All language subtitles for Weird.Or.What.S03E08.WEBRip.x264-ION10

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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 just might think
that there's not much that

can 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.

Shatner: Can we suddenly
disappear without a trace?

Three men vanish from a yacht
off the coast of Australia.

CAMERON LAIRD: There was
no trace of blood, there

was no damage to the ship.

Shatner: Were they
abducted by undersea aliens?

In Vermont, almost a dozen
people disappear from a

remote mountain wood.

JOE DURWIN: All they ever found
was a few empty bullet shells.

Shatner: Were they
attacked by a sasquatch?

And in Tasmania, a pilot
is chased by an unknown

craft before disappearing.

REG WATSON: You could
say it was murder.

Shatner: Was he
shot down by a UFO?

William Shatner: Yeah,
it's a weird world.

And I love it.

William Shatner: The Mary
Celeste - magnificent isn't she?

- This two hundred and
eighty ton brigantine was

found fully seaworthy and
floating unmanned

in the Atlantic in 1872.

Abandoned by her entire
crew and passengers,

all their belongings and six
months supplies were

still on board - untouched.

What happened?

Throughout history tales
of vanishings have

mystified and baffled us.

Can people simply disappear
from the face of the earth?

This extraordinary story
is regarded as the

greatest maritime mystery
of all time -

or it was - until 2007...

Shatner: April 14, 2007.

Three men set out on a
cruise off the

eastern coast of Australia.

For Des Batten and
brothers Peter and

Jim Tunstead, it's the
adventure of a lifetime.

A 5,000 kilometre,
eight-week voyage that

will take them past some
of the most spectacular

coastline in the world.

Julie Sharp is a
Queensland attorney.

JULIE SHARP: It was a
journey that was in the

planning for um some
considerable period.

The three men each
undertook various courses

including first aid.

Shatner: Des, the owner of
Kaz II, is an experienced

amateur sailor who's made
several trips in the area.

JULIE SHARP: Des Batten
had a long standing

interest in boating and
had owned a number of

vessels in the past including
forty-foot cruising vessel.

Jim Tunstead had
significant experience

in sailing smaller
sailing boats.

He had competed in
fourteen-foot skiff racing

uh regularly in the past.

Shatner: It will be the
longest journey

any of them has attempted.

JULIE SHARP: The purpose
of the journey was to

transport the Kaz II from
Airlie beach back to

Western Australia where
uh the Battens lived.

The voyage, was ambitious,
to say the least.

Shatner: The three men set
out from Abel Point Marina

on a beautiful
Sunday morning.

JULIE SHARP: People who
saw the men before they

set off on the journey on
that morning describe them

as being in good spirits.

Shatner: Jim decides to capture
the moment for posterity.

JULIE SHARP: The last
record of them is some

video footage that was
taken on board the Kaz II.

Uh, we think at about
10:05 am, so a couple

of hours into the voyage.

VOICE: (Unclear) ahead.

JULIE SHARP: Peter
Tunstead was fishing off

the back of the boat and
Des Batten was at the helm.

Everything was normal.

Shatner: In their final
contact with the outside

world, Des checks in with
a radio operator on shore

- a routine precaution.

JULIE SHARP: A local
marine rescue volunteer

had radio contact
with the men.

Shatner: But the yacht
fails to show up at its

next anchorage on
Cape Gloucester.

And calls to Jim Tunstead's
cell phone go unanswered.

Three days later, the
Kaz II is spotted by the

Australian coast guard,
miles off course and

drifting aimlessly.

Shatner: Photojournalist
Cameron Laird is one of

the first to reach
the missing yacht.

CAMERON LAIRD: The ship
was abandoned and it was

just floating adrift in
the ocean with sails just

blowing wildly in the
breeze, and you could tell

clearly that
something was wrong.

When the search and rescue
found the boat, they

lowered crewmen who went
in and checked to see if

there were anyone onboard.

Shatner: Rescuers find
no sign of the crew...

But even more alarming,
they find evidence that

whatever took place on
board, must have taken

them by surprise.

CAMERON LAIRD: The keys
were still in the ignition

of the boat, the maps were
still laid out on the table.

Sugar and tea bags were
still in the kitchen.

Fishing lines were
still onboard.

There was a laptop still
running at the time.

There were still life
jackets onboard.

