All language subtitles for Weird.Or.What.S03E01.WEBRip.x264-ION10

and may contain
mature subject matter.

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WILLIAM SHATNER: You know,
I've been around for a while.

I've met some interesting
people, done some crazy things.

So you'd think that wasn't 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.

And others just
defy logic.

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Can we cheat death?

On 9/11, a man survives
the horrific collapse of

the North Tower.

How?

PASQUALE BUZZELLI: I
thought this is how

I'm going to die.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Did a
miraculous cushion of air

keep him alive?

In Texas, a man is cut in
two in a freak accident.

[screaming]

Somehow, he lives.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: I didn't
know if I still had my legs,

or I didn't
have my legs.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Was he
saved by the very machine

that almost killed him?

And in Zimbabwe, a tour
guide is attacked by one

of the world's
deadliest animals.

PAUL TEMPLER: I remember
wondering, which would

happen first...

if, I bleed to death
or if I'd drown.

WILLIAM SHATNER: He lives
through the ultimate fight

to the death.

How?

WILLIAM SHATNER: Yeah,
it's a weird world.

And I love it.

[♪]

Armies...war...humans do
crazy things to each other.

They always have.

The history of mankind is
littered with horrific

events that have taken the
lives of millions -

and all for what?

September the 11th, 2001 will
go down as one of our very

darkest days - the day that
true terror came to America.

Do you remember
what you were doing?

Like millions of others,
I was watching the whole

thing on TV - dumbfounded
and awestruck at the sheer

violence of it all as
the towers came down.

110 storeys of steel and
concrete reduced to rubble

in a matter of seconds.

My first thought was no
one could survive inside

that apocalypse.

I was wrong.

WILLIAM SHATNER: New York City.
September 11, 2001.

At 8.46am, American
Airlines Flight 11 hits

the North Tower of the
World Trade Center.

In the chaotic minutes
after the crash,

many inside the building are
unaware of what just happened.

In his North Tower office,
structural engineer

Pasquale Buzzelli is on
the phone to his wife -

trying to get
information.

PASQUALE BUZZELLI:
"Don't be alarmed.

Just turn on the television
and tell me what you see."

[♪]

"Pasquale," She goes, "A
plane hit your building."

"Can you tell me, did it
hit low on the building?

Did it on the middle of the
building or did it hit high?"

And, she said, "It looks
like it hit pretty high in

the building."

WILLIAM SHATNER: His
office is on the 64th floor,

30 floors below
the impact zone.

But Pasquale's relief
doesn't last long...

[screams of terror]

Minutes later, a second
plane crashes into the

South Tower.

PASQUALE BUZZELLI: When
the second plane hit

we knew just like
everyone else...

it wasn't just
an accident.

It was a terrorist attack.

And then smoke actually
started entering the floor.

What should we do?

WILLIAM SHATNER: Pasquale
gathers his colleagues -

to evacuate.

PASQUALE BUZZELLI: We went
out to the hallway and

entered the stairway and
looked in, it was clear...

WILLIAM SHATNER: With time
running out, the group

have no idea what
they'll find there.

They make slow but steady
progress down seemingly

endless flights of stairs.

Suddenly, the building
shudders violently.

It's the massive shockwave
caused by the collapse of

the South Tower.

The tremors leave Pasquale
and his colleagues terrified.

If they're going to survive
they have to move faster.

[♪]

PASQUALE BUZZELLI: "If we
could take an elevator on the

24th floor, if we wanted to get
out of there a little quicker..

But we knew not to get into an
elevator at that point

and, and we just
kept going.

WILLIAM SHATNER: As they
reach the 22nd floor,

Pasquale hears something
terrifying - and massive.

PASQUALE BUZZELLI: I heard
this loud, noise from above,

like a freight-train
type of loud,

like huge safes tumbling
through the stairs.

WILLIAM SHATNER: The 110
storey North Tower is

collapsing above
their heads.

And they are trapped.

PASQUALE BUZZELLI: There
was no place to run.

There was no door there.

I was halfway
down the stairs.

I was getting tossed
back and forth.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Pasquale
makes a crucial decision.

PASQUALE BUZZELLI:
Instinctively I just dove

right into the corner
of the next landing.

I curled up into the fetal
position right in the corner...

my thought at the time was...
if anything's falling...

maybe it would hit the
wall rather than hit me.

WILLIAM SHATNER: As
500,000 tons of steel

and concrete crash down,
Pasquale braces himself...

