Original subtitles

Narrator: Sharks have patrolled the oceans

for hundreds of millions of years.

Hunting for fish, marine mammals,

and even their own kind.

Humans are not part of their normal diet.

But on June 14, 2012, in myrtle beach, south carolina,

something changed.

Jordon: Bam!

It was gushing blood.

Narrator: Four separate attacks in just ten minutes.

Connor fairburn: It was about the worst amount of pain

that I think I've ever felt.

Narrator: Could this be evidence

of a rogue shark feeding on humans?

(screaming)

denny starr: It was like this shark

was catching people in succession.

Narrator: Experts are desperate for answers.

Dan abel: When I first heard that four bites

had occurred along the same beach, I was shocked.

Narrator: Until the mystery is solved,

america's east coast may never be safe.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

jordon garofalo: I feel like people

from all over the east coast probably

come down to this beach.

Narrator: Jordon garofalo last came

to myrtle beach in south carolina in 2012.

This is the first time he has ever returned.

Jordon: My whole family would come down

and just stay in a big huge condo

and enjoy some time off for a week or so.

Narrator: Jordon's family were among

more than 17 million tourists

who flock to these sandy beaches each year.

But few realize that these shimmering waters

conceal a vast array of sharks.

Bulls, tigers, blacktips, and even hammerheads

are among more than a dozen species that prowl the ocean.

Normally they steer clear of the beachgoers.

But as jordon garofalo knows all too well,

there was one day that was far from normal.

Jordon: We used to love the beach.

But that day

I think it definitely changed drastically for my family.

Right about here-ish...

That it happened.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(thunder)

it had rained and stormed the night before,

and then it stopped, and it was, like, really sunny.

It was a very crowded, touristy middle of June day.

I was going into my sophomore year of high school.

My brother and I were the youngest ones

on that particular trip.

We had went into the water at about noon, 12:30.

We were kind of trying to just, you know, float a little bit.

♪ ♪

you know, I was laughing with my brother,

very calm, and then...

♪ ♪

bam!

Like, immediately it just felt like digging and pressure.

I thought it had to be a shark.

I just ripped my foot back as quick as I could.

♪ ♪

narrator: Jordon's brother rushes to his aid,

and the two of them race for the shore.

Jordon: It was, like, gushing blood, literally,

just like coming out and out and out.

There was like a trail of blood behind me basically,

and I could see that it was coming out of my foot.

Of course, your mind immediately goes

into the worst-case scenario.

Everybody starts going into the panic

of like we got to get a lifeguard,

but the lifeguard that we were normally seated near

wasn't there.

Narrator: What jordon doesn't realize

is that the lifeguard isn't at his post

because there's been another attack.

Lifeguard denny starr is on duty.

Denny starr: This is 77th avenue.

My chair sat right about here.

It was a normal day.

There's a lot of people in the water,

there's a lot of people on the beach.

Narrator: Little does he know, it's a day he'll never forget.

(muffled screaming)

denny: The commotion started down the beach a few blocks.

Narrator: A shark has sunk its teeth into a young woman.

Denny: We don't see a lot of shark bites.

It was scary.

And it's just something so rare here, and, and, you know,

obviously the people were getting kind of panicked.

Narrator: Denny scans the ocean,

while his colleague tends to the victim.

Denny: I went to his chair on 76th,

you're trying to kind of stay calm,

take care of the situation,

and make sure no one else's life is in danger.

Narrator: But he's already too late.

Denny: I saw two men running from this way.

So anytime you see someone running towards you,

I started running towards them.

Narrator: The two men lead denny to jordon garofalo.

Denny: This was very abnormal, and it hadn't happen before,

multiple people getting bit.

Narrator: And his day is about to get even more bizarre.

Denny: By the time I started putting some pressure

on his wound, I looked back

and I had two more guys running towards me.

Narrator: It's yet another attack

just a few hundred yards away.

