All language subtitles for Phantom.Signals.Series.1.4of6.The.Ghost.on.the.Radio.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org_3_text

Narrator: A young boy lost
and alone in the desert...

This is some harsh,
unforgiving terrain

...Sends a distress call
that authorities can't trace.

This is gonna be
life threatening situation.

What on earth did that poor kid
goes through.

Narrator: A massive storm
shows up on a radar...

It gives a weird signature.

...But the skies remain clear.

You'd expect to see something.

What other things
might be up in the air?

Narrator: Strange seismic
signals in oklahoma.

Dr. Procter:
It's almost like a heartbeat.

Boom, boom, boom.

Narrator:
No source can be found.

That raises our attention level.

We have to have
massive amounts of energy

That can create these waves.

Narrator:
Signals to real events...

Things going on thousands
of feet below the surface

Narrator: ...That leave
many questions unanswered.

Cover it up, deny it, or pretend
it didn't happen.

There's something weird
happening here.

Narrator:
Endless streams of data,

Information bombarding
the planet from within,

And from the furthest stretches
of the universe.

What messages
do these phantom signals hold?

-- Captions by vitac --
www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

Tuesday, August 7, 1973.

Boy: Hello?

Mrs. Darlene ross,
a california radio operator,

Hears a call
for help over her cb radio.

A child was heard on the cb

Saying that his father
had a heart attack,

And their pickup truck
turned over,

And all he had access
to was the cb,

So he was calling for help.

Narrator:
Mrs. Ross talks to the boy,

Hoping to piece together
enough facts to find him.

But she learns only
that his name is larry,

He's 7 years old, and he's
somewhere in new mexico.

Fallah:
He couldn't give specific
information about where he was,

Didn't really know
his own last name,

Didn't really know
where they were going,

And so there was nothing for
the people who heard the call

To use to help find him.

Narrator:
With few clues to go on,

Mrs. Ross calls the police
in albuquerque, new mexico.

Throughout the night
and into the next day,

Search teams fly across
the state

Trying to find
the overturned truck.

In a search and rescue
for a normal person,

They might send out
so many people.

When it's a 7 or 8-year-old,
they're sending everybody.

Could cost millions
to find the person.

They don't care 'cause they know

They had a limited amount
of time

To hone in
on whatever signal was coming,

Because how long would
that truck battery last?

If the truck is turned over,
it's likely not running.

If the truck's not running,

The engine's
not powering that battery.

That means larry is on a timer.

He's got to get help
before that battery stops

Effectively keeping
that radio running.

♪♪

Narrator:
As the hours pass,

Reports come in that people
from california to mississippi

Have been talking to larry
on their cb radio,

Cb radio is not very different
from your cellphone.

It's just an older,
simpler technology.

In 1970s, a lot of people
were on cb radios.

This one in particular
has been in production

For about 50 years or so.

You have to cycle through
the channels of operation

Calling for anyone
to give you help.

Fallah:
The main role of the people
talking to him on the cb

Is to keep him calm,
keep them from panicking.

Fear really affects

Your response
to the overall situation.

For a little boy to be alone
in terrain like this,

It would be
absolutely terrifying.

You don't know how to get help,
and it can be deadly out here.

The hostile desert at night,
the temperatures drop.

At daytime, you could boil
a tea bag in your boot,

It's so damn hot.

What on earth
did that poor kid go through?

I can't even imagine it.

Narrator:
It's been 24 hours

And searchers have found
no trace of larry,

But the cb operators
talking to him

Are starting to pick up clues
to his location.

Larry's comments
about the weather

And the position of the sun
lead them to believe

He's in the manzano mountains
near albuquerque.

The army sends
aircraft to the area.

And when larry says he sees
flashing lights overhead,

The search area is narrowed.

The manzano mountains
are an old fault block.

So it's essentially
a giant cliff

Lifted up with some pieces
cut out of it over time.

Phoenix:
The area is 35,000 acres

That is known for
very dramatic mountain vistas.

I mean, you've got hills,
valleys,

And straight up mountain peaks

That have rocky crags
exposed on the surface.

So this is some harsh,
forbidding,

And unforgiving terrain,

Trying to pinpoint an object
as small as a vehicle --

You could be out there forever.

Narrator:
Some mountainous areas can be
a dead zone for radio signals.

Radio signals can be blocked.

If you are sort of in a crevice
or in a ravine or something,

And you're closed in
on all sides,

Then the signal
has literally nowhere to go.

Phoenix: I personally have been
on many expeditions

Where we couldn't even
use radios

Because of the terrain
we were in.

You could be within a couple
hundred feet of another person,

And you may not be able
to get their signal.

Narrator: But cb users
report hearing larry

Hundreds of miles beyond
the manzano mountains.

How is the signal getting out?

All mountains are bad for radio,

But if you're going to have
a mountain range,

This is a pretty good one

To be able to have some chance
of a signal getting through.

