All language subtitles for Weird.Or.What.S01E04.WEBRip.x264-ION10

and may contain
mature subject matter.

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♪
and may contain
mature subject matter.

William Shatner:
You know what?

I've been around
for a while.

I've travelled the world,
met some interesting people,

done some crazy things.

So, you might just think
there's not much that could

take me by surprise.

You'd be wrong.

The world is full of
stories and science

and things that
amaze and confound me

every single day,

incredible mysteries
that keep me awake at night.

Some I can answer.

Others just defy logic.

Like the surfer attacked

by a Great White Shark.

Incredibly,
he survives,

thanks to
the intervention of dolphins.

Did they
intentionally risk their lives

to save a human?

Or the skinny,
110-pound

Missouri teen
who beats impossible odds

by lifting a car
to save his dying uncle.

Do humans have reservoirs

of hidden super strength?

Weird or What
puts it to the test.

And is it possible
to smell death?

Across America,

domestic pets are
becoming harbingers of doom,

accurately predicting
when someone will die.

Is that weird,
or what?

Yup, it's a weird world.

And I love it.

Human beings have always
had a complex relationship

with the other
creatures on our planet.

Now, there are some out there
that we avoid for good reason,

like lions and tigers and bears
and wild, wild women,

but some,

we have a
special connection with.

Take, for example, dogs.

We always think of dogs as being
man's best friend, right?

What if I told you
that there may be

another creature out there
competing to be our best friend,

a creature that would
put its own life in jeopardy

to save our skin?

This story takes place
in Monterey Bay, California.

A surfer experiences
something so horrible

it can only be described
as a waking nightmare.

On August 27, 2007,

Todd Endris and Zane Hawley
decide to catch some waves.

I really felt that
it was just a nice day

and that we were
gonna get good waves.

Zane Hawley:
We paddled out together,

and it was just me and Todd,
and we were kind of laughing.

Todd Endris:
We were out in the water

for probably
about 45 minutes.

William Shatner:
Then, seemingly,
out of nowhere...

a huge,
20' great white shark

attacks Todd,
biting into him

with its rows
of razor sharp teeth.

Zane Hawley:
I heard this
blood-curdling scream

and just all this blood
kind of squirting up and down.

And it fit me in its mouth
and shook me.

I was literally with
my back hanging off of my body,

and it bent
my right knee backwards

and swallowed my leg
into its mouth.

So, I was losing
massive quantities of blood.

I was just completely frantic
and out of my mind,

um, scared and...

William Shatner:
But miraculously,
something comes to his rescue.

A nearby pod of
bottlenose dolphins intervenes,

attacking
the massive killing machine.

Zane Hawley:
I saw the dolphins

kind of just
freaking out in a frenzy

and kind of pushing the shark
away with their beaks.

Tails slapping the water,

trying to keep the thing
from coming back for a third,

you know, a kill bite.

William Shatner:
The dolphins
drive away the shark,

but Todd is badly injured.

Todd Endris:
And then,

like it was sent from God,

a wave came that was just
a perfect little wave

that was breaking
right where we were.

And I don't even know
how I had the energy

or the stamina or whatever it is
to get into that wave,

but I actually
caught the wave.

Within 10 or 12 seconds,

I was washing up
on the dry sand,

and everything around me,

all the foam,
was just bright red.

We all kind of
patted him, like,

"Todd, you're going
to be all right.

But I was thinking like,

"I don't think he's going
to be all right," you know?

I thought he was,
I thought he was done.

William Shatner:
Todd is rushed to hospital.

It takes 500 stitches

and 200 staples
to close the massive wounds.

Amazingly, Todd survives.

Todd Endris:
I don't think
I was meant to die.

I think that somebody,

a higher power,
was looking out for me,

and they potentially
sent these dolphins

or intended for them
to be in the right place

at the right time
and to save me.

(Dolphin chirping)

Did dolphins
really go out of their way

to protect that surfer dude?

