Original subtitles

WILDMAN: An alien spacecraft in the skies over Arizona.

I thought to myself, "If I don’t get a picture of this,

no one’s going to believe it."

It was totally mysterious.

♪

WILDMAN: A monstrous beast stalks the rivers of Ohio.

All that was left behind were marks from the creature.

WILDMAN: And P. T. Barnum’s most astonishing spectacle.

COX: It was so amazing that people started calling it

one of the Wonders of the World.

[ Audience gasps ]

WILDMAN: But first, this spacesuit recalls three American heroes

and the terrifying close encounter

that even they could not explain.

REIDY: This is the story about a team of astronauts

that might have discovered proof of alien life.

WILDMAN: Amazing mysteries,

bizarre phenomena,

and chilling secrets.

I’m Don Wildman.

Join me on a journey beyond the unknown.

♪

May 25, 1961.

In a special address to Congress and the nation,

U. S. President John F. Kennedy issues a bold challenge.

KENNEDY: I believe that this nation should commit itself

to landing a man on the moon

and returning him safely to the Earth.

WILDMAN: To fulfill the president’s promise,

NASA kicks its space program into high gear.

Over the next nine years,

the U. S. takes valiant steps into the final frontier,

with the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo missions

bringing it ever closer to its goal.

[ Engine roaring ]

♪

And in 1969, it prepares for the penultimate mission

before the actual trip to the moon.

Its name ‐‐ Apollo 10.

Apollo 10 was like a dress rehearsal

for the actual moon landing.

The plan was to fly to the moon, where the lunar module

would separate from the command module,

and both would orbit the moon together.

They planned to do every single step

except for the actual landing on the moon.

♪

WILDMAN: On May 18th...

MAN ON RADIO: Engines on five, four, three...

WILDMAN: ...Apollo 10 blasts off from Cape Kennedy in Florida.

On board are astronauts

Thomas Stafford, John Young, and Eugene Cernan.

REIDY: All three of these men were very experienced astronauts

with many space flights under their belt.

[ Engine roaring ]

♪

WILDMAN: 100 hours into the mission,

Apollo 10 enters the moon’s orbit.

Stafford and Cernan climb into the lunar module.

MAN ON RADIO: Four, three, two, one ‐‐ fire.

[ Radio beeps ]

WILDMAN: Then the spacecraft successfully disconnects

from the command module

and descends to less than 50,000 feet above the moon’s surface.

As both the lunar and command modules continue to orbit,

the astronauts make history.

They become the first humans to see the far side of the moon.

♪

REIDY: The Earth and the moon rotate at the same rate,

so half of the moon is always facing away from us,

so we can’t see it.

It was littered with huge craters, extinct volcanoes,

and big planes that looked like dried‐up oceans.

WILDMAN: But there’s no time for celebration.

The most harrowing part of their mission has just begun.

With both spacecrafts on the far side of the moon,

none of the astronauts are able to communicate

with mission control in Houston.

REIDY: The moon is in between the astronauts and the Earth,

so radio signals can’t pass back and forth.

WILDMAN: And that’s when something terrifying happens.

[ Radio distortion ]

In the lunar module, Stafford and Cernan hear

an eerie, high‐pitched noise come in over their radio.

The sound is like a strange, spooky whistling sound.

[ Static ]

[ Eerie whistling ]

WILDMAN: Cernan and Stafford report what they hear

to Young in the command module.

Young says he, too, can hear the unnerving signal.

REIDY: They were totally baffled by this sound.

They were hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth.

It should have been totally silent.

WILDMAN: As the sound persists, Young, Stafford, and Cernan

are forced to consider an extraordinary possibility.

This could be some form of alien communication.

Could there be something or someone out there

broadcasting this signal to them?

♪

WILDMAN: Just as suddenly as it began, the noise ends.

Soon after, the lunar lander returns

and docks with the command module,

reuniting Stafford and Cernan with Young.