It's mostly sedimentary
and metamorphic rocks.

There's not a lot of metal,
which is good

Because areas
that have a high metal content,

That have lots of ore,

That have a lot of metal
in the rocks,

Block and attenuate
the signal much more rapidly.

If you've ever noticed
your cellphone reception,

Cutting out inside of
a skyscraper,

It's because it has
a metal frame building

Reinforcing all that concrete.

Narrator: But
the frequency range of cb radio

Gives it an advantage
over cellphones.

The higher the frequency you go,

The easier it is
to block a signal.

So cellphones usually operate
at, like, 2 1/2 gigahertz.

Cb radio operates at a very low
30 megahertz, 25 megahertz,

And so that's easier
for them to propagate.

So unless this person is in
a very, very deep crevice,

You should be able
to get something up.

The hunt for larry is
in its second day.

Search and rescue pilots

Continue to monitor
their own radios,

Trying to hone in
on larry's cb signal.

That pilot would be really set
up to pick up larry's signal.

As the plane
comes up over the horizon,

Which already
is at a high level,

That signal coming off of the
cb antenna will hit the plane.

You can't triangulate a signal.

That allows them to potentially
find where larry's at.

[ antenna beeping ]

So this is kind of
a lower tech version

Of what you can use
for homing in on a signal.

So I'm using
a highly directional antenna

To point in a vicinity
and figure out

Where the transmitting station
is coming from.

So the nice thing with using
a directional antenna like this

Is it kind of works
like a flashlight.

So as I turn to face the beacon,
I get a signal.

Facing the opposite direction --
no signal.

Swing closer...

[ antenna beeping ]

...And there it is.

[ beeping continues ]

Narrator: But researchers trying
to triangulate larry's signal,

The boy frequently
changes the cb channel,

Hampering their efforts.

It's best to flip that little
switch for channel 9,

And that's what you use
for emergency calls.

When this story
first came to light,

There would have been
a lot of activity on cb.

There could have been a lot of
people talking at the same time.

And he may have heard people
talking on a channel,

Tried to key up and talk --

They didn't come back to him,

So he probably switched to
another channel and tried again.

So that makes it very, very hard
for the search and rescue

Because to pinpoint a signal,
you want a stable signal.

If he was jumping channels,

It would just constantly
be cutting in and out.

The fact that larry's 7,
in distress, scared,

They could have
just been panic calling.

"I don't hear anybody
immediately.

I've got to flip channel."

And they just kept doing that

Until maybe
the battery was depleted.

Narrator: Rescue teams
are desperate to find larry

Before his cb radio loses power,

But efforts to get him to stay
on one channel aren't working,

Causing suspicions for some.

He hits upon the worst
possible solution.

If you were trying
to hide your signal,

You would do exactly what this
kid is supposed to be doing,

Because then you're not
giving anybody a chance

To lock onto your signal.

Narrator:
By the end of day 2,

Larry's channel jumping,

As well as inconsistencies
in cb users reports,

Raise questions about
the authenticity of the story.

As the situation evolved,
they're getting different data.

At one point,
the boy's name was larry,

And then at some other time
his name was david.

And they're beginning to ask
the question --

Could this be a hoax?

When the call first comes in

And he doesn't know
his last name

Or where he's from
or where they're going --

Larry should know
these simple facts.

He's supposed to be
7 years old.

So either it's a hoax,

And they're trying to get
a lot of people

To waste a lot of time
looking for somebody

And a car that doesn't exist,

Or larry's in shock.

And what happens
when you're in shock

Is that you don't think clearly.

It becomes hard
to remember things.

Traumatic events can actually
cause both retrograde

And anterograde amnesia,

Forgetting for the time
right before the trauma

To a little bit of time
after the trauma.

So maybe in these initial calls,
he's still in a period

Where, in shock,
he can't remember simple facts.

Frankly, it could be something
as simple as a concussion.

And hopefully those memories
will come back as time goes on.

Narrator: Is a little boy
lost in the desert,

Or is this an elaborate hoax?

You have to treat it seriously.

Narrator: Search and rescue
teams are at a loss.

The countdown to find larry
is desperate.

He's running out of time.

Narrator:
In August of 1973, cb users
from across north america

Pick up a distress call
from a young boy called larry,

Who claims to be lost
in the new mexico desert

In a crashed truck
with his unconscious father.

The father has some kind of
a medical emergency

And ditches the truck,
possibly rolls it over,

Depending upon who you read
and talk to,

There is a question that
his father was fatally injured.

His starting call pretty much
gave them no information.

But this did lead to a manhunt
where they thought he was.

Nobody could find him.

And yet he continued to be able
to talk on the cb

And different people heard him.

Narrator: But after 48 hours,
searchers are no closer

To finding larry
and his injured father.

With so many people
hearing larry on the radio,

Why is no one able to find him?

