Original subtitles

WILDMAN: The truth behind a killer lake.

It felt like a scene out of a horror movie.

WILDMAN: An unlikely hero aboard the Titanic.

[ Crashing ]

PHINEAS: He knew he was going to go into these icy waters.

He was ready to meet his maker.

[ Man screaming ]

WILDMAN: And the riddle of the pyramids

is finally solved by a farmer in Nebraska.

He possessed the power of the ancient pharaohs.

WILDMAN: But first, this pilot’s jacket

recalls the fate of an American adventurer

in a strange region known as the Nevada Triangle.

This is the story of a famous aviator

who disappeared into thin air.

♪

WILDMAN: Amazing mysteries,

bizarre phenomena,

and chilling secrets.

I’m Don Wildman.

Join me on a journey beyond the unknown.

♪

It’s September 3, 2007.

[ Telephone rings ]

Authorities in Nevada get a distressing call ‐‐

a small single‐engine plane has gone missing.

It took off from a private ranch for a short round‐trip flight

and after 4 hours has not returned.

At the controls was a well‐known millionaire

named Steve Fossett.

Steve Fossett was a highly experienced aviator.

He was fearless, and he had a really adventurous spirit.

WILDMAN: The 63‐year‐old expert airman holds numerous flying records,

including one for the first nonstop solo flight

around the world.

The disappearance of such a seasoned pilot is puzzling.

But then they learned Fossett was flying

through one of the most mysterious sections of airspace

in the country ‐‐

the Nevada Triangle.

This 25,000‐mile swath of the American Southwest

is bound by Reno to the north, Las Vegas to the south,

and Fresno, California, to the west.

And since the 1940s, as many as 2,000 aircraft

have crashed or gone missing in the area.

HANSEN: Nobody could figure out what had happened to them,

what had caused this region

to be so treacherous to airplanes.

We might start high and parallel down.

WILDMAN: For 5 weeks, officials scour

the rugged mountainous terrain and dense forests,

but Steve Fossett and his plane are nowhere to be found.

In October, the search is called off.

Steve Fossett had vanished into the Nevada Triangle.

WILDMAN: In the weeks and months that follow,

a host of theories emerge to explain

what could have happened to the expert aviator

and all the other aircraft that have crashed or disappeared

in the Nevada Triangle.

Some believe the answer can be found

within a vast top‐secret military zone

that lies in the heart of the Triangle ‐‐

Area 51.

HANSEN: Because Area 51 is so top‐secret and heavily secured,

some feared that pilots

may have inadvertently wandered into its airspace

and been intercepted by the U. S. Air Force.

WILDMAN: Some even speculate that aliens might be to blame.

HANSEN: Area 51 is known for UFO sightings, alien encounters,

so this, of course, spurs the imagination.

WILDMAN: But no one really knows.

HANSEN: There was no conclusive evidence,

and everyone was desperate for answers.

WILDMAN: Then, a year after Fossett’s disappearance,

the truth emerges, and with it,

the key to unlocking the secrets of the Nevada Triangle.

♪

In September 2008, near Mammoth Lakes in California,

a hiker makes an unexpected discovery in the woods ‐‐

an ID card bearing the name Steve Fossett.

Just 2 days later, the wreckage of Fossett’s aircraft is found

along with his remains.

The discovery re‐ignites the debate

over what really happened.

HANSEN: People were more determined than ever

to get to the bottom of this mystery.

WILDMAN: The case is handed over to the acting chairman

of the National Transportation Safety Board, Mark J. Rosenker.

Rosenker and his team start

by carefully examining the wreckage.

Knowing Fossett’s skill set, they ruled out pilot error.

So Rosenker turns his attention

to another possible contributing factor ‐‐

the weather.

The Nevada Triangle is plagued

by a series of bizarre wind conditions.

The wind in the Nevada Triangle

creates these really intense wave‐like patterns

that aircraft can get caught up in.