The orange fluorescent
life ring was still on board.

The safety buoys were
still attached to the boat.

Everything looked fine.

It just looked like
someone had driven the

boat into port and parked.

Shatner: Mysteriously, the
only thing that's out of

place is an ordinary
piece of fishing line.

CAMERON LAIRD: There was
fishing line and a lure

tangled around the port
side rudder and that was

where Peter Tunstead
was seen to be fishing.

Shatner: The authorities
launch a massive search

and rescue operation
by air and sea.

CAMERON LAIRD: They
sent search and rescue

helicopters and
fixed wing planes.

I think also maybe the
army were involved with

some army
aircraft as well.

Shatner: The Kaz II is
towed into port, where the

police and forensic teams
comb the vessel for clues.

CAMERON LAIRD: There was
no trace of blood, there

was no damage to the ship,
there was no broken glass

or anything in the cabin.

Nothing untoward
had happened.

Shatner: The three
men were never found.

To this day, the case of
the Kaz II remains one of

Australia's most enduring
unsolved mysteries.

JULIE SHARP: Nobody really
knew whether the men were

dead or alive and they
had disappeared in such

mysterious circumstances.

Nothing could explain
the fate of the men.

CAMERON LAIRD: Sadly it should
really never have happened.

William Shatner: You know
I love the ocean

- boats are my passion.

The wind in your hair,
the smell of the sea -

it makes me feel alive.

But I've gotta tell you -
this story is - weird or what.

I mean we all know that
sailors have to have

respect for the sea right?

But here they are on a
perfect day -

on a perfect boat - what
were they doing?

- I mean lets face it -
what could possibly go wrong?

Almost anything.

Shatner: What happened to
the men on board the Kaz II?

Crypto-zoologist Adam
McGirr thinks it was

something - monstrous:
a giant squid.

ADAM MCGIRR: We now know
that these animals live in

our oceans and went
virtually undetected aside

from legends and stories
from sailors saying that

they encountered or were
attacked by a large

squid-like animal.

Shatner: McGirr says the
giant squid has gone from

legend to reality, as
scientists have studied

the elusive
creature up close.

ADAM MCGIRR: In 2007,
fishermen off the southern

tip of New Zealand
actually captured the

largest recorded specimen
of a colossal squid and it

measured 33 feet long from
the tip of its head to the

end of its tentacles and
it was estimated

to weigh about 1100 pounds.

Shatner: But could a giant
squid account for the loss

of the Kaz II's crew?

McGirr says the animals
have attacked small boats

before - especially in
the warm waters of the Pacific.

ADAM MCGIRR: In 2003,
there were a couple of

French sailors attempting
to circumnavigate the globe.

All of a sudden they lost
control of their boat.

And on the rear of the
ship, they found a

gargantuan squid wrapped
around the rudder making

it so that they couldn't turn or
control the boat in any way.

Shatner: Although
the creatures aren't

aggressive, they are
inquisitive and constantly

on the lookout for a meal.

ADAM MCGIRR: A colossal
squid may look up at the

surface and see the bottom
of a boat and interpret

that as a large fish that
it might like to go after

or possibly even a whale.

Shatner: McGirr thinks if
one of the creatures did

intercept the yacht, it
was quite capable of

sweeping the
crew overboard.

ADAM MCGIRR: A colossal
squid actually has very

sharp serrated edges on
its suction cups in order

to grab a hold of prey
and prevent them from escaping.

You're basically at the mercy
of the squid at that point.

Shatner: Did a giant
squid attack the Kaz II?

Or does the key to the
mystery lie even deeper?

BARBARA LAMB: There are
extra-terrestrial beings

who have encounters
inin the ocean.

Shatner: Three men
disappear from a yacht off

the coast of Australia.

Were they attacked
by a giant squid?

Psychotherapist Barbara
Lamb agrees that what

caused the Kaz II tragedy
came from the ocean depths.

But it's weirder
than any sea monster.

BARBARA LAMB: There's no
doubt in my mind that

there are
extra-terrestrial beings

who do have encounters in the
ocean with many human beings.

Shatner: Lamb is convinced
not only is the Kaz II

crew still alive - they
are being held captive by

aliens using stealthy
underwater vehicles.

BARBARA LAMB: A USO is an
undersea,

or unidentified, sea object.