You got cbs everywhere,

You got somebody out there
potentially needing help,

And cb radio operators
got involved.

Narrator: Cb users in wyoming,
arizona, and even canada

Have spoken to the boy.

But larry claims to be
in new mexico.

How is it possible that his
transmissions are being heard

At such a distance?

Larry's likely using
an a.M. Modulating cb radio --

That would limit him
5, 10 miles

With the chance
of getting much further,

But now you're talking about
the skip propagation

Using the ionosphere.

Narrator: Larry's signal
was carried much further

Because of a radio
frequency phenomenon

Known as skip shooting.

There's this layer
on the atmosphere

Called the ionosphere,
and it's full of ions

Which are basically
free charged particles.

Normally a signal would just go
through and just disappear,

And you would not
be able to see it

But at certain frequencies,
given a certain amount ion,

The signal sort of goes through

And it gets
curved back down to the earth.

Nass: With skip shooting,

You're basically bouncing
between layers of the atmosphere

Or actually bouncing against
the atmosphere down to earth,

Bouncing again,
going back up to the atmosphere,

And bouncing down again.

You've now kind of bent
your signal

Around the curvature
of the earth.

Dr. Adve: And so you get
this huge propagation distance

Without losing much power.

There's no reason why it could
not travel 1,500 miles.

Narrator: The ability
to skip shoot effectively

Is partly dependent
on the solar cycle.

The solar cycle
is a 11-year period

Where the high point is
where there's lots of sunspots.

So sunspots on the sun

Mean the sun is emitting
more uv light.

That uv light
hits our atmosphere

And creates ionization.

More ionization
in the atmosphere

Is good
for skip shooting.

Narrator: The distance
a signal can travel

Depends on the point
in the cycle.

Nass: Right now, we are
in a low solar cycle,

And I can consistently talk
to japan, korea, china

From my home location
here in southern california.

At a high solar cycle,

There are instances
that have happened in the past

Where you can hear yourself
after you talk --

Meaning your signal goes
all the way around the earth,

Comes back, and you hear
yourself with a delay in time.

Narrator: At the highest point
of the cycle,

Larry's transmission range
could expand from 5 or 10 miles

To as much as 24,000 miles
under ideal conditions.

1973 is only at medium point
of the solar cycle.

However, larry is transmitting
during the summer,

Which has more sunspot activity
than other seasons.

Nass:
At the daytime at least,

That particular
frequency space that cb is on

Would have been able
to propagate further

Than any other time of the year.

So it is entirely possible that
larry could have been picked up

All the way up into canada.

Narrator:
While people across north
america are talking to larry,

The search back in new mexico
has been going on

For days with no results.

Temperatures have been
in the mid 90s,

And with no food and water,

The odds are
stacked against him.

You have to overcome the fear
and sit down

And start thinking logically.

What am I gonna do for water
to be able to drink?

What am I gonna do for food?

What am I gonna do for shelter?

You have no access to anything.

There's no water,
there's no food,

And you're potentially injured.

The time that you're able
to live is measured in days.

You know, most people without
water, after 3 or 4 days --

This is gonna be
life threatening situation.

Narrator:
While efforts are in full force
to find the lost boy,

Investigators begin to speculate
the authenticity of the story.

Part of the problem
with the story is,

It's mentioned that larry's
father's truck flips over.

Cb radios generally
use vertical antennas.

A vertical antenna doesn't

Do well in
an overturned truck situation.

Further,
if that radiating element,

The whip, as we call it,
that's sticking up,

Is touching the ground,

You're not gonna get
much effectivity

Out of the radio at all.

Narrator:
With days dwindling away,
every hour spent transmitting

Is leeching the battery
a little further.

So what I have here
is just a simple setup.

We've got a twelve volt battery,
like one you can use from a car,

And we have
this voltage display,

And basically it's showing
the battery at 13.24 volts,

So a fully charged battery.

What I'll do
is turn the radio on.

So we've got a current draw
of 0.27 amps --

This is just on receive.

If I key down and transmit,

We should see
this number come up.

I'm looking for a radio check
on channel 27.

Radio check -- channel 27.
Anyone monitoring?

And it comes up
to 0.87, 0.89 amps,

So almost a full amp
on transmit.

So we went from a 13.24 volts
to a 13.16 volts on the battery.

So, we can do the math
and figure out --

He would get
roughly 6 to 8 hours

On a full-charged battery.

If you're talking
about batteries

From the '70s and '80s,

Their quality is gonna be less,

And you're going to get
less charge life out of it.

One would think you could
just turn the car on

And just start the battery
charging again.

The problem is that the truck
had flipped over,

So that's likely that the engine
wouldn't be running.

But let's say he had
the wherewithal

To actually turn
the engine on --

You still have a limited
resource in the gasoline

That can become electricity,
which can charge the battery,

Which you then can deplete
with your radio.

