Original subtitles

WILDMAN: The peculiar tale of a miraculous amputate...

It is walking around just going about life...

without a head.

WILDMAN: ...a menacing mobsters hidden treasure...

He put all the money he could get his hands on

in a steel box, $5 million.

WILDMAN: ...and a Victorian home

with a haunting tale of possession.

This was their daughter inside of another girl's body.

WILDMAN/: But first, a police chase with another worldly suspect.

It was a tale so wild it makes us wonder

if we're really not alone in the universe.

WILDMAN: Amazing mysteries, bizarre phenomena

and chilling secrets.

I'm Don Wildman.

Join me on a journey beyond the unknown.

♪♪

Rio Grande Valley, New Mexico.

50 miles east of one of the world's largest collections

of radio telescopes lies the town of Socorro.

This small desert community sits above a pool of magma,

a remnant of the area's ancient volcanoes.

But on the village's outskirts stands a contemporary work

inspired by a more recent seismic event.

JESUS JR.: It's 15 feet wide, 42 feet tall,

painted in vivid colors.

It's got the date 1964 written on it.

WILDMAN: This roadside mural depicts a police officer

and his vehicle under a blanket of stars.

But this painting is actually a tribute

to an otherworldly occurrence.

It was a tale so wild, it makes us wonder

if we're really not alone in the universe.

♪♪

WILDMAN: April 24, 1964 -- Socorro, New Mexico.

State Police Sergeant Sam Chavez

is almost at the end of his shift

when he receives a strange call,

his colleague, Sergeant Lonnie Zamora,

is requesting backup for a possible car accident

outside of town.

JESUS JR.: Lonnie Zamora was a very serious officer.

If He called you for backup, he meant it.

It wasn't a joke.

WILDMAN: Eager to help his fellow officer,

Chavez drives to the scene.

But when he arrives, he doesn't find a car crash.

All he found was Lonnie Zamora standing there

looking very upset.

WILDMAN: And it seems Zamora has a stunning tale to tell.

He was cylindrical. It was -- it was was white.

Zamora says he was patrolling traffic just outside of town

when he noticed something unusual.

JESUS JR.: Lonnie was in hot pursuit of somebody speeding

when he noticed in the sky

a fiery orange streak heading southwest.

WILDMAN: Concerned the flare had come from an explosion,

he abandoned the car chase and followed its trajectory.

The streak marked down to an isolated ravine

and the officer parked his car to get a better look.

But when he arrived at the scene,

Zamora says what he saw

was unlike anything he had ever witnessed.

He said it was an oval-shaped craft of some sort.

It was silvery white and had four legs holding it up.

WILDMAN: And even more shocking,

standing by the craft were two strange figures.

JESUS JR.: He thought they're smaller than the average person.

They're wearing white outfits.

WILDMAN: But before he could approach them,

the craft disappeared into thin air.

♪♪

The ship shot straight up, leaving the same orange

fiery streak that he noticed before.

WILDMAN: In its wake, the figures

seemed to have vanished.

Zamora finishes his story,

leaving Chavez wondering if his colleague is telling the truth.

But when the men survey the site,

Chavez soon realizes

that Zamora's out of this world tale might be for real.

JESUS JR.: They'd never seen anything like it before.

It truly was out of this world.

They found the burned bush, scorched earth,

And four V-shaped indentations in the ground.

The imprints don't resemble those of any known aircraft.

Back at the Socorro Sheriff's office,

Zamora repeats his extraordinary story.

When the press catches wind of it,

it takes on a life of its own.

It seems that Zamora is not the only one

to have observed an unusual craft that night.

News reports spur two other witnesses to come forward

with similar accounts.

They described seeing an egg-shaped vehicle

just like what Lonnie described.

WILDMAN: The FBI descends on Socorro County to interview Zamora

and inspect the scene.

As their investigation unfolds,

speculation over what happened in the New Mexico desert

that night runs wild.

Some suggest that the answer

lies in the location of the sighting

Along the edge of a military base

called the White Sands Missile Range.

White Sands Missile Range was one of the world's

largest military facilities.

WILDMAN: For several months,

America's fledgling space program

had been working at the remote site

to build a craft that could land on the moon.

