All language subtitles for Expedition.Files.S02E05.1080p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta[EZTVx.to].mkv

On this episode of "expedition files"...

In 1979, terrifying events
turn a home in amityville

into a house of horrors.

Now, 45 years later,
new evidence helps find

the truth behind this demonic mystery.

Then, a bizarre phenomenon

known as spontaneous
human combustion

incinerates its victims and baffles

the medical community.

Has science finally
solved this red-hot riddle?

And america's first
battle-tested submarine,

the h.L. Hunley,

vanishes moments after
completing its mission.

Now, for the first time,
we reveal its shocking fate.

In the corridors of time

are mysteries that defy explanation.

Now, I'm traveling
through history itself...

On a search for the truth.

New evidence...

Shocking answers.

I'm Josh gates,

and these...

Are my "expedition files."

I've spent my career trying to solve

the world's most enduring puzzles,

from legendary lost treasures

to terrifying paranormal phenomena.

I've investigated countless
stories that, for centuries,

have defied explanation.

But the thing about
mysteries is they don't always

remain a mystery.

And tonight, we turn
our magnifying glass

to three of the strangest,
unexplained cases of all time,

cases that may finally
have jaw-dropping answers.

So, let's begin.

It is 1975, a week before
Christmas in long island

amityville, long island.

I'd like to introduce
you to the lutz family,

George, Kathy, and
their three young children,

moving into their new home.

At $80,000, the property was a steal,

but, well, there's a reason for that.

You see, something
terrible happened here.

Now, the lutzes are well aware

of the house's rather gruesome
history, though they think

that's all in the past.

But just 28 days from now,
they'll run out the front door

screaming for their lives.

Their dream home will
turn into a waking nightmare,

not to mention the most infamous
haunted house in the world.

The story of the amityville horror begins

a full year before the lutzes move in.

At this point, the house
belonged to the defeo family.

And in the early morning
of November 13, 1974.

Ronald defeo Jr.
Walks through the house

with a.35 caliber rifle.

When police arrive, they discover

that this psychopath has
executed his family of six.

At his trial, he claims
voices told him his family

was plotting to murder
him and that he needed

to kill them first.

The jury is unconvinced.

And Ronald defeo Jr. is
sentenced to six consecutive

life terms in prison.

And so, the house goes on the market,

and the lutz family
become the lucky buyers.

Almost as soon as the
lutzes unpack, George decides

to have the house blessed.

It couldn't hurt, right?

Father, thank you for coming.

When a local priest arrives,
he sprinkles each room

with holy water.

Suddenly, he's reportedly
attacked by unseen forces.

Over the next four weeks,
the family claims to be plagued

by bizarre and inexplicable events.

In the middle of the night,
doors reportedly open

and slam shut.

The house is never
warm, despite the furnace

blasting all day long.

And one room is even
filled with buzzing flies,

though it's the dead of winter.

Even creepier, the
lutzes' youngest daughter,

missy, says she sees and talks

to a disturbing pig-like creature.

One day, the family even claims they find

mysterious hoove prints in the snow,

leading to their house.

And George swears he repeatedly
sees his young wife, Kathy,

transform into a 90-year-old
woman before his eyes.

But the strangest event of all

will occur on January 14th, 1976.

George says he wakes
in bed at 3:15 am,

the same time he's been
unintentionally waking

almost every night.

This is also around the same
time of night Ronald defeo

murdered his family
roughly a year earlier.

As soon as his eyes open,
he hears his kids' beds

slamming up and down
on the floor above him.

He tries to get out of his own bed,

but an unseen force pins him down.

With day breaking,
George and Kathy gather up

their three children and
rush out the front door

in abject terror.

They leave everything they
own behind, never to return.

Although the lutzes only spend
less than a month in the house,

that short time will
come to define their lives.

Local press gets wind
of the incredible story

and it catches fire,
making international news.