Given the nature of the story,

It's unlikely that he was
transmitting more than a day.

Narrator: With nobody reporting
larry missing,

And the number of discrepancies
in cb users reports,

Officials are close to ruling
the whole thing a hoax.

Larry's ordeal is making news
across the world,

Raising the possibility
of copycats.

Fallah:
Because there's a lot of
publicity about hearing larry,

You might get some of these
attention-seeking individuals.

Radio at that time
is generally pretty anonymous.

Anyone could have heard about
a story of a lost boy and said,

"well, I'm just gonna do
that from california.

I'm just gonna do that
from canada."

So it's entirely possible

That multiple people
were pretending to be larry.

Narrator: On day 5, a report
of a missing missouri family

With a son named larry renews
fervor to the search,

Until the family
is found a day later.

Then, on day 6,
an army sergeant claims

To speak with larry
for a full 3 hours.

But is it really larry
or a copycat?

When a transmission
on the 7th day

Is traced to a walkie-talkie
in phoenix,

Police have had enough.

They call off the search.

So the question is,
was larry real? Was it a hoax?

I feel that, generally,

This story
is on the realm of a hoax.

Larry was hopping around, having
conversations with people.

His receiving ability
wasn't hampered in any way.

That means larry
has a functioning antenna

At a appropriate elevation
that he can get good signals in,

Which all leads me to believe
he's not in a wrecked truck.

Dr. Procter:
There were a few things
that make me doubt this story.

We never found larry's truck or
evidence of him and his father.

Phoenix: All signs point to --

That if they were driving in
on a paved road,

That somebody would have come
across the wreckage.

I think that the odds that
this would never have been found

In the last 40, 50 years,

It just seems so small to me
to almost border on impossible.

There's tons of cases that
have been left open-ended --

They have never found the body.

There's also cases where
they finally found the ruins

Of an aircraft
or a car decades later.

So that's gonna be the big
question for a long, long time.

♪♪

Narrator: December 10, 2018.

Meteorologists track
a massive storm

That appears out of nowhere

And is quickly heading towards
illinois, indiana, and kentucky.

I can imagine the weather radar
operators freaking out,

Wondering they're seeing
some massive tornado

Or something like that.

Narrator: Just over a week
earlier on December 1st,

Central illinois is hit
by 29 rare December tornados.

Everyone is on high alert.

The storm is expected
to hit any minute.

But as the hours pass,

The skies remain
completely clear

However, the storm image remains
on the radar screen.

We least expect to see something

That the radar's
reflecting off of.

So you'd expect to see clouds,
you'd expect to see rain,

And you'd expect something
to be there.

Weather phenomenon that big
can't suddenly appear

On top of illinois
without having come from canada

Or have come from the west
or something like that.

It has to come from somewhere.

Narrator: How does a storm
this mighty just vanish?

Coming up -- was the phantom
radar image simply wrong?

Radar is full
of strange signals.

Narrator:
Or is it a sign that something
much more ominous is on its way?

When you see it, you're suddenly
going, "well, what is it?"

Narrator: Weather stations
catch a rogue storm

Rolling across the midwest,

But the skies
are completely clear.

We're picking something up.

You'd expect something
to be there.

Narrator: Did meteorologists
simply get it wrong?

Modern meteorology
makes use of technology

To help
make accurate predictions,

And at the core of the system
is radar.

But how precise is it?

A weather radar works in the
same way that any radar does.

It transmits a signal,

It takes things
that are in the atmosphere,

Water droplets,
snow, ice, and comes back.

What you're trying to do
is get a picture

Of what's happening
in the atmosphere.

One of the things, first of all,

Is how effective what you're
hitting off of is coming back.

So if you have
a really reflective thing,

For example, melting ice,
that could be really reflective,

And you get sort of a strong
return back from that.

Narrator: Advanced weather radar
can not only detect rain,

Snow, and ice in the air,

It can tell how quickly
it is moving towards a location,

Like a city or town.

This is the result
of a scientific phenomenon

Known as the doppler effect,

Which is the difference
in how sound and light behave

When it gets closer
to its target.

We've all experienced
the doppler phenomenon.

It happens with sound as well.

If you've ever stood
at the side of a train tracks,

And you hear a train coming in,

And you can hear
there's a change in the tone

As it comes towards you,

And then it goes
away from you --

[ train horn blares ]

That's a doppler effect because
the frequency of the sound

Is changing
as something is moving.

Exactly the same phenomenon
happens for a radio signal.

♪♪

Narrator:
10 hours after the image
is first spotted on radar,

No storm has arrived in
illinois, indiana, or kentucky.

Could it be something else
entirely,

Something even more dangerous?

We have something in the air

That's leading
to that kind of reflections.

You'd want to investigate it
to make sure

Whatever is suspended in the air
isn't harmful to people.