Maybe. I mean, after all,
as far back as Aristotle,

dolphins have been known
as wise guardians of the sea,

and throughout history,

there have been tales

of them saving human beings
and leading lost ships

to the safety of shore,
and that's we love them so much.

But do they...

love us?

Today,

researchers believe dolphins
are planet earth's

second most
intelligent living things

and that they
should be classified

as "non-human persons."

But is it possible that these
superheroes of the sea

actually help humans
like Todd on purpose?

Diana Reiss,

who has been studying dolphins
for almost 30 years,

believes so.

Why would they do this?

Why would they risk staying in
an area where there are sharks?

Why would they risk
coming to the aid of a person?

It's not a relative.

It's not even
one of their own species.

Why would they do this?

William Shatner:
Diana's research
shows that dolphins are

incredibly intelligent
and unique creatures,

possessing some
human-like qualities.

And these qualities

may be the reason why
they came to Todd's rescue.

Here, we're showing
this ability of dolphins

for mirror self-recognition.

William Shatner:
The ability to recognize oneself
is rare in the animal kingdom,

confirmed in only a few species,

including elephants,
chimpanzees and magpies.

Dr. Reiss' experiment
was designed to find out

if dolphins can recognize
themselves in a mirror.

Diana Reiss:
In humans,

mirror self-recognition emerges
at about 18 to 24 months of age,

and at that time,
at least in human children,

that's when the first signs
of empathy start emerging.

Now we're marking
one of the dolphins.

We mark them with
a non-toxic marker,

and he immediately
swims to the mirror,

which is right over here.

He's been marked
on his head.

And it's now looking at this
part of its head that's marked.

And this is really unusual
behaviour for a dolphin.

This dolphin's
looking at the mark.

Now, to see more of his body,

he has to back away
from the mirror.

We understand that as well.

And you can see him now.

He's gonna look in the mirror.

He's spinning, and this
is not a trained behaviour.

This is something
he came up with himself.

You see him looking
and spinning.

He looks and spins.

This is an animal that knows
he's looking at himself.

William Shatner:
If true, a dolphin's
power of self-recognition

could mean that they are
self-aware, like humans.

And that would mean dolphins

could actually possess
a range of human-like emotions,

including empathy.

Diana Reiss:
I think these animals are
capable of this kind of empathy.

I think they're capable
of understanding

the plight of another,

and I think they're capable

of doing this behaviour
intentionally.

So, we know dolphins
are amazingly intelligent.

They may have
the capacity for compassion

and many of the
same qualities we have.

But is there
a more obvious reason

why dolphins
saved the surfer's life?

Was it simply because
dolphins just hate sharks?

Thomas A. Jefferson
is a researcher

at the Southwest Fisheries
in San Diego.

He believes dolphins could
possess human-like qualities,

but they're far from
the loveable creatures

of public perception.

Is it possible the dolphins'
actions were guided

by another
far more sinister emotion?

The image of dolphins

as the happy-go-lucky
playboys of the sea

is not really very accurate.

William Shatner:
There are many reports where
dolphins have actually injured

or in some cases killed people.

In 1994,
in Sao Paulo, Brazil,

a bottlenose dolphin
acted in self-defense

to ram and kill
a drunken man

who had tried to thrust
a stick into his blowhole.

Jefferson caught another
shocking incident on video --

a school of dolphins
killing a porpoise,

seemingly without
any justification.

Thomas A. Jefferson:
We were doing research
on bottlenose dolphins

in Monterey Bay,

and we came across
a small group of dolphins

that were behaving
kind of unusually.

A group of three dolphins

out of a larger group
of about a dozen or so

were sort of
corralling the porpoise

and kind of
pushing it underwater

and very clearly hurting it

so that it wouldn't
be able to escape

and move further offshore.

And they eventually lunged
on top of it and attacked it

and behaved very aggressively

and eventually
actually killed the porpoise.