WILDMAN: As air moves in from the Pacific Ocean,

it flows over the peaks of the Sierra Nevadas.

Then with tremendous force, it rushes down the other side.

This creates a powerful downdraft.

Rosenker examines meteorological records

from the day of Fossett’s disappearance,

and what he finds is that the downdrafts

reached a staggering 400 miles per hour.

HANSEN: Even an experienced pilot like himself

was no match against these forces.

[ Wind whistling ]

♪

WILDMAN: Rosenker and his team believe Fossett’s plane

was swatted out of the sky by these fierce winds

and crashed in the dense woods,

which made it extremely difficult to find.

It’s a fate that could have befallen scores of aviators

over the years.

HANSEN: This may very well have been the reason

that so many planes had disappeared

in the Nevada Triangle.

♪

WILDMAN: Today, a pilot jacket once worn by Steve Fossett sits on display

at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington.

It’s a haunting reminder of not just one pilot,

but many who may have been lost

to a mysterious and natural power.

♪

This tall pleated hat recalls an act of extraordinary bravery

[ People screaming ] in the face of certain death.

This story is about the very last man

to go down on the Titanic.

♪

WILDMAN: It’s April 10, 1912.

The RMS Titanic embarks on her maiden voyage

from Southampton, England, to New York City.

On board are some of the richest and most powerful people

in the world.

Among them is real estate tycoon John Jacob Astor IV,

mining magnate Benjamin Guggenheim,

and the owners of Macy’s department store,

Isidor and Ida Straus.

No expense has been spared for their delight.

PHINEAS: The Titanic was the crème de la crème of its era,

with ballrooms and orchestras and piano bars...

[ Chuckles ]

...every kind of delicacy of food.

This ship was a floating 5‐star hotel.

WILDMAN: Maintaining these luxurious accommodations

is a staff of 908 dedicated crew members.

Among them is the chief baker, Charles Joughin.

PHINEAS: Charles was a very, very good baker

extolled for the quality of his bakery goods.

And we’re talking not just bread,

but we’re also talking desserts

and all kinds of things like that.

He was a very accomplished chef.

WILDMAN: But he’s about to assist the passengers

in a way he never anticipated.

♪

Just after 11:30 P. M. on April 14th...

[ Crashing ]

[ Dishes rattling ]

...the Titanic strikes an iceberg and starts to sink.

[ People screaming ]

As passengers scramble to locate loved ones

and board lifeboats, panic spreads.

And that’s when Joughin springs into action.

Instead of preparing to abandon ship,

he gathers loaves of bread

and hands them out to desperate passengers.

PHINEAS: He was basically thinking, if they went off that ship,

at least they would go with a loaf of bread

because who knows when they would be rescued.

[ Screaming continues ]

WILDMAN: In a matter of moments, Joughin’s supply runs out.

With the ship rapidly sinking,

he rushes to his assigned lifeboat.

The chef finds the craft packed

full of terrified passengers and crew members,

with still more waiting to board.

Luckily, a seat has been saved for him.

♪

But just as he’s about to climb in,

he notices a young woman and her child

towards the back of the crowd.

Sensing their impending doom,

Joughin gives them his place on the tiny vessel.

That a person would go into action like that,

rather than just seeking to save himself,

that’s a hero.

♪

WILDMAN: But it seems his selfless act has sealed his fate.

The remaining lifeboats are all full.

It’s only a matter of minutes

before the ship is completely submerged in 28‐degree water.

He knew he was going to go into these icy waters,

and I think he was really ready to meet his maker.

♪

WILDMAN: So, to steel himself for the ordeal ahead,

Joughin takes a few pulls from a bottle of whiskey.

Then he climbs to the highest point of the stern,

grabs ahold of the railing, and braces for the worst.

Just as the ship goes underwater,

he steps off into the frigid North Atlantic.

He’s the last person to get off the Titanic,

and he does it with incredible grace.

He kept his face and head dry, probably had his baker’s hat on,

you know, and he just kept treading water.