We do feel convinced that
there are these USO's as

well as UFO's unidentified
flying objects.

Shatner: Lamb learned
about USO's from a

surprising source
- her own patients.

She got them to reveal
buried memories of alien

sightings through a
controversial technique

called Regression Therapy.

BARBARA LAMB: Does there
seem to be any presence of

anyone in addition
to the light?

BARBARA LAMB: Regression
is a form of hypnosis

where a person comes in
with a particular concern,

maybe an event, to find
out the details that he or

she does not remember
consciously.

BARBARA LAMB: Do you hear
a voice as this is happening?

PATIENT: No, it's talking
to me through my mind...

Shatner: Over the years,
her patients gave such

detailed accounts of USO's,

Lamb had to accept
they were real.

BARBARA LAMB: One client
who lives right close to

the southern California
coast has many times seen

a disk shaped craft shooting up
from under the ocean.

This craft kind of docked
with or attached to a

building that seemed to be
down on the floor of the ocean.

Shatner: Some of the
stories had chilling

similarities with
the Kaz II incident.

BARBARA LAMB: I know one
man who lost his entire

family that was on a huge
yacht - they sailed from

Bermuda in the 1950's, about
10 different people on it...

disappeared, nothing was
ever found,

no life ring, nothing.

Shatner: Did undersea aliens
kidnap the Kaz II sailors?

Shatner: Or is the
solution more earthly?

Police constable Patrick
McLeod works in the marine

unit of the Toronto
Police Service.

PATRICK MCLEOD: The ghost
ship scenario isn't as

rare as people think.

We find vessels all the
time that are abandoned.

Shatner: McLeod
is confident the

disappearance of the Kaz
II crew is no more than

a tragic accident.

PATRICK MCLEOD: I think
what happened to these

fellows on the Kaz II was
simply a man overboard disaster.

Shatner: How can
he be so sure?

McLeod points to a single
clue found by rescuers -

the tangled fishing line.

PATRICK MCLEOD: It looks
like one of the guys was

fishing and his lure got
tied up in the back

of the, uh, rudder.

He might have been down
there trying to free it,

fell overboard, his
brother jumps in to try

and save him, and the
other fellow- there might

have been a panic...

Shatner: What began as
a simple mishap quickly

spiraled out of control
- with Des trying

desperately to
rescue his friends.

PATRICK MCLEOD: Try to
come back to save them and

during the rescue, fell
overboard himself.

Once they're off the
vessel, there's virtually

no chance of them
getting back on.

The Kaz II catamaran, even
at its slowest speed,

would be uncatchable by
the best swimmer in the world.

Shatner: Did the crew of
the Kaz II drown because

they couldn't catch
up to their boat?

Constable McLeod is going
to test his theory by

staging an experiment.

PATRICK MCLEOD: Today
we're here in a controlled

situation to see if a
swimmer falling off the

back of a boat can
actually swim to catch up

with it when it's going
approximately 12 km an hour.

Shatner: An inflatable
dinghy will be towed at

the same speed
as the Kaz II.

A trained police swimmer will
play the role of the sailors.

PATRICK MCLEOD: Derek
you're going to fall

overboard like something's
happened but try to get

back to that dinghy as
fast as you can and see if

you can get on board.

Ok, let's go guys.

Shatner: Constable McLeod
will measure the dinghy's

speed with a radar gun.

PATRICK MCLEOD:
Three two one pull!

Shatner: They get the
dinghy moving at 4

kilometers an hour - less
than half the Kaz II's speed.

But even at this reduced
velocity,

Derek simply can't keep up.

PATRICK MCLEOD: Even in a
controlled situation, in a

pool, with a very fit
person, a very young

person, a trained person,
he was still unable to

catch that dinghy at a
much slower speed than the

Kaz II was going.

There's no way that these
older gentlemen are going

to be able to
catch that vessel.

They're basically doomed.

Shatner: Were the men on
board the Kaz II snatched

by a sea monster?

Were they abducted
by undersea aliens?

Or did they simply fall
overboard in a tragic accident?

Weird or what?

Shatner: Almost a dozen
people vanish from a

remote mountain forest.

JOE DURWIN: All that was
left behind was empty

bullet shells.

William Shatner: You
know these days modern

technology has made hiking
through the forest easy.