PASQUALE BUZZELLI: I felt
the floor that I was

laying on just
crack open...

the entire building
is collapsing.

At that split second I
said' " My god, I can't

believe this is how
I'm going to die."

I prayed for
a quick death.

And then I was
just free falling.

WILLIAM SHATNER: In just
25 seconds, the North Tower

of the World Trade Center
has been reduced to dust.

No one inside
could survive.

But Pasquale Buzzelli
has defied the odds.

PASQUALE BUZZELLI: One
huge flash and the next

thing I know I
opened up my eyes.

I thought I was dead.

And then I started to
cough, I started to feel

a pain in my leg.

That's when I
realized I was alive.

I felt pain.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Sitting
on top of a 4 storey pile

of debris, somehow
Pasquale Buzzelli has

survived the collapse -
and a fall of 55 metres -

with only a broken foot.

PASQUALE BUZZELLI: And I
started to call out help.

I was calling out the names
of people that were with me.

"Is anybody around?"

WILLIAM SHATNER: Finally,
he sees figures moving

through the rubble below.

PASQUALE BUZZELLI: And I
saw two firemen, walking,

climbing the rubble and I
called out to them and I said,

"Hey, hey, Help. I'm up
here, I'm up here."...

WILLIAM SHATNER: The
firemen are stunned.

They can't believe anyone
could be alive this high

up in the wreckage.

They think Pasquale is
another rescue worker.

PASQUALE BUZZELLI: I said,
"No, I was in the building.

It collapsed."

And then he got on the radio,
he goes, "We got a civilian.

We have found a survivor.
We got a survivor."

I said I'm ok,
I need a phone.

I need to call my
wife... she just watched

the thing collapse, so
I know she thinks, you know."

And ah so, I
called my wife.

I said, "Louise, it's me."

She's like, "Oh
my god, Pasquale.

It's you, oh my god."

And I said... I just wanted
to let you know that

I'm OK and hopefully
I'll be home soon.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Almost
3,000 people died on 9/11.

Pasquale was one of only 20
survivors found in the rubble.

PASQUALE BUZZELLI: So,
I fell eighteen floors.

Which is, to me,
you know, amazing.

I still can't
believe I survived.

WILLIAM SHATNER: How did
Pasquale Buzzelli live

through one of the greatest
disasters in history -

almost
unscathed?

Was it just pure luck?

Or is there some
other explanation?

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Amazing isnt it?

We all know there a
precious few tales of

survival from this
horrific event - and every

one of them is a miracle.

But Pasquale Buzzelli's
story seems almost impossible.

Not only did he escape the
impact and fire - he fell

18 floors - and had half
a million tons of debris

come down on top of him.

And he comes out -
virtually unscathed.

How did he do it?

WILLIAM SHATNER: Dr. Kerry
Ressler is a behavioral

expert at Emory University
School of Medicine.

He believes the way
Pasquale instinctively

reacted to fear
saved his life.

DR. KERRY RESSLER: Mr.
Buzzelli's story has

all the signs of a
classic fear reflex.

WILLIAM SHATNER: The fear
reflex is an instinctive

response to life-threatening
situations.

It originates in a
primitive part of the

brain called the amygdala.

DR. KERRY RESSLER: The
amygdala is really the

switch for fear in
the mammalian brain,

and it's very similar
in mice and in humans,

and apes and
everything in between.

WILLIAM SHATNER: The
amygdala works by telling the

rest of the brain what it
needs to do get out of danger.

DR. KERRY RESSLER: At
activation of the amygdala,

activates a hard-wired
reflexive circuit,

that activates a
flight response,

a fear response and really
a whole host of immediate

survival reflexes, that
have probably allowed us

as a species to survive for
hundreds of thousands of years.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Dr.
Ressler thinks it was this

process that caused
Pasquale to automatically

assume the fetal position
as the North Tower came

crashing down around him.

DR. KERRY RESSLER: He was
making his way down the stairs,

he hears the enormous
roar above him...

as he's interpreting
what's happening, his body

has already responded...
he's activated

his reflexive motor
response, he's jumping

through the air, curled
up in a fetal position.

WILLIAM SHATNER: This
instinctive reflex action

has its roots in a
primitive form of defense.

DR. KERRY RESSLER: Well
if I know I'm going to be

attacked, or something's
falling on me, I need to

curl up, protect my vital
organs, put my spine out,

but it happens too quick for
any of those thoughts to occur.

This reflexive primitive
brain reaction to survival

that kept him alive.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Did
curling up like an animal

help shield Pasquale's
body from falling debris?

