The way he falls,

and how he's
incapacitated instantly

it's like someone
hit him with a stun gun.

[narrator] Across the world,
over 15,000 security agencies

use electro-shock weapons.

Devices spear victims
with a projectile,

delivering a high-voltage
pulse of electricity.

The shock disables the body

through painful
muscle paralysis.

In February 2019,

a Philadelphia man
shocked by security guards

bursts into flames

like the man
in the footage.

But Tomlinson spots
a crucial difference.

[Patrick]
I don't see any wires.

But this could be
a new type of energy weapon

called an electrolaser.

The electrolaser's like
a super stun gun,

except, it's wireless.

So it can be shot from
a much greater distance

and pack a much much
bigger punch.

[narrator] An electrolaser
is part of a new generation

of non-lethal
prototype weapons,

currently under development
by U.S. defense contractors.

A laser beam
turns the air

into ionized plasma,

through which
the laser delivers

a high-voltage charge.

This is basically
a laser-guided lightning bolt

delivered in a nano-second.

All you see is a flash,
and you're done for.

It would explain

why it only happened
when he left the truck.

But then you'd
have to ask,

who would want

to do that to
a person, and why?

[narrator]
State security forces
are increasingly turning

to high-tech
non-lethal weapons

to enforce law and order.

There are the sonic
denial systems

for use in crowd control.

You direct a sonic beam
towards people,

and it would excite
their inner ear

in such a way that

it would be enough
to drive you off.

[narrator] In 2020,
in Washington D.C.,

military police considered
using a heat ray

against massing protestors.

The Thai government
has a history

of deploying the military
on the streets

to deal with unrest.

Could this Thai trucker

have been the target

of a new type
of electro-shock weapon?

Maybe it should make us
a little nervous to think of

governments wanting to
super-charge the atmosphere

with hundreds of thousands
of volts of electricity.

[narrator] But science
journalist Jeff Wise

thinks the way this man
bursts into flames

means this can't be the work
of an electrolaser.

I think if a stun gun
is gonna set you on fire,

it's gonna ignite you where
the ground impacts you.

This guy ignites
at both ends.

He burst into flames
in his hands and at his feet.

[Brian] What we see
is that the fire

actually starts
in his extremities,

but leaves his clothes
virtually untouched.

So clearly, there must be

another source
for these flames.

[narrator]
When engineer Brian Wolshon

studies the footage further,

he sees a possible clue

under the wheels
of the truck.

Just before the truck stops,

you can see something
sparking under the tires.

It's like a pulse of energy

has moved through
that entire truck.

[narrator] The
mystery energy source

appears to be coming
from the vehicle itself.

But the two men
who were inside it

had very different fates.

Why does the first man
burst into flames,

but the second man doesn't?

When he jumps out
of the truck, he's fine.

Nothing happens to him.

Clearly, there's
something going on

in the cab
of that truck,

but it's really
not clear what it is.

[narrator] Electrical engineer
David Wallace

thinks the sparking tires
are evidence

the entire truck has somehow
become highly electrified.

You would expect,

"Okay, rubber tires are
insulators and you're safe."

But you're not.

These rubber tires
will insulate against

maybe 10-15,000 volts,

but once you get above that,

that electricity is trying
to go across those tires.

So, here we have a situation,

the entire body of
this truck is energized

and that electricity
is trying to go to ground.

[narrator]
Wallace estimates
the truck is charged

with between
20-30,000 volts.

That's up to 15 times

the power
of an electric chair,

and enough to
jump past the tires,
into the ground.

The men inside the cab
aren't connected
to the ground,

so the electricity
doesn't flow through them.

As you see a bird sitting
on a transmission line,

the bird does not die.

Since there is
no ground point there,

there's no electricity
flowing through their body,

but they are in peril.

[narrator]
With the tires smoking,

the truck could burst
into flames at any moment.

[David] This truck
is basically a death trap.

They actually need to
get out of here.

But, how are they gonna do it?

I want to recreate
the scenario in my lab,

and try and find out

why the first guy
actually gets electrocuted,

while the second guy
does not.

[narrator] Wallace uses
an SUV to represent
the truck.

And Bob will stand in
as the trucker in trouble.

[David] We've been
through a lot together,
me and Bob.

He's seen it all.

He's been struck by lightning,
we've caught him on fire,

we've blown some of
his fingertips off.

He's a trouper though.

