All language subtitles for The.UnXplained.S07E15.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

A German U-boat sunk by
a colossal sea serpent...

...a remote fishing village
terrorized by a giant

man-eating lake monster,

and horrific unidentified
sea creatures

that defy explanation.

For centuries,
tales have been told

of frightening encounters
with strange creatures

living deep beneath
the water's surface.

The stories include sightings
of giant sharks,

prehistoric serpents, and even

razor-toothed mermaids.

Might these terrifying creatures

be the real-life versions
of legends and myths?

Perhaps.

Because, every year,
biologists discover

thousands of new
and frankly bizarre species

in Earth's vast aquatic realm.

Could our planet's
blue expanse be hiding

actual monsters
within its watery depths?

Well, that is what
we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

SHATNER:
The Atlantic Ocean. 2022.

Off the coast of Rhode Island,

researchers from
the Atlantic Shark Institute

sweep the ocean depths
with sonar--

a technology
that uses sound waves

to create underwater images.

To their dismay,
they discover something massive

swimming underneath their boat.

Suddenly, on the sonar screen,
was the shape of a giant shark.

You could see the fin, the face.

It was about 50, 60 feet long.
And for a moment there,

everybody on that ship
just froze.

There's a shark
of unimaginable proportions

just under this boat.

PHILLIP STERNES:
There was a 50-foot sonar ping

that resembled
a very large shark,

which is quite extraordinary.

Many people online
started to speculate that

it was our first evidence

that there is a large shark
out there, possibly megalodon.

Megalodon was an extinct
huge shark that existed

from about 23 million years ago

to about three and a half
million years ago.

Recent estimates
puts the shark up to about

80 feet in total length.

So, it's two yellow school buses
lined up front to back.

So, the sonar image
was pretty exciting.

However, the researchers,
including myself,

hypothesize that
this was probably just

a huge school of fish that
just happened to be swimming

in a shape
that resembled a shark.

OCKER:
The image of the creature
or maybe school of fish

on the monitor
immediately went viral.

Everybody was sharing this.

And what this tells us
is we are so fascinated

with giant sharks
and megalodon itself that

even a momentary blip
on a screen

is enough to send everybody
into excitement and conjecture.

SHATNER:
While conventional wisdom
tells us that the megalodon

went extinct
over three million years ago,

this story reinvigorated
a truly terrifying question:

Is it possible
that the mighty megalodon

is still out there
in the vast ocean?

The reality is
this terror of the deep

remains a fascinating mystery

pieced together
one tooth at a time.

Megalodon was the most
ferocious, incredible shark

that ever lived.

Scientists estimate
that it weighed

about 50 to 75 tons.

Its bite pressure was about
40,000 pounds per square inch.

Its bite force was tremendous.

Recent studies have shown that
not only could've the megalodon

been the biggest apex predator
of its time, but ever.

We know that because
we've found the teeth.

The megalodon tooth
is around seven inches,

which means it would be
a 65-foot apex predator.

And so, we know the size,

but to really understand
what the shark looks like,

it's still a mystery.

We haven't found
a fossil of a megalodon

because sharks
are mostly cartilage.

That breaks down.

Megalodon is in the same order
that the great white is,

so it's easy to assume
that the megalodon

looked like a big version
of a great white shark,

but that's not necessarily true.

Science is always
building on itself,

and-and this is
one more example.

SHATNER:
If megalodons existed
millions of years ago,

why would we even consider
the possibility

that this colossal predator
might still be around today?

Or could there be a relative
of this prehistoric terror

that has yet to be identified?

Perhaps clues can be found
in a 1900s tale

of frightened fishermen
off the coast of Australia.

In 1918,
in Port Stephens in Australia,

fishermen were terrified
and refused to go back

out onto the water

because they had seen something
out there that had scared them.

They told of being fishing
for lobster in deep waters.

For several days,
they noticed something

was attacking their pots
and stealing their catch.

And then, one day,
the crew noticed

a ghostly white shark
pass by them.

They estimated it to be between

100 feet and 300 feet in length.

Far larger than
any known living shark.