Was he saved by a reflex
bred into humans by

millions of years
of evolution?

It's an interesting
theory, but a bigger

question remains...

Why wasn't he crushed
by thousands of tons of

falling debris?

CHARLES H. THORNTON: He just
hunkered down in the core

and prayed...

WILLIAM SHATNER: A man
survives impossible odds

in the collapse of the
World Trade Center on 9/11.

One expert believes
he was saved by an

instinctive fear reflex.

But 500,000 tons of
concrete and steel poured

down on top of him.

Why wasn't he crushed?

Structural engineer
Charles Thornton has

worked on some of the
world's tallest buildings.

Thornton is convinced
it was the way the Twin

Towers were constructed
that saved Pasquale's life.

The lower part of the tower was
supported by 48 massive steel

columns that made up the
core of the building.

CHARLES H. THORNTON: But eighty
percent of the weight of

the building is carried by
these huge sticks, these

huge core columns.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Thorton
thinks when the building

collapsed, the columns
fell in such a way they

acted like a massive steel
cage around the stairwell.

CHARLES H. THORNTON: If
you were going to make it,

you would have made it in
there because these

columns remained straight,
which means that they

formed a canopy or
a tee-pee over him.

And so all of the debris
that was coming down,

it was sliding outwards,
going towards the

perimeter buildings.

WILLIAM SHATNER: But
if the columns saved

Pasquale's life, why didn't
they protect the others?

Thornton thinks
he has the answer.

Pasquale instinctively
chose the safest place in

the stairwell
- the corner.

CHARLES H. THORNTON: He
understood that it was

a building that had very,
very heavy core columns.

He just hunkered down
in the core and prayed.

WILLIAM SHATNER: While
his friends were crushed,

Pasquale was shielded by
the massive core columns.

CHARLES H. THORNTON: He's
just a very lucky guy.

WILLIAM SHATNER: So
Pasquale could have been

protected from
danger from above.

But how did he survive a
fall of 55 metres with

only a broken foot?

JJ MAKARO: There's so
many things involved

that allowed this
man to survive.

WILLIAM SHATNER: JJ
Makaro, is a Vancouver

stunt coordinator.

He thinks he knows how
Pasquale survived the

equivalent of an
18-story fall.

JJ MAKARO: Falling is... just
another form of a crash.

WILLIAM SHATNER: JJ is
convinced the key to

surviving any fall is -
putting on the brakes.

JJ MAKARO: Deceleration
is, is the basic principle

that we use for saving ourselves
when we're doing a fall.

WILLIAM SHATNER: So what
could have slowed down

Pasquale enough
to save his life?

The answer could lie in
air trapped in the floors

below him.

JJ MAKARO: If you watch
the footage of the

buildings collapsing,
you see all of this air

circulating everywhere,
and I think it was

actually forming a cushion
underneath them, at each

floor, as it hit each
floor, it just kept

forming more and
more of that cushion.

WILLIAM SHATNER: To
test his theory, JJ has

constructed a mockup
to simulate the floors

underneath Pasquale.

He'll demonstrate by using
this fragile structure to

break his fall from a
height of 3 metres.

JJ MAKARO: What you guys
should see is me coming

off about 8 feet above it,
and landing flat on my

back on top of these
pieces of plywood, and

riding the whole thing
down and being able to get

up and walk away
without any injuries.

WILLIAM SHATNER: The
styrofoam beads will

represent the outrush of
air from the collapsing tower.

[♪]

JJ walks away
without a scratch.

He's convinced the
same principle saved

Pasquale Buzzelli on 9/11.

JJ MAKARO: "Wow it works."

He slowed down enough that
he was within a manageable

range of G forces to
allow him to survive.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Pasquale
Buzzelli survived an

unimaginable horror
with barely a scratch.

Was he saved by a
primitive instinct?

Or did he literally float
down on a cushion of air...

Weird - or What?

[♪]

WILLIAM SHATNER: A man
is cut in half in

a freak train
accident, and

- survives.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: I just
started kind of screaming

oh god, oh god...

WILLIAM SHATNER: You
know the human body is

a wonderful thing.

It can endure all
kinds of punishment.

You can shoot it...

[gun shot]

You can stab
it with a knife...

You can hit it with
a baseball bat...

See? Tough, huh?

Well ok - we're not all
like this - Supermen don't

really exist right?

Wrong.

WILLIAM SHATNER:
June 26, 2006.

Truman Duncan is working
as a railway switchman in

Cleburne, Texas.