You've got a GPS in
case you get lost,

GPS: "go straight ahead"

digital compass tells you
what direction you're headed in

GPS: "north"

...shockproof watch,
hunting knife, safety vest

for visibility - they make
stuff to protect you from

just about any situation.

But there's one thing that
nothing will save you from

- and that's a forest that
swallows you - whole.

Shatner: Bennington,
Vermont is a historic town

set against the
breathtaking scenery of

Green Mountain
National Forest.

But it also borders on an
area Native Americans have

avoided for hundreds of
years, believing it to be

inhabited by dark and
vengeful spirits:

Glastenbury Mountain.

Joe Durwin is a local
journalist and folklorist.

JOE DURWIN: Glastenbury
Mountain comes across as a

creepy place.

It's high and dark and
remote, and heavily

wooded, and there's
a ghost town.

There is sort of this
old New England aura of

haunted houses and dark
forests and mysterious secrets.

Shatner: One of the
region's most puzzling

mysteries is that
of James Tetford.

On December 1st, 1949,
James is making his way

home after visiting
relatives.

JOE DURWIN: Tetford was a
veteran who lived in Bennington.

Shatner: He has taken this
bus countless times - but

tonight he attracts more
attention than normal.

JOE DURWIN: There was a
sighting of James Tetford

in St. Albans, Vermont.

He was seen by a friend
there during a stop.

Shatner: But when the bus
pulls into Bennington,

all is not well.

James isn't there.

JOE DURWIN: He was seen on
a bus by 14 witnesses at

one stop and then by
the next stop he was

mysteriously gone.

And all that was left
behind was his luggage.

Shatner: Police are called
in to investigate, but no

trace of the man
is ever found.

JOE DURWIN: We don't know what
happened to him after that...

Shatner: But James'
disappearance isn't the

only unsolved missing
person's case in the

Bennington area.

Exactly three years
earlier, Paula Welden is

hiking the Long Trail,
one of Bennington's most

famous tourist
attractions.

JOE DURWIN: Paula Weldon
was an attractive 18 year

old student at
Bennington College.

She left the campus on
December 1st, and she went

walking up Long Trail
towards the top of

Glastenbury Mountain.

Shatner: Despite the cold,

Paula isn't alone
in the forest.

Other hikers see her as
she disappears around a bend.

They think nothing of it, until
they too round the corner.

Paula is nowhere
to be seen.

JOE DURWIN: She was seen
by several people on the

way and then at some point
she simply disappeared.

Shatner: Police and the
FBI mount one of the

biggest manhunts in
Vermont history.

JOE DURWIN: It was
probably the most

extensive of any
of the searches.

It was one of the first
times helicopters were

used over the area
to look for someone.

Shatner: Paula is never
heard from again.

Even more puzzling is what
happens to Middie Rivers,

a local guide
and outdoorsman.

JOE DURWIN: Middie Rivers
is a guy in his 60s, very

experienced in the woods.

He was hunting with
his son-in-law.

He went into an area
called Hell Hollow which

he knew quite well and he
went off by himself for a

little while and he
was never seen again.

Shatner: Middie has
vanished - almost within

earshot of his companion.

JOE DURWIN: When his
relatives went to look for

him he was nowhere
to be found.

And they searched for
days, there was massive

manhunts and all they ever
found was a few of his

empty bullet
shells on a trail.

Shatner: These and
five other mysterious

disappearances between
1945 and 1950 lead the

area to be christened
the Bennington Triangle.

JOE DURWIN: The legend of
the Bennington Triangle is

this apex of weirdness and
mystery, sort of almost

Bermuda-like
Triangle, but on land.

Shatner: Then in May 1951,
a potential breakthrough.

The police come across
something they've never

seen before in the
Bennington Triangle cases:

A body.

It belongs to a hiker who
disappeared

the previous autumn.

JOE DURWIN: Of the
disappearances in the

Bennington Triangle that
I've heard of, only one

really stands out as being
resolved partially at

least, uh, in terms of
the body being found, and

that's a woman
from Massachusetts

named Frida Langer.

Shatner: The autopsy
doesn't reveal how she

died - and even more
perplexing, she's found in

an area that has been
searched previously.

Police now wonder if a
serial killer is on the

loose, abducting his
victims both on foot

and in vehicles.

The public dubs him
the Bennington Ripper.

