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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 there
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.

SHATNER: Does the human
body contain mysteries

beyond the realm of
medical science?

In a California hospital,
dozens fall mysteriously

ill after coming in
contact with one woman.

MAUREEN WELCH: Real fear
set in when we realized we

didn't know what it was.

SHATNER: Did she become a
living chemical weapon?

In New York, a man is
struck by lighting

- and turns into a
musical genius.

INGRID WICKELGREN:
Something happened in is

brain and he developed
this incredible passion to

play the piano.

SHATNER: Can our
brains be re-wired?

And in Tennessee, a young
man cries tears of blood.

CALVINO INMAN: I thought
maybe I was going to pass

away 'cause I thought I
was going to bleed out.

SHATNER: But no
one knows why.

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

And I love it.

William Shatner: The human
body - if you're like me

you probably take it for
granted that we walk

around inside one of
the most sophisticated,

complex organisms
in existence.

You probably think you
know a lot about it -

but here's some stuff I
bet you didn't know.

There are 250,000 sweat
glands in each of your

feet - producing over a
litre of sweat every day.

No wonder they stink.

Earwax is necessary
for healthy ears.

Your tongue is the
strongest muscle in your body.

Throughout your life, you
will produce enough saliva

to fill a typical
backyard pool.

A full bladder is about
the size of a softball.

And finally, most
men have regular erections
while they sleep.

Not now ok?
It's amazing isn't it?

But how do they
know this stuff?

Is there anything modern
medicine can't accomplish?

Well I can tell you
-there is one thing.

They can't explain the
incredible story

of Gloria Ramirez.

SHATNER: February
19, 1994.

Respiratory therapist
Maureen Welch is working

nights at a hospital
outside Los Angeles.

MAUREEN WELCH: I remember
being on my shift, working

in the, uh, neonatal
intensive care unit, not

having a lot of patients
and covering the emergency room.

SHATNER: But the calm ends
when a desperately ill

patient is brought
in to the ER.

MAUREEN WELCH: We received
a call that we were

receiving a twenty
something woman coming in

for respiratory distress.

SHATNER: 31-year-old
Gloria Ramirez is

suffering from
advanced cancer.

She is fighting
for her life.

MAUREEN WELCH: She was
in profound distress.

Her condition was not
looking well, her colour

was poor, her, um, oxygen
exchange was poor, her

ability to even speak in
a sentence was remiss,

it wasn't available.

SHATNER: But there's
something else about

Gloria that
troubles Maureen.

MAUREEN WELCH: There was
an oily sheen on her body.

Kind of a, a
garlicky smell.

It wasn't overt,
it was very mild.

It would be almost
something you'd miss if

you weren't
looking for it.

SHATNER: That's not all.

When a routine blood
sample is taken, Maureen

is stunned to see Gloria's
blood is full

of strange crystals.
It also has a weird odour.

MAUREEN WELCH: I said
does anybody smell that?

What are you
talking about?

The blood, the blood!

Don't you smell it?

SHATNER: Somehow, Gloria's
blood reeks of the

hazardous chemical
- ammonia.

MAUREEN WELCH: We
had a shiny body.

We had smelly blood.

We had crystals
in the blood.

SHATNER: Despite the
puzzling symptoms, the

medical staff battle
to save Gloria's life.

MAUREEN WELCH: Her
condition began to

deteriorate.

All the medical
professionals were getting

in position for this
severe situation.

SHATNER: Suddenly, nurse Susan
Kane is overcome with nausea.

MAUREEN WELCH: She picked
up the syringe

and then she collapsed.

SHATNER: Before Maureen
can react, she also blacks out.

MAUREEN WELCH: And the
next time I woke up

I was incapacitated.

IV's in my arm and I was
on a gurney with medical

issues that I didn't know
how I had gotten them.

All I knew was that I was
sick and I didn't know if

I was going to survive
or not at that time.

SHATNER: More of Gloria's
trauma team succumb.

The exact cause is a
mystery,

but one thing seems certain.

Whatever it is, it's
coming from Gloria.

MAUREEN WELCH: That was
when real fear set in, was

when we realized what we
had but didn't know what it was.

SHATNER: Panic erupts in
the ER and the

department is evacuated.

MAUREEN WELCH: There were
ambulances and fire trucks

and paramedics and all
kinds of people around us.

SHATNER: A skeleton
medical crew bravely

remains to work on Gloria,
but soon after,

she tragically dies.

Whatever is loose in
the ER - is spreading.