[narrator] To start,
Wallace wants to find out

why the first man burst
into flames and collapsed

the moment he set foot
outside of the cab.

[David] Bob here is
gonna be the driver.

We're gonna energize
the body of this SUV

up to 30,000 volts.

So if he's
touching this door,

that means he's energized
with 30,000 volts.

In a moment,
he's gonna step down

and when he does,
we'll see what happens.

All right? Let's charge
this baby up.

and see what happens to Bob.

[narrator]
Coming up,

can Wallace discover

why this truck
scorched its driver?

[David] All right.
Take him down.

[narrator] And
in a Mexican church,

a real life Sleeping Beauty

filmed waking up
after 300 years.

[Greg] Is she coming
back from the dead?

The patron saint of zombies.

What's going on here?

[narrator]
A Thai man is filmed

being scorched
by his own truck.

Electrical engineer
David Wallace

has set up an experiment

to try and find out
what happened.

All right, so let's
crank it up.

Yep.

[narrator]
Bob the dummy

is touching a vehicle
representing the truck,

which Wallace has charged

with 30,000 volts
of electricity.

All right, take him down.

[narrator] Bob is
lowered to the floor.

The 30,000 volts
surging through Bob arcs

as it jumps
to the ground.

We had a sudden flow
of current through his body,

an ignition, just like
we saw in the video.

[narrator] The charged vehicle
and connected dummy

create a strong
electric field

powerful enough to ionize
the air around them.

The ions create
a conductive channel
across the air gap

between Bob's feet
and the ground,

causing the electricity
to flow and sparks to fly.

When the driver
got out of the truck,

he created
another ground point.

The human body
is a very good conductor,

so when this guy
touches the ground,

you now have a clear path
for electricity to flow

from the truck
down to the ground.

At this point, you get to see
the sparks around his
hands and feet,

as he makes contact.

[narrator] So how
did the second man

avoid his co-worker's fate?

He obviously knows

what has happened
to the first guy,

and knows the way
to avoid this

is he has to jump out,

so he makes
no physical contact

between the truck
and ground simultaneously

and he is safe.

[narrator] But how did
an ordinary truck

become an electric
death trap?

Engineer Brian Wolshon
spots a clue.

What we see here,
in fact, is that

the truck had actually
come into contact with
an overhead power line.

You can see
the exact moment

that it makes contact
with the overhanging wire.

[narrator]
Thailand's electrical
power infrastructure

is dangerously overburdened.
In 2019,

a falling power cable
strikes and electrocutes

38-year-old
Melanie Virasuchar

as she crosses the road.

Incredibly, she survives.

The truck is badly damaged
by the high voltage discharge.

The electrocuted man
escapes with severe burns

to his arms and legs.

The Thai authorities say
they're clearing up

their treacherous
tangle of wires,

but until the job's done,

terrible accidents like this
could continue to happen.

[Martin] I would be
paralyzed with fear

if the truck I was driving
ran into power lines.

I don't know that
I'd be able to move,

I don't know that
I'd be able to try
to make a run for it

just 'cause I wouldn't
want to get shocked.

As important and vital
as electricity is

to our daily lives,

it's also a bit of
a caged demon

waiting to break out.

[narrator]
Now, Guadalajara,

Mexico's second biggest city.

December 12th, 2012,

a visitor to the city's
Catholic cathedral

films a prized relic.

The mysteriously mummified
body of a little girl

who is said to have died
300 years ago.

Santa Inocencia.

There's this body
encased in a glass coffin

that's like Sleeping Beauty.

[narrator] But then,
Sleeping Beauty wakes up.

Her eyes open
and they're staring
right at you.

Isn't she supposed
to be dead?

What's really chilling is,

she seems to be
staring knowingly

directly at the camera.

That's crazy.
That's unreal.

[narrator] This young girl
didn't die peacefully.

She is said to have
been brutally murdered.

Having woken up,

is she now hell-bent
on revenge?

Is she coming back
from the dead?

The patron saint of zombies.

What's going on here?

[narrator] Historian
Karen Bellinger

finds local reports
that Santa Inocencia

was killed by her own father.

Apparently,
she was a young girl

who ran away against
her father's express orders

and became Catholic.

[Tony]
The story goes that

he was not into her
becoming a Christian.

So much so that
he stabbed her in the chest

and killed her.

[girl screaming]

The faithful in the area
rescued her body

and they venerated her
as a saint ever since.