Denny: Now it's starting to get crazy

because now it's not just a random bite.

Now there's two, now there's three.

People are running out of the water by now,

but then there was a fourth bite

probably about four more blocks down.

Narrator: Four shark attacks on the same stretch of beach

in just ten minutes.

Jordon: As they were cleaning out my foot,

I heard somebody say three other people were attacked.

And I was really confused.

What are the odds that then four people

had that all occur on one day?

Narrator: Luckily, all the victims survive.

Authorities are stunned.

Tony klimas: This is my beach. This is my city.

I'm here to protect it.

I immediately got in my truck

and I exited the beach and headed to the hospital,

and I was able to talk to all four of the victims

and get photographs of their injuries.

Four attacks could turn into eight attacks, you know,

hopefully you get some answers.

Narrator: So how and why did this quadruple attack occur?

The locals have a chilling theory.

Denny: All the bites kind of happened in sequence

from the south end moving north.

I think it might have been one shark

just because of the way it happened.

It was like this shark was obviously hungry

and was catching people in succession as he moved north.

Narrator: The bites began

around the 74th avenue block of the beach

and continued north one after the other.

It's a distance of less than three quarters of a mile.

So, could the locals be right?

Could all four bites have been the work of a single shark?

Scientists have debated the existence

of such a creature for decades,

and it even has a name.

The rogue shark.

Dan huber: The rogue shark theory is the idea

that a single shark could be responsible

for multiple attacks.

And that this shark has developed an interest

in hunting people.

Narrator: The idea was first introduced

by an australian surgeon named victor coppleson in 1933.

Coppleson theorized that an injured shark,

unable to hunt its normal prey,

would turn to a different food source.

Humans.

Huber: Coppleson had speculated that an injured shark

would be more likely to attack a person,

because an injured shark would be looking for an easy meal.

And humans are pretty slow in the water compared to most fish.

Narrator: So, could there be an injured shark

targeting humans on myrtle beach?

It sounds like something straight out of a movie.

But investigators are tipped off to an incident

just two weeks earlier that could turn fiction into fact.

Paul nalepa works at a local tackle shop

and spends the majority of his time near the water.

Paul nalepa: I really remember that day pretty well.

I was working in the bait shop that day.

It was kind of a little stormy out there.

It was kind of hard to see in the water.

Narrator: Among those braving the waves

is 25-year-old ryan orellana-mocynski.

Paul: He was about somewhere right around in that area.

Probably around waist deep, boogie boarding.

It was starting to get dark, and that's when it all happened.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

narrator: A shark sinks its teeth into ryan's left foot.

Paul: And he started fighting for his life

to get away from the shark.

Poke it in the eyes, punch it in the nose.

Life or death.

It's you or the shark.

(muffled screaming)

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(muffled screaming)

narrator: A shark has sunk its teeth

into boogie boarder ryan orellana-mocynski's

left foot.

Paul: He did whatever he can to get away from the shark.

Narrator: In the struggle,

ryan strikes his attacker in the eye.

Finally, the predator lets go.

Paul: Ryan's foot was pretty torn up.

You could see the muscles on his feet

and the tendons and all that.

He needed several surgeries to fix his foot.

Narrator: Ryan believes he went head-to-head

with one of the fiercest predators in the ocean,

the tiger shark.

Named for its distinctive dark stripes,

tiger sharks can grow to as long as 18 feet in length

and weigh more than a ton.

Huber: Tiger sharks are extremely dangerous animals.

They get very, very large. They're very powerful.

They have teeth that are extremely effective at cutting.

Narrator: Ryan's encounter could help solve the riddle

of the quadruple shark attacks,

also on myrtle beach, just a few weeks later.

Some suspect that the incident could be the work

of a so-called "rogue" shark.

This theory states that a single injured shark

might turn to humans for food.

And ryan did claim to have damaged his assailant's eye

during the melee.

