All language subtitles for Strange.Evidence.S07E04.Russian.Rain.of.Fire.1080p.MAX.WEB-DL.DDP2.0.H.264-BETHELL_track3_[eng]

[narrator] Worldwide,

50 billion cameras record
our daily lives...

in our hands, in our cars,
and in our homes.

-[cat yowls]
-[narrator] They capture
things that defy explanation.

[woman screaming]

What the hell are
we looking at right here?

[man] Check this out.

[whirring]

[narrator] Experts carry out
forensic analysis.

of these unusual events.

Wow, now, that's a cracker.

[man] Ohh!

This doesn't make any sense.

There has to be
another explanation.

So, what could it be?

[narrator] Coming up,
a shower of death.

Could this be
molten metal rain

that's somehow falling?

I've been doing weather
a long, long time,

and I have never seen
anything like that,

nor do I want to.

[narrator] Is this beast

England's legendary
vampire cat?

Dozens of their animals
brutally slaughtered.

Bizarrely, almost all of them
had been completely drained

of their blood.

[narrator] And meet

the most attractive man
in India.

Spoons, forks.

They're just sticking
to him like fridge magnets.

I mean, what's going on here?

[narrator] Bizarre phenomena.

[gasps] Oh, my God!

[narrator] Mysteries caught
on camera.

This is just mind-boggling!

[narrator] What's the truth
behind this?

[narrator] Strange Evidence.

[narrator] St. Petersburg,
Russia,

May 19th, 2021,

A CCTV camera monitors
city residents

as they walk to work.

So, here we have this nice,
comfortable day it looks like.

People walkin' around.

Maybe a little rain.
You see the umbrellas out.

And then, all of a sudden
out of the blue, blam!

[loud rumbling]

[electricity crackling]

You get this massive display
of sparks

and fire fallin' to the ground
from the sky.

What's goin' on?

[Sarah Cruddas]
That is incredible!

It literally looks
like it's raining fire.

[narrator] The stunned
passersby are engulfed

in a scorching downpour.

Look, I've been doing weather
a long, long time,

and I have never seen anything
like that, nor do I want to.

-[loud rumbling]
-[narrator] The searing
droplets explode,

as they hit the road.

[loud rumbling]

This looks absolutely deadly.

Imagine you're just walking
down the street,

and all of a sudden
it starts raining fire.

You'd panic and run for cover.

And rightly so.

[narrator] People flee
and panic

when the relentless assault
from above

Of course
the big question is,

"What's burning? Where are
they coming from?"

[narrator] Physicist
Chad Orzel believes

this could be evidence
of a lethal downpour

that comes all the way
from space.

Could this be
molten metal rain

that's somehow falling?

[narrator] In 2021,
astrophysicist Xinzhao Chu

made an extraordinary
new discovery.

Every day, particles of metal
plunge from space,

down through the sky
to hit Earth's surface.

This happens more often
than we expected.

Over the course of a year,
something like 5,200 tons

of metal from space falls
onto the Earth.

[whooshing]

You're lookin' at potassium,

you're lookin'
at sodium, magnesium.

All of these metals are
very reactive metals

that, when they burn,
they burn brightly.

[narrator] These metals
from space usually burn up

in our planet's
upper atmosphere.

But it's possible
for metal chunks to fall

to the ground
like scalding rain

if the atmospheric conditions
are right.

That's not something
we usually see on Earth,

but we found planets orbiting
other stars

where the temperature is
so hot that the rain would be

drops of molten metal.

Astronomers recently
discovered a world called

WASP-76 b that has
the perfect environment

to rain molten metal.

[narrator] This planet has
a much hotter atmosphere

than Earth.

Temperatures soar to
over 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit,

three times hotter
than the lava in a volcano.

Metals vaporize
in this intense heat.

Then, on the night side
of the planet,

those metals
that are vaporized

can coalesce and fall as rain.

[rumbling]

[narrator] Journalist
Linda Rodriguez McRobbie

discovers that in 2018
Vladimir Putin's scientists

conducted an experiment

to heat up the ionosphere
over Russia.

The ionosphere is

the highest level
of atmosphere.