And she's still there
in that little dress

in the glass case,

the same clothes she wore

when she was
carried to the church

after her death.

[narrator] Legend has it
Inocencia's corpse

miraculously remains intact

after three centuries.

Many of her devotees

believe she is
what the church calls

an incorruptible.

Incorruptible bodies
are unusual.

They don't decompose
like normal bodies.

[Tony] A normal person,
once we die,

we putrefy,
we liquify.

There's just the bones
and some bits and pieces.

Somehow, these amazing figures

are spared that fate
by their inherent holiness.

Skeptics claim that
the church uses embalming

to keep them
well-preserved.

But many believe
that this is a sign

of some kind of
divine intervention.

[narrator] Saint Bernadette
of Lourdes

who died in 1879

is one of the most
famous incorruptibles.

The French grotto

where she saw a vision
of the Virgin Mary

still receives millions
of pilgrims a year,

many hoping to be
cured of illness.

Italian priest Padre Pio
died in 1968,

and his corpse was
exhumed 40 years later.

A church statement claimed
his body was preserved

and his hands even
seemed to be manicured.

So the incorruptibles,
who serve as a reminder

of the strength
and power of God.

[narrator] Santa Inocencia

is said to have
spooked churchgoers

from inside
her glass coffin before.

KAREN: Apparently,
her hair, her fingernails

have grown overtime,

but this is the first time
any such unexpected activity

has been captured on film.

[narrator]
Image analyst
Ben Radford

examines the apparently
miraculous footage

for tell-tale signs
of digital manipulation.

As you can
see here,

the figure's eyes
are closed,

and it's in
reasonably good focus.

A minute later,
when the eyes open,

it turns very very blurry
and unfocussed.

It's amateur footage,
it's not really good quality.

It's the sort of thing
frankly, that anybody,

any pilgrim going there
might have filmed.

[narrator] The jerky footage
and low quality camera

would make it hard for someone
without sophisticated software

to fake.

[Ben] If this were fake,
the fact that

the image is shifting around,
and moving around,

would make it
very difficult to do.

[narrator]
Coming up,

is this a miracle
or a magic trick?

It's totally sealed
in a glass case,

and that's the part
that really gets me.

[narrator] And has the ghost
of a murdered inmate

broken into
this Brazilian prison?

It looks like,

it's passing through the wall.

[narrator]
In a Mexican cathedral,

Santa Inocencia is said
to be an incorruptible,

a holy person
whose deceased body

does not decay
as normal.

Then a tourist
captures the moment

this 300-year-old child

seems to come back
from the dead

opening her eyes

and staring directly
into the camera.

Magician Ben Nemzer
wants to know

if the corpse's
eye-opening behavior

could be a physical trick.

[Ben] Throughout history,

the Christian church
has claimed many miracles

from Jesus resurrecting
from the dead

to Moses parting
the Red Sea

The authority of the church,
in a very real sense,

rests on the concept
of miraculous events.

[narrator]
The Holy Shroud of Turin

was said to be the cloth
Jesus was wrapped in

after the crucifixion,

inexplicably imprinted
with his image

including wounds and blood
from the crown of thorns.

A lot of people believed
for a long time that

this was legitimate.

However, when people did
radio carbon dating on it,

scientists found it to be
much more recent

than Jesus's birth
by over 1000 years.

Who's to say that what
we're seeing in Guadalajara

isn't equally a fraud?

[narrator] But Nemzer
can see no evidence

of fakery in the footage.

[Ben] To create the illusion
that she's opening her eyes,

one of the ways would be
adding some sort of

false eyes on top
of her eyes.

But she's apparently
sealed in a glass case.

And that's the part
that really gets me.

I don't think that
there's any way

anybody could have
tampered with the body.

So I have no idea
how it's happening.

[narrator]
Biologist Leslie Samuel
studies images

of Inocencia's
preserved features

and sees signs
of cosmetic assistance.

Looking closely
at the footage,

the face has kind of
a shine on it.

That makes me think

that maybe the body
has been preserve

under a coat of wax.

[narrator] Incorruptibles
are said to resist

the natural process
of decomposition.

But many like St. Bernadette

eventually have wax masks

placed on their faces
to improve the effect.

Samuel wonders
if Inocencia's face

could be shifting

in the heat
of the Mexican sun.