23 of the 37 ER staff have
bizarre and frightening

symptoms that require
medical attention.

MAUREEN WELCH: I was
admitted to a hospital.

I was there for a week.

I had several apnic
events, according to my

husband and I did
not respond to him.

And during that time I had
memory loss and aphasia.

I was not able to speak
well, my language had

been, in some
way deranged.

SHATNER: Maureen's colleague,
Dr. Julie Gorchynski is worst
affected.

She contracts hepatitis,
pancreatitis and avascular

necrosis - a disease that
literally kills the bones in
her legs.

Gorchynski spends weeks
in intensive care.

MAUREEN WELCH: The reality is
no one knew what was going on.

SHATNER: A hazardous
materials team is sent

into Gloria's trauma room.

MAUREEN WELCH: They
investigated every drain,

took every air sample,
bagged the body so that no

one else would be exposed
and in the days to follow,

there was going to be a toxic,
very high profile, autopsy.

SHATNER: But the autopsy
fails to find

a plausible explanation.

To this day, the Gloria
Ramirez outbreak remains

a mystery.

Maureen Welch recovers,
but her life is never the same.

MAUREEN WELCH: It took me
6 to 8 months to get back

where I was before
it happened.

But I still have some of
those moments with speech

that don't allow me to,
um, express myself the way

I once did.

SHATNER: What caused
23 experienced ER
staff to fall ill?

Was Gloria Ramirez's
blood toxic?

SHATNER: Psychologist
Dr. Melissa Sexton doubts it.

Why? Not everyone who treated
Gloria got sick.

MELISSA SEXTON: Why didn't
the paramedics who were

attending her also
experience the same symptoms?

SHATNER: Dr. Sexton is
convinced the answer is an

illness not of the
body - but of the mind.

A condition known as
Conversion Disorder, it makes

people ill - purely through
the power of suggestion.

MELISSA SEXTON: Conversion
disorder is a set of

symptoms that are not
explained by any organic cause.

Increased heart
palpitations, fainting,

nausea, vomiting,
headaches, paralysis, or

numbness, or loss of
speech or hearing.

It is a lot like mass
hysteria but they won't be

feigning those symptoms,
they'll be real.

But they're will be no
cause biologically or

neurologically even.

SHATNER: The disorder's
frightening symptoms arise

from a surprising source:
the power of suggestion.

MELISSA SEXTON: If they
see other people develop

symptoms such as rashes or
headaches or nausea, then

that might trigger a
response that mimics those

symptoms and so it
spreads, it becomes

contagious in that
kind of a way.

Much like a yawn.

If I were to yawn
and you yawned.

SHATNER: In Dr Sexton's
view, it makes sense the

disorder would take
hold in a trauma unit.

MELISSA SEXTON: If
you've ever worked in an

emergency room, you know
that you have to operate

on adrenaline
a lot of times.

Everything's heightened.

And if there's an
unexplained, noxious odour

and someone faints because
of the odour, it seemed

like it was a ripe
situation for conversion

disorder to occur.

SHATNER: Did
the ER staff succumb to
a case of mass hysteria?

Can people be sickened by a
toxin that's only in their
minds?

Or was it something else?

MICHAEL SHAW: It has been
used in the past as a

chemical warfare agent.

SHATNER: ER staff at a
California hospital fall

gravely ill after
treating a patient.

Did Gloria Ramirez
have toxic blood?

Biochemist Michael Shaw
thinks the incident was

caused by something
extraordinary.

MICHAEL SHAW: I believe
what happened to the

people in the ER was they
were exposed to

a toxic compound.

It has been used in the past
as a chemical warfare agent.

SHATNER: Specifically, a
highly toxic nerve gas

known as Dimethyl Sulfate.

MICHAEL SHAW: The symptoms
experienced by the people

in the ER very closely
mirror the textbook

symptoms that are listed
for Dimethyl Sulfate.

Tearing of eyes,
respiratory symptoms,

difficulty in breathing,
convulsions, loss of

muscular control and at
high enough exposure death.

SHATNER: The gas is
so toxic, even minute

quantities are lethal.

MICHAEL SHAW: Dimethyl
Sulfate carries what's

called uh IDLH or
immediate danger to life

and health of seven parts
per million, which is not

a very high concentration.

SHATNER: How did a deadly
nerve gas get

into a hospital ER?

Remarkably - for once - it has
nothing to do with a CIA plot.