William Shatner:
Bizarrely, it's believed
the killer dolphins

were sexually frustrated
young males who,

denied access
to females in the pod,

decided to vent their anger
on the innocent porpoise.

Could this capability
for violence explain

why dolphins attacked the shark?

Could they have been
looking for a fight?

Or is there another
unseen factor that can explain

why dolphins saved
the surfer's life?

♪

William Shatner:
Surfer Todd Endris

is attacked
by a great white shark.

But, moments from death,

he is apparently saved by
a school of bottlenose dolphins.

Todd believes
they risked their lives

to protect him,
in an act of human-like empathy,

but did they?

Dr. Daniela Maldini
is the founder of Okeanis,

a dolphin research group
that had a boat out on the water

when Todd was attacked.

She believes there's
a more logical explanation

for what happened.

On August 28, 2007,

our boat was
out in the bay

to find dolphins
and follow them

and do our
normal routine survey,

taking pictures
of the animals

to assess what was
going on that day.

William Shatner:
Their observations revealed

that there were young
among the dolphin pod,

and it was to protect them
that Maldini believes

the dolphins attacked
the great white shark.

Daniela Maldini:
The shark would have been
a danger to their calves.

Sharks are
natural predators of dolphins.

And so,
you would imagine

that they would have
reacted that way

whether Todd was there or not.

William Shatner:
But Todd will always believe

they saved him
out of compassion.

The dolphins were actually going
out of their way to protect me.

That is absolutely,
without a doubt, what happened.

They formed a protective wall
between me and the shark,

and it was
a conscious decision.

William Shatner:
So, whether this was
a conscious act of empathy

by creatures that cared
whether Todd lived or died

or simply instinctual behaviour
by wild animals

remains weird,
or what?

No, no.

No, no, no.

It's okay.

It's okay.

Everyone loves pets.

Around the world,
countless millions of homes

benefit from
the love of a cat,

and even more homes are
covered with the hair of a dog.

And although
your beloved Rover

or Chester

may hold a place
of high esteem

in your home
and at your feet,

there has
long been a suspicion

about the dark
and other-worldly powers

of these furry friends.

Folklore once spoke
of a black dog

as the portent of death.

In medieval times,

people oft associated
cats with black magic,

and they were
thought to cause plague,

a belief that saw these
poor little things

slaughtered by the millions.

We've long since abandoned
these superstitions, of course,

but what if there really is

some weird truth...

buried in those old myths?

Canton, Ohio.

Here at The Pines hospice
for the elderly,

something mysterious,
right out of the X-files,

seems to be going on,

something that defies logic.

The hospice pet dog, Scamp,

seems to have
supernatural powers,

a sixth sense
hospice chaplain

Beth Niermann
has seen up close.

Beth Niermann:
I had come to see
one patient who was dying.

Scamp came up to me,
and he was just barking,

barking,

and he does not
do that normally.

I said,
"What's the matter, Scamp?"

And he just turned around,

and he walked straight
to that patient's room.

And I was just dumbfounded.

William Shatner:
Head nurse Adeline Baker

was also shocked
when she experienced

Scamp's knack
for predicting the end.

Adeline Baker:
We found him at
a bedside of some lady

who was actively dying,

and he was just sitting there,
standing guard.

It took a few more times

of things
that happened like that

for us to realize
that maybe there was

something going on here.

William Shatner:
Providence, Rhode Island.

Here at
the Steere Nursing Home,

Oscar, a cat,
also seems to possess

a weird talent
of foretelling

a person's
final moments of life.

We started to hear inklings
of him sitting with patients

as they were dying,

and I think, initially,
we were all fairly skeptical.

It started to be

almost a marker for us
that a patient might be

nearing the end
of their life.

William Shatner:
Just as with Scamp the dog,

Oscar's uncanny sense
is no one-off fluke.

The predictions keep coming.

David Dosa:
Oscar's been
remarkably consistent.