Could the wax
covering the face

of Santa Inocencia
be melting,

and causing it to look
like the eyes are moving?

Examining the records,

the highest temperatures
recorded in Guadalajara

is 103 degrees.

[narrator] Wax melts
at around 100 degrees.

And waxwork figures

have been known to change
when the heat gets too high.

2009, New Delhi, India,

a touring waxwork exhibit
of British pop group,
The Beatles,

looks like it's had
a hard day's night

after it starts to melt

while on display
in the city's oppressive heat.

But when biologist,
Greg Szulgit,

checks weather records
for the day,

he doubts Inocencia
is wilting in the heat.

On this particular day
that this video was shot,

we know that the temperature
was only

75 degrees Fahrenheit,

which should not be enough
to melt the wax.

[narrator] The body
of Inocencia

has not been recorded
opening its eyes again

since this video was taken.

The church has not officially
declared the event a miracle,

but neither has it
denounced it as a hoax.

And experts are unable
to explain what happened.

How Santa Inocencia
opened her eyes,

it still remains a mystery.

The faithful
will continue to believe

that these objects
have enormous sacred power.

Maybe there's
some other explanation

that nobody
has thought of.

Maybe it will simply remain
a mystery.

Until it happens again,
we'll never know for sure.

[narrator] Now, Campo Grande,
southwestern Brazil.

February 2nd, 2017,

the San Jair
Ferreira de Carvalho

maximum security prison,

thousands of criminals are
supposed to be on lockdown.

[Ashanti] It's a warm,
quiet night.

As routine as it gets

for a maximum security prison
in Brazil.

[narrator] But then, guards
spot something suspicious

on the outside wall
of the cell block.

Something's moving.
What is that?

[narrator] A shadowy figure
seems to be scaling the wall.

This place is supposed
to be impenetrable.

Presumably, everyone is
locked up at night.

So, what the hell is that?

I'm not even sure
whether it's trying

to get in the prison,

or it's trying to get out.

South America's
high security prisons are

some of the most
dangerous places in the world.

Then this happens.

[narrator]
Social anthropologist,
Deborah Hyde,

finds previous reports
of paranormal activity

at this prison.

When this footage landed
on the internet,

a former employee
of the prison came forward.

Fifteen years earlier,

she has seen
a very similar thing.

Something she described
as a ghost.

She couldn't talk about it
at the time

because she would
lose her job.

[narrator]
Prisons around the world

have reputations
for being haunted.

Staff at Alcatraz

say they hear
eerie music play.

Inmates in Tihar Prison,
New Delhi,

claim they have been slapped
by a ghost.

And at Lancaster Castle jail
in England,

officers describe seeing
a little girl and old woman

stalking the corridors,

witches hanged
in the 17th century.

[Deborah] When we
think of ghosts,

we think of people
who've died before their time,

tortured souls, really.

So, a prison
is a great place

for that kind of activity.

[narrator] Prisons in Brazil
are said to take

the misery of incarceration
to a whole other level.

The country
has the third highest

prison population
on the planet,

with over 700,000 inmates

crammed into
ageing penitentiaries,

designed for around
two-thirds that number.

A country that hasn't
executed a prisoner

in 150 years,

has created a prison system
that is so awful,

that in many ways,
it might be worse than death.

Overcrowding is common,
often with

hellish conditions.
The crush of bodies,

the smell of sweat

and excrement,
it would all be overwhelming.

[narrator] Coming up.

Is this a ghost

or a man
on a murderous mission?

If I was an inmate, I would
be hiding under my bunk.

[narrator]
And has this man's leg
become a portal

for the paranormal?

Is that what
demonic possessions look like?

[narrator] In Brazil,

guards at
a maximum security prison

sound the alarm when they spot
a suspicious figure

scaling the walls.

Military historian
Martin Morgan

studies the broken-down
appearance of the cell blocks

in the footage.

He thinks the country's
struggling prison system

could explain the presence of
the mysterious wall-crawler.

[Martin] The prisoners are
ruling these prisons.

With rival gangs
on the inside

vying for power,

violence is inevitable.

[narrator] These rivalries
often result in brutal riots.

More than 50 inmates
are viciously murdered

during a prison riot
in Altamira, Brazil,

in 2019.

In the aftermath,
they found prisoners

who had been decapitated.

One of these gangs
was found kicking around

one of their rivals' heads
like a football.

[Martin] Brazilian prisons are
notoriously brutal places.