On march 6th, 1976,

paranormal investigators,
ed and Lorraine Warren,

arrive with their own camera
crew determined to document

the horrifying activity.

The warrens gained fame for their study

of notorious cases,
like the Annabelle doll

and the so-called "conjuring" house,

but here at amityville, Lorraine Warren

is so overcome with fear
that she tells her husband ed

that this is the closest she
ever wants to get to hell.

Of all the evidence
they captured, it's a photo

taken from one of the
team's infrared cameras

that proves the most interesting.

On the main landing,
peering out past one

of the banisters, seems to
be the image of a small boy

with glowing demonic eyes.

The infamy of the
house continues to grow

when the lutzes'
experiences are adapted,

with their blessing, first
into a bestselling book,

and then into 1979's blockbuster movie,

"the amityville horror."

The franchise is so successful
that it will grow to include

a whopping, brace
yourself, 46 films, all inspired

by this original case.

But with all this fame
comes closer scrutiny,

and some things are not adding up.

In 1979, coinciding with
the release of the movie,

William weber, the attorney
of crazed killer Ronald defeo

comes forward with
an astonishing claim.

Weber reports that, over
several bottles of wine,

he, George, and Kathy lutz
fabricated the whole story

of the family's traumatizing
time in the house.

According to weber,

the lutzes were struggling financially,

and liked the sound of a book deal

about a haunted house.

And now, after falling out
with the lutzes over a split

of the residuals, he's revealing all.

George and Kathy deny weber's
accusations, but other factors

about their terrifying story
leave the public wondering.

Investigators go back
through weather reports,

and discover on the day the lutzes

claimed they saw hoof prints

in the snow, there was
no snow on the ground.

The cromarty family, who buys the house

soon after the lutzes
flee, report no problems.

Over the years, doubters have claimed

that a member of the
Warren's crew named Paul bartz

triggered one of the infrared
cameras while kneeling

by the staircase.

At the time, he had a
hairstyle and shirt similar

to the one in the photo.

And the glowing eyes?

Just light reflecting from his glasses.

Based on mounting
evidence, it's starting to look

like the lutzes may have
cashed in, turning pretend

family terror into box office treasure.

But nothing in this story
is exactly what it seems.

Facing allegations of perpetrating a hoax,

George and Kathy insist
they're telling the truth,

even taking polygraphs
tests, which they pass.

So, which is it?

Well, the real story
behind the amityville horror

has at least one terrifying plot twist.

In 1975, the lutzes flee from
the amityville horror house.

Was it all a hoax, or
were they telling the truth?

Author and paranormal
historian, Jeff belanger,

recently interviewed Christopher lutz,

one of the three lutz children,

and what he discovered is unsettling.

Christopher was seven
when this all went down,

and he told me that this
thing profoundly affected him.

When the story started to really break,

when the book came out
and then the movies came out,

he said it was sort of
fun. "I was a celebrity."

But then, as more
and more time goes by,

and now people start calling it a hoax,

and those voices get louder and louder,

kids don't know any
better, and they start saying

awful things to him... "you're a liar."

"Your mom's a liar. Your dad's a liar.

You... you're making this whole thing up."

So he dealt with that year after year.

What really happened is that George,

Christopher's stepfather,
exaggerated certain things

that happened, and then
the book exaggerated further,

and then the movies are just
completely out of proportion

at this point.

Christopher stands by the claims

that paranormal events
did happen at the house,

but he says they were subsequently

blown out of proportion
in the book and film.

He said the house
liked to play with people.

He would talk about it like it was

he personified the house.

It liked certain people,
it ignored other people,

some people were just tuned into it.

He said there were little
things, like there were

cold spots that were always there.

One in the basement,
one in the boathouse,

one in the stairway.

He's like, "you couldn't explain it,

it was just this cold spot."

Him and his brother shared a room

on the front side of the
house that faced the street,

and he said those windows,

would open and close by themselves

and they... they just don't
do that and it was really weird.

