All language subtitles for The.Proof.Is.Out.There.S05E04.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

- Tonight, on "The
Proof Is Out There."

The famous footage of
the Mississippi Bigfoot.

Is this the real deal?

- It's not out of
the question that

a Sasquatch would
find a home there.

- [Tony] The White House
ordered a UFO shot down

over Lake Huron.

- [Tony] What did the Air
Force pilot really see?

- The military doesn't
shoot things out of the sky

that it doesn't perceive
as a possible threat.

- [Tony] Alleged alien corpses

presented to
Mexico's government.

What will forensic
testing reveal?

- X-rays revealed that
one of these mummies

actually contained eggs.

- [Tony] What's causing these
weird sky waves in a war zone?

- The patterns of these
lines almost look like

rippling ocean waves.

- [Tony] And what's
the secret of

the world's most
mysterious book?

- Is the Voynich Manuscript
proof of a civilization

that's lost to history?

(dramatic music)

- [Tony] Around the
globe are videos...

- [Witness] What
are those things?

- [Witness] It's moving.

- [Tony] Photos and sounds
that defy explanation.

(electric whirring)

- [Expert] We don't know
where they come from,

who made them, or
how they operate.

- [Tony] What are they?

- [MJ] Some sort of
bizarre mutation.

- [Marc] What's exciting
is nobody really knows.

- Extraordinary claims
need extraordinary proof.

- I'm Tony Harris.

And as a journalist
for more than 30 years,

I've followed the facts
where they take me.

Now, I'm bringing that
spirit of investigation

to the world's strangest
sounds and images.

We'll analyze each
one with top experts.

- It's a credible case,
it's a credible video.

- [Tony] And pass a
verdict on what it is.

- This video was clearly faked.

- The proof starts now.

(dramatic music)

Good evening, and welcome
to "The Proof Is Out There."

By popular demand,

we've decided to look at a
famous piece of Bigfoot footage.

It's got many online speculators

wondering if Bigfoot
was born on the Bayou.

October 24th, 2013,

about nine miles west
of Tunica, Mississippi.

It's 6:00 p.m. and a man who
goes by the name Josh Highcliff

is supposedly in the
swamp hunting hogs

when he hears a
noise behind a tree.

He pulls out his phone
and records this.

(tree creaking)

50 yards away, we see
what appears to be

a dark-haired animal
in the forest,

tearing apart a cypress tree.

After filming for a minute, the
creature suddenly stands up,

doubling in size.

Josh drops his camera and runs
away, absolutely terrified.

Field researcher
Cliff Barackman,

along with many other
Sasquatch enthusiasts,

believes this video
could be the real deal.

- When this footage
first came online,

the community was abuzz
because it looked like very,

very promising footage.

The activity that the
animal was engaged in

looked very normal,

it was tearing apart
some sort of dead stump,

presumably looking for termites
or some other food source.

The habitat was appropriate
for a Skunk Ape.

- [Tony] The Skunk Ape is
the local name for Bigfoot

in the South, a Sasquatch
who can thrive in

the swampy marshes
of southern states

like Florida and Louisiana.

Known to have a
pronounced stench

far greater than alleged
Bigfoots in other areas,

Barackman says Mississippi
is a great place

for Skunk Ape sightings.

- Because there's
almost 20 million acres

of forested land in Mississippi,

there's a ton of animals
that live there as well.

But not a ton of
Bigfoot researchers,

therefore, we don't hear
about a lot of the reports

that happen there.

- [Tony] A similar
sighting occurred by a pond

near Jackson, Mississippi.

- In October 1979, four young
men were out in the woods

drinking in their
truck by this pond

and they turned the
lights on in the rig.

Then on the other side
of this small pond

was a seven foot tall,
shaggy, hairy creature

just staring at them
in the moonlight.

Those guys threw their
beer bottles out the window

and split.

- [Tony] Years later, those
same men would describe

their encounter to
a sketch artist,

who created this illustration.

- Could this video
actually depict

a Sasquatch foraging in
the swamps of Mississippi?

The fact that it does
not hear the videographer

that's probably 50 or less
feet behind them is concerning,

and the credibility
of the footage itself

is going to come down to

the credibility of
the videographer.