The three astronauts have no explanation for what they heard.

REIDY: You can see in the footage

that they’re really freaked out by this noise.

WILDMAN: On May 26th, after eight days in space,

Apollo 10 splashes down in the Pacific Ocean.

REIDY: The Apollo 10 mission was a complete success.

They were able to pass over the spot

where they would land on the next mission.

♪

WILDMAN: Upon returning to NASA headquarters in Houston,

the astronauts hand the recordings over

to NASA technicians for analysis.

The results offer a simple explanation.

It wasn’t an alien transmission,

but feedback between the lunar and command modules.

REIDY: NASA scientists concluded that this sound

was simply their radios interfering with each other.

WILDMAN: But some dispute this conclusion and contend

that Thomas Stafford, John Young, and Eugene Cernan

could have easily identified such a noise as feedback.

NASA astronauts know every square inch of their equipment.

Surely they would have known

if this was just radio interference.

WILDMAN: Skeptics continue to argue that the bizarre sound

was indeed an alien radio transmission.

REIDY: There are a lot of competing theories

about these audio recordings, and they remain a mystery.

♪

WILDMAN: Today, John Young’s spacesuit from the Apollo 10 mission

remains on display at the Museum of Flight

in Seattle, Washington.

It recalls the cosmic cacophony on the dark side of the moon.

♪

A 100‐square‐foot miniature circus

handcrafted by a dentist using tools from his practice,

a pair of clown shoes from the 1940s,

and a top hat once worn by a ringmaster

are just a few of the whimsical items on display

at the Massillon Museum in Ohio.

♪

But among the more than 1,400 circus‐related artifacts

is a small collection

connected to the Greatest Showman on Earth.

COX: On one of the artifacts,

there is an image of three very festive figures.

Another one is a photographic image of a man wearing a suit.

There’s a long piece of dark wood used for walking.

And the final artifact is a very small piece of paper.

On the top of it are the words "Barnum and Bailey."

♪

WILDMAN: These mementos of legendary entertainer P. T. Barnum recall

one of his most colossal and cryptic spectacles.

[ Audience gasps ]

COX: This is a story of a mammoth mystery

that captivated the nation.

♪

WILDMAN: It’s 1877.

America’s most popular entertainer is P. T. Barnum.

His traveling stage show delights audiences

with rare animals, odd curiosities,

and bizarre wonders from around the world.

COX: P. T. Barnum had his hand kind of on the pulse

of what people wanted to see and what people found interesting.

♪

WILDMAN: But he’s about to unveil his most astonishing exhibit yet.

This was unlike anything anybody had seen before.

WILDMAN: The display purports to show the fossilized remains

of a giant human‐like creature.

It’s more than seven feet tall

and said to weigh a whopping 450 pounds.

The figure has a large, oval‐shaped head.

Its arms appear to be abnormally long,

extending down to the knees.

And that’s not all.

What was perhaps the most striking and unbelievable

was that it appeared to have a tail

at the bottom of the backbone

and it was about two inches long.

WILDMAN: Barnum calls the bizarre being the Solid Muldoon,

named after a popular Irish ballad

that tells of an extraordinarily strong man.

The showman claims he bought it from a Colorado farmer

who discovered it buried in a field.

♪

COX: P. T. Barnum bought it for $20,000,

which in today’s money is $370,000.

WILDMAN: The Muldoon is an instant hit.

People from all over wanted to see

what this giant humanoid figure was.

It was so amazing that people started calling it

one of the Wonders of the World.

[ Audience gasps ]

WILDMAN: But as the crowds grow,

so do the questions about the Muldoon’s origins.

What exactly is this mysterious figure?

COX: Theories abound about what this actually was.

Some people thought it could have been

an ancient form of human that was like a giant species.

Other people thought it might have been like a link

between apes and the early humans.

WILDMAN: But the truth will turn out to be stranger

than anyone could have possibly imagined.