MICHAEL SHAW: Dimethyl
Sulfate was actually

produced in the body
of the patient Gloria

Ramirez, hence the
name "The Toxic Lady".

William Shatner: Now let's
just wait a second here -

what did he say again?

MICHAEL SHAW: Dimethyl
Sulfate that was actually

produced in the body
of the patient Gloria Ramirez.

William Shatner: Right
that's what I thought he said.

Now this story is getting
too weird - or what.

This guy is trying to tell
us that Gloria had somehow

become a chemical
warfare factory.

How the heck does a human
body produce a lethal toxic gas?

I can't imagine how
that's possible...

SHATNER: Shaw says the answer
lies inside Gloria herself.

MICHAEL SHAW: The evidence
came from a lot of work

that was done at
Lawrence Livermore Labs.

They found metabolites
in her body that could

produce the Dimethyl
Sulfate toxic compound.

SHATNER: Can a human body
create its own lethal nerve gas?

How? The key is a home remedy
Gloria was using.

It's called D.M.S.O.

MICHAEL SHAW: Gloria
Ramirez was using DMSO

in very large amounts.

DMSO has been used for
many years as a topical

medication rubbed on
the area of the body to

relieve pain in such
things as arthritis.

SHATNER: Gloria needed DMSO to
help her cope with cancer.

MICHAEL SHAW: It is said
that people that use a lot

of it end up smelling like
garlic, and not in a good way.

The natural metabolic
product in the body of

anybody using DMSO -
rubbing on themselves is

Dimethyl Sulfone.

SHATNER: On its own,
dimethyl sulfone in

Gloria's bloodstream
was harmless.

But it underwent another,
more dangerous transformation.

MICHAEL SHAW: There are
many strange things that

can happen in a
human body in an ER.

There was a lot of
oxygen used, there was

electricity used for a
defibrillation of the patient.

So now, you're catalyzing
a very unlikely chemical

reaction to the toxic
compound Dimethyl Sulfate.

SHATNER: Shaw is convinced
it was this combination

that turned innocent
muscle rub

into deadly nerve gas.

MICHAEL SHAW: In the act
of withdrawing the blood

there seemed to be enough
Dimethyl Sulfate vapor

coming off this blood
sample to produce these effects.

Fortunately, not enough
present to kill the people

but enough present
to get them sick.

SHATNER: Did Gloria's
blood produce a deadly toxin?

Was it the product of a
bizarre medical fluke?

Or were there other - even
stranger - chemicals in

the ER that day?

SHATNER: Susan Goldsmith
is an investigative journalist.

SUSAN GOLDSMITH: The
paramedics that took

Gloria Ramirez to hospital
gave her an IV and nobody

became ill in
that ambulance.

And so the theory that
somehow she was fuming,

she was toxic, doesn't
hold up when you actually

look at the evidence.

SHATNER: She believes the
explanation has nothing to

do with nerve gas.

SUSAN GOLDSMITH: The
symptoms that the people

in the emergency room
experienced that night -

many of them were totally
consistent with being

exposed to meth chemicals.

The chemicals that are
used in the manufacturing

of meth are highly toxic.

Somebody had a meth lab
inside that hospital and

they were using the IV
bags to transport the

chemicals, and one of them
ended up in the

emergency room that night.

SHATNER: A
secret meth lab?

In an urban
California hospital?

It's not as unlikely as it
sounds, according to Goldsmith.

At the time, the area was
the meth capital of the world.

SUSAN GOLDSMITH: Meth
labs had been found in a

preschool or a daycare
center and in a lot of

other places
throughout the county.

A hospital is a very
logical place for meth

chemicals to be
manufactured because

there's a lot of chemicals
around, there's a lot of

smells, people know how to
deal with different

kinds of chemicals.

SHATNER: Goldsmith's
theory even explains

Gloria's strange odour.

SUSAN GOLDSMITH: The fumes
and smells associated with

meth labs are ammonia-like
odors and sewer-like odors.

And there had been several
reports at this hospital

prior to the Gloria
Ramirez incident of

patients becoming sick and
reporting ammonia-like

odors and
sewer-like odors.

SHATNER: But how did
Gloria come into contact

with the chemicals?

Goldsmith thinks one of
the IV bags being used to

smuggle them was hooked up
to Gloria - by accident.

SUSAN GOLDSMITH: So they
put in an IV bag and

someone smelled ammonia
like fumes and very

quickly people became quite
ill and the ER was evacuated.