- According to several
major newspapers,

the alleged videographer,
Josh Highcliff,

swears his footage is real

and many have called it

the best Bigfoot
footage ever recorded,

with almost one
million views online.

We checked with our
experts to see if that

unbridled enthusiasm
is justified.

(tense music)

To check the authenticity
of this footage,

we met with forensic video
analyst Michael Primeau.

- Through frame by
frame examination,

it appears that the
camera is handheld

that's documenting
this interaction,

and there's some rapid
movement with motion blur.

Based on just general
physical aspects

of the scene analysis, it
does appear to be real.

- [Tony] With the footage
appearing to be genuine,

we spoke with
biologist Floyd Hayes

to check if this was maybe
just some local fauna,

like a bear.

- My first thought was
that this was a black bear.

Bears often rip apart tree
trunks looking for grubs.

However, it didn't
appear like a bear

once it stood straight up.

Bears would roll
over onto all fours

before they would stand up.

- [Tony] We asked anatomist
and Bigfoot expert Jeff Meldrum

for his take on this
suspected Skunk Ape.

- When this creature stands up,

in limb proportion, more
resembles that of a human

rather than of a gorilla.

The proportions against
that tree trunk,

it gives the impression
that it is seven

to eight feet in
height, perhaps.

So if it is a hoax, it was
very cleverly contrived hoax.

- [Tony] However, author
and Bigfoot investigator

Steve Kulls does not
share Meldrum's optimism.

- So the person who
submitted this video

went by the name
of Josh Highcliff.

Nobody seems to know who he is.

They've never yet come
forward with a picture of him

or even record a
statement from him.

- [Tony] Which prompted
Kulls to dig even deeper.

- I did an internet search

in a private investigation
database search,

and it turns out the only Josh
Highcliff I was able to find

was a character in a
television series called,

"Beasts of the Bayou,"

which premiered shortly
after the video was released.

- [Tony] It would appear
that Josh Highcliff

wasn't even a real person,

but possibly a fictitious
character played by an actor.

- This was kind of a
spoof type of documentary,

all staged for the TV program.

(tense music)

- Our verdict? We think
this is a potential hoax.

Although no members
of the television crew

have come forward to talk
about this video's validity,

we agree with Kulls that
something smells a bit off here.

Until the real Josh
Highcliff steps forward,

we are left guessing at the
true nature of this footage.

Now, let's move up north
from the Mississippi Delta

to the Great Lakes and
a mysterious object

seen in the sky.

We don't have any
photos or video,

but a recorded verbal
description of it

helped lead the US President

to order it shot out of the sky.

Have a listen.

It's February 12th, 2023,

above Lake Huron near
the Canadian border.

The US military sends
two F-16 fighter jets

to investigate a TOI,
or Track of Interest.

That's pilot speak
for an airborne object

that poses a potential
threat to national security.

We obtained recordings of
the cockpit conversations

that took place
during this incident.

As the pilots make their
way up to 20,000 feet,

they discuss the mission.

- [Tony] But once they arrive,

what they find is
hard to describe.

- [Tony] Whatever it is,

after meeting with
military experts,

President Biden orders
the craft shot down.

Journalist MJ Banias
recalls following the event

as it unfolded.

- The newsroom kind of erupted

as we were trying to figure
out what was happening.

It was pretty chaotic.

Allegedly, the reason for
shooting it down was because

it posed a hazard
to flight safety.

- [Tony] And Banias
says the speculation

immediately centered
around one thing.

- This incident came off the
back of a Chinese spy balloon

that was shot down,

so there was already
heightened stress that

there could be
other spy balloons.

- [Tony] But was
it just a balloon?

Unlike other recent
run-ins with military jets,

like the infamous Tic
Tac and Gimbal UAPs,

the government hasn't released

any gun camera videos
of this incident.

US officials are simply calling
it an unidentified object.

- There were a lot of people
kind of speculating online

that this was a coverup,

that these were actually UFOs.

There were a lot of
people claiming that

this was some sort
of alien invasion.