JOE DURWIN: Usually with
serial killers you see a

lot of conformity in
the types of victim.

With these disappearances
you don't see that.

You don't see similarities
in age, gender,

backgrounds,
clothing, anything.

Shatner: The theory is
discarded for lack of evidence.

JOE DURWIN: In the end all
we know for sure is that

they were not found.

Shatner: Who - or what -
is responsible for the

victims of the
Bennington Triangle?

Can people simply vanish
off the face of the earth?

Author Christopher
Noël isn't so sure.

CHRISTOPHER NOËL: There is
a strong possibility that

these disappearances could
be related to sasquatches

or one sasquatch
in the area.

Um, given that there has
been many sightings of

these creatures over the
years in the Bennington area.

Shatner: The sasquatch,
also known as Bigfoot, is

a legendary ape-like
creature thought to

inhabit the forests
of North America.

Noël has been studying
them for years.

CHRISTOPHER NOËL: A
sasquatch could easily

snatch us off a trail - it
could snatch more than one

of us if it wanted to.

It's quite possible
that there was a rogue

sasquatch, probably a
male, who was operating

outside the normal range
of sasquatch behavior.

Shatner: He points to an
incident that took place

only twenty years before the
first Bennington Triangle case.

CHRISTOPHER NOËL: A man
named Albert Ostman was

taken from his campsite,
and carried to, uh,

a small boxed canyon where he
was held captive for six days.

Shatner: The victim not
only survived, he escaped

to tell the tale -
the world's earliest

documented Bigfoot
abduction.

CHRISTOPHER NOËL: He
described what it looked

like, how it behaved in
very exquisite detail that

hadn't been known at
the time and has been

confirmed over and over
and over by sightings done

throughout the years.

Shatner: Did Bigfoot
abduct the Bennington

Triangle victims?

If so, why was only
one body ever found?

CHRISTOPHER NOËL: I'm sure
that these creatures, if

they abducted these
people, took them far away

from where people ever go
- into the thick, thick

parts of the woods, high
up, in caves, and we just

never would happen
to cross them.

William Shatner: See I
don't think this is fair.

Something weird happens
and boom - poor old

sasquatch takes
the rap - again.

Did he kidnap the victims?

I don't think so
- and here's why.

Bigfoot is described
in reports as a hairy

ape-like creature, 10 feet
tall, over 500 pounds,

with large eyes, a
pronounced brow and low

set forehead covered
in dark red hair.

The enormous footprints
for which it is known are

24 inches long and 8
inches wide and - get this

- the creature is commonly
reported to have a strong

unpleasant smell by
those who claim

to have encountered it.

Now I have one question -
how on earth could a dufus

like that take
anyone by surprise?

Shatner: Is bigfoot to
blame for

the Vermont vanishings?

Or was it another
kind of killer?

GEORGE PROUTY: When you're
hungry, food is food.

Shatner: Eight people
vanish from the Bennington

Triangle in Vermont.

Were they kidnapped
by Bigfoot?

Bennington hunting and
fishing guide George

Prouty says - no.

GEORGE PROUTY: I think the
only animal in this area

that would attack and
kill a human would

be a mountain lion.

We know there's
big cats up here.

And when the food
population is, uh, is low

and they're hungry,
food is food.

Shatner: Prouty has no
doubt the animals have

what it takes to take
down a fully-grown man.

GEORGE PROUTY: A mountain
lion is a big cat.

And they're very
protective of their game.

What they kill, they
usually cart away.

Even my size.

A two-hundred pound
person, a cat like that

can drag and actually
carry up a tree.

Shatner: Prouty says
details of the vanishings

match the way big cats
stalk their prey.

GEORGE PROUTY: It's always
been a single person.

And when a mountain lion
goes on attack, that's

there ultimate goal is to
get one individual singled

out from the crowd, and
that's the one they're

going to choose to attack.

Shatner: Did a mountain
lion devour the victims of

the Bennington Triangle?

How does this explain
James Tetford vanishing

from a moving bus?

Astrophysics author
Maurice Franks thinks the

missing people fell victim
to an exotic phenomenon of

modern science:
a wormhole.

MAURICE FRANKS: A wormhole
is a tunnel between two

points in space and time
uh where if something went

in one end of the wormhole
it would come out

instantly at the other end
no matter how far away

that other end may be.