SHATNER: But if this was
the cause of the trauma

team's collapse, why
didn't anything turn up in

the investigation?

SUSAN GOLDSMITH: The
records showed that they

disposed of all of
Gloria Ramirez's blood.

Hospital officials were
facing a lot of liability.

Maybe the meth lab
operators made sure that

all the evidence
went away.

SHATNER: Was the Ramirez
incident a case of mass
hysteria?

Did Gloria's blood
generate a deadly nerve gas?

Or were the ER staff
felled by chemicals

from a secret meth lab?

Whatever the truth, the
diagnosis is definitely...

Weird or What?

SHATNER: In New York, a
man struck by lightning

turns into a
musical genius.

PHYLLIS ATWATER: A
near death experience

profoundly changes the
individual afterward.

William Shatner: The
Moonlight Sonata -

this famous piece by Beethoven
was dedicated to the

student he fell in love
with.... beautiful isn't it?

.... you know I adore
classical music and I just

love the piano... Pity I cant
play it.

Yeah I know - I should
have kept up my lessons -

now it's too late, because
to master an instrument

like this takes a
lifetime - right?

Wrong - you can
do it in a flash.

SHATNER: Albany, New York.
August, 1994.

Orthopedic surgeon Tony
Cicoria is on

the phone to his mother...

when the weather takes
an ominous turn for the worse.

What happens next will
become one of the most

baffling stories in
medical history.

SHATNER: Ingrid Wickelgren
is an editor of

Scientific American Mind.

INGRID WICKELGREN: He was
just about to hang up the

phone when some
clouds came in.

Suddenly he heard
this loud crack.

He saw a flash.

The bolt of lightning hit
Dr. Cicoria in the face.

He was blown backward
about 15 feet or so and he

apparently went into
cardiac arrest.

SHATNER: Tony is
clinically dead, but his

mind is very much alive.

INGRID WICKELGREN: He saw
his own body near him but

apart from him.

And he thought, oh,
I guess I'm dead.

He wasn't upset that he
was dead, instead he sort

of felt at peace.

SHATNER: In an out-of-body
experience, Tony watches a

passerby rush to his aid.

INGRID WICKELGREN: The
body landed right next to

a woman who happened to be
a nurse who

was waiting to use the phone.

That nurse immediately
began performing CPR on him.

SHATNER: Miraculously, she
brings Tony back to life.

INGRID WICKELGREN:
Lightning strikes can be

deadly, so it's not
unreasonable to think he

might have died without
her assistance.

SHATNER: Although
technically dead just

minutes earlier, Tony
now feels fine - he even

declines all further help.

INGRID WICKELGREN: He
refused to go to the

hospital, it's not
totally clear to me why.

Maybe he figured, well,
you're hit with lightning

you're either dead or
you're alive,

he happened to be alive.

Or maybe he just didn't
want to go to

the emergency room.

He'd been through enough.

SHATNER: Amazingly, it
appears Tony has suffered

no ill effects from
the lighting strike.

For a time, his life seems
to return to normal.

INGRID WICKELGREN: He saw
his cardiologist when he

went home and his heart,
actually checked out fine.

SHATNER: But soon after,
Tony becomes aware

of a peculiar change within.

INGRID WICKELGREN: Dr.
Cicoria developed an

incredible
passion for music.

Instead of the old rock
that he preferred - he

suddenly needed to hear
piano music,

classical piano music.

SHATNER: A former football
player, Tony has never

listened to classical
music before in his life.

Now his head is
filled with it.

INGRID WICKELGREN: He ran
out to the store and bought CDs.

And he bought this one CD
of this pianist playing

Chopin and he played it on
his way to work, on his

way home from work, and
then over and over

and over again.

SHATNER: Soon just listening
to music isn't enough.

Tony has an overpowering
desire to play it.

He borrows a
friend's piano.

INGRID WICKELGREN: So he
bought the sheet music for

every piece on that CD
and he starts practicing.

SHATNER: Learning
the piano becomes an obsession.

INGRID WICKELGREN: And he
practices 4-6 hours a day,

he gets up in the morning
at 4 o'clock

and plays for a couple hours.

He gets home, the kids go
to bed, he plays again,

he practices by himself.

The adult brain does
not learn these complex

musical skills very well.

And he was 42 at the time.

Remarkably Dr. Cicoria
became a, an extremely

skilled piano player.

He plays with great
emotion and that reflects

the fact that, you know,
he's developed this

passion for,
for the music.

SHATNER: Tony's obsession
then takes another turn.