This is hundreds
of miles above the surface

of the Earth

We're talking
about the edge of space here.

Researchers were able
to fire electromagnetic waves

at this very high atmosphere
in the sky over Russia.

And what this did was
effectively heat up the plasma

in this area.

The effect is
potentially dangerous,

especially to
Russia's enemies.

[narrator] Russian scientists
used radio waves

to blast the sky
in five different experiments.

Satellites positioned
in space monitored

massive disruption
to the plasma above Russia.

One experiment caused
a physical disturbance

over an area
of 49,000 square miles,

twice the size
of Lake Michigan.

Perhaps it was an experiment,
experiment that went haywire.

[narrator] Intense heat
could turn

the falling metal particles
to liquid rain.

[Chad Orzel] Is this what's
going on in this video?

Is somebody trying this

and having it go
horribly wrong?

[narrator] Russia denied
its heating experiment was

an attempt to create
a high-altitude superweapon.

But turning
atmospheric space metal

into super-hot rain

could wipe out enemy forces
in seconds.

This could completely change
the balance of power

in global politics.

[narrator] But
the Russian experiments

in the upper atmosphere are
only able to heat

the ionized gas
to an extra 212 degrees.

Hot, but not hot enough.

These aren't capable
of producing

what we're seeing
in this clip.

[narrator] Explorer
George Kourounis believes

we're seeing another type
of destructive energy.

[George Kourounis] Looking
really closely at this clip,

we can see just a few frames
of a very bright flash

before the sparks show up.

[loud rumbling]

And that looks to be
a clear indicator

that what we've got
going on here is

a very close lightning strike.

And perhaps
this shower of sparks is

somehow related to something

that the lightning has
struck nearby.

[narrator] In the background
of the clip,

it looks like there's a tram

driving through
the city center.

David Wallace believes
this sizzling shower

may be the result
of a lightning bolt

directly hitting
the tram line.

So, when you think about
the city of St. Petersburg,

it has a massive amount
of ground wires

crisscrossing the whole area.

So it's very possible
if you have a lightning strike

inside the city, you're going
to hit one of these cables.

And that would explain
why we're seeing

a shower of sparks that isn't
just isolated in one area.

That it stretches all the way
across the road.

[narrator] St. Petersburg was
once the jewel

of the Soviet Empire
and boasted

the largest tram network
in the world,

with over 210 miles of track.

But Russian news describes
the tram system today

as aging
into a state of disrepair.

A tram burst into flames
at this exact intersection,

just a few months
after this footage was taken.

And a section of overhead wire
spontaneously combusted

nearby in 2022.

Russian tram cars are
literally falling apart.

I've actually seen a video
where a man is riding

one of these trams
and where he's standing

there's a hole in the floor.

Now, you have to consider,

if the trams are
in this condition

what are
the overhead wires like?

[narrator] Electrical engineer
David Wallace

believes the shower could've
come from the line

that powers the tram.

[David Wallace] There's
a possibility that over time,

they're gonna start
coming apart,

fraying apart, having strands
coming out.

This weakens the wire

and it also gives
the added incentive

that if lightning does
strike it,

that's just more area
for that wire

to explode outward
creating more sparks.

So, that would leave
from just a simple fizzling

of sparks coming down
like a sparkler

to a massive downpour
of sparks and molten metal

like we see.

[narrator] Wallace
and his team set up

set up an experiment
in his lightning lab.

[Wallace] Well, I can set up
a configuration

where I have a series of wires
ran up in the air,

strike 'em
with a lightning bolt,

and see if we get
the same type

of explosion and sparks
like we see in this film.

It's gonna vaporize this wire
that's hanging here,

and we should see a emittance
of sparks coming down

like we see in the video.

All right,
let's make the shot!

-[narrator] Coming up...
-Let's run it up.

[narrator] Has
St. Petersburg's tram line

gone off the rails?

It takes only 25 volts
to kill a man.

I'm gonna be pushing
close to one million.

[narrator] And meet
the human cutlery tray.

What could possibly make
a human become magnetic.