If you're not already
a hardcore killer

when you get there,

you better become one fast
if you want to survive.

[narrator] Could this
creepy wall-crawler

be an inmate on a mission
to kill a fellow prisoner?

Or perhaps even a guard?

Seeing a shadowy figure
moving around the prison

is the last thing
anyone would want to see.

If I was an inmate, I would
be hiding under my bunk.

[narrator] But image analyst,
Ben Radford,

studies the footage a nd thinks
the figure's movements

have an animal-like quality.

When analyzing
these sorts of videos,

one important aspect is,

how does it interact
with the environment?

One curious thing
about this image is that

the creature, whatever it is,
seems to have

what appears to be limbs.

It seems to sort of
go up and move around.

[narrator] Radford notices

that the weird
wall-climbing creature

seems to be
on the hunt for something.

Keep in mind
that the figure

isn't climbing into
an open door or a window,

it seems to be
sort of circling around.

One theory is that
this might be a trained animal

that might be bringing drugs
into the prison.

[narrator] Powerful gangs rely

on a steady supply
of contraband.

In 2013, in central Brazil,

prison officers intercept

a cat carrying batteries,
a phone

and a saw.

[Liberty] In 2015,

wardens followed a mouse

trained to courier cocaine
and marijuana

between cells.

I've heard of a drug mule,
but never a drug mouse.

[narrator]
Gangs across the world

have been known
to draft animals

into their narco empires.

In Colombo, Sri Lanka,

a cartel uses an eagle
to deliver drugs to customers.

In Dhaka, Bangladesh,

police capture
a pair of macaque monkeys,

they say had been trained
to run a whole operation.

The male
delivered the product,

while the female
handled the money

for their criminal masters.

Brazil has over
70 different primate species,

more than anywhere else
in the world,

including brown
woolly monkeys,

capuchins and black howlers.

A simian smuggler
could sneak in drugs

or even the tools needed

to fuel
the grim brutality within.

If someone
has trained an animal

to smuggle in
weapons and tools,

they could be preparing
for a riot

or some sort of a big
breakout attempt.

Whatever this
animal's bringing in

is something big.

[narrator]
Prison investigators'
best explanation for the film

is that it's some kind of
trained climbing animal

attempting to bring
contraband into the prison.

[Ashanti] The guards are
unable to determine

what the creature is
in this footage.

Whatever that thing was,
it's another good reason

to stay out of these
appalling prisons.

[narrator] Now, La Puente,

Los Angeles County,
California.

August 2017,

a man captures
the moment

when some unseen entity

makes his skin crawl.

[Wise] This guy's sitting
in his car, and then his

calf just goes haywire.

[man groaning] Oh, my God.

Something begins to move
under his skin.

[man grunts]

Oh, my God,
that looks painful.

[man groaning]

[Kiki] Listen to him,
he's groaning

and crying out.

[man] Oh, my God.

[Wise] You look
at the way that his
skin is moving around,

it really does seem
like something's

about to burst out.

[man grunts]

It's like it has
a mind of its own.

[man] It won't stop. [grunts]

I don't know. Maybe it does.

[narrator] The footage
is uploaded to the internet.

Author Jeff Belanger finds

that many viewers
believe it shows

a supernatural attack.

People believe
that evil can possess you,

and in some cases,
even take control of you.

[Belanger] Recent polls
reveal that

over half
of Americans believe

that demonic possession
is real.

[narrator] In 2018,

the archdioceses
of Indianapolis alone

received 1,700
official requests

for exorcisms.

That same year, the Vatican
held an emergency meeting

for 200 priests in Rome

to talk about what to do
about this rise

in demonic activity
and the need for exorcism.

[narrator] The number
of exorcists in the US

has increased by over 500%
since 2011.

It's unclear what is behind
the sudden surge.

But in 2016,

a 33-year-old woman
from Tacoma, Washington,

claims to be possessed.

[Belanger]
She started convulsing
and writhing around.

She'd even be pulling
her own hair out of her head.

But after reading some
Bible verses,

she suddenly vomited
into a trash can,

and then seemed
to be okay again.

[man] Oh, my God.
It won't stop.

[narrator] Is the man's
convulsing leg

a sign that something sinister
is brewing

beneath the surface?

It's like this guy's calf
is the gates of hell.

[man groaning] Oh, my God.

