All language subtitles for The UnBelievable with Dan Aykroyd s03e04 Astonishing Feats.eng

- [Dan narrating]

[intriguing dramatic music]

What if I told you
there's a fearless man

who tugs heavy machinery with

a rather delicate appendage?

- This man is going to pull
this eight-ton semi-truck,

but not with his body,
not with his legs.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- What he's actually gonna
do is a lot stranger.

[spectators clamoring]
[intriguing dramatic music]

- Or that a drunken double dare

turned a city street
into a landing strip?

- He has no lights on,

no radio contact with
air traffic control.

- This landing would be
impossible for a sober pilot,

but this guy has
been pounding drinks.

- How about an elderly lion

who loves his way
into the record books?

- He's arthritic,
he's so toothless,

that his tongue just
hangs out of his mouth.

- When Frasier
limps his way over,

suddenly, the
lionesses all perk up.

- Before you know it,
there's lion cubs everywhere.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- These are the
feats so astonishing,

they are truly

"Unbelievable."

[cinematic dramatic music]

Some war stories
are hard to believe,

but this one's
impossible to forget.

It's a tale of one
man, one mission,

and one of the most
impressive achievements

in military history.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- It's April of 1945,

a 24-year-old
Canadian recon sniper

by the name of Leo Major,

along with his buddy,
Corporal Welly Arsenault,

are crawling on their bellies

on the outskirts of
Zwolle, Netherlands,

in an attempt to
gain information

about Nazi troops in the area

with the hopes
that a larger force

will then liberate the
town from Nazi control.

[dramatic thud]
- Major is a war-hardened vet.

Just after D-Day, he took a
phosphorus grenade to the face,

and actually lost an eye.

An injury like that could
have gotten a soldier

a ticket home,

but Major insists he only
needs one eye to shoot

as many Germans as he can.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- This is supposed to be
exclusively a recon mission.

Identify where the Germans are,
how many there are of them,

and that is that.

It's not supposed to be an
active combat situation.

- [Dan] But the
Germans spot them,

and in an instant,

the recon mission
explodes into a firefight.

- Major and Arsenault
begin shooting.

[firearms banging]
[pensive dramatic music]

Now pretty quickly,
Arsenault gets shot twice.

Major takes out two more
Germans before turning

his full attention to
his buddy, Arsenault,

who is dead.

[dramatic thud]

- Major has lost people
in combat before,

but now, he's lost
his best friend.

This is personal.

Major decides to take revenge

and demolish the entire German
garrison all by himself.

[intense dramatic music]

- Major has done some
shockingly brave stuff before,

but to attempt to liberate
a town entirely by yourself,

that has suicide mission
written all over it.

- [Dan] Instead of
going in guns blazing,

Major takes a
different approach.

[dramatic thud]

- He spots a German officer's
adjutant, the attendant,

outside of a tavern.

He sneaks up behind him with
his pistol, disarms him,

and says, "Take
me to your boss."

- When he comes face to face

with this senior German officer,

Major acts like he's
doing the guy a favor.

He tells him that
the Canadian forces

are ready to pummel this town,

and he says, if he wants
to save German lives,

they need to leave now.

- Major doesn't really know

if he is dealing with somebody

that is gonna take
his warning to heart,

or is he just
going to stand firm

and follow the
orders of the Fuhrer?

- This is a
spectacularly crazy move,

but this officer
doesn't understand

why anybody would just
give up this information.

So he presumes
this guy must have

some very serious backup nearby.

- As a final power move,

Major hands the sidearm
back to the driver

and then disappears
into the night.

[dramatic whooshing]

- [Dan] With the
seeds of fear planted,

one man embarks on
a daring deception

to make the Germans believe
an entire army is closing in.

- Major spends the
night creating chaos.

He tosses grenades here,

moves to a new position,
fires his machine gun there.

[firearm sputtering]

To the Germans, it
sounds like an onslaught

of a battalion, a regiment.

Who knows how many Canadians

have surrounded the town?

[explosion booming]
[dramatic martial music]

- Any German forces that he
does encounter in the streets,

[firearm banging]

he mows them down
with his machine gun.

So now, you've got
bodies in the streets.

- And the coup de grace,

when Major finds the
Gestapo headquarters,

he sets it on fire.