So is the shark that bit ryan

also responsible for the other four attacks?

For that to be true, there would need to be proof

that the animal stayed in the area.

There may be evidence to confirm that it did.

A month after the attacks,

authorities make a stunning discovery.

Paul: It was one in a, probably, I don't know, million chance,

but, like, I heard that somebody caught a one-eyed shark.

Narrator: Could this be the shark that ryan injured?

Abel: What you're seeing here

is one of the most magnificent beasts in the sea.

This is a sandbar shark.

Narrator: According to dr. Dan abel

from coastal carolina university,

the answer lies in a unique feature of a shark's eye.

Abel: One of the really interesting aspects

of this particular animal

is that they have a protective lower eyelid,

a third eyelid called a nictitating membrane.

The nictitating membrane will be deployed

when the animal is opening its mouth to eat

or if it perceives that it's in danger.

Narrator: This evolutionary design means

that it's extremely difficult to damage the eye of a shark.

The implication is stunning.

Abel: If somebody were to have injured the eye of a shark

and a shark with an injury to that same eye was caught,

the likelihood is that it's the same shark.

Narrator: So is this injured tiger shark

the rogue that terrorized myrtle beach?

One way to find out is to examine the victim's wounds.

If these bites match each other and they're from a tiger shark,

it would be highly likely

that it's the very same shark that bit ryan.

Huber: When we look at the bite photos from the second victim,

the spacing of the tooth marks near his toes would suggest

that it was something around a four-foot shark approximately.

Narrator: Next, he analyzes the injuries of the third victim.

Huber: When we look at the outside of the leg,

we can tell that this is the lower jaw of the shark.

The pointier teeth of the lower jaw

create these thinner lacerations,

and we can see that they raked through the skin.

When we look at the inside of his leg,

we can tell that this is where

the upper jaw of the shark bit him.

Narrator: Based on the wounds, dr. Huber reaches a conclusion.

Huber: The bite marks seem to indicate that a tiger shark

was probably not responsible for the attacks on June 14th.

Narrator: The shark that bit ryan

is not responsible for the other four attacks.

In fact, dr. Huber's analysis

turns the rogue shark theory on its head.

Huber: One of the things that we can tell about the shark

that bit the second victim was that it was relatively small.

However, the spacing between the tooth marks on the other victim

would seem to indicate a larger shark.

So the bite photos indicate that it's impossible

that a single shark was associated with the attacks.

Narrator: It seems the attacks are the work

of several different sharks.

But huber believes there is at least one commonality

that can help experts figure out what happened.

Each of the four bites were from the same species.

Huber: It's highly likely that this series of attacks

can be attributed to blacktip sharks.

Narrator: Named for the black tips

on their dorsal, pectoral, and pelvic fins,

blacktip sharks often hunt in shallow waters

and are one of the most widely seen species

along the south carolina coast.

Their torpedo-shaped bodies

allow them to leap from the water

at incredible speeds of 10 to 15 miles per hour.

So, what would cause multiple blacktip sharks

to suddenly begin attacking people?

A clue might lie in the form of a rarely seen predator

known to lurk the depths of the ocean floor.

Narrator: On June 14, 2012,

in myrtle beach, south carolina,

four people are attacked on a small stretch of the coast

in just ten minutes.

It's an unprecedented event

that leaves tourists and locals on edge.

Denny: Every week the rest of the summer,

every new group that came in,

they all wanted to know about the bites.

They all were worried, should we get in the water.

The whole summer was shark, shark, sharks.

Narrator: Experts have concluded that the bites

were most likely the work of multiple blacktip sharks.

But what caused them to suddenly sink their teeth

into so many people?

On June 19th, five days after the shocking incidents,

something happens that could provide a clue.

It turns out sharks aren't the only animals

haunting beachgoers on myrtle beach.

Sixteen-year-old matthew breen is swimming in the shallows

when he feels a sharp pain in his foot.