♪

In January 1878, a sculptor named E. J. Cox

comes forward with a shocking confession.

E. J. Cox revealed to the New‐York Daily Tribune

that he knew the origin of the Solid Muldoon.

It was no prehistoric artifact.

It was a hoax.

♪

WILDMAN: According to Cox,

he cooked up a scheme to fabricate the massive body

with none other than P. T. Barnum.

COX: Barnum was looking for another big attraction,

and that’s how he came up with the idea for a Solid Muldoon.

♪

WILDMAN: But crafting the colossal creature was no small feat.

Cox started with an actual human skeleton.

Then he fleshed it out with a noxious mixture

of plaster, bone dust, and ground meat.

COX: This was pretty gross.

These people had to be really dedicated to this hoax

to see it through to the end.

WILDMAN: When the figure was ready,

the sculptor baked it in a kiln for several days.

But the deception didn’t end there.

Once the Muldoon was complete,

Barnum had it buried in a field in Colorado,

then hired a farmer to feign digging it up.

♪

The ruse was a success, netting Barnum a pretty penny.

But Cox never received his payout for the scam.

So to take revenge on the unscrupulous showman,

he exposed the Solid Muldoon for the fake that it was.

With the truth revealed,

the public quickly loses interest in the Solid Muldoon.

But that doesn’t stop the iconic showman

from finding new ways to draw in the crowds.

P. T. Barnum is purported to have said that

"A sucker is born every minute."

He was able to capitalize on that

and make a very lucrative career from it.

♪

WILDMAN: Today, these items related to P. T. Barnum

are held by the Massillon Museum in Ohio.

They recall how the World’s Greatest Showman

pulled off a hoax of gigantic proportions.

♪

Located in St. Augustine, Florida,

is an institution that unveils the secrets of the unknown ‐‐

Wolf’s Museum of Mystery.

♪

Here, among the creepy death masks

and menacing monsters,

is a small, ornate object.

It’s believed to be an ancient clue to a puzzle

that, if solved, could rewrite the whole of human history.

♪

March 13, 1997 ‐‐ Phoenix, Arizona.

It’s 10:30 p. m., and one of the city’s most esteemed physicians,

Dr. Lynne B. Kitei, is getting ready for bed.

KITEI: My husband and I were just settling into bed,

and we have a beautiful view of the city skyline.

WILDMAN: But just as the couple is turning in,

they spot something strange out the window ‐‐

a series of bright lights hovering in the distance.

KITEI: Balls of light in a giant, mile‐wide "V,"

equidistant from each other.

And the lights on whatever this phenomenon was,

it seemed to be attached to something.

WILDMAN: Intrigued, Dr. Kitei grabs her camcorder and rushes outside.

I thought to myself, "If I don’t get a picture of this,

no one’s going to believe it."

It was totally mysterious.

WILDMAN: For the next two hours, Dr. Kitei records

the bizarre objects as they hover in the night sky.

[ Eerie music plays ]

Then they vanish without a trace.

And she was not the only person to witness the glowing orbs.

Hundreds of other residents across Arizona

also report seeing the phenomena.

The strange celestial event

becomes known as the Phoenix Lights.

But what caused these bizarre illuminations is a mystery.

Everyone was curious.

Why isn’t there an explanation?

WILDMAN: Some believe the lights

were simply U. S. Air Force fighter jets

flying in formation.

But none of the eyewitnesses reported hearing

the telltale roar of the plane’s engines.

KITEI: If it was any other conventional aircraft,

you would hear them ‐‐ even stealth aircraft.

[ Engine roars ]

♪

WILDMAN: Then, just as the mystery appears to deepen,

the military releases a statement

offering an explanation.

The lights were nothing more than flares.

KITEI: They said the Air National Guard was in town

sending off flares and tactical maneuvers.

That must be what some people saw.

♪

WILDMAN: But this explanation doesn’t sit well with Dr. Kitei.