- [Tony] The US and
Canada would join forces

to try and locate the wreckage,

but none was ever found.

- To this day,

no country or organization
has claimed responsibility.

It still remains a
bit of a mystery.

- At the time of this incident,

General Glen VanHerck
was the head of NORAD.

That's the agency responsible

for overseeing North
American airspace.

When the media first asked
him about these events,

he refused to rule out
extraterrestrial forces at play.

That was later walked
back by officials,

but it hasn't prevented
the UFO community

from suspecting a coverup.

What will our experts think?

(tense music)

We first asked military
aviation expert Tim McMillan

if there are any clues
in the pilot's audio.

Is it possible this
object was another plane?

- Based on what the
pilots are describing,

the object is not
moving very fast at all.

It makes it incredibly difficult

to really get a handle on it.

Because anytime you
get close to it,

it whizzes past you.

- A plane is gonna
stall out at that speed.

It's not gonna be
able to maintain

that type of slow speed,

so we can really just
rule out plane easily.

- [Tony] Could this
be some kind of drone?

- The pilots observed it
at around 20,000 feet.

That is much higher than
any commercial drones

would be able to achieve
under normal circumstances.

And I mean, you're talking about

military grade or really
professional grade drones.

And you see they have wings,
they have control surfaces,

so those would be really
easily identifiable.

- [Tony] So what could drift

about 20,000 feet in the
air and isn't a plane?

- The first conclusion that I
started leaning towards was,

is it possible this was another
spy balloon of some kind?

- [Tony] Spy balloons,
like the one from China,

have what's called a payload

attached to the
bottom of the balloon

that contains the actual
surveillance equipment.

But then D'Antonio says he
hears a clue in the audio

that shuts down his theory.

- The pilot said it had
strings hanging down.

What the pilot didn't see
was the small payload.

It tells me that
this was probably

a normal balloon of some
type that was shot down.

- [Tony] So if it was octagonal,

was it a group of
balloons tied together?

All we know is a National
Security spokesman

says the object did not
match the Chinese spy balloon

shot down over the
Atlantic Coast.

And after that spy
balloon shoot-down,

the radar used by NORAD,

the North American
Aerospace Defense Command,

had been adjusted to detect
these kinds of aerial objects.

(tense music)

Our verdict? Because the
pilots mentioned strings,

we're going with
balloon in this case.

Admittedly, it's impossible
to determine that definitively

without the recovery
of the object,

but we do know that it
costs more than $400,000

to fire the missile that
brought the thing down.

With that price
tag for taxpayers,

you'd think we'd be able
to know what we hit.

- Our next story was
one of the biggest

and most controversial of 2023.

It's about alleged
alien corpses,

and coincidentally, it
went wide the same week

NASA released its
first UFO report.

Mexico's government took
this case seriously.

Should you? Take a look.

Mexico City, September 2023.

It's Mexico's first public
congressional UFO hearing

and ufologist Jaime Maussan
stands next to two boxes

purportedly retrieved
from Cusco, Peru.

- [Tony] A closer look
reveals the extraordinary.

Two tiny white corpses,
roughly humanoid in shape,

beneath their ridged
forehead appears two eyes,

a nose, and a mouth
with no teeth.

The arms and legs
are both elongated

with three fingers
stretching out on both hands.

Field researcher Ken Gerhard

explains how Maussan says
he found these bodies

in the first place.

- According to Maussan,

these two alien bodies
were excavated from a mine

in 2017 near the
ruins of Sacsayhuaman,

which is near Cusco, Peru,

which actually lies
adjacent to many ancient

and mysterious Inca ruins.

In addition to
presenting the bodies,

Maussan also brought along
an expert to the hearings

who testified that the
mummies had been X-rayed

and that one of the individuals
actually contained eggs,

and that both of them had
strange metal implants.

- [Tony] Maussan
claims carbon dating

performed by Mexico's
National Autonomous University

shows these corpses are
nearly 1,000 years old.

And he says under oath that
upon testing the body's DNA,

over 30% was of
completely unknown origin

with no match to any
living organism on Earth.

- After the hearing,
CT scans like these

were performed on the
alleged creatures.