LYLE BLACKBURN:
This was documented

by naturalist David Stead,

who said that
the men were insistent

that this was not a whale.

They recognized this
as something

they had never seen before.

So, the question is,
what did they really see?

SHATNER:
While some experts proposed
that the fishermen saw

a whale shark-- the largest
known fish on Earth--

they don't reach
anywhere near the size

of the shark said to have been
spotted in 1918.

And this is not the only story

of the mysterious predators
off the coast of Australia.

In 2003, a great white shark
was reportedly swallowed

by a massive, unknown creature.

And in 2019,
an Australian fisherman

was reeling in
a large mako shark

when something terrifying
bit the mako in half.

DAVE RIGGS:
There are photographs around

of animals with
really big bites in them.

And those bites allude
to other large apex predators

being of colossal proportions.

I think there could be
something out here

that we're not aware of,
that we don't know about.

We actually know nothing
about the ocean.

And my hope is that

the pursuit of the unknown

is enough of a driver

for people to stop
and appreciate

and respect the unknown.

SHATNER:
While Australia
is certainly known

for its giant, deadly sharks,

stories of unidentified
ocean predators

can also be found
all over the world.

In 2024, it was widely reported

that another large shark
was swallowed

by an unidentified carnivore
off the coast of Bermuda.

So, in 2020,
a group of researchers

tagged a porbeagle shark.

Now, a porbeagle shark
is a pretty large fish.

Between eight and 12 feet long,
an apex predator.

And then, over the course
of the next months,

it started going to much deeper
levels of the ocean

where porbeagle sharks
usually aren't.

And the researchers
had to conclude

that tracking mechanism
they put on the porbeagle

is now in the belly
of some other creature.

So now the question is,

what could eat an apex predator?
They don't know.

SHATNER:
Could a creature
like the mighty megalodon

be stalking the seas beneath us?

Well, it's a frightening thought

and a fascinating mystery

that has both terrified
and tantalized us for centuries.

There's a real sense
of vulnerability

when you are out on the water.

The fathomless nature
of the ocean

when you can't see the bottom.

There's a,
just an incredible sense of

one's own smallness
in the universe.

And that's where we start
getting into that realm

of folklore and mythology
and the fantastic.

The belief in sea monsters
is unbelievably pervasive.

We do know that
this world was populated

by massive, ancient creatures

long before
we were on the scene,

and the presence of their
fossils might suggest that

some of those creatures
survived in a way

that made it
into the oral traditions

of contemporary cultures.

If we have water,
we will put monsters in it.

SHATNER:
The Flannan Isles, Scotland.

December 26, 1900.

A ship named
the Hesperus arrives

at the tiny, rocky outcrop
of Eilean Mòr,

about 80 miles west
of the Scottish mainland.

The ship is there to bring
provisions to the three lone men

living on the island--
James Ducat,

Thomas Marshall,
and Donald McArthur--

who are stationed there
as keepers

of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse.

OCKER:
In 1899,
they erected a lighthouse

on Eilean Mòr, which is one
of the Flannan Islands,

to make sure people didn't
ground ashore on this island.

Eilean Mòr is small, 40 acres.

It's basically a rock
with some grass on it

in the middle of the ocean.

The coast is cliffs,

so there's ramps
and stairs and railways.

Usually, there's a crew
of lighthouse keepers there,

three people,
they live on the island.

They're always there
to maintain this light.

In 1900, ships started
noticing the light was out.

When the supply ship finally
arrived to bring supplies

and to recrew
the lighthouse...

...they found nobody there.

LEWIS:
It was as though they stumbled
onto a crime scene.

The clock on the wall
had stopped.

The table had been set
for a meal,

but it hadn't been served.

A chair was knocked over.

It looked as though the men
had raced out of the house

for some reason.

But they could not put
the puzzle pieces together

as to what happened
to these missing lightkeepers.

McCLOSKEY:
The master of the Hesperus
decides to have

the whole island searched.

What all of them
find deeply unsettling

is the damage that's happened
to the west landing.

Concrete has been torn apart.

The railings
have been pulled out.

The turf at the very top
of the island--

which is up to 180 feet
above sea level--

has been chewed up, the rocks
have been thrown about.