KITEI: Flares drift and drop with the wind in minutes

and have huge smoke trails illuminated by the flare itself.

How does a mile‐wide "V" formation of flares

traverse the entire state for hours?

♪

WILDMAN: Dissatisfied with the military’s claims,

Dr. Kitei puts forward a theory of her own.

She believes the lights were, in fact...

an alien spacecraft.

KITEI: It was one solid object

that was hovering right over the center of Phoenix.

Incredible, advanced technology, to be sure.

♪

WILDMAN: As it turns out,

the key to unlocking this mysterious event

may lie in the distant past.

There’s a lot more to this story.

♪

WILDMAN: On March 13, 1997, a spectacular array of lights

appears in the night skies of Phoenix, Arizona.

The military claims they were simply distress flares,

but not everyone agrees.

Some believe that an explanation

for the Phoenix lights can be found

in the jungles of South America.

A thousand years ago,

an ancient culture called the Quimbaya were known

for molding small, intricate gold figurines.

Today, a replica of one of these sculptures is on display

at Wolf’s Museum of Mystery in St. Augustine, Florida.

And according to the director, Wolfgang von Mertz,

the objects have an unusual appearance.

They have an upright tail fin, and the wings are on the bottom.

It looks like a jet plane.

I mean, it’s unmistakable, the resemblance.

♪

WILDMAN: But these effigies were carved

millennia before the Wright Brothers’

historic first flight.

Some say the sculpture may be a bird.

Others think it’s an insect.

VON MERTZ: But no bird in the world has an upright tail fin.

And there’s no insects that have wings on the bottom.

They’re all on the top.

♪

WILDMAN: So perhaps the only explanation

is that they actually represent visitors from another world.

[ Whoosh ]

VON MERTZ: And could be that aliens existed,

and these early people

were mimicking what they saw in the skies.

WILDMAN: And these same extraterrestrial travelers

may have appeared on Earth many times,

including in Phoenix in 1997.

[ Whirring ]

VON MERTZ: Aliens probably have been here,

and they’re probably going to keep coming.

♪

WILDMAN: This detailed diorama tells of a harrowing encounter

with beings from beyond the stars.

This is a story of aliens and abductions.

[ Dramatic music plays ]

♪

WILDMAN: The tale begins in September 1969

in Sheffield, Massachusetts.

One night, 6‐year‐old Matt Reed and his family

are driving home from an outing,

when suddenly, everyone in the car

is overcome with a strange feeling.

GONYO: The family felt this tingling sensation.

The pressure all around them feels like it drops.

WILDMAN: Then, according to the family,

they are overcome by a blinding light.

When it fades, young Matt and his parents

find they are no longer in their car.

GONYO: The next thing the family realized,

they were in some sort of giant hangar‐like construction.

And terrifyingly, these giant ant‐like creatures

that herd them into cages.

WILDMAN: But before anyone can make sense of what’s happening,

the horrifying ordeal is suddenly over.

And then [Snaps fingers] the next thing Matt knew,

the family was now outside of the station wagon.

♪

WILDMAN: In the aftermath, the Reeds tell their story

to friends and neighbors.

As it turns out, they’re not alone.

GONYO: As that was happening to the Reed family,

the local police station was receiving over 40 reports

of sightings of a strange, yellow ball of light.

♪

WILDMAN: And the story doesn’t end there.

In 2009, Matt Reed, now 46 years old,

has another nightmare encounter.

On the night of March 30th,

he’s driving along a deserted road near Brownsburg, Indiana.

GONYO: So, it was a typical Saturday night.

He had been out at the movies with friends.

But what comes next is anything but a typical Saturday night.

WILDMAN: Just as before,

Reed is overcome by an intense glare.

♪

And when he regains his senses,

he again finds himself in a completely new location.

GONYO: He is no longer driving,

his boots are caked in mud,

blood is running from his nose,

and he has no idea how he got there

or how long he’s been there.