He said sometimes they would
get stuck in their bedrooms.

They'd be screaming, "I can't
get out, the door's locked."

They'd go upstairs,
they'd try to get it unlocked

from the outside and... and it's stuck,

it's stuck, it's stuck,
but then it would open.

That is really gonna chip
away at you, little by little,

when things like that happen.

And so, a real haunting is subtle,

and it's much more frightening
what they actually went through.

But there's another twist.

Despite the house's
horrifying past with six people

getting murdered on the property,

Christopher doesn't believe
the home was haunted

when his family first moved in.

Instead, he says one
of his family members

summoned a demonic presence.

George is Christopher's stepfather.

And one thing he did
say, quite emphatically,

is that George was meddling
in the occult and was opening

something up that might
have been sort of dormant there

and bringing it into the
house, so he blames George.

According to Christopher, the mystery

of the amityville horror
is no mystery at all.

His house truly was haunted.

And even more shocking,
the spirits were allegedly

summoned by his
stepfather, George lutz.

Today, the amity house still stands

and has had several
subsequent occupants,

none of whom have ever
reported paranormal activity.

Still, the city changed the
official address to prevent

tourists from disturbing
the neighborhood,

and the property just resold in 2023.

Best of luck to its new owners.

Hopefully, this won't lead
to movie sequel number 47.

Leaving behind a chilling mystery,

we now explore a
scorching hot phenomenon.

It is 1951, and I am in
St. Petersburg, Florida.

Behind me, landlady pansy carpenter

is anxiously talking to the fire department

after making a grisly discovery.

The firefighters are
about to enter the home

of a woman named Mary
reeser, and, when they do,

they'll discover Mary isn't just dead.

Her body has been reduced to ashes,

as if cremated on the spot.

She's just the latest in the hundreds

of strange cases of
seemingly normal people

inexplicably bursting into flames.

It's known as spontaneous
human combustion,

and it's cause has mystified experts

for centuries, until now.

On top of a pile of ash,
firefighters discover.

Mary's left foot, completely unburned,

still wearing her black satin slipper.

Mary reeser weighed 175 pounds in life,

but her remains have been
reduced to less than ten.

Police are beyond
perplexed as they begin

their investigation.

It would take almost
3,000 degrees of heat

to reduce a body to ash.

But other than Mary's
chair, the apartment

and everything in it,
is virtually undamaged.

Guys, you're not gonna believe this.

Authorities interview Mary's son,

Dr. Richard reeser, who
tells them he saw his mother

the night before and that nothing

was out of the ordinary.

The 67-year-old widow
was having trouble sleeping,

so she was going to
take two sleeping pills

and go to bed.

He left her sitting in her chair.

The officers also speak
to Mary's neighbors,

who say they heard
and saw nothing unusual.

With no credible leads,
the police are stumped.

In desperation, they
send a box of evidence,

including some of the ash,

the surviving slipper, and a section

of the barely singed carpet
to the FBI for analysis.

Now, all they can do is wait.

Mary reeser is one of at
least 200 reported cases

of spontaneous human
combustion in the last 400 years.

And curiously, almost all cases
seem to share common traits.

There is frequently
little or no fire damage

to the victim's surroundings,
even though their body

has burned to ash.

And gruesomely, some
part of the body, a leg or foot,

often remains.

And, hold on to your
stomach, an oily, smelly residue

is commonly found on
the walls around the victim.

The term "spontaneous human
combustion" is coined in 1746,

when writer paolo rolli uses it
to describe the bizarre death

of Italian countess
Cornelia zangari bandi.

On the evening of march 15, 1731,

the 66-year-old countess
complains of feeling dull

and heavy after a large
dinner and retires to bed.

The next morning,
her maid is said to open

the bedroom door to a horrific scene.

There's no sign of the
countess, just a heap

of ashes on the floor
next to an empty oil lamp.