[ Bubbling ]

WILDMAN: For more than 2 hours, Joughin floats in the icy water.

[ Ship horn blares ]

Finally, the RMS Carpathia arrives to rescue the survivors.

Remarkably, among them is Charles Joughin.

♪

After the baker is pulled from the water,

the ship’s doctors assess his injuries.

Strangely, Joughin only suffers from swollen feet.

The physicians are baffled.

Almost everyone else who’d been in the water froze to death

in less than 30 minutes.

It’s a miracle that anybody

could get in water that temperature

and not have immediately hypothermia.

WILDMAN: So how did the brave baker survive?

Many think it was due

to the precious extra minutes he stayed out of the water.

Others believe the alcohol in his system

may have warmed his blood.

But some credit karma.

PHINEAS: I can’t help but think

because he did so much to help everybody,

he survived with just a little bit of chill to his feet.

♪

WILDMAN: After the tragedy, Joughin continues to bake on ships

and goes on to serve aboard World War II troop transports.

He’s even portrayed in the 1997 blockbuster film "Titanic."

It’s a fitting honor for one of the ship’s unsung heroes.

This man put everyone ahead of himself.

It’s an amazing story.

♪

WILDMAN: Today, a chef’s toque recovered from the wreckage,

like the one worn by Charles Joughin,

is on display at Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition

in Las Vegas, Nevada.

It recalls the baker who served up hope in the face of disaster.

♪

This enigmatic item was the key

that unlocked a long‐lost secret of the pharaohs.

PORGES: The answer to one of history’s biggest mysteries

might be even simpler than you think.

♪

WILDMAN: Egypt.

For centuries, the pyramids have stood

as perhaps the most famous structures in the world.

And looming over the ancient wonders

is the largest of them all ‐‐

the Great Pyramid of Giza.

♪

The massive stone monument was built around 2500 B. C.

as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu.

The pyramid has a footprint the size of 10 football fields,

and the tip towers nearly 500 feet above the sand.

It is made up of an estimated 2.3 million stone blocks,

each weighing up to 15 tons.

PORGES: For more than 3,000 years, the Great Pyramid held the title

as the tallest man‐made structure on the planet.

♪

WILDMAN: The structure’s colossal size

lies at the heart of its most enduring mystery.

How could something so big have been built

when the ancient Egyptians had access

to only the most rudimentary technology?

♪

Many historians contend

that the Egyptians used a simple crane‐like device

made of a weighted pole balanced on a crossbeam

called a shadoof.

Others believe the blocks were levered onto wooden slats

and then hauled up giant ramps of sand.

And some have even suggested a more out‐of‐this‐world idea ‐‐

that the Egyptians had help from aliens.

PORGES: This theory might seem outlandish,

but almost everything about this ancient monument

just feels impossible.

♪

WILDMAN: But perhaps the most intriguing theory

comes from the unlikeliest of places.

♪

It’s 1988 in rural Nebraska.

Herman Ostry is a farmer

who lives in the tiny community of Bruno.

PORGES: He was largely a soy and corn farmer,

and he kept some animals.

♪

WILDMAN: But this small‐time homesteader has a big problem.

A road construction project

has diverted a nearby creek towards his farm,

and it seems every month, the waters overrun the banks

and flood his barn with devastating consequences.

Ostry needed a dry barn to keep feed,

to keep animals, and to store equipment.

♪

WILDMAN: Ostry lacks the money

to build a new barn elsewhere on his property,

and he can’t afford to pay for the heavy equipment

needed to move the structure to drier ground.

It seems his barn is doomed to a soggy fate.

♪

But a solution is about to present itself

that will save Ostry’s farm

and perhaps unravel one of the world’s greatest riddles.

PORGES: Ostry was about to discover

that he possessed the power of the ancient pharaohs.

♪

♪

WILDMAN: How did the Egyptians build the pyramids?

The answer may be found in the unlikeliest of places ‐‐

rural Nebraska.

