1 00:00:00,001 --> 00:00:03,291 WILLIAM SHATNER: A bloodsucking vampire 2 00:00:03,292 --> 00:00:06,000 haunting a decaying cemetery, 3 00:00:06,208 --> 00:00:11,167 creepy clowns abducting children into the woods, 4 00:00:11,333 --> 00:00:16,083 and a video game so dangerous, it could kill you. 5 00:00:17,125 --> 00:00:20,458 Have you ever been warned about conjuring an angry spirit 6 00:00:20,625 --> 00:00:23,042 by repeating the words "Bloody Mary" 7 00:00:23,208 --> 00:00:25,000 in front of a mirror? 8 00:00:25,167 --> 00:00:29,500 Or maybe you've considered the possibility of a giant beast 9 00:00:29,667 --> 00:00:31,333 named Bigfoot. 10 00:00:31,500 --> 00:00:35,458 These are just a few examples of modern mythology 11 00:00:35,625 --> 00:00:38,083 called "urban legends." 12 00:00:38,250 --> 00:00:41,333 For centuries, humans have told extraordinary tales 13 00:00:41,458 --> 00:00:45,958 of mystical creatures and supernatural events. 14 00:00:46,125 --> 00:00:49,500 And today we continue the tradition 15 00:00:49,667 --> 00:00:53,333 by sharing stories of things like creepy encounters 16 00:00:53,500 --> 00:00:55,375 and cursed objects 17 00:00:55,542 --> 00:00:59,792 and inhuman entities. 18 00:00:59,958 --> 00:01:04,667 Where do these urban legends come from, 19 00:01:04,833 --> 00:01:06,542 and could they be true? 20 00:01:08,042 --> 00:01:11,375 Well, that is what we'll try and find out. 21 00:01:11,542 --> 00:01:13,500 ? ? 22 00:01:25,875 --> 00:01:28,833 SHATNER: It is said that aspects of what make us human 23 00:01:29,042 --> 00:01:31,833 are the capacity for abstract thought, 24 00:01:32,042 --> 00:01:35,167 moral reasoning, and creative expression, 25 00:01:35,292 --> 00:01:38,708 which may explain our habit of sharing outrageous stories 26 00:01:38,875 --> 00:01:42,792 that make us question the nature of reality itself. 27 00:01:43,833 --> 00:01:47,625 Might the legendary Bigfoot wander the Pacific Northwest? 28 00:01:47,792 --> 00:01:48,872 (creature growling) 29 00:01:48,875 --> 00:01:51,208 Could Area 51 be hiding 30 00:01:51,375 --> 00:01:53,583 extraterrestrial secrets? 31 00:01:53,708 --> 00:01:58,458 Or are there places where you can really stumble upon 32 00:01:58,625 --> 00:02:01,167 a portal to hell? 33 00:02:01,168 --> 00:02:04,874 These are but a few of the countless questions 34 00:02:04,875 --> 00:02:10,292 raised by the thrilling tales we call urban legends. 35 00:02:10,458 --> 00:02:13,000 An urban legend is a modern folktale. 36 00:02:13,167 --> 00:02:14,875 And we tell them for the reasons 37 00:02:14,876 --> 00:02:16,499 that people have always told folktales. 38 00:02:16,500 --> 00:02:18,833 They are there to entertain. 39 00:02:19,042 --> 00:02:21,167 They are there to horrify us. 40 00:02:21,375 --> 00:02:24,875 A good urban legend is based on being plausible- 41 00:02:25,042 --> 00:02:26,292 or nearly plausible- 42 00:02:26,500 --> 00:02:29,417 but also very unexpected and-and unusual. 43 00:02:29,583 --> 00:02:31,458 And the best ones tend to work 44 00:02:31,459 --> 00:02:34,082 because they're not something that can be easily verified. 45 00:02:34,083 --> 00:02:35,917 I think that's part of the appeal. 46 00:02:36,083 --> 00:02:37,643 We are attracted to the mystery. 47 00:02:37,644 --> 00:02:40,374 TOK THOMPSON: Urban legends come out of nowhere 48 00:02:40,375 --> 00:02:42,000 and spread very, very quickly. 49 00:02:42,208 --> 00:02:44,833 A lot of these legends are about scary things. 50 00:02:45,042 --> 00:02:46,833 Monsters, ghosts, 51 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,208 horrible things that could go wrong. 52 00:02:49,375 --> 00:02:51,833 People are expressing their fears. 53 00:02:52,042 --> 00:02:53,833 So there could be somebody saying 54 00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:56,958 they saw something strange in a particular area, 55 00:02:56,959 --> 00:02:58,832 and then these stories become repeated, 56 00:02:58,833 --> 00:03:00,250 sometimes embellished, 57 00:03:00,417 --> 00:03:02,947 oftentimes kind of made more and more compelling 58 00:03:03,083 --> 00:03:04,875 -as time goes on. -(girl screams) 59 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:09,458 The real heyday of urban legends was the 1970s and the 1980s. 60 00:03:09,625 --> 00:03:11,750 The legends circulating at that time 61 00:03:11,917 --> 00:03:15,542 were stories like the vanishing hitchhiker, 62 00:03:15,543 --> 00:03:18,541 which is about the motorist who drives past a young woman 63 00:03:18,542 --> 00:03:22,625 on the side of the road and she asks for a ride. 64 00:03:22,626 --> 00:03:25,166 And when he gets to the destination, she's gone. 65 00:03:25,167 --> 00:03:27,625 Usually, he finds out that a young woman died 66 00:03:27,792 --> 00:03:30,750 at that exact curve in the road some years before 67 00:03:30,958 --> 00:03:33,667 and this happens regularly. 68 00:03:33,668 --> 00:03:36,374 EMILY ZARKA: When I think of urban legends, I definitely think about 69 00:03:36,375 --> 00:03:39,042 the story of the teenage couple making out in the car 70 00:03:39,043 --> 00:03:40,666 and then, you know, being accosted by someone 71 00:03:40,667 --> 00:03:43,333 with a hook hand and murdering them. 72 00:03:44,458 --> 00:03:47,108 There will always be legends we can't fully explain. 73 00:03:47,167 --> 00:03:49,125 I think that part of human curiosity 74 00:03:49,126 --> 00:03:51,207 is that we want to believe in the unknown. 75 00:03:51,208 --> 00:03:55,333 SHATNER: While some urban legends seem too far-fetched to be true, 76 00:03:55,458 --> 00:03:59,292 there are, in fact, stories whose origins 77 00:03:59,458 --> 00:04:02,000 are shockingly real. 78 00:04:02,001 --> 00:04:03,541 JOSEPH LAYCOCK: Urban legends could be 79 00:04:03,542 --> 00:04:05,250 based on some sort of true event, 80 00:04:05,417 --> 00:04:07,500 and it got, perhaps, exaggerated, 81 00:04:07,667 --> 00:04:09,708 or the names and places were changed. 82 00:04:09,875 --> 00:04:14,167 One example is that there are urban legends about alligators 83 00:04:14,168 --> 00:04:16,457 that have gotten flushed down the toilet as babies 84 00:04:16,458 --> 00:04:20,542 and now live in the sewers and eat sewer workers. 85 00:04:20,750 --> 00:04:23,167 A.J. GENTILE: Alligators living in the sewers. 86 00:04:23,333 --> 00:04:25,292 Now, that urban legend caught fire 87 00:04:25,458 --> 00:04:28,833 because people really were bringing home baby alligators. 88 00:04:29,042 --> 00:04:30,375 So it evolves from there. 89 00:04:30,376 --> 00:04:31,999 You start to think, "Well, if that happens, 90 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:33,125 then this can happen." 91 00:04:33,292 --> 00:04:36,000 So a baby alligator suddenly becomes 92 00:04:36,208 --> 00:04:37,917 a giant killer out in the sewers. 93 00:04:37,918 --> 00:04:41,666 THOMPSON: The fun thing about urban legends 94 00:04:41,667 --> 00:04:43,750 is they often overlap with reality. 95 00:04:43,917 --> 00:04:47,167 Maybe worries about pollution or government testing 96 00:04:47,168 --> 00:04:49,249 could be expressed in contemporary legends 97 00:04:49,250 --> 00:04:51,000 about mutant creatures that have 98 00:04:51,001 --> 00:04:52,957 grown up around these testing sites. 99 00:04:52,958 --> 00:04:56,000 We know that radiation does cause mutations. 100 00:04:56,125 --> 00:04:57,685 We've seen this with Chernobyl. 101 00:04:57,875 --> 00:05:01,000 These are real concerns on real contemporary issues 102 00:05:01,167 --> 00:05:04,542 that people express very often in these narrative forms. 103 00:05:04,543 --> 00:05:09,124 SHATNER: Are urban legends just modern-day fairy tales 104 00:05:09,125 --> 00:05:11,333 meant to entertain the human psyche? 105 00:05:11,542 --> 00:05:13,875 Or could they be a kind of warning 106 00:05:14,042 --> 00:05:17,542 to protect us from the strange and unknown world around us? 107 00:05:17,708 --> 00:05:21,833 Perhaps the answer lies with one seemingly impossible tale 108 00:05:21,958 --> 00:05:27,667 about how a human being can suddenly erupt into flames. 109 00:05:29,125 --> 00:05:32,500 CHAD LEWIS: Spontaneous human combustion is the urban legend 110 00:05:32,708 --> 00:05:35,375 that through some chemical reaction, 111 00:05:35,542 --> 00:05:39,250 the human body will spontaneously burst into flames, 112 00:05:39,375 --> 00:05:42,625 leaving the person nothing more than a mound of ash. 113 00:05:42,833 --> 00:05:47,042 The belief that you can spontaneously combust 114 00:05:47,208 --> 00:05:49,375 goes back hundreds of years. 115 00:05:49,542 --> 00:05:52,708 In the 1800s, some of the most popular writers 116 00:05:52,875 --> 00:05:55,958 talked about spontaneous human combustion. 117 00:05:56,125 --> 00:05:59,958 Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, 118 00:06:00,125 --> 00:06:03,792 they all depicted spontaneous human combustion 119 00:06:03,875 --> 00:06:05,250 in their writings. 120 00:06:05,417 --> 00:06:07,292 We have to wonder, what is it 121 00:06:07,458 --> 00:06:09,500 about spontaneous human combustion 122 00:06:09,625 --> 00:06:12,208 that has made it such an enduring legend 123 00:06:12,375 --> 00:06:15,583 -over these centuries? -(woman screams) 124 00:06:19,594 --> 00:06:23,374 SHATNER: Authorities rush to the home 125 00:06:23,375 --> 00:06:26,958 of 76-year-old retiree Michael Faherty. 126 00:06:27,083 --> 00:06:30,625 Once inside, they're faced with a tragic scene. 127 00:06:30,792 --> 00:06:35,542 Please be advised, some images may be disturbing. 128 00:06:35,708 --> 00:06:39,333 LARRY ARNOLD: Inside Mr. Faherty's home, 129 00:06:39,334 --> 00:06:41,707 it was said that his body was burned badly, 130 00:06:41,708 --> 00:06:44,958 as was the ceiling above him and the floor beneath him. 131 00:06:45,083 --> 00:06:47,375 Accelerants were searched for, 132 00:06:47,542 --> 00:06:49,708 thinking this might be a case of arson. 133 00:06:49,875 --> 00:06:52,542 Accelerants were not found, so that was ruled out. 134 00:06:52,708 --> 00:06:57,000 The medical examiner was Dr. McLoughlin. 135 00:06:57,001 --> 00:06:59,457 After nine months of investigating the case, 136 00:06:59,458 --> 00:07:02,250 he declared it to be, remarkably, 137 00:07:02,375 --> 00:07:05,083 death by spontaneous human combustion. 138 00:07:05,084 --> 00:07:07,874 What the first responders found 139 00:07:07,875 --> 00:07:10,285 in answering the call at the Faherty residence 140 00:07:10,292 --> 00:07:14,708 was a mystery then and remains a mystery to this day. 141 00:07:14,709 --> 00:07:18,249 ANDREA KITTA: The coroner decides that this spark 142 00:07:18,250 --> 00:07:20,125 has come from within the body. 143 00:07:20,250 --> 00:07:22,000 It couldn't be from anything else. 144 00:07:22,125 --> 00:07:24,292 It has to have come from within. 145 00:07:24,293 --> 00:07:25,874 We'd like to think that if there's a fire, 146 00:07:25,875 --> 00:07:27,374 there's a way for us to get away, 147 00:07:27,375 --> 00:07:29,458 but the idea that the fire is in us, 148 00:07:29,583 --> 00:07:32,113 that is really kind of scary, I think, to everyone. 149 00:07:32,114 --> 00:07:34,457 SHATNER: The thought that a human being 150 00:07:34,458 --> 00:07:36,328 can mysteriously burst into flames 151 00:07:36,333 --> 00:07:38,833 is truly alarming. 152 00:07:39,042 --> 00:07:41,333 But what could have led this coroner 153 00:07:41,458 --> 00:07:44,208 to deliver such a bizarre diagnosis? 154 00:07:44,375 --> 00:07:46,958 Well, as with many urban legends, 155 00:07:47,125 --> 00:07:52,083 this strange event seems to have happened more than once. 156 00:07:53,500 --> 00:07:56,750 One of the better-known cases of spontaneous human combustion 157 00:07:56,792 --> 00:08:01,208 occurred to Mary Hardy Reeser in July 1951. 158 00:08:02,250 --> 00:08:05,708 Photos show two firemen shoveling up her ashen remains. 159 00:08:05,875 --> 00:08:09,500 The entire pile of ash weighed about eight pounds, 160 00:08:09,708 --> 00:08:12,667 a remarkable weight reduction overnight. 161 00:08:12,875 --> 00:08:15,667 More remarkable was the lack of fire and heat damage 162 00:08:15,875 --> 00:08:19,167 to surrounding materials, including daybed linen 163 00:08:19,375 --> 00:08:21,667 only a few feet from the fire scene. 164 00:08:21,875 --> 00:08:24,500 This mystified the local St. Petersburg police 165 00:08:24,667 --> 00:08:26,375 and fire departments. 166 00:08:26,542 --> 00:08:29,250 So mystifying that the police department 167 00:08:29,417 --> 00:08:32,667 kept this an open file that is unsolved. 168 00:08:32,668 --> 00:08:34,707 That's how extreme this fire scene was 169 00:08:34,708 --> 00:08:36,542 in trying to explain it. 170 00:08:36,750 --> 00:08:39,520 SHATNER: Remarkably, over the last three centuries, 171 00:08:39,625 --> 00:08:41,625 there have been around 200 reports 172 00:08:41,750 --> 00:08:44,750 of people allegedly bursting into flames. 173 00:08:44,917 --> 00:08:46,667 (man screaming) 174 00:08:46,668 --> 00:08:49,082 SHATNER: And until we can properly understand this medical mystery, 175 00:08:49,083 --> 00:08:52,708 spontaneous human combustion will remain 176 00:08:52,875 --> 00:08:56,917 an urban legend that continues to smolder. 177 00:08:57,083 --> 00:08:58,542 (garbled screaming) 178 00:08:58,543 --> 00:09:00,332 The existence of the legend I don't think 179 00:09:00,333 --> 00:09:02,000 is a mystery at all. 180 00:09:02,167 --> 00:09:06,833 Spontaneous human combustion has been consistently reported 181 00:09:07,042 --> 00:09:10,125 time and again in different literary means, 182 00:09:10,292 --> 00:09:13,500 reported by doctors, reported by police officers. 183 00:09:13,708 --> 00:09:16,000 These are authoritative accounts. 184 00:09:16,125 --> 00:09:19,958 And it really puts spontaneous human combustion 185 00:09:20,125 --> 00:09:21,333 into the category 186 00:09:21,542 --> 00:09:26,167 of a weird thing that keeps happening. 187 00:09:26,375 --> 00:09:29,875 How many times do we need to see a human body 188 00:09:30,042 --> 00:09:34,250 disintegrate into ash to wonder what's going on here? 189 00:09:41,208 --> 00:09:44,667 SHATNER: This sprawling Victorian-era graveyard 190 00:09:44,833 --> 00:09:49,125 is the final resting place of around 170,000 people. 191 00:09:49,292 --> 00:09:52,333 It was first consecrated in 1839 192 00:09:52,542 --> 00:09:57,083 as part of a plan to create seven new cemeteries in London. 193 00:09:57,208 --> 00:10:02,625 Its age and unique design create an otherworldly space 194 00:10:02,792 --> 00:10:06,917 where the living and the dead come to meet. 195 00:10:07,875 --> 00:10:09,805 Highgate Cemetery was first laid out 196 00:10:09,833 --> 00:10:12,500 in the mid-19th century. 197 00:10:12,708 --> 00:10:16,958 There's avenues and there's circles 198 00:10:17,125 --> 00:10:21,667 and there's winding paths, and you can get very lost there. 199 00:10:21,833 --> 00:10:24,125 It's a very creepy place 200 00:10:24,292 --> 00:10:27,458 because the Victorians were obsessed with death, 201 00:10:27,625 --> 00:10:31,458 and they loved creating necropolises, 202 00:10:31,625 --> 00:10:33,500 and that was one of them. 203 00:10:33,708 --> 00:10:35,917 So there's so many kind of spooky, dark, 204 00:10:36,083 --> 00:10:40,375 moss-covered columns and tombs. 205 00:10:40,542 --> 00:10:42,208 You always do feel 206 00:10:42,209 --> 00:10:45,249 that there's just something lurking around the corner- 207 00:10:45,250 --> 00:10:49,500 if not behind a headstone- waiting to jump out at you. 208 00:10:49,501 --> 00:10:53,291 SHATNER: While Highgate's Victorian monuments to the dead 209 00:10:53,292 --> 00:10:55,208 create a spooky impression, 210 00:10:55,417 --> 00:10:58,458 the cemetery is perhaps most famous for being the home 211 00:10:58,583 --> 00:11:01,667 of a monstrous urban legend. 212 00:11:01,750 --> 00:11:04,833 It is said that this old graveyard 213 00:11:05,042 --> 00:11:08,208 is the haven of a bloodthirsty creature 214 00:11:08,375 --> 00:11:12,125 known as the Highgate Vampire. 215 00:11:12,292 --> 00:11:13,958 TONY McMAHON: In 1970, 216 00:11:14,125 --> 00:11:16,250 there were rumors that circulated 217 00:11:16,417 --> 00:11:20,125 that a vampire had been seen in the cemetery. 218 00:11:20,250 --> 00:11:23,000 The Highgate Vampire story happens at a time 219 00:11:23,167 --> 00:11:28,167 when there's a lot of interest in the occult, in horror. 220 00:11:28,333 --> 00:11:31,750 You've got the Hammer horror films in the cinemas, 221 00:11:31,751 --> 00:11:34,207 there's the Dracula series with Christopher Lee 222 00:11:34,208 --> 00:11:36,000 playing the vampire. 223 00:11:36,167 --> 00:11:40,500 And, really, that kind of feeds into the public consciousness. 224 00:11:40,667 --> 00:11:43,750 But I defy you to go to Highgate Cemetery 225 00:11:43,917 --> 00:11:47,000 and not feel a sense of fear. 226 00:11:47,001 --> 00:11:49,249 If there's gonna be a vampire anywhere, 227 00:11:49,250 --> 00:11:51,083 it's gonna be in Highgate Cemetery. 228 00:11:51,084 --> 00:11:53,332 THOMPSON: The vampire tradition, 229 00:11:53,333 --> 00:11:55,917 it's a very old tradition in Europe. 230 00:11:56,083 --> 00:11:59,917 Now, the traditional vampire was a loathsome, repelling creature, 231 00:12:00,083 --> 00:12:02,500 someone who is so evil and rotten in their soul 232 00:12:02,708 --> 00:12:04,708 that when they die and you bury them, 233 00:12:04,709 --> 00:12:06,791 their soul is not gonna leave that body. 234 00:12:06,792 --> 00:12:09,500 Their soul is gonna get up with that body 235 00:12:09,501 --> 00:12:11,874 and then go terrorize the local communities. 236 00:12:11,875 --> 00:12:13,667 They drink people's blood. 237 00:12:13,875 --> 00:12:16,917 A Highgate Vampire is a-a combination of things 238 00:12:17,083 --> 00:12:21,417 that emerged around the late 1960s and, uh, 1970, 239 00:12:21,583 --> 00:12:22,958 around Highgate Cemetery. 240 00:12:22,959 --> 00:12:25,041 There are accounts of an evil presence 241 00:12:25,042 --> 00:12:27,375 that people have claimed to have seen, 242 00:12:27,542 --> 00:12:30,333 and you've got a real sort of panic on your hands. 243 00:12:30,542 --> 00:12:35,125 SHATNER: Could a vampire really be terrorizing Highgate Cemetery? 244 00:12:35,292 --> 00:12:39,333 What would cause people to even consider such a claim? 245 00:12:40,375 --> 00:12:43,792 LAYCOCK: In 1969, there had been some pretty serious vandalism 246 00:12:43,958 --> 00:12:46,792 and grave desecrations going on in Highgate. 247 00:12:46,958 --> 00:12:49,583 It was not uncommon to find bodies that had been 248 00:12:49,750 --> 00:12:52,520 dragged out of their coffins and left lying in the path. 249 00:12:52,667 --> 00:12:54,958 You have rumors of satanism. 250 00:12:55,125 --> 00:12:57,667 David Farrant ran a group called 251 00:12:57,875 --> 00:13:00,500 the British Psychic and Occult Society. 252 00:13:00,667 --> 00:13:04,583 So, he was interested in all kinds of supernatural topics. 253 00:13:04,750 --> 00:13:08,250 So, David Farrant decided to do a sort of investigation. 254 00:13:08,417 --> 00:13:11,417 He did an all-night vigil in the cemetery. 255 00:13:11,418 --> 00:13:14,207 And he said that while he was doing this, 256 00:13:14,208 --> 00:13:17,875 he saw a dark figure moving across the cemetery. 257 00:13:18,042 --> 00:13:19,750 It was about seven feet tall. 258 00:13:19,751 --> 00:13:22,166 And when this sort of shadowy figure looked at him, 259 00:13:22,167 --> 00:13:25,250 he was hypnotized by its eyes. 260 00:13:25,417 --> 00:13:27,000 He felt paralyzed. 261 00:13:27,167 --> 00:13:29,208 So, after having this encounter, 262 00:13:29,375 --> 00:13:31,750 he eventually wrote the local newspaper. 263 00:13:31,917 --> 00:13:34,267 He said, "I have seen this mysterious specter 264 00:13:34,417 --> 00:13:37,333 in Highgate Cemetery, has anybody else seen this?" 265 00:13:38,542 --> 00:13:40,667 And it turned out, lots of people 266 00:13:40,833 --> 00:13:43,042 had seen strange things in the cemetery, 267 00:13:43,208 --> 00:13:47,333 and all the rumors about a vampire began to accumulate. 268 00:13:47,334 --> 00:13:50,249 There are accounts of these vampires being seven feet tall, 269 00:13:50,250 --> 00:13:52,167 uh, that they have red eyes, 270 00:13:52,292 --> 00:13:55,333 that people are seeing these crypts that have been opened, 271 00:13:55,542 --> 00:13:58,750 and they see these bodies that don't look alive, 272 00:13:58,751 --> 00:14:00,832 they don't look dead, they look somewhere in between. 273 00:14:00,833 --> 00:14:03,500 And so, clearly, something's happening. 274 00:14:04,249 --> 00:14:08,874 SHATNER: Could the tales of frightening encounters 275 00:14:08,875 --> 00:14:11,000 with a red-eyed vampire be the result 276 00:14:11,083 --> 00:14:13,042 of an overactive imagination, 277 00:14:13,208 --> 00:14:17,500 or was there something truly sinister going on 278 00:14:17,667 --> 00:14:19,375 at the century-old cemetery? 279 00:14:20,750 --> 00:14:23,417 In 1970, another brave soul 280 00:14:23,583 --> 00:14:27,667 believed he found the source of the unholy activity 281 00:14:27,792 --> 00:14:30,792 happening at Highgate. 282 00:14:30,917 --> 00:14:33,000 Sean Manchester presented himself 283 00:14:33,208 --> 00:14:35,083 as a Christian occultist, 284 00:14:35,250 --> 00:14:37,458 much in the style of Dr. Van Helsing 285 00:14:37,625 --> 00:14:39,417 from the Dracula movies. 286 00:14:39,542 --> 00:14:41,167 So, Sean Manchester said, 287 00:14:41,168 --> 00:14:43,457 "I know what's really going on at Highgate." 288 00:14:43,458 --> 00:14:46,292 He said it is a king vampire from Wallachia. 289 00:14:47,250 --> 00:14:50,625 Wallachia is a principality in what today is Romania 290 00:14:50,833 --> 00:14:52,833 that was once ruled by Vlad Tepes, 291 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,167 better known as Dracula. 292 00:14:55,333 --> 00:14:58,000 And he said this king vampire was brought here 293 00:14:58,208 --> 00:15:00,250 sometime in the 1700s, 294 00:15:00,458 --> 00:15:03,167 and it's dormant beneath the cemetery. 295 00:15:03,333 --> 00:15:05,683 And he also claimed that all of this vandalism 296 00:15:05,684 --> 00:15:07,207 that's occurring in the cemetery, 297 00:15:07,208 --> 00:15:09,500 it's this satanic cult, and it's performing 298 00:15:09,625 --> 00:15:12,500 these powerful rituals in the cemetery at night 299 00:15:12,667 --> 00:15:15,583 for the purpose of resurrecting this king vampire. 300 00:15:17,208 --> 00:15:21,083 SHATNER: A king vampire being resurrected by a satanic cult? 301 00:15:21,084 --> 00:15:23,874 It sounds more like a frightening campfire tale 302 00:15:23,875 --> 00:15:25,167 than the truth. 303 00:15:26,083 --> 00:15:30,000 And yet, in March of 1970- 304 00:15:30,125 --> 00:15:32,250 on Friday the 13th- 305 00:15:32,375 --> 00:15:37,958 this story would become forever engrained in modern folklore. 306 00:15:38,125 --> 00:15:40,042 BELL: The Highgate Vampire story 307 00:15:40,208 --> 00:15:44,250 escalates once it gets to the national media. 308 00:15:44,251 --> 00:15:46,332 And they broadcast, um, that there was gonna be 309 00:15:46,333 --> 00:15:48,083 a sort of an exorcism of this thing 310 00:15:48,125 --> 00:15:49,625 in Highgate Cemetery. 311 00:15:49,792 --> 00:15:51,958 On Friday the 13th, of course. 312 00:15:52,125 --> 00:15:55,000 And once that's on the news, 313 00:15:55,208 --> 00:15:57,558 two hours later, a mob, essentially, forms up. 314 00:15:57,559 --> 00:16:00,291 Highgate Cemetery is swamped with amateur vampire hunters. 315 00:16:00,292 --> 00:16:01,582 Apparently, the police are there, 316 00:16:01,583 --> 00:16:02,843 they can't hold them back. 317 00:16:02,844 --> 00:16:05,207 They kind of swarm over the gates of the cemetery 318 00:16:05,208 --> 00:16:07,625 hunting for this vampire. 319 00:16:09,042 --> 00:16:12,172 SHATNER: It was reported that around 100 people went hunting 320 00:16:12,208 --> 00:16:14,792 for the Highgate Vampire, 321 00:16:14,958 --> 00:16:17,292 but the fabled creature was never found. 322 00:16:17,458 --> 00:16:20,500 And while skeptics are quick to dismiss the idea 323 00:16:20,667 --> 00:16:24,500 of a bloodthirsty demon that roams the cemetery, 324 00:16:24,667 --> 00:16:27,042 like many urban legends, 325 00:16:27,208 --> 00:16:31,583 it seems that something strange really was happening. 326 00:16:31,750 --> 00:16:34,583 The question is, what was it? 327 00:16:34,584 --> 00:16:36,707 LAYCOCK: There were definitely very strange things 328 00:16:36,708 --> 00:16:38,333 going on in Highgate, 329 00:16:38,542 --> 00:16:43,125 in addition to vandalism with pseudo-satanic rituals. 330 00:16:43,250 --> 00:16:45,125 One detail that's often ignored 331 00:16:45,292 --> 00:16:47,167 is that there were a lot of dead foxes 332 00:16:47,375 --> 00:16:51,000 found at the cemetery, supposedly drained of blood. 333 00:16:51,208 --> 00:16:54,292 We still don't know what killed these foxes. 334 00:16:54,458 --> 00:16:57,000 So, this is often how urban legends form, 335 00:16:57,167 --> 00:17:00,500 at the intersection of unexplainable phenomena 336 00:17:00,708 --> 00:17:04,458 and then folklore rushing in to build a story 337 00:17:04,667 --> 00:17:06,542 about that mystery. 338 00:17:07,708 --> 00:17:09,333 Was there really a vampire 339 00:17:09,542 --> 00:17:12,042 prowling the grounds of Highgate Cemetery? 340 00:17:12,208 --> 00:17:15,083 Or was it a case of mass hysteria? 341 00:17:15,292 --> 00:17:18,083 Perhaps the answer may be found by examining 342 00:17:18,208 --> 00:17:21,167 another famous urban legend 343 00:17:21,292 --> 00:17:26,000 about mysterious figures that lurk in the shadows 344 00:17:26,208 --> 00:17:29,583 known as the men in black. 345 00:17:33,875 --> 00:17:35,265 SHATNER: Since the 1940s, 346 00:17:35,375 --> 00:17:37,833 both sightings and strange encounters 347 00:17:38,042 --> 00:17:39,958 with unidentified flying objects 348 00:17:40,125 --> 00:17:44,000 have sparked countless urban legends 349 00:17:44,167 --> 00:17:48,333 of close encounters with extraterrestrial beings, 350 00:17:48,542 --> 00:17:53,958 civilian abductions and testing on alien spacecraft 351 00:17:54,125 --> 00:17:57,000 and livestock found mutilated 352 00:17:57,167 --> 00:18:00,000 as the result of otherworldly entities. 353 00:18:00,167 --> 00:18:03,333 But one of the most fascinating legends 354 00:18:03,458 --> 00:18:08,292 surrounds the mysterious men in black. 355 00:18:08,293 --> 00:18:10,207 AARON GULYAS: The legend of the men in black 356 00:18:10,208 --> 00:18:12,750 is that ever since the dawn of the UFO age 357 00:18:12,958 --> 00:18:14,333 in the late 1940s, 358 00:18:14,500 --> 00:18:17,833 UFO witnesses have been silenced, 359 00:18:18,000 --> 00:18:19,417 have been threatened 360 00:18:19,625 --> 00:18:22,333 and have even possibly been physically harmed 361 00:18:22,500 --> 00:18:26,833 by the men in black in their pursuit of the truth 362 00:18:27,042 --> 00:18:30,167 behind what UFOs might be. 363 00:18:30,333 --> 00:18:33,875 These figures are usually considered to be agents 364 00:18:34,042 --> 00:18:36,583 of any number of government agencies, 365 00:18:36,708 --> 00:18:39,833 but there are others who believe that the men in black 366 00:18:39,958 --> 00:18:42,458 might be agents of an organization 367 00:18:42,583 --> 00:18:45,167 that is so deeply hidden within our government 368 00:18:45,333 --> 00:18:47,167 that we don't even know its name. 369 00:18:48,208 --> 00:18:51,518 KITTA: The men in black usually show up after someone's seen a UFO 370 00:18:51,667 --> 00:18:54,333 or seen some sort of strange light in the sky. 371 00:18:54,500 --> 00:18:57,150 They try to dissuade them from talking about the UFO. 372 00:18:57,250 --> 00:18:59,180 Uh, sometimes they take any evidence 373 00:18:59,375 --> 00:19:02,167 that people have of the UFOs, 374 00:19:02,292 --> 00:19:06,208 including pieces of it or photographs, 375 00:19:06,375 --> 00:19:10,000 and they strongly encourage them not to talk about them. 376 00:19:11,042 --> 00:19:14,958 SHATNER: Is there really a top secret government agency 377 00:19:15,125 --> 00:19:16,875 that employs mysterious agents 378 00:19:17,042 --> 00:19:20,208 to suppress extraterrestrial secrets? 379 00:19:20,417 --> 00:19:23,247 Perhaps the answer can be found by examining the origin 380 00:19:23,292 --> 00:19:26,458 of this long-standing urban legend, 381 00:19:26,625 --> 00:19:29,417 and the tale of a prominent ufologist 382 00:19:29,583 --> 00:19:33,625 from the 1950s named Albert K. Bender. 383 00:19:34,583 --> 00:19:37,750 Albert K. Bender is really the origin 384 00:19:37,958 --> 00:19:39,583 of the men in black legend. 385 00:19:39,792 --> 00:19:42,208 He worked for the Air Force during World War II. 386 00:19:42,375 --> 00:19:45,333 But by the 1950s, he started something 387 00:19:45,542 --> 00:19:49,208 called the International Flying Saucer Bureau, 388 00:19:49,375 --> 00:19:52,708 and it published a newsletter called the Space Review. 389 00:19:52,875 --> 00:19:55,042 In 1953, in the Space Review, 390 00:19:55,208 --> 00:19:57,667 he wrote, "I've discovered the secret 391 00:19:57,833 --> 00:19:59,208 "of the flying saucers. 392 00:19:59,209 --> 00:20:01,624 "I know what the flying saucers really are, 393 00:20:01,625 --> 00:20:03,792 and I'm going to tell the public." 394 00:20:03,793 --> 00:20:05,499 But he never did tell the public. 395 00:20:05,500 --> 00:20:07,500 Instead, he shuttered 396 00:20:07,667 --> 00:20:09,917 the International Flying Saucer Bureau 397 00:20:10,125 --> 00:20:12,417 and stopped investigating UFOs. 398 00:20:14,083 --> 00:20:16,253 SHATNER: What would compel Albert Bender 399 00:20:16,375 --> 00:20:17,958 to suddenly go silent? 400 00:20:18,125 --> 00:20:19,417 Well, nearly a decade 401 00:20:19,583 --> 00:20:22,333 after his strange change of heart, in 1962, 402 00:20:22,458 --> 00:20:26,625 Bender shared an unsettling explanation in his book 403 00:20:26,792 --> 00:20:31,292 titled Flying Saucers and the Three Men. 404 00:20:31,293 --> 00:20:33,624 LAYCOCK: What Bender eventually said was, 405 00:20:33,625 --> 00:20:36,042 "These three men in black came to my house, 406 00:20:36,043 --> 00:20:37,749 "and they said, 'We know what you've been doing. 407 00:20:37,750 --> 00:20:39,707 "'You're getting too close to the truth. 408 00:20:39,708 --> 00:20:41,791 "'You need to stop talking about this right now, 409 00:20:41,792 --> 00:20:44,041 or there's going to be serious consequences.'" 410 00:20:44,042 --> 00:20:46,332 They acted as if they were from the government. 411 00:20:46,333 --> 00:20:47,874 That they were very frightening. 412 00:20:47,875 --> 00:20:52,500 GULYAS: When the men in black initially contacted him, 413 00:20:52,708 --> 00:20:56,833 Bender claimed he felt the temperature in the room drop, 414 00:20:57,042 --> 00:20:59,458 he got an excruciating headache 415 00:20:59,625 --> 00:21:02,000 and heard a voice telling him 416 00:21:02,167 --> 00:21:07,458 to not delve any more deeply into the flying saucer mystery. 417 00:21:07,625 --> 00:21:12,542 And it terrified Bender so much that he was completely happy 418 00:21:12,708 --> 00:21:15,250 to shut down his flying saucer organization, 419 00:21:15,375 --> 00:21:18,250 and to refuse to talk about the topic, 420 00:21:18,458 --> 00:21:20,667 even to his closest friends. 421 00:21:20,875 --> 00:21:23,708 SHATNER: Did men in black with strange powers 422 00:21:23,875 --> 00:21:27,333 really scare Albert Bender into silence? 423 00:21:27,542 --> 00:21:31,000 While skeptics dismiss the claims as pure urban legend, 424 00:21:31,208 --> 00:21:32,708 many have wondered, 425 00:21:32,875 --> 00:21:37,542 "Why do stories of men in black still persist?" 426 00:21:39,208 --> 00:21:41,333 LEWIS: In the summer of 2008, 427 00:21:41,500 --> 00:21:44,250 residents outside of Needles, California 428 00:21:44,375 --> 00:21:46,625 saw something shooting through their sky. 429 00:21:46,792 --> 00:21:48,708 It looked like a long cylinder. 430 00:21:48,875 --> 00:21:52,833 It was covered in a turquoise blue flame, 431 00:21:53,042 --> 00:21:57,708 and it crashed on the side of the Colorado River. 432 00:21:58,708 --> 00:22:00,958 And in a matter of moments later, 433 00:22:01,125 --> 00:22:04,458 big sky copters came with a crane, 434 00:22:04,625 --> 00:22:07,667 removing whatever debris had crashed there. 435 00:22:09,333 --> 00:22:12,417 The next day, townsfolk noticed 436 00:22:12,583 --> 00:22:16,750 strange, men-in-black-looking government officials in town. 437 00:22:16,875 --> 00:22:20,250 They were intimidating witnesses that it would be 438 00:22:20,251 --> 00:22:22,624 to their best interest if they did not speak 439 00:22:22,625 --> 00:22:24,750 about what they had seen. 440 00:22:24,917 --> 00:22:27,792 The Needles crash in 2008 contains many 441 00:22:27,917 --> 00:22:31,500 of modern-day tropes of what we think of men in black. 442 00:22:31,708 --> 00:22:33,667 SHATNER: Who were the strange men 443 00:22:33,875 --> 00:22:37,167 allegedly intimidating residents of Needles, California? 444 00:22:37,333 --> 00:22:39,292 Well, according to urban legend, 445 00:22:39,500 --> 00:22:44,083 these mysterious beings might not even be men at all. 446 00:22:45,375 --> 00:22:49,667 GULYAS: There are several things that witnesses have experienced 447 00:22:49,875 --> 00:22:51,833 that have led people to believe that 448 00:22:52,000 --> 00:22:54,833 the men in black could be extraterrestrial in origin. 449 00:22:55,000 --> 00:22:57,292 They act like creatures 450 00:22:57,417 --> 00:23:00,333 who maybe have learned how to behave like humans 451 00:23:00,542 --> 00:23:04,333 from monitoring our mass media. 452 00:23:04,500 --> 00:23:06,833 Are these government officials? 453 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:10,417 Are they extra-dimensional creatures? 454 00:23:10,583 --> 00:23:12,633 Are they some combination of the above? 455 00:23:12,708 --> 00:23:14,375 We don't know that. 456 00:23:14,583 --> 00:23:16,375 But there's a kernel of truth 457 00:23:16,583 --> 00:23:18,583 at the heart of the men in black legend. 458 00:23:18,708 --> 00:23:20,667 Ever since the beginning 459 00:23:20,833 --> 00:23:24,167 of the flying saucer age in the late 1940s, 460 00:23:24,333 --> 00:23:26,667 there have been persistent reports 461 00:23:26,750 --> 00:23:31,292 of men dressed in black threatening, intimidating, 462 00:23:31,417 --> 00:23:36,167 or otherwise silencing UFO witnesses. 463 00:23:36,333 --> 00:23:39,417 This is a real story. 464 00:23:39,542 --> 00:23:41,667 Are the rumored men in black 465 00:23:41,833 --> 00:23:44,583 covering up the existence of UFOs? 466 00:23:44,792 --> 00:23:47,625 And who are they, really? 467 00:23:48,542 --> 00:23:50,875 When it comes to urban legends, the fact is 468 00:23:51,042 --> 00:23:54,750 that you can't always trust your eyes and ears. 469 00:23:54,917 --> 00:23:59,750 Like in the case of a rash of creepy clown sightings 470 00:23:59,917 --> 00:24:03,333 that swept the United States in 2016, 471 00:24:03,458 --> 00:24:07,500 before spreading across the entire world. 472 00:24:15,625 --> 00:24:18,095 SHATNER: Authorities are inundated with calls 473 00:24:18,208 --> 00:24:19,667 as freaked-out residents 474 00:24:19,833 --> 00:24:23,125 report a strange figure prowling the streets. 475 00:24:23,292 --> 00:24:25,250 And what they describe seeing 476 00:24:25,375 --> 00:24:28,125 is a disturbing presence 477 00:24:28,292 --> 00:24:30,708 of a very unusual kind. 478 00:24:31,583 --> 00:24:34,250 MAY: On August 1, 2016, 479 00:24:34,417 --> 00:24:36,292 people in the Green Bay area 480 00:24:36,417 --> 00:24:39,000 start seeing this mysterious clown 481 00:24:39,001 --> 00:24:41,374 that's haunting the street, seems to be lurking. 482 00:24:41,375 --> 00:24:43,625 And that clown is absolutely terrifying. 483 00:24:44,542 --> 00:24:46,208 It is a white-face clown, 484 00:24:46,375 --> 00:24:48,665 but then you've got smudged, creepy accents 485 00:24:48,667 --> 00:24:50,417 around the eyes and the mouth. 486 00:24:50,583 --> 00:24:53,667 He's holding this bouquet of black balloons. 487 00:24:53,668 --> 00:24:55,874 Suddenly, everyone is talking about this clown 488 00:24:55,875 --> 00:24:59,333 that seems to be haunting the streets of Green Bay, Wisconsin. 489 00:25:00,375 --> 00:25:03,385 SHATNER: This menacing clown was later revealed to be part 490 00:25:03,458 --> 00:25:05,750 of a marketing stunt for a new horror film. 491 00:25:05,958 --> 00:25:07,667 But it seemed to have sparked 492 00:25:07,875 --> 00:25:09,958 something very strange to happen, 493 00:25:10,125 --> 00:25:14,125 when similar reports of creepy clowns 494 00:25:14,292 --> 00:25:16,083 started popping up everywhere. 495 00:25:16,084 --> 00:25:18,249 McNEILL: Later that month, we were getting reports 496 00:25:18,250 --> 00:25:19,875 from other places. 497 00:25:20,042 --> 00:25:23,917 Greenville, South Carolina, children were reporting clowns 498 00:25:24,083 --> 00:25:26,583 at the edge of the woods offering them money 499 00:25:26,750 --> 00:25:29,458 to follow them into the forest. 500 00:25:29,625 --> 00:25:32,333 And that fear, that anxiety catches on, 501 00:25:32,500 --> 00:25:36,250 and thanks to the Internet, it spreads around the world 502 00:25:36,458 --> 00:25:38,708 in a matter of days or even hours. 503 00:25:38,875 --> 00:25:43,458 Now we get images, videos. 504 00:25:43,542 --> 00:25:44,802 Parents are freaking out. 505 00:25:44,803 --> 00:25:46,499 Police stations are getting phone calls. 506 00:25:46,500 --> 00:25:47,791 They're hearing about predators 507 00:25:47,792 --> 00:25:49,707 in the environment dressed as clowns. 508 00:25:49,708 --> 00:25:51,500 MAN: Oh, my God. 509 00:25:51,501 --> 00:25:53,124 McNEILL: And people tried to figure out 510 00:25:53,125 --> 00:25:55,175 whether that's a real, genuine threat, 511 00:25:55,292 --> 00:25:59,083 or whether that's someone setting up an elaborate hoax. 512 00:25:59,084 --> 00:26:01,707 MAY: The creepy clown craze 513 00:26:01,708 --> 00:26:03,750 of 2016 was this remarkable moment 514 00:26:03,875 --> 00:26:05,833 in pop culture history. 515 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:07,500 At last count, 516 00:26:07,501 --> 00:26:09,749 19 different countries had their own clown sightings 517 00:26:09,750 --> 00:26:11,750 within that period. 518 00:26:11,917 --> 00:26:14,917 It bears all those earmarks of really good folklore, 519 00:26:15,083 --> 00:26:17,583 really good urban legend, because this taps 520 00:26:17,584 --> 00:26:19,457 into that same existing fear about traveling 521 00:26:19,458 --> 00:26:22,500 into the woods by yourself, and protecting children. 522 00:26:22,667 --> 00:26:25,750 But now it's got this extra level of absurdity, 523 00:26:25,917 --> 00:26:28,792 level of creepiness, with a clown being the threat 524 00:26:28,958 --> 00:26:31,188 that's emerging from the woods for the kids. 525 00:26:32,083 --> 00:26:34,493 SHATNER: Is there any truth to the urban legend 526 00:26:34,542 --> 00:26:36,162 that there are dangerous madmen 527 00:26:36,208 --> 00:26:39,583 in clown costumes seeking to harm our children? 528 00:26:39,708 --> 00:26:42,792 While it sounds like the stuff of nightmares, 529 00:26:42,917 --> 00:26:47,833 reports of sightings of creepy clowns awoke a mass hysteria. 530 00:26:47,958 --> 00:26:49,625 MAN (panting): Oh, my God. 531 00:26:49,626 --> 00:26:51,791 What's even more bizarre about this whole thing is 532 00:26:51,792 --> 00:26:54,875 that it's not even the first scary clown craze to happen. 533 00:26:55,042 --> 00:26:59,042 Going all the way back to 1981, in the Boston area- 534 00:26:59,250 --> 00:27:03,042 this is the first time we really see a widespread clown sighting. 535 00:27:03,250 --> 00:27:05,360 Children are saying that they saw a clown 536 00:27:05,361 --> 00:27:08,166 approach them in a van, and then immediately disappear 537 00:27:08,167 --> 00:27:11,041 before any kind of police could make it to the scene on time. 538 00:27:11,042 --> 00:27:14,708 And it's important to note that no clown ever was found 539 00:27:14,917 --> 00:27:17,000 at this particular clown hunt. 540 00:27:20,250 --> 00:27:23,200 SHATNER: In 1981, reports of creepy clowns also appeared 541 00:27:23,375 --> 00:27:27,083 in Omaha, Kansas City, Denver, Providence and Pittsburgh, 542 00:27:27,250 --> 00:27:30,083 but thankfully, there was no real evidence 543 00:27:30,250 --> 00:27:33,000 that clowns were abducting children. 544 00:27:33,125 --> 00:27:37,042 But based on the sheer terror that these reports inspired, 545 00:27:37,208 --> 00:27:39,667 it begs the question, 546 00:27:39,875 --> 00:27:44,667 "How have we become so afraid of clowns?" 547 00:27:46,625 --> 00:27:51,042 Nothing in modern pop culture has changed more than clowns. 548 00:27:52,625 --> 00:27:55,292 In the 1800s, with the height of the circus, 549 00:27:55,417 --> 00:27:58,250 the clowns were the most popular performers. 550 00:27:58,417 --> 00:28:00,250 They were the A-list celebrities. 551 00:28:00,417 --> 00:28:04,583 They were the ones that everyone went to the circus to see. 552 00:28:04,792 --> 00:28:06,625 They entertained us, made us laugh. 553 00:28:06,792 --> 00:28:10,000 (laughter) 554 00:28:10,208 --> 00:28:14,208 But today, pop culture has portrayed clowns 555 00:28:14,375 --> 00:28:16,333 as evil beings, 556 00:28:16,542 --> 00:28:18,708 from Pennywise in Stephen King's It, 557 00:28:18,875 --> 00:28:21,917 to Killer Klowns from Outer Space, 558 00:28:22,083 --> 00:28:26,000 to Batman's nemesis, the Joker. 559 00:28:26,208 --> 00:28:29,417 They have painted them as things that are sinister, 560 00:28:29,583 --> 00:28:31,667 creepy, and possibly deadly. 561 00:28:31,833 --> 00:28:33,417 (eerie cackling) 562 00:28:33,418 --> 00:28:35,207 SHATNER: While evil clowns have certainly become part 563 00:28:35,208 --> 00:28:37,250 of the popular culture, tragically, 564 00:28:37,375 --> 00:28:41,708 the urban legend became all too real in the 1970s, 565 00:28:41,917 --> 00:28:45,958 with a serial killer named John Wayne Gacy. 566 00:28:47,167 --> 00:28:49,833 MAY: John Wayne Gacy is one of the most infamous 567 00:28:49,958 --> 00:28:52,500 serial killers in American history. 568 00:28:52,708 --> 00:28:56,000 He murdered many teen or very young boys. 569 00:28:56,208 --> 00:28:58,858 Would lure them back to his home and then murder them 570 00:28:58,958 --> 00:29:01,167 and bury them under his house. 571 00:29:01,375 --> 00:29:04,583 And when he's arrested, it kind of comes to light 572 00:29:04,584 --> 00:29:06,666 that he also happened to moonlight as a clown 573 00:29:06,667 --> 00:29:08,167 for local hospitals. 574 00:29:08,333 --> 00:29:12,000 LAYCOCK: John Wayne Gacy was a serial killer 575 00:29:12,208 --> 00:29:15,375 who had a persona called "Pogo the Clown." 576 00:29:15,542 --> 00:29:19,042 So, this really cemented into the American consciousness 577 00:29:19,208 --> 00:29:22,000 that there really is such a thing as a killer clown, 578 00:29:22,167 --> 00:29:24,583 and that people who dress as clowns- 579 00:29:24,708 --> 00:29:26,667 they may only be performing as a clown 580 00:29:26,875 --> 00:29:30,167 so that they can have access to children. 581 00:29:31,208 --> 00:29:34,167 SHATNER: John Wayne Gacy's alter ego- Pogo the Clown- 582 00:29:34,333 --> 00:29:35,958 is a grim reminder 583 00:29:36,125 --> 00:29:38,625 that a dangerous madman could be hiding 584 00:29:38,792 --> 00:29:40,917 under a layer of grease paint. 585 00:29:42,125 --> 00:29:45,833 One of the things that always lingers for me 586 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,625 with the creepy clown craze was, 587 00:29:48,792 --> 00:29:52,292 who were the actual clowns? 588 00:29:53,333 --> 00:29:55,923 The people standing outside elementary schools, 589 00:29:55,958 --> 00:29:58,167 standing under streetlights at night. 590 00:29:58,292 --> 00:30:00,833 We never got the follow-up stories. 591 00:30:01,042 --> 00:30:04,792 And that tells us something about the creepy clown craze. 592 00:30:04,958 --> 00:30:06,667 We weren't looking for answers. 593 00:30:06,792 --> 00:30:08,333 We were looking to be scared. 594 00:30:10,542 --> 00:30:13,667 Is it possible that we're in for another wave 595 00:30:13,875 --> 00:30:17,750 of creepy clown sightings in the future? 596 00:30:17,917 --> 00:30:21,500 Or is the phenomenon just an elaborate hoax? 597 00:30:21,667 --> 00:30:23,042 Perhaps time will tell. 598 00:30:23,208 --> 00:30:26,750 However, there is another urban legend 599 00:30:26,875 --> 00:30:30,625 that's been a mystery for more than 185 years. 600 00:30:30,750 --> 00:30:33,000 It's the story of a demonic entity 601 00:30:33,208 --> 00:30:36,750 that terrorized London known as... 602 00:30:36,917 --> 00:30:39,458 Spring-heeled Jack. 603 00:30:48,750 --> 00:30:50,292 SHATNER: Around 9:00 p.m., 604 00:30:50,458 --> 00:30:53,000 an 18-year-old Jane Alsop, 605 00:30:53,167 --> 00:30:56,083 a young woman born into Victorian high society, 606 00:30:56,208 --> 00:30:59,833 hears a rattle outside her front door. 607 00:31:01,042 --> 00:31:04,708 She looks outside and sees a mysterious figure 608 00:31:04,875 --> 00:31:07,500 who identifies himself as a policeman 609 00:31:07,667 --> 00:31:10,000 and asks her for assistance. 610 00:31:10,208 --> 00:31:14,000 Believing him, she opens her door. 611 00:31:14,208 --> 00:31:17,417 And very soon, she'll wish she hadn't. 612 00:31:19,417 --> 00:31:21,500 He's kind of wrapped in this cloak, 613 00:31:21,583 --> 00:31:22,963 and he says he's a policeman. 614 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:25,500 And he throws off his cloak. 615 00:31:25,708 --> 00:31:29,333 And then, she kind of suddenly sees he's got this strange face, 616 00:31:29,542 --> 00:31:31,667 with these big, red eyes. 617 00:31:31,875 --> 00:31:33,833 He looks very sort of inhuman. 618 00:31:33,958 --> 00:31:36,208 And then, she realizes he's also got claws. 619 00:31:36,375 --> 00:31:40,125 And he blows this sort of a ball of flame in her face. 620 00:31:40,126 --> 00:31:42,291 Kind of describes it as a blue-white flame. 621 00:31:42,292 --> 00:31:44,882 And then, he lurches at her, he starts to attack her. 622 00:31:46,542 --> 00:31:49,875 This man began to claw at her face, her neck, 623 00:31:50,042 --> 00:31:51,750 her arms and her dress. 624 00:31:51,917 --> 00:31:53,792 She was screaming and struggling, 625 00:31:53,793 --> 00:31:55,666 and luckily, her sister heard her. 626 00:31:55,667 --> 00:31:59,333 Jane was actually being dragged out of the home. 627 00:31:59,334 --> 00:32:00,957 -(Jane screaming) -Her sister, fortunately, 628 00:32:00,958 --> 00:32:02,958 was able to get her back inside, 629 00:32:03,167 --> 00:32:07,042 but not before Jane's dress was almost completely torn off. 630 00:32:08,042 --> 00:32:11,875 SHATNER: Who or what attacked Jane Alsop? 631 00:32:12,042 --> 00:32:14,875 Her attack made headlines all over London, 632 00:32:15,042 --> 00:32:17,000 and a wave of terror flooded the city. 633 00:32:17,208 --> 00:32:19,250 Because this was not the first woman 634 00:32:19,417 --> 00:32:22,542 said to have been attacked by a shadowy figure 635 00:32:22,750 --> 00:32:25,000 that is known in urban legend 636 00:32:25,167 --> 00:32:28,542 as Spring-heeled Jack. 637 00:32:28,708 --> 00:32:30,500 McMAHON: In the 1830s, 638 00:32:30,625 --> 00:32:34,750 this curious story emerges in the newspapers 639 00:32:34,875 --> 00:32:37,833 that there is an attacker 640 00:32:38,042 --> 00:32:40,625 on the dark, foggy streets of London, 641 00:32:40,750 --> 00:32:43,417 called "Spring-heeled Jack," 642 00:32:43,583 --> 00:32:46,833 who has eyes that are like balls of fire, 643 00:32:47,042 --> 00:32:49,000 who has claw-like hands, 644 00:32:49,167 --> 00:32:54,000 who wears this skintight black costume, 645 00:32:54,167 --> 00:32:57,833 and who can jump enormous heights. 646 00:32:58,042 --> 00:33:00,083 LAYCOCK: So Spring-heeled Jack 647 00:33:00,250 --> 00:33:01,833 is a type of urban legend 648 00:33:01,834 --> 00:33:04,082 that's sometimes called "a phantom attacker." 649 00:33:04,083 --> 00:33:07,167 So, in phantom attacker stories, 650 00:33:07,168 --> 00:33:09,207 there is someone who is attacking people, 651 00:33:09,208 --> 00:33:11,042 but it's not killing someone. 652 00:33:11,208 --> 00:33:14,708 About 50 years after Spring-heeled Jack, 653 00:33:14,875 --> 00:33:17,500 we have the Jack the Ripper murders. 654 00:33:17,625 --> 00:33:20,417 Jack the Ripper is not a phantom attacker. 655 00:33:20,542 --> 00:33:23,792 He's an unidentified serial killer. 656 00:33:23,793 --> 00:33:26,707 -(woman screaming) -But there are similarities with the panic 657 00:33:26,708 --> 00:33:30,000 over Spring-heeled Jack in that we have someone who is 658 00:33:30,208 --> 00:33:33,542 stalking the streets at night, attacking women, 659 00:33:33,708 --> 00:33:37,042 who nobody seems able to identify or catch. 660 00:33:38,083 --> 00:33:42,167 SHATNER: While Jack the Ripper was a very real killer in 1888, 661 00:33:42,375 --> 00:33:44,365 the urban legend of a phantom attacker 662 00:33:44,375 --> 00:33:49,375 with superhuman abilities does sound a bit hard to believe. 663 00:33:49,583 --> 00:33:52,083 But incredibly, 664 00:33:52,250 --> 00:33:54,180 after reports of Spring-heeled Jack 665 00:33:54,292 --> 00:33:56,875 started appearing in the 1830s, 666 00:33:57,042 --> 00:33:59,708 they continued... 667 00:33:59,833 --> 00:34:02,083 for decades. 668 00:34:02,084 --> 00:34:03,832 BELL: Spring-heeled Jack sightings lasted 669 00:34:03,833 --> 00:34:05,167 a very long time. 670 00:34:05,333 --> 00:34:07,500 They dip in the sort of late '50s 671 00:34:07,667 --> 00:34:09,375 into the early 1860s. 672 00:34:09,542 --> 00:34:12,500 He then gets reimagined as this penny dreadful character. 673 00:34:12,625 --> 00:34:18,125 Penny dreadfuls were cheap publications in serialized form. 674 00:34:18,250 --> 00:34:20,292 And this seems to sort of reignite a lot 675 00:34:20,458 --> 00:34:22,042 of the folkloric tales again. 676 00:34:22,208 --> 00:34:24,542 And then, he's seen in Wales. 677 00:34:24,708 --> 00:34:27,167 He's seen up in Scotland. 678 00:34:27,333 --> 00:34:30,125 There's a sighting in Liverpool in 1904. 679 00:34:30,250 --> 00:34:33,542 In Sheffield, he was known to be around the region 680 00:34:33,708 --> 00:34:34,968 until the First World War. 681 00:34:35,125 --> 00:34:36,542 So, you've got a character 682 00:34:36,708 --> 00:34:38,625 that if it is the same individual, 683 00:34:38,750 --> 00:34:42,083 is coming up for at least 100 years since he first appeared. 684 00:34:42,084 --> 00:34:44,791 SHATNER: Was there really a fire-breathing superhuman 685 00:34:44,792 --> 00:34:46,167 with claws, 686 00:34:46,333 --> 00:34:49,125 preying on women for 100 years? 687 00:34:49,126 --> 00:34:51,291 Well, some experts believe that details 688 00:34:51,292 --> 00:34:53,762 of this mysterious attacker were embellished, 689 00:34:53,875 --> 00:34:56,333 like many good urban legends. 690 00:34:57,875 --> 00:34:59,875 And some suggest 691 00:35:00,042 --> 00:35:03,500 this monster served as a cautionary tale 692 00:35:03,667 --> 00:35:08,250 for Victorian women living in 19th-century London. 693 00:35:09,958 --> 00:35:11,708 McNEILL: The time period in which 694 00:35:11,833 --> 00:35:15,667 Spring-heeled Jack emerged was the 1830s. 695 00:35:15,750 --> 00:35:18,417 So, we're pretty much smack in the middle 696 00:35:18,418 --> 00:35:20,499 of the Industrial Revolution at this point. 697 00:35:20,500 --> 00:35:23,000 Industrialization changed a lot. 698 00:35:23,208 --> 00:35:24,500 It moved people out 699 00:35:24,667 --> 00:35:27,708 from pastoral spaces into urban spaces. 700 00:35:27,875 --> 00:35:29,435 It created a lot of congestion, 701 00:35:29,436 --> 00:35:31,249 people living on top of each other 702 00:35:31,250 --> 00:35:33,500 in sometimes rough conditions. 703 00:35:33,667 --> 00:35:38,375 And the story that we see is of this bizarre criminal, 704 00:35:38,500 --> 00:35:42,292 targeting women specifically in this urban setting, 705 00:35:42,458 --> 00:35:44,375 and in so many ways, 706 00:35:44,542 --> 00:35:47,833 this is just really quintessentially 707 00:35:48,042 --> 00:35:50,958 the fear of the unknown stranger. 708 00:35:51,125 --> 00:35:53,250 So, this is clearly a concept 709 00:35:53,417 --> 00:35:57,500 that women are often in danger of predatory creatures, 710 00:35:57,667 --> 00:35:59,833 whether they be human beings or not. 711 00:35:59,917 --> 00:36:03,047 BELL: Spring-heeled Jack does speak to some of that violence 712 00:36:03,167 --> 00:36:05,542 towards women in the Victorian period. 713 00:36:05,543 --> 00:36:07,499 It's almost kind of reinforcing the notion 714 00:36:07,500 --> 00:36:09,833 that women should just be sitting at home, 715 00:36:10,042 --> 00:36:12,752 and the public sphere is kind of the masculine sphere. 716 00:36:12,753 --> 00:36:14,416 But it was something that was often spoken about 717 00:36:14,417 --> 00:36:16,250 in this time period. 718 00:36:16,417 --> 00:36:19,187 And so, there is a sort of a controlling element to this. 719 00:36:19,333 --> 00:36:21,563 SHATNER: Was Spring-heeled Jack invented 720 00:36:21,625 --> 00:36:24,125 to keep 19th-century women at home? 721 00:36:24,208 --> 00:36:25,792 It's certainly possible. 722 00:36:25,958 --> 00:36:27,417 But if that's true, 723 00:36:27,583 --> 00:36:31,708 then why has this story reemerged in the modern age? 724 00:36:38,375 --> 00:36:41,292 SHATNER: A family is taking a taxi ride through town, 725 00:36:41,500 --> 00:36:44,125 and suddenly, they witness something 726 00:36:44,333 --> 00:36:46,500 that's impossible to explain. 727 00:36:47,833 --> 00:36:51,083 They see a figure jump over a highway divider, 728 00:36:51,292 --> 00:36:53,667 run across two lanes of traffic, 729 00:36:53,875 --> 00:36:57,667 and then somehow leap up a 15-foot embankment, 730 00:36:57,875 --> 00:37:00,083 all within the span of about two seconds. 731 00:37:00,250 --> 00:37:02,583 On top of this, they said, 732 00:37:02,750 --> 00:37:06,417 whoever this was had no facial features. 733 00:37:06,418 --> 00:37:08,041 So, this is a really strange encounter, 734 00:37:08,042 --> 00:37:09,750 and it sounds a lot like 735 00:37:09,917 --> 00:37:13,000 the original Spring-heeled Jack sightings from the 1800s. 736 00:37:13,001 --> 00:37:15,291 SHATNER: Has Spring-heeled Jack returned 737 00:37:15,292 --> 00:37:18,208 to begin a new reign of terror? 738 00:37:18,417 --> 00:37:20,875 Only time will tell. 739 00:37:21,042 --> 00:37:24,083 But there is another urban legend of a different kind 740 00:37:24,208 --> 00:37:27,500 that started in American arcades, 741 00:37:27,667 --> 00:37:30,708 about a game said to possess 742 00:37:30,875 --> 00:37:33,542 mind-altering powers. 743 00:37:41,417 --> 00:37:44,307 SHATNER: The video game revolution takes over America, 744 00:37:44,375 --> 00:37:47,083 and gamers flock to arcades throughout the city. 745 00:37:47,250 --> 00:37:49,167 And it's said that there is one 746 00:37:49,375 --> 00:37:52,000 legendary game that people are lining up to play. 747 00:37:52,125 --> 00:37:55,667 The only problem is, it might cost you your life. 748 00:37:55,875 --> 00:37:58,042 It's called... 749 00:37:58,208 --> 00:38:00,625 Polybius. 750 00:38:00,626 --> 00:38:02,666 KITTA: So, the Polybius urban legend is 751 00:38:02,667 --> 00:38:05,417 that there was this game console that was 752 00:38:05,583 --> 00:38:07,292 placed in certain arcades. 753 00:38:07,500 --> 00:38:09,833 People would play it, and it was supposedly 754 00:38:10,000 --> 00:38:12,000 either controlling their mind, 755 00:38:12,167 --> 00:38:13,833 or in some cases, we also hear 756 00:38:14,042 --> 00:38:16,708 that people were having headaches or seizures. 757 00:38:16,875 --> 00:38:19,500 It was causing them to have some sort 758 00:38:19,625 --> 00:38:22,167 of medical condition because of the game itself. 759 00:38:22,168 --> 00:38:24,207 GENTILE: Kids are getting into fights. 760 00:38:24,208 --> 00:38:25,708 They're becoming aggressive. 761 00:38:25,875 --> 00:38:27,167 Some of them are dying. 762 00:38:27,168 --> 00:38:29,207 And where these games were installed, 763 00:38:29,208 --> 00:38:32,583 men in black suits would come and tinker with these games. 764 00:38:32,584 --> 00:38:34,624 And it's believed that these were some type 765 00:38:34,625 --> 00:38:37,455 of government agents that were altering the equipment 766 00:38:37,456 --> 00:38:39,082 in order to see what effects that Polybius would have 767 00:38:39,083 --> 00:38:40,667 on the people playing it. 768 00:38:40,833 --> 00:38:44,125 But the thing is, there's no actual evidence that it existed. 769 00:38:44,126 --> 00:38:46,874 SHATNER: If there's no proof of Polybius, 770 00:38:46,875 --> 00:38:49,667 then where did this urban legend come from? 771 00:38:49,792 --> 00:38:53,292 The only known evidence of its existence can be found 772 00:38:53,458 --> 00:38:55,667 where many modern urban legends are born- 773 00:38:55,833 --> 00:38:57,833 the Internet. 774 00:38:58,000 --> 00:38:59,667 McNEILL: Polybius 775 00:38:59,833 --> 00:39:04,292 really comes down to a single website in 1998- 776 00:39:04,417 --> 00:39:05,625 the Coinop website 777 00:39:05,792 --> 00:39:08,250 that discussed different arcade games 778 00:39:08,375 --> 00:39:09,833 from the 1980s 779 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:14,167 that has an entry for this game, Polybius. 780 00:39:14,292 --> 00:39:16,667 So, whether that website grew out 781 00:39:16,668 --> 00:39:19,041 of people's memories of the game, or whether 782 00:39:19,042 --> 00:39:22,667 that website created people's memories of the game, 783 00:39:22,833 --> 00:39:25,833 that was really the linchpin 784 00:39:26,042 --> 00:39:29,792 that leads to the entire legend catching on as it did. 785 00:39:29,917 --> 00:39:33,958 SHATNER: Is the story of Polybius a complete fabrication, 786 00:39:34,083 --> 00:39:37,875 or could there be some truth to a dangerous video game? 787 00:39:38,042 --> 00:39:42,167 Well, perhaps the newfound form of entertainment in the 1980s 788 00:39:42,333 --> 00:39:44,833 really did warrant some caution 789 00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,417 and even fear. 790 00:39:48,750 --> 00:39:50,958 The arcade phenomenon was a new one. 791 00:39:51,083 --> 00:39:53,667 And in the early '80s, that's what kids did. 792 00:39:53,875 --> 00:39:56,792 There was one kid who played 28 straight hours, 793 00:39:56,958 --> 00:39:58,875 ended up making himself sick over it. 794 00:39:58,876 --> 00:40:00,541 Kids were playing this Tempest game, 795 00:40:00,542 --> 00:40:02,167 and they were having seizures. 796 00:40:02,250 --> 00:40:04,167 Another game, called Berzerk, 797 00:40:04,168 --> 00:40:06,666 a kid has a heart attack, and then a couple of weeks later, 798 00:40:06,667 --> 00:40:09,667 another kid has a heart attack on the same machine. 799 00:40:09,668 --> 00:40:11,541 This was a lot of concern for parents 800 00:40:11,542 --> 00:40:13,999 who didn't really understand what video games were. 801 00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:17,667 SHATNER: Did fears of video games warping the minds 802 00:40:17,875 --> 00:40:20,958 of America's youth create the urban legend of Polybius? 803 00:40:21,167 --> 00:40:23,083 Perhaps. 804 00:40:23,250 --> 00:40:27,292 But the bigger question is not how urban legends begin, 805 00:40:27,417 --> 00:40:32,708 but why they continue to endure from one generation to the next. 806 00:40:35,458 --> 00:40:39,458 LAYCOCK: It's often hard to find the origin of an urban legend. 807 00:40:39,583 --> 00:40:41,958 But it spreads because it's a good story. 808 00:40:42,083 --> 00:40:44,733 Something about it appeals to people's experience. 809 00:40:44,792 --> 00:40:46,250 And that's why they tell it. 810 00:40:46,375 --> 00:40:47,755 There's something about it 811 00:40:47,875 --> 00:40:50,105 that's articulating something important. 812 00:40:50,106 --> 00:40:52,041 McNEILL: There's a well-known saying 813 00:40:52,042 --> 00:40:53,874 about urban legends among folklorists, 814 00:40:53,875 --> 00:40:57,542 which is that legends might not always be true, 815 00:40:57,708 --> 00:40:59,998 but they're always getting something right. 816 00:41:00,042 --> 00:41:04,500 The world is full of experiences, real things 817 00:41:04,625 --> 00:41:07,417 that people see, witness, 818 00:41:07,542 --> 00:41:09,167 experience for themselves, 819 00:41:09,333 --> 00:41:10,833 that they can't explain. 820 00:41:10,834 --> 00:41:13,624 And those are the things where we fill in those answers 821 00:41:13,625 --> 00:41:15,833 with urban legends. 822 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:17,500 (beeping) 823 00:41:17,708 --> 00:41:20,208 So, what's the verdict? 824 00:41:20,375 --> 00:41:23,500 Can people spontaneously combust? 825 00:41:23,501 --> 00:41:25,874 Are mysterious men in black hiding among us, 826 00:41:25,875 --> 00:41:27,958 concealing the truth about UFOs? 827 00:41:28,125 --> 00:41:31,042 And what about Spring-heeled Jack? 828 00:41:31,208 --> 00:41:33,583 Was he real? 829 00:41:33,750 --> 00:41:36,460 You know, it's easy to be skeptical, but the truth is, 830 00:41:36,461 --> 00:41:38,207 not a single one of these modern myths 831 00:41:38,208 --> 00:41:40,875 have been definitively debunked. 832 00:41:41,042 --> 00:41:45,917 So, if you happen to catch a glimpse of some creepy clowns 833 00:41:46,125 --> 00:41:48,417 prowling around your neighborhood, 834 00:41:48,583 --> 00:41:51,833 perhaps it's better to close the blinds, 835 00:41:51,834 --> 00:41:53,041 lock the door, 836 00:41:53,042 --> 00:41:54,667 and let them 837 00:41:54,875 --> 00:41:59,000 and all other urban legends remain... 838 00:41:59,167 --> 00:42:01,458 unexplained. 839 00:42:01,459 --> 00:42:03,257 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A E NETWORKS 840 00:42:03,258 --> 00:42:07,808 Repair and Synchronization by Easy Subtitles Synchronizer 1.0.0.0