[narrator] In St. Petersburg,
Russia, CCTV captures

a bizarre storm of sparks
falling on terrified citizens.

[rumbling]

All right.

[narrator] Electrical engineer
David Wallace

wants to simulate
a lightning bolt
to see if the strike

on the city's
outdated tram lines

could've caused this downpour.

Now, when you
take into account,

it takes only 25 volts
to kill a man.

I'm gonna be pushing
close to one million.

So you don't wanna be
touching this

when this happens.

All of the voltage and current
is gonna come up the tower,

it's gonna come across the top
where you see

the, uh, wire connecting
to my voltage divider,

down this strand here,
through the rod,

into the wire.

-[electricity buzzing]
-So, let's line it up.

All right. That's it.

[electricity buzzing]

[explosions]

[narrator] One million volts
of electricity

fry the wire,
completely destroying it

and sending sparks
raining down.

There we go!
See. Beautiful shot.

We had the sparks
coming off of everything.

Just like
what we saw in the video.

[explosions]

[narrator] Local news reports
confirm a storm

in St. Petersburg that day.

A lightning bolt could have
easily struck

the wire of a street car.

[thunderclap]

As this cloud
to ground lightning bolt

hit the wire
for this electric trolley car,

it immediately vaporized
the metal

because these lightning bolts
are so unbelievably powerful.

You're looking at temperatures

that's hotter than the surface
of the sun,

you have voltages that can be
in the millions of volts,

thousands of amps.

[narrator] The sparks
raining down

on the pedestrians would've
reached temperatures

of over
1800 degrees Fahrenheit.

I think it's a matter of luck
that no one was

seriously injured
by this display of fireworks

'cause you don't play
with Mother Nature.

You know what,
I have chased tornados,

I have driven
through hurricanes.

That, electricity,
that is really scary.

I don't play with electricity.

[narrator]
Now, June 12, 2021...

on a dirt road in Odisha,
rural India,

a villager films a man

who seems
strangely attractive.

Oh, wow. It just stuck.

That is just weird. It's like
his skin is magnetic.

[Liberty Vittert chuckles]
People are throwing

silverware at him.

But what is nuts is
the silverware

is sticking to his body
instead of falling off.

I've never seen
anything like it.

[narrator] His name is
Rajendra Mohapatra,

an ordinary rickshaw driver,

putting on a seemingly
superhuman display.

The villagers look
just as amazed as I am.

Spoons, forks.

They're just sticking to him
like fridge magnets.

I mean, what's going on here?

[narrator] More
and more objects are

stuck onto his body.

Rajendra starts
to walk up the path,

but the utensils stay on.

Well, there's clearly
no gimmicks that we can see

because it's just
his bare skin

and cutlery being
placed around his body.

What could possibly make
a human become magnetic?

[narrator] Rajendra is
as shocked as his neighbors.

[speaking other language]

[narrator] Coming up...

Scientists find Rajendra
could be possessed

by tiny magnetic aliens.

One theory states that maybe
they arrived via meteorite.

[narrator] And is
a maneater stalking

the British countryside?

It looks
like somebody's been playing

a real-life game of Jumanji.

[narrator] A villager
in Odisha, India,

films Rajendra Mohapatra,

a man who seems to be
a real-life Magneto

from the X-Men.

Is this some kind
of bizarre medical condition

that's made this man magnetic?

[narrator] Biologist
Leslie Samuel finds

an eerie alien invader
that could explain

Rajendra's power.

Magnetically-charged
substances can

and actually do enter
the human body.

[narrator] Magnetosomes are
tiny magnetic crystals,

which are found
inside microscopic creatures

called magnetotactic bacteria.

Organisms that could have come
from another world.

Scientists currently
don't understand

why these bacteria
have this capability.

They think it might be
a holdover

from when these bacteria
first appeared on Earth.

One theory states

that maybe they arrived
via meteorite.

[whooshing]

It's possible the origin
of these bacteria

could be from beyond
this planet

The thing that's
so fascinating

about these things is
that they've recently been

found to be present
in the human biome.

These things are
part of the very fabric

of how the human gut works.

[narrator] And these alien
magnetic creatures haven't

just been found
in our stomachs.