The conclusion was the bodies
belong to a single skeleton

and that there was no
evidence of assembly

or manipulation of the skulls.

But are the remains
extraterrestrial or not?

Our experts investigate.

(tense music)

Jaime Maussan makes the
extraordinary claim that

30% of the DNA comes from a
completely unknown source.

Could that mean it's
something extraterrestrial?

We take that
question to Dr. Hope.

- I don't think so.

If it had evolved
from another planet,

we'd expect 100% of
the DNA to be unknown,

even to the fact we perhaps have

completely different
genetic building blocks.

So I think all of
these things point

at something that has
been created on Earth.

- [Tony] So can we then identify

the 70% of the remaining DNA?

If the bodies are at
least partially human,

could they be mummified children
from an Ancient Inca tribe?

- If we examine the X-ray,

there are lots of
features that tell us

that this isn't a human baby.

The skull has a very
prominent supraorbital ridge,

that's the bony eyebrow ridge,

which you wouldn't
expect to see on a baby.

Even looks like there
might be remnants of ribs

further down in the body,

whereas humans only have
ribs in the thoracic spine.

- [Tony] We showed the data
to anthropologist Kathy Strain

and she said,
instead of a human,

certain features reminded her of

a different South
American mammal.

- I believe that the skull
is likely that of a llama

with just its brain case.

If you remove the frontal
bones of the llama

and just use what is
left of the brain case,

flip it around, and then
you can create something

that has that brow ridge
on what you see the alien.

- [Tony] But the rest of
the X-ray, Strain says,

leaves us with far more
questions than answers.

- Everything about it
is biologically wrong.

These eggs, as an example,
extraordinarily large,

and they're not even in
where you would think

the uterus would be.

They're kind of scattered in
the middle of the skeleton.

It's not natural to a human

or other animals that
I am familiar with.

- I think the skeleton to
me just doesn't look right.

If you look at the hip joint,

it looks like it'd be
very prone to dislocation.

It doesn't look like it would
be compatible with life.

Things like that
make me believe that

this is not actually
a true organism.

- [Tony] If this
is truly a hoax,

Gerhard says it wouldn't
be Maussan's first offense.

- My friends in
the UFO community

were actually very skeptical
when this all unfolded.

There have been multiple
times in the past

when Jaime has presented
what he described as

mummified alien bodies.

In a remarkable
situation like this,

with remarkable
claims being made,

there has to be peer review.

(tense music)

- Given the present
circumstances

and what our
experts have to say,

we are calling this
case a probable hoax.

And since we first
started investigating,

subsequent events
confirm that conclusion.

In January 2024, authorities
in Peru announced they stopped

a shipment headed to Mexico
of similar looking creatures.

Forensic experts concluded

those were nothing
more than dolls

made of materials
including paper, glue,

animal and human bones.

So no aliens for now.

But when the next
discovery is made,

we will be sure to investigate.

- The UFO in our next photograph

has been the subject of
debate for almost 20 years,

and some even believe the
photograph is evidence that

UFOs can bend the rules
of space and time.

November 7th, 2006.

It's a typical day at
Chicago's O'Hare Airport

when just after 4:00 p.m.,

an airline employee
makes a surprising call

to the control tower.

(phone rings)

- [Tony] But here's the thing,
it's not just one person.

Multiple airport
employees also report

seeing a strange craft
hovering over the gate.

And later, an anonymous source

claims to have captured
the UFO on his phone

and sends this image
to investigators.

A gray, seemingly
saucer-shaped object

can be seen over
the airport gate.

The various eyewitnesses
differ on its size,

with estimates ranging
from as little as 10 feet

to as large as 88
feet in diameter.

They claim it immediately
accelerated at a steep angle

and punched through the
19,000 foot cloud ceiling,

leaving a hole.

- The FAA concluded that
airport employees had confused

a weather phenomenon with a UFO.

But needless to say,

UFO enthusiasts do not
consider this case closed.

- [Tony] In fact, a
team of scientists

from the privately funded
research group Applied Physics

has proposed that based
on the eyewitness reports,

the O'Hare UFO shows signs
of a propulsion system

called the Alcubierre
Warp Drive.