Wormholes unquestionably
exist at the subatomic level.

There's no
question of that.

And apparently there is no
limit to the size to which

a wormhole can be made.

Shatner: Could a human
stumble into a wormhole?

Franks says it's happened
before -

to none other than the U.S.
military.

MAURICE FRANKS: 1943, the
United States Navy wanted

a technology to make
battleships disappear from

enemy radar, and they
commissioned

Albert Einstein and Nicola Tesla
to work on the project.

It was called the
Philadelphia experiment.

All this is shrouded in
secrecy and some weird

things happened including
the US Eldridge

disappeared spontaneously
from Philadelphia Harbor

and showed up in Norfolk,
Virginia,

hundreds of miles away.

Shatner: Did the U.S.
government create

wormholes to hide battleships?

Was the same technology
used on the victims in Vermont?

MAURICE FRANKS: If the
people who went missing in

the Bennington Vermont
area were sucked into a

wormhole, I have no idea
where they came out.

It could be anywhere
uh on this planet.

It could be anywhere
in another galaxy.

Shatner: Were the
Bennington Triangle

victims snatched
by sasquatch?

Were they killed
by a mountain lion?

Or were they pulled into
an inter-galactic wormhole?

Weird or What?

Shatner: A pilot is
chased by a UFO before he

vanishes without a trace.

REG WATSON: He says
"It's not an aircraft."

William Shatner: Last year
there were nine hundred

thousand missing persons
recorded in North America

- that's nearly two
thousand five hundred

people who
vanish every day.

It's a scary
thought isn't it?

The mean the good news is
most of these cases are

easily explained - kids
running away from home,

husbands running away
from wives - or the IRS.

But there's one case that
doesn't fit into any

category - that's because
it happened in mid-air.

Shatner: October 21, 1978.

A Cessna 182 takes off
from Melbourne's

Moorabbin airport.

At the controls is
Frederick Valentich,

a 20-year-old flying
instructor with the

Australian Air
Training Corps.

His story has been documented
by author Reg Watson.

REG WATSON: He had a
passion for flying.

And because of this, he
already knocked up a

hundred and fifty
flying hours.

He wanted to become
a commercial pilot.

Shatner: Frederick is
bound for King Island-a

short flight across the
Bass Strait that separates

mainland Australia
from Tasmania.

REG WATSON: Bass Straight
is the most fascinating place.

There has been a, a
number of uh, underground

earthquakes there.

So uh, it is a very
dangerous area, a volatile area.

And many boats if you
like, mysteriously go missing.

Valentich had planned to
leave Moorabbin Airport to

go to King Island to
meet some friends there.

Visibility was good.

It was excellent
flying weather.

Shatner: It's little more
than an hour's flight time

to King Island airport.

So far it's been
going smoothly.

REG WATSON: It was only
going about a hundred and

twenty miles per hour.

Full tank, uh, it had been
well, uh, well looked after.

There was no problem with
the, the aircraft itself.

It should have gotten to King
Island without any problems.

Shatner: But 47 minutes
into the journey,

Frederick notices another,
much larger aircraft

flying at the
same altitude.

REG WATSON: Valentich was
traveling, um, about four

thousand five hundred
feet at elevation and the

question that he asked,
um, Moorabbin are there

any aircraft below
five thousand?

VALENTICH (voice):
Delta Sierra Juliet...

There seem to be a large
aircraft below five thousand.

Shatner: Manning the radio
at Moorabbin Airport is

air traffic controller
Steve Robey.

He checks the board.

There's nothing
else in the area.

Suddenly, the other
aircraft makes several

high-speed passes above and
below his much smaller Cessna.

VALENTICH (voice): It
seems to me that he's

playing some sort of game.

REG WATSON: He's saying
it's traveling under me.

Within a short period of
time he was saying it's a

thousand feet above me.

Then he says it's
coming towards me.

Then he asked the amazing
question he said, are

there any air force
craft in the area.

Moorabbin said no.

Shatner: The craft then
veers close enough for

Frederick to get
a good look at it.

He said, "Well, it's long,
shiny like metal..."

VALENTICH (voice): It's
got a green light and sort

of metallic it's all
shiny on the outside.

REG WATSON: Obviously he's
not familiar with it.