Magnet-type crystals have
also been discovered

in the brain.

Is it possible that this man
has an overabundance

of these magnetically-reactive
crystals inside of him?

[narrator] But
the tiny magnets

in the bacteria are
only powerful enough to allow

the creatures to sense
the Earth's magnetic field.

They don't attract metal.

Scientists speculate
that they use

their magnetic sense

to navigate
through harsh environments.

Even if this man is full

of these
magnetic microorganisms,

he'd need to be
continuously shocked

by an electric current

to start attracting
metal objects.

And to get a spoon to stick,

you'd need a massive amount
of energy.

If you were to introduce

an electrifying effect
to a human,

to turn them magnetic,

they would be
completely fried.

[narrator] Householder reviews
the Indian footage

and is reminded of a man
in the United States

called Jamie Keeton,
whose similar abilities

have fascinated scientists
for years.

He also goes by the alias,
Can Head.

He's capable of sticking
cans and bottles to his head.

[narrator] Keeton led
a normal life

until he went
to a baseball game one day.

I was tryin'
to cool my head down

with a can of pop.

And, uh, as they hit
a homerun,

I reached up to grab it
and I missed it.

But as I missed it,
I was like,

"Where's my drink?"
and everybody was laughin'.

And then I realized it was
stuck to my head.

[narrator] The can was
so stuck,

it took five minutes
to wrench it off.

Use both hands.

Scientists believe this stems

from his higher than normal
body temperature

that causes his skin's pores
to act like suction cups.

[narrator] Engineer
Nick Householder wants to see

if human skin can really act
like a suction cup.

We frequently use silicone
to simulate human skin.

What I've done is modified it

by putting
a bunch of holes in it.

Kind of like the pores
in our skin.

Now, I only need
one more thing

to make this experiment work.

This is a vacuum table.

But with the addition
of my silicone sheet,

it will become
my suction skin experiment.

[narrator] Pulling air
through these silicon pores

should lock objects
onto the simulated skin.

Now that I've got it hooked up
to the vacuum system

in my workshop,
let's see what can hold up.

Can Head is known for holding
cans on his head.

but the other videos show
cutlery being held

to a human body, so I figure,
let's try that as well.

[air hissing]

It holds at 45 and 90.

This is pretty cool.

It goes to show
that if your skin did have

a suction ability,

it would be able to hold up
these objects.

[air hissing]

[beeping]

[narrator] Human skin
normally absorbs

a small amount of oxygen
in order to sustain

the uppermost layer
of skin cells,

but Can Head Keeton's skin
absorbs more than usual.

His oxygen levels are
23% higher than average.

This oxygen boost raises
his body temperature

to a hundred degrees

and gives him an array
of uncanny superpowers.

Not only is he able
to stick objects to his skin,

but his wounds heal faster,
he gets sick less,

and ages slower
than the average person.

[narrator] But reports say
this Indian rickshaw driver

doesn't have Keeton's unique
oxygen-guzzling ability.

So his pores don't explain
why objects stick to him.

Journalist Liberty Vittert
finds another example

of a human with a knack
for attracting metal.

who has been studied
by doctors.

Malaysian Magnet Man,
Liew Thow Lin

Liew was able
to hang metal objects

weighing up
to four and a half pounds

from his body using
no other support

but his own skin.

He was able to pull
an entire car

just sticking it to his body.

[narrator] Scientists studied
Liew's weird powers

and found he wasn't
a human magnet,

but a man with a power
to attach objects to his body.

Liew's skin exhibits
very high levels of friction

producing kind
of a suction effect.

[Nick Householder] He had
a very unique skin

that was incredibly sticky.

So, it wasn't just metal
that would stick to him,

but also smooth wood
or plastic objects.

So this sticky superpower
actually turned out

to maybe be genetic
because his children

and grandchildren had
the same sticky ability.

So, it may be that this guy
just has that property.

that things stick
to him that don't stick

to other people.

[narrator] If the man has
fricative super skin,

it might be
something scientists could

study and synthesize in a lab.

Then one day,
all of us could benefit.

We may never lose
our house keys again.