Not only can he play music
- he discovers he can write it.

INGRID WICKELGREN: He had
a dream in which he was

playing a piece.

And when he woke up, the
piece was still in his

mind and he realized this
piece had never been

played before, this
is his own music.

He decided he was going to
write it down and compose

that piece of music that
came to him in his dream.

SHATNER: From having no
musical skills at all,

Tony is now creating entire
symphonies - almost at will.

Then, just a few years
after his accident,

Tony is given the chance
to perform in public.

INGRID WICKELGREN: In
2002, Dr. Cicoria debuted

his new found interest in piano
in front of an audience.

He must have been really
nervous, but excited and

he played with great
emotion, it got great reviews.

SHATNER: It's an
achievement that still

mystifies both scientists
and music critics alike.

INGRID WICKELGREN:
Becoming a professional

pianist is incredibly
difficult.

The idea that people would
come and listen to someone

who by all rights should
be an amateur is,

is remarkable.

William Shatner: You
know this story is truly

amazing - even miraculous.

One day you're just a
normal guy and then, boom!

Everything changes.

Where did Tony's
extraordinary talent

suddenly come from?

Surely the lightning had
something to do with it.

In fact many survivors of
lightning strikes claim

remarkable changes in
their lives occur

after the event.

I want to see if
they're right.

But don't try
this at home.

Funny - except for a need
to lift my leg I don't

feel any different.

SHATNER: Where did Tony
Cicoria's extraordinary

talent come from?

Can lightning turn someone
into a musical genius?

Phyllis Atwater has been
researching near-death

experiences for
over 30 years.

She thinks Cicoria's
newfound musical talent

was triggered by his
brush with death.

PHYLLIS ATWATER: A near
death experience is an

intense awareness, sense,
or experience of other

worldliness, that happens
at the edge of death that

profoundly changes the
individual afterward.

SHATNER: But how can
Atwater be so sure?

First hand experience.

PHYLLIS ATWATER: I died
three times in 1977

in three months.

They thought maybe it
might have been heart attacks.

I reached this realm where
we in research call the

realm of all knowing.

Where all the puzzle
pieces of life are

revealed, all your
questions are answered.

L et me just say that
yes it changed my life.

SHATNER: Atwater believes
these changes are

not just psychological.

PHYLLIS ATWATER: Near
death experiences changes

body clock with most
people, changes brain

dominance with most
people, changes brain

structure and function
with most people.

There's a pattern of
changes in the nervous

system, the digestive
system, and skin sensitivity.

SHATNER: Did a lighting
strike turn Tony Cicoria

into a musical virtuoso?

PHYLLIS ATWATER: It opens
up the creative doors.

You are inspired.

You want to create things,
you want to do things.

It's almost as if you are
suddenly kissed by the muses.

All that creativity that
is existent within all of

us, suddenly bubbles up
and you want to express

it, you want to share it,
and many times

it can become obsessive.

SHATNER: Did Tony Cicoria
become a modern day Mozart

thanks to a near
death experience?

Was his mind altered
in ways beyond our

comprehension?

Or did something even
more remarkable happen?

SUSAN SHUMSKY: Things make
a lot of sense when you

believe in reincarnation.

SHATNER: A bolt of
lighting turns a man into

a musical genius.

Does a near death experience
account for his talent?

Spiritualist Dr. Susan Shumsky
doesn't see it that way.

SUSAN SHUMSKY: There's no
such thing as having a

talent given to you
out of the blue.

SHATNER: Shumsky believes
Tony's newfound skills

came from his
very distant past.

SUSAN SHUMSKY: You know,
there's a lot of things

that make a lot of sense
when you believe in

reincarnation.

Tony had a dream that he
described him on stage,

playing his own musical
composition as a pianist.

That was not a dream, that
was a past-life memory.

SHATNER: How was Tony able
to recall a memory

from a previous life?

SUSAN SHUMSKY: We develop
many skills lifetime after

lifetime after lifetime
as we reincarnate.

The mind stores all of our
memories, not only from

this life, but from all
previous lifetimes.

And we can tap into that
storehouse and we can

develop talents and
abilities that we have

developed in past lives.

SHATNER: Shumsky's
convinced the lightning

strike allowed Tony's
brain to access more than

just memories - but past
life skills as well.

SUSAN SHUMSKY: Tony was a
composer and a musician in

his past lives.

When Tony had his bolt of
lightning, I believe that

this lit up parts
of his brain.