At the time, they were doing a lunar module testing.

WILDMAN: It is thought the military used a small helicopter

to carry the lunar surveyor around for testing.

Together, the helicopter and the module may have resembled

an egg shaped craft, leading some to assume

Zamora merely stumbled on a NASA field trial.

Two small individuals could have been engineers

analyzing the module in cutting edge uniforms.

WILDMAN: The theory sounds like a reasonable explanation

for what Zamora saw, but there is just one problem.

♪♪

Air Force investigators independently conclude

there were no lunar surveyors in operation

at the time of the sighting,

and in its official report,

the military classifies the cause of the police officer

sighting as an unknown.

♪♪

What Lonnie Zamora witnessed on the outskirts of town

remains a mystery to this day,

and this vibrant mural in Socorro, New Mexico

pays tribute to one of the most

perplexing UFO reports of all time.

♪♪

On the northeast border of Illinois,

straddling the Iroquois River is the tiny city of Watseka.

♪♪

And on its rural outskirts is an architectural gem

and the area's most unusual attraction,

TAYLOR: It's a brick Italianate style, home to about four stories.

It's got the big arching windows.

It really captures the time period of Watseka in the '60s.

WILDMAN: This is the Roff Home.

While it may appear like a peaceful getaway,

this Victorian abode hides a chilling tale of spirits,

possession and the afterlife.

There was a supernatural event that occurred in this house

that really changed an entire town

because of one little girl.

WILDMAN: So watch phenomenon, did this house witness

and how did it call into question

the very nature of life and death itself?

♪♪

July 1877 -- Watseka, Illinois.

The members of the Vennum family are worried.

Their 13 year old daughter, Lurancy,

is suffering from a bizarre and inexplicable sickness.

TAYLOR: Lurancy would go into trances and seizures.

she would contort, twist and convulse the body,

and it just terrified and paralyze the family.

WILDMAN: Lurancy's doctors conduct a series of examinations,

but none of them can explain her frightening condition.

The young girl seems destined for the insane asylum.

But in January 1878, Hope arrives in the form

of Dr. E.W. Stevens

who agrees to make a final assessment of the ailing child.

This was one last chance, someone who could see Lurancy

and perhaps figure out what was going on.

♪♪

WILDMAN: Dr. Stevens begins by asking a series of simple questions,

but he soon realizes Lurancy isn't at all herself.

TAYLOR: She was very confused.

She said that she was in a place she didn't recognize.

She didn't recognize the Vennums.

She began acting very strangely.

WILDMAN: Intrigued, Dr. Stevens continues his questioning.

He asks her what her name is expecting her to say,

Lurancy Vennum.

WILDMAN: Instead, she answers...

My name is Mary Roff.

Dr. Stevens and the Vennums are stunned.

TAYLOR: Mary Roff was a young woman who had lived in Watseka.

She had gone through the same kind of seizures

and she had been put away in the insane asylum.

And she later died there.

WILDMAN: Lurancy was only one year old at the time

and would have no way of knowing the girl's tragic tale.

TAYLOR: It seemed that Lurancy was possessed

by the spirit of Mary Roff.

WILDMAN: The desperate girl is so distraught

by her now unfamiliar surroundings

that she begs the Vennums to take her

to live with a Roffs

who she believes to be her real parents.

TAYLOR: In the days that followed,

Lurancy or Mary spent so much time crying and weeping,

the Vennums didn't know who she was anymore.

WILDMAN: Finally, the Vennums contact the Roffs

and beg them to take Lurancy into their home

in hopes of snapping her out of her bizarre state.

TAYLOR: The Roffs were just as confused as the Vennums were,

but because their daughter Mary

had gone through the same kind of thing

and had died, they had great sympathy.

♪♪

WILDMAN: But on her arrival at the Roff's home,

Lurancy does something astonishing.

♪♪

TAYLOR: She saw Mary's piano and she sat down

and began to play songs

that Mary had loved when she was alive.

♪♪

This had to be very unnerving for the Roffs.

WILDMAN: But what made it even stranger is that

Lurancy didn't know how to play the piano.

WILDMAN: Has Lurancy really been possessed

by the spirit of Mary Roff,

or is there another explanation for her astonishing behavior?

