All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S02E02.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

Narrator: eyes in the sky
Watching us from space.

Hundreds of satellites
Revealing for the first time

Objects and phenomena
Which defy explanation.

I can't believe this.
This can't be.

Narrator: top-secret american
Stealth technology

Discovered deep inside china.

I couldn't believe my eyes.
This was huge.

Narrator:
Something truly massive

Spotted lurking in loch ness.

Is there something alive
In there, something big?

Could this be
The loch ness monster?

Narrator: satellites locate
The doomsday device

That could blow up the world.

I'm not sure any sane country
Would have one of these

Because if both sides had it,
It could be catastrophic.

Narrator: baffling phenomena.
Mysteries from space.

What on earth are they?

[ camera shutter clicking ]

[ electronic whizzing
And whirring ]

**

-- captions by vitac --
Www.Vitac.Com

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

Narrator:
Satellites have changed

The science of meteorology.

Today,
We can predict the weather

With an accuracy unimaginable
Just a few decades ago.

But there are things
In our skies

That can baffle even the most
Sophisticated technology.

2013 -- an ordinary summer's day
In huntsville, alabama.

Temperatures in the mid
Into upper 80s,

Scottsboro holding
At 75 degrees.

We're talking about 1/2
Of an inch, perhaps an inch

Of rainfall
In the tennessee valley, 20%...

Narrator:
But as the day wears on,

The radar readings
Tell a different story.

All of a sudden, this large blob
Shows up on our radar.

It was this big circle,
This monster blob.

The blob started out
Less than a mile in diameter

And then quickly grew
To over 10 miles in diameter.

It looked to us like a strong
To severe thunderstorm.

If this is a thunderstorm,

We do not want to get caught
In this.

There is some heavy rainfall
And some hail with this one.

Narrator:
The town of huntsville

Lies in the heart
Of tornado country.

Residents steel themselves

For what they fear
Could be the biggest storm

In the area's history.

But the nightmare scenario
Fails to materialize.

[ static ]

We've got this massive cloud
Showing up on radar.

It should be visible
From miles away.

But yet you look outside,
And there's nothing there.

Something's going on here.

When we saw the blob showing up
On the weather radar,

We also quickly looked
At our ghost satellite readings

To try to see if we could see
What was actually occurring.

And it looked like
There was nothing happening.

This is the weirdest radar-based
Event that I have ever seen.

Narrator:
As they try to make sense of it,

The blob continues to grow.

Those two images
Should always coincide.

If we see an echo on the radar,

We should also see
A thunderstorm from space above.

If we don't, that tells us
Something weird is going on.

Narrator:
One thing is now certain --

Whatever this is, it has nothing
To do with the weather.

But worried viewers

Still want to know
What's happening in their skies.

This big blob
Of what appears to be heavy rain

Sitting over huntsville
And madison is not rain at all.

Narrator: huntsville's
Meteorologists are baffled.

Then, news of an unusual local
Natural event reaches the team.

It just so happens that,
Earlier that day,

About a thousand ladybugs were
Released into the atmosphere

By some local scientists.

So people were actually
Wondering,

"Was it a signature
Of the ladybugs?"

Narrator:
Could the strange anomaly

Be a living, flying swarm?

Insects certainly can reflect
Radar beams back,

But a thousand of them?

No, there would have to be
Hundreds of millions of them.

Narrator:
The mystery is baffling.

So this point, we are very
Confused of what's going on.

We really don't have any idea.

Narrator:
With no firm evidence,

Investigators can only speculate
As to the cause

Of the strange radar signature.

This isn't weather, but yet
It's expanding and growing.

What is this,
Some kind of chemical weapon?

Is it something unexplained?
Is there a fire?

It's just...Defies
Immediate explanation.

And then it vanished.

The blob disappeared as quickly
As it came that day.

Narrator: at the severe weather
Institute, alabama,

Researcher ryan wade finds

Himself bombarded with questions
About the bizarre event.

Wild speculation, uh, began.
Uh, we were accused of --

Of covering up, uh, you know,

By conspiracy theorists
Of covering up, uh,

Military operations
Or cloud seeding or even aliens.

And so, uh, the -- the --
The media attention itself

Kind of took on a life
Of its own.