[flames roaring]
[dramatic music]

- The Germans are freaking
out at this point,

and as these Nazis
start fleeing,

he starts picking them
off one at a time.

[firearm banging]

By four o'clock in the morning,

there is not a single
Nazi left in Zwolle.

Leo Major has managed to
liberate an entire town

by himself.

- Leo cements his status
as a brilliant war hero.

He is awarded the
Distinguished Service Medal.

He even goes on to
serve in the Korean War

where he is awarded yet another
Distinguished Service Medal.

[dramatic whooshing]

- To this day,

Dutch kids still learn all
about Leo Major in school.

But not every incredible
feat makes the history books.

Take, for example,
the remarkable tale

of an ambitious seafaring monk.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- So kids get taught in school

that Columbus discovered
America in 1492.

But there are other
theories that've gotten legs

over the years,

like the Vikings
discovering Newfoundland

in the 10th century,

or even the Chinese,

shortly before Columbus
landing on the West Coast.

- [Dan] But long
before any of them,

one Irish monk may have
gotten there first.

[intriguing orchestral music]

- A sixth century Irish
monk, Saint Brendan,

supposedly embarked
on a westward journey

seeking the Garden of Eden,

the account of which
appears in his book,

"The Voyage of Saint
Brendan: The Abbott."

[tense dramatic music]

- Most scholars read
this as an allegory,

the story of a
religious passion,

but some read into it as an
actual literal travelogue,

the story of a voyage from
Ireland all the way to Canada.

- Allegedly, Brendan
travels this 4,500 mile trek

not in a wood-timbered ship,

like the Nina, Pinta, and
Santa Maria of Columbus,

but in a leather-hulled tiny
little ship called a currach.

Now, if this were true,
it would rewrite history.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- But how can you prove

that a small,
ancient leather boat

could cross the North Atlantic?

In 1976, a historian
named Tim Severin

sets out to do just that,

follow the voyage
of Saint Brendan.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- [Dan] With a team
of boat builders,

scholars, and drinking buddies,

Tim painstakingly makes
an authentic currach

using only methods and
materials available

at the time of the
initial voyage.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- Instead of wood planking,

the hull is covered
with ox hides

that are stretched and stitched
together to cover the frame.

- Tim sets sail from
Ireland in May of 1976.

- Blessed be this boat,
and all who sail in it.

- He heads north

and takes Brendan's
voyage in which he sails

in a stepping-stone route

from Ireland to Scotland
to the Faro Islands

to Iceland to Greenland

and then to Newfoundland

in North America.

[thunder rumbling]
[intriguing dramatic music]

- The North Atlantic is
perpetually inhospitable.

The waves and
swells are enormous.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- [Dan] But the waves

end up being the least
of their problems.

- A large piece of ice

tears a hole in the hull
below the waterline,

and they start to flood.

This is basically
their worst nightmare.

[intense dramatic music]

- To make a repair in the hull

while you're sinking
in frigid water,

seems next to impossible.

Miraculously, they are able to
stitch a patch over the tear

while they bail the boat out.

They survive, but they still
have thousands of miles to go.

[ominous dramatic music]
[water murmuring]

- This is not a pleasure cruise.

They are near hypothermic,
their clothes are sopping,

and their food supply
is constantly wet,

which means they have to rely
on catching seagulls to eat.

Not that it does any help,

because they're
constantly seasick

and unable to keep
anything down.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- [Dan] Incredibly,
Tim and his crew

push through for
another 13 brutal months.

And in June of 1977,

the shores of North
America are in sight.

- To the world's amazement,

Severin and his ragtag crew
actually arrive in Newfoundland.

They're wet, they're
bearded, they're emaciated,

but they've made the point.

Saint Brendan could
have made this voyage.

- Saint Brendan.

[eerie dramatic music]

- 13 grueling months dodging
icebergs in a leather boat,

at least they knew
which saint to pray to.

- When it comes to
record-breaking feats,

there's no shortage of
unusual accomplishments,

like our next overachiever
who pulls his way to the top

with a surprising body part.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- In the city of
Tbilisi, in Georgia,

an excited crowd gathers around.

[intriguing dramatic music]

In the center of
this large crowd,

you have an
eight-ton semi-truck.

Standing in front
of the semi-truck

is this large, imposing man
by the name of Lasha Pataraya.