It's inexplicable
what's happened.

They've never seen
anything like it before.

Despite extensive searches

and people investigating
over the decades,

there was no trace
of them ever found.

SHATNER:
What could've possibly happened

to the three men stationed

at the Flannan Isles Lighthouse
over a century ago?

The lack of obvious clues

has led some
to unsettling speculation.

There's several theories about

what happened
to the three keepers.

There's murder,

that they were swept away
by a giant wave...

...but one of the theories
is the disappearance

was caused by a sea monster.

Scotland is surrounded by water.

And it is known as an area

where sea monsters
were believed to roam.

SHATNER:
Scottish folklore includes
many monsters

associated with the dark waters
off its rugged coast.

But perhaps the most
terrifying of them all

is a truly massive sea serpent
known as the Cirein-cròin.

BLACKBURN:
The name Cirein-cròin
translates to "gray crest,"

which was due to
a large, fan-shaped fin

that ran down
the length of its body.

It was said to also have
the powers to shapeshift.

It could transform itself
into a smaller fish,

which could then
be caught by fishermen

and pulled onto the boat.

At that point, it could
shift back into its regular form

and destroy the ship,
devour the sailors.

This was a frightening
sort of creature.

McNEILL:
The Cirein-cròin is gargantuan.

According to folklore, this
is a creature that would make

a meal out of seven whales.

And it lives
off the coast of Scotland,

where there's all of these
outlying islands

where people
are making their living,

working in the sea as fishermen.

So, this is a relevant story
to their lives.

Many have proposed
that the Cirein-cròin

was responsible for
the missing lighthouse keepers.

When you take into account of
all the damage that was there,

it would've taken something
with immense power.

That's exactly
where they believed

the Cirein-cròin came in.

SHATNER:
Could a legendary monster
really have been responsible

for this mysterious
disappearance

at the Flannan Isles Lighthouse?

Surprisingly, some believe
there's actual evidence

that a dangerous sea serpent
lurks in these dark waters.

In 1808,
a massive unidentified carcass

washed ashore at one of
Scotland's Orkney Islands.

It became known as
the Stronsay Beast.

The Stronsay Beast attracted
a great deal of interest.

It had a long, serpent-like body

and the whole thing
is very, very long.

And there was no known answer
for what it actually was.

So, these animals,
these creatures were huge.

It's quite possible
that they also sunk ships.

BLACKBURN:
In 1918, during World War I,

a German U-boat, UB-85,

was navigating the waters
between Ireland and Scotland

when they were sunk.

And the captain of the ship,
Günther Krech,

claimed that the reason
the boat sunk

was because
of some huge creature

that rose out of the water

with horns and glinting teeth,

and it damaged the boat.

LEWIS:
Eventually,
the creature went back

into the depths of the water.

Unfortunately,
the damage had been done.

The U-boat is starting to sink.

Just before it makes its way
to the bottom of the sea,

the British arrive
and are able to save the crew.

That's when the German captain
begins his story

of the horrific sea monster.

SHATNER:
Could the multiple reports
of so-called sea monsters

offer some proof that the local
Scottish folklore is true?

And could a real terror
of the deep be responsible

for the disappearance of three
unfortunate lightkeepers

over a century ago?

The Flannan's mystery
is basically a story

of three lighthouse keepers
who disappeared

into thin air in 1900.

The biggest question for me
is what happened

to the bodies of the men?

It could be said that, if they
had fallen into the water,

wherever they are, most times,

one of them
will wash up somewhere.

But the bodies just
completely disappeared.

If they had been taken
by a giant sea monster,

they would've been eaten.

I've never discounted
the-the sea monster theory

because people still don't know
what lies under the ocean.

Are the waters off the coast
of Scotland inhabited

by a dangerous sea serpent?

Without any physical proof
of the monster,

all we can do is speculate.

But in Japan, the discovery

of a bizarre mummified creature

may provide the truth
behind the legend

of a hideous,

razor-toothed mermaid.

SHATNER:
This small coastal town
is home to

the serene Buddhist sanctuary
known as the Enju-in Temple.