There was a period of time,

a year or two ago,

where he made every death
that occurred here on the unit.

Adeline Baker:
Scamp has been right
about 40 times or more.

I used to keep count of it,

but I just sort of--

After a while,
it was like,

"Okay, that's
pretty much enough."

David Dosa:
There is no Stephen King-like
feeling here on the ward --

the idea that this cat
is predicting death.

The patient families have been

remarkably
supportive of Oscar and,

in fact,
invite him in.

Adeline Baker: Actually,
the residents and the families,

they like him a lot.

They love him.

He's a comfort.

Here kitty, kitty!

Kitty!

Here kitty!

Ugh.

So, let me
get this straight.

Our pets can
predict death?

How can they do that?

Do they have some kind
of spooky sixth sense,

or are they using the super-keen
senses they already possess?

After all,

dogs and cats have
hundreds of millions

more scent receptors
in their noses than we do.

Is it possible
pets are able to smell

our imminent demise?

♪

William Shatner:
A cat named Oscar

and a dog called Scamp
seem to have a macabre ability.

They can predict

when a human
is going to die,

but how?

Could cats like Oscar
and dogs like Scamp

have dark,
supernatural powers...

or is the explanation

to be found
in straightforward science?

Doctor Alexandra Horowitz

is an expert on
animal behaviour and cognition.

When we awaken,
we see the world.

When dogs awaken,
they smell the world.

William Shatner:
That's because dogs
have around 220 million

smell-sensitive receptors
in their noses,

compared to 5 million

in humans.

I hold up a rose.

To me,
it's just a single item.

To the dog,
it is an item

identified by the people
who have handled it

and have left
their scent on it.

A broken leaf

might emit a scent.

Um, the scent of insects
that have visited the rose

and travelled from other places,
bringing their scents.

William Shatner:
So, does the dogs'
heightened sense

allow them to smell

the inner processes
of the human body?

Cutting-edge medical research
suggests it might.

Researchers in California

train dogs
to successfully recognize odours

on the breath of breast
and lung cancer patients --

just a few of the
imperceptible odours of illness

produced by the human body.

When someone is near death,

or as their bodies
ultimately deteriorate,

there are certain odours
that are emitted,

from the change
in the concentration of acid

in the fluid in the body,

to cells actually dying,

to a bacteria which is
taking over the body,

and it itself emits a scent.

William Shatner:
Beyond a heightened
regular sense of smell,

dogs and cats
and some other mammals

have an extra sixth sense

in the form of a tiny organ
called the vomeronasal,

or Jacobson's organ.

The vomeronasal organ,

which has not been
found in humans,

is acutely attuned
to pheromone activity --

chemical messages that pass
from one animal to another.

Alexandra Horowitz:
It's absolutely possible
that when we're dying,

we give off hormones, cortisol,

stress hormone or adrenaline,

as the body
starts to resist death,

that are detectable by the dog
through his vomeronasal organ.

William Shatner:
It's conceivable,

but does an incredible
ability to pick up scent

really explain how
Oscar the cat and Scamp the dog

are able to sense
the death of a human being?

What if the animals
are picking up on something

completely unrelated to scent?

Could we humans be
unwittingly talking to animals,

giving away telltale clues

as to our
physical or mental well-being

by using a means
of non-verbal communication

science is only
beginning to understand?

Toronto, Canada.

A dog named Boston
has been trained to respond

to the epileptic seizures
of his handler,

Andy Brooks.

But something weird
is happening.

It seems that Boston
has developed the ability

to sense Andy's seizures

up to 40 minutes
before they even happen.

Boston would, you know,

detect these seizures by,
you know, whining and crying,

and I'll be like,
"You know what?

"There's nothing wrong, Boston.

"I think you're just, you know,
losing your apples."

William Shatner:
But each time
neurologists tested Andy

for the kind
of brain activity

that normally
precedes a seizure,

they confirmed
Boston's diagnosis.