His job is to help
connect the massive cars.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: It's very
dangerous work as you can

see the cars are very big.

When you're working with
heavy equipment like this

your life is on the line.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Truman's
connected thousands of cars

in his ten year career.

But today his routine is
about to be shattered.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: So, I was
riding on the car and we

was moving down the track
to make a connection with

some other cars... I was
standing up there and

I end up falling
off the car.

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Remarkably, Truman lands

on his feet-uninjured.

But he now faces
his worst nightmare.

A 20-ton rail car is
rolling towards him.

And there's no
way to stop it.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: I started
running backwards as fast

as I could and I jumped.

And, of course,
I didn't make it.

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Truman is dragged under

the oncoming wheel.

It rolls over him just
below the waist and then

pulls his lower body up
into the brake mechanism.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: It hit me
up high, it hurt, caused me

to raise up... and that's
when I grabbed on and held on.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Struck
with overwhelming force,

Truman's lower body has
been partially severed.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: Finally
we hit the cars.

I just started kind of
screaming oh god, oh god...

a little bit of panic and
then when that kind of

stopped, I started trying
to forget what was going on.

WILLIAM SHATNER: It's a scene
worse than any horror movie.

Truman has been dragged
over 22 metres and is

trapped under the train.

His lower body is grotesquely
twisted up in the brakes.

Despite impossible pain,
Truman somehow manages

to regain his senses.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: So I was
laying there, it hit me,

that I might still
have my cell phone.

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Truman dials 911.

The operator can't believe
what she's hearing.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: I got run
over by the rail cars.

I need 911... I think
I'm cut in two.

You need to hurry up now.

And someone got run
over by a rail car?

It was me! And I'm
about to pass out!

WILLIAM SHATNER: The operator
immediately dispatches help.

Almost unconscious with
pain, Truman somehow finds

the energy to make one
more call - to his family.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: I definitely
had my kids to draw on.

I'd have to say that was a big
part of me making it through.

WILLIAM SHATNER: It's now
10 minutes since Truman

was hit by the train.

His body is in pieces.

He fears that if he
passes out, he'll die.

But somehow, he discovers
a way to stay awake.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: There was
like a little loophole

right above me... so I
would reach up and grab

a hold of it and I would
pull myself up and...

I would scream... at
the top of my lungs.

[screaming]

WILLIAM SHATNER: But his
agony is far from over.

With injuries that would
kill most human beings,

Truman Duncan defies
medical logic and survives

another 45 minutes -
until paramedics arrive.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: First words
out of my mouth when the

paramedics arrived,
was morphine, I wanted

something to, you
know, stop the pain.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Even
for the paramedics,

it's a scene that
defies belief.

Not only is Truman alive -
he's conscious and talkative.

The race is now on
to save his life.

Truman is airlifted
to hospital.

Waiting for him is emergency
specialist Dr. David Smith.

DR. DAVID SMITH: They
said well we've got a guy

that's been run
over by a train.

And my first thoughts were
I'll be going down to

declare somebody dead.

WILLIAM SHATNER: But
Truman Duncan is still alive.

Just.

He's lost more than fifty
percent of his blood and

has injuries that shock
even a veteran like Dr. Smith.

DR. DAVID SMITH: He
was crushed in half.

In all the years I've been
doing trauma, I've never

seen anybody this torn up
that I thought could survive.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Truman's
pelvis is obliterated.

His left leg is hanging
by strip of skin and his

right leg is gone.

DR. DAVID SMITH: In one
place on his abdominal

wall there was one cell
layer between the outside

world and his inter
abdominal contents.

If you will, some people
would say his guts.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Truman is
given emergency surgery.

No one is sure if
he'll survive it.

DR. DAVID SMITH: The first
operation removed all the

mutilated tissue including
all of the bone and tissue

attached to it... this and
this should look exactly alike.

So we removed this much
bone from this side.

WILLIAM SHATNER: During
the next six weeks he

undergoes 22
more operations.

Truman's doctors describe
his recovery as nothing

short of miraculous.

DR. DAVID SMITH: Most of
the time, somebody with

this injury would never make
it to be seen by a physician.

He would be dead
in the field.

TRUMAN DUNCAN: By all
means I should have been

dead you know... but
everything happened just right,

you know,
I survived.

WILLIAM SHATNER:
[makes train whistle sound]

Oh wow, I love my trains.

I have pile ups all the
time - lucky for me no one

gets hurt - it's
all pretend right?