Actually, there is some
sign of the countess.

At the edge of the
black pile are what's left

of bondi's legs.

Nothing else in the room is burnt,

not even the straw bed.

Everything is covered in
soot and a thin layer of grease,

and a strange odor lingers in the air.

Some speculate this is the result

of a freak lightning strike,
or even the handiwork

of a demonic spirit.

But experts remain confounded.

A hundred years after the
death of countess bandi,

it's the writer Charles
dickens, who really brings

spontaneous human combustion
to the public's attention.

In his 1853 novel "bleak
house", dickens kills off

one of his characters, the
unscrupulous junk merchant,

Mr. Crook, by having
him burst into flame.

All he leaves behind is a
pile of ash and a, quote,

"dark, greasy coating."

And terrifying real-world
cases would continue

over the course of the next century.

But what is the true
cause of this seemingly

impossible phenomenon?

Nobody knows for certain
until Mary reeser's death.

When the FBI scours the evidence,

they find a smoking gun.

In 1951, the remains
of Mary reeser are found

in a pile of ashes.

She seems to have suffered
from the phenomenon

known as spontaneous
human combustion.

When the FBI investigates,
they examine a sample

from Mary's carpet that
contains melted human body fat.

This eventually leads
to a shocking conclusion.

As forensic toxicologist,

Dr. Rakhshanda "Ruby" javed, explains

in a lot of these cases,
when you come on scene,

you see the localized area
where someone has somehow

been burned, but
surrounding areas that includes

flammable objects,
such as a newspaper,

you see that they're untouched.

One of the most notable things

that were seen by the fire department

when they went to Mary reeser's home.

They couldn't believe
that they were seeing

part of Mary reeser's shin and foot

with a slipper still on, a black slipper.

It's one of the most
notable documented things

that were noted in that particular case,

and it was very, I mean,
gruesome for the individuals

that came on scene to see
just a foot and nothing else.

You are not gonna believe this.

It's actually not that
baffling when you look

at a lot of the similarities
among the cases.

Scientifically speaking,
what happens is just

like a candle for a human,
the wick would be the clothing

that the individual is
wearing, and the fuel

is going to be fat.

Human body fat is composed
of hydrocarbons, and it's known

to create a very low and slow flame.

So, typically, you need at least two hours

for the body to burn.

And since the fat is serving
as that source of fuel,

it creates a very slow burning effect.

It is a grisly revelation that
our own bodies can burn

like a controlled fire.

But how do those fires
start in the first place?

And why don't the victims just
wake up and put themselves out?

One of the puzzling
scenarios with a lot of these

spontaneous human combustion cases

is a... a normal person, if
you see some type of fire

starting on your clothing,
you'll immediately jump

and try to put it out as
quickly as you possibly can.

In a lot of these cases,
it's well documented

that either they're heavy smokers,

they utilize sedatives,

or they've drank so
much that they're basically

incapacitated to the point
that when the fire is started,

they're not feeling it

because they're
completely incapacitated,

and if they do wake up, it's too late.

For Mary reeser, it was documented

that she took sleeping
pills the evening of the event

that this occurred, and she was smoking.

She must have fallen asleep,

and because of the
sedatives, the cigarette fell

on her clothing... she was
wearing a rayon nightgown,

which we know today is very flammable.

So it just fueled that fire to
where it just consumed her.

So in Mary's case, the fire was sparked

by a cigarette, and in nearly
all reported cases in history,

there was some kind
of open flame nearby.

For countess bandi, it was an oil lamp.

But that still doesn't explain
why Mary's left foot remained

when the rest of her body became ash.

In a lot of the documented cases,

there are extremities
that are typically found.

Mary reeser's case, it
was the unburned foot

with the slipper still
on, with the "wick effect,"

it's the... the fire burns
vertically, not laterally.