WILDMAN: But when he gets back into his car,

the clock says it’s past midnight.

That’s about an hour and a half of time he can’t account for.

WILDMAN: So where did he go for so long?

For Reed, there’s only one answer ‐‐

he’s been abducted by aliens again.

GONYO: Matt Reed’s story was strange,

and it was about to get stranger.

WILDMAN: So what’s the truth behind these two close encounters?

♪

WILDMAN: It’s 2009.

An Indiana man named Matt Reed is plagued

by an ominous, recurring event.

It only starts with a blinding light,

and then he wakes up in some strange location

with no recollection of how he got there.

Reed believes he’s been abducted by aliens.

♪

Searching for answers, Reed publishes an account

of his experiences online.

Initially, his story is viewed with skepticism.

Some detractors even suggest a more down‐to‐earth explanation.

It’s called sleep paralysis.

Sleep paralysis is a remarkably common phenomenon.

You’ll have these feelings of paralysis,

feelings of levitation, visions of strange creatures,

strange sounds, lights, smells.

According to this theory, Matt fell asleep at the wheel,

went into a sleep paralysis state.

WILDMAN: But Reed doesn’t buy it.

He points out that he has no history

of this debilitating condition.

And besides, it fails to explain how his entire family

experienced the same phenomenon in 1969.

GONYO: Matt Reed knew what happened to him.

He wanted validation for that.

WILDMAN: For help,

Reed contacts an online community of alien enthusiasts

called the Mutual UFO Network, or MUFON.

MUFON is the largest and oldest

civilian investigative organization

for UFO encounters in the United States.

WILDMAN: Intrigued by Reed’s accounts, the organization

looks into his claims.

♪

Hoping to find some physical evidence

of the alleged abductions,

the investigators inspect the clothes Reed wore

that fateful night in Indiana.

They even examined his car top to bottom.

It’s then that they uncover a stunning clue.

GONYO: What they found was it was almost like

it had its own magnetic field.

Compasses were going crazy.

♪

WILDMAN: It could be a sign that Reed is telling the truth.

The only way for the car to have such a strong magnetic field

is if it came into contact

with some sort of powerful electromagnetic force ‐‐

one that perhaps came from a spaceship.

Maybe he had actually been abducted.

♪

WILDMAN: Although no definitive proof is ever found,

Reed’s story captivates UFO enthusiasts the world over.

This alien encounter can’t be easily explained away.

♪

WILDMAN: Today, this diorama

capturing Matt Reed’s terrifying 1969 experience

can be found at the UFO and Paranormal Museum

in Pine Bush, New York.

It recalls the man who may have been kidnapped

by extraterrestrials more than once.

This running shirt and race medal

are linked to a tale of terror

that seems ripped from the pages of science fiction.

This is the story of a creepy creature

that caused a splash in an Ohio town.

♪

WILDMAN: The legend begins on the evening of May 25, 1955,

in Loveland, Ohio.

Businessman Jerome Clark is driving

on a dark and desolate stretch of road

that runs next to the Little Miami River.

Suddenly, something flashes in his headlights,

and he slams on the brakes.

Peering through the windshield, he sees a strange creature

standing in the middle of the pavement.

The beast has a huge frog‐like face.

It was 60 pounds, about 4 feet tall with scaly skin.

It appeared to be half man and half reptile.

WILDMAN: And it’s staring right at him.

Then it jerks its arms into the air.

Clark is terrified. He hits the gas and speeds away.

♪

Just a few months later,

a woman named Mrs. Darwin Johnson

is taking a swim in the Ohio River.

As the story goes,

she suddenly feels something grab her knee

and try to pull her under the water.

[ Muffled screaming ]

This was straight out of a horror movie.

WILDMAN: Mrs. Johnson kicks frantically at her attacker.

Eventually, she breaks free.

She swims to shore as fast as she can.

And when she’s safely on the riverbank,

Mrs. Johnson looks down at her leg.