Here, a very peculiar artifact

is carefully enshrined
in a fireproof box.

It is the resting place
of a grotesque,

mummified creature
known as a ningyo.

There's probably stories
that date back

to the eighth century
in Japan about ningyo.

So, ningyo is usually translated
into English as "mermaid."

When you first look at it,
it is quite horrifying.

And it does look to be like some
kind of half-human, half-fish.

It's about a foot long.

And it has two hands, which
it's holding up to its mouth,

and its face
looks to be screaming.

It's just totally,
just a mystery.

SHATNER:
While it's unclear how or when
this ningyo mummy

came to the temple,

the only tangible clue

is a handwritten note that
says the creature was caught

in a Japanese fishing net

sometime between 1736 and 1741.

And despite its murky history,

today, the Enju-in Temple's
34th chief priest,

Kozen Kuida,
is its dedicated caretaker.

(speaking Japanese)

(translated):
There are many legends
about mermaids in this area.

There is an old legend that,
if you eat the blood

and flesh of a mermaid, you will
live a long life and never die.

Visitors to the temple
in the past would peel off

and eat the scales,
thinking it would grant them

a longer life
or even immortality.

However, since this
was harmful to the mummy,

we have asked visitors
to refrain from doing so.

SHATNER:
There are allegedly more than 14
similar ningyo mummies in Japan,

but tales of mermaids
can be found around the globe

and have been told
for thousands of years.

In ancient Syria,
it is said that,

when the goddess Atagatis
jumped into a lake,

she sprouted a fish tail.

In Thailand, folklore
describes an ancient mermaid

named Suvannamaccha.

And the Melusine
is from European folklore.

Many of these mermaids
of myth and legend

can be quite deadly.

Mermaids, traditionally, are a
half-woman, half-fish creature.

And this is something
that, in literature

and in popular culture,

is often portrayed
as sort of a peaceful,

beautiful creature
that men and sailors

fall in love with easily.

And when we look
at folkloric tradition,

they're actually pretty
bloodthirsty and dangerous.

A beautiful woman
with a fish tail

is often hiding multiple rows

of incredibly sharp
razorlike teeth,

and you will be torn limb from
limb by this very same creature.

SHATNER:
Japan's mummified mermaid

certainly doesn't look like
an object of desire.

The question is, just what is
this strange, snarling specimen?

Well, in 2022,

that's exactly what
Japanese researchers

were determined to find out.

The ningyo was sent
to the Kurashiki University

of Science and the Arts
for some experiments.

Led by Professor Kato Takafumi,

researchers performed CT scans,

X-rays, and DNA analysis
on the artifact.

The results suggested
that the specimen

was not a single creature,

but instead was pieced
together artificially.

It was probably made
in the late 1800s.

The teeth and the body
is a fish,

and it has two hands made
from different animal parts,

and there's lots of puffer fish
scales all over it,

and some cloth and cotton
thrown in

as well to bring it
all together.

Once the researchers realized
that this was artificially made,

the question
immediately arises-- why?

Why was it made? Is it based
on some kind of truth,

some kind of creature
they saw out in the water?

That's the really big question
when it comes to these ningyo.

They are all over Japan,

they're in temples, they are
venerated, they are worshipped.

Why? Why do they exist?
What inspired them?

The results have not changed
my feelings or beliefs

that such a creature
might have existed in the sea,

perhaps a half-human,
half-fish being.

As I have always said,
Buddhist temples

and statues of Buddha are merely
objects made of wood or stone,

yet people still
worship them with reverence.

There are many creatures
that people believe exist.

Many things in the world
remain undiscovered.

BLACKBURN:
The specimen found in
the Enju-in Temple is just

one of many of these
alleged ningyo specimens

just waiting to be analyzed.

Could one of these specimens
turn out to be proof

that mermaids do exist?

We just can't say for sure.

It's remarkable to think
that modern science

may eventually prove
that the fabled and frightening

ningyo actually existed.

But there's another
terror of the deep

rumored to inhabit a lake in
the northeastern United States.

A species believed
to be so ancient

that it dates back
to the time of the dinosaurs.

SHATNER:
The South Pacific. April 1977.