And the extremities are
very... there's not as much fat

that remains in those areas,
so it makes sense as to why

the fire would not continue
to those specific areas.

And that's why you see some
remaining extremities at scene.

So, the mystery of
spontaneous human combustion

is now extinguished.

And as horrible as it
is, it should also give us

a sense of relief.

If we watch our weight,
drink in moderation,

and quit smoking, the chances of us

bursting into flame are essentially zero.

It really gives you something to focus on

the next time you're making
those new year's resolutions.

Our next mystery
begins in February, 1864.

It's the height of the civil war,

and here in the port of Charleston,

young confederate
lieutenant, George Dixon,

stares out at the harbor on
a mission to make history.

He, and a crew of seven,
are making final preparations

to board a small iron
submarine, the h.L. Hunley,

and do something that no sub has ever

done before, sink a ship in battle.

But immediately after
completing their mission,

they and their vessel will
disappear without a trace.

It's 1864, and the union Navy

has spent three years running
a blockade along 3,000 miles

of america's southeastern coastline,

strangling the confederacy's ability

to import food and
supplies to fortify their troops.

With losses on the battlefield
piling up, the confederacy

is getting desperate.

They must break the blockade
by any means necessary,

and they think the answer
is a submarine attack.

There's just one problem,
it's never been done.

But that is about to change.

The American civil war is raging,

and the confederacy offers a reward

for anyone who can invent a submarine

that sinks a union battleship.

Americans have tried using
submarines in the war before,

but they all sink themselves long before

sinking an enemy ship.

However, 38-year-old engineer
and southern plantation owner,

Horace Lawson hunley,
boldly accepts the challenge,

personally funding the development

of a combat submarine.

Submarine prototypes were
built as early as the 1600s

with hand-cranked propellers.

The first practical submarine
was built in 1800 in France

with a Grant from Napoleon.

But no sub has ever
successfully attacked

another ship in battle.

Hunley has his work cut out for him.

With input from several
designers and engineers,

he builds two prototypes.

The first is the pioneer,
which proves it could submerge

and resurface, but
then has to be scuttled

to avoid capture from union forces.

The second sub is
named American diver,

but it sinks when its
ballast tanks are overfilled.

Undeterred, hunley
takes what he's learned

and comes up with a third design,

this time naming the sub after himself.

The hunley is 40 feet long, four feet tall

and only three feet wide.

Inside is a central propeller
that takes seven men to turn.

The captain sits at the
front of the ship to steer.

A candle is the only source of light.

The submarine will tow
an explosive, and hook it

to a target ship as it passes underneath.

That's the plan, anyway.

With the design finalized,
the hunley is hammered

out of iron and, once
complete, is shipped by train

from Alabama to south Carolina.

The h.L. Hunley is a
tight fit, to say the least.

The men must sit shoulder to shoulder,

hunched on a narrow wooden
bench with an air supply

that last only two hours.

It's a desperate design,

but it's also a desperate
moment in the war.

The confederate Navy
needs a win... fast.

But, while preparing
for its first attack mission,

the sub suddenly breaks
from its mooring and sinks.

Five of the crew drown, three escape.

For Horace hunley and his team,

this is a terrible setback.

The confederacy pushed
the sub out too soon,

so hunley makes a bold choice

he goes to Charleston, and
once the sub is recovered,

decides he will captain the vessel himself

and lead the next attack.

It's a fateful decision.

On October 15th, hunley
holds a demonstration

of his submarine to
reassure confederate officials.

The sub pushes off,
but after it disappears

below the waves with
hunley at the rudder,

the vessel never returns.

Three weeks later, on November 7th,

the hunley is finally found
on the bottom of the harbor.

The entire crew, including
Horace hunley, is dead.

Examination of the
wreck reveals that a valve

was left open, allowing water to seep in.

Curiously, there are also signs that bolts

on the bottom of the sub were loose.

It becomes clear the crew
knew the sub was in trouble

and were trying to get out.