And so, finally, the next day,
We kinda had enough of it.

And so we went
To the point source.

Narrator:
Charting the blob's development,

Wade realizes
That its point of origin

Is in
A very suspicious location.

[ electronic chirp ]
We noticed that --

That there was certainly
A point source where just a --

A few radar echoes showed up
In a specific location, uh,

Right along the edge
Of redstone arsenal.

And so we went
To the point source.

Narrator: redstone arsenal,

A top-secret
U.S. Weapons testing facility.

Redstone arsenal
Is home of some of

The greatest military mysteries
In united states history.

Is this one of them?

Narrator:
Constructed during world war ii

As a chemical weapons
Manufacturing facility...

[ blasts ]

...And developed into a base

For covert rocket-testing
Operations,

Today, redstone is home

To a number
Of clandestine programs.

Redstone arsenal, uh,
Houses, uh,

The, uh, nasa marshall
Space flight center.

Uh, and they also do a lot
Of missile testing.

And so it's fairly common

To have smoke
From the missile test range

That shows up on radar.

On the day
Of the cloud's appearance,

Nobody has seen or heard
Any of the telltale signs

Of missile testing
In the huntsville area.

Wade heads to the spot
He's located

On the perimeter
Of redstone arsenal,

Where he
Makes a telling discovery.

What we found
Were feathery-type, uh, clumps,

Almost like
A little piece of plastic

Or a little piece of fiberglass.

Narrator:
Experts agree that the material

Wade discovers at the site
Closely resembles chaff,

A radar countermeasure
Used in military aviation

Since world war ii.

Planes will release
What is called chaff.

It is these tiny,
Microscopic zinc particles

That will fool the radar

Into not knowing exactly
Where the plane is.

Narrator: wade scrutinizes
Satellite-mapping imagery

Of redstone.

He finds a fleet
Of helicopters stationed there.

Could these have deployed
The chaff?

Faced with the evidence,

The military comes clean...

Almost.

After we went
And found the chaff,

Redstone arsenal
Did issue a statement.

Basically,
They say their lips are sealed.

Narrator: the redstone statement
Does not reveal the purpose

Of the activities that caused
The unusual radar signature.

But ryan wade believes
He might have stumbled

Across a secret military scheme
To create phantom storms.

If I were trying to,
Uh, come up with a playbook

To generate
What looks like a thunderstorm

On a radar that really
Isn't a thunderstorm,

These environmental conditions
With this type of a substance,

That's what I would use.

Narrator: faced
With intense media interest,

Redstone finally admits
It was testing an advanced form

Of chaff known as rr-188.

But chaff doesn't fully explain

The behavior
Of the huntsville blob.

The thing that made
The huntsville mystery blob

Different
Than other chaff releases

That we've seen in the past
Is that it grew slowly,

And it didn't move quickly with
The wind like we usually see.

Narrator:
Until redstone comes clean,

It's impossible
To be certain of the true nature

Of the huntsville blob.

A soviet complex concealed
Deep in the ural mountains...

This area is the size
Of a small city.

Narrator: ...Sets alarm bells
Ringing in the united states.

Something is being hidden
In this mountain.

Narrator: and u.S. Spies uncover
A terrifying secret.

I'm not sure any sane country
Would have one of these.

[ pinging ]

Narrator: october 1997...

A u.S. Satellite spots

A massive,
Unidentified construction site

Deep in an isolated region
Of russia's ural mountains.

This area is the size
Of a small city.

When satellite imagery
Picks up massive undertakings

Like this complex construction,
Of course,

The u.S. Military is going to be
Interested in what's going on

And what it's for.

One of the strangest things
About this is

Just a few years
After the cold war ends,

We're seeing renewed activity
On this mountain,

Which really makes you wonder,
What exactly is going on here?

Narrator: initial estimates
Suggest the complex

Could stretch 400 square miles
Under the yamantau mountain.

When you look at these pictures,

What really pops out
At you is the scale.

What could possibly be going on
In a complex that is this big?

I've seen estimates

That it could accommodate 80,000
People underground.

Narrator: the russians claim
They have nothing to hide.

The image is so troubling that
A u.S. Congressman, curt weldon,

Raises it
With the russian authorities.