At first glance, you might think

this guy's gonna
attach a harness to him

and he's gonna pull this
eight-ton semi-truck.

Not the case here.

- What he's actually gonna
do is a lot stranger.

You see, Lasha uses his ears,

specifically his left ear,

to pull heavy equipment in
front of adoring crowds.

He's already done it with
a seven-ton aircraft,

but today, he's
raising the stakes

and hopefully earning
a new world record.

- [Dan] If eight-tons
of raw industrial might

against one delicate ear
doesn't sound like a fair fight,

that's because it isn't.

[intriguing orchestral music]

- The human ear is
remarkably fragile.

It has three small ligaments,
three small muscles,

and that's all that's
keeping it attached.

It only takes between 20
and 50 pounds of pressure

to tear those ear ligaments,

and even pull the ear wide open.

- [Dan] So what on
Earth drives Lasha

to attempt something
so impossible,

or dare I say inadvisable?

[intriguing dramatic music]

- One day when Lasha is
working out in the gym,

he sees another wrestler,

as a joke, lifting these five
pound weights using his ear.

Now while everybody's
having a good laugh,

Lasha looks at it and says,

"I could do that with
even heavier weight."

He decides, in that moment,

I am going to have the
strongest ears on the planet,

and so he starts training.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- Lifting heavier
and heavier things,

hunks of metal, parts of cars,

whatever's necessary to
build up the strength

in that left ear.

All this daily training
gets Lasha to the point

where, as far as he's concerned,
his ear is superhuman,

and he decides he has to
demonstrate this power

that he has acquired
from his practice.

[dramatic thud]

- [Dan] He kicks off
these public displays

with a 5.5-ton tow
truck, then a helicopter,

each success pushing the
boundaries of human engineering

and medical science.

Now, Lasha's ready to take on
his most daring challenge yet:

the eight-ton semi-truck.

- With a crowd gathered
around him and the truck,

Lasha attaches this
white strap to his ear,

and he starts to pull
with all of his might.

[spectators clamoring]

And to the crowd's
amazement, the truck moves,

and eventually starts to roll.

[spectators clamoring
and cheering]

- Lasha is ecstatic,

but the real miracle here

is that his ear stays
attached to his head.

[spectators cheering]

- If you think that's wild,

this next feat is a
little harder to stomach.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- Every year,
thousands of parents

rush their kids to
emergency rooms,

panicking because they've
swallowed something

they're not supposed to,

marbles, metal toys, coins,
batteries, you name it.

- And they should be worried.

Small objects can lacerate
their throat or their gut,

they can block the intestines.

Batteries can burn the lining
of the digestive tract.

There are a whole host of
problems that could arise.

- [Dan] Thankfully, most
kids grow out of this,

but there's one who doesn't.

[intriguing orchestral music]

- In 1959, in Grenoble, France,

a 9-year-old boy, Michel Lotito,

develops an unusual
eating habit.

- He has this
insatiable appetite

for really strange things,

tires, TV knobs, glass, metal.

There is a word for this
compulsion, it's called pica,

and it's a
psychological condition

where the sufferer has this
compulsion to eat things

that have no nutritional value.

- But incredibly, Michel
is able to live through it,

and grows up as a healthy kid

who just likes
eating crazy stuff.

[intriguing orchestral music]

- By the time he
reaches 16 though,

Michel realizes this
is not quite the curse

his doctors have
been telling him,

this is actually a skill
he can turn into an act.

So Michel begins demonstrating
this amazing feat for crowds.

- He dazzles audiences by
gobbling down chunks of rubber,

bits of glass and metal.

Nothing is too big, too sharp,

or too dangerous for Michel.

[bulb clacking]

We're talking 18 bicycles,
15 supermarket trolleys,

seven TV sets, six chandeliers,

two beds, a pair of
skis, and a computer.

- [Dan] But his biggest
conquest of all?

An entire Cessna light aircraft.

- You can't eat an entire
plane in one big lump.

You have to break it
up into little pieces,

which is what Michel does.

I mean, he's eating
the propellers,

the rudders, the
wheels, all of it.

Of course, the
most amazing thing

is probably not that he
ate the entire plane,

but that he actually suffers
fairly few ill effects.