I think it's really cool
to see all the amazing things

that human beings are
capable of.

If this is
some kind of mutant power,

he's a lucky guy.

[helicopter hovering]

[narrator] Now...

the county
of Somerset, Great Britain.

A local couple taking
a country walk

spot a large object emerging
from the trees.

What the heck is that thing?
It's huge!

[narrator] This is Britain,
a heavily populated island

that has had
no enormous feline predators

since the last ice age.

There is a tail.

You can notice there's
a little bit of a tail

-coming out the back.
-[woman] It's moving.

Kind of like a cat.

But if it's a cat
and it's this big,

from that far away,

I'm thinking
it's an enormous cat.

[narrator] This thing looks
at least six feet long.

and could weigh
up to 220 pounds.

He's stopped
and looking around.

I wonder if he knows
he's being watched.

It appears as though they got
a fair amount of footage,

which I would consider
pretty brave.

[narrator] Finally,
the creature slinks back

into the trees,
leaving the couple terrified

of a monster lurking
near their backyard.

This is England
where we don't have big cats

roaming around free,
so this is quite worrying.

Well, it looks
like somebody's been playing

a real-life game of Jumanji.

[narrator] Coming up...

does a mysterious
local tombstone hold a clue

to this cat's origin?

[Tony McMahon] It really
wasn't a good idea

to make fun of a tiger.

And the tiger broke free
and mauled her to death.

Tore her to pieces.

[narrator] And in
a city hall corridor,

a political poltergeist tries
to take down the mayor.

Something just slammed him
into the wall.

There's nothing there.

A British couple
in the English county

of Somerset film
a mysterious, giant cat

lurking near their yard.

This is the shire,
not the Serengeti.

[narrator] Carnivorous cats
this size aren't native

to the British Isles.

The footage reminds historian
Tony McMahon

of an event that occurred
in this rural part

of Western England
in the year 1703.

[McMahon] This is a story
from English history

that's one of the strangest
I've ever heard,

not just
because it involves a tiger.

Back in the White Lion Pub
in Malmesbury,

you've got
a 33-year-old barmaid

called Hannah Twynnoy.

And she's working there
as usual

when a circus pulls up
and pitches up

right outside the pub.

And for some reason
that we can't fathom,

Hannah took to going
out of the pub

on her breaks
and teasing this tiger

that was part of the circus

that was tethered
to the ground by a peg.

Now, the keeper kept
warning Hannah

it really wasn't a good idea
to make fun of a tiger.

But she kept doing it

like a naughty girl
in a fairytale,

and the tiger broke free
from its peg

and mauled her to death.

Tore her to pieces.

[narrator] Hannah Twynnoy's
mauled remains

are buried
in a local churchyard

with a stone recording
her strange and savage end.

But history doesn't record
what happens to the tiger.

So, did this tiger run
into the woods

and its descendants today are
terrorizing Western England?

[narrator] Black tigers do
occur in the wild,

but they are
never as black in color

as the creature
in the footage.

And Dustin Growick believes
the shape of the animal

in this video proves
it's a different type

of ferocious beast.

[David Growick] Looking
at the animal in this footage,

we can see a pretty long tail.

In fact, its body shape
and the way it moves is

similar in fact
to that of a jaguar.

[narrator] The jaguar's
the third biggest cat

in the world

with a bite designed to crush
the skull of tortoises

and puncture the skulls
of mammalian prey

delivering instant brain death
to its victim.

These creatures are native
only to the Americas.

But Deborah Hyde finds reports
of a jaguar-like cat

in this area of England
going back

to the middle
of the 20th century.

[Deborah Hyde] The sightings
sort of started in the '70s,

but they really ramped up
in 1983

when a local farmer said
that about a hundred

of his sheep had been
ripped up by something.

[Steve Potvin]
More and more sightings
were reported

and most of them seemed
to say the same thing,

that there was a large,
black cat on the loose.

[Hyde] Now, you could dismiss
this as some local legend.

But the government took it
quite seriously

and they deployed
four royal marine snipers

out for several nights to try
and get whatever it was.