Their bodies are found
flung about the cabin

as if in a state of panic.

For the second time after
causing a tragic loss of life,

the hunley is raised from
the depths and repaired.

Its own inventor just
went down with the ship.

Who could possibly be
willing to get into this death trap

for its third voyage?

Lieutenant George Dixon, that's who.

Lieutenant George Dixon
has cheated death before.

In April of 1862, he survives
a major civil war battle

thanks to a $20 gold coin

given to him for good
luck by his sweetheart,

queenie Bennett.

When Dixon is shot in the thigh, the coin

deflects the bullet, saving his life.

He inscribes on the
coin, "my life preserver,"

and carries it with him
everywhere he goes.

Later, Dixon serves in mobile, Alabama,

where he first hears of
the hunley submarine.

When he discovers the sub
has sunk for a second time,

he takes up the cause
and volunteers as captain.

Third time's the charm, right?

Unfortunately, the risk for the mission

is even greater now.

The union Navy has
reinforced their warships

with chain netting underneath,
making it challenging

to attach a bomb.

So the hunley's plan pivots.

The soldiers refurbish
the sub with a 16-foot pole

on its bow and a live
torpedo on the end of it.

The audacious plan is to
ram the warship head-on,

detonating the torpedo on impact.

And the confederacy
is so desperate to see

this mission go off without a hitch,

that the hunley crew is ordered

to keep their craft floating on the surface

at all times, minimizing the chances

of accidental sinking,
but massively increasing

the chances it'll be
spotted and fired upon.

The stage is now set for the third voyage

of the h.L. Hunley.

On the evening of February 17, 1864,

it's time to make history,
in more ways than one.

The hunley's chosen
target is the USS housatonic,

anchored four miles off
the shores of south Carolina.

The men pile into the
submarine and push off from port,

Dixon steering them
toward the enemy ship.

At about 8:45 pm, a sailor
on the deck of the housatonic

notices an object in the water.

At first, he thinks it's a porpoise,

but soon realizes the
ship is under attack.

Something off the starboard bow.

He sounds the alarm,
and the crew begins

to fire their rifles at the hunley.

Dixon and the crew
shrug off the hail of gunfire

and continue steadily on.

And then, it happens...
they hit their target.

Brace for impact!

The torpedo detonates,
ripping a hole in the hull

of the housatonic.

The warship sinks in
less than five minutes.

The third mission of the
h.L. Hunley is a success.

It is the first time in
history that a submarine

has sunk a ship, forever changing

how naval battles are waged.

But it is far from a complete success

because the submarine
immediately vanishes.

Was it blown up by its torpedo?

Or did its leaky hull strike again?

And where is the wreckage?

For over a century, the truth behind

the hunley's dramatic disappearance

remained a complete mystery.

But now, there's a remarkable revelation.

The amityville horror house
isn't the only high-profile

home with a supposedly haunted history.

California's Winchester
mystery house is what happens

when grief meets ghosts.

The house was conceived
in 1881 by Sarah Winchester,

the widow of William Winchester,

heir to the famous rifle fortune.

After his death, Sarah became obsessed

with the idea that the spirits of people

killed by the Winchester
rifle were seeking revenge.

So, Sarah spent the
next 38 years designing

and ever redesigning
her 160-room home

staircases lead to nowhere,
doors open into walls.

It's more maze than mansion.

She believed the constant construction

would torture the spirits.

At the very least, it must
have tortured her contractor.

Today, the Winchester
mansion is open to the public.

Everyone is welcome.

Except, of course, ghosts.

In 1995, after 131 years, a
salvage crew finally locates

the wreck of the hunley at the bottom

of Charleston harbor.

Part of the mystery is
solved, but then comes

the much bigger
question, why did it sink?

The sub is pulled onto land
and the hull panels are removed.

What researchers find is shocking.

The skeletons of the
hunley crew are all there,

all at their original stations.

