All language subtitles for Expedition.Files.S03E08.1080p.HEVC.x265-MeGusta[EZTVx.to]

On this episode of "expedition files,"

in 1937, the hindenburg
disaster shocked the world...

when a fiery explosion
ended the age of airships.

There's smoke and there's flames now.

The humanity.

Was it a tragic accident...

Or a deadly act of sabotage?

Then, in 1967, the Patterson-gimlin film

captures this iconic footage,
which some believe proves

the existence of bigfoot.

Now, 21st-century technology
may determine the truth.

And in 525 bc, an army of
50,000 persians is said to be

swallowed by the desert sands,

vanishing off the face of the earth.

Now, we uncover a shocking
theory that may reveal

the truth behind this epic myth.

In the corridors of time...

Are mysteries that defy explanation.

Now, I'm traveling through history itself

on a search for the truth.

New evidence.

Shocking answers.

I'm Josh gates,

and these...

Are my "expedition files."

There's nothing simpler
than true or false, right?

My name is Josh, true.

I've got a thing for safari
shirts, also clearly true.

I've been to outer space,
false, but come on, NASA,

hook a guy up.

In short, something's a fact or it's not.

It's simple.

Except, of course, when it isn't.

The cause of certain events,
or even whether they happened

at all, have been debated
for years, centuries,

even millennia.

And tonight, we examine
three such mysteries that live

in the blurry margins of history.

But when new evidence
brings these stories into focus,

what will be revealed? Fact or fiction?

We begin on may 3, 1937,
in Frankfurt, Germany.

The massive zeppelin
behind me has just completed

its final test flight and
is preparing to dock.

In a few hours, it will begin
its transatlantic journey

to the United States, carrying
61 crew and 36 passengers.

What they don't know
is that in just three days,

35 of those aboard will perish

in one of the most infamous
air disasters in history,

because this is the hindenburg.

And for nearly a century,
one critical question

will remain unanswered.

What is the cause of her
catastrophic explosion?

But thanks to cutting-edge
science and an ingenious

experiment, we may finally have
an explanation for the disaster

that shook the skies.

The story of the hindenburg
begins in late 1800s Germany,

where retired military officer
count ferdinand Von zeppelin

envisions a future
where the skies are filled

with massive flying machines.

Blimps were already on
the scene, balloons made

of rubberized fabric, which were largely

at the whims of the weather.

But Von zeppelin intends
to change the status quo

by constructing rigid-framed
vessels known as "airships."

In 1900, three years before
the Wright brothers famously

take flight, Von zeppelin's first ship,

the 420-foot-long lz 1, takes to the skies.

With a lightweight metal frame,
the propeller-powered craft

uses two state-of-the-art
internal combustion engines

mounted on the hull.

And he so-humbly calls it the "zeppelin."

It's the dawn of the
golden age of airships.

By the 1910s, zeppelin's
idea has taken off, literally.

Hundreds of airships are
being used for exploration

and military operations,

and plans are underway to use them

for commercial travel.

Then, in 1928, a zeppelin
makes history with the first regular

transatlantic route to New York.

Cheap, it is not.

Round-trip tickets go for about $3,000,

or more than 50 grand today.

On board, passengers wear
formal attire and dine on fine

cuisine while gliding
thousands of feet above the earth

in passenger cabins
the size of train carriages.

The only place near Manhattan
with enough space to dock

the ship is a field at
the U.S. naval air station

in lakehurst, New Jersey.

At one point, it was proposed
that zeppelins could dock

atop the mast at the
empire state building,

something that's tested only once.

It turns out disembarking
on a windswept gangplank

a thousand feet off the ground

is a bit too sporty for elite travelers.

In the 1930s, the zeppelin
company constructs

two monumental
airships, the graf zeppelin ii

and her sister ship, the hindenburg.

Each the length of two
and a half football fields,

the twin airships are 17 times
larger than the first zeppelin,

making them the
biggest ever to fly by far.

On march 4th, 1936,
the hindenburg embarks

on her maiden flight,

a three-hour trip from
friedrichshafen, Germany.