30 miles off the coast
of New Zealand,

a Japanese fishing vessel drags
a massive net nearly 1,000 feet

under the water hoping to
fill it with tons of mackerel.

The crew is shocked when the net
pulls up a horrifying carcass

of a creature
that will spark awe

and curiosity around the world.

This fishing boat
picked up this enormous,

disgusting creature,
and there is a famous photo

that you can see of it
where it's hanging

from the boat's crane,

and the skin is kind of
dripping off the bones.

It's got this long neck
and these gangly arms.

Back in Japan, there was

a marine expert
named Tokio Shikama.

And he was looking
at the photos.

And he proposed that it might be
a plesiosaurus,

which has been extinct
for 66 million years.

LEWIS:
The plesiosaur had
razor-sharp teeth in its mouth.

It could get up to
40 feet in length.

Researchers believe that
it would attack its prey

from underneath, from below,
like the great white shark.

It had an extremely
powerful bite force.

It was a deadly predator.

SHATNER:
Did Japanese fisherman
discover the decayed carcass

of a prehistoric predator?

It's an audacious claim.

Yet, throughout
the 20th century,

there have been
intriguing reports to suggest

that large, plesiosaur-like
creatures are very much alive.

And of course, the most
iconic example is said to reside

in a large lake
in the Scottish Highlands

called the Loch Ness Monster.

The Loch Ness Monster
is undoubtedly the most famous

alleged
plesiosaur-like creature,

but it's not the only one.

There are many lakes and lochs
around the world that have

stories of unknown creatures
swimming in them.

One of the best examples
is Lake Champlain

located between
Vermont, New York,

and the province of Quebec
in Canada.

Lake Champlain
is 120 miles in length

and 13 miles
at its widest point.

It's three times
the size of Loch Ness.

And many people believe
that a large lake monster

lives in the waters
of Lake Champlain.

The Lake Champlain Monster,
also known as Champ,

is described as having
a large body,

and four fins,
a long neck, with a small head,

very much like a plesiosaur.

SHATNER:
The Lake Champlain Monster,

affectionately called "Champ"
or "Champy,"

is a local legend
for those who live

along this huge
North American lake.

The creature is celebrated
with historic markers that claim

hundreds of sightings
of the beast,

and it's featured in museums
as a large Jurassic plesiosaur.

But is Champ just folklore

or could there really
be a monstrous creature

lurking the depths
of Lake Champlain?

Lake Champlain gained
international attention

in 1977 when Sandra Mansi

and her two children
and her fiancé

were taking
a leisurely drive up the coast

of Vermont along the lake.

They decided to pull over
to have a little picnic,

let everyone stretch their legs,

and the kids to splash around
in the water.

Sandra Mansi saw a large head

break out from the surface
of the water

attached to a long neck.

Mansi was able to snap
one photograph of the creature

that appeared to be
looking away from her.

The photo shows what looks like

a plesiosaur-like creature
with its body in the water

and its head and neck
sticking up.

And this is something
that's become

sort of the image of what
we believe Champ to look like.

The Mansi photo has been
analyzed by photo experts

who agree that
this is a genuine photo

and has not been altered
in any way.

It's very convincing
that at least some sort of

mysterious creature is lurking
in the waters of Lake Champlain.

SHATNER:
Sandra Mansi's extraordinary
photograph has provided

tantalizing proof of Champ's
existence for half a century.

And what's even more remarkable
is that it corroborates

sightings of the creature
that people have described

in Lake Champlain
for hundreds of years.

Champ is probably America's
best known, um, lake monster,

and he's been around
for a long, long time.

We see this reflected
in the local Native lore.

The Abenaki had a name
for this creature, the Gitaskog,

that was this monster
inhabiting the lake.

Now, in their version, this is
a serpentine thing with horns,

and some people have even
suggested that this

could go much further back,

related to some other
mythological creatures

and Native traditions.

SHATNER:
Legends of a monster inhabiting
Lake Champlain were already

well-established
when Samuel de Champlain

discovered this
body of water in 1609.

It is said that
Champlain himself

spotted a large, unidentified
creature in the lake.