This awakened something in
himself that he already

had, his natural ability
started to come out.

The skills of music,
composition, playing piano

that he had been
that in past life.

SHATNER: Shumsky says
the bolt out of the blue

steered Tony towards
his true destiny.

SUSAN SHUMSKY: Tony says
that he's a different person.

But I believe that now
Tony is more himself

than he's ever been.

SHATNER: Do we all
have former lives very

different from our own?

And can we harness past
life skills

and use them in the present?

SHATNER: Neuroscientist
Dr. Brent Harris agrees

something profound
happened to Tony Cicoria.

But he doesn't think it
had anything

to do with reincarnation.

BRENT HARRIS: When the
brain gets shocked by a

lightning strike, it's
impossible to know exactly

what's going to happen
because it can have a

severe effect uh, that
causes massive damage to

the brain or it can be
actually fairly mild and,

and cause, no, no
noticeable damage.

SHATNER: However in Tony's
case, Dr. Harris believes

the lightning literally
re-wired his brain.

BRENT HARRIS: An incident
like this is one in a million.

It's possible that the
lightning strike that

affected Dr. Cicoria's
brain altered his frontal

lobe neuro-circuitry,
releasing him to follow a

newfound talent in music.

SHATNER: How is
this possible?

And why music?

BRENT HARRIS: The frontal
lobe helps to control

creativity and our ability
to make decisions about

you know whether we want
to be creative or not.

So when changes happen in
the frontal lobe

we become less inhibited.

The neural-circuitry may
have become changed to

reawaken an innate ability
in him or an ability that

developed during
childhood, that had been

somewhat repressed
for most of his life.

SHATNER: But if Tony's
brain was rewired - why

didn't his new musical
abilities begin

immediately?

BRENT HARRIS: I think that
that probably relates to

um, some recovery time
after the lightning strike

and um, and, the, the
intense uh, training that

he started doing again
immediately during that

time period to uh,
reenergize those specific

areas of the brain that
were important in music.

SHATNER: Did Tony's
brain get re-wired

by a lightning bolt?

Do near-death experiences
alter the way we think and act?

Or can skills from our
past lives be transferred

to the present?

Whatever the answer,
Tony's story is...

Weird or What?

SHATNER: In Tennessee, a
teen cries tears of blood.

CHRIS WARD: This is
a warning from God.

William Shatner: The Virgin
Mary - beautiful isn't she?

You know throughout
history - religious

iconography has been one
of the most powerful

influences on mankind.

Everywhere, symbols of our
faith are represented in

statues, paintings, architecture
- nearly everything.

But there's another side
to these objects - one

that has baffled both
scientists and the church alike.

Over the last century a
new phenomenon has begun

to manifest itself.

A series of statues has
been discovered - that

seem to bleed - a sign
which many say is a

message from a
greater power.

Is it possible?

Most are easily discounted
as hoaxes - but now

there's a new
debate raging.

Why?

Because it's happened
again - but this time it's

not a statue -
it's a human.

SHATNER: Rockwood,
Tennessee. 2009.

Like many other boys his
age, 15-year-old Calvino

Inman is enjoying life
at junior high school.

But one morning in early
May, Calvino's life takes

a bizarre and
frightening turn.

CALVINO INMAN: I was
getting out of the shower,

I was wiping the mirror
because I was about to dry

off, and I looked into the
mirror and I seen my eyes

were bleeding and
I freaked out.

It was streamin' down my
face and running down my cheek.

SHATNER: Calvino has no
other symptoms and has

never had a problem
with his eyes.

CALVINO INMAN: Some of
everything went through my

mind when I
first seen that.

I got nervous. I got scared.

I thought maybe I was
going to pass away 'cause

I thought I was
going to bleed out.

SHATNER: Horrified, he
rushes downstairs

to his mother, Tammy.

TAMMY INMAN: I said,
"what'd you do?

You scratch yourself?"

Um I'm - I'm not knowin'
exactly what he's talkin' about.

So by the time I get up
close to him I'm seeing

that the blood is
coming down both eyes.

So I panic. He's scared. I'm
terrified.

SHATNER: She races
him to the hospital.

But by the time they get
to the ER,

the bleeding has stopped.

CALVINO INMAN: When I
got to the hospital they

pretty much act as if
we were lying about everything.

TAMMY INMAN: They done a
eye exam on him, couldn't

find no traces of blood.

So they looked at us and
like: "Okay well if it

happens again, come back."