Though the hindenburg is
originally designed to use

nonflammable helium as
its lifting gas, the supply is

limited in Germany, due
to American sanctions.

German engineers instead
decide to fill the airship

with highly flammable hydrogen.

It's a decision that will prove fateful.

And there's another last-minute
change to the hindenburg.

Germany's ruling Nazi
party insists the airship be

decorated with large swastikas,

showcasing the third
reich's power to the world.

Over the next year,
the hindenburg makes

63 commercial flights,

transporting more than 1,000
passengers across the Atlantic.

On may 3, 1937, the hindenburg departs

from Frankfurt, Germany, to New Jersey.

Among the 36 passengers
on board are prestigious figures

like German writer, leonhard adelt,

American perfume
executive, burtis Dolan,

and possibly the best
airship pilot in the world,

Ernst a. Lehmann,

who joins this journey as an observer.

Also on board is Joseph
späh, a vaudeville acrobat

and comedian returning to the U.S.

After a European tour.

He plans to surprise his children

with a new family pet, a
German Shepherd named Ulla,

currently housed in
the airship's freight area.

But on the main part of
the ship, passengers step

into a five-star hotel in the sky.

Inside the hindenburg's massive
hull are two decks with about

6,000 square feet of living
space, an airborne mansion

with 25 sleeping cabins,
elegant dining rooms

and plush salons.

May 6, 1937.

The hindenburg has nearly
completed her transatlantic

flight and passengers are
preparing for their arrival

in the United States.

- Welcome home, sir.
- Thank you.

The turbulence is due to stormy weather,

as we approach the naval air station

in lakehurst, New Jersey,
now just moments away.

At 7:21 P.M., the
hindenburg begins its final

descent, ready to
connect to a mooring mast,

a towering steel structure
built to tether the ship

securely in place.

It drops two mooring
ropes, starboard and port,

to the ground.

Below, 90-plus crew wait,
quickly working to attach

those ropes to the tall metal mast

and other anchors on the ground.

Exactly four minutes later,
at 7:25, disaster strikes.

The ship is rocked by a massive jolt.

Alarmed, Joseph späh and
the other passengers feel

sudden intense heat and the airship

rapidly descending.

As flames begin to
engulf the hindenburg,

the passengers panic.

Fearing he'll never see his family again,

späh, the vaudeville actor,
uses his training and reflexes

to execute his most daring
performance by blindly jumping

out the window and praying
he can survive the fall.

It burst into flames.

It's fire, and it's blazing.

It's blazing terrible! My...

The humanity...

In less than a minute, flames consume

the colossal airship.

Of the 97 people on board,
35 perish, as well as one

member of the ground crew.

Given the scale of the explosion,

it's a miracle anyone survives.

And yet, 62 people
stagger from the wreckage.

Among them is Joseph späh,
whose acrobatic leap of faith

sent him plunging 20 feet.

By executing a barrel roll,
he escapes with only a broken

ankle and is reunited with his family.

Tragically, his dog Ulla is
not among the survivors,

nor are many others,

including perfume executive burtis Dolan

and world-class zeppelin
pilot Ernst a. Lehmann.

The hindenburg disaster
becomes worldwide news,

shattering public confidence
in zeppelins and effectively

ending the age of the airship.

German and American
authorities immediately launch

investigations into what
or who sparked the Blaze.

One of the first theories, sabotage.

Because the hindenburg
displayed swastikas,

the zeppelin company has
received threatening anti-Nazi

letters in recent months.

And among the early suspects,
hindenburg crew member

Eric spehl, based on his alleged
anti-Nazi views and access

to gas cell 4, the area of the zeppelin

where the fire began.

But when investigators find
no physical evidence of a bomb

in the wreckage, spehl is exonerated.

Investigators then move on
to our acrobat, Joseph späh,

not for his politics, but
for his repeated trips

to the cargo hold near the airship's stern.

His movements looked
suspicious, until it's revealed

that he'd only been
visiting his beloved dog.

Another theory points to flammable paint

on the zeppelin's exterior
as a potential culprit.

But that too is debunked when
it's revealed the ignited paint

burns too slowly to match

the hindenburg's rapid incineration.