[bulb clacking]

- Obviously, doctors
are wondering

how he's not managed
to kill himself,

and some are wondering is
there some kind of trickery

or sleight of hand
that's involved.

So to check, they take
X-rays in real time

to see what's happening.

And they can actually
see that metal and glass

are going down through the
digestive tract as he's eating.

- Of course, these chunks of
metal and slabs of rubber,

he's not actually able
to digest those things,

those are just passing through.

- [Dan] Surprisingly,

the one thing he
can't eat are bananas.

- As crazy as this sounds,

he claims that it reacts
with all the metal

and gives him indigestion.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- Michel's feats of outrageous
eating are beyond impressive,

but one thing's for certain,

if you have him over for dinner,

don't use the good silverware.

- We've all seen bar
bets go a little too far.

Someone ends up with a
dart in their shoulder,

or learns what a urinal
cake tastes like,

but they usually don't end
up making the morning papers.

[intriguing orchestral music]

- September 30th, 1956,

three o'clock in the morning,

we see one Thomas Fitzpatrick,
former Air Force pilot,

drunkenly stumbling
onto the tarmac

of the Teterboro Airport
School of Aeronautics.

Thomas is there

because he's going to
try to steal a plane.

- Thomas is a drinker,

and this whole thing started
in his local Manhattan bar

[tape screeching]

where he is talking about
how he was the fastest pilot

in his Air Force squadron,

and he's telling
them all the details

of his many accomplishments.

But he's also pounding drinks.

[intriguing dramatic music]

Then one of Thomas's drunken
friends makes him the bet

that he can't make it
out to Teterboro and back

before the bar closes.

And Thomas is not gonna
turn down this bet,

his honor is at stake.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- [Dan] With the clock ticking,

Thomas heads to
Teterboro Airport,

eyes the lineup, and zeroes
in on the perfect plane,

a single-engine Cessna.

- He then gets it started

and takes off
completely undetected.

[pensive dramatic music]

He has no lights on,

no radio contact with
air traffic control,

and he proceeds to
fly to New York.

And the entire time,

no one has figured out that
he has stolen an airplane.

[tense dramatic music]

- Thomas is attempting now to
land the single-engine Cessna

on St. Nicholas Avenue
and 191st Street

directly in front of the
bar that he was drinking in

as per the bet.

[tense dramatic music]

- This is the kind of landing

that would be impossible for
a stone cold sober pilot.

For one thing, there are
wind gusts through Manhattan

that wreak havoc,

and these buildings are
pretty close together,

there are cars in the street.

It's just not a safe
place to put a plane down.

But somehow, Thomas
Fitzpatrick sticks the landing.

[tires screeching]

Once people realize he has
parked a plane outside,

the bar erupts in cheers,

except probably for the people
that had bet against this

and have now lost all
of their paycheck.

[tense triumphant music]

- Everybody is so
impressed with this,

and the New York Times calls
it a great feat of aeronautics

and a fine landing.

And while he's fined
about a hundred dollars,

which is roughly $1,200 today,

the owner does not even
want to press charges

for stealing the plane.

- Thomas continues to boast

about this
achievement for years,

but people in the bar
are not as enthused

to hear this story,

and the regulars have cycled
out and new ones are there,

and they don't all
believe this happened,

because they did not see
it with their own eyes,

and so they kind of start
to goad him and be like,

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great,

bet you can't do it again."

- [Dan] Not one to back down,

Thomas sets out to do
the unthinkable again.

- On October 4th, 1958, just
a little bit before 1:00 AM,

Thomas, intoxicated, goes to
the same airfield as before,

steals a single-engine
Cessna, and does it again.

- This time, he puts the
plane down on 187th Street,

right in front of a Yeshiva
University building.

[tires screeching]

But the reception is not as
good as the first time around.

- For his second stolen flight,

a New York judge sentences
him to six months in prison,

with the judge stating that,

"Had you been properly
jolted the first time,

this likely would never
have happened again."

- In response, Thomas blames it

on, quote, "The lousy drink,"

aka, "Don't blame me,
blame it on the alcohol."

[intriguing dramatic music]

- Our next go-getter
doesn't need liquid courage,

he's smashing records sober,

and there are hundreds
on his hit list.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- It's a lovely day
in Brooklyn, New York.

Sun is shining,

birds are chirping.

And because this is New York,

a wild-eyed crazy man starts
running through the streets

with a bottle of milk
balanced on his head.

The guy's name is
Ashrita Furman,

and he's training to
beat a world record

to run a mile the fastest

while balancing a bottle
of milk on your head.

- And the really funny part

is that this is not
the only wacky record

that he's training for.

In fact, Ashrita holds the
most meta record of all time.

He has the Guinness World Record

for Most Guinness World
Records held by one person.

- [Dan] These records include

Poem Recited in
the Most Languages,

World's Largest Incense Stick,

Fastest 5K in Swimming Fins,

World's Largest Crayon,

Heaviest Shoes Ever Walked In,

and Most Pumpkins
Smashed in a Minute.

- The previous record was 15
pumpkins smashed in one minute,

and we did 31 just now.

- [Dan] Just where does
this insatiable quest

to be the best of the
weirdest come from?

Long before he's Ashrita,

Keith Furman is a kid
determined to find his way.

- Back in the 1960s,

a young Keith Furman
becomes obsessed

with the Guinness
Book of World Records,

but he's really not blessed
with incredible athletic skill,

or ability to actually become

a traditional record
holder himself.

But when he hits his 20s,

he immerses himself in
Eastern spirituality,

in particular, the
teachings of a guru

by the name of Sri Chinmoy.

- And what Chinmoy
convinces him of

is that it's all
mind over matter.

It doesn't matter

that he's not the
strongest man in the world,

or particularly athletic,

all he has to do is
set his mind to it.

and what Chinmoy
does is enter him

in a 24-hour bike marathon.

And shockingly, using
his meditation techniques

that he's learned from Chinmoy,

Furman places third.

- Shocked by his
own accomplishment

and inspired by Chinmoy,

Furman changes his name
from Keith to Ashrita,

which means "Protected by God,"

and he takes aim at his beloved
Guinness World Record book.

- He starts with a pretty
straightforward goal,

he wants to hold the
Guinness World record

for the most jumping jacks.

In 1979, he actually
achieves that world record

by doing 27,000 of them.

[intriguing orchestral music]

- [Dan] Then comes a
game-changing epiphany.

the weirder the record,

the better Ashrita's
chances are of claiming it.

- Why would you participate
in these normal activities

when you could instead pioneer
underwater pogo sticking?

Why would you bother
with a marathon

when instead you could push
an orange with your nose

farther than anybody
else ever has?

His greatest hits include
underwater juggling,

mountain climbing on stilts,

pogo stick basketball dribbling,

most candles lit in one minute.

The list of things he's done
just goes on and on and on.

- He shows no signs
of slowing down.

Maybe the best part of it
all, as weird as it is,

is that he seems to be having
an absolute blast doing it.

- Sure, everybody's
good at something,

but it turns out only one man
is the best at 700 of them.

- History has its share
of silver-haired seducers,

Casanova, Ben
Franklin, Hugh Hefner,

but one lion gives them
all a run for their money,

and proves age really
is just a number.

[dramatic whooshing]
[intriguing dramatic music]

- In the early 1970s,

a revolutionary idea
takes hold in zoos.

Rather than cages,

why not a place where the
animals can roam free?

Thus, in California, we
have Lion Country Safari.

- The general public is invited

to drive past big predators,
like lions and tigers,

within the supposed
safety of the family car.

[intriguing dramatic music]
[lion growling]

If you tip the
attendants well enough,

they will throw meat
onto the car itself,

so that the lions
climb up for a meal.

- In addition to
being an attraction,

these wildlife parks also
have another mission,

which is to breed captive lions

for selling to other
parks and zoos.

The problem is, in
this California park,

the lions aren't breeding.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- What they fail to realize

is that these lions
and lionesses,

they grew up together,

they were in the same
packs and groups,

so they behave as if
they were siblings,

there's almost a genetic
taboo from them mating.

In essence, the lionesses
friend zone the male lions.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- Around the same time,

there's a circus in Tijuana
that's going bankrupt,

and they have this very
old lion named Frasier.

Lion Country Safari
agrees to take him in,

so he can retire there.

This lion is 19,

and that's like
80 in human years.

He's arthritic,
he's so toothless

that his tongue just
hangs out of his mouth,

and he's got this patchy mane

that looks like some kind
of sad lion comb-over.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- [Dan] He may not
have the looks,

but what this lion does
have is plenty of mojo.

- When Frasier
limps his way over

to where the pride is
sunning themselves,

suddenly, the
lionesses all perk up,

like he is the lion that
they've been dreaming of.

Soon, Frasier has a
whole harem of lionesses.

They go with him everywhere,
they bring him food,

they pillow his head
when he lies down,

they walk beside
him holding him up,

because he's so unsteady.

They also breed with him a lot.

[Frasier growling]
[lioness growling]

[birds chirping]
[ethereal music]

- Before you know it,
there's lion cubs everywhere,

and not like four or five,

Frasier fathers 35 lion cubs.

This is with 11 lionesses
in just 18 months.

No zookeeper has ever
seen anything like this.

- And, of course, this isn't
happening behind closed doors,

this is all on display
for the public.

And in the freewheeling '70s,

Frasier becomes a sensation.

[intriguing dramatic music]

The zookeepers know that
they've struck gold,

and so, they make
him their mascot,

naming him Frasier
the Sensuous Lion.

- He becomes mainstream famous.

A low-budget movie
is made about him.

Sarah Vaughan records
a song about him.

People start producing

Frasier for President
bumper stickers.

- According to some accounts,

Frasier receives upwards of
1,500 fan letters a month,

many of which are
from fellow older men

asking what exactly is
the zoo feeding him?

- Sadly, in July of 1972,

Frasier the Sensuous Lion,

who brought unrelenting
joy to countless fans,

and at least 11 female lions,

passes away.

- [Journalist] What
was the cause of death?

- Well, basically,
he died of old age.

He was, after all, near
the human equivalent

of 100 years old.

[dramatic thud]

- Frasier ruled the pride,

but the next animals you'll meet

are mastering something
totally different:

the highway.

[grandiose dramatic music]

- Anyone who has ever
had a dog in their life

knows that nothing
gets them more excited

than saying "Who wants
to go for a ride?!"

[grandiose dramatic music]

We've all seen dogs sticking
their heads out of car windows

and enjoying the
wind in their face,

but what we don't usually see

is a dog actually
driving the car.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- 2012, in New Zealand,

some dog trainers decide
they wanna up the game

for the rescue dogs

that aren't being
adopted quickly enough,

and they're going to train
them to do an amazing stunt,

and that's to drive a car.

[intriguing upbeat music]

Of course, you can't just
throw your dog into the car

and expect it to take the wheel,

so they build a simulator
that they can tow,

and the dogs can get used
to how they have to control

this moving vehicle.

[intriguing upbeat music]

- Meanwhile, the tech crew is
also modifying a Mini Cooper

with all of the same stuff,

so that the dogs could
actually drive a real-life car

instead of just a simulator.

And after just eight weeks,

Monty, a dog with a
scruffy gray coat,

is ready to give it a whirl.

[rhythmic dog barking]
[intriguing upbeat music]

- It's not just one dog,

they teach a terrier mix
named Porter to drive too.

[intriguing upbeat music]

This is the real deal,
there's no CGI here.

And so, of course,
these videos go viral.

The shelters are besieged
by adoption requests.

[mellow upbeat music]

And so, in addition to
getting to teach dogs

how to drive cars,

they fulfill the real goal,

which is to find these
dogs loving homes.

[dog huffing]
[mellow upbeat music]

- Would I adopt such
an unbelievable pup?

Yes.

Would I also hide my keys?

Yes.

- There's nothing heroic
about being a criminal,

unless you're so
incredibly great at it

that the whole world has
to applaud your genius.

[pensive dramatic music]

- It's a quiet Friday morning

in the upscale Banco Rio
branch in Buenos Aires,

when a group of men in
costume come running in

and announce,
"This is a holdup."

[pensive dramatic music]

- This is a very organized crew,

they immediately
round up bankers

and security and customers

and secure them as hostages.

However, despite their
meticulous planning,

an alarm has gone off.

[sirens wailing]
[pensive dramatic music]

And within minutes, the entire
bank is surrounded by police.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- One of the robbers is wearing

a finely-tailored gray
suit and a yarmulke.

He seems to be the ringleader,

and he points his weapon
at the security guard,

confiscates the guard's gun
and removes the bullets.

