All language subtitles for The UnXplained s01e02_English

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Hidden churches...

cut from the depths
of the earth.

Staircases that defy
the laws of physics.

And mansions
where visitors become lost

in an endless maze.

Mysterious structures
fascinate us because

they're like puzzles...

waiting to be solved.

What appears
on the surface to be...

a church...

or a mansion...

...can actually be
more than that.

Could a pyramid have been
a power plant, for example?

[chuckling]:
Well...

that is what we'll try
and find out.

♪

[wind whistling]

SHATNER:
High in the mountains
of Northern Ethiopia,

a mile and a half
above sea level,

lies the city of Lalibela.

Each year, tens of thousands
of worshippers

make the arduous journey here,

despite its remote location,

to visit 11 of the strangest
holy places on Earth.

Lalibela is one of Africa's
most mysterious sites.

It's a complex
of 11 monolithic churches

that are hewn right out
of the bedrock.

Most churches are built
on the surface

and they're built from
the bottom up.

Whereas, in Lalibela,
they're built from the top down.

It's the only place on the Earth
that has cathedrals

that are built underground
as opposed to being

built on the surface.

ANDREW COLLINS:
What makes the Lalibela churches

so unique...

is not just
their building construction,

which is unlike anything else
in the world.

But also the otherworldly feel
of the complexes

where these different
monuments can be found.

Entering into the complex
of churches

was almost like entering
another realm.

Almost as if those
who constructed Lalibela

had a ritual function.

And that was to bring themselves
closer to God.

STEVE BURROWS:
It's an incredible piece
of engineering--

this idea that you build
11 churches below ground.

But it creates
its own unique problems.

How do people get down there?

Uh, how did they move all of the
rock out and where did it go?

Uh, those are the things that
start running through my mind.

SHATNER:
Dating back
to the 12th century AD,

each of Lalibela's 11 churches
was painstakingly

carved by hand--

and from the outside--

like enormous sculptures.

The complex also includes
an extensive system of tunnels,

catacombs all carved
out of solid bedrock.

But why?

Why build a magnificent series
of structures

in the toughest way possible?

COLLINS:
The builder of Lalibela

was a king by this very name,
Lalibela.

And it is said
that in the 12th century,

he was living in Jerusalem

and decided to come back
into Ethiopia

and create
these monolithic churches.

And it's very clear

that Lalibela, uh, in the design

of these different churches,

was trying
to replicate Jerusalem.

Indeed, he was trying
to create a new Jerusalem.

So by entering
into this complex,

it's almost like you were
entering into Jerusalem itself,

which was considered to be the
most holy shrine in the world.

MICHAEL GERVERS:
It is described that

Lalibela had a dream

and in the dream,
he was instructed by God

to go back and make
a copy of Jerusalem...

at the site.

And in order
to fulfill God's request,

King Lalibela and others
who were involved

worked night and day
for 20 years.

So in their minds,
right at the beginning,

they had a three-dimensional
structure in mind.

'Cause when they started,
it was just a big piece of rock.

And how did they know
that if they were going

to go 150 feet down
into the ground,

that everything was okay?

Because the worst
possible thing would be

that you'd almost finished
and then you found

that there was a massive
problem at the bottom.

SHATNER:
11 underground churches.

Some over 100 feet deep.

Each carved from
a single block of stone

in only 20 years' time.

Archeologists date the churches
back nearly a thousand years.

But even with today's
modern technology,

such an incredible
architectural feat

would be considered impossible.

So how was it accomplished?

TRAVIS TAYLOR:
If we go and build

a big structure today,
a skyscraper,

we have blueprints,
we have engineering

design pathways and we have
a construction plan.

It tells us how
we would do every step

of the way; where every
screw, nut, bolt,

weld, poured concrete goes.

None of that exists for
these large, ancient structures.

So we really got
to think outside the box

and try to find
how they were done,

why they were done

and who built them.

WHITEHEAD:
A very curious thing

at Lalibela is that there are
some very unique carvings there.

There's very interesting symbols

that are carved
into these churches.

Do they mean something
if you put them together?

COLLINS:
In the church of St. Mary
at Lalibela,

there is the Star of David.

And this, along with a number
of other mementos

and designs are extremely
indicative

of the presence
of the Knights Templar.

This has suggested to many

that they may well
have been present

during the construction

of the churches at Lalibela.