Narrator:
Doppler radar doesn't just
pick up raindrops and ice.

It can pick up other things
blowing through the atmosphere.

There's a lot of
different things

That radar can reflect off.

It could be debris generated
by a factory or by some process

That's unusually been
admitted to the atmosphere.

Narrator: Insects and other
flying creatures

Can also show up on radar.

Birds have regularly
in migration been seen on radar,

And some birds will fly
in patterns

That can give an image of
a storm-like radar reflection.

And certainly in the past,
there's been migrations

Of insects, of grasshoppers
and other large insects

That can produce
radar reflections

That look like a storm

Or look like a cloud
moving across the radar.

A couple of years back,

We had a butterfly bloom
here in colorado

And the weather radar was
lighting up with butterflies.

When you see some
of these signatures,

It's not like you're
suddenly like,

"oh, guess that must
be all those butterflies."

It's sort of a lot
of putting together

A couple of things
to see what's happening.

Sparling: When you saw a large
radar reflection like this

That wasn't associated
with a storm,

That might be one of the first
things you investigate is --

Hey, do we have
any large outbreaks of locusts

Or something in the area?

Mcneil: There have been major
outbreaks of locusts in africa.

If there are large numbers,

They're all getting
the same message.

"this is crowded here.
We should move on."

Then, and of course,
if they all move

And if they're carried by wind,

Then they're all gonna be
carried in the same direction.

Then therefore,
if you have a radar,

All of a sudden you see
this massive cloud moving by.

I think some of the largest ones
have been 50, 100 miles wide.

I mean, when there are
millions and millions.

And when you see it,
you're certainly going,

"wow, what is it?"

Narrator:
But how can meteorologists
tell the difference

Between weather and bugs?

Kosiba: In order to diagnose
some of these strange things

That you see on radar,

It helps to look at the variety
of fields that radar gives you.

All of our national weather
service radars in the u.S.

Are dual-pol.

Narrator: Dual-pol stands
for dual polarization radar,

A series of pulses that
are sent out

And received back both
vertically and horizontally.

Kosiba: And that gives you a lot
more information

About what type of scatter
that you're looking at

When you could really
distinguish between things

That we call meteorological
like raindrops, hail, snow

And things that are manmade,

Like debris and tornadoes
or something like that.

When I look at the radar
data from kentucky,

It doesn't really scream
at weather signal to me.

Narrator: Coming up...

Is an insect invasion
plaguing the midwest

Or could there be
some manmade explanation

For this confusing
radar signature?

The idea that some military
organization or some scientist

Was performing an experiment
isn't beyond the possibility.

♪♪

Narrator: A strange radar signal

Has weather experts
in the midwest rattled.

It looks like a storm at first
but the skies remain clear,

Even though the mysterious image
remains on their screens.

Sparling: There's definitely
something there

That the radar is bouncing off.

We're picking something up that
may not be obviously visible

To somebody at ground level.

Narrator: But if it's not a
storm, then what is it?

Why does the image persist?

It turns out that weather radar
can easily pick up

Swarms of birds,
bats, and insects.

Could this radar image should be
showing a giant swarm of bugs

Making its way
across the midwest?

In north america,

The migratory insects
go for the north in the summer

And then to the south
in the fall.

So if you're seeing this thing
on the radar

In November or December,

The likelihood of it being
insects would be very small.

Narrator: Some experts suggest
this mysterious cloud

Is not a natural phenomenon.

It is possible that if there
were a lot of competing signals

Or some stray signals, that
could interfere with the radar

If it was
in the same frequency range,

It could make the equipment
misinterpret something.

Kosiba: You get a lot of things
back with weather radar.

It's picking up
all sorts of things

And sometimes cell phone towers.

Some of them are switching

To closer to some of
the radar frequencies.

You get interference from those.

Sparling: But that would be very
unusual because we specifically

Avoid using those frequencies,

Because radar is intended
to be very sensitive

And we don't want
to disrupt them.

So that would be really,
really unusual.

Narrator:
Conspiracy theories point
to covert military operations.

The idea that some military
organization or some scientist

Was performing an
experiment with radio waves

That would interfere with radar
isn't beyond the possibility.

We do the same thing
in the military now

For disrupting the ability
to detect aircraft, etc.

But it would be very difficult
to produce a radio wave pattern

That would mimic a broad area
that looks like a storm.

Narrator: The size and shape of
the image doesn't fit

Any of the possibilities
raised by investigators.

If it's not a storm or bugs
or covert military radio waves,

Then what is it?

Sparling: If I was trying
to mimic a storm,

I would probably release
something into the atmosphere

That would start reflecting
the radar waves.

We actually did this project
doing cloud seeding.

So basically we had
our radars out there

Looking at aircraft dropping
cloud seeding particulates.

And when you look at that,
you see very clearly

These sort of
linear drops of the aircraft

On the aircraft path.