- He takes the
guard's cell phone

and then goes to the window

and shows the phone
to the police outside,

letting them know

that if they call them
on the guard's phone,

they'll be able to negotiate.

- [Dan] What follows is a
tense game of cat and mouse,

all playing out in
front of news cameras

as the country watches.

[pensive dramatic music]

- The robbers
release two hostages,

and demand pizza
to feed everybody,

and they say that
after everyone is fed,

they will then safely
let the hostages go.

[dramatic grandiose music]

- Police, assuming that this
might be a peaceful resolution,

readily agree.

They can even hear them
singing happy birthday

to one of the hostages.

And then, things
go eerily quiet.

[pensive dramatic music]

- Hours pass,

and finally, the police make
the decision to storm the bank.

[dramatic whooshing]

They're expecting a firefight.

But when they get in there,

all they can find are hostages
finishing off the pizza.

No bank robbers
anywhere in sight.

What they do find?

Discarded costumes,
discarded toy guns.

Now they're worried
the bank robbers

may be posing as hostages,

and they sift through everybody,

but they all seem to be legit.

- It turns out that by the time
the police storm the bank,

the robbers are already back
home counting their loot

and watching with the rest
of the nation on television.

[dramatic whooshing]

- The police start
scouring the bank.

They make their way to the vault

where all the safety
deposit boxes are,

and they notice this
giant hole in the wall

that runs into the sewer system.

- [Dan] What the police
find is shocking,

but that's just the beginning.

On the other side of that hole

is one of the most elaborate
getaway plans ever conceived.

- To escape via the sewers,
they use inflatable motorboats,

and to ensure there
is enough water,

they create a series
of dams in the sewers

to raise the water level.

As crimes go, this
is a masterpiece.

[pensive dramatic music]

- Another critical
part of this plan

is to target the safe
deposit boxes in the vault.

- Because Argentina had been
rocked by a banking crisis,

many wealthy patrons
keep cash, bonds,

American dollars, jewelry
in safety deposit boxes.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- The best part?

Much of the cash
stored in these boxes

is unreported and
therefore untraceable.

The crew has taken anywhere

between eight and $80
million in cash and loot.

[pensive dramatic music]

- Before they left,

they doused the entire
scene in chlorine,

and then they
spread hair shavings

that they've gotten
from local barbers

to confuse police if they're
looking for DNA traces,

designed to take them down
a thousand rabbit holes.

[dramatic thud]

- [Dan] But in the end,

even the most perfect crimes
have their weak spots.

- One of the masterminds,
Beto de la Torre,

is supposedly caught by his
wife with another woman.

She tries to extort money,
not just from her husband,

but from every person that
was involved in the heist.

Because she doesn't get
what she feels she deserves,

she ends up going to the
police and turning him in.

[pensive dramatic music]

And that leads to the police

capturing other
members of the gang.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- The Banco Rio gang
does do jail time,

but because they used toy guns,

they don't get very
harsh sentences.

And in the end,

they'll all be known
for accomplishing

maybe the greatest
bank heist in history,

something that no
court can take away.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- Perhaps the most unusual thing

about this criminal
feat is its inspiration.

Supposedly the mastermind,
Fernando Araujo, got the idea

while watching "Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles,"

which explains using both
the sewer and the pizza

during the robbery.

- Watching someone
reach a lifelong goal

is usually inspiring,

but every now and then
a feat is so strange,

you're not sure whether
to cheer or call for help.

[intriguing dramatic music]
[bees buzzing]

- Here is a fellow
named Gao Bingguo,

calmly sitting in
his underpants,

voluntarily being covered

in thousands and
thousands of bees.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- This is an activity
called bee wearing

in which you just sit there
as people cover you with bees,

and you see how many
bees you can handle

before you tap out.

[intriguing dramatic music]

- Gao Bingguo's mission
is to get the world record

for the heaviest
mantle of living bees

worn by a human being.

- [Dan] Gao might seem like
the only one crazy enough

to try this,

but the tradition goes way back.

- Bee wearing is
a bizarre pastime,

but it does have
quite a history to it,

it goes back 200 years.

[intriguing orchestral music]

One of the earliest bee wearers

is a Ukrainian beekeeper
named Petro Prokopovych.