Imprinted on her skin is a blotchy bruise,

shaped just like the palm of a scaly, webbed hand.

All that was left behind were marks from the creature.

WILDMAN: But perhaps the most compelling account

comes from a police officer named Ray Shockey.

Officer Shockey was an honest, trustworthy guy.

People in Loveland liked him, and he was well‐known.

WILDMAN: On the night of March 3, 1972,

Officer Shockey is on a routine patrol of the area.

GRAWL: Officer Shockey was driving.

He came around the corner,

and he saw something in the middle of the road.

WILDMAN: At first, the officer thinks it’s a stray dog.

So he stops the car to see if he can help the poor animal.

But as he approaches,

he realizes it’s not a dog at all.

What he saw was unlike any other creature he’d seen before.

WILDMAN: It’s about 4 feet tall with scaly skin

and a frog‐like face.

But before the officer can pull his gun or make a move,

the monster leaps away, out of sight.

Officer Shockey looked to see where the creature had gone,

but all he saw were scratch marks

along the side of the road.

WILDMAN: As the number of sightings grows,

the mysterious beast is dubbed the Loveland Frogman.

But no one has any idea what it could be.

Residents are left to wonder what bizarre beast

is stalking their sleepy town.

There appeared to be a monster on the loose.

♪

WILDMAN: According to legend, the town of Loveland, Ohio,

is home to a bizarre half human, half amphibian creature.

Its name? The Frogman.

Many wonder if it’s simply a giant lizard.

Some species can grow to be around 4 feet in length,

but there are problems with this suggestion.

The monster was missing one very common reptilian feature ‐‐

a tail.

What’s more, the police officer reported seeing it moving

with great speed on a cold winter night,

and reptiles grow sluggish when temperatures drop.

So perhaps, it’s a descendant of giant frogs

that once preyed on dinosaurs.

This is like something straight out of a science fiction movie.

WILDMAN: But the closest relatives to those huge amphibians

only live in South America.

While the Frogman has never been seen again,

many believe it’s still out there,

and residents have found a unique way to honor it.

They still talk about the Frogman in Loveland today.

They even have a race named after him.

WILDMAN: And today, this commemorative medal

and shirt from the race itself are on display

at the Loveland Museum Center in Loveland, Ohio.

It’s a lasting reminder of a strange beast

that lives forever in the heart of a small town.

♪

Portland, Maine.

This thriving city is home

to an institution dedicated to chronicling

the most mysterious creatures in the world ‐‐

the International Cryptozoology Museum.

On display is a model of the enormous Bigfoot...

[ Creature growls ]

...and a replica of a legendary Wisconsin monster

known as the Beast of Bray Road.

[ Creature growls ]

Tucked among these creatures of the land

is a statue of another bizarre being

that some say stalks the sea.

It weighs about two pounds.

It’s 6 inches high and about 8 inches across.

Its gold and white and blue.

It has a long roll of golden spines along its neck.

♪

WILDMAN: According to museum director Loren Coleman,

this figurine represents

a terrifying monster from the deep.

COLEMAN: This story recalls the vicious beast

that roams the waters of Maine.

♪

WILDMAN: The cold, dark ocean off the coast of New England

hides a chilling secret.

For the past 240 years,

there have been rumors of a mysterious creature

lurking below the surface.

The story begins in 1779,

when naval officer Edward Preble

was aboard his ship just off the coast of Maine.

Peering into the distance,

he claims he spotted something unusual,

a serpent‐like creature with a long neck.

It charged in his direction,

plunging in and out of the water,

Preble was terrified that this creature was gonna attack him.

He shot at it...

[ Gunshot ]

...missing the creature entirely.

But he did scare it so that it took off.

♪

WILDMAN: Throughout the 19th century,

multiple sightings described a beast

with the head the size of a horse

circling ships before sliding back into the murky depths.

This thing was roaming the seas of Maine.