So you see
what looks very similar

To what they saw
on the radar in kentucky.

That makes me pretty confident
that what they're looking at

Is something being dropped
from an aircraft

And most likely
it's probably chaff.

In world war ii, radar plays
a really instrumental role

In helping the allies
achieve victory.

When war breaks out in 1939,

Both germany and britain
have systems in place.

As an attempt by both sides
to develop systems

That can foil the enemy's radar,

They come up with the idea
of dropping chaff.

And what chaff is,
it's basically pieces of paper

That have aluminum on them,

Which are specially designed
to be released from an aircraft

As they go over their target.

And the british discovered that
this is a remarkable tactic.

Narrator: Acting as a visual
smokescreen,

A real target blip
becomes indistinguishable

From the jamming
on the radar display.

From an enemy's
radar perspective,

It makes it look like
a large congregation

Of planes is in this area
when it's not.

It confused radar
and allowed bombers

To circumvent
anti-aircraft devices.

Narrator:
Turns out it's not so easy
to tell the difference

Between a storm and chaff.

Sparling:
Chaff is intended to kind of sit
in the wake of the aircraft

And suspend in the air
a little bit.

Once it starts moving
with the air currents

Where it's been dropped,

It will very much take on
the radar appearance of a cloud.

A way to confirm whether or not
it is or isn't chaff

Is looking at some other
radar variables.

You could look at the power
that you get back

From different polarizations.

If it's not a thunderstorm or
rain or something like that,

You'd see very specific
dual-pol signatures.

So if you look
at other images of chaff,

You sort of see these very
elongated higher reflectivity

Or higher power return
that's sort of indicative

That it's being
dropped out of an airplane

And then sort of propagating
with the airspeed.

And then if you look down here,

This would be more
typical of a rain

Or a storm-type pattern.

As opposed to
the chaff signature,

It's not really
that elongated feature.

You kind of see a little bit
more shape to it.

And you also see that there's
regions of higher reflectivity

And lower reflectivity.

Narrator: The elongated shape of
the chaff cloud looks much like

The radar image seen in indiana,
illinois, and kentucky.

A few days after
the cloud is spotted,

The west virginia air
national guard confirms

That a c-130 hercules

Jettisoning a large amount of
chaff

At a lower than usual altitude

Is responsible
for the mysterious incident.

The plane received permission
to release the chaff...

But why?

It's quite conceivable
that it's an experiment

Designed to test

How much they can actually
control, you know, radar systems

Or weather systems
or monitoring systems.

It could be a military advantage
to have a technology like this.

If you wanted
to mask the approach

Of a bunch of aircraft
towards ground,

You could have many aircraft
put chaff out at the same time.

And then any ground-based radar
wouldn't be able to detect

A fleet of aircraft in the air.

It'd just looked like a storm.

Something strange is happening
in the state of oklahoma.

Seismic stations picked up
a signal on June 24, 2019

At 11:11 in the morning.

Mckinnon:
The anomaly was a series
of pulsed seismic waves

About 20 seconds apart
that lasted for about 10 minutes

And spread across
the entire state of oklahoma.

And at first people thought,
"well, was it an earthquake?"

[ thunder crashes ]
locals are used to looking out

For atmospheric phenomena
like tornadoes.

Seismic events like earthquakes
are less common.

Oklahoma can have earthquakes.
They're usually pretty small.

Nothing like what we get
in the pacific northwest

Or the southwestern u.S.

It's just that
it's very infrequent

[ crashing ]
and typically is going to be

Something that people
in the area are affected by.

Now, this new signal doesn't
dovetail with that at all.

It's something very different.

It affected people in the area,
pretty much not at all.

But instruments picked up
the signal.

Narrator:
To the seismologists surprise,

This isn't the last
they see of the anomaly.

Mckinnon: It wasn't picked up on
just one station one time.

Up to 52 different
stations across the state

Were picking up this event
and it kept happening.

Narrator: Seismologists search
back through the data

And discovered
that this strange signal

Has been happening regularly
over the past three months.

Now, when you start to see more
than one of an event like this,

You wonder --
is there a pattern?

Is oklahoma suddenly increasing
seismic activity

Because of a new fault?

Narrator: Coming up...

Is a major earthquake
about to hit oklahoma?

This is not a natural
looking earthquake.

Narrator: Or does science point
to an even bigger threat?

We have to have
massive amounts of energy

That can create these waves.

Narrator:
Mysterious seismic waves
are shaking up oklahoma.

For the past three months,

A series of regular
seismic anomalies

Has bewildered geologists

And left residents
preparing for the worst.

52 different stations
were picking up this event

And it kept happening.

Is oklahoma suddenly
increasing seismic activity

Because of a new fault?

Narrator:
The nearest major fault line

Is the new madrid fault
seismic zone.

Running through neighboring
arkansas and missouri

At 125 miles long
and 45 miles wide,

It can be damaging and deadly.