[narrator] But
the professional soldiers

don't catch
the supposed jaguar,

which seems
to go to a nearby town

to wreak havoc.

Keepers at the Newquay Zoo
arrived in the morning

to find dozens
of their animals

brutally slaughtered.

Bizarrely, almost all of them
had been completely drained

of their blood.

[narrator] This explosion
of jaguar-like attacks

in the sleepy backwaters
of England

could be connected
to exclusive London stores

that offered zoo animals to go
throughout the 20th century.

Up until around the 1960s,
high-end department stores

in London sold exotic animals.

So, you could walk
into one of these stores

and order a tiger
or a lion or a panther,

as well as a cat or a dog.

Apparently, the late
President Ronald Reagan

bought a baby elephant
in London

at one
of these department stores

for a Republican rally.

[narrator] One young socialite
Angela McWilliams

purchases a leopard.

She names him Michael

and walks him around
the Kensington dog parks

like he's simply
an exotic dog breed.

One rather eccentric gentleman
used to drive around London

in his Mercedes
with his lion next to him.

One aristocrat had
a menagerie private zoo

so big that he wrote
to his supplier

asking him not to send
any more black bears

as he had quite enough.

[narrator] There are
over 100 stately homes

in the county of Somerset.

Some have been inhabited
by English aristocrats

since just after
the Norman Conquest in 1066,

almost 1,000 years ago.

It does make you wonder
if it is an escaped big cat

previously from
a private collection.

These incredible predators are
capable of taking down prey

several times their own size.

Um, and once they've ingested
all of that meat,

they can sit back and relax
for a couple of weeks

before it's time
to eat their next meal.

[narrator] Anyone going
for a walk

in this beautiful part
of the English countryside

should maybe think
about carrying a shotgun.

It is fortunate the people
taking this video weren't

any closer because this thing,
well, it looks large enough

to be dangerous.

[narrator] Now,
Armenia, Colombia.

August 2, 2021.

In the real-life land
of Encanto,

in the mayor's office,

a security camera films
a nighttime corridor.

Security guard is
doing his rounds.

He's got his flashlight.

Kinda looks like he's
checking in on something.

Maybe something's
caught his eye.

That's quite
a nightstick there.

Must be expecting
some trouble.

[narrator] Then...

[Rhonda Glover] Oh, my gosh.

It looks
like he was just pushed.

[Karen Bellinger] It looks
like something

just slammed
him into the wall.

But there,
there's nothing there.

[narrator] The night watchman
tries to get up,

but seems to be restrained

by some unseen,
malevolent force.

Nothing in site.

He's on the ground
against a wall.

And then he's
actually being pulled.

He, he's clearly trying
to struggle to free himself,

but something unseen is
pulling the guy by the leg.

Oh, my goodness. Now, it looks
like he's being dragged.

His arm just was thrown back.

[narrator] His co-workers hear
the commotion

and come running.

[Glover] That's gonna be
an interesting conversation.

Him trying to explain to them
what happened.

What was the force
that knocked him over

in the first place?

[narrator] Coming up...

Is this phantom beatdown
part of a paranormal plague?

There were reports
of a 10-year-old girl

who was tortured and murdered.

And that was the last straw
for the bishop.

who said, "You know what?

We've gotta tackle
these demons run amuck."

[narrator] And what cause
this blast from below

that leaves a New Yorker
fighting for his life?

If he'd gone
a couple steps further,

he would've been
right in the middle

of that fireball.

[narrator] In Colombia,
the land of Encanto,

a night watchman is taken down
by a seemingly magical force.

The film leaves
the town in shock.

[Bellinger]
The mayor of this town is
so concerned about this event,

he goes onto social media
and records a video

[speaking Spanish]

To anyone outside
of South America,

it might seem incredible

that a politician would
involve himself

in what seems to be
a paranormal mystery.

But it's really important
to keep in mind

that for Colombians,

the fear would've been
really real.

[narrator] Phasmophobia,
fear of the supernatural,

is increasingly common
in Colombia.

Locals believe
black magic workers

can cast encantos,
spells or charms.

that conjure evil spirits
to harm other people.