And ever since, hundreds
of eyewitness reports of Champ

have continued to accumulate.

Perhaps the most compelling
recent evidence surfaced

in 2024,
when filmmakers Kelly Tabor

and Richard Rossi
were reviewing aerial footage

they shot over Lake Champlain

and noticed that they captured
something extraordinary.

We were just getting
an aerial shot of the lake.

The water is clear.
It's-- it was a nice summer day.

We're out on our rickety
12-foot long rowboat

in the middle of Lake Champlain,

not even realizing
there's this huge creature

that we caught swimming
right behind us.

Champ is following
our boat from behind,

swimming under
the surface of the water.

When I saw the video
of Champ swimming behind

our boat after the fact,
it gave me chills.

I just started to shake
and get tremors.

And I felt this fear, this awe

of just how massive and how
close it was, just yards away.

We weren't looking for Champ.

We weren't expecting
anything like this.

I've contacted scientists
with earned doctorates, and

those in this field say that
it has the body of a plesiosaur,

and it's moving, it's swimming,
and it's bigger than your boat.

And so, this is
a real game changer

if this creature has survived.

Could there be a living,
breathing relic

from the age of dinosaurs

lurking deep in the waters
of Lake Champlain?

It's an intriguing thought.

But there is a lake in Alaska

that holds
an even bigger mystery

because locals have
long believed its frigid waters

are home to a creature
so big and so powerful

that it can sink boats
with a single bite.

SHATNER:
200 miles southwest of Anchorage

lies the largest body
of fresh water in the state,

Lake Illiamna.

At over a thousand square miles,

this massive lake is roughly
the size of Rhode Island.

And from its southern shore,

onlookers notice a strange
disturbance in the water.

NATHAN HILL:
It was a relatively calm day
and sunny, good visibility.

I happened to have
my phone with me, and

we witnessed something emerge
out of the water, and, uh,

I caught it on video.

What you could see was a shape,

and the shape was
smooth and rounded.

It was very dark in color.

And it-it kind of
came out of the water and

submerged itself
back under the water.

I had my binoculars, and I was
glassing out to the islands,

and these humps appeared,
and these things were huge.

NIELSEN:
I doubt if there's anything
out on the lake

that can match that size.

It made your heart race
a little bit

because these were, like,
I can't stress it enough, big.

SHATNER:
What was this
huge creature breeching

the surface of Lake Iliamna?

To this day,
no one knows for sure.

Yet, for centuries,
Native inhabitants of this area

have claimed
that it's an unidentified terror

known as
the Lake Iliamna Monster.

There's many, many supernatural
aquatic creatures

in the Native lore and
contemporary legends of Alaska.

These things are known in
the stories for eating people,

for capsizing boats, for
causing death and destruction.

Maybe none are more famous
or more well-known

than the Lake Iliamna Monster.

The locals
even had a name for this,

something like
"the large black fish."

LEWIS:
Since the 1940s, there
have been credible sightings

of something big,
ten to 25 feet long,

that has a broad,
anvil-like head

that it uses
to smash into boats.

And Lake Iliamna
is very difficult to get to.

It's very secluded.

If there's a perfect habitat
for a lake monster

to reside in, it's Lake Iliamna.

SHATNER:
What is this dangerous
large black fish

said to lurk
the depths of Lake Iliamna?

After decades of speculation,
in 2015,

retired pilot Mark Stigar

and marine ecologist
Bruce Wright

decided to identify
the monster once and for all.

BRUCE WRIGHT:
Mark and I talked
to local people,

and they were telling
all these different stories.

I had some people
draw some pictures of it.

Surprisingly,
some of the pictures looked

a little bit
like sleeper sharks.

And they can
get up to 20, 21 feet,

22 feet, something like that.

They're pretty big fish.

And they're in Alaska
all over the place.

I told Mark, I said,
you know, we could solve this

maybe right away
by trying to catch it.

MARK STIGAR:
We started putting
these large hooks baited

with a full salmon head down

on the bottom of the, uh, lake

and left them
out there overnight.

There were 14 hooks
designed to catch halibut

for commercial halibut fishing.

And we baited it
with 14 fish heads.