Yeah, but here's this guy -
he get's dragged along under

a 20 ton railway carriage...
is literally cut in two...

loses half his blood...

and still manages to call 911
and his family for a chat?

What kind of a person
could do that?

WILLIAM SHATNER: Dr.
David Smith has an idea

that's heavy duty.

Truman's life was saved
by the very thing which

nearly killed
him - the train.

[screaming]

When a person suffers
major bodily trauma,

the biggest threat to life
is often through blood loss.

DR. DAVID SMITH: Truman,
had lost, probably at

least fifty percent
of his blood volume.

That's a fatal bleed.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Why didn't
Truman bleed to death?

Dr Smith is certain
it's one thing -

the massive force of
the train's wheels.

DR. DAVID SMITH: He was
literally pulled up into

the mechanism, which applied
a great deal of pressure.

The train was like five
first responders applying

direct pressure to
a bleeding wound.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Without
this improvised tourniquet,

Dr Smith believes
Truman would have died.

DR. DAVID SMITH: Had he
been thrown free...

I'm quite certain that he
would have bled to death

there very quickly.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Was
Truman Duncan's life saved

by the train that
cut him in half?

Or is there another
explanation?

DR. PETER OBERMARK: If you
let the blood pressure

drop too low you
kill your patient.

WILLIAM SHATNER: A
man is cut in two in

a freak rail accident.

His miraculous survival
defies medical science.

Did the train act as a
giant tourniquet and

enable him to cheat death?

Dr. Peter Obermark teaches
in the paramedic training

program at the University
of Cincinnatti.

DR. PETER OBERMARK: When I
read the story of Truman

Duncan's survival the
first thing that I did was

take the story and
circulate it around to my

paramedic friends
and colleagues.

WILLIAM SHATNER: He claims
Truman's life was saved

because of what the
paramedics didn't do,

which was to replace the
blood he lost with IV fluids.

DR. PETER OBERMARK: If
those paramedics had tried to

treat him with the conventional
resuscitation strategy

of pumping him full of
fluids to try to reestablish

normal blood pressure um
he might not be alive.

WILLIAM SHATNER: The
reason is that too much

fluid can disrupt the
body's clotting mechanism,

which act to
stop bleeding.

It can blow a clot out of
a wound - or even prevent

one from forming.

DR. PETER OBERMARK:
Not only did it not

help control the bleeding,

but it actually made
the bleeding worse.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Truman
Duncan was treated with

a newer approach.

It's called permissive
hypotension.

It involves paramedics
allowing the patient to

have low blood pressure
until they can be operated on.

DR. PETER OBERMARK: The
goal is to keep the

blood pressure just
high enough...

so that the brain and the
heart and the lungs are

getting adequate supplies
of oxygen-bearing blood,

but not so high that you
increase the risk of

blowing out a clot.

WILLIAM SHATNER: It's not
an easy treatment to perform.

DR. PETER OBERMARK:
It really involves...

constantly uh monitoring
the patients uh mental status,

his vital signs,
essentially if you let the

blood pressure drop too
low you kill your patient...

WILLIAM SHATNER: But the
technique seems to improve

the odds of survival.

DR. PETER OBERMARK: There
is still a lot of debates

amongst doctors who work
in emergency medicine

about when and how to
apply the concept.

WILLIAM SHATNER: So was
Truman's life saved by

permissive hypotension?

Adventurer and surgeon
Dr. Kenneth Kamler says

Truman's survival has
nothing to do with medicine.

DR. KENNETH KAMLER: There
are patients I've seen,

people I've taken care of
on the mountain or in the

jungle who literally
should have died and

didn't and there's really
no medical way to explain it.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Dr. Kamler
is convinced some people

can survive severe physical
trauma - just by thinking.

Scientists call it -
the "will to live"

DR. KENNETH KAMLER: This
is a subtle survival tool

that's, that's within us,
but is only brought out in

extreme situations, most
of us will go through our

entire lives and never
know if we have that or

not because we never
put it to the test.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Dr. Kamler
also thinks this unique

survival tool is heavily
motivated by a dedication

to a higher cause.

DR. KENNETH KAMLER: I've
seen one factor which is

common to all the people
who do survive and that is

that they're aware of a goal
larger than themselves...

such as religious
belief, duty to country,

a feeling that they
need to stay alive

for their family, and I
think in Truman's case,

that's what
kept him going.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Did
Truman survive by will alone?

Dr. Kamler claims the 'will
to live' not only exists,

but it's a biological
mechanism of the brain,

located in the anterior
cingulate gyrus.