Scientists dismiss the idea
even a dog could sniff out

subtle changes

to the electrical impulses
of the human brain,

so what can explain
Boston's bizarre predictions?

Ian Ashworth is a dog trainer

and a program director
of Dog Guides, Canada.

He has a hunch

dogs' powers of perception
go way beyond simple scent.

We do find
that some of our dogs

do actually
start detecting seizures,

and it's something that
we don't train for because,

as yet, there's no real clear
idea of what they're detecting.

My own suspicion
is that they are picking up

on some subtle change
in body language.

Dogs are great readers
of people's body language,

and they can really
tune into different moods

and things that
are going to happen.

The best guesses,
I think,

are that they're detecting
a slight change in behaviour,

which, as humans,
we become accustomed to,

even around an epileptic.

William Shatner:
It's estimated that more than
60% of human communication

takes place
through body language.

We're often unaware of this
form of subconscious dialogue,

but dogs are
highly attuned to these cues

and may even respond.

We could have animals

telling us information
about ourselves all the time.

A dog sniffs
something on your leg --

you don't notice it.

It doesn't seem like
a communication to you,

but it might be
that the dog is noticing

something of information,

and we just haven't picked up

on the fact that they're
trying to tell us something.

William Shatner:
So, could pets
like Scamp and Oscar

really have the ability
to pick up unconscious signals

from their owners?

It seems plausible,

but before
we make up our minds,

let's consider
another theory --

something
a little more esoteric.

Now, when it comes
to understanding cats,

perhaps there's
a more suitable expert

of our feline friends
than doctors and scientists.

Witches have long been known

for their special
relationship with cats,

known as familiars
in witching lingo.

Can a witch

brew up
some answers for us?

Laurie Cabot

is the official witch
of Salem, Massachusetts,

and the prophecies
of Oscar the cat come,

apparently,
as no surprise to her.

He certainly is a
top-of-the-line familiar.

All cats have an ability,

that same ability

that humans have
for becoming a psychic.

William Shatner:
Can cats read our

conscious
or unconscious minds?

Cabot believes so,

but only if
our brainwaves align.

Human brainwave activity

is categorized
into distinct patterns,

including delta,
theta, alpha and beta.

Beta waves are associated
with the alert mind,

while delta waves
occur during sleep.

But alpha waves occur
when we are relaxed

and settled
somewhere in between,

not asleep
but not actively thinking.

It is in this
daydreaming alpha state

where Cabot believes we all
have the psychic potential

to communicate with cats,

who Cabot says are in the
alpha state most of the time.

I think that Oscar,

um, is doing
what every cat can do.

He's picking up the information

from their aura
and their energy,

and I think those people
are very fortunate, really,

to have him walk with them
into the other world.

William Shatner:
So, Oscar the cat

and Scamp the dog --

are they smelling
the imminence of death?

Are we sending
non-verbal signals to them?

Or do our household pets
have a supernatural sixth sense

to read the human aura?

Is that weird, or what?

A skinny,
110-lb. Missouri teen

beats impossible odds

by lifting a car
to save his dying uncle.

Do humans have reservoirs
of hidden strength?

Weird or What
puts it to the test.

♪

You know what I love
about comic books?

They're just pure fantasy
and utter escapism.

I mean,
take the Hulk.

Here's a regular guy

who involuntarily transforms

into an unthinking super-being,

capable of
incredible feats of strength

when faced with
moments of extreme stress.

It could never happen
in the real world, right?

St. Louis, Missouri.

2005.

Jim McLain
is under his El Camino,

preparing to replace
a starter motor,

when the jack that's
holding the car off the ground

malfunctions.

I took the old starter out,

putting the new starter in.

I gave it one last crank,

and I seen
out of the corner of my eye,

it was coming down.

Then it just collapsed
right on my chest.

William Shatner:
Trapped under the car,

Jim has several broken ribs.

But worse,
with his lungs compressed,

he can hardly breathe.