Shatner: Suddenly
Frederick's engine begins

to sputter and his
controls malfunction.

VALENTICH (voice): The
engine is rough idling.

Shatner: Now the strange
craft is performing even

more frightening maneuvers
around Frederick's plane.

REG WATSON: It's traveling
at incredible speeds.

He said "it's vanishing,
it's orbiting me now."

Shatner: Robey asks the
young pilot to repeat his

description of the
unidentified aircraft.

Frederick's answer
is chilling.

VALENTICH (voice): That
strange aircraft is

hovering on top
of me again.

It is hovering and
it's not an aircraft!

REG WATSON: He says,
"it's not an aircraft".

And then it goes off.

Shatner: It is Frederick's
last transmission.

Robey desperately tries to
re-establish contact,

but all he hears is a metallic
clicking noise that ends

with radio silence.

REG WATSON: It was
presumed that Frederick

had smashed into the sea.

As a consequence, a
search was arranged.

Shatner: Frederick's
Cessna is equipped

with a radio beacon.

It should be
easy to locate.

But as rescuers search,
the mystery only deepens.

REG WATSON: No wreckage, no
body,

no oil spill was ever
found.

Shatner: Over three
decades later, Reg Watson

is convinced the
Australian government

still needs to get to
the bottom of the case.

REG WATSON: What I'd
like to see happen with

Frederick Valentich is
that the authorities admit

that something
peculiar happened.

I get angry with
the authorities.

I really would like that
some type of salvage

operation would go off the
coast of Victoria to see

whether indeed his, uh,
aircraft is still there.

William Shatner: Now if
ever there was genuine

mystery, this is it and
here's why - it couldn't

have been an accident.

You see your chances of
being involved in an air

crash are about 1 in 11
million - you got far more

chance of being
killed by a bee sting. Ow!

Or choking on food.
Or climbing a ladder.

Or falling out of bed. Get it?

Shatner: What happened
to Frederick Valentich?

What did he see
before he disappeared?

Victor Viggiani is a
paranormal investigator

who's studied
the incident.

He makes the case that
Frederick was attacked by

the only vehicle capable
of the maneuvers he

described: an
alien spaceship.

VICTOR VIGGIANI: One of
the things that we know

for sure is that this
craft did circular things

around his craft.

So it would hover below,
it would hover above, beside.

And he was sort of looking
all over the place and

watching this thing
come and go and dart.

Normal aircraft
can't do that.

Shatner: Viggiani says
Frederick wasn't the only

person to see the UFO
that was harassing him.

It was also visible
to witnesses on land.

VICTOR VIGGIANI: There was a
family of three or four -

two adults and one or two
children, who were driving

along the road and
actually saw the um - the

Valentich craft moving
along over the ocean

and the UFO above it.

Shatner: The UFO's
technology was so

powerful, it was able
to cripple the Cessna's

engine and instruments.

VICTOR VIGGIANI: The
electromagnetic influences

that are part of the UFO
phenomenon are manifested

in the avionics.

There were many instances
where pilots have seen

their instrumentation go
just completely wild or be

shut down completely.

Shatner: But why wasn't
there any wreckage?

Simple: the plane
didn't crash.

VICTOR VIGGIANI: My
personal opinion is that

that craft in some way
was taken onto the UFO.

Shatner: Viggiani is sure
the authorities know it -

and have covered it up.

VICTOR VIGGIANI: The
general public has been

conditioned to do is seek
out those other explanation.

Not just the human
mind seeking rational

arguments, the
cover-up has also very

psychologically
conditioned us to go for

the rational argument -
"well it's only this.

Well it's just a
weather phenomenon.

Well it's just a
flock of birds."

Shatner: Was the Cessna
taken on board by a UFO?

Or did Frederick conceal
his true intentions?

STEVE RAMBAM: This is
somebody that actually

planned his disappearance.

Shatner: A pilot
disappears off the

Australian coast after an
encounter

with an unknown craft.

Was he abducted by a UFO?

New York City-based
private investigator

Steven Rambam
doesn't buy it.

STEVE RAMBAM: As much as
I'd like to believe in

intelligent life somewhere
in the universe, because

it's lacking in most of
the places where I work,

um, I, I really don't
subscribe to the UFO theory.

Shatner: Rambam
specializes in tracking

down people who've
faked their own deaths.