One night, while farmer Herman Ostry

is eating dinner with his family,

his son Mike makes a seemingly ridiculous suggestion.

PORGES: He suggested, "Well, if we get enough people together,

we can just pick up the barn and move it."

WILDMAN: The joke gives Ostry an idea.

The gears began to turn in Ostry’s mind,

and he thought maybe there’s something there.

♪

WILDMAN: The farmer and his son do some back‐of‐the‐napkin calculations

and realize their crazy plan might just work.

PORGES: He estimated the entire structure weighed about 9 tons,

and he figured that if 344 people

could help him lift his barn,

each person would only have to carry about 58 pounds,

which is totally feasible.

♪

WILDMAN: To pull off the tremendous task,

Ostry creates a massive grid of steel tubing.

Sticking out from the sides are 344 metal handles,

one of which is on display

at the Butler Country Historical Museum

in David City, Nebraska.

He then bolts the entire contraption

to the barn’s vertical beams.

With the giant tool complete,

the farmer recruits the necessary labor

from his high school alumni association.

On July 30th,

more than a thousand people show up at Ostry’s Farm

to catch a glimpse of the novel spectacle.

More than 340 volunteers take their places

around the 16,000‐pound structure.

PORGES: Everybody was hoping for the best,

but nobody had any idea if this kind of crazy plan would work.

WILDMAN: Finally, Ostry gives the order to lift.

♪

As the old barn is raised into the air,

it creaks and groans under the strain.

Then slowly but surely,

the team makes its way across the property.

PORGES: The crowd lifted up the barn and moved it a couple feet,

and they put it down, and they lifted up again

and moved it a couple more feet

until they got it where they needed to go.

WILDMAN: After a journey of more than 100 feet,

the crowd places the structure down on a new foundation

safely away from the flooding creek.

♪

Ostry’s barn goes down in the record books

as the largest man‐made structure ever moved

by human strength alone.

But one group disagrees ‐‐ Egyptologists.

Some historians and archeologists suggest

that ancient Egyptians used thousands of men

working in unison to lift the giant stone blocks into place

and build the pyramids of Giza,

just like the team of volunteers did thousands of years later

in Nebraska.

This was an amazing and practical demonstration

of what people working together can accomplish.

♪

WILDMAN: Simple pipes, just like these, played a crucial role

in solving a mysterious and deadly disaster.

WILLIAMS: This is a story of mass carnage, scientific investigation,

and the hunt for a silent killer.

♪

WILDMAN: For hundreds of years,

the West African nation of Cameroon

has been home to a sinister legend.

As the story goes,

Lake Nyos, in the mountainous northwest of the country,

is possessed by a powerful force.

Folklore and legend spoke of an evil spirit

who had in the past

invoked carnage on the lakeside community,

WILDMAN: And in 1986, the ominous curse seems to become a reality.

On August 21st, residents of a nearby village

hear a deafening blast from Lake Nyos.

[ Boom ]

There was a mysterious explosion

and also the smell of sulfur in the air.

♪

WILDMAN: Nervous residents see a cloud rise up from the lake.

Then, to their terror, as the vapor expands...

[ Bird cawing ]

...birds start to drop from the sky.

Moments later, livestock fall dead in the fields.

It was a scene of almost biblical proportion.

♪

WILDMAN: Soon, the villagers themselves are enveloped

by the forbidding haze and struggle to breathe.

[ Man breathing heavily ]

[ People screaming ]

Then, as quickly as it started,

the mist dissipates.

It’s left a scene of unparalleled devastation

in its wake.

♪

Almost 2,000 people have perished.

It felt like a scene out of a horror movie.

WILDMAN: As the villagers try to make sense of the tragedy,

they noticed that the stunning blue waters of Lake Nyos

have turned an eerie orange color.

It seems the centuries‐old legend has finally come true.

At a loss to explain the carnage,

the locals blame an evil spirit.