When charged with
electricity, the mechanism

shows up as red
on a cat scan.

As electricity travels
outward, Kamler believes it

enables the brain to mobilize
resources for survival.

DR. KENNETH KAMLER: He's
thinking, what do I have

to do to survive?

And this is how he's able
to call 911 and save himself.

WILLIAM SHATNER: For Dr.
Kamler it's a remarkable

demonstration of the
power of the mind.

But do we all have it?

Sadly, no.

DR. KENNETH KAMLER: Some of us
have it and some of us don't,

and that's what...

makes the difference
between survival or, or dying.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Did
Truman Duncan save himself

by sheer force of will?

Does he owe his
life to a controversial

first aid technique?

Or did the giant wheels
of the train act as a

tourniquet of steel?

Weird or What?

[♪]

WILLIAM SHATNER: A safari
guide in Zimbabwe is

savagely attacked by
one of the most dangerous

animals on the planet.

PAUL TEMPLER: And I had
just saw the monster

charging in towards me...

WILLIAM SHATNER: You know,
I've spent a lot of time

in Africa - stalking
the big game.

And boy, its not for
the faint hearted.

No no noo.
You need nerves of steel.

You have to know your beast
like you know yourself -

what he's thinking -

[growling sound]

what he's feeling.

[monkey sound]

Make one mistake and
it could be your last.

You only get one shot.

[buzzing sound]

Yeah!

That was intense.

These things bug me.

WILLIAM SHATNER:
March 9, 1996.

A group of tourists make
their way down the

Zambezi river in Zimbabwe.

Safari guide Paul Templer
is leading them with his

friend Evans Namasango.

PAUL TEMPLER: I mean,
the scenery there

was just beautiful.

We were drifting
down this little narrow

jungle-line channel.

And just ahead of us the
mist was rising up

above Victoria Falls.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Passing
a bend in the river,

they come upon a
pod of hippos.

PAUL TEMPLER: They were
just sitting there sunning

themselves, wallowing
in the shallows.

And so I started telling them a
little bit about hippos.

I didn't mention
to them the fact

that every year in Africa
hippos kill more people

than any other animal.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Paul
knows from experience to

stay well clear of the
massive creatures.

PAUL TEMPLER: The reason I
would be particularly wary

about a hippopotamus would
be that not only do they

grow quite large, 15 feet
long about 5 feet tall and

weigh a few tons, fully
grown bull hippo.

They are very strong.

So if they bite you typically
you don't fare so well.

When you see a pod of
hippo over the years I'd

learned to read the water,
and I knew that if I stuck to

shallow water I'd be pretty
safe, give them a wide birth.

WILLIAM SHATNER: But just
when he thinks they're clear,

Paul hears a
disturbance behind him.

PAUL TEMPLER: I turned
just in time to see the

canoe flying up and
Evans the paddler being

catapulted out
of the canoe.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Something
has attacked them -

and capsized the other canoe.

Ignoring his own safety, Paul
decides to help his friend.

PAUL TEMPLER: I lent over
to grab a hold of his

outstretched hand.

WILLIAM SHATNER: But the
real horror is about to begin.

PAUL TEMPLER: As our
fingers almost touched,

the water between
us just erupted.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Paul and
Evans are under attack by

a rogue bull hippo.

PAUL TEMPLER: I had just
saw the monster charging

in towards me.

His mouth was wide open
as he zeroed in before

scoring a direct hit.

His huge tusks tearing
into my torso as he drove

me under water.

PAUL TEMPLER: I punched
and scratched, nothing

I did had any effect.

I remember at one point
the hippo hurled me up in

the air and I did this
crazy half twist before

falling back
into his mouth.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Sensing
Paul is weakening, the

hippo prepares to finish the
kill - by drowning its prey.

PAUL TEMPLER: I remember
lying on the bottom of the

river and I was
looking up...

There I was pinned inside
this hippo's mouth with

his tusks boring
through me...

And just wondering which
would happen first -

if I would bleed to
death or if I'd drown.

WILLIAM SHATNER:
It's neither.

Inexplicably, the killer
hippo lets Paul go.

He floats to the surface
where one of the guides is

there to rescue him.

PAUL TEMPLER: I just lay
there terror and panic

threatening to overwhelm
me and pain just coursing

through my body
by this stage.

WILLIAM SHATNER: But then,
he remembers his colleague.

PAUL TEMPLER: I looked
around and there was no Evans.

"Mac where is Evans?"

"He is gone
mate, he's gone."