So back in the early 1800s,

The new madrid seismic zone
had a massive rupture.

We're talking seven or eight
magnitude richter scale.

Now, the richter scale
didn't exist back then.

So we're using eyewitnesses'
accounts

And the amount of damage
that was done

To estimate what that magnitude
would be today.

Narrator: Could the new madrid
seismic zone

Be at fault for
the shaking in oklahoma?

When it ruptured really, really
big back in the early 1800s,

They actually felt
those ground waves

As far away as canada on
the eastern seaboard of the u.S.

And also further down south
into the gulf region.

That's what we would expect
from a major rupture

On the new madrid seismic zone.

Dr. Procter:
The thing about the signals

That are being picked up
in oklahoma --

They're just in oklahoma.

Narrator: The types of
seismic waves being picked up

Cast out of this
being an earthquake at all.

Mckinnon:
When you have an earthquake,

The waves travel through
the ground of the earth.

We call this the body wave.

Narrator:
The body wave of an earthquake
is actually two waves.

A "p" or pressure wave

Pushes and pulls the rock
it travels through.

The p wave is followed
by the "s" or shear wave

That moves rock particles
up and down.

And then when they hit the
surface between ground and air,

It creates surface waves.

Narrator: Surface waves
are the final blow.

They travel through
the earth's crust

And cause all the devastation
we experience in an earthquake.

Those move
the surface of the earth

Either up and down
like a roller coaster

Or side to side like a
sidewinder snake.

Now, the signal that we're
picking up here in oklahoma

Is only surface waves.

So this signal is not being
transmitted

Through the earth's core at all.

Narrator:
Seismographs have been picking
up these waves for three months,

But their pattern is proving
difficult to understand.

These are very different
than an earthquake

Where you have a discrete moment

Where the fault ruptures
and the energy is released

And then it tapers
down gradually.

These don't have
that unique signature

Of wide at the beginning
and then tapering at the end.

This looks like more like
a series of pulses.

It's really cool
because you can see

That there's
this repeating pattern.

Down here, these are
different seismometers

Located throughout the state,

And sometimes they pick it up,
sometimes they don't.

What's beautiful about it
is how exact it is.

Mckinnon:
That regular reoccurring
interval of the 20 second pulse

Happened on this very human
schedule of daytime weekdays

Plus Saturday and never
on Sunday and never overnight.

So if I was looking at the data

And I saw it was very
discretely timed events

And it was regularly happening
at the same intervals

And happening over
and over again,

I'd be starting to look at
non-natural phenomena.

What can cause
the ground to shake?

Do I have somebody
blasting somewhere

Or do I have, you know,

Some type of atmospheric
testing going on somewhere?

Or do I have a plant
that's releasing something

Or doing something that's
going to have a major impact

Either to the atmosphere
or to the ground?

Any time you're talking about
oklahoma and seismic signals,

The first guess is always
going to be fracking.

Narrator: Energy is an important
industry in oklahoma,

And fracking is one of
the major ways

That oil and gas are extracted.

In fracking we're trying to get
natural gas out of shale.

Shale's a very dense rock

That doesn't allow gas
to flow through it.

To improve the amount of flow
of gas through the shale,

We pump extremely high-pressure
water into the shale

To fracture it and break it up

And then we put very
fine particles

In with that high-pressure water

That keep those cracks open
once we form them.

If we pump enough
liquid into these wells,

They can slide and move

And we get earthquakes
associated with fracking.

Mckinnon:
Naturally occurring earthquakes
and fracking induced earthquakes

Produce the same seismic signal.

The only way to tell the
difference is from human clues.

With those, you often see a very
big spike and then a tapering.

With this,
it's more like pulses.

What we're seeing here
is not fracking.

Narrator:
Having ruled out both natural

And fracking earthquakes
as the cause,

Scientists start to look
at other ideas.

Any time we see
a phenomena occurring

That isn't what we expect --

That raises our attention level.

It could be something that
is potentially dangerous.

It could be no big deal.

But until we know more about it,

We don't know whether we need
to inform the public

To prepare to leave
for a temporary evacuation

Or to relax, it's no big deal.

The shaking in oklahoma
is just --

I mean, that's...
Such a large scale.

To have larger detectable
events,

We have to have
massive amounts of energy

Put into the ground
that can create these waves.

The most likely culprit
would be explosions.

Narrator:
Major explosions can be
picked up by seismometers.

Mckinnon:
The original global seismic
network was actually set up

In order to monitor
for explosions.

It was set up
to monitor compliance

With the nuclear test
ban treaties

And to look
for secret weapon tests.

Because of this, we spent a lot
of time and effort understanding

What the seismic signature
of an explosion looks like.

It looks like a sudden
burst of energy

That then tapers off.

Sparling:
The sunrise propane explosion

Was one of the largest
explosions to occur

In canadian history.