WILDMAN: So what terrible secret lies at the heart of this deadly lake?

♪

WILDMAN: It’s 1986 in the African nation of Cameroon.

On the shores of Lake Nyos, a tragedy is unfolding.

[ Boom ]

A mysterious cloud has taken the lives

of more than 1,000 people.

Desperate to solve the mystery of the deadly lake,

the Cameroonian government calls in a team

of international experts to investigate.

The scientists start by testing the lake’s water,

and the results point to a likely cause

for the pestilent cloud.

The lake contains an unusually high concentration

of carbon dioxide.

This clearly was not normal.

WILDMAN: It appears the elevated level of gas

is related to a geological quirk of Lake Nyos.

The body of water is what is known as a crater lake,

as it sits atop a bed of volcanic rock

studded with vents that lead deep underground.

These vents release carbon dioxide into the water.

Normally, the CO2 would then rise to the surface of a lake

and be released into the air slowly

through a process known as lake turnover.

But Lake Nyos is an unusually still lake

with little lake turnover.

Over time, it became saturated with dangerous levels of CO2.

This was an important scientific discovery.

♪

WILDMAN: The experts conclude that on the day of the tragedy,

a rockslide on one of the lake’s banks

[ Boom ] churned up the water,

causing a large amount of the gas

to be released at once.

That sudden surge of CO2 formed a dense cloud

that then suffocated everything in its path.

WILLIAMS: At the time, it was a new phenomenon

that scientists had not really seen in the natural world.

♪

WILDMAN: To ensure a similar disaster doesn’t happen again,

scientists propose a simple fix.

In 2001, a team installs a system of PVC pipes

to siphon the deadly CO2 from the bottom of the lake

and safely and gradually release it into the air.

It’s a process called degassing.

WILLIAMS: It now gave scientists an important tool

to prevent other such tragedies from across the world.

WILDMAN: As a result of their efforts,

there hasn’t been a deadly incident since.

The livestock and the vegetation

and the waters of Lake Nyos returned to normal,

and the community is back to its beautiful, serene state.

♪

WILDMAN: Today, these pieces of PVC piping are on display

at the Plumbing Museum in Watertown, Massachusetts.

They’re a reminder of an explosive disaster

and an immersively inventive solution.

♪

This item recalls a doomed mission to space

and a chilling Cold War conspiracy.

This is a story of a race to the stars ‐‐

one of manned space flights’ most enduring mysteries.

♪

WILDMAN: October 4, 1957.

The Soviet Union has just put

the world’s first man‐made satellite into orbit ‐‐

Sputnik.

The achievement sends shock waves

through the United States and the world.

Now the two superpowers are locked in a heated race

to see who can be the first to send a man into space.

COSTELLO: When the Soviets put Sputnik up into orbit,

it was a huge event.

But the ultimate challenge

was putting a man up into orbit and having him survive.

♪

WILDMAN: And across the globe,

people are fascinated by the intensifying space race ‐‐

perhaps none more so than 2 amateur astronomers in Italy,

brothers Achille and Giovanni Judica‐Cordiglia.

Using scavenged parts,

Achille and Giovanni build a radio receiver

capable of listening in

on American and Soviet satellite transmissions.

[ Radio tuning ]

COSTELLO: Anytime anything was launched into orbit,

they would get a glimpse of what was happening above.

WILDMAN: For months, the brothers intercepted radio signals

from orbiting satellites. [ Radio tuning ]

They’re even able to listen in on the sounds of monkeys

launched into orbit on test flights.

♪

But in May 1960,

Achille and Giovanni pick up an unexpected transmission.

[ Static, indistinct speaking in Russian ]

They hear a heartbeat and a voice speaking in Russian.

♪

The brothers think it’s the sound of a cosmonaut

speaking with Soviet mission control.

But there’s one problem ‐‐

the Soviets have not announced

that they’ve launched someone into space.

COSTELLO: Anytime an astronaut or a cosmonaut

reaches a certain milestone,

it’s seen as a huge achievement that gets a lot of coverage.

So, why is this not something the Soviets are talking about?

WILDMAN: As the brothers try to make sense of the transmission,

they hear something even more disturbing.

♪

The sounds suggest the cosmonaut is gasping for breath.

[ Panting ]

As they listen, the gasping gets faster and faster,

and then the heartbeat suddenly stops.

The siblings come to the shocking conclusion

that whomever they’ve heard has died.

COSTELLO: You can imagine the feeling of hearing this recording

and you get the last moments of life

carried across the airwaves.

♪

WILDMAN: In February 1961,

the brothers take their findings to Italian newspapers,

and the story hits the press with spectacular results.

COSTELLO: It sets off a wave of speculation

among both journalists and experts.

♪

WILDMAN: The Soviets, for their part, deny the brothers’ claims.

And experts suggest that what Achille and Giovanni heard

wasn’t a dying cosmonaut,

but one of the many animals that had been sent into orbit.

But the brothers are steadfast in their belief

that they heard a cosmonaut speaking Russian.

This must have been incredibly frustrating for the brothers.

♪

WILDMAN: Then, almost a year later, on April 12, 1961,

the Soviet Union announces that they’ve successfully sent

the first man into space ‐‐ cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

Gagarin’s flight was a tremendous feat for the Soviets.

♪

WILDMAN: Despite this, the brothers stand by their story

that another cosmonaut may have made it there first.

So what’s the truth

behind these mysterious Russian transmissions?

♪

♪

WILDMAN: In 1960, two amateur radio hams in Italy

make an extraordinary claim ‐‐

that they detected secret radio transmissions

from a manned Soviet spaceship

a full year before cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin

became the first man in space.

More than two decades later, in 1986,

the long‐secret files of the Soviet space program

are declassified.

And they reveal evidence of a shocking cover‐up.

♪

In early 1960,

a Russian cosmonaut named Valentin Bondarenko

was participating in a series of space flight simulations

at a rocket facility just outside Moscow

when tragedy struck.

The oxygen tanks that supplied Bondarenko’s capsule

caught fire,

and the unfortunate cosmonaut was killed in the ensuing blaze.

Then the Russian space agency covered up the accident.

After Bondarenko’s death, he was subsequently erased

from any lists or photographs of the cosmonauts training.

♪

WILDMAN: In light of this revelation, many now believe

that what Achille and Giovanni actually heard

wasn’t the first man in space,

but the final moments of an unfortunate Russian cosmonaut.

Bondarenko’s death was conclusive evidence

of a lost cosmonaut.

The brothers’ claims seem to be true.

♪

WILDMAN: Today, this glove used in the Russian space program

is on display at the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas.

It’s a testament to a forgotten soul

who risked it all for mankind’s quest to the stars.

♪

This ornate artifact played a starring role

in a centuries‐long treasure hunt,

one that was linked to a sinister and supernatural force.

This is a story about explorers, a lost city, and a deadly curse.

♪

WILDMAN: It’s 1939 in New York.

29‐year‐old Theodore Morde

is an American reporter with a thirst for excitement.

His coverage of the Spanish Civil War

for the Associated Press

has made him one of the most read journalists of the day.

BIANCO: When Morde reported on the Spanish Civil War,

he put himself in danger

covering both sides of the conflict.

♪

WILDMAN: One day, Morde makes an announcement

that terrifies and excites his readers in equal measure.

He says he has teamed up

with the Museum of the American Indian

to lead an expedition deep into the rainforest of Honduras.

There, he will search for the long‐lost remains

of an ancient civilization.

♪

It’s known only as the City of the Monkey God.

BIANCO: Even hearing the name of it makes you think

the city’s got secrets that you want to figure out.

WILDMAN: The City of the Monkey God was first mentioned

in the 16th century writings

of Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés.

The conquistador describes tales of a ruined city

brimming with untouched riches.

BIANCO: Hernán Cortés had heard about the lost city

from native Hondurans.

He thought it might be a city full of gold.

♪

WILDMAN: But the promise of wealth

allegedly comes with an ominous warning.

The city is said to be cursed. [ Thunder crashes ]

All who seek it are doomed to an untimely death.

♪

Over the centuries,

numerous fortune seekers search for the City of the Monkey God

to claim its riches for themselves.

And just as the curse predicts, they all meet a grisly fate.

BIANCO: A lot of explorers came back with a mysterious illness.

They were getting sores all over their face.

It was scary and untreatable with the medicine of the time.

♪

WILDMAN: But Morde believes he can succeed

where Cortés and others failed,

and he’s not afraid of any curse.

So, in 1940, Morde travels to Honduras

and heads off into the rainforest.

5 months later, he returns to the United States

and makes a staggering claim.

Theodore Morde said he had found the Lost City of the Monkey God.

WILDMAN: As proof, he shows off hundreds of artifacts

he claims to have discovered

in the ruins of the ancient metropolis,

including tools, sculptured idols,

and even this intricate ceramic drinking vessel

now on display

at the National Museum of the American Indian

in Washington, D. C.

But Morde remains tight‐lipped

about the location of the ancient metropolis.

BIANCO: He didn’t want to reveal the location

because people would go and loot it.

So he planned to go back to the city,

do a more thorough excavation, and then reveal where it was.

♪

WILDMAN: But before he can return to the lost city,

Theodore Morde commits suicide.

It’s an act that leads many to conclude

that he, too, has fallen victim to the very curse he doubted.

People were kind of scared.

It seemed like the curse had gotten him.

WILDMAN: It seems Morde has taken the location

of the City of the Monkey God with him to the grave.

♪

And as decades pass,

interest in this lost locale fades.

But then, in 2012, everything changes.

An explorer named Douglas Preston

and a group of archeologists

are in the Honduran rainforest when they find a stone altar

and dozens of statues of snakes, shamans, and monkeys.

But the discoveries don’t stop there.

Preston and his team go on to uncover the remnants

of a full‐sized metropolis.

It’s the City of the Monkey God.

BIANCO: Preston was elated.

It was basically the equivalent of finding King Tut’s tomb.

WILDMAN: But the revelation carries a heavy price.

Within days of finding the city,

the explorers come down with a debilitating sickness.

BIANCO: First, the team just noticed they had some kind of weird,

slightly painful spots on their faces.

But then those got worse and worse until they developed

into full‐fledged sores that bled and hurt.

WILDMAN: Unable to explain their strange symptoms,

members of the expedition face a terrifying possibility.

It could be the curse.

♪

♪

WILDMAN: It’s 2012 in the jungles of Honduras.

Explorer Douglas Preston and a group of archeologists

have just uncovered

the legendary Lost City of the Monkey God.

Within days of their discovery, they fall sick

and fear they have become prey to a deadly curse

that purportedly protects these ancient ruins.

[ Thunder crashes ]

[ Siren wails ]

Preston and his colleagues return to the U. S.

and are rushed to the National Institute of Health Laboratory

in Bethesda, Maryland.

There, physicians rule out the supernatural.

The doctors told Preston that he wasn’t cursed.

WILDMAN: But the reality isn’t exactly comforting.

The sores are caused by a flesh‐eating parasite.

The disease, called leishmaniasis,

is transmitted by a biting insect

native to the Honduran rainforest ‐‐

the sandfly.

BIANCO: Those sandflies had actually been what was causing symptoms

that people had experienced for hundreds of years.

♪

WILDMAN: The team is treated successfully and returns to full health.

News of Douglas Preston’s discovery

makes headlines around the world.

BIANCO: This is an amazing story.

It’s crazy that there’s still some spots

that we just don’t know that much about.

♪

WILDMAN: Today, this ceramic drinking vessel,

discovered by Theodore Morde in 1940,

is on display

at the National Museum of the American Indian

in Washington, D. C.

It recalls a lost city

and the truth behind its legendary curse.

♪

This bottle is linked

to a ruthless quest for world supremacy.

This is the story of a glass bottle,

a mysterious note,

and a nation aspiring to be the dominant power in the world.

♪

WILDMAN: It’s January 21, 2018,

on Wedge Island in Western Australia.

A woman named Tonya Illman is walking along the beach

when a glint in the sand catches her eye.

HYDE: She saw something that was partially buried in sand.

Could be a little bit of discarded rubbish,

but she was intrigued and went to look closer.

WILDMAN: It’s an old and weathered glass bottle.

Then she notices something unexpected ‐‐

there’s an item stuffed inside.

It was a piece of paper rolled up with twine.

♪

WILDMAN: Illman carefully pulls the bound paper out of the bottle

and unties the string.

To her amazement,

written on the paper is some sort of message.

The writing appears to be in German,

but most astounding of all is the date of the top ‐‐

June 1886.

If genuine, the tiny scroll is 132 years old.

She couldn’t believe what she saw.

♪

WILDMAN: So Illman takes the note to an expert to be translated.

The contents of the message are baffling.

HYDE: It contained a request for the people who found the bottle

to write down their exact location

and to return this information to Germany.

WILDMAN: The strange note also refers to someone named Paula.

Illman thought she might have something really special.

What on Earth could this mean?

WILDMAN: What Illman doesn’t realize is that the cryptic instructions

are linked to a sinister bid for world domination.

So who exactly sent this message and why?

♪

♪

WILDMAN: January 21, 2018 ‐‐ Western Australia.

A mysterious glass bottle is found on a beach.

Inside is a cryptic message dated 1886.

It’s the oldest message in a bottle ever found.

It’s also linked

to a chilling conspiracy to take over the world.

The story begins in the 1870s.

Europe’s colonial empires are jockeying for supremacy.

Great Britain has long dominated,

but another nation is desperate to usurp the United Kingdom ‐‐

Germany.

The newly established Imperial Germany,

led by Kaiser Wilhelm I,

wanted to expand their political and economic might.

WILDMAN: To become the world’s next superpower,

Germany is looking for ways to surpass

Britain’s mighty naval technology

and gain an edge in global trade.

♪

So officials turn to a cunning naval scientist

named Georg von Neumayer.

Neumayer wanted to help his country with economic expansion.

WILDMAN: The expert navigator devises an ingenious plan

to map the currents across the world’s oceans.

The goal?

To track the fastest sea routes for Germany’s trade fleet.

♪

To achieve this, he plots out a unique worldwide experiment.

The captains of German merchant ships

will drop thousands of bottles into the water.

The hope is that each of these bottles

will be carried on the currents

to the far‐flung corners of the world.

Each bottle has a note with the name of the ship of origin

and clear instructions for the person who picks it up.

The slips contained a request

for the people who found them at the other end

to send them back to the Naval Observatory

with the information of exactly where they had been recovered.

♪

WILDMAN: As the messages are returned

from the bottles thrown overboard,

the information can be used to chart faster shipping routes.

It’s a wild plan.

But it works.

More than 600 bottles eventually make their way back to Germany.

HYDE: This allowed Germany to see where the bottles had gone

and to track global currents.

This really helped shed light on the ocean’s currents,

thus helping to dominate global trade.

WILDMAN: And one of the bottles

thrown off a German merchant ship named the Paula

eventually washes up on the shores of Western Australia,

where it remains hidden in the sand for more than a century.

♪

HYDE: It’s a miracle that it survived so long,

especially with the message inside it.

WILDMAN: Tonya Illman’s incredible find goes down in history

as the oldest message in a bottle ever discovered.

♪

And today, it’s on display

at the Western Australian Maritime Museum in Fremantle.

It recalls the tale

of an extraordinary quest to rule the seas

long‐buried in the sands of time.

♪