But it's not a shark bite.

He's been attacked by a stingray.

Breen is taken to grand strand regional medical center

where he is treated by a team led by dr. Jarratt lark.

Jarratt lark: We see a dramatic number of stingray stings

in our area.

There's a very, very common presentation.

It's not uncommon to see one or two a day throughout the summer.

Narrator: In fact, dr. Lark does reveal

what could be an important observation

of the presence of stingrays near the shoreline

on the day of the quadruple attacks.

Lark: June 14, 2012, sticks in my memory very well.

I was out on the beach that morning.

And I noticed that there were one or two rays

swimming just underneath the surface along the beach,

very close, where people would be enjoying the water.

Narrator: So how might stingrays be connected?

Marine biologist shannon hughes takes care of the stingrays

at ripley's aquarium of myrtle beach.

According to hughes, around that time of year,

a certain species of ray takes part in an incredible event.

Shannon hughes: When the water starts warming up, that's when

you'll see cownose stingrays coming through.

They're migrating, and they are in large schools.

Narrator: The cownose ray migration.

It's one of the most incredible oceanic spectacles

of the natural world.

Every year after spending the winter months

off the shores of florida,

the rays head north up the atlantic coast to give birth.

They travel in groups of up to 10,000, known as a "fever."

dr. Dan abel has been monitoring

the area's marine animals for decades.

Abel: Well, speak of the devil.

That's a big stingray.

Narrator: According to dr. Abel,

their epic journey is treacherous.

The intrepid rays must evade predators such as seals,

large fish, and most dangerous of all, sharks.

Abel: A fast-swimming shark like the blacktip shark,

they will follow and eat cownose rays.

Narrator: So, could the cownose ray migration

have drawn blacktips into the shallows on June 14th

and caused the quadruple attack?

According to dan huber, it's all about timing.

Huber: Cownose stingrays migrate in these enormous schools

up the atlantic coast of the united states.

But the exact timing can always fluctuate

because it's based on water temperature.

Every animal has a certain water temperature

at which its physiology works ideally.

And the animals move back and forth through the environment

to stay in waters that are going to help with this.

Narrator: In winter months, cownose rays are found

off the coast of florida

in waters around 70 degrees fahrenheit.

But as spring approaches,

the water temperatures begin to rise,

and this triggers the rays to head north,

past south carolina toward the chesapeake bay.

So, in 2012, when did the cownose ray migration occur?

Dan huber investigates.

Huber: What I'm looking at here is water temperature data

off the coast of cape canaveral, florida, in the spring of 2012.

And what we see is the water temperature as of early March

getting above 70 degrees.

And as we move into mid-March, warming quickly.

And this increase in temperature is the kind of cue

that usually starts an animal migration.

So if the stingrays had started their migration at this time,

they would have been further north than myrtle beach

by the time the attacks had occurred in June of 2012.

Narrator: It seems that the cownose ray migration

could not have been behind the multiple attacks of June 14th.

But perhaps something else lured the sharks

into the shallows that day.

And when investigators examine the third attack,

it raises a chilling possibility.

Connor fairburn: It was right here in this area

where we were staying.

We all had just graduated high school.

Class of 2012.

Just come down here just to cap off our high school experience.

That brown house back there looks familiar,

so I was somewhere like right around in here.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

we were in the water.

It got to be about noon.

Everybody started getting hungry, we were like no,

you know what, let's, let's enjoy it for one more hour.

And, you know, that old famous last words, just one more.

And that's when everything kinda happened.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

just all of the sudden, I just get rammed in my right calf,

and that was, it was violent.

It was a hard impact.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

(scream)

connor: It was about the worst amount of pain

that I think I've ever felt.

Narrator: High school graduate connor fairburn

is in the middle of a shark attack.

Connor: I'm fighting it off of my leg.

It was holding on for everything that it could get.

Narrator: Finally, the shark releases.