It was picked up by seismic
stations in the southern ontario

And northern u.S. Area.

You can actually see
a pressure wave

Traveling outward
at the speed of sound

And that displaced roofs
on houses and smashed windows

And caused damage to more than
200 homes in the area.

Narrator:
But an accidental explosion
isn't a reoccurring event.

Could the military
or a government organization

Performing secret weapon tests
be causing of this vibration?

Viggian: Because of the number
of underground bases

That are literally
all over the united states

And even in other parts
of the world,

There may be things going on,
literally hundreds,

If not thousands of feet
below the surface

That would create
some sort of activity.

We remember, especially
during the cold war,

The united states carrying out
an enormous range

Of clandestine operations.

And, of course,
american culture is littered

With references to area 51.

[ chuckles ] americans have a
dozen or so places

Which are so secretive

That we assume there's always
something really, you know,

Secret going on --
the harboring of aliens,

New secret airplanes
that are being built.

The truth is, is that,
yeah, those places exist.

We built the u-2 spy plane
in the middle of a secret base.

Narrator:
But other clues pointed
in a different direction.

Dr. Procter:
When we're looking at this,

It has some of the
characteristics of an explosion,

But it's not exactly right.

There's something else
and weird happening here.

Mckinnon: The oklahoma pulse
wasn't just a single event,

But a whole sequence of
explosions, one after another,

After another,
after another, after another.

They're all the same magnitude
and regularly spaced apart.

That's not something you would
usually do in a weapons test.

And you certainly wouldn't
do it 10 minutes at a time,

Day after day
after day after day.

Narrator: Coming up...

Seismologists think
they found the source

Of the mysterious ground quakes

But the potential danger
is still unknown.

We don't know whether we
need to prepare

For a temporary evacuation.

What's going on here?
Why are we picking this up?

Narrator: Throughout the
spring and summer of 2019,

Seismometers in oklahoma

Are picking up
a strange vibration.

This is not a natural
looking earthquake.

Narrator:
The signal repeats every morning
at 11 a.M., except on sundays.

The timing of the signal told us
it had to be created by humans.

Nature doesn't
follow business hours.

Narrator: This pattern of signal
carries on for several weeks.

With little progress
in finding out what it is,

Scientists turned their
efforts to finding out

Where the signal is coming from.

One of the things that we
can do with seismometers

Is we can triangulate
where the source is.

With enough time and enough
signals and enough stations,

Geophysicists were
able to backtrack

The exact pinpoint
location of the source --

The mcalester army
ammunition plant.

Dr. Procter: What they're doing
at the ammunition factory

Is they're destroying
old ordinances.

And so they do it
every day except on Sunday,

Which matched the
pattern at 11 a.M.,

And at 20 second increments

So that you don't get
this rippling effect.

I think that they were
probably surprised

That the seismometers across
the state were picking it up.

Narrator: But why would these
small controlled explosions

Be detected by seismometers
across the state?

One theory is that
the seismometers

Are actually
picking up sound waves.

Sound is what we perceive
as vibrations in the air,

But sound travels
through all mediums.

A good example is if you go put
your ear on the railroad track

And you can hear the
train through the metal.

Earthquakes are just
really, really big,

Really, really
low-amplitude sound waves

Traveling through the ground.

So really what a
seismograph is --

It's just a microphone

That picks up really,
really large-scale sound.

Narrator:
But if these are sound waves,

They're not taking a direct
route to the seismometers.

This event was only
surface waves.

And traveling just
through the surface

Created this unusual
complication --

Every time you had
these surface earthquakes,

It was vibrating the air

And the air would send out
an acoustic wave sound,

Which would then vibrate
the ground

And regenerate
more of the signal

At the same frequency

Because it's all getting
driven the same way.

Phoenix:
And so it's not hard to imagine
an explosion being picked up

Even hundreds of miles away.

Narrator:
The work the seismologists are
doing has bigger ramifications

Than just the oklahoma waves.

In the age of nuclear weapons,

There are many
detonations we can't explain.

It's critical to
determine the difference

Between what is natural

And what humanity
is responsible for.

Phoenix: We have some amazing
arrays of sensors now

That are finely tuned
and are monitored 24/7.

They're always
recording information

Which is always being analyzed
by computers and humans

To ensure that nothing
falls through the cracks.

So we are at a point with our
understanding of seismology

Where we can actually
really clearly figure out

Most of the time

Where things come from
and what they likely are.

100 years ago, we didn't
have all the equipment

That we have today,
and that's what science is.

The science is --
I have this phenomena,

I don't know what it is,

Let's research and build
a knowledge base around it.

And then eventually
we get to the point

Where we can detect these things

And work towards a set
of hypotheses that make sense

And hopefully narrow it down
at the end of the day

To the single hypothesis
that you can then conclude

This is likely what happened.