TOK THOMPSON:
Now the Knights Templar
were a very interesting

religious order that became

very powerful during
the Middle Ages.

But what people
don't often realize is

they were very interested
in building,

in, uh, geometry,
in, uh, numerology.

Uh, and so they were
at once very practical

and pragmatic and then
also very spiritual and mystic.

WHITEHEAD:
The Knights Templar had

a great amount of knowledge
in masonry

and architecture
and building structures.

Now, it's debated
as to whether or not

the Knights Templar would have
been in Ethiopia at this time.

But there's some
interesting evidence

that an Armenian geographer
at the time

documented seeing men with
red and white regalia,

blond or reddish hair,
long hair,

which could indicate that
he's talking about Templars.

So, it could be that
the Templars themselves

were the ones
that built Lalibela,

or that they helped
King Lalibela build the site.

SHATNER:
Could Templar stonemasons have

influenced the construction
of the churches at Lalibela?

And if so, for what purpose?

COLLINS:
If you look around Lalibela,

there are altars there

that have spaces
in them that would

precisely fit
the Ark of the Covenant,

which was approximately
four feet in length,

two feet wide and around
two feet in height.

It has been suggested
that the rock-cut churches

at Lalibela were built to house
the Ark of the Covenant.

SHATNER:
The lost Ark of the Covenant,

the gold box which contained
the original Ten Commandments--

could it have been hidden
at Lalibela centuries ago?

During the Crusades,
we know that the Templars

occupied the Temple of Solomon.

And so, it could be
that they were

the keepers
of the Ark of the Covenant.

And the more you look
at Lalibela, and given the fact

that we see that
it's built underground,

you start to think,
here we have these churches

that are hewn out of these
megalithic rocks.

They're built like
defensive structures.

They have all kinds
of interesting symbolism there

that indicate Templars.

And you start getting the
impression that this is actually

some kind of defensive fortress

to protect... something.

SHATNER:
Was Lalibela originally built

to house and hide
the Ark of the Covenant?

And if so, why only 11 churches?

Jesus had 12 apostles.

So wouldn't it seem likely
that there were

12 churches built,
one for each of them?

There are many who believe

the answer
to that question is yes,

and that the Ark is still hidden
in an undiscovered church.

Incredible, you say?

Perhaps not as incredible
as a stairway in New Mexico

whose builder wasn't
only divinely inspired

but may have
actually been sent...

directly from heaven.

SHATNER:
February 11, 2019.

Investigative journalist
and radio host

David Whitehead travels
to the Loretto Chapel

in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

WHITEHEAD:
I'm here to investigate
a really mysterious structure,

the famous Loretto staircase.

We don't know who built it,
we don't understand

the physics behind it
and we don't even have

a good indication
as to what it's made of.

[door creaks open]

Oh, wow.

This place is beautiful.

SHATNER:
Meeting with David is
chapel curator Richard Lindsley.

-WHITEHEAD: So this is it.
-LINDSLEY: Absolutely.

Our miraculous staircase.

I've heard so much about it.

I've read so many theories
about it,

and it's amazing to actually
be here to see it.

SHATNER:
In 1873, the Sisters of Loretto

commissioned the construction
of the chapel

for their new girls school.

Officially consecrated
five years later,

the Loretto Chapel is a triumph
of Gothic Revival design,

with its high spires,
soaring buttresses

and enormous
stained glass windows.

But as construction was
nearing completion,

the project's architect
suddenly died,

before he could build
what was considered

the most ambitious part
of the job:

the staircase leading up
to the choir loft.

The mystery of the staircase
actually begins

with this mysterious carpenter.

The sisters asked the local
carpenters to build one,

but they failed; they didn't
know how to do it.

The sisters, they decided
to turn to prayer,

and said a nine-day novena,
asking St. Joseph,

the patron of carpenters,

to help them
with their problem.

At the last day of their prayer,

it's said that a knock came
at these doors.

This elderly man was
standing there with a donkey

by his side,

and he told the sister
that he had come

to build their staircase.

Was it St. Joseph,
like the sisters believed?

Some pious people think
it was an angel.

But he was very reclusive,
and insisted upon

working inside this chapel
by himself,

never allowing anyone to see him
work on the staircase.

Throughout the, uh, Christian
and Catholic world,

we have a tremendous amount
of these stories

of miraculous help from saints.

And this is a part
of the Catholic belief system.