The sub was not completely obliterated

by the detonation of the torpedo,

as some had theorized.

What's more, there is
no sign the crew knew

they were in trouble
or had made any move

to escape drowning.

So how and why did these men die?

Biomedical engineer,
Dr. Rachel Lance has spent years

exploring this question.

Being a biomedical engineer
is a lot like being a detective

looking at how someone died.

You make a list of the usual suspects

of the things that can kill
us, the things that will cause

our frail bodies to fail, and then you try

and narrow them down
one at a time using science.

So, in the case of the hunley,
we saw all the usual suspects.

We saw a lack of oxygen,

we really need oxygen to keep living,

we saw gunshot wounds,
possibly to the hull,

possibly to the crew.

But the discovery of
the remains of the crew,

each at their crank position,

was a huge scientific revelation

because it meant that these theories

were probably not really plausible.

Based on my experience with explosions

and looking at previous
case reports of blast trauma,

I immediately developed
the hypothesis that the crew

had been instantly incapacitated
by this 200-pound bomb

just off their bow.

To determine if the crew
were killed by the bomb itself,

Dr. Lance conducts a detailed
simulation of the explosion.

She builds a one-sixth
scale model of the submarine,

recreating the conditions on the hunley

when the torpedo detonated
and sank the housatonic.

It is really common in the world of blasts

to set up a scale model.

Blasts actually scale remarkably well

as long as you're conscientious
about the physics that you use.

With a model, I was able to
create different experiments

and different setups

where I could vary the parameters,

and I could make small changes
to see how big of an impact

they had on the results.

What Dr. Lance discovers
during this test is sobering.

To understand how a shock
wave or even a lowly pressure wave

can cause trauma to the
body, it's helpful to think of it

more as traveling energy.

So, when that bomb
explodes, it's essentially creating

a omnidirectional hammer
that's now pounding against

the housatonic on one
side, but then the ocean

everywhere else.

Most of our human body
handles blast waves fairly well.

They actually transmit right through

because we're pretty flexible.

We absorb that energy
and diffuse it overall.

The organ that is the
greatest exception is the lungs.

With the blast wave, the pressure wave

from the bottom of the hunley,
there was about an 85% chance

of immediate fatality for each
one of the crew members inside,

just from the lung trauma alone.

Even if they survived,
if they... if each one had

that lucky 15%, there still
was an over 99% chance

that they would have
had a severe lung injury.

So we now know that
the remains of the crew

and the whole incident overall
show these classic hallmarks

that it was the bomb itself
that took down the lives

of the eight inside.

So, the very same explosion that makes

the hunley historic is
also the thing that dooms it.

The torpedo that sinks
the USS housatonic

causes a shockwave so intense, it leads

to catastrophic lung
damage, killing the entire crew

almost instantly.

This is why they didn't try to escape.

They never had a chance.

All eight members of
the crew of the henley

died during her final mission.

As a result of their sacrifice,
they killed five union sailors,

and they took the USS housatonic

to the bottom of the ocean
in less than five minutes.

But all eight of those crew
members brought with them

on this mission tokens,
pins, coins of value

that indicated that they thought
they were going to survive.

So the question is,
like with so many other

incidents of warfare, if they'd known

the actual end results, would they have

considered it worth it?

And so the mystery of
the h.L. Hunley is solved,

and the craft itself leaves
behind an important legacy.

Submarines would go
on to play a pivotal role

in nearly all major naval conflicts.

Once propelled by
human hands and barely

able to submerge, today,
nuclear-powered submarines

and their crews stay
underwater for months at a time.

Their innovative dual hulls
now ensure robust protection

from the deepest depths
and powerful shock waves,

providing safety the crew of the hunley

could never have imagined.

And as for George Dixon
and his crew, in 2004,

they were buried together,
their fates finally explained.

I'm Josh gates, and I'll see you

on the next expedition.