[groaning]

I don't know if this guy
should call a doctor

or a priest.

[narrator] Coming up.

Is something inside
this man's leg?

It looks it's gonna
burst out of his skin.

[narrator] And gym equipment
has the cops sweating

as it takes on
a life of its own.

What kind of force
is moving the machine

at that speed?

[man] Oh, my God!

[narrator] In California,
a man seems to have

something alive
inside his leg,

biting and clenching
at his skin,

leaving him
in excruciating pain.

[man exclaims in pain]

Biologist Kiki Sanford,

thinks he could have
a monster within.

Is there something under there
trying to dig its way out?

[man groaning] Oh, my God!

He isn't moving his leg.

Something is moving
in his leg

and it's out of control.

It literally looks like

it's going to burst
out of his skin!

[groans]

Entomologist Kevin Kasky,

thinks he sees
tell-tale signs

of an animal invasion.

When you look
at the movement

underneath the skin,

you can see what appears to be
long tentacles or legs.

[squelching]

Something parasitic perhaps,

that has gotten
in underneath the skin,

and it's tugging and pulling
from the inside.

Oh my God!
[man exclaims in pain]

[narrator] Parasites
can infest us

in many different ways,

and some feed directly
on human flesh.

From a parasites
point of view,

a human body
is like a candy store.

Some eat our organs,

some hitch a ride
inside your nose,

some eat our muscles.

[whooshing]

[narrator] In 2018,
a 17-year-old Memphis boy,

on a beach vacation
in Florida,

feels feverish
and complains his skin itches.

Within days,
his flesh is ravaged,

and his feet are covered
in gaping wounds.

This child was playing
in the sand,

having a wonderful time,

not realizing
he was surrounded

by parasitic worms.

[narrator] Hook worms
lie dormant

in contaminated Earth,

just waiting for someone
to step on them.

Humans catch it
from skin contact

with dirty sand or soil
mixed with animal feces.

There is one kind
of hook worm

that is specially adapted
to live inside of humans.

It gets into your blood

and then travels
to your lungs.

[narrator] Some parasitic
worms enter the body

through skin contact,

but others sneak in
through your food.

Trichinosis is a condition

caused by eating
undercooked meat,

infected with
parasitic roundworms.

[Kiki Sanford] Take one bite
of bad meat or raw fish,

suddenly you're infected.

[narrator] Once inside
a human,

they head for the muscles
and start feeding.

And if your flesh becoming
worm food wasn't bad enough,

they can also cause
a deadly disease,

hammering you
with meningitis,

pneumonia
and encephalitis.

[coughing]

If whatever this is,

can crawl around
under his skin,

maybe it could crawl
through his whole body.

[man] Oh, my God!
It won't stop. [groans]

[narrator] But physician,
Siobhan Deshauer,

thinks this sinister spasm,

could be the man's own body

in an act
of agonizing rebellion.

[Deshauer] To me,
this looks like

a severe muscle cramp.

This can be quite common

with electrolyte
abnormalities.

So, low sodium,
low potassium,

magnesium or calcium
can cause cramps.

-[man exclaiming] Oh, my God!
-[squelching]

The imbalance of salts
can cause the muscle
to contract spasmodically

and create tremendous
amounts of pain.

[narrator] Cramps can effect
exercise enthusiasts,

who put excessive strain
on their muscles.

Or they can strike
without warning

while sitting on the couch.

-[squelching]
-[exclaiming in pain]

[narrator] Common muscle
cramps can be painful enough,

but this is off the scale.

[man] Oh, my God!

The man who's experiencing
this must feel intense pain.

There is danger

even of the muscle
fibers tearing.

[narrator] Cramps this bad
can be fatal.

In 2019,
a 33-year-old British man,

swimming in an Austrian lake,

drowns as cramps in his foot
rack his body with pain.

He's found
at the bottom of the lake.

A cramp is a sign

that there is something
going wrong with your body,

and that you need
to slow down, fast.

[camera shutter clicking]

[narrator] Now, Jhansi,
northern India,

June, 2020,

police are called
to an outdoor gym.

This is a really weird
nighttime scene.

You've got men in uniforms

gathered around
this gym machine,

which seems to have gone
completely mad.

This one machine
has just gone haywire.

[clanging]

It looks like
it's out of control.

[narrator]
The puzzled police officers

can only stand and watch,

apparently too scared
to interfere.