WILDMAN: It's 1878 -- Watseka, Illinois.

13-year-old Lurancy Vennum seems to be possessed

by the spirit of Mary Roff,

a teenage girl who died over a decade earlier.

In the hopes of helping Lurancy recover her senses,

the royal family has taken her into their home.

So what's the truth behind this bizarre possession?

TAYLOR: Over the course of the next four months,

Lurancy recognized the Roff's family members,

cousins, neighbors, people that only Mary knew.

They really, truly come to believe that this really

was their daughter inside of another girl's body.

WILDMAN: But then one morning,

the girl tearfully approaches the Roffs with some news,

Mary explained that she was going to have to leave them

and returned to heaven.

And it was time for Lurancy to return to her own body

and her own family.

♪♪

WILDMAN: The Roffs bid farewell to what they perceive

as the spirit of their deceased daughter

and returned Lurancy back to her real family.

TAYLOR: Suddenly, Mary was simply gone,

Lurancy was herself again.

The whole thing just seemed to be a very vague dream.

WILDMAN: The Vennum's are relieved

to have their daughter back.

But was Lurancy really possessed

by the spirit of Mary Roff?

TAYLOR: Some people claim the whole thing was a hoax,

some sort of trick by the families to get rich.

WILDMAN: Such doubters point to the huge success of a book

written by Lurancy's physician, Dr. Stevens,

and titled the "Watseka Wonder."

But the skeptics are confounded by one final

and stunning twist to the tale.

When Lurancy went back home, the seizures,

the trances, all of it was gone,

and she believed as did the two families,

that she'd been healed by the spirit of Mary Roff.

Throughout the entire rest of her life,

she never again suffered from any seizures or trances.

WILDMAN: The mystery of this miraculous healing

is still unsolved

TAYLOR: For many people, this case became a very convincing event

that we really do live on after we die,

and that, in some cases, we can come back.

WILDMAN: Today, the alleged possession of Lurancy Vennum by Mary Roff

remains one of the most enduring supernatural mysteries

in America.

And the Roff Family home stands as a haunting reminder

of this quaint town's connection with the other side.

The incredible tale of an avian amputee.

This chicken doesn't have a head.

It defied all the odds,

and literally achieved the impossible.

WILDMAN: So, how could a headless rooster defy biology,

and peck its way to stardom?

September 10th, 1945 -- Fruita Colorado

Farmer Lloyd Olsen is preparing a hearty feast

for his large family.

BUCK: Lloyd also doesn't have a lot of money.

And he raised chickens to put on his dinner table.

WILDMAN: Taking several live chickens out to the woodshed,

he lays each of their heads on the chopping block.

BUCK: And Lloyd began cutting their heads off one by one.

And what normally happens when you cut a chicken's head off is

it flutters around for a little bit --

an adrenaline response,

because the brain hasn't completely shut down yet.

WILDMAN: Olsen continues to slaughter the chickens,

and as always, they flap their wings

momentarily before expiring.

BUCK: And Lloyd gets to the end, and he looks around,

and there's a chicken walking around.

WILDMAN: The farmer wanders over to collect the wayward bird,

assuming there must be one more still to slaughter.

BUCK: But when he takes a closer look,

realizes this chicken's head has been cut off.

It's gone.

But he doesn't appear to be in any pain.

He's just walking around like nobody's business.

WILDMAN: Amazed that the creature has survived,

Olsen spares the death-defying animal from the night's feast,

and leaves it in its coop.

The next day, he returns,

expecting to find the headless rooster dead.

But the chicken is still alive.

And Olsen realizes that

they have a biological marvel on their hands.

It is walking around like it has not a care in the world,

actually pecking at the ground,

just going about life without a head.

WILDMAN: Astonished that such a phenomenon could occur,

Olsen gently tends to the unusual bird.

They feed him using an eye drop dispenser

through his open esophagus

And they give him milk, and water,

and an occasional grain of corn.

He was well cared for, and not in any pain.

WILDMAN: The curious creature,

once destined for the dinner plate,

soon becomes a member of the Olsen family.

And it's even given a pet name -- Miracle Mike.

Word of the astounding animal

quickly spreads through the farming community.