Ultimately, it's one of the architects

of the hindenburg, Dr. Hugo
eckener, who comes up

with a credible theory about what started

the tragic chain of events.

It's his belief that a sharp
turn during the airship's

approach caused one of
its bracing wires to snap,

puncturing a gas cell
that led to a hydrogen leak.

One small leak, and it's
like a fuse to a powder keg.

The leaking hydrogen gas is
a disaster waiting to happen,

but there is still one critical question.

What ignites it?

After nearly a century, a
groundbreaking scientific

experiment may finally
prove the shocking cause

of the fiery explosion.

The explosive fate of
the hindenburg is one

of history's most infamous mysteries.

For decades, though, no one could prove

what ignited the explosion.

Almost immediately after the accident,

one theory gained popularity.

With the ship descending
through stormy and electrically

charged skies, many believed the culprit

was static electricity.

When static charges build up
on one surface and come close

to another surface
with a different charge,

they naturally try to balance out.

The excess electrons
jump across the gap

to neutralize the difference.

That sudden flow of electrons
is what creates a spark,

just like the shock you
feel when you shuffle across

a carpet and touch a doorknob.

The theory is that when
the mooring lines completed

the circuit between
the ship and the ground,

an instant static spark

mixed with the leaking
hydrogen, and boom.

But the problem is, it wasn't instant.

The explosion didn't
happen for several minutes

after the mooring lines were connected.

And so, for three-quarters of
a century, nobody could prove

static electricity was to blame.

But in 2021, Caltech professor
konstantinos giapis took

matters into his own
hands and conducted a bold

new experiment, recreating the disaster.

The hindenburg was
an engineering marvel

unmatched in the world.

And then it explodes
right during the landing.

It never made sense.

For my experiments, I built this scaffold

made of duralumin, the
same material that was used

on the hindenburg.

And then I recreated the skin
as best as I could using modern

chemical analysis techniques.

I found a rope that is
similar to what was used

at the hindenburg.

It's this thick rope that is braided.

Professor giapis added an
electric charge to the model

to mimic stormy atmospheric
conditions that existed that

night and connected the frame
of his model to the ground with

a rope, just as the crew

had done when the
hindenburg was landing.

When the mooring lines hit the ground,

then they connect the
interior part of the airship

to the ground.

In doing so, now you
create a device that is called

a "capacitor," which can
accumulate electricity.

Electrons from the ground
rushed across the ropes

into the frame while the skin
remained positively charged.

Then increased charges built
up on the surface of the airship,

creating an electrostatic imbalance

between the skin and the inner frame.

According to giapis, when
the imbalance became

too great, the electrons tried
to neutralize, leaping from

the framework to the skin of the ship.

That sudden leap of energy is the spark.

But there was also an
issue of how does the spark

find the leak?

Because the spark has
to happen there where

there is something to burn.

If the spark happened
in the front of the airship

and the leak was in its tail,
then there would be no fire.

The two have to connect.

The two have to happen
at the same position.

Then, giapis uncovered
something critical,

a design flaw that made
the entire airship a tinderbox.

The hindenburg's outer skin
was separated from its metal frame

with wooden pins, which
created tiny gaps where electric

charges could accumulate.

Those gaps became traps for electricity.

At every pin, pockets
of high voltage built up,

hundreds of potential sparks
scattered across the ship.

Giapis believes it
wasn't just one spark that

doomed the hindenburg, but
many, leaping wherever skin

and frame came close.

And one of them, at
the worst possible place,

ignited the leaking hydrogen.

Every few feet, you get
another spark, another spark.

So, you know, so there were
multiple sparks happening

all over the place.

So one of them happened to be
right there where the hydrogen,

you know, was mixed with
air and enough to ignite it.

So that explains how
the spark found the leak

in such an enormous airship.

So it was like a Eureka moment.

On the actual hindenburg,
it took exactly four minutes

between the mooring
ropes hitting the ground

and the moment it exploded.

In giapis' experiment, the time it took for

the electrical tension to build
up and ignite was, wait for it,

exactly four minutes.

This was a mystery that
puzzled the world for 84 years,

and I think I solved it.

In the end, the
hindenburg's downfall was

a perfect storm of atmospheric
conditions, design flaws,

and leaking hydrogen.

And while its fiery end marked
the death of the airship era,

its legacy still looms large,
a searing reminder of how

one spark can change
the course of history.

Welcome to bluff creek,
in northern California.

The date is October 20th, 1967,

and it's a picture-perfect day

here amidst the towering redwoods.

Which brings us to these two cowboys,

Roger Patterson and Bob gimlin.

And just over there, movement.

Not a deer, not a bird,
something much bigger.

Patterson rolls on his 16mm
camera and films 59 seconds of

shaky, grainy footage that will
make bigfoot a household name.

So, is it irrefutable proof of a sasquatch

or the most convincing
hoax ever staged?

Nearly 60 years later,
cutting-edge AI may finally

bring this mystery into focus.

According to Roger
Patterson and Bob gimlin,

after they filmed the creature,
it vanishes into the trees,

leaving behind trail of massive
footprints, each pressed deep

into the soft creek bed soil.

They say they race back
to town to develop the film,

and when the images finally
flicker to life, what they've

captured is beyond belief.

Roll it.

For a few fleeting moments,
a large, hairy biped strides

away from the camera,
glancing back as if it knows

it's being watched.

Its gait is unusual, arms swinging wide.

Sightings of a large
mystery primate in the woods

are nothing new.

This is just the latest chapter
in a story told for centuries.

Indigenous people have
shared tales of towering,

hairy creatures, sasquatch
haunting the forests.

Later, your European settlers
in america also told tales

of encounters with mysterious
giants lurking in the wild.

Then, in 1958, came the
first major modern evidence.

A road crew uncovered
massive human-like footprints

in the mud near bluff creek.

One worker, bulldozer operator
Jerry crew, made a plaster cast

of one of the prints and
took it to the local newspaper.

The story grabbed national
headlines, and with it,

the name "bigfoot" was born.

Which brings us back to 1967,

when bluff creek returns to the spotlight.

Patterson and gimlin say
they capture their now-iconic

footage right near where
the huge footprints were found

10 years earlier in the
middle of northern California's

six rivers national forest.

Bigfoot explodes into
the public's imagination.

Pop culture embraces the creature

with merchandise, exhibits,

and starring roles in monster movies.

And all across the
country, people are hooked.

True believers pack up
cameras and courage and head

for the woods, hoping to
capture their own proof.

But anthropologists
and biologists at the time

dismissed the film as a hoax.

Many claim bigfoot is just
a man in a gorilla suit filmed

at a distance with
intentionally shaky camerawork.

In particular, skeptics doubt the credibility

of Roger Patterson,

a rodeo cowboy and bigfoot enthusiast

who, coincidentally,
published a book on the subject

just a year before filming
his famous encounter.

They suggest Patterson staged
the footage to make money

and drum up publicity for his book.

But while fame certainly
finds Roger Patterson,

fortune never does.

Five years later in 1972,
he dies of cancer, broke,

but still defiantly clinging
to his bigfoot story

to his last breath.

Flash-forward to a decade
later and a bombshell claim.

Hollywood costume maker Philip
Morris says he sold Patterson

a gorilla suit in 1967.

Then in the 2000s, there's another

apparent revelation.

Gimlin's neighbor, Bob
hieronimus, actually says

he was the one inside the suit,
lumbering through bluff creek

in football pads to bulk up the shoulders.

While all of this seems
pretty damning, not so fast,

because the two
confessions don't match.

Philip and Bob describe
different materials,

colors, even suit designs.

With decades between the
event and these so-called tell-alls.

Some suspect the two
men are just separately trying

to cash in on the famous footage.

Some expert analysis
also seems to support

the film's authenticity.

Hollywood creature effects
and film restoration expert

bill munns conducts a forensic analysis

of the Patterson-gimlin film.

No costume from that era,
he concludes, could move

as naturally as the figure in the film.

After all, the most advanced
ape costumes in 1960s

were in "planet of the apes,"
and those required nearly 100

skilled artists, not something
amateur filmmakers like

Patterson and gimlin could replicate.

If munns is right, then
this isn't just a man in a suit.

It would be the most compelling
evidence of an undiscovered

creature ever caught on film.

And to this day, Patterson's partner,

Bob gimlin, also remains
steadfast that what

they captured on film in
bluff creek is the real deal.

That particular day on
October 20th, 1967...

My god, they really do exist!

No one's ever been able
to prove them right or wrong.

But now, cutting-edge
artificial intelligence

dissects the footage like never before.

Will it finally confirm
bigfoot or a big fraud?

For over 50 years, footage that
some contend is the definitive

proof of bigfoot has
been analyzed, debated,

debunked, and rebunked.

Not a real word, but you get the idea.

Now, scientists armed
with cutting-edge technology

are reexamining the film once more.

Leading the way is Dr. Jeff
meldrum, professor of anatomy

and anthropology at
Idaho state university.

Now, in the age of artificial
intelligence, the prospect is

very real that someone could
take the Patterson-gimlin film

and instruct AI to, quote,
"clean it up," to create

the clearest version and
make a definitive statement

of the credibility of the
Patterson-gimlin film.

But there is one major
challenge to a definitive

reexamination of the footage...

the original film reel
is said to be missing.

Sometime in the mid 1990s,
it apparently disappears

from a film vault.

The fact of the matter is, the original film

is no longer available.

And so we are left with the
numerous copies that have

been made over the
years, in many instances,

copies of copies of copies.

And of course, with
each copying process,

the resulting images are rather
degraded and have lost a lot

of clarity that was present in the original.

And that has historically
produced some very misleading

conclusions and inferences
drawn from the film.

Dr. Meldrum set out to rebuild
the Patterson-gimlin film frame

by frame, correcting errors
from decades of copying.

And to do so, he returned to
bill munns, the special effects

expert who had
previously analyzed the film

and accumulated dozens of copies

of it during the process.

In undertaking this
project, bill very carefully

and precisely created
high-resolution photographic

images of individual film
frames, creating an archive

that we've been able
to use in this project.

Armed with the highest resolution
images of each film frame,

meldrum worked with
artificial intelligence specialist,

Isaac tian, to enhance
the film as never before.

With his talents, Isaac was
able to stabilize these images,

removed much of the
motion jitter and optimized

the information that
was in the existing copies

of the film without adding
any extraneous information.

This remarkably stable
and clear depiction

allowed us to render

a version that's as good,
certainly, if not better

than the original film strip.

The results?

The clearest version of
the Patterson-gimlin film

ever seen.

Take a look for yourself.

To some experts, this
stabilized footage has

the effect of demystifying
the Patterson-gimlin film,

revealing a very human-looking
figure crossing the creek.

In other words, a man in a suit.

But the trained eyes of
Jeff meldrum see something

very different.

We can observe not only
the muscle groups, but we can

see the contraction in the
movements of the joints,

whether it's the quadriceps and the thigh,

it's the tightening of the
hamstrings and the action

of the tendon across the knee joint.

You can see the breast tissue
sitting upon the underlying

muscle of the pectoralis major.

These are not features that are...

Easily, if at all possible,
incorporate into a costume.

This is a real flesh-and-bones
organism that is making its way

across the sandbar.

In my mind, there is just no
way that this could be a hoax.

Dr. Meldrum may be convinced
the Patterson-gimlin film is

proof of bigfoot, but many of his peers

remain extremely skeptical.

They point out that in more
than half a century since

the footage was filmed,
no physical remains,

scat, or DNA of a bigfoot-like creature

has ever been scientifically validated.

What is not in doubt is that
the iconic footage has left

a bigfoot-sized print on
our collective imagination.

So much so that in 2025,
lawmakers in Sacramento even

introduced a bill to
declare bigfoot California's

official cryptid.

No word yet on whether the creature

will show up to accept the honor.

Welcome to Egypt, 525 bc.

These soldiers are part of a
50,000-strong persian army.

They're on a mission to cross
Egypt's punishing western

desert to crush the people of siwa,

but they'll never get there.

Legend says a savage
sandstorm swallows them whole,

an entire army vanishing
off the face of the earth.