We put it in over 100 feet
of water with the intention

to come out every day,

check the line, so if we did
get the animal on the line,

we could take a picture to
figure out exactly what it is.

SHATNER:
Mark and Bruce spent two years

setting and checking
their bait without much luck.

But one day, when they
pulled up their equipment

out of the water, they were
shocked at what they found.

Something's taken our bait.

The 38-pound anchor had been,
uh, moved at least 50 yards.

STIGAR:
We pulled up, basically, a knot

of the entire rope,
minus the anchor.

STIGAR: And all the hooks and
everything were all tangled up.

The parts that the hooks

were attached to were
totally ripped off the line.

For me, at that point
in time, it was,

okay, there are no doubts.

There is a large animal
in this lake.

I've caught halibut, 300 pounds,

and had sharks on
that were 500 pounds,

and they wouldn't do
damage like that.

I was reluctant
to believe this myth

until I saw the damage

that this did
to the long line gear.

And that-that kind of
changed my mind.

STIGAR:
I believe this is truly
a fish of some sort

or some sort of animal
that has gills.

It stays underwater.

It's not a whale.
This animal, whatever it is,

it will dive,
and nobody'll see it again.

I tend to lean towards
the sleeper shark

or something similar to that.

And so, some of us just
want to see what we can do

to solve some
of those mysteries.

SHATNER:
Ever since mankind
has taken to the high seas

and explored the lakes
and waterways of our world,

there have been tales
of terrifying aquatic monsters.

Yet, every now and then,
these terrors of the deep

aren't spotted
in the open water,

but instead,
found washed up on the shore.

These mysterious and often
grotesque carcasses are called

unidentified sea objects.

An unidentified sea object
is when something

washes ashore,
a carcass of some form,

usually in a shapeless
blob of blubber.

In the early days,
these were called globsters.

People would just simply ignore
them, move on, avoid them.

But over the years, people
took more interest in globsters

as possible evidence of unknown
species washing up on the shore.

Now, so many of these
have washed up.

Begging the question of
are they something

out of the ordinary

or something
that we can simply explain?

SHATNER:
Perhaps the most famous
unidentified sea object

was discovered on the shore
of Long Island, New York

in July of 2008.

It's a strange creature
that has come to be known

as the Montauk Monster.

The Montauk Monster had
a large body with four legs,

and its face
was rather horrifying.

It had sharp, protruding teeth
and what looked like a beak.

This thing has never
definitively been identified,

fueling all sorts of speculation
as to what this thing could be.

But there's countless
other cases

of unidentified sea objects.

The St. Augustine Monster
from 1896,

the Roch Ness Monster, 2015.

With all of these things
washing up onshore,

it leads
to the obvious question:

what unknown creatures
may we yet find?

It's just a mystery
that's waiting to be solved.

SHATNER:
About 70% of our planet's
covered in water,

yet we've only been able
to explore a fraction

of our oceans,
rivers, and lakes.

What might we find
in our underwater world?

Could there be dangerous
creatures of the deep

we have yet to discover?

The oceans
are teeming with life,

and there are over
a million species,

two-thirds of which
have not been discovered

or not fully described.

The largest species on Earth
are found in the ocean.

And it's impossible to say
that there aren't large animals

that haven't been found.

OCKER:
The oceans are this
massive part of the planet.

They're deep and dark, and yet,

we have no real access
to them as people.

It's an inhospitable atmosphere.

We know there are giant
creatures down there,

strange-looking creatures.

And yet, all we see
is this surface, right,

which can be flat, choppy,
wavy, whatever it is.

But everything it has,
all of its mysteries,

are all hidden below the water.

When looking at the strange
and unknown creatures

that have been hiding deep
underwater, you have to wonder,

could the sea monsters of myth
and legends also be real?

Could the mighty megalodon

still be lurking
beneath the waves?

And what about
the bizarre-looking ningyo?

Are they all hiding somewhere
in the murky depths?

The fact is that the vast oceans
of our planet

are an excellent place
for creatures of all types

to remain safely out of sight.

And until they surface,
the mystery surrounding

these terrors of the deep
will remain unexplained.

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