BUCK: Pretty soon, they've got neighbors

knocking on their door.

And they would bring a six pack of beer

in exchange for taking a look at this chicken.

WILDMAN: When the local journal publishes a story

about the unusual creature, it sparks a media frenzy.

And soon, Miracle Mike is earning a lot more

than just a few bottles of ale.

BUCK: And this is when a promoter talks the Olsens into

putting Mike on the sideshow circuit,

so that they can share Mike with the rest of the country.

WILDMAN: The show hits the road,

making its way across the country.

And at each stop, adoring fans marvel

at how the animal could possibly still be alive.

BUCK: The sideshows, they were charging people

¢25 a pop to see Mike again.

At the height of Mike's popularity,

he was making about $4,500 a month.

And so, for a farmer like Lloyd Olsen,

that was a lot of money back in '45.

WILDMAN: For 18 months, Miracle Mike mania overtakes the nation.

But the life of a shooting star can be short.

And one night at a hotel room in Phoenix,

fate finally catches up with the celebrated bird.

Mike begins to choke.

And this wasn't an uncommon thing.

Mucous would often get clogged in his throat.

But a quick shot of water down his esophagus

with the eye dispenser cleared it up very quickly.

But they can't find the eye dispenser.

So, while they're scrambling around frantically,

trying to come up with it,

Miracle Mike sadly passes away.

WILDMAN: Although Mike is gone, the mystery remains

How could this chicken survive for a year and a half

without its head?

In search of answers,

Olsen donates the rooster's remains to science.

BUCK: And they discover some amazing things, actually.

Normally, in a beheading, the major arteries in the neck

are completely severed, and the chicken bleeds out.

Well, in Mike's case, the artery was only partially severed,

and a clot had formed,

which prevented him from bleeding to death.

WILDMAN: The researchers also discover that, despite missing his head,

most of Mike's brain stem was left intact.

The brainstem controls most of the motor functions,

breathing and heart rate, and the chicken's reflexes.

So, Mike was able to live his life relatively easy

due to these two circumstances.

WILDMAN: There has never been another reported case

of a headless chicken like Miracle Mike.

And this rare bird's story

is one that the town of Fruita will never forget.

Mike is Fruita's unofficial mascot.

We've actually created a festival in his honor,

to celebrate his lust for life.

We do things such as a wing-eating contest,

a Peep-eating contest of "Chicken Song" dance-off.

And it's just a family-oriented event

centered around a chicken's beheading.

WILDMAN: Today, these quirky events are an enduring reminder

of one rooster determined to keep pecking away at life.

Mysterious orbs terrify the Wolverine State.

This is a tale about hunting in the woods,

and a search for answers.

WILDMAN: So, what's the truth behind the Paulding lights?

1966 -- Paulding, Michigan.

One quiet summer night,

a group of teenagers are hanging out in an area of town

known as "Dog Valley," when they see something strange.

PORGES: They saw a white light floating in the darkness.

They had no idea what this was.

This was terrifying.

WILDMAN: The scared teens summoned the local sheriff.

When he arrives, the lawman watches in amazement

as the light moves around,

brightens, and even changes color.

The light began to shift colors, from white to red,

even to green.

This was in the middle of nowhere.

The sheriff was incredibly confused.

WILDMAN: Then, as suddenly as it appeared,

the luminous specter abruptly vanishes.

As word of the bizarre sighting spreads,

locals gather to witness the strange light in the woods.

It appears in the same spot night after night,

almost without fail.

But what the ominous orb is,

and where it comes from remains unexplained.

They had no idea how to get to the bottom of this mystery.

WILDMAN: Bemused residents give the orb a name -- the Paulding Light.

And with authorities unable to explain where it comes from,

speculation runs rampant.

Some think it's an elaborate prank, but that seems unlikely.

PORGES: This light was appearing just about every night,

even when it was below freezing.

That would be some incredibly dedicated pranksters in action.

WILDMAN: Others suggest it could be caused

by faulty electric cables.

PORGES: Some people pointed to nearby power lines, and thought,

"Well, maybe this light is a strange

electrical light phenomenon,

like a man-made Northern Lights."

WILDMAN: But the power company reports no unusual activity in the area.

Without a scientific explanation,

some suspect it has a supernatural source.

PORGES: One legend was that this light was a Native American spirit

that would taunt the people who had taken their land.

Another legend was that it was a ghost

of a man who was hit by a train.

WILDMAN: So, what phenomenon is behind the mysterious Paulding Light?

WILDMAN: Since the 1960s,

strange lights have been seen shimmering in the woods

around Paulding, Michigan.

The source of these bizarre illuminations is a mystery.

So, what's the truth behind the Paulding Light?

The Paulding Light remains unexplained for almost 50 years.

Then, in 2009, a group of grad students from Michigan Tech

decides to solve the mystery once and for all.

Led by an electrical engineering student named Jeremey Bos,

they had to Dog Valley to investigate.

Jeremy Bos thought that the mystery of these lights

could be solved by studying the light itself.

WILDMAN: To examine the light, Bos and his crew

set up a spectrograph.

This device detects and analyzes waves of light.

PORGES: Different lights and light sources,

well, they all have a unique signature to them,

sort of like a fingerprint.

This can't really be seen by the naked eye,

but can be analyzed with high-tech equipment.

WILDMAN: After nightfall, as it has for decades,

the strange, glowing orb appears in the darkness.

Using the spectrograph, Bos and his colleagues

capture every bit of information they can.

The students compare the data to common sources of light,

and they find a match.

PORGES: The Paulding Lights are almost identical

in their optical signature...

to car headlights.

WILDMAN: Bos looks at a map.

Dog Valley lines up perfectly with a stretch of US Highway 45.

To test their findings,

Bos instructs members of his crew

to park on the highway facing Dog Valley,

and flick their high beams in a particular pattern.

The Paulding Light soon flickers in the exact same sequence.

PORGES: Bos and his colleagues were elated.

They had done it.

It wasn't a ghost. It wasn't an alien.

It was cars.

Boss concludes that the Paulding Lights' eerie movements

are an optical illusion created by the distant headlights.

PORGES: When these cars pass each other,

their headlights would merge together,

and create these strange color patterns

that were consistent with eyewitness accounts

of the Paulding Lights.

WILDMAN: A check of city records shows that the highway was rerouted

in the early 1960s --

right before the sightings were first reported.

Today, this haunting tale serves as a reminder

that even the darkest of mysteries

are always waiting to be illuminated.

An infamous gangster

takes the secret of untold riches to his grave.

This is the story of a mob murder,

a deathbed confession,

and a buried treasure.

WILDMAN: It's October 23, 1935, in Newark, New Jersey.

Police have been called to the scene of a horrific crime

at a restaurant known as the "Palace Chophouse."

There, they find four men sprawled on the floor

in a pool of blood,

the victims of an apparent shooting.

Only one is still alive.

The cops recognize him immediately.

It's the FBI's public enemy number one,

an infamous mobster named Dutch Schultz.

SYDOR: Dutch Schultz was an old-school gangster.

He rose up to become the most powerful gangster

in the Bronx during the Prohibition era,

actually being known as "the beer baron of the Bronx."

WILDMAN: The police rush Schultz to the hospital.

There, they ask him to reveal who was behind the attack.

But the mobster, badly injured and delirious,

can barely form a coherent sentence.

Nevertheless, detectives transcribe his every word,

hoping his ramblings might yield a useful clue.

SYDOR: All they got was a long word salad, with very little meaning,

and no word as to who shot him.

WILDMAN: But in his confusion, the gangster offers up

an unexpected tidbit of information.

In the days before the shooting,

Schultz was apparently worried that the cops were on his tail.

So, to protect the spoils of his criminal enterprise,

he buried more than $5 million in cash.

Where, he doesn't say -- at least, not exactly.

SYDOR: In his rambling, Dutch Schultz referred to the Devil.

They thought that was a clue to where the treasure was buried.

WILDMAN: And with that, Dutch Schultz dies.

Over the next few weeks,

police identify and catch the gunman behind the killings,

a low-level criminal named Charles Workman.

It seems he was hired by Schultz's own associates,

who saw the hot-headed mobster as a liability.

SYDOR: Dutch Schultz, at that time

was a guy who seemed to be losing his grip.

They realized it was time for him to go.

WILDMAN: But the question remains,

what happened to the gangsters buried million?

SYDOR: The hunt for Dutch Schultz's killer was over,

but the search for his treasure had just begun.

WILDMAN: For decades, treasure seekers have searched

for a mysterious stash of hidden loot --

a chest filled with $5 million

said to have been buried by notorious mobster Dutch Schultz.

So, will anyone find this illicit cash?

As the years go by,

countless treasure hunters pore over every detail

about Schultz's life, in hopes of unearthing a clue

to the location of the treasure.

And one leading theory emerges.

According to some former associates,

before Schultz was killed, he traveled to upstate New York,

near the town of Phoenicia.

SYDOR: Apparently, in the dead of night,

Dutch Schultz drove about two hours north.

He put all the money he could get his hands on,

put it in a steel box, and then buried this steel box

full of an estimated $5 million.

WILDMAN: To many, the location makes perfect sense.

During prohibition, it was widely known

that Dutch Schultz had operated an illegal distillery

in the very region.

SYDOR: Schultz had become familiar with upstate New York.

That seemed to be a logical place to hide his cash.

WILDMAN: And that's not the only detail that leads people to Phoenicia.

In the woods just outside of town,

there's a huge boulder known as the "Devil's Tombstone."

Treasure hunters suspect it might be the Devil

Schultz mentioned on his deathbed.

So, is this treasure buried near Phoenicia?

So far, no one has uncovered the missing millions.

To this day, people gather every year

by Phoenician, New York,

to exchange clues, or theories, or make one last look

for the treasure of Dutch Schultz.

The city of Polson, Montana, is located next to

the largest freshwater lake in the western United States,

Flathead Lake.

This picturesque body of water spans 200 square miles.

These shimmering shores may look serene,

but few realize they once held a dark secret

that terrorized this quiet lakeside community.

This is a story of a monster, a fisherman, and a huge catch.

It's 1889 in Polson, Montana.

Captain James Kerr is navigating a steamship across Flathead Lake

when he spots what he thinks is a large log.

But as he approaches, he notices something unusual.

It's not a log, but rather a bizarre creature.

DUNWELL: He saw something with humps

almost undulating over the surface of the lake.

Long tendrils that come down from the snout.

WILDMAN: What it actually is is a mystery.

Captain Kerr hadn't encountered anything like this.

But then, something terrifying happens.

The Leviathan turns, and charges the captain's boat.

Kerr grabs his rifle, and fires at the beast.

He misses,

but the blast is enough to scare the creature away.

Back on shore, Kerr recounts his tale to all who will listen.

But few believe the story.

Some say all he saw was the sun's reflection on the water,

or maybe ripples from a large school of perch.

Some of the people were skeptical.

WILDMAN: But days later, another person reports that he,

too, saw the massive beast.

And a local ferry captain claims he spied it, as well.

With each new sighting, fear grows that perhaps

there is some truth to these fish tales.

DUNWELL: Locals were becoming increasingly anxious

about being on the lake alone, swimming in the lake alone.

WILDMAN: Panicked residents even give the creature a nickname.

Most people call it the Flathead Lake Monster.

WILDMAN: For more than 60 years, sightings of the beast continue,

leaving residents baffled and terrified.

This lake has been here for centuries.

Who knows what's down there?

WILDMAN: So, what is the Flathead Lake Monster?

WILDMAN: It's the 1950s.

A strange beast has been spotted

swimming in Montana's Flathead Lake.

This unidentified creature

is said to have large humps on its back, a slender body,

and measures more than 8 feet long.

So, what is this mysterious monster?

One day in 1955, a Polson resident

named C. Leslie Griffith is fishing on Flathead Lake.

DUNWELL: Leslie Griffith is a local fisherman, very professional,

very talented, and patient.

WILDMAN: Suddenly, he feels a sharp tug on his line.

As he tries to reel in his catch,

he is amazed by the creature's strength.

It becomes clear that this is no ordinary fish.

He knew he had the Flathead Lake Monster.

WILDMAN: Griffith is determined to reel in the monster.

Griffith fought for nearly five hours,

where he'd real again, and the monster would just

reel out the line -- back and forth, back and forth.

WILDMAN: Finally, the fishermen prevails.

Griffith wrestles it out of the water, and into his boat.

And that's when the mystery of the Flathead Lake Monster

is finally solved.

It's no monster at all...

but a huge sturgeon.

He was beside himself with astonishment.

WILDMAN: Sturgeons can live for up to 150 years,

and grow to more than 10 feet in length.

Typically, they spend most of their lives in the ocean,

but migrate into freshwater lakes and rivers to spawn.

This sturgeon, and perhaps others like it,

must have lived in the Flathead Lake for decades.

And when Griffith brings his catch ashore,

it puts his fellow locals at ease.

DUNWELL: They theorized that it had lived for years, unseen, uncaught,

until Griffith was the one who caught it.

WILDMAN: Today, the very sturgeon caught by C. Leslie Griffith

is on display near Flathead Lake itself,

at the Paulson Flathead Historical Museum

in Paulson, Montana.

It's a testament to the man who solved

a 60-year-old monster mystery with his fishing rod.

A desperate mission, an ancient creature,

and an unimaginable power all come together

in one of humanity's greatest mysteries.

To some, this recalls the real-life quest for immortality.

WILDMAN: For millennia, humanity has sought

to unlock the key to eternal life.

4,000 years ago,

a Mesopotamian king named Gilgamesh

searched for an elixir that would make him immortal.

In 1513, Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon

scoured the swamps of what would later become Florida

in search of the Fountain of Youth.

And in the 17th century,

renowned physicist Sir Isaac Newton

spent years trying to brew a potion

that he hoped would prevent death.

People have always been obsessed with living forever.

WILDMAN: Then, in the 20th century,

a new technology emerged that seemed to offer the promise

that had eluded humanity for so long --

cryonics.

According to this theory, a person's body could be frozen

at the exact moment of their death.

They could remain in the state until future scientists

learned how to bring them back to life.

The idea of being frozen and then being able to thaw out

is really fascinating.

WILDMAN: But cryonics has a seemingly insurmountable flaw.

The freezing process itself causes irreparable damage

to the body at a cellular level.

It's an obstacle that few think

even the most advanced technology could overcome.

PICKERING: All of your cells burst open

in the freezing and thawing process.

We can't be frozen for any length of time,

and then come back to life.

WILDMAN: But a surprising solution to this problem

is about to be discovered in the unlikeliest of places.

WILDMAN: For thousands of years, alchemists and explorers alike

have sought to solve the greatest riddle

of the natural world -- the secret of eternal life.

But little do they know the solution could lie

in the unlikeliest of places.

2018 -- Russian.

American biologist Dr. Tullis Onstott

and a team of scientists

are exploring the frozen tundra of Siberia.

PICKERING: Dr. Tullis Onstott is a geobiologist.

He travels all over the world to seek life in harsh climate.

WILDMAN: As part of their study, his team extracts samples

of frozen soil from deep in the earth.

These were deposits that were at least 40,000 years old.

WILDMAN: In one sample, Onstott notices

what appear to be several dead worms.

Examining them under a microscope,

he identifies the specimens

as parasitic roundworms called "nematodes."

PICKERING: Nematodes are one of the most abundant

organisms on the planet.

They're able to live in almost every habitat.

WILDMAN: As Onstott observes the ancient creatures,

something amazing happens.

He saw these microscopic worms wiggling around.

This was probably beyond anything he ever expected.

WILDMAN: So, just how did these worms remain frozen

for tens of thousands of years,

and then thaw out as if no time had passed at all?

PICKERING: All nematodes have an outer covering

that's referred to as a "cuticle."

This cuticle protects them,

and is impermeable to certain things.

WILDMAN: It seems that this impermeable layer

prevented the worms' cells from being damaged.

PICKERING: This is likely what allowed them

to be frozen for 40,000 years.

WILDMAN: So, is it possible that,

if a similar covering could be engineered

to protect humans during a cryonic freezing process,

they, too, could be brought back to life after being frozen?

It seems we could be one step closer to living forever.

But that moment is lifetimes away.

Whether we'll be able to do this in humans is yet to be seen.

WILDMAN: The notion of eternal life continues to puzzle

and fascinate scientists all over the world.

It remains the most coveted secret of all time.