You can pray to saints,
and they're supposed to,

uh, try to help.

So it's a built-in part
of the package,

this idea of an intercessory,

closer to people,
and yet closer to God.

After three months, the sisters
came into the chapel,

and the man was gone.

And when they could not find him
to even pay him for his labor,

they went to the only
lumber yard in town

and asked them how much
they owed for the materials.

And the lumber yard
told the sisters that the man

never got any materials
from them at all.

So, what material is
this staircase made of?

I gave a core sample
of the wood

from the inner stringer
to a U.S. Naval scientist,

and he determined right away

that it was a form of
Picea spruce.

WHITEHEAD:
Is this form of spruce
local to Santa Fe?

LINDSLEY:
The wood in the staircase
did not match up

with any other Picea spruce
known to science.

This wood does not match up

with any other quite like it
on Earth.

The staircase at Loretto Chapel
is-is amazing.

It's a double spiral system.

There's no glue, there's
no nails, there's no screws.

It's put together in a way
that how it's just

sitting on itself is
holding it together.

WHITEHEAD:
So, Richard, an interesting
thing about this design

-is the double helix.
-Mm-hmm.

The double helix--
or the double spiral--

is that it's an incredibly
unique design.

LINDSLEY:
Well, we had a world-renowned
physicist come visit us,

and he was convinced that
the double helix design

was integral to
its inner strength.

-Mind if I go up?
-Please.

Be my guest.

This is a very special
privilege.

WHITEHEAD:
I definitely feel
very privileged.

I've waited for this moment
for so long.

Oh, wow, yeah.

It's a unique feeling,
just right on that first step.

I almost feel, like,
a vibration.

[stairs creaking softly]

Feeling like... I'm floating.

Like there's nothing
underneath my feet.

It's truly a remarkable feeling.

Now, how many stairs
have we got here?

LINDSLEY:
There are 33 steps
to the staircase,

which reminded the sisters
of our Lord,

because he lived 33 years.

WHITEHEAD:
Well, I find it very interesting

that, here we are
in this chapel in Santa Fe,

and we're seeing the motif
of a sacred number: 33.

And this number is important
to the Templars.

SHATNER:
33 steps?

One of the most sacred numbers
to the fraternal order

of builders known as Freemasons,

who, in turn, are thought to be
the spiritual descendants

of the Knights Templar.

Could this number of steps
really provide an important clue

as to who built the stairway,
and how?

So the number 33 is
a sacred number in Templarism.

So, they would have encoded
that number,

whether it be in staircases,

or artwork
in the stained glass windows,

or even the mathematical
dimensions

of some of these structures.

To the Templars,
they don't just see a staircase

or a stained glass window
or a layout of a church design.

They see an esoteric number,

the number of a master builder,

the manifestation of
the divine on Earth,

and it's very deeply rooted
in the entire Templar tradition.

BURROWS:
I think the quality
of construction and detailing

show that somebody who did it
was highly skilled.

And they must have learned that.

So the person who built
that staircase

apprenticed with somebody.

They learned some things.

They applied those things later
in Santa Fe.

So there's no doubt they
could have been working

with a mason,
but they were way too skilled

to have been the first time
they did something like that.

The construction
of the staircase

defies all conventional
construction practices--

any kind of rational,
conventional explanation.

Where did the materials
come from?

Who built it?

It seems like we just have
more questions

than we do answers.

-Yes.
-But we do know that

it's a mystery, and...

hopefully one day
we'll be able to solve it.

SHATNER:
Could the stairway
of the Loretto Chapel

really be the product
of a miracle...

or is it just the work
of a gifted builder

who preferred to keep
his identity and his methods

a well-guarded secret?

To millions of the faithful,
the answer is clear.

Which is more than can be said
for an architectural curiosity

located some 1,000 miles
from Loretto Chapel.

One that many believe
was not inspired by heaven...

...but by the fires of hell.

SHATNER:
Strange.

Macabre.

Disturbing.

In San Jose, California,
stands one of the largest

and most bizarre
private residences

in the United States.

Known as the Winchester
Mystery House,

this 24,000 square foot
Victorian-style mansion

contains an astonishing
160 rooms,

17 chimneys,

47 fireplaces,

two basements,

three elevators,

and more than 10,000
panes of glass.

And those are just the ones
we know about.

But why?

MAGNUSON:
The Winchester Mystery House
is a very special place

that was built
with no master plan.

But there are a lot
of architectural oddities

that remain a mystery
as to why they're here.

BURROWS:
Most buildings start with

some drawings, some blueprints,

some documents that say "this is
what it's gonna look like"

when it was finished.

That building looks like they
made it up as they went.

BOEHME:
There are doors that open to

12-foot drops outside.

There's doors that,
you step through them,

you'll land in a kitchen sink
on the first floor.

It's almost like an Escher
picture in some ways.

SHATNER:
The mastermind behind this
architectural jigsaw puzzle

was Sarah Winchester,

the widow of the man
who manufactured

the Winchester repeating rifle.

[gunshot]

It was famously known as

"the gun that won the West"

because it could kill
more people faster

than any gun
previously invented.

BOEHME:
The Winchester rifle was special
because it could fire

up to 15 rounds
without being reloaded,

which was very different from
most of the smooth bores used

in the Civil War, say,
which were--

y-you loaded it, you fired
one shot and that was it.

So you can imagine the advantage
that you would have

being able to shoot round
after round after round

without reloading.

SHATNER:
When Sarah's husband died
in 1881,

she became the heir
to his massive fortune.

Three years later, she began
construction on a mansion

that would take 38 years
to complete.

She just added things on
as she had a great idea.

So everybody had to listen
and say, "Oh, okay.

You want a large ballroom
up there?"

And then they'd figure it out
as they went.

WHITEHEAD:
Even to this day,
they're still finding

new rooms and new features
to this house.

Was Sarah just working off
of her whims?

Was she just an eccentric
crazy lady?

Or is there some other
unknown explanation

that we have yet to understand?

SHATNER:
It is suspected that one reason

Sarah kept building
and building

around the clock for 38 years

is that she was trying
to protect herself

from all the dead souls the
Winchester rifles had killed.

Perhaps, it was thought,

if the house was built
as a giant maze,

the ghosts would never
be able to find her.

MAGNUSON:
The story is that
Sarah Winchester

went through a long period
of grief.

She, unfortunately, lost a
child, uh, only weeks old,

and she lost her husband
to tuberculosis.

And she started wondering,

"Why are all these terrible
things happening to me?"

And, uh, what was common
at the time

was to seek out a medium
or spiritualist for guidance.

And that person said that
the karma of this,

the gun that won the West,
and all of these terrible things

associated with this firearm,
is kind of haunting you.

[gunshot]

BOEHME:
This spiritualist medium
told her

that in order to pacify
these spirits,

who were very offended

at having been killed by
Winchester rifles,

she needed to build a house.

And she should never stop
building, and the idea also

was that the constant sound
of the saws and hammers

would drive
the bad spirits away.

MAGNUSON:
Some of the design features
were specifically built

to confuse evil
or malicious spirits.

So if the stairs led
to the ceiling,

or if a door led to the outside,

possibly they would be confused
and-and leave the property.

SHATNER:
Did Sarah Winchester spend
nearly 40 years

and the equivalent of
more than $60 million

constructing a bizarre
labyrinth of stairs,

halls and doors

in order to keep
the vengeful dead at bay?

Perhaps.

But some have suggested
that she built the house

not to guard against the dead,

but to fool the living.

There's an even deeper mystery
in the house,

and that is the numerology.

BURROWS:
In the Winchester Mystery House,

there is a number
that appears everywhere--

in, you know, light fittings,
in mirrors,

in all sorts of things.
And it's the number 13.

WHITEHEAD:
We have the number 13 encoded
all over the place,

in the walls, in the flooring,
in the stairways.

We've got 13 bedrooms.
We've got 13 bathrooms.

There are 13 wall panels
in some of the rooms;

and on and on we could go.

So there may have been
another motive here

for why Sarah
built this house this way.

BOEHME:
A lot of people
have put forth theories

that there was some sort
of complex puzzle

going on here,
that she was leaving clues.

MAGNUSON:
It's possible that the number 13
could be a puzzle

that could possibly unlock
some secret as to

why it was so
prominently featured

as a design element
in the house.

WHITEHEAD:
An interesting symbol
that you see

all throughout the house
is the symbol of the sun.

In astrology and astrotheology,

you have the idea
of the zodiac,

which is, you have the 12 houses
of the zodiac,

and the number 13 is the sun.

At the front gates of the house,
and on each gate,

you have a symbol of the sun.

And the rays of the sun
add up to 16 on each sun.

So when you put the 16
and the 16 together,

you have the date
that William Shakespeare died.

BOEHME:
Two most cryptic windows,
stained glass windows

in the house are Sarah's
ballroom windows.

They're the only ones that
have any text in them,

and they're two quotes from
different Shakespearean plays.

And they read, "Wide unclasp
the tables of their thoughts."

And then the other one says,
"These same thoughts

people this little world."

We don't know exactly
what that meant to Sarah.

She took that secret with her
to her grave.

MAGNUSON:
Sarah Winchester passed away
September 1922.

As you can imagine,
there was great excitement

to see this incredible home
that everyone in the town

had seen being built up
over so many years.

All the furnishings were sold
anonymously at auction,

but what was left
was one large safe

in the grand ballroom.

WHITEHEAD:
Sarah put a safe
in the grand ballroom,

which is an odd place
to put a safe.

And the safe itself is very odd.

It's basically,
you open up the safe,

and then you find another safe,

and you have to open up
another safe,

and it's a safe within a safe
within a safe.

BOEHME:
People were kind of
just mystified,

like, "What's in the safe?"
And they were hoping

for maybe treasure,
gold bars or jewelry.

MAGNUSON:
After they finally
got inside, they found

just two things.
No gold, no silver, no diamonds.

A lock of hair
from her baby Annie,

who passed away
at just a few weeks old,

and the obituary of her husband,

who passed away to tuberculosis
very young.

SHATNER:
A lock of hair and an obituary?

Are we really to believe that
Sarah Winchester

had nothing of value

safely hidden somewhere
in the house?

What if it was built
as a giant puzzle,

one that protects
a vast treasure

that still lies hidden
behind one of the house's

hundreds of walls?
Something to ponder

while we investigate yet another
architectural mystery--

one whose building method
has baffled everyone,

who has not only wondered why,
but how.

SHATNER:
Homestead, Florida.

In this small town,
tucked away between Miami

and Everglades National Park,

stands an elaborate
stone edifice.

The locals call it
"Coral Castle."

Sculpted from massive blocks
of coral,

this incredible structure
features a five-ton,

heart-shaped table,

a 28-ton obelisk,

and a perfectly balanced
nine-ton door

that opens with the touch
of a finger.

And even more incredible
than this marvel

of design and engineering,

is the fact that it was built
by just one man.

And nobody knows how he did it.

R.L. POOLE:
Ed Leedskalnin was an immigrant
from Latvia

who immigrated
to the United States,

and he built the only modern
megalithic structure ever known.

The Coral Castle
is 1,100 tons of coral bedrock

that he dug out of the property
on which it rests.

He was only about five feet
tall, but he managed to move

hundreds of tons of coral rock

into this megalithic
modern temple.

He had no technology there
that could have lifted

these stones or cut the stones.

And yet, it's there to this day.

WHITEHEAD:
The story goes that
Ed Leedskalnin

built this incredible
megalithic site

using only a few pulleys,
a tripod; uh, he did it

all by himself,
and he worked at night,

and he was very secretive.

GEORGE NOORY:
The blocks of stone used
to build Coral Castle

are tons and tons,

yet this guy was able to
construct this place by himself

without any heavy equipment.

Some kids, years later,
watched Edward Leedskalnin

constructing and moving
the blocks.

They kind of peaked over
and watched him.

He spotted them
and chased them away.

But they said he was working
all by himself.

SHATNER:
From 1923 until 1951,

Leedskalnin perfectly shaped,
lifted, fitted,

and stacked over two million
pounds of limestone.

For decades, hundreds
of the world's top architects

and engineers have come
to this place

to solve the mystery
of its construction.

The tripods, for instance,

were three pieces
of Florida pine,

about the same size
as a telephone pole.

He used five-ton chains,
he used a-a ten-ton chain hoist,

yet somehow was able to
impossibly lift stones

that were wider
than the tripod's diameter,

that were taller
than the tripod stood,

that weighed more
than the chains were rated for.

Well, he didn't lift a,
a 20-ton stone

with a five-ton, uh,
block and tackle,

but he definitely found a way
to lever the stone up.

TAYLOR:
There has to be
some other technology

being used here, or this is one
of the best magic tricks

ever pulled over on mankind.

So, what could it have been?

Did he learn some unique
mechanical trick,

or did he learn
some new physics?

POOLE:
He was found often
at the public library,

studying the Egyptians,

studying ancient
megalithic structures.

Ed said he knew the secrets
of the pyramids.

I believe this to be accurate.

He was able to replicate
their accomplishments,

which enabled him to be able
to create something

which, by any other standard,
you cannot do.

SHATNER:
Did Edward Leedskalnin
actually crack

the engineering secrets
of the Great Pyramids?

There are those who believe
the answer is yes,

and that one of the secrets
involves magnetism.

One of the most curious things
that Ed designed

was called
a perpetual motion holder.

You could find a drawing of it

on the cover of his booklet,
Magnetic Current.

He created something
that is made from

a 1½-inch-thick steel bar,

a mile of coil of copper wire
with a bar on top,

and if you lock these coils
together with current,

this current will run through
this device forever

and never leave it.

MICHIO KAKU:
Magnetism can in fact
levitate very large objects,

but you have to have
what is called

superconducting technology.

You have to cool down,
cool down helium,

for example, to near,
near absolute zero

before you get
superconducting magnets.

TAYLOR:
Ed claims in his notes that
he used reverse energy,

or antigravity.

The question is,
what did he mean by this?

The device that Ed used
or allegedly used

to move these rocks
were an old-school tripod

that had a large black box
on top of it.

We don't know
what was in that box

and Ed never says
what was in that box.

We could speculate
that it's some device

that he's created
that enables him to lift

more weight than he should
be able to lift

with this rudimentary tripod
fulcrum and lever system.

But we have no idea
what it was he did.

What makes the Coral Castle
so unique and mysterious

is that no one
has ever been able

to replicate his results
using his methods.

What this means is that he knew
something that we do not know.

SHATNER:
Whatever secrets

Edward Leedskalnin used
to build Coral Castle,

he took to his grave.
But why?

Perhaps the answer
can be found 6,500 miles away,

inside the ultimate
engineering marvel of all time:

the Great Pyramid at Giza.

SHATNER:
Just outside of Cairo, Egypt

stands what is arguably the most
famous structure on Earth:

the Great Pyramid of Giza.

481 feet high.

756 feet long on each side.

2.3 million blocks of limestone

and granite weighing
6.5 million tons.

But incredibly,
thousands of years after

its first stones were laid,

there's still
three important questions

that have yet to be answered:

What was its purpose?

Who built it?

And how?

BURROWS:
The Great Pyramid
is completely bizarre.

Hundreds and hundreds
of brilliant engineers

have made many various attempts
with different technologies

to actually uncover its secrets.

And yet, so far,
we've been unable to.

SHATNER:
Mainstream archeologists have

long maintained that
the Great Pyramid was built

some 4,500 years ago
as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu.

But that assertion has come
under scrutiny in recent years,

owing largely
to the fact that no mummy

was ever found in its chambers.

And there are no
hieroglyphics to be found

on its massive granite walls.

COLLINS:
This extraordinary monument

contains the most profound
mathematics and geometry.

Now, why would this
be incorporated

in such a structure
if it was simply a tomb?

There's obviously more to this
story than meets the eye.

NEWMAN:
The Great Pyramid
on the Giza Plateau

in Egypt is one of the most
magnificent sites on the planet.

One of the seven wonders
of the world

and I don't believe it's a tomb.

I think it's
much more than that.

SHATNER:
So could the Great Pyramid

have been built for another,
arguably more useful, purpose?

One that would make more sense,

given the size and complexity
of its construction?

In a paper published by the
Journal of Applied Physics

in 2018, a team of scientists

did some research
on the Great Pyramid

and found that
electromagnetic energy

was present in some
of the chambers when stimulated.

TAYLOR:
This experiment used very
long wavelength radio waves

and it actually caused
these waves

to be focused
into certain regions.

They realized that
the pyramid's shape

might actually act as a lens
or a focusing mechanism

for radio frequency energy.

MICHAEL DENNIN:
One of the things
that's interesting,

of course, when looking
at the Great Pyramid

as a possible coupling
to energy sources is to ask,

"Could it have been
coupling somehow

to seismic or sound vibrations
in the earth?"

I think the real question
would be,

what type of energy
were they trying to focus

or how would they leverage it?

NEWMAN:
The Great Pyramid sits

very close to a fault line.

So almost like
it absorbs seismic energy

and then gives it
back out again.