This is one creepy video.
I mean, the sound alone,

this clicking,
clicking, clicking.

It almost looks
like a ghost

is raising and lowering
the exercise bar.

What kind of force

is moving the machine
at that speed?

[clanging]

What it's doing now
defies the laws of gravity.

[narrator] Coming up,

is there a secret
reservoir of power

causing this
spooky swinging?

A source of infinite energy
would be like the Holy Grail,

It would
change the world!

[narrator] In India,
bemused bystanders,

film an outdoor gym
that seems to swing
without stopping.

Physicist, Athena Brensberger,
is intrigued that the machine

doesn't seem to lose
any momentum,

as it violently swings,

apparently under the control
of some unseen power.

Now this type of equipment

is usually made
with pretty heavy steel.

So, for it to continue
that motion,

makes you really wonder,
what could cause that?

This seemingly,
endlessly moving gym equipment

brings to mind

the concept of
perpetual motion.

[narrator] The perpetual
motion machine

is an ancient idea,

that promises
to revolutionize the world.

A machine that runs forever
under its own power,

without any fuel.

The idea of perpetual motion
has its birthplace

in medieval India,

in the works
of a mathematician,

who to conceive of machines
that would just move of their
own accord, indefinitely.

It's fascinated scientists
for centuries,

including the greatest thinker
of them all,

Leonardo da Vinci.

Da Vinci tried to device
a perpetually turning spit,

which would cook food
on its own.

[crackling]

And most notably, a wheel
that would never stop turning.

It had 12 parallel channels,
all containing a small ball,

which would be
set into motion.

The balls would
create momentum

to keep the wheel going.

Just imagine a world
with perpetual motion,

that would be
a total game changer.

We could create
a power station with no fuel

or a car that needs
no petrol, no diesel.

[narrator] A supply
of infinite energy

would instantly solve
many of the world's problems.

But the laws
of thermodynamics,

did underpin the fundamental
principals of physics,

say perpetual motion
should be impossible.

[rattling]

[woman] You can't
just destroy energy

or create it
out of nowhere.

You need to put in energy
in order to get out energy.

[narrator] New research
into quantum mechanics,

now suggests some form
of infinite energy machine

could be a real possibility.

[woman] This is known
as zero point energy.

This could change

our entire understanding
of the universe.

[narrator]
Scientists have found

that at the quantum
level of existence,

there is a potentially
limitless store

of untapped energy.

Physicist have determined
that there is enough energy

in the vacuum of
a singular light bulb

to boil all
the world's oceans.

[narrator] In 2017, a team
of Princeton researchers,

demonstrate the principle
in the laboratory

for the first time,
using silicon microchips.

Now they have plans
to create a machine

to manipulate
this quantum energy.

Scaled up, it might be
the ultimate

free power source.

As the subatomic energy
exists all around us,

even in the depths of space,
it could be the key

to unlocking
interstellar travel.

We, essentially,
could have free energy.

[narrator] But for now,
as far as we know,

it has not been released
into the wider world.

Zero point energy
has been achieved in labs,

under a lot of control.
It's not likely

that it happened
with this gym equipment,

exposed out in the open.

Something else must be
happening here

to create
the sustained movement.

[narrator] Biologist,
Jayde Lovell,

thinks this
free-wheeling device

could be the result
of a prank.

Just based on
the dangerous way

that this is moving,

it seems like someone

seriously overoiled
the machine and its parts.

It's possible
that this was a mistake.

Perhaps, someone set this up
trying to be funny,

but if a weight machine
like this one
was tampered with,

it could potentially
be lethal.

[narrator] If a prankster
over lubricates the mechanism,

friction has
massively reduced

and the machine
will swing frantically

for a long time
after just one push.

But it's no joke when
machinery malfunctions.

[indistinct police chatter]

[narrator] In 2015,
a man was stabbed to death

by a robot welding machine
in Manesar, India.

This gym equipment
was supposed to help battle

an ongoing health crises.

An increase in
the sedentary lifestyle,

less physical activity,

combined with a higher
calorie diet,

means that India is currently
going through

an obesity epidemic.

[narrator] There are over
a 1000 outdoor gyms

in India's capital city alone,

and the number is growing.

This gym has been put there

to help people
to try and be healthier,

but instead,
it could become a death trap.

This looks like an accident
waiting to happen.

I would not be testing out
this gym equipment
any time soon.

Anyone can get
seriously injured.