Jim McLain:
Help!

And when I yelled, "Help!"
it just crushed me more.

I was dying.

I mean,
I knew I was dying,

and I'm going,

"God, don't let me
die like this."

William Shatner:
Jim's scream is
heard by his nephew,

Jack McLain,

then just 14 years old.

Jack McLain:
I heard someone yelling help,

and as soon as I saw that
it was coming from my uncle,

who was under the car,
then that's when I freaked out.

William Shatner:
Jack realizes his uncle Jim
is moments from death.

But what Jack doesn't realize
is that this crisis

is making his body go through
an incredible transformation.

It was the weirdest feeling.

I've never had
any feeling like I had

when I had heard that.

I felt sick,
and I ran over there,

and that's
when I started lifting.

William Shatner:
With just seconds to spare,
Jack attempts the impossible --

to lift over 1,000 lb.
of weight off his dying uncle.

I treated this car
as if it weighed 10 lb.,

that it had to go up
and he had to get air.

I just grabbed right here,

under this bumper,
started pulling.

It's a weird feeling,
you know,

that every inch you go,
you can't stop.

I was begging him.

I mean, really,
I was begging him!

William Shatner:
Inch by inch,

Jack lifts the car
off his uncle's shattered chest.

You have to keep going.

You have to find something.

You'll use your toe muscles,
anything you can find.

I just had to keep going.

I couldn't stop.

William Shatner:
He keeps going,

holding the car up long enough
for his uncle to struggle free.

Jim McLain:
That's what saved me.

When the paramedics got here,

they said another 10 seconds,
I'd have been dead.

If he didn't
have that strength

just to lift
that frame up a little bit,

I'd be dead.

It's probably one of the best
days I've ever felt, you know,

that I saved my uncle

and did something
I will never forget.

William Shatner:
Okay, so what do we have?

Some guy is getting
crushed to death by a car,

and then a terrified,
scrawny little kid

manages to save him

and become a real-life
comic book hero in the process.

Let's think
about this for a second.

If he's lifting the car
at the engine block...

even just
an inch off the ground,

that's around 1,000 lb.

That's unbelievable.

Or think about it this way.

Jack lifted the equivalent
of the world 'dead lift' record.

How could this have happened?

Is there something special
about Jack McLain?

David Sandler
is a sports performance expert

with over 20 years of experience
training pro athletes.

Today, he's putting
Jack McLain through his paces,

in search of answers.

I meet some of the
best athletes in the world,

but none of them
saved anybody's life.

Come on,
swing them up!

Jack McLain,
14 years old, 110 lb.,

just this tiny guy
in a total panic situation,

lifting a 3500 lb. car,

which was probably over
1,000 lb. at the engine --

I mean, just an
incredible feat of strength.

William Shatner:
But amazingly,
a feat of strength

we're all capable of doing.

It's estimated
that we humans

only use a maximum of 65%

of our muscles' full capacity
in everyday life.

This gives good motor control,

the ability
to do delicate tasks,

and it also makes us humans

incredibly good at tasks
requiring endurance.

But what about
the other 35%?

Sandler's theory
is this extra power

can be summoned by unleashing
an explosive phenomenon

he calls hysterical strength.

Hysterical strength
is basically the ability

to call on every muscle
in your body

to help do some task

when you're really
in a lot of trouble.

You've got
maximum muscle recruitment,

and you create

an unbelievable
amount of power and force

and overcome the impossible.

William Shatner:
Within seconds
of sensing danger,

our brain sends
a signal for our body

to switch into
an emergency state

known as "fight or flight."

Adrenal glands
start pumping out hormones

designed to kick our
vital organs into action.

Our pupils dilate,
making vision sharper.

The heart races;
blood pressure skyrockets.

The liver releases
glucose for quick fuel.

Breathing speeds up,
infusing the body with oxygen,

while blood is diverted
away from the skin

into the muscles

in preparation
for an almighty blast

of emergency
hysterical strength!