WILLIAM SHATNER: Evans is
dead, and without medical

help, Paul will
soon be as well.

But by sheer luck, a
medical team is conducting

a drill on the riverbank.

PAUL TEMPLER: I made the
mistake of taking a look

at myself [ooogh]
I was a mess.

I had been skewered like a
kebab, I had tusks through

me all over the place.

WILLIAM SHATNER: But Paul
now faces a new problem -

he has to survive a
6-hour, 400 kilometre

drive on rough
roads to a hospital.

After an agonising journey
Paul finally arrives .

He's alive - but the
medical staff aren't sure

they can save him.

PAUL TEMPLER: I heard
things like [eeelgh],

"his arm's
barely still attached"

"that foot looks horrible,"

"he's definitely going
to lose a limb or two."

WILLIAM SHATNER: Paul
undergoes a 7 hour operation

to amputate his left
arm and patch up the

rest of his mangled body.

PAUL TEMPLER: I'm told that
there were 38 bite marks on me.

My one foot had been
crushed, the hippo tried

to put its tusk
through it.

I ended up with a
punctured lung and some

broken ribs to go with it.

I had bites on my face and
on my spine, and it was an

injury that probably came
closest to killing me.

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Paul's injuries should

have killed him.

The extensive surgery is
only the beginning of

a seemingly impossible
recovery.

PAUL TEMPLER: I jokingly
refer to this incident as

my bad day at the office.

And it profoundly changed
my life in a number of ways.

I have a far deeper
sense of gratitude and

appreciation for
the day to day.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Paul
Templer should be dead.

In an epic underwater
struggle, he fought off

a merciless predator that
savaged and gored him. How?

Major General Ivan Fenton,
a retired officer in the

Canadian army,
thinks he knows.

IVAN FENTON: I think the
fact that Paul was in the

military before he had
this horrific attack,

helped him both physically
and psychologically.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Paul
Templar served as a gunner

in the British Army
in the late 1980s.

General Fenton thinks this
helped him stay calm.

IVAN FENTON: Militaries
are often thought of as

just military,
macho toughness.

It's psychological, almost
spiritual toughness as well.

The will, the
determination to overcome

something terrible.

To work through fear, to
control yourself so that

you will still do your job
even though you're terrified.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Paul not only
stayed cool - he fought back.

How?

IVAN FENTON: Military training
helps you work through

a mental process, even when
you're under huge stress.

And so he was
able to think of,

"Is there a vulnerable
point in this thing?

Yes, the snout.
Can I find the snout?

Yes, start punching
at the snout."

WILLIAM SHATNER: Fenton
also claims there was

another, critical factor:
Paul's compassion -

learned by looking out
for his fellow soldiers.

IVAN FENTON: When you're
able to focus even a small

part of your consciousness
on the well-being of

somebody else, it helps
you avoid being overcome

by what's happened to you.

So he wasn't thinking, "Oh
my God I'm going to die.

He was, "Where is Evans
and are my customers alright?"

WILLIAM SHATNER: Did
Paul Templer's military

training save him from
the vicious attack of

a 3,000 kilogram hippo?

DR. CHRIS MARTIN: Those
injuries were survivable

from the start.

WILLIAM SHATNER: A man
lives through a near fatal

attack by a
three ton hippo.

Did his military
background help him survive?

ER doctor Chris Martin
doesn't think so.

DR. CHRIS MARTIN: The
reason Paul Templar is

here today is because his
injuries were survivable.

WILLIAM SHATNER: A hippo's
jaw can exert a force of

over 1,800 pounds per
square foot - twice that

of a lion and seven
times that of a human.

Its two lower tusks
are 50 centimetres long

and razor sharp.

They inflicted terrible
damage on Paul's body.

DR. CHRIS MARTIN:
He was a mess.

His scalp was lacerated,
his arm was de-gloved.

So you can you imagine seeing
an arm without any skin on it?

He had a hole
in his chest.

You could see his lung
through his chest.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Wounds like
this would normally be fatal.

Why didn't they
kill Paul Templer?

DR. CHRIS MARTIN: When
people survive what

should be unsurvivable
injuries, I believe

most of it comes
down to luck.

Had that injury hit his
major vessels, his heart,

had damaged the
lung further...

he would have died.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Why were
Paul's vital organs intact?

Incredibly, Dr. Martin
thinks its due to a unique

feature in hippo design -
the shape of its massive tusks.