[ indistinct conversations ]

The congressman
Speaks to the minister

In charge of russian mining,

And he's never heard
Of this supposed mining complex.

If it's actually a mine,
Of course he'd know about it.

So the minister sends an aide
To ask around, say,

"What is going on here?"

When the aide comes back
Visibly shaken

And nobody
Wants to talk about this,

It makes me think something
Shady is going on here.

Something is being hidden
In this mountain.

Narrator: all the clues seem
To indicate yamantau mountain

Served some secret,
Sinister purpose.

Based on the satellite imagery,

Because of all the roads
And protective measures

Like fences and barbed wire
That you can see in it,

It's easy to assume that this is
A huge military complex,

Complete
With an underground bunker

That's built into the side
Of the mountain.

Narrator: then, in 1999,

2 years after the satellite
First spots the site,

U.S. Intelligence

Receive a clue to the mystery
Of yamantau mountain

From a double agent
Within the kgb.

Colonel oleg gordievsky
Claims that the yamantau complex

Is a nuclear command bunker
Built to house russia's leaders

In the event of a conflict.

The soviets and --
And now the russians are always

Concerned about protecting
Their top leadership.

They like to put
Their leaders, uh,

And their command bunkers

Into very deep locations
Underground.

Narrator: this theory fits with
Yamantau's remote location,

Far from the russian capital.

The united states

Built shelters that are farther
Away from washington.

So it's logical
That they could build a shelter

Out farther from moscow.

Narrator: a bunker to keep
Russia's leaders safe

Would not be cause
For international concern.

But during a research trip
To russia,

Investigative journalist
Bruce blair

Hears a disturbing rumor

From his contacts
In the russian military.

There's a distinct possibility

That weapons could be
Tucked away in yamantau.

Narrator: the construction date
Of the yamantau complex

Lends credibility to the idea.

In 1991, as building
On the site picked up,

Russia and america signed

The s.T.A.R.T. Arms
Control treaty

To reduce stockpiles
Of nuclear weapons.

But the activity around yamantau
Arouses u.S. Suspicions.

You always have to wonder,

Is the other side
Playing with a straight hand?

Are they trying to be tricky?
And when you see a bunker

That's 400 square miles
Underground, that looks

Like the perfect place to stash
A couple of nukes for later.

Because we know
That the missiles

And the warheads were moved,
It's not inconceivable

That they were moved to
An underground mountain complex.

Narrator: blair's investigations
Reveal the russian government

Has allocated
More than $6 billion

To the yamantau project.

His sources warn him that
The complex could be the base

For a sinister device
Known as the dead hand.

The dead hand was designed
During the 1970s and '80s

To ensure that,
In the event of an attack

That decapitated the top leaders
Of the soviet union,

The system would unleash

The russian nuclear arsenal
In retaliation.

Narrator: military analysts

Had always hoped the apocalyptic
Supercomputer was a myth.

The dead hand concept

Is a lot like the doomsday
Machine from "Dr. Strangelove."

If a nuclear attack
Is detected on your soil,

Your missiles
Launch automatically

Without any controls
Or any permissions.

The united states always

Hoped that the soviet union
Didn't have one

But were never quite sure
Whether they did or not.

I learned about the dead hand

Through my contacts
Within the russian military

And the general staff.

There's absolutely no doubt
That the dead hand has been

Continuously operational
Since the early 1980s.

Narrator: not everyone believes
The doomsday device can be real.

If both sides had,
It could be catastrophic.

I'm not sure any sane country
Would have one of these because,

If you don't have humans
In the loop,

You're
In very dangerous territory.

Narrator: blair might have
Uncovered the original purpose

Of the yamantau mountain
Complex.

But sources
Within the russian military

Reveal that their high command
Has been forced to change plans.

Yamantau was going
To be the original home

Of the dead hand.

But it turned out
That it couldn't communicate

Because yamantau is a mountain
Of mostly quartz,

Which interferes
With radio transmissions.

Narrator:
But the dead hand lives on.

Kosvinsky mountain
Is in the urals further north,

And that turned out
That its granite did not

Interfere with transmission
Of radio signals.

Kosvinsky mountain became
The home of the dead hand.

And if certain conditions
Are met, the dead hand

Will unleash the russian
Nuclear arsenal in retaliation.