Fear forces you
to recruit muscle.

Fear forces you
to produce force,

and fear forces you to fight.

William Shatner:
To test the
hysterical strength theory,

Sandler has
devised an experiment

using biofeedback software.

David Sandler:
Over this way,
we have rigged

a bench press device

to help us
gather some information.

William Shatner:
Jack has no idea

that Sandler
is planning to surprise

and scare him
in an attempt to trigger

a genuine hysterical strength
fear response.

In the meantime,
I have a question.

If I understand this correctly,

this theory states
that my body has the ability

to coordinate all the fibres
in my body's 640 muscles

to work together
and fire at the same time,

at a super-high frequency,
to tap 100% of my potential

and produce...

uncanny levels of strength.

So, why can't I open this jar?

What I mean is why can we only
access this dormant power

in moments of extreme fear?

Why not whenever we want?

To find out,

it's time to meet some chimps.

♪

William Shatner:
Missouri resident Jack McLain,

then just 14,

summons a bizarre
burst of strength

to overcome the impossible,

somehow lifting a car
to save his uncle,

who's being
crushed to death beneath.

He lifts over
1,000 lb. in weight.

How could something so weird,

a feat of strength
so extraordinary,

be possible?

Well, it's theorized
that the human body

has hidden reserves
of muscle power

only triggered
by a physiological response

to extreme stress or fear.

But why can't we access
our dormant reserves of strength

whenever we want?

To find out,

we need to take a trip
into our evolutionary past.

Let's ask this guy,

Dr. Laurence Gonzales.

He has a theory --

we can't all be Superman
all the time

because we think too much.

To him, a hormone-fueled
physiological response

is just part of the answer.

The real explanation
for such feats of strength

is in how our brain
rationalizes the extreme.

If someone you love
is pinned under a car,

you might rush out
and lift the car up

without stopping to think
that you can't lift a car.

And the stopping to think
is the key to this.

William Shatner:
All this thinking
involves an area of the brain

called the neo-cortex.

The neo-cortex covers
the outer layer of our brain

and plays a critical role
in controlling consciousness,

language,
reason, logic --

key characteristics
that make us human.

But according to Gonzales,

the neo-cortex also acts
like an automobile governor,

causing us to think twice,

keeping our
primal emotions in check.

This over-thinking
makes us weaker,

unable to tap into
our full strength-potential.

A theory proven,
Gonzales believes,

by the physical prowess
of chimps.

That is,
the mechanics of their joints,

the make-up of their muscles,

their chemistry,

all of that is
pretty much the same as ours.

They're simply able to take full
advantage of it all the time.

William Shatner:
Even an average
chimpanzee can lift more

and jump higher
than an elite human athlete.

One reason for that,

according to Gonzales,

is because they
have a far smaller

and less developed neo-cortex.

So, unlike us,

the emotional instincts
of chimps

are far more unrestrained.

They act without thinking
and can summon 100%

of their muscle capacity
in everyday moments.

So, did Jack McLain manage
to avoid thinking

and override his neo-cortex?

I didn't even waste time
to think about can I do it?

I had to do it.

William Shatner:
Well, maybe he did.

Okay, so,
science has a few neat theories

to explain how we might react
to these extreme situations.

But does science
have all the answers?

Take the great explorer
Sir Ernest Shackleton in 1908,

a hero of mine.

He and three companions
survived walking for weeks,

half-starved,

across the
frozen Antarctic wastes

with a ration of just
one biscuit a day.

To what did he
attribute his survival?

Increased
physiological response,

leading to greater endurance?

No.

To Shackleton,

it was down to the
reassuring presence of angels,

urging him on.

So, could young Jack McLain
have had a little help from,

you know, elsewhere?

They think so.

I always wear my cross,

and I got Jesus
tattooed on my chest.

I always had him
on my chest for many years.

Jack McLain:
My grandpa,
John Jack McLain --

wouldn't be surprised if it
was my grandpa looking over us.