- It was theorized by
Miguel Alcubierre in 1994.

It's a warp drive that
would allow a craft

to travel faster than
the speed of light

by bending space
and time around it.

- [Tony] The theory is to
stretch the fabric of space-time

in a wave which would cause

the space ahead of
an object to contract

while the space behind
it would expand.

The spaceship inside this wave

would then ride this warp
bubble of flat space.

- The chief researcher of
Applied Physics said that

the ideal shape for a spacecraft
like this would be a saucer

because it's the
most efficient one.

- [Erin] So that kind of mimics
what was seen at O'Hare Airport.

- Could warp drive, just
like we see on "Star Trek,"

be a reality one day?

Believe it or not,

scientists from NASA have
put their minds to it

and published papers
examining the possibility.

But did eyewitnesses
really see the O'Hare UFO

jump to light speed?

(tense music)

According to the FAA,

no airplanes were detected
on radar over the gate

or seen by air
traffic controllers.

They concluded what the
eyewitnesses thought was a UFO

was naturally occurring,

and something called
a hole punch cloud.

- A hole punch cloud develops

where an airplane
traverses across a cloud

and causes an
instantaneous condensation

of those water droplets.

But hole punch clouds are
not normally seen this low.

They occur between
10 to 20,000 feet,

not at about 1,000
feet above the ground.

And for a hole punch
cloud to develop,

you need subfreezing
temperatures.

At the location and the
height that this was reported,

there were no subfreezing
temperatures at this time.

I don't think this
is a weather event.

- [Tony] But eyewitnesses
claim they saw an actual craft,

not just a hole in the cloud,

and that the craft
instantaneously accelerated

upwards to disappear in a flash.

Is that burst of speed

what could have caused
a hole in the cloud?

Could it be the
signature of a UFO

engaging its
Alcubierre Warp Drive?

- I don't think so,

because we're talking about
incredible amounts of energy

to compress space
in front of you.

It would be enough to
flatten O'Hare Airport

and take a good chunk
of Illinois with it.

- [Tony] And as for
that image in the photo,

it's so small and low res,
it's hard to authenticate.

In fact, NARCAP,

the National Aviation Reporting
Center for Anomalous Phenomena,

examined the photo as soon as
it was anonymously submitted

during their investigation.

Their analysis determined
the image was manipulated

and that the disc-shaped object

was inserted into the picture.

The smoking gun, the
NARCAP team located online

the original source
image of the airport gate

the UFO was cut and pasted onto.

(tense music)

Our verdict? Faked photo.

But while this
picture isn't legit,

we still can't explain what
we heard in that recording

and why so many people
are certain they saw

not just a hole in the cloud,

but an actual physical
object in the sky.

For now, that part of the
story remains unexplained.

- Decoding the Rosetta
Stone in the 1800s

opened the door for
the understanding

of Ancient Egyptian.

But there's one old
manuscript that is so bizarre

no one has been able to
figure out what it says.

It's even been called the
world's most mysterious book.

Take a look.

It's 1912, outside Rome, Italy.

A Polish-American book
dealer named Wilfred Voynich

buys a text from
a Jesuit college.

This late Medieval
manuscript is made up of

roughly 240 pages bound in
vellum made from calf skin.

Many pages feature colorful
drawings of unusual plant life.

But then we come to this.

- This, some believe, seems to
show the heliocentric theory,

which is the Sun is at the
center of the solar system

and the planets and celestial
bodies are orbiting around it.

- [Tony] This wouldn't be so odd
if it weren't for the fact that

this codex was
apparently created

a century before astronomer
Nicolaus Copernicus

first modeled his theory that

planets revolve around the Sun.

And what's stranger still is
this manuscript is written

in a language no one
has ever heard of.

- So far, no one has
been able to figure out

what the Voynich Manuscript
says or what it even is.

It has six sections:

Botany, astronomy and astrology,

cosmology, biology,
pharmacological,

and then a text section
that appears to be recipes.

- [Tony] Cryptology
researcher Elonka Dunin says

who wrote this manuscript
is entirely unclear,

but we do know it passed
through many hands.