Connor: When it let go, I looked down and I just,

I see blood coming out

and there's a piece of my leg hanging off of it.

All I was thinking was we got to get to the beach.

Narrator: Back on shore,

onlookers wave down a lifeguard.

Connor is one of four people to be attacked on myrtle beach

in the span of just 10 minutes.

The cause is a mystery.

But connor himself offers a theory.

Connor: I think it was the blood

caused something within them to, to be more on the attack.

Drawing them in.

Narrator: Could it be that simple?

Might blood in the water from the first attack that afternoon

have lured more sharks to the area?

Sharks that then sunk their teeth

into the other three swimmers?

Dr. Dan abel investigates.

Abel: So sharks are attracted to blood in the water,

but it is far more complicated than you might think

for a shark to detect it.

Narrator: For a shark to find its prey,

it needs to come into contact

with a continuous string of scent molecules

called an odor trail.

Abel: Let's say a fish is bleeding,

the odorant hits the shark's nostrils,

it would stimulate the part of their brain that detects smells,

and they would then swim towards it.

Narrator: The shark will start to move in the direction

of the nostril that first came into contact with the odor.

Then, the predator will sweep its head from side to side.

Based on the concentration

of the molecules entering its nostrils,

the shark can determine in which direction to swim.

Abel: As the smell gets stronger and stronger and stronger,

they can identify where it comes from.

Narrator: It seems possible that the blood

from the first victim on June 14th

could have created an odor trail

that then attracted other sharks to the area.

But there is one other factor to consider: Time.

The second attack occurred just minutes after the first.

Could the odor trail have developed that quickly?

According to dr. Abel, it depends on the speed

at which molecules move through the water.

And to demonstrate, he conducts an experiment.

Abel: This will be a simulation of how an odorant like blood

might be dispersed in the water.

Narrator: A fluorescent dye is poured into the ocean.

The dye represents the blood lost by the first victim.

Abel: It visually shows how, for example,

blood might disperse.

Yeah, that would be a lot of blood.

Narrator: Dr. Abel analyzes the speed

at which the dye moves through the water.

Abel: Sea water is heavy, dense, we say it's viscous.

So, for an odor to be dispersed in water,

it has to move very slowly.

Narrator: After two minutes,

the dye has only moved about 25 feet from the boat.

Abel: People are, are, are under the, the myth

that if you bleed in the ocean,

that instantaneously sharks within miles around detect that,

and no, they, they need to physically come in contact

with that odor.

And as we showed here,

the further you are away from the source,

the lower the likelihood is

that a shark will come in contact with it.

Narrator: It's clear that on that fateful afternoon

in myrtle beach,

the blood from the first victim

wouldn't have traveled quickly enough

to lure other sharks into the area.

But that raises a frightening possibility,

that the sharks were already there

and they struck out at swimmers for a different reason.

As experts begin to search for other explanations,

they turn their attention to a series

of disturbing discoveries that occurred

in the months following the June 2012 attacks.

Tony: We had some dolphins that washed up already dead.

We weren't really sure what it was,

but we did hear from other states

that they were having the same issue.

Narrator: In fact, it turns out that over the course of 2013,

a total of 48 dolphins are found dead

on south carolina beaches.

Researchers concluded the dolphins were inflicted

with the morbillivirus.

This deadly disease suppresses the dolphin's immune system

and causes inflammation of the brain.

The result is a bizarre shift in behavior.

Infected dolphins have been witnessed

swimming in strange patterns, almost like they are drunk.

And additional research has shown

that brain inflammation in zebra fish

caused them to become more agitated.

So in 2012, could the sharks of myrtle beach

have been inflicted with a disease

that changed their behavior,

making them more likely to bite swimmers?

According to dr. Dan huber,

it comes down to a shark's immune system.

Huber: For animals, the skin is the first line of defense

against any type of an infection.

So the skin is part of the immune system, essentially.

I'm looking at a section of shark skin,

which shows what are called dermal denticles,

which are basically little teeth

that makeup the scales of a shark.

Narrator: The denticles perform a unique function

in a shark's immune system.

Huber: Dermal denticle creates a very uneven shape

that bacteria have a hard time adhering to.

Because the bacteria can't adhere to it,

they can't form colonies.

And this is something that helps sharks

to resist bacterial infections.

Narrator: And there's also another organ

that helps protects sharks from disease.

Their liver.

The liver produces a chemical compound called squalamine.

The squalamine is dispersed inside the shark's cells.

If a virus invades the cells,

the squalamine prevents it from multiplying.

So, the virus doesn't spread,

and the shark doesn't get sick.

Scientists are even testing squalamine

to fight cancer in humans.

This remarkable immune system means that sharks might be one

of the most disease-resistant creatures on earth.

Huber: Any suggestion that the sharks could've become ill

due to a virus or a bacterial infection isn't very likely,

because sharks have very strong immune systems.

Narrator: So disease is not a factor

in the spike of attacks.

But just as experts appear to have hit a dead end,

a piece of information comes to light

that turns the investigation on its head

and could reveal the truth once and for all.

Erin o'hara: I saw that deep gash, isaac screaming,

and knew I had to call 911.

Narrator: On June 14, 2012,

four swimmers are attacked by sharks within ten minutes

on a small stretch of myrtle beach, south carolina.

(screaming)

the cause of this unprecedented event is a mystery.

To protect the future of these beaches,

investigators turn to the past.

An incident from 2011 could crack the case.

(gulls squawking)

erin o'hara has vacationed in myrtle beach for years.

Erin: We grew up coming here.

We love this end of myrtle beach.

We can take a walk down to the inlet down there.

When the tide is out, it leaves all these big pools

where the kids can find hermit crabs and starfish.

My husband and I even honeymooned here,

so we love this area.

Narrator: In 2011, erin came here on vacation

with her parents and two children,

two-year-old eva and five-year-old isaac.

Erin: Isaac was excited every morning to go out in the water.

He loved to swim from a very young age.

He loved to have fun.

And he was full of energy and...

Just a love of life.

So, this is probably where I was sitting that morning.

Um, and, uh, then I, then...

Then I heard him screaming.

I can remember that day very clearly.

I was sitting here.

I was looking at my dad and son in the water.

Just, just thankful that my son has his grandfather in his life

and that they love to spend time together.

And so they were out there jumping waves and playing.

That's when it happened.

Narrator: A shark tears through the flesh of isaac's leg.

His grandfather wrestles him out of the water

and races to the shore.

Erin: As dad gets closer, I see this flesh wound open,

and then immediately I just see the blood just coming.

I just start screaming, "please, somebody call 911,

call 911, my son's been bit."

narrator: Eventually the paramedics arrive,

and isaac is rushed to the nearest hospital.

(squawking)

erin: The scariest part was watching my five-year-old

go into major surgery.

You know, you, you, you, you say goodbye to them.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

isaac: So, this is the bite.

You can see easily on the other side of the leg

that there are two rows of teeth.

If it wasn't there for my mom that day, I might have died.

Narrator: Isaac is lucky to be alive.

But the location of his attack could help explain

the quadruple bites of June 14, 2012.

The incident occurred near a brackish inlet

called an estuary.

How might this geographical feature

be linked to the attacks?

Dr. Dan abel investigates.

Abel: So what we're doing today is research

in one of the most wondrous ecosystems on the planet,

winyah bay in coastal south carolina.

Narrator: Estuaries like this surround myrtle beach.

It's here that sharks spend a large amount of their time

feeding and even giving birth.

Dr. Abel and his team are studying

under what circumstances sharks enter these protected habitats

and, even more importantly, why they leave.

Abel: Anchor's down.

Narrator: This research could help solve the mystery

of the quadruple attacks.