Petro is basically your
Michael Jordan of beekeeping,

he invents artificial hives.

he's the one who first really
starts to commercialize

gathering and selling honey.

He is the man that
creates this industry.

- In 1830, in an ingenious
marketing campaign

for his bee products,

he starts putting on
these demonstrations,

showing people how many bees
he can wear on his face.

[intriguing upbeat music]

- [Dan] Not only does
it drum up business,

it launches an entire sport
of competitive bee wearing.

And Gao is trying
to outdo them all.

[intriguing dramatic music]
[bees buzzing]

- The key to wearing
thousands of bees

is to start with a
single bee, a queen.

Queen honeybees communicate
to the workers in their hive

through pheromones,

chemical signals that
can draw them towards her

in a swarming behavior.

When Gao Bingguo
goes for the record,

he attaches dozens of
queens in little cages

all over his body.

[pensive dramatic music]

An estimated 1.1 million
bees swarm over him

in a full bee body suit.

- Gao is a
professional beekeeper,

so he knows a few things

to try and make this
a little bit safer.

For one thing,

he knows to shower before
going through this process,

he's getting any sort
of body odor off of him.

He's also smoking,

because the odor
with his every breath

is going to drive the bees away,

so he doesn't end up
getting some in his mouth.

[tense dramatic music]

- [Dan] He's got
a strategy, sure,

but 240 pounds of bees don't
exactly play by the rules.

[pensive dramatic music]

- After two and a half hours,

his external body
temperature though,

his skin, is piping hot,

because he has over
2,000 bee stings.

So, they then take him to a
big old bucket of ice water

and slowly submerge him in that

to bring down that temperature.

He survives, he's
got his world record,

he calls it a win.

[pensive dramatic music]

- Think wearing bees
for hours takes focus?

Try holding onto a
vision for decades.

[ethereal dramatic music]

- It's mid 20th
century in Colorado,

and Jim Bishop is the teenager

with a real love
for ironworking.

Jim had a hard time
focusing in school.

He's not what you would
call conventional.

One day his English
teacher loses it

and screams "Jim Bishop, you'll
never amount to anything!"

And he really took it to heart,

and he dropped out at 15.

- Jim is directionless, mowing
lawns, doing odd jobs.

One day, he's biking
with his buddies,

and in the midst of the
Colorado wilderness,

he finds this
pristine plot of land,

but it's got a price tag,

his life savings, $450.

[intriguing upbeat music]

- At first, he thinks he's
going to build a cottage,

but as he gets to work,

his vision starts to
get a little grander,

and he sees himself
building not a home,

but a castle.

- [Dan] He's supposedly
struck with a purpose.

The only thing
holding him back now?

He has no more money or a
formal architectural training.

- He gets a day job
at working iron,

but by night, he's
hauling three tons of rock

to his personal job site.

[intriguing orchestral music]

- And Jim's philosophy is
that if it's not nailed down,

it's fair game.

So there's bits
of highway rubble,

scrap from the local junkyard,

even protected rocks
from state parks.

He gets by with what he can.

No cranes, no heavy equipment,

every single rock, every single
beam is hand placed by Jim.

- This incredible feat of
engineering and stubbornness

goes on for 40 years.

- This is Bishop Castle.

[dramatic triumphant music]

- By the late '90s, it's
got a soaring tower,

a grand ballroom,

stained-glass windows,

there's even a giant fire-
breathing steel dragon

powered by an old
hot air balloon.

[flames roaring]

- So at one point,

the government decides

that "This thing might
not be up to code,"

but Jim decides to
fight them in court

and just drive them crazy.

And eventually, the
government just gives up.

- Jim's castle becomes
the destination.

There are raves,
there are parties,

some people even book
it for a wedding.

Tourists still swamp
this place day and night,

and it's all free.

Jim loves

that people are actually
getting to enjoy this thing

that he made.

- Sadly, Jim passes
away from Parkinson's

on November 21st, 2024.

His son keeps the dream alive.

But as of now, the castle
still is not finished,

probably just the
way that Jim wanted.

[intriguing orchestral music]

- From a man who wears
his weight in bees,

to metal-eating Frenchmen,

from super heists, to
super fertile lions,

these are the stories
of feats so astonishing,

they are truly "Unbelievable."

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