- The general sense is that

it came from somewhere
around the north of Italy.

Because if we zoom
into the tiny pictures,

there's a castle with
a swallow tail merlon,

and really the only place
those kind of castles existed

was in Northern Italy.

- [Tony] But that still
leaves the question of

its unknown language open to
interpretation and speculation.

- Some people believe
that the Voynich may be

a previously undiscovered
language dialect of

a civilization that
no longer exists.

We've found cities under sand

and wiped off the face
of the Earth by flood,

so maybe this comes from
a civilization like that.

- [Tony] Yet even
that wouldn't explain

why this text seems to
depict Earth orbiting the Sun

long before that
theory was modeled.

- Some people think that the
person who created the Voynich

had this extra cosmic knowledge

that people on
Earth didn't have.

In other words, an
extraterrestrial.

- The greatest crypt
analyst in history,

including the first chief
of cryptology at the NSA,

have tried to crack this
code over the years.

Yet thus far, linguists,
computer scientists,

and even computers
themselves have failed.

So let's see if our
experts can help

further our understanding of
this centuries-old mystery.

(tense music)

Over the years, some
have wondered if

Voynich actually wrote
this cryptic book himself

just to make a quick buck.

So anthropologist
Kathy Strain looks into

if this could all be
just an elaborate hoax.

- This book was radiocarbon
dated to be between

1404 and 1438.

So we know it's very old.

It's made of vellum,

and vellum was a more
expensive kind of paper.

For someone 600 years ago
to think to themselves,

"Well, I'm gonna
spend all this money

and invest the time to
make it look like language

just to pull off a hoax."

That seems like an
awful lot of work

for something that person
would never live to see

the benefit of.

- [Tony] Despite
its peculiarities,

archeologist Dr.
Ed Barnhart says,

"The book fits with
the style of the time."

- Visually and structurally,

it looks like an
alphabetic text.

It's got short words
and long words,

there are words that repeat,

there are complete sentences,

it's organized in paragraphs.

But there's not a single pattern

that they can actually start
to translate what it says.

- [Tony] So could
this actually be

the work of intelligent
beings from out of this world?

- It really doesn't
evoke somebody

who is advanced in technology.

I doubt aliens even use
cursive or pen to paper.

- [Tony] If it's not aliens,

then could this actually be
from a lost civilization?

- Archeology's all
about patterns.

So the fact that the
best minds in the world

have tried to find things
associated with it and failed,

there's no way that a book,

which is a fragile artifact,

remained and none of
the other materials

of this ancient civilization
remained whatsoever.

- [Tony] So then who did write
this mysterious manuscript?

One key clue may be
that at the time,

cutting-edge
scientists proposing

controversial theories
of the universe

were subject to
punishment from the Church

for radical views.

- I think it's
very possible that

it could be hiding information.

There were many things
that scientists at the time

wouldn't want the Church to
know, especially with alchemy,

and that would involve plants.

- [Tony] So were these
scientists communicating in code

to avoid punishment?

- We think that maybe it was
some kind of brilliant cipher

that these scientists were using

where they could share
information in books like this,

but if the Church
got ahold of it,

they would have no idea what
they were talking about.

(tense music)

- Our verdict?

The person or persons who
wrote this manuscript,

what it says and why,
are still unknown.

It's possible scientists
of the early Renaissance

created it to share
controversial new theories,

like the idea that the
Earth orbits the Sun.

But unless we crack the code,
we'll never know for sure.

- Syria's Civil War has led to

some of the deadliest use of
weapons of mass destruction

in the 21st century.

So when something strange
started taking place

above one of its
bloodiest battle zones,

it's no wonder
people took notice.

It's February 2020
outside Aleppo,

one of the most war-torn
cities in Syria.

People in the countryside
spot something in the sky

that leaves them
in a state of awe.

One witness starts
recording a video

that shows an unusual
pattern up in the sky.

It's made up of
several long, thin,

almost pipe
cleaner-like white lines

that move upward
through the atmosphere.

The wave pattern continues
for almost 30 seconds

and then disappears.

In the background, a man is
heard yelling in Russian.

- [Tony] Investigative
journalist MJ Banias

is convinced something bizarre
is taking place here.