A lot of times, you know,

the scenes of murder
and things like that,

you'll find things
like chicken heads

and chicken feet or organs
and things like that.

And I think that's
where a lot this mysticism

sort of comes into play.

Things really came to a head
when there were reports

of a 10-year-old girl who was
tortured and murdered.

And that was the last straw
for the bishop who said,

"You know what?

We've gotta tackles
these demons run amok."

[narrator] But
when George Kourounis sees

the strange movements

of the security guard
in the footage,

he is reminded
of a violent sickness

that grips some people

in the jungles
of Latin America.

There's a tribe called
the Miskito people,

and they experience something
called grisi siknis.

[Kevin Kasky] There's been
hundreds of cases reported

of this grisi siknis.

They've been suffering

from sort of
a collective insanity

that almost seems contagious.

[narrator] Sufferers
of grisi siknis are gripped

by a delusion that they are
being attacked

by an invisible foe.

Many sufferers grab any weapon
they can find.

swinging it around them

as if trying
to defend themselves

from an unseen attacker.

Their wild movements
look similar to the actions

of the security guard
in the footage.

There's no evident parasite
or any kind of mental illness

that has been discerned

by those who studied
these people

to cause this behavior
and it's believed to really be

an imitative,
cultural practice.

But the Miskito people
themselves, they believe

it's gotta be
the action of evil spirits.

[narrator] But former
FBI agent Rhonda Glover

believes the angle
at which the man falls

indicates a different kind
of force acting on his body.

[Glover] This is the moment
where he starts to fall.

Now, taking a look,

look at how he just kind
of falls into the wall there.

Now, there's a difference
between being shoved

and in falling.

There's a big difference.

There's a, it's, it's...
The force is different.

The way that you might feel

being pushed
and then actually falling.

It's a totally
different feeling.

This in no way, shape or form,
to me, uh,

looks like he's being dragged.

If anything, he's sort
of dragging his own feet

um, while he's crawling

to sort of the foot
of the stairs over there.

[narrator] Armenia lies
on the violent triple junction

of the Pacific, Nazca,
and Cocos Techtonic Plates.

It's often rocked
by deadly earthquakes.

In 1999, over 60% of the city
was reduced to rubble,

and more than one thousand
people were killed

in a quake that registered 6.2
on the moment magnitude scale.

The region is still subject
to many minor tremors

It could make a person fall
to the ground

just like the guard
in the footage.

There are literally hundreds
of millions of people

who live in this
very earthquake-prone region.

And it just becomes part
of their everyday life.

[narrator] The superstitious
security guard could've

mistaken a small
seismic tremor

for an evil encanto cast
by a demonic attacker.

But reports show
no geological disturbances

were recorded
on this day in Armenia.

[Glover] You know,
as a law enforcement officer,

I would look for the facts.

You want the facts

'cause you wanna prove
your case.

But then there's some things
that will show up

that you cannot explain.

This is one of the cases
right here.

[narrator] The mayor
of Armenia promises

a full inquiry to discover
what really happened.

But until
that report is finalized,

The force that threw
this guard to the ground

remains a mystery.

Whatever you believe
about malevolent spirits,

it's pretty difficult

to come up
with a convincing explanation

for what is clearly captured
in this video.

It is a mystery.

[helicopter hovering]

[narrator] Now...

New York City.

A security camera captures
a man

walking towards a store.

This looks
like a very normal day.

Nothing really unusual.

There's a little smoke
emanating out of the grille.

[narrator] Until...

Wow! Whoa!

He got knocked
right off of his feet.

His shirt might've
actually caught fire.

But he appears to be okay.

Boy, that was a close one.

[narrator] The man pulls
himself up

and staggers away
from the flames.

He looks
absolutely shell-shocked.

[Orzel] This guys is
lucky to be alive.

If he'd gone
a couple steps further

or a little bit to his left,
he would've been

right in the middle
of that fireball.

[narrator] He escapes,

narrowly avoiding the objects
falling from the sky.

I can actually see
debris landing,

so that the force
of that explosion was

quite significant.

Whatever was caught
in that explosion,

had gone sky-high.