SHATNER: Calvino doesn't
have to wait long.

The next day, the
tears of blood return.

TAMMY INMAN: Very next
day, here we go flyin'

right back up there.

SHATNER: This time, they
reach the hospital in time

for the doctors to
witness the phenomenon.

TAMMY INMAN: The doctor start
suckin' blood out of his eyes.

So they was testing it.

SHATNER: But the
tests reveal nothing.

TAMMY INMAN: Couple a
weeks went by, the only

thing we got out of it was
you know, he still has

twenty-twenty vision
but uh it's his blood.

We just don't know
where it's coming from.

Yes my son's normal, but
there's nothing normal

about bleeding
from the eyes.

SHATNER: Calvino's
condition gets worse.

He begins crying
blood - for hours.

TAMMY INMAN: The longest
one that I can remember I

think was about two and a
half, almost three hours.

SHATNER: Calvino's strange
affliction also starts to

impact his personal life.

CALVINO INMAN: There was
people they'd just come up

and stare at me, wouldn't
say not one word to me,

they'd stare at me
and then walk away.

People were getting
ignorant and they were

talking about how they
didn't really want me

going to their school.

People were telling me
that I was possessed and

they were just saying all
kinds of crazy stuff.

TAMMY INMAN: He was riding
on his moped one day and

literally a woman in a
SUV ran him off the road.

CALVINO INMAN: I missed
almost all of school

because of all
this stuff going.

The times that I was
there, there was drama and

I didn't really
want to be there.

And then the times that I
wasn't there, there was

drama and I still didn't
want to be there.

It got to the point where
I just wanted to be at

home and lay
in bed all day.

SHATNER: Calvino is so
traumatized, he becomes a
recluse.

And then the condition
begins to spread.

CALVINO INMAN: When it
came out of my mouth that

- that was a lot of blood.

And it wasn't like it was coming
out of my tongue or nothin'.

It's like I was vomiting
out blood - pure blood.

SHATNER: Today, doctors
still don't have a cause -

or a cure - for Calvino's
mysterious bleeding.

CALVINO INMAN: The blood
comes from my eyes, nose,

and my mouth but
it comes randomly.

You never know.

Honestly, I - I have no
clue on what happened -

what I could've done to
make this happen to me.

TAMMY INMAN: I still keep
the faith that one day

that somebody's gonna eventually
have an answer for this.

CALVINO INMAN: I pray that
it'll stop, and I have

people who pray for
me that it will stop.

SHATNER: Why does an
otherwise healthy

teen cry tears of blood?

SHATNER: Demonologist and
professional exorcist

Chris Ward thinks the
answer is obvious.

CHRIS WARD: I believe that
Calvino's tears could be

the very first stage
of a possession.

SHATNER: Demonic
possession - having your

soul taken over
by an evil spirit.

Or even the devil himself.

It's a truly
terrifying prospect.

Do these malevolent
beings actually exist?

CHRIS WARD: The
devil is real.

In fact there are devils,
there are demons there

are curses, there
are hex's spells.

They're all very real
and they can completely

destroy your life.

SHATNER: But how do
possessions happen?

CHRIS WARD: Demons enter through
traumatic experiences.

It can also happen through
generational curses.

SHATNER: With their spirit
weakened by some traumatic

event, Ward believes the
victim's soul becomes ripe

for demonic picking.

CHRIS WARD: Possession to
me is like

a personality hijacking.

That there are disembodied
spirits that actually

thirst for a body and
will want to come in and

completely bully out your
personality

and take over your body.

So it's like a hijacking.

SHATNER: Is a demon trying
to take over Calvino Inman?

Chris Ward also believes
there might be another

force at work inside him - but
it's a little more friendly.

CHRIS WARD: It's a
possibility that this is a

warning from God.

Often times in the Old
Testament, whenever God

had to correct a nation or
correct a people, he often

sent a prophet
or a warning.

I believe it's a good
possibility God is using

Calvino to give a
message to people.

SHATNER: Is a battle
between good and evil

raging inside Calvino?

Chris Ward thinks it's
a possibility we must consider.

CHRIS WARD: I believe that
God is trying to reach out

to us and give us a chance
to repent, and return to a

world where we do have
accountability

towards our fellow man.

SHATNER: Is Calvino Inman
possessed by a demon?

Are his tears of blood
a warning

of impending apocalypse?

Or is there something even
more bizarre at work?

JOHN BROWNING: Calvino's
tears of blood could

indicate that
he's a vampire.