STEVE RAMBAM: If you
look at this case,

even superficially, you'll see
that this is somebody that

actually planned
his disappearance.

Shatner: But Frederick had
his whole life ahead of him.

Why would he want
to disappear?

STEVE RAMBAM: Twenty-years
old, he is first

experiencing the
stresses of adulthood.

He's entering
the job market.

He's starting to wonder
what he's going

to do with his life.

He has a young girlfriend,
who is putting pressure on

him about the future.

After he disappeared, she
showed a lot

of signs of instability...

She didn't work or
essentially go out for

about seven years.

I gotta tell you, there
are people of that age

with less pressure on them
who don't have a plane

available to them, who
manage to get up and fly away.

Shatner: How does this
explain the UFO attack?

Rambam thinks
Frederick made it up.

STEVE RAMBAM: For the
couple of weeks before he

disappeared he expressed
unusual,

sudden interest in UFOs.

It's a little difficult
for me to believe that

this fella, all of a
sudden, gets sucked up

into the mothership.

Shatner: But if Frederick
was a faker, why did he do it?

To escape.

STEVE RAMBAM: He has a
plane at his disposal,

which he has gassed up
for a three-hundred mile

flight, even though he
has only got to go forty miles.

He probably needed some
getting away money.

And that plane was
worth something.

I think that plane was
either sold or sold for parts.

Shatner: Rambam thinks we
can solve the mystery.

All we have to do is
look in the right place.

STEVE RAMBAM: If I had to
bet I think he is flying

planes somewhere,
certainly not under his

own name, but, uh, there's
somebody that, uh, that

looks quite like him,
with his background.

I've worked with
police in Australia.

Uh, they're no dummies.

I think they've kept this
open because they know

darn well this kid was
not sucked up into a UFO.

Shatner: Did Frederick
Valentich fake his own death?

Or does the answer
lie elsewhere?

Shatner: Mark Wallis has
been a commercial airline

pilot for almost 30 years.

MARK WALLIS: I've actually
narrowed it down to one

theory as to
what happened.

If you're a brand new
pilot, this is one of the

more common problems that
leads to crashes - they

get disoriented.

Shatner: Wallis thinks
Frederick's big mistake

was the time he
departed - 6:20 pm.

MARK WALLIS: When you're a
fairly new pilot, that's

called visual
flight rules.

You're looking at the sky
for reference to keep

yourself right-side up.

As you get late in the
day, the water looks black

at night.

You now have a black ocean
morphing into a black sky.

You're losing that
defining, uh, horizon for

pilots to look at.

Shatner: As it grows
darker, Frederick grows

more disoriented.

MARK WALLIS: You can't
really see the horizon anymore.

It's very easy then for
the airplane to start to

go into a bank and
you don't feel it.

If you're an inexperienced
pilot and you can't feel

the plane banking and
you look down at this

instrument, and it
shows the airplane in a

thirty-degree bank, you
don't believe it,

so you don't change.

Shatner: The more the
plane banked,

the more it lost altitude -

until the Cessna
simply fell into the sea.

But why didn't searchers
find any wreckage?

MARK WALLIS: The Bass
Strait is a massive strait

of water between
Australia and Tasmania.

And it's got a lot of
ocean currents as the

ocean whips down from
the Great Barrier Reef.

Even though it's not very
deep, it wouldn't take

much for that, whatever
debris there is to

end up who knows where.

Shatner: But what about
the mysterious craft

that harassed him?

MARK WALLIS: My first
thought was that it's some

sort of military aircraft.

Someone's fooling around,
having a little

bit of fun with the guy.

I wouldn't put it past the
military guys to, to go

out and basically do an
intercept, you know a

practice intercept
on an aircraft.

Shatner: Did Frederick
Valentich crash his plane

into the ocean?

Or did he fake
his own death?

Was he shot down by
an alien spacecraft?

We may never know.

Weird Or What?

Shatner: So there we have
it, three stories of

unsolved vanishings.

Three men disappear from
aboard a yacht in Australia.

Were they attacked
by a giant squid?

A series of people vanish
from a remote Vermont forest.

Did Bigfoot kidnap them?

And a pilot is chased by
a strange unidentified craft.

Was he shot
down by aliens?

You decide.

William Shatner: Join me
again next time for more

stories that will
undoubtedly be weird or what?