Abel: It's a shark eat shark eat shark world.

Narrator: On June 14, 2012,

residents and tourists of myrtle beach are stunned

by four shark attacks in just ten minutes.

Investigators believe the bites

are most likely the work of blacktip sharks.

This species is known to be abundant

in the brackish waters of the region's estuaries.

Dr. Dan abel is researching how the amount of salt

in the inlet, known as the salinity,

can affect the movement of coastal sharks.

Abel: One of the areas we're interested in

is how the salinity, the amount of salt in the water,

affects the kinds of sharks we get

and the number of sharks we get.

Narrator: To do so, the team takes water samples.

Narrator: And set fishing lines

to catch these prodigious hunters.

Abel: So where we just set our long line,

the salinity is about 30 parts per thousand,

which is relatively high.

Narrator: The team is able to assess

the population of sharks...

Abel: Anchor's down.

Narrator: ...By recording the number and the species

of those they catch.

Abel: Okay. Got a little shark.

How big is it?

Okay.

Narrator: The first catch of the day

is a small sandbar shark,

and it's just the beginning.

Abel: All right, I'm coming.

So we got two. All right.

So let's go pick up the line, second line.

We've got a big lemon shark.

Narrator: And their last find of the day

is the most remarkable.

Man: All right.

Abel: This is a 7 1/2 or 8-foot shark.

You can see we put a small shark on the line for bait.

A small shark took the bait,

and then the bull shark took the small shark

that ate the small shark we had on as bait.

It's a shark eat shark eat shark world.

Narrator: It's clear that in periods of high salinity,

the estuary is inhabited by a large number of sharks.

But what happens when there is less salt?

Abel: Differences in the salinity

can change the community structure of the system

for days to weeks.

If the amount of salt in the water is relatively low,

then that makes for inhospitable conditions

for most of the sharks in here,

so the sharks typically then will leave the estuary.

They will probably spread out along the shoreline

for, you know, a period from days to weeks.

Narrator: So what could have caused the salinity

in the estuary to suddenly drop?

An event just two weeks before the attacks reveals the answer.

Reporter: Winds are increasing towards the carolinas.

Beachgoers in the southeast today

won't be so lucky tomorrow.

Narrator: Tropical storm beryl.

On may 30th, 45-mile-an-hour winds battered the coastline

and heavy rainfall flooded the region.

This sudden influx of freshwater

could have lowered the salinity in the estuary,

which in turn would make it potentially inhospitable

for the blacktips.

Huber: It's also possible that the storm system

churned up nutrients, which would have fed the ecosystem,

potentially causing these sharks

to come closer into shore than they normally do

and into the area where people were swimming.

Narrator: And the final piece of the puzzle lies

not in the shark's behavior, but in the human's.

Two weeks before the attacks,

new direct flights were offered to myrtle beach

from eight different midwest cities.

Suddenly, the beaches were home

to thousands of additional tourists.

But the weather didn't cooperate at first.

Jordon: It had rained and stormed the night before,

and then it stopped.

Connor: I think it rained for one or two days,

and we just realized that we didn't have a day at the beach.

It was basically one of the last opportunities

that we were going to actually have,

and on that Thursday, I mean, everything,

it was just a perfect day.

Narrator: And so on June 14th, not long after the blacktips

had likely begun to congregate along the coast,

tourists, itching for some sun,

hit the beach in unprecedented numbers.

The result was four shark bites in just ten minutes.

Abel: This particular day, there was a set of circumstances

that may have been the perfect storm for shark bites.

Narrator: But for those involved,

it's just another reason

to treat these majestic predators

with caution and respect.

Tony: It was definitely an eye opener for me.

You always got in the back of your mind,

could, could something be swimming around me

that is not too friendly?

Jordon: I definitely have more of a respect for sharks now.

It is their ocean.

It is not our ocean.

So leave them alone, they leave you alone

and go about your days.

Captioned by side door media services