If this is happening
on public sidewalks,

we need to know
what's causing them.

[narrator] Coming up...

the deadly, secret substance
in New York sewers.

It's been leaking
for over 120 years.

How could something
on this scale go unnoticed

for so long?

[narrator] A camera
in New York City

captures a man caught
in an enormous blast

that erupts
from under the sidewalk.

[Jeff Wise] Oh, my Lord! Wow!
That is incredible.

Right under his feet,
this massive explosion.

Flames.

I'm surprised that he wasn't
just killed instantly.

[narrator] The blast reminds
historian Craig Gottlieb

of a mysterious explosion
that rocked the city in 1950.

[Craig Gottlieb] Let me paint
the picture.

Massive explosion!

Manhole covers shooting
into the sky.

Buildings blowing up.
It's anarchy.

-[police sirens]
-[narrator] The explosion
comes from somewhere

in the city's 6,000 miles
of underground sewage tunnels.

The sewage system is
blown apart.

Blue flames are erupting
from the ground,

shattering literally hundreds
of windows.

[narrator] Authorities rule
out terrorism

But even
after a full investigation,

they can't explain the source
of this underground blast.

Total mystery
until decades later,

a Coast Guard helicopter's
on a routine patrol,

it spots a huge plume of oil
leaking into the water

near the scene
of the accident.

[Orzel] It turns out
that oil was leaking

from a storage facility into
the ground under the city,

and something
like 17 million gallons

of flammable oil had collected
in tunnels.

If you've got that much
flammable liquid in place,

all it takes is a spark.

Right? You could have
someone, you know,

dropping a cigarette
in the wrong place,

or a bad
electrical connection,

or a bit of lightning.

Anything at all could
set that off.

It makes
that whole neighborhood

like a bomb
waiting to explode.

[Vittert] It's been leaking
for over 120 years.

How could something
on this scale go unnoticed

for so long.

[narrator] The Greenpoint
oil spill was so expansive,

the flammable liquid is
still being cleaned up today.

And according
to recent estimates,

at least
three million gallons,

the equivalent
of four and a half

Olympic size swimming pools,
still remain under New York.

So, there remains pockets,
who knows, how many or where,

of dangerous chemicals
that remain underground

hidden out of sight.

So, everybody's thinking it,
I'm gonna ask it.

Is the explosion that we're
seeing her on film

part of an oil spill?

An old one
that just caught fire?

[narrator] But ex-NYPD
image analyst Connor McCourt

discovers the blast happened
miles from the Greenpoint area

in the borough of Queens,

and suspects another labyrinth
of dangerous tunnels

under the city are to blame.

In New York City,
there's a network of cables,

of gas lines, of electricity,

uh, water lines,
all kinds of things,

that build up
immense amount of pressure

and sometimes result
in explosions.

This grid is
only accessible via network

of tiny underground tunnels

maintained by
specialized engineers.

New York City uses
51 terawatts of electricity

a year.

Massive amount of power is
required to light

all those lights
of New York City.

And as time goes by,

maybe some equipment
deteriorates, uh,

maybe insulation frays,

maybe water gets
into the wiring

It can be released
with catastrophic effect.

So, you have
this tremendous energy

that's released
in an unintentional,

unrestricted way.

You get an explosion.

[narrator] Civil engineer
Brian Wolshon wonders

if a transformer somewhere
in the narrow maze of shafts

could be to blame.

Electrical transformers
effectively transfer power

between circuits,

stepping it from one voltage
to another.

When flooded with electricity,
they can explode.

The electrical grid contains
numerous power transformers.

These are devices consisting
of coils of wire

that help reduce the voltage

from the extremely
high voltages

used in long-distance
transmission lines

to the lower voltages that go
into houses

and apartment buildings.

Uh, and when these overheat

and get, uh,
too much energy in them

they can explode violently.

[explosion]

[narrator] The power company
expressed regret

for the incident

but the exact cause
of the mysterious blast

has not yet been determined.

Whatever it is, we know
that this guy

is extremely lucky
to be alive.

So, the next time
you're walking

down the sidewalks
of New York City,

be careful where you step.