SHATNER: A Tennessee
teenager cries tears of

blood, seemingly
without a cause.

Is he possessed by demonic
spirits - or a messenger

from God?

American Studies PhD
student John Browning

is a monster expert.

He asks us to consider a
different explanation.

JOHN BROWNING: In my
opinion, Calvino's tears

of blood could indicate
that he's a vampire.

He exhibits a major
feature that we see in the

modern day vampire.

By crying tears of blood,
we see a lot of what's

going on in "True Blood"
or what we read in

"Interview With
A Vampire".

SHATNER: Vampires are
the stuff of nightmares.

Do they really exist?

JOHN BROWNING: My
ethnographic study is

people who live in New
Orleans who

self-identify as vampire.

And what that means is
that they consume human blood.

For them it's more or less
something that they have to do.

If they don't take the
blood then they

will begin to feel weak.

Some of them have tried
to test themselves by not

doing it and wound up
putting themselves

in the hospital.

SHATNER: So are Calvino's
tears of blood a sign that

he's turning into a
creature of the night?

JOHN BROWNING: Crying
tears of blood hearkens

back to cases in the 16,
1700s in Europe, where

villagers were exhuming
bodies of people who were

suspected of
being vampires.

There would be blood
coming from the mouth,

eyes, nose of the corpse,
which they just assumed

was the blood of the
victims the vampire had

been feeding on.

And especially prominent
was the blood coming from

the eye area.

SHATNER: But Browning
cautions us not to go

running for our crucifixes
and wooden stakes

- just yet.

Tears of blood alone don't
make Calvino a vampire.

JOHN BROWNING: If Calvino
were a vampire, he would

need to exude more than
just blood from his eyes.

There would be other
characteristics.

For example, you might
see some of Calvino's

relatives or neighbours
complaining at night that

they see visions
of Calvino.

That he visits them
in their dreams.

That they see him popping
up in their bedrooms at night.

And they would have to
complain of lack of

energy, and in
some cases, blood.

SHATNER: For Browning,
only time will tell if

Calvino is
becoming a vampire.

But he has a
stark warning.

JOHN BROWNING: If Calvino
is becoming a vampire,

I don't think he can
stop the process.

William Shatner: So this
young, innocent boy

Calvino is a vampire? I mean
come on!

I know vampires are all
the rage at the moment but

do they really expect us
to believe that these

blood sucking monsters
really exist?

Just in case.

SHATNER: Are Calvino
Inman's bloody tears a

sign that he is
becoming a vampire?

Ophthalmologist Dr. Allan
Slomovic doesn't see the

supernatural in
Calvino's tears.

But he finds them
no less amazing.

ALLAN SLOMOVIC: This is
a very rare condition.

I think there may be five
articles in all of the

peer-reviewed journals
that review this.

I've been doing
this for 26 years.

I think I've seen one
other, um, case of haemolacria.

Haemolacria just means
blood in the tears.

SHATNER: For Dr. Slomovic,
haemolacria is just the

beginning of this
medical mystery.

ALLAN SLOMOVIC: Blood
showing up from anywhere

in the body is usually a
ominous sign, although it

can be due to many things.

It's a symptom,
it's not a disease.

SHATNER: But a
symptom of what?

ALLAN SLOMOVIC: There's a
spectrum of diseases that

will cause haemolacria.

There's infection, there's
inflammation, there's

certain bleeding
disorders.

But there are other more
worrisome conditions such

as a tumor, which could
block the natural flow of

the tears out of the eye.

The good side of it is, I
don't think he's losing

enough blood that it
would affect his overall

well-being.

SHATNER: Although
confident there's a

scientific explanation
for Calvino's condition,

Dr. Slomovic admits
it may never be found.

ALLAN SLOMOVIC: I know
that he's had

CAT scans and MRIs.

It's just one of these
unusual circumstances that

we cannot explain.

SHATNER: Is Calvino
Inman a medical enigma?

Are tears of blood a sign
of possession by a higher

- or diabolical - power?

Or is this proof
that vampires exist?

Weird...or What?

SHATNER: So there we have
it, three stories of

medical mysteries...

A woman becomes so toxic
she sickens dozens of people.

Did her body
produce nerve gas?

Lightning turns a man
into a musical prodigy.

Can trauma trigger
hidden talents?

And a young man sheds
tears of blood.

Is it a sign of
impending Armageddon?

You decide.

William Shatner: Join me
next time for more stories

that will undoubtedly
be weird or what?