It's one of the ancient world's
most baffling disappearances,

but a millennia later,

a new discovery in the shifting sands

will blow that old story
away, like dust in the wind.

In the 6th century bc, the persian empire

has never been stronger.

Under king cambyses ii,
the empire stretches from

the mediterranean to the
edge of India, a vast swath

of the ancient world all
under persian control.

The king's next target
is Egypt, a land rich

in grain and gold.

Then fate hands him an opportunity.

A young and inexperienced
pharaoh named psamtik III

takes the Egyptian throne.

Cambyses doesn't hesitate.

He launches a full-scale invasion.

The result is a brutal clash of empires.

Thousands fall in battle.

And when the blood and dust settle,

persia stands victorious.

The mighty kingdom of
Egypt is reduced to just another

province in cambyses'
ever-growing empire.

Egypt is also now under
the thumb of a foreign king

who doesn't speak their language,

doesn't honor their rituals,

and doesn't respect their religion.

For the Egyptians, things
go from bad to worse.

Persian governors
and tax collectors sweep

through the country like vultures,

bleeding the land and its people dry.

But some in Egypt won't go quietly.

Way out west, tucked
deep in the harsh desert,

lies the siwa oasis,

a lush outpost famous for
its date palms, fresh water,

and, most importantly,
the sacred temple of amun.

The people of siwa, fiercely
independent and deeply

religious, resist the king's tax collectors,

saying they won't pay.

When cambyses hears
about their defiance,

it is said that he's furious.

He dispatches 50,000
soldiers with a single mission...

crush the rebels, enslave the locals,

and tear their beloved
temple to the ground.

Because nothing says, "I'm in charge,"

like destroying a sacred site.

The earliest account of what
happens next comes from

the Greek historian hero dot us,
writing around 100 years later.

Cambyses commands his
50,000 soldiers to march 550 miles

across the western
desert to the siwa oasis.

After seven days, the army reaches

their first way point, the
village of kharga oasis.

It's apparently the last
stop the soldiers ever make.

As the army marches
on, hero dot us writes that

the warriors are confronted
by a cataclysmic event.

A wind arose from the
south, strong and deadly,

bringing with it vast
columns of whirling sand,

which entirely covered up
the troops and caused them

wholly to disappear.

A massive tornado-like
sandstorm swallows

these vast forces, burying them alive.

For 2,000 years, this is the story.

An entire persian army
wiped from existence

by mother nature.

But did it really happen?

Now, a surprising discovery
lets us peer through the sands

of time to reveal the truth.

According to the Greek
historian hero dot us, in 525 bc,

an army vanishes without a trace

deep in the Egyptian desert.

But in the centuries since,

many have questioned the account.

Herodotus is considered
the world's first formal

historian, but much of what
he records in his so-called

"histories" is fantastical, to say the least.

He writes of gold-digging
ants in India, a tribe of headless

people in Libya, not to
mention flying snakes in Arabia.

So is this army-swallowing
sandstorm just another

brazen fabrication?

Well, in the last few
decades, there's been a flurry

of digging to find out.

In 1983, American journalist
Gary chafetz spots piles of

rocks marking an ancient
trail through the Egyptian desert

70 miles south of siwa oasis,

the army's supposed destination.

Chafetz launches an
archaeological search,

but comes up empty, finding
no evidence of the lost soldiers.

But then, in 2009,

a potentially huge break in the case.

Italian filmmakers,
the castiglione brothers,

claim to uncover human
remains, weapons,

and jewelry approximately
60 miles south of siwa,

proclaiming they have
found the missing army.

It's an incredible revelation.

It turns out maybe too incredible.

Many experts immediately
cast doubt on the significance

of the brothers' findings,
noting that the fragmentary

skeletal remains could not be identified.

Egyptian authorities
agree, noting the dig was

completely unauthorized.

But now, egyptology professor
olaf kaper has uncovered

groundbreaking evidence
that may finally provide answers

to this ancient mystery.

So the story of the
lost army of the persians

is a fantastic story.

It's a story that has really
triggered the imagination

of so many people for a long time.

I work on excavations, and
while working in the south

of Egypt in the dakhla oasis,
I found some information that

sheds a completely new light
on the story of the lost army

of cambyses.

While we excavated in the dakhla oasis,

we found the temple
built by petubastis iv.

We have his full name on
the facade of that gateway.

During persia's invasion of
the region in the 6th century,

petubastis was an obscure
Egyptian ruler with a kingdom

deep in the western desert,
far from persian control.

He and his people were
always considered minor players,

nowhere near as
menacing as the siwa forces

that the persian army
was, according to hero dot us,

sent to subjugate.

But now, with the discovery of
an expansive temple dedicated

to petubastis, professor
kaper believes this "minor ruler"

wasn't so minor after all.

And, plot twist, all of this
may also finally explain

what really happened
to those 50,000 persians.

We see that he built a
temple out in the dakhla oasis.

So what could that possibly mean?

And this was, to me, a
kind of Eureka moment that,

my god, it has something
to do with the lost army story.

I believe petubastis was
leading an insurrection

against persian rule.

The persians were still in Egypt.

They were controlling towns
in the delta, whereas petubastis

was trying to control
part of the south of Egypt.

The oasis provided the inhabited area

just outside Egypt.

That allowed petubastis
to organize his troops.

Professor kaper's theory
is that it's more likely that

king cambyses sent his
army of 50,000 soldiers

to dakhla oasis, and not to siwa oasis,

the way the story was originally told.

But the same question remains.

Was the persian army really
wiped out by a sandstorm?

Well, now, the dust is about to clear.

Do you ever remember
something from the past that never

happened at all?

Well, you might be suffering
from the "mandela effect,"

a phenomenon where large groups
of people remember things very

differently from how
they actually happened.

It's named after Nelson Mandela,

coined in 2009 after researcher
Fiona broome observed that many

firmly believed mandela
died in prison in the 1980s,

when he was still very much alive.

Mandela's alleged death became

just the first of many other examples.

They run the gamut from
the monopoly man's monocle...

he didn't have one...

to Darth Vader saying,
"Luke, I am your father."

He actually says, "no, I am your father."

You can argue the mandela
effect shows us that history

isn't written by the Victors
as much as by your own,

sometimes very faulty, memories.

The sixth century fate of a
50,000-strong persian army

that was said to be swallowed
whole by a sandstorm

has long been debated.

Professor olaf kaper believes
he's finally found the truth.

The story of the sandstorm
is just impossible to my mind.

Sandstorms are a
well-known fact in the desert.

It's a very nasty event.

They make the air thick.

Everything becomes brown.

No light, and you can't see.

A heavy sandstorm is something awful.

It can disorient you, but it doesn't kill you.

It just doesn't happen.

I've traveled in the desert,
and I've had many sandstorms

myself in the western desert of Egypt,

where they can last for days.

They can be a major hazard
for any expedition, but it doesn't

kill an expedition.

It doesn't mean that the
expedition gets covered

in a huge sand dune.

It takes years for a
sand dune to cover, say,

a building or a village.

It doesn't happen to a
marching army or 50,000 men.

That's simply impossible.

Professor kaper thinks the
persian army wasn't crushed

by a sandstorm, but it was
still crushed by the forces

of the rebel petubastis.

Once under appreciated,
now not so much.

I believe the lost army went
out from thebes towards dakhla,

and petubastis is there waiting.

And there must have
been a battle somewhere

in the desert, and that's why
the army never came back.

The terrain is suitable for a small army

defeating a larger army.

After the event, the
persians tried to distort

the actual course of events

and change it into an act
of god, an act of nature,

where a sandstorm stopped
the course of the army,

because the humiliating defeat

of the persian army was
not something that, well,

people wanted to be advertised.

So, professor copper
believes history got it all wrong.

The story of the killer
sandstorm is false...

it was created as a
smoke screen, or I guess,

sand screen, to protect the reputation

of the defeated persian army.

It's a compelling explanation,
but currently it remains

just a theory.

No definitive persian
remains have been unearthed,

but professor kaper is hopeful
to find them, searching through

the vast desert for
that single grain of truth.

I'm Josh gates, and I'll see
you on the next expedition.