DR. CHRIS MARTIN: So
instead of the tusk going

directly in and hitting a
large vessel, lacerating

a lung severely, or
even hitting the heart,

it curved up into his chest
and limited the amount

of damage underneath.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Paul also
had another potentially

fatal wound - a severed
artery under his arm.

But Martin claims this too
was survivable because

of the way tusk
penetrated his body.

DR. CHRIS MARTIN: Had it
not been so cleanly cut

that it stopped bleeding
basically immediately,

he would have bled to death
in the Zambezi River.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Did Paul
Templar survive because

his wounds were
inflicted by tusks

that acted like a
surgeon's scalpel?

WILLIAM SHATNER:
This is incredible.

I mean it's awful about poor
Paul's injuries and everything -

he survived
right?

The big news here
is we may have a new

breakthrough in
medical science.

Hippo tusks could
revolutionize the way we

do surgery - just imagine
the savings on hardware.

So - let's try it.

Here we have a body -
well it's a watermelon

representing a
human body anyway.

And if it's true - this
tusk should be able to

perform accurate, clinical
surgical cuts - far better

than any scalpel.

OK - maybe that's a blunt
one - we'll try this.

Oh dear. No,
let's go again

[struggle]

I guess there's some
teething problems, maybe.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Paul
Templer survived what

should have been fatal
wounds from the hippo.

But how did he manage
to avoid drowning?

PAUL MIDGLEY: Paul
instinctively would have

known to hold his breath
when he was underwater.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Western
Ontario Head Swim Coach

Paul Midgley might
have the answer.

He points to an experience
in Templer's past that

made him able to survive a
near-drowning experience.

Paul Templer had been
an aquatic athlete.

Midgley thinks this gave
him an immense advantage.

PAUL MIDGLEY: Swimmers
spend 20 plus hours a week

in the water.

You're gonna be very
comfortable in the water.

Paul was obviously able to
keep calm and controlled

through his ordeal.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Midgley
thinks aquatic training

gave Templer a critical
skill - the ability to

time his breathing.

PAUL MIDGLEY: Paul
instinctively would have

known to hold his breath
when he was underwater,

and to take advantage of
those brief moments above

water to fill his lungs
for the next submerging.

WILLIAM SHATNER: But
Paul was under water for

almost 4 minutes.

How could he hold
his breath so long?

PAUL MIDGLEY: Paul's
competitive background

would allow him to utilize
less oxygen while fighting

the hippo than a normal,
untrained swimmer.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Did
aquatic training give Paul

Templer the edge he needed
to survive the hippo attack?

To check his theory, Coach
Midgley has set up a test.

An Olympic swimmer will
compete against an

untrained control subject
to complete as many

underwater laps
as they can.

The goal: to see how much
aquatic sports training

can increase the ability
to stay under water.

PAUL MIDGLEY: Ready...

go!

WILLIAM SHATNER: The
Olympic swimmer pulls

ahead almost immediately.

PAUL MIDGLEY:
Just see how...

efficient Joe
is in the water.

WILLIAM SHATNER: The
control subject is already

running into difficulty.

PAUL MIDGLEY: He's really
feeling it already, just

after one width.

WILLIAM SHATNER: The
control subject falls

further and
further behind...

until he finally gives up.

PAUL MIDGLEY: I thought I
could do it but my lungs

were giving out.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Joe
is still going strong.

PAUL MIDGLEY: He could
pretty much do these all day.

WILLIAM SHATNER: The
result is clear.

The Olympic swimmer
has a huge advantage

in staying underwater.

PAUL MIDGLEY: Definitely
proves our point.

As you can see a
competitive swimmer would

handle the hypoxic aspect,
and definitely a lot more

comfortable in the water
than the non-swimmer.

WILLIAM SHATNER: So was
Paul's background as an

aquatic athlete the
key to his survival

on that March afternoon?

Did it give him lungs of
iron that even a hippo

couldn't kill?

We may never know.

Weird or What?

[♪]

WILLIAM SHATNER: So
there we have it.

Amazing stories of survival
from around the world.

Pasquale Buzzelli survives
the collapse of the

North Tower with
barely a scratch.

Was it pure luck or a
weird quirk of design?

[♪]

A man survives being
cut in two by a train.

Can a strong will to live
overcome horrific injuries?

[♪]

And a safari guide survives a
vicious mauling by a hippo.

Was his body made
invincible by his past?

Can we cheat death?

Is there more to miraculous
survival than simply luck?

You decide.

WILLIAM SHATNER: Join me
next time for more stories

that will undoubtedly
be Weird or What?

[♪]