[ explosion ]

Narrator: u.S. Intelligence
Is still not sure

Of the true purpose
Of yamantau mountain.

But we can be sure
That kosvinsky is now the target

Of routine satellite
Surveillance.

[ explosion ]

In a country torn by civil war,
Satellite imagery

Reveals strange holes appearing
All over an ancient city.

It almost looked like craters
On the face of the moon.

Narrator: are they the marks
Of a war for syria's soul?

[ explosion ]

Or are they the sinister legacy

Of a dark chapter
In its history?

**

Narrator:
Over centuries of conflict,

The fog of war has concealed
Countless atrocities.

But today, satellites
Make war crimes harder to hide.

[ blooping ]

[ buzzer ]

Now american investigators
Are using orbital imaging

To monitor war damage
To ancient sites in syria.

The american association
For the advancement of science

Has a project called the
Geospatial technologies project.

And we use high-resolution
Satellite imagery

To monitor conflict zones.

Narrator: one site caught
In the syrian civil war

Captures their attention...

The ancient roman city
Of dura-europos

On the southeastern border
Of the country.

If you flew
Over dura 10 years ago,

You would've seen
Largely intact sites.

Do it now,
And you'll see lunar landscapes.

We were shocked at the level
Of damage that we saw.

When you compare
What the site looked like

Before the conflict began

And the imagery
That we were looking at,

It was a completely different
Landscape.

There are little pockmark pricks
Throughout the entire site.

There were thousands of them,

So many that we couldn't really
Tell one from another.

Narrator:
The image causes global concern.

Dura is occupied

By the radical fundamentalist
Group islamic state,

Or I.S.I.S.

The presence of an army
Of fanatical killers

Makes close examination
Of the holes impossible.

So normally, what we would do is
Just go put boots on the ground

And take a look at these
Impact holes, these craters,

Whatever they are, but we can't.

This area's been
Under rebel control for years.

And so we have to rely
On the satellite data.

I.S.I.S. Has been expanding
In syria and in iraq,

And a lot
Of the -- those expansions

Are things that we can document
With satellite imagery.

As I.S.I.S. Has gained ground,

We've kept
Really close monitoring

On our satellite imagery
Of what is being damaged

And what isn't.

Narrator: I.S.I.S. Actively
Seeks to destroy

Timeless works of art which
They view as pagan imagery.

But the pattern
Of destruction in this image

Does not look like demolition.

Whatever is happening
To dura-europos

Has covered the area in craters.

Analysts wonder,

Maybe this isn't an act
Of desecration at all.

Maybe this is the result
Of war damage.

This ancient site has been
Inside of a brutal civil war.

And when you see these kind
Of holes,

You're probably thinking
Artillery shells,

Some sorts of explosions.

[ explosion ]

Narrator: in a modern war,

Shelling can leave devastating
Scars on a landscape,

Marks that can be seen
From space.

Once an area has been shelled,

You generally can see
Small stippling or craters

In the region of the exact
Impact of the concussion.

Narrator: yet when experts
Examine the image from dura,

The destruction doesn't fit
Conventional shelling patterns.

War is chaos.

And so when you go to look
At the remnants of a war zone,

This is blown off,

There's a crater here where
Artillery shells have landed,

But right next to it's not.

You might not see the crater
In the first place.

You might only see the ruin

And the destruction
Of the entire neighborhood.

In fact, entire city blocks
Can be completely leveled

Because it causes such
Widespread destruction.

Narrator:
When investigators compare

The conflict damage at dura

With another nearby location,
Damascus,

They note an obvious difference.

Dura's street plan
Remains intact.

It's too regular. Even if you
Could place munitions

On this sort of a precise grid,
You wouldn't want to

Because your targets
Are moving all the time.

So what is it then?

Narrator: for some reason,

These holes
Are being dug deliberately.

What I don't understand

Is why this area
Is so important to the rebels.

It's not really
A strategic target.

There's no population.
There's no oil in this area.

So why are they there?

Narrator:
When investigators dig deeper,

They discover that the answer
Is nothing

Less than buried treasure.

What we're seeing
Are a number of small holes,

Looter holes we call them, being
Excavated into dura-europos.

We had seen maybