All language subtitles for The UnXplained S07E04 1080p WEB h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

WILLIAM SHATNER:
A deadly pathogen

delivered from outer space,

a mysterious illness

brought on by
an unidentified flying object

and an alien affliction

that creates strange fibers

under the skin.

Since the dawn of time,

the human body has had to learn

how to combat
countless microorganisms

that attack our muscles
and organs and cells.

And while modern science
has stopped

many dangerous earthborn viruses

and bacteria from killing us,

there's a growing concern
that even deadlier strains

are on their way,

traveling to us
from the farthest reaches

of outer space.

Will Earth's next pandemic

come not from here
on this planet,

but instead from another world?

Well, that is what
we'll try and find out.

♪ ♪

SHATNER:
Here in this former mining town,

where people spent decades

digging for precious metals
below ground,

researcher Robert Ward

is the owner
of a rock collection

unlike anything else
found on Earth.

Because these
pockmarked specimens,

with their dazzling patterns
and unusual compositions,

originated in outer space.

ROBERT WARD:
Over the past 30 years,

I've built one of
the world's largest

private meteorite collections.

We have some
of the finest samples

of some of the most important

meteorite classes on display.

We have rocks
from the Moon, Mars.

We have a vast diversity
of meteorites

from all over the solar system.

SHATNER:
Despite the remarkable origins
of Robert's collection,

there is one meteorite
that is quite extraordinary.

It is known as a chondrite,

which means that it formed

in the earliest days
of the solar system.

And the reason
Robert's meteorite is so special

is that, unlike
most other chondrites,

which are so fragile
that they typically break apart

and explode as they enter
Earth's atmosphere...

...this one remained intact

even after it impacted
on the ground

at 28,000 miles per hour.

WARD:
So, this is an actual piece
of the meteorite itself

that I recovered
essentially intact.

And you can see,
it's fairly soft,

and it comes apart easily.

And it's not a dense object
like an iron meteorite,

so when it enters
the atmosphere,

it's supposed to break apart
according to physics,

and this one didn't.

SHATNER:
Why didn't the meteorite

in Robert Ward's collection
explode before it hit the Earth

like other chondrites?

Perhaps a clue may be found

by examining
the story of its impact

and what happened
in the aftermath.

High in the Andes mountains,

residents of this tiny village
are distressed by the presence

of a mysterious light

that appears suddenly
in the noonday sky

and begins racing towards them
at an alarming speed.

WARD: In the skies
over this tiny village

of Carancas in Peru,

a small asteroid actually
entered the atmosphere,

and these people saw
what they thought

was a star in the sky falling.

And the object tore
through the atmosphere.

And this is a pretty big thing,

it was probably the size
of a compact car,

and it's penetrating
the atmosphere

at 28,000 miles an hour.

And then, bam,

it impacts like a nuclear bomb

pretty much right
at the edge of their village.

And they see this ejecta cloud

go into the sky.

There was a smoke trail
in the sky.

It terrified them.

SHATNER:
Despite their fear,

curious locals begin to gather
around the impact site.

What they discover
is a 20-foot-deep

by 100-foot-wide crater
that is flooded with water.

And buried deep in the Earth
is a 12-ton meteor.

While the massive crater
was a remarkable site to see,

many local villagers
found themselves overcome

by a mysterious illness.

HUGH NEWMAN:
When this meteor
strike happened,

a lot of people were trying
to get a glimpse of it,

trying to get
a sample of it, even.

But what happened was there was
a toxic reaction to it,

and loads of people
became incredibly sick.

ANDREW COLLINS:
They started to suffer

from what might be described
as radiation sickness.

And in addition to this,
their own animals

started suffering
in a similar way.

So, what was going on here?

Was this simply a meteorite
that had landed at Carancas,

or was there something more?

SHATNER:
More than 200 people

were admitted to the hospital

after being exposed
to the Carancas meteor.

According to reports,
they suffered from symptoms

ranging from severe headaches,
dizziness, nausea,

to skin rashes
and respiratory problems.

(speaking Spanish)

SHATNER:
While many of the villagers
believed their sickness

was a punishment from God...

MAN:
Señor Jesus...

SHATNER:
...doctors began to suspect

that the meteor
had released a deadly toxin

from deep underground.

One of the theories about
why people actually got sick

is when the meteor
hit the Earth,

it created
this 100-foot-wide crater.

And so, people have now believed
they may have got poison

simply from what was
coming from the Earth,

and it being hit by this meteor.

COLLINS:
It is a fact that,
in the area of Carancas,

there is a high level
of arsenic in the ground,

and almost certainly,
this was vaporized as well.

And this was one of the things
that was making

both the people
and the animals so sick.

SHATNER:
Is it possible that the impact
of the Carancas meteor

released arsenic
into the environment,

poisoning those who came
into contact with it?

Or did it deliver
an unidentified contagion

from outer space?

WARD:
There's always been questions
within the scientific community

about whether there
could actually be biologics

on a meteorite.

So, you know, some kind of

alien microbe or whatnot
in a meteorite.

Meteorites contain
amino acids, sugars, water.

All the building blocks for life
are on these asteroids.

So is it possible? Absolutely.

GRAHAM LAU:
This is an idea that has
been around in science fiction

for a very long time,
this idea that there could be

viruses or-or some kind
of pathogenic bacterium or cell

that could come from space
and fall onto the planet,

maybe coming down
in a cometary impact

or coming down
with some of these grains

of dust and material.

SHATNER:
Is there any evidence
that toxic pathogens

were delivered to Carancas
from the cosmos?

While Robert Ward and his team
secured a small meteor sample

from the impact site,

the answer to just what
biologics may have landed

on Earth remains buried
deep underground.

WARD:
Well, our ultimate goal
was obviously to find

this large meteorite

that we presumed was in
the bottom of the crater.

We were literally standing
on the crater rim,

and the water's being pumped out
and we are so close.

We were literally within feet
of uncovering this large,

possibly multi-ton meteorite
in the bottom of the crater

when all work was brought
to a stop by the mayor.

The excavation wasn't
gonna come to fruition,

which was very disappointing.

SHATNER:
Could the Carancas meteor

have actually contained
evidence of alien germs?

Perhaps we'll never know,

but the sheer possibility
is truly frightening.

For me, the biggest fear
is actually germs and diseases

from outer space via an asteroid
or something hitting the Earth.

Once the virus is here,
by definition,

it looks like
all our other viruses.

Unless you catch
a meteor in the act

of delivering the virus,

there's not gonna be
a real signature

that it came from space.

Now, it's still
fairly improbable.

It's a little more likely

that you just get viruses
on the Earth,

but the idea
of a virus that's stuck

in an asteroid
and then lands on Earth,

it's not as crazy
as people think.

SHATNER:
Greek philosopher Anaxagoras

is conducting
astronomical observations

when he spots a bright object
approaching in the western sky.

This fortuitous event
is believed to be

the first recorded sighting
of Halley's Comet,

and the inspiration
for Anaxagoras

to propose an idea so incredible

that it shocked
the ancient world.

He suggested that life on Earth
first originated in outer space.

It is a fascinating theory
known as panspermia.

Panspermia is the basic idea
that some key building blocks

for life, chemical-wise,

came from meteors
or asteroids hitting the Earth.

And then, once those hit Earth,
they're dispersed,

and that can be a key chemical
step in the start of life.

KAKU:
At first, the panspermia theory
was laughed at, but not anymore,

because more and more
evidence indicates

that life started on the Earth
relatively soon

after the conditions
were ripe enough

to create germs that could
survive on the planet Earth.

SHATNER: Is it possible
that life on Earth

sprung from germs
that came from outer space?

And if it did happen before,

could it happen again?

Well, at the dawn
of the space age,

NASA considered it
such an alarming prospect

that they took
extreme precautions

to protect humanity
from accidental exposure

to deadly alien microbes.

ROD PYLE: As early as the
Apollo program for Apollo 11,

there were concerns
in the scientific community

about some potentially
dangerous pathogen

coming back from the Moon.

PYLE:
And they were concerned enough

that when
the astronauts came back,

they had to go
into quarantine for 21 days.

Because we don't
want germs to come out

that could've interacted
with something on planet Earth.

SHATNER:
Today, fears of alien contagions
seem to be growing.

In 2024, researchers

at the Bipartisan Commission
on Biodefense

have warned NASA that
they must seriously enhance

current safety protocols
to defend our world

against potential
alien illnesses.

And with more
exploratory missions

deeper into our solar system,

those precautions
could mean the difference

between life and death.

DENNIN: I think one
of the slightly scary things

are germs coming
in through the astronauts,

because y-you don't know
necessarily what the life cycle

of either the virus
or bacteria might be.

That could mess up
our ability to catch it,

quarantine it or deal with it.

Could astronauts
unwittingly bring

extraterrestrial viruses
and bacteria back to Earth?

Well, some believe
a recent discovery suggests

that it may be
a very real possibility.

Outside
the crew's living module,

cosmonaut Anton Sklaplerov

makes a shocking discovery.

There's a colony
of unknown bacteria

living on the outside surface
of the spacecraft.

DENNIN: He discovered
basically a bacteria

on the outside of the ISS

that he felt pretty clearly

must have come
from outer space somehow,

whether just debris
or floating in the dust.

And this obviously
would be very, very important

to know or understand
whether or not

it came from outside
or from Earth.

SHATNER: Even Russia's
space agency Roscosmos

concluded that the bacteria
discovered on the ISS

did originate
from somewhere in outer space.

While other scientists
remain skeptical,

the possibility
does cause concern.

Just what would happen

if a dangerous bacteria
of alien origin

were to ever reach Earth?

It's possible
that if an alien pathogen

finds itself on the Earth,
it would very quickly adapt

and evolve
to our local environment

and start invading us,

because it's
just how life works.

SHATNER: While the notion
of an alien bacteria

infecting life on Earth
may sound far-fetched,

some experts claim
it's not only possible

but that it's already happened.

The normal daily activity
of humans on Earth

is stopped in its tracks.

Alarming numbers of people
all around the world

are sick and dying from
a pandemic called COVID-19.

Many scientists believe
this contagious virus

originated in
diseased bats in Wuhan, China.

But in July 2020,
a scientific paper is published

that proposes that the virus
was carried on a meteor

which flew over
the city of Songyuan, China

on October the 11th, 2019,

sending viral debris
down to Earth.

KAKU:
This article
comes out of left field

saying that maybe these germs
come out of space,

people raised an eyebrow
and said,

this sounds
like science fiction.

It doesn't sound
like real solid science.

Well, let's be honest,
you can't rule it out

that certain organisms
can actually exist and thrive

in the vacuum of outer space.

SHATNER:
The idea that our next
pandemic may arrive

from outer space
is profoundly disturbing.

But perhaps
even more frightening

is the fact that,
according to some studies,

bacteria
that develop in outer space

have the capacity
to become supercharged.

One of the interesting
experiments

that scientists
are doing aboard the ISS

is to grow
different types of bacteria

and see how they grow in space.

And shockingly,
salmonella specifically

have been shown
to be more virulent

and reproduce faster,
grow faster.

One of the slightly scary things
is when bacteria,

and particularly salmonella,
was tested,

it basically turns on
a whole bunch of genes

in the bacteria
that are self-defense genes.

And it becomes tougher.
It can resist antibiotics.

And what you get from space
is a super bacteria.

SHATNER:
The possibility
that outer space

can cause bacteria
to become supercharged

is nothing short of terrifying.

And if an astronaut
did become infected

with a strain of super bacteria,

is there anything
we could do about it?

Any alien pathogen,
if it's alive,

it needs the same basic things

that Earth-based life does.

Our planet may have
the wrong temperature,

the wrong pressure,

the wrong mixture of gases
in the atmosphere,

the wrong chemicals in our soil.

Any of that could be a threat
to this pathogen

and simply snuff it out
the moment it arrives.

But the honest truth is,

we wouldn't know it
until it's too late.

While one can hope
that Earth's atmosphere

would be inhospitable
to alien germs,

many experts believe
that microorganisms from space

can make themselves right
at home here on our planet.

In fact, there's
one infectious pathogen

that was contracted
in a Canadian forest

and is almost certain

to be
of extraterrestrial origin.

SHATNER:
51-year-old Stefan Michalak

is prospecting
for silver and quartz

in a remote corner of Manitoba,

when he suddenly witnesses
an event so remarkable,

that it is considered
the best documented UFO case

in Canadian history.

It is called
the Falcon Lake Incident.

My dad, uh, going off
to Falcon Lake that weekend,

he was off on another one
of his rock hunts.

And the part where he was
prospecting at Falcon Lake,

there was several
gold mines there.

So, eventually he makes his way

to a relatively
high piece of ground

and that's when he looks up,

and coming out
of the southwest sky

are two objects,

and they're a sort of
an orangey, reddish color.

They were giving off
a lot of light.

He's wearing goggles,

they have welder's glass
that flips down.

The only reason he had them was
so that when he's chipping rock

he wouldn't hurt his eyes.
Now, this will come in handy.

The first UFO lands

about 140 feet away from Dad

and it's making all kinds
of clanking and spitting

and hissing sounds.

So, when Dad turns his attention
to the one that landed,

the next time he looks up,

the other one's
on its way up, and gone.

SHATNER: At first
Michalak thinks the UFO

might be an experimental NASA
or Soviet spacecraft,

but the longer he observes it,

the stranger it becomes.

MICHALAK:
Dad's looking at this craft

and he doesn't know
what to make of it.

It's a mirror metal craft.

There are no seams.

There's no rivets,
there are no screws.

There's a sort of
a dome on the top

and it's got slits in it.

So, he's wearing gauntlets,
long gloves,

and he reaches out
to touch the craft,

-and the fingertips all melt.
-(exclaims)

Now, suddenly...
(imitates whoosh)

out comes this blast
of something,

lights his shirt on fire
and sends him back.

He falls to the ground,

he's busily trying to put out
this fire that's on his chest.

He's wearing a strappy, uh,
cotton undershirt.

So he pulls that off
and throws it to the ground.

Meanwhile, this craft
is continuing to rise and leave.

And then...

gone.

Just right back
in the direction it came.

SHATNER:
According to official documents,

in the immediate aftermath
of his distressing encounter

with the unidentified craft,

Michalak becomes disoriented,

severely burned,

and suddenly very ill.

MICHALAK:
He hasn't taken
more than two steps

and he's on his knees
and he's throwing up.

He's been burned.

But that's just,
you know, regular burns,

thermal burns.

But this is, this is
doing something to him.

Then he's sweating.

Then he's--
his head starts to go,

and now he's spinning.

He realizes if he doesn't
get out of here,

he's gonna die here.

SHATNER:
By sheer force of will,
Michalak somehow managed

to stagger back to town,
and eventually makes his way

back to a hospital
where he is immediately

put under observation.

Doctors discovered

that Michalak's
white blood cell count

had dropped to very low levels.

He was feverish and confused.

No one was sure what to make
of his unusual symptoms.

But what truly confused
doctors on call

were the strange burn marks

found on Michalak's
chest and abdomen.

The examining doctors found

a grid-like pattern
of, uh, red burns.

It was described
as a checkerboard pattern,

and these were
somehow thermal burns,

chemical burns,
as if something in the gas

from the UFO was very hot

and conformed to the appearance

of the grid with
all these little dots on it.

Whatever experience had occurred
to him definitely happened.

It was real, and the evidence
was on his own body.

SHATNER:
Despite numerous tests,

no one could diagnose
Michalak's mysterious ailment.

In the official police report
following his close encounter,

officers noted that Michalak
suffered from headaches,

blackouts,

and severe weight loss.

Could Stefan Michalak have
caught some type of infection

from his contact with
the unidentified flying object?

Or might his symptoms be
the result of being poisoned?

Stan Michalak arrives

at the University
of Manitoba's Archives

and Special Collections

to examine
the surviving artifacts

of the Falcon Lake Incident.

It's been a while.

Oh, my goodness.

So this is the undershirt
that he was wearing on the day.

He did rip it off himself.

It was torn up quite a bit.

You can still see...

on the front of the shirt,

the pattern left behind

when the craft burnt his skin.

I want to know
what caused that burn.

SHATNER:
To this day, no one knows

what mysterious substance
burned Stefan Michalak

or if some kind of alien germ

triggered his sudden illness.

But during
an official examination

of the alleged landing site,

high levels of radiation
were discovered in the area.

And some suggest
it could at least explain

some of Michalak's symptoms.

RUTKOWSKI:
When the site was first examined

by military
and government investigators,

the presence
of high levels of radiation

were of such significance
that there was a concern

that it might be
a public health hazard.

And yet everything
that they found at the site,

could not produce
any satisfactory

explanation
for what caused this incident.

The presence of radiation
has suggested to

some people that this craft
was nuclear powered,

uh, perhaps was leaking
radiation when it landed.

Perhaps this case has some clues
as to the true nature of UFOs.

PAIGE:
You're putting yourself at risk

if you try
to approach these craft

because you don't know
what kind of contamination

is on these ships.

Whatever they're using
for a means of propulsion

could possibly be carrying
some sort

of radioactive material
on board.

Maybe they use that as part
of their propulsion systems.

But they also
could be carrying bacteria

and fungus and things like that

that can harm us inadvertently.

It's terrifying to think
that a brief encounter

with an extraterrestrial object

could make someone
dangerously ill.

But perhaps more concerning

is a bizarre ailment

that some consider alien

simply due to the fact
that we have absolutely

no clue where it came from.

SHATNER:
Founded in the late 1880s,

the NIH has become
one of the foremost

medical research centers
in the world.

Here, experts study
more than 10,000 rare diseases

identified across the globe.

And, in recent years,

there is one emerging illness

that has proven more
confounding than the rest

called Morgellons disease.

Morgellons disease
is an interesting disease

that scientists don't know
a lot about.

But for a few hundred years,
there have been cases of people

reporting fibers
growing inside open wounds.

Red, blue, black fibers.

What are the fibers?

It's not entirely clear.

PAIGE: When we look
at a disease like Morgellons,

we have to ask the question,

where did this disease
come from?

We don't have
explanations on how people

are getting infected by this.

It could be on your face,
on your torsos,

anywhere on your body.

And I couldn't even imagine
having something like this.

But they feel like
there's something crawling

under their skin.

Bugs or worms or,
I mean, can you even imagine?

It's horrible.

HERNANDEZ: I contracted
Morgellons disease in 1999.

You have a lot of sores
and weird feelings

where things
are moving on your body.

I actually started with
a little itch here and there.

I kept going to the dermatology

to actually get some cream
for the itch.

And then it got very bad.

Bad enough
that a couple of times

I drove to the emergency room
in the middle of the night

because I felt a huge blob
moving up my back.

And they told me, "No, no,
no, no, it's nothing."

I actually was bedridden
a few times,

and I actually couldn't
even get up.

Once it gets bad enough,

it actually
starts affecting your mind.

You can't think.

You're gonna have
chills, headaches,

itching like crazy,

sores popping up everywhere.

What it feels like is
basically the fibers have

grown throughout the whole body.

It is a living organism
that keeps multiplying.

Those threads are alive.

SHATNER: If you think a disease
in which people's skin

begins sprouting
multicolored fibers

sounds far-fetched,

well, you're not alone.

And at first,
Professor Randy Wymore

of Oklahoma State University

thought Morgellons disease was
a figment of the imagination.

But after studying
the strange condition

for more than 15 years,

he's come to the realization
that it is very real.

Morgellons disease is
a very unusual condition.

The population has,
uh, lesions in their skin

that are very slow to heal.

They have fibers associated

with those lesions
emanating from their skin.

So I went ahead and asked
for some fibers to look at.

And they didn't exactly
look like textile fibers to me.

So then I collected
fiber samples from

just everywhere
I could think of to compare

with the Morgellons fibers.

Well, basically,
the bottom line was,

the Morgellons fibers don't look
anything like cotton

or nylon or anything like that.

So I sort of was puzzled

by that, being a scientist.

So, in my own mind,

I was convinced that there was
a biological component to this,

and not a delusion.

My initial hypothesis was:
there has to be

a bacterial, fungal,

some sort of agent
that's triggering these,

that could be
producing the fibers.

It actually looks now
like whatever the microorganisms

are that are causing
Morgellons disease,

they sort of cause the person's

cells to actually produce
these fibers.

SHATNER: The Morgellons
Research Foundation estimates

that more
than 14,000 people worldwide

are afflicted with the disease.

The bizarre condition
made headlines

when folk singer Joni Mitchell

announced that she suffers

from Morgellons'
debilitating effects.

And even suggests
that it may have

originated in outer space.

We know from stories
of alien abductions,

from stories of alien contact,
that there are

effects that people
are experiencing

from those contacts.

The question is
whether there is a relationship

between Morgellons disease

and contact with aliens
or an alien presence.

SHATNER:
While some have suggested
that Morgellons disease

has come from outer space,
due to the fact

that there's
nothing else like it on Earth,

the reality is

no one really knows

what causes the presence
of these strange fibers

or how the malady
is transmitted.

And for those afflicted
with the agonizing condition,

finding
the origins of this disease

isn't nearly as important
as finding a cure.

Too many people that I talked
to, people are crying

because they can't get help.

The doctors tell them
they're crazy.

And it is a bad feeling
to actually be told that.

If you don't start treating it,

it's gonna get worse
for a lot of people.

And this is not good.

Whether Morgellons disease
is caused by a fungus,

something from outer space,
or something

yet to be determined,

the idea of being infected
with an alien organism

is profoundly unnerving.

But it's not as terrifying
as another mysterious ailment

that causes the body
to act as if it is...

...possessed.

SHATNER:
Preeminent neuropsychiatrist
Dr. Kurt Goldstein

publishes a shocking report
on the first known case

of a truly bizarre disease.

With this rare
medical condition,

patients lose complete control
of one of their hands.

The hand acts independently,

as if possessed
by an otherworldly force.

It's known
as alien hand syndrome.

Alien hand syndrome was
discovered as early as 1908,

uh, by Dr. Kurt Goldstein,

uh, when he was examining
a 57-year-old woman.

And this was something that,
up until that time,

was probably put down
to some kind of madness,

and today, it is considered
to be a very important subject

to try and understand
within the medical community.

Alien hand syndrome
is something where

people's hands,
generally the left hand,

takes on a life of its own

and can quite literally

act independently
to your conscious thoughts.

One example would be,
you go and turn on a light,

but then your other hand
reaches up and turns it off.

But more disturbingly
is the fact

that these hands
can also be quite malevolent.

REUBEN:
Sometimes, people are forced
to have their hands restricted

because, otherwise,
that hand could

start to strangle them
or attack them in some way.

Scientists still don't know
what causes alien hand syndrome

and whether there's anything
that can be done

as a cure for it.

Alien hand syndrome
is a very scary

and, at this point,
completely unexplained disease.

SHATNER:
Since it was first discovered
over a century ago,

there have been 424 published
cases of alien hand syndrome.

Patients report hands
that seem to be

under the control
of an independent intelligence.

In fact,
it has led some patients

to give their hand
a name of its own.

While a singular cause
of this affliction

has not been identified,

most doctors believe
a brain injury

may trigger
these bizarre symptoms.

The human brain is composed
of two hemispheres,

left and a right.

Usually, the logic part
is on your left hemisphere.

The artistic part
is on your right hemisphere.

The two hemispheres are
connected by a bundle of tissues

called the corpus callosum.

We know that head injuries

that damage the corpus callosum

caused one part of the body
to operate independently

from another part of the body.

There are medical examples
of this dating back

all the way from the beginning
of the 20th century.

SHATNER:
The possibility
of losing control of your body

due to a problem
inside the brain

is undoubtedly terrifying.

But some experts point out
that a similar phenomenon

also occurs in nature.

It's a bizarre infection
caused by an invasive fungus

that takes over
an organism's mind,

transforming them
into real-life zombies.

There are strange accounts
of insects,

and ants specifically,
who kind of get overtaken

by this fungus
called Ophiocordyceps.

And it goes into their system
and it drills

through the exoskeleton.

It kind of gets
into their bloodstream,

and it creates
a kind of nerve toxin,

and it eventually
kind of controls the ants.

Almost to the point
where some of the ants

will then go and kill themselves

or climb up a tree
and become completely useless.

We don't really
understand exactly how

the fungus is manipulating
the insects to want to do things

that is not
in their best interest,

but it's clearly
what's happening.

Insects are relatively simple
organisms compared to a human.

And so, we can kind of
write this off

as "just something that happens
in the insect world."

But it does raise the question
of, if a human was ever infected

with something similar,
what would that look like?

There's an analogy
that can kind of be drawn

between zombie insects
and alien hand syndrome.

COLLINS:
What's so worrying
about alien hand syndrome

is that the hand itself
seems to be

a separate personality

and is working
against the individual,

almost as if it's possessed.

And if it can be possessed,
is it possible

that this could be due to some
kind of outside interference?

Could we possibly be taken over

by some kind of
alien intelligence?

PAUL HYNEK:
There's an outside force

controlling part of their
biology, part of their body.

This may seem very strange,

but I'm inclined to believe
that there are other forces

that affect our behavior that we
really haven't discovered yet.

SHATNER:
What will we learn
about bizarre illnesses

that continue
to defy explanation?

Some believe the answer
has already been found.

Because according to
a recent report, organizations

around the world appear
to take the threat of potential

alien contagions very seriously,

including
the United States government.

SHATNER:
Here you'll find
the headquarters

of the Mutual UFO Network,
or MUFON,

the largest and oldest civilian
UFO organization in the world.

As part of its mission,
MUFON has compiled

thousands of reports
on UFO sightings

dating as far back as 1873.

And according to
MUFON's investigators,

the data they've
collected reveals

something quite shocking.

A significant number
of people have reported

becoming seriously ill

immediately following
a close encounter experience.

PAIGE:
Being an investigator with MUFON

and talking
with countless people

and conducting
a lot of interviews,

there are some commonalities
between these people

dealing with anomalies,
or if people have encounters.

The obvious one is like
the PTSD symptoms.

Just the feeling of isolation.

You'll often have
a lot of symptoms

that are, uh, attached
to maybe a radiation burn,

a radiation sickness.

Headaches is a big one.
Hair loss.

Rashes.

Vomiting.
Um, not being able to sleep.

Weight loss.
These kind of things.

SHATNER:
While MUFON investigates
the connection

between UFO encounters
and bizarre illnesses,

they are not alone

because this phenomenon

has also caught the attention
of the U.S. government.

In 2022, a FOIA request
revealed a shocking document

from the U.S.
Defense Intelligence Agency

titled "Anomalous Acute
and Subacute Field Effects

on Human Biological Tissues."

And according to the report,
the United States government

is actively tracking
mysterious illnesses

in people who've encountered
anomalous crafts.

The U.S. Defense Intelligence
Agency had this secret report

that was released with some
rather astonishing revelations.

Revelations that people
that have claimed to have

come down with diseases
and malfunctions of the body,

have registered
all sorts of illnesses

that seem to come out
of encounters that people

have claimed with aliens
from outer space.

REUBEN:
This Defense Intelligence report
is 1,500 pages long,

and it described ailments
like headaches,

brain damage, nerve damage,

and something that's described
as an unexplained pregnancy.

And so,

it makes sense that the
Defense Intelligence Agencies

would want to know more
about what could happen

when humans interact with
organisms from someplace else.

PAIGE:
I think it's important
that this is studied

and looked at
and taken seriously because

we're talking about
the health of people here.

Disease, sicknesses,
mental health, physical health.

And when you have
this much evidence

and body of people that are
suffering these ill effects,

then it needs to be
taken very seriously.

So, if you look at the idea
of aliens coming,

we have to imagine
that the greatest threat

would be a disease they bring.

It could be a pathogen
on their spaceship.

It could be
something else entirely

that they were traveling with.

Even if they're super friendly,
if we don't notice that

and take care of that,
we could still be wiped out.

Obviously,
it's pretty disturbing to think

that people are getting sick
from interactions

with unidentified
aerial phenomena.

And if it's true
that the U.S. government

is tracking alien illnesses
among the population,

let's think about the
pressing question it raises,

should we be comforted
or concerned

by what they've learned?

Either way,
it's a stark reminder that,

even in the age
of modern medicine,

we are vulnerable
to a variety of maladies that,

for the time being, remain...

unexplained.

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