- We have reaction from
people on the ground

as this event is happening.

- So it only lends to some
of the credibility here

that these waves are
being seen by people

and this is not some camera
effect or some sort of hoax.

- [Tony] This isn't the
first strange sighting

in the Middle East, so
some think we're looking at

something that may not
even be of this world.

- There was some
speculation online that

this was an
extraterrestrial craft,

that what people are seeing
here is signs of a UFO,

essentially in Syrian airspace.

- Less than 400 miles from here,

the US military captured footage

which was later released
by filmmaker Jeremy Corbell

as a still image.

It shows an unidentified
silver metallic sphere

flying over the Iraqi
city of Mosul in 2016.

And since then, other nearby
incidents have made headlines.

- In July of 2022,

a metallic spherical object
was spotted multiple times

in the region,

and this came out as a
result of a US Senate hearing

on the topic of UAP.

So we have a lot of incidents

regarding UFOs in
the Middle East

that are now coming to light.

- [Tony] One theory is that
this is not a craft itself,

but waves induced by a sonic
boom from an invisible,

manmade or alien aircraft.

Or is there some
other explanation?

The bombings in Syria
have slowed down

since the height of
the war in the 2010s,

yet the residents of
this brutalized region

still look to the sky with fear.

Our experts examine
exactly what type of danger

may be lurking in
the clouds above.

(tense music)

First, forensic video
analyst Michael Primeau

authenticates the footage.

- Forensics, which has a known
database of sample recordings

and can detect evidence
of manipulation software,

did not identify any kind of
particular software program

that was used to
manipulate the recording.

And what's seen within the
recordings is compelling.

- [Tony] Next, physicist
Dr. Michio Kaku

considers if these
could be contrails,

the trails left by jets as
a result of engine exhaust.

- Contrails leave
a distinct pattern,

not the pattern shown here.

We're talking about the
pattern of hot gases

emitted from an airplane wing,

which looks totally different
than the shape of these waves.

- [Tony] With all of these
earthly explanations ruled out,

could these waves
actually be coming from

an extraterrestrial source?

- This is not a characteristic
of the UFO exhaust

that we've seen.

In fact, most UFOs
have no exhaust at all.

- [Tony] Yet if this is in
fact a terrestrial phenomenon,

then what exactly are we seeing?

- This could be a pressure wave.

A pressure wave develops when
there is a large explosion

or a large change in temperature
that causes molecules

to bump up against each
other fairly rapidly.

That compression creates
a lot of pressure

and it's exerted
in all directions.

- [Tony] We know some suggested
this could be a sonic boom,

but it may not
actually be a jet plane

exceeding the speed of sound
that's producing this pattern.

Highly compressed
air moving outwards

from the source of
high order explosives

can also move at
supersonic speeds,

creating a strong pressure
wave known as a blast

or shock wave.

So is that what we're
witnessing here?

- We're talking about
these videos taking place

during wartime in the Middle
East when bombs were going off,

and these bombs in turn
could have created waves,

which were then made visible

because these waves were
moving along with water vapor.

(tense music)

- Our verdict?

This unusual cloud formation
was likely a pressure wave

from a nearby explosion.

During the very month this
video was filmed, there were

reported pro-government
airstrikes in Aleppo.

So considering both the timing
and location of this video,

we think it's likely

a side effect of the brutal
conflict in the region.

- Finally tonight, how
does China deal with UFOs?

It's been reported the
People's Liberation Army

is using artificial intelligence

to help identify what they call,

"Unidentified Air Conditions."

So does our next video qualify
as a potential candidate?

June 27th, 2023.

A man is admiring
the panoramic view

from an observation deck in
Anji County in Eastern China.

Suddenly he notices
something rapidly descending

from the clouds.

He takes out his phone
and captures this.

A black object traces a long
gray tail across the heavens.

It looks like it's
either speeding

or maybe even crashing
towards the Earth.

- What I find interesting
about this footage is

there's clearly something at
the very tip of the object

that's more dense.

That's the focal point
of whatever it is.

- [Tony] While there
was speculation

this was some kind
of crashing UFO,

an astronomy expert from
Zhejiang Natural Museum

examined the video

and did come to one
definitive conclusion.

It wasn't something natural
or manmade from outer space.

- It wasn't an object
that they could identify

because the speed and
trajectory didn't seem to match

any type of meteorite
or known space debris.

And there were also no
reports of manned vessels

that had crashed in the area.

- [Tony] But this
video was filmed

four months after the US shot
down a Chinese spy balloon

over the United States,

and some see a similarity.

Did the United States
retaliate against China

with their own spy balloon?

- Both of these
objects seem to have

a stream coming behind them.

So could this be something
similar of a spy device

that was shot down?

- [Tony] Others have speculated

the smoke trail indicates
debris from something

much more solid than a balloon.

If the US was spying on China,

chances are they would've
used one of their newest

and most secret
pieces of technology.

- First launched in 2010,

the X-37B is a reusable
robotic spacecraft

that is known to operate
under the US Air Force.

- [Tony] The ship functions like
a much smaller space shuttle,

at around 29 feet
long and 10 feet tall.

The X-37B has a payload area

about the size of
a pickup truck bed.

It can orbit at altitudes
between 150 and 500 miles.

And being unmanned,

it has spent more than two
years in space on one mission.

- Now, we don't understand

exactly what it's
being used for.

It is labeled as a
top secret project.

There's rumors that the
X-37B was being used

to possibly spy on
a Chinese space lab.

Did the Chinese
shoot down the X-37B

possibly in retaliation?

- The concern over
China militarizing space

isn't just fringe theory.

In 2007, China launched a
ballistic missile into space

intentionally destroying
one of its own satellites.

Another launch in 2014
was also believed to be

an antisatellite weapons test.

So what is this object
plummeting to Earth?

And was it an accident or not?

(tense music)

First, we asked science writer
and video analyst Mick West

if this could be the
top secret X-37B.

- The X-37B is believed to be

basically a military
spy space plane.

But we don't know what
the X-37B actually does.

- [Tony] However, West notes,

according to reports
at this time,

the X-37B would've
been back on Earth

having ended a mission
in November 2022,

more than six months
before this sighting.

So could this have
been a secret flight?

- I don't think this could be

some kind of secret
launch of the X-37B

because we have a pretty
good idea about its schedule,

when it departs and
when it returns.

It's tracked by
amateur astronomers.

And if the Chinese
had shot that down,

I think that would've been

a rather major
international incident.

- [Tony] Perhaps
it's not the X-37B.

So then are the Chinese
shooting down a US spy balloon?

The US has used high altitude
spy balloons in the past,

including to monitor the
Soviet Union in the 1950s.

But over the decades,

those were replaced by
planes and satellites.

In fact, Rich Hoffman

of the Scientific
Coalition for UAP Studies

doesn't think it's
a balloon at all.

- It's not a weather
or a spy balloon

that's being shot down.

- [Tony] But he believes

the footage from the Chinese
spy balloon shot down by the US

provides a clue.

This alternate
angle reveals that

what some thought was a trail
of smoke from the spy balloon

is actually coming from
the American military jet

that shot it down.

- If you look at
the smoke layer,

you'll see that it has two
trails that are moving along

with a split in
the middle of it,

which would indicate that
it's some sort of a contrail.

What can produce those
two types of trails?

Most commonly, it's an aircraft.

So in this video, I think that
this is nothing more than

an aircraft going across
the sky creating a contrail.

- [Tony] Mick West explains

this is a fairly common
optical illusion.

- What we're seeing here
is actually a plane.

It looks like it's flying down

because eventually it has
to get to the horizon,

but in fact, he's
actually flying along

at exactly level altitude.

The trails we're
seeing are actually

just regular airplane contrails.

If you compare them to other
similar contrails of this type,

you will see this
type of pattern.

(tense music)

- Our verdict? We
are going to go

with this being an
unidentified plane.

For us, the contrails
are the dead giveaway.

But beyond that, our
investigation is up in the air.

Let us know what you think.

And that's our show for tonight.

Thank you so much for watching,

and remember to keep
those cameras rolling.

(dramatic music)