Locals were terrified.

WILDMAN: But perhaps the most horrifying encounter of all

occurred in the early hours of June 5, 1958.

Out on the bay is one of the area’s

most experienced fishermen ‐‐ Ole Mikkelsen.

He’d been a veteran of the sea for 40 years.

WILDMAN: Mikkelsen is casting his nets

when he spots a massive sea creature.

It appears to measure 100 feet

and has a long neck rising above the waves.

Mikkelsen had never seen anything like this.

He was sure that this had to be a sea serpent.

WILDMAN: Mikkelsen watches in horror as the creature charges

straight at his tiny vessel.

COLEMAN: He was terrified that this thing

was about 4 times as big as his boat.

WILDMAN: And just before impact,

the behemoth veers sharply to the side

and vanishes beneath the surface.

[ Bubbling ]

Over the years, the mysterious beast acquires a nickname ‐‐

Cassie, after the Casco Bay in Maine,

where it has often been spotted.

But what Cassie actually is remains an enigma.

♪

♪

WILDMAN: For centuries,

rumors have swirled about a colossal sea serpent

lurking in the frigid coastal waters off Maine.

Many theories circulate as to what the creature named Cassie

actually could be.

Some suggest its long, thin neck strongly resembles

the periscope of a submarine.

COLEMAN: Many people believe that the Soviets had subs

off the coast of Maine during the Cold War.

WILDMAN: And while this could line up

with the fisherman’s account from 1958,

it cannot explain all the sightings.

COLEMAN: Personally, that’s not my theory,

and I don’t think that works.

♪

There’s so many reports of Cassie twisting and turning

and being animate.

Submarines are made of steel. They’re rigid.

It can’t move in the same way that we hear Cassie moves.

And people have been seeing this beast for hundreds of years,

long before the invention of the submarine.

WILDMAN: Another theory takes this timeline into account

and looks far back in history,

all the way to a creature called a plesiosaur.

It had the long neck and a long body,

and they look serpentine.

It’s definitely existed.

It’s in a fossil record, and that’s in museums.

♪

WILDMAN: But this behemoth died out with the dinosaurs

66 million years ago.

However, there’s another, more plausible explanation ‐‐

sperm whales.

These huge sea mammals are 50 feet long

and are known to charge ships.

But how would that explain the long, thin neck?

Some think that the strange creature

is actually a male whale’s reproductive organ.

The breeding and mating behavior of sperm whales

are that they flip over on their back

and that sexual organ that’s about 4 feet long

sticks up into the air.

♪

WILDMAN: Other sea serpent sightings from around the world

have been explained away because of these similarities.

COLEMAN: Some of the sightings off of Norway

have matched up with the sexual behavior of sperm whales.

WILDMAN: But according to Loren Coleman,

some prefer to believe that Cassie and other creatures,

like the Loch Ness Monster, are really out there.

The ocean is really full of unknowns.

I am 100 percent convinced that sea serpents exist.

♪

WILDMAN: Some say the pages in this book reveal

a real life gateway to Hell.

This is the story of an ancient Greek historian,

an Italian explorer,

and a legendary portal to another world.

♪

WILDMAN: Since the dawn of time,

the concept of the underworld has gripped the human mind.

ALCOCK: Pretty much every human civilization

has had some sort of dark, unpleasant place,

perhaps where the souls of evil people would go.

WILDMAN: Some cultures have even thought it possible

to descend into these fiery realms

through pathways or portals.

♪

The ancient Mayans believed the underworld could be entered

through sinkholes in the Yucatán Peninsula.

The Native American Klamath tribe thought one was located

inside a towering mountain called Mazama.

Even in modern times,

many claim the existence of gateways to Hell.

But perhaps the most intriguing of these dark tales

comes from ancient Greece

and a renowned historian named Strabo.

ALCOCK: Strabo traveled around the world as far as he could,

documenting everything he saw,

recording all the strange and wonderful things

that he came across.

WILDMAN: Around 21 A. D.,

Strabo published an account of his travels

called "Geographica."

In it, he tells of his visit

to a Greek city called Hierapolis.

ALCOCK: There were hot springs. There were baths.

Many people would go there to experience

the healing effects of the thermal springs.

WILDMAN: But according to the story,

the area’s biggest attraction was a temple

dedicated to the Greek god of the dead ‐‐ Hades.

[ Thunder cracks ]

Local lore held that it was a deadly gateway

to the underworld.

[ Thunder cracks ]

Outside the strange monument,

Strabo said he found two priests engaged in a mystical ritual.

They were chanting. Their eyes were rolling.

They seemed to be having visions.

♪

WILDMAN: And then the historian witnessed

something truly bizarre.

ALCOCK: Strabo wrote that as the priests’ ritual started

to increase in intensity,

a very thick mist, a fog almost, started to emerge from the cave

and began to billow around the entrance.

WILDMAN: As the fog poured out of the temple,

one of the priests produced a small bird from his cloak

and flung it into the air.

But as soon as the creature hit the mist, it dropped dead.

Even more baffling,

the priest who performed the sacrifice remained unharmed

by the apparently pestilent fog.

ALCOCK: Strabo was so moved by this experience,

so astonished as a man of science by what he had seen,

that he decided to record every detail in his book,

"Geographica."

WILDMAN: While Strabo’s description of the Temple of Hades

survives to this day in "Geographica" ‐‐

a copy of which is on display

at the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam ‐‐

the same can’t be said of the site itself.

According to records, in 17 A. D.,

a major earthquake caused the monument to collapse.

For millennia afterwards,

historians wondered if the fabled portal to the underworld

actually existed at all.

But in 2013, an astounding discovery reveals the truth

behind this legendary gateway to Hell.

It was about to be uncovered at last.

♪

♪

WILDMAN: In the first century,

a mysterious cave was discovered in Greece.

The ancients believed it was a portal to Hell.

It’s 2013.

Italian archeologist Francesco D’Andria

is on a quest to reveal the truth

behind these ancient tales of portals to the underworld.

ALCOCK: D’Andria was really fascinated

by the legends of history.

He had already spent much of his career uncovering ancient tombs

and making often quite startling discoveries.

WILDMAN: D’Andria pores over Strabo’s "Geographica"

and concludes that the gateway Strabo described

was located in what is now the Turkish city of Pamukkale.

Just like the ancient city described by Strabo,

it, too, is known for its mineral‐rich thermal waters.

ALCOCK: D’Andria thought that the springs and baths

might provide the secret to the entrance

of Strabo’s gates of Hell.

WILDMAN: When D’Andria and his team

begin digging into the volcanic hillsides,

they uncover fragments of ancient pillars

bearing depictions of Hades.

And excavating further,

they find an entrance to a vast cave,

which is emitting a hazy mist.

Not only that,

strewn all around the opening are remnants of dead birds.

This was the archeological equivalent of a pot of gold.

♪

WILDMAN: D’Andria posits that the volcanic activity

that creates the thermal springs also emits a poisonous gas,

so he and his team test the vapor.

They find it contains large amounts of the deadly gas

carbon dioxide.

Just enough to kill a small animal, but not harm a human.

For D’Andria,

this explains how the priests in Strabo’s description

could have survived the fog while the birds perished.

Now D’Andria had sort of all the pieces of the puzzle in place.

♪

WILDMAN: In fact, the scientist believes he’s finally located

Strabo’s long lost portal to the underworld.

ALCOCK: D’Andria realized that what he and the team had discovered

was exactly what Strabo was describing

in his account all those centuries ago.

♪

WILDMAN: Today, this 15th‐century reproduction

of Strabo’s "Geographica"

is on display at the Allard Pierson Museum

at the University of Amsterdam.

It recalls an archeologist who unlocked the gates to Hell.

♪