William Shatner:
So, what's going on?

This is John Geiger,

an author who has
researched many such responses

from those who have overcome

seemingly impossible
physical odds.

He refers to it
as Third Man Factor.

Third Man Factor
is a sense that an unseen being,

a presence,

has intervened on your side
in life-and-death struggles.

It's hard to comprehend
how one wiry teenager

could do something that,
on a normal day,

probably 20 men
could not do.

It is hard to use any word
other than miracle

to describe that situation.

William Shatner:
Geiger can't prove this theory--

David Sandler:
Just going to make sure
everything is good.

William Shatner:
But sports performance expert
David Sandler thinks he can

provide evidence for a more
down-to-earth explanation

of Jack McLain's heroic deed.

Sandler believes
it was down to something

he calls Hysterical Strength --

a biological response
triggered by fear.

To test this,

he has brought
young Jack to a gym.

David:
You getting
different readings, Jen?

Everything's good?

William Shatner:
Now, Jack thinks

he's doing bench presses
so Sandler can collect data

on how his muscles operate
in normal conditions.

In fact,
Sandler is preparing

a little controlled 'accident'

he hopes will terrify
Jack's body into action.

Can Jack release
his super strength again?

Yeah, I think we're
pretty good and ready to go.

♪

William Shatner:
In a moment of sheer panic,

a boy named Jack McLain

summoned the strength
to lift a car,

saving his uncle,
who was crushed underneath.

It was a feat of strength
that defies logic.

So, in the gym,

sports performance expert
David Sandler

is monitoring McLain's
physiological responses

to see what effect shock events

can have on human muscles.

Oh!

William Shatner:
Hmm, so much for that.

Jack looks completely unfazed,

but did the stunt provoke

a hysterical strength response
from his muscles?

When the weight started falling,

I just figured
it was gonna fall on me.

So, I tried to stop it.

Then my heart started beating.

So, it was kind of scary,
at first.

William Shatner:
Let's check the data,
starting with Jack's heart rate.

David Sandler:
You basically shot up to 150,

almost 160 beats,

70 beats instantly.

With your breathing rate,

that jumped up considerably.

You hit 27 breaths per minute,
like, almost instantly.

So, again, bam!

Holy jumpin'.

Adrenalin dump,
heart rate jump,

breathing rate jump.

So, that's kind of cool.

But what's really cool
is the muscle activity.

So, here you are,

sort of moving along,
all right?

It's your muscles,

and you're kind of
getting ready and going through.

Now, watch what happens
to your muscle signal

as we drop the weight.

Oh, there it is.

Yeah, see that? Wow.

So, what happens is
when you try to stop it,

see how much more
muscle activity occurs, okay?

So, as we're
kind of doing this,

you're sort of
going up and down.

We're getting
a muscle reading.

That was what
you were seeing before.

We drop the weight.

You panic.

You fire everything you got
to try to stop it.

William Shatner:
The experiment has shown

how a shock event
can trigger a fear response,

calling dormant
muscle strength into action.

But what happens
at the gym

will never match
that day in 2005,

when a skinny,
110-lb. teenager

managed to lift
a full size car

off his trapped uncle.

Is that weird, or what?

So, there we have it --

three weird mysteries --

but several
even weirder theories.

A surfer under attack
from a Great White Shark,

saved by dolphins.

Did they rush to his aid,

fuelled by
human-like compassion or rage?

Did the dolphins
act on pure instinct?

Cats and dogs

seemingly able to predict
the passing of a human being --

are they detecting
the scent of death?

Are they picking up our
unconscious body language?

Or do our pets
have supernatural powers?

A skinny kid does
the seemingly impossible.

He lifts a car,
saving his uncle from death.

Was this extra strength
fuelled by a fear response?

Or did Jack McLain
have a guardian angel?

You decide.

Join me next time

for three more stories
that will undoubtedly be...

weird, or what?