So it could have been a
generator of Earth energies

that then would spread out
through the landscape.

SHATNER:
Was the Great Pyramid

constructed to channel
power from the Earth?

While the idea
may sound fantastic,

it is one that was pursued
by a man who is credited

as one of the inventors
of modern electricity,

Nikola Tesla.

KAKU:
Nikola Tesla is one of the great

geniuses of the last century.

He wanted to create
wireless technology.

Not with radio,
but through the planet Earth.

And that's why he built
this gigantic tower

in Shoreham, Long Island.

Some people think that maybe
he got inspiration

for his gigantic antenna
from the pyramids of Giza.

There are a lot of parallels
between what Nikola Tesla

was doing, uh, at Wardenclyffe

and the Great Pyramids.

The pyramids don't look
today the way they did

thousands of years ago
when they were first built.

But they had,
on the top of the pyramid,

some conductive material
that made it shiny on the top.

And that's very much like the
Wardenclyffe Tower transmitters,

that you had a conductive
surface on the top of the tower.

And it's really interesting
that the height

of the pyramid
to the base of the pyramid

is the height that Tesla wanted
to build his Wardenclyffe Tower.

Well, due to monetary reasons,

he built a scale version of it
and he didn't build it as,

as high as he wanted it to
and as large as he wanted to.

Tesla wanted it built over
a flowing aquifer

and he said this allowed him

to grip the earth
in order to transmit

this power from
one location to another.

I find it intriguing that
the pyramids are very similar.

So it's very likely that
if the pyramids were built

for some purpose
of absorbing and capturing

and harnessing energy
from the Earth,

that that's what Tesla
was trying to reproduce.

[electricity crackling]

NOORY:
Sometimes we have to look beyond

what might seem like logical
and think illogically.

The question is,
did Tesla get knowledge

from the pyramids
or are the pyramids there

for other purposes?

SHATNER:
Ancient Egyptian pyramids

with the ability to harness
the raw power

of the Earth itself.

Preposterous?

Perhaps.

But there are other structures
whose purpose is so baffling,

we have no idea why
they were constructed.

SHATNER:
Not all mysterious structures

are as vast as a mansion...

...or as ingeniously
constructed as a pyramid.

Some are much smaller
and appear at first glance

to be rather simple.

That is, until you look closely

and realize that sometimes,

the simplest structures can be
among the most astounding.

In the Diquís Delta
of Costa Rica,

there are over 300 stone spheres
of various sizes

scattered across
25 acres of jungle.

Archeological evidence
dates the earliest

to approximately 200 BC.

But why they were made
and who made them

remains a mystery.

NEWMAN:
All of the spheres in Costa Rica

are carved and shaped, um,

created from
different types of rock.

Over 300 have been discovered.

These range from the size
of a tennis ball

all the way up
to nine feet in diameter.

They're very precise,
they're very abstract.

They're bizarre
in their own right.

The spheres in Costa Rica
are, um, fabulous

and fabulously interesting.

They almost
sort of demand a-a story.

There-there has to be
a story behind it.

And so this of course
has caused people

to wonder a great deal
about where these come from.

Are they man-made
or natural-made?

NEWMAN
Some people believe that

the ancient spheres
of Costa Rica

are from Atlantis or from
other lost civilizations.

Different people say
they are navigational tools.

Some people suggest they're even
mapping the stars on the ground.

As the stars and the planets
moved around,

you'd move the spheres around
to match it.

One of the traditions,
uh, that goes way, way back

with the Costa Rica
stone spheres is the idea that

at the center of the spheres,
there's a black stone.

Many of the stones
got cracked open to find

that there was nothing in them,
but some of them

actually did have
a black stone in the center.

How they would know that,
how they would know,

indeed, there was
a black stone in the center

is another mystery in itself.

SHATNER:
Just what are
the Costa Rican spheres?

Even with all our knowledge
of the past,

all our modern technology...

we still don't know
why they were carved

so perfectly in stone.

Were the Costa Rican spheres
intended as weapons?

Were the churches at Lalibela
carved deep underground

because there were no other
building materials available?

And what about
the Winchester Mystery House?

Perhaps like the Great Pyramid,
they were built in such a way

that their very construction
would be considered a miracle.

Bait for mankind's
insatiable curiosity.

Something deliberately wondrous
and intended to be among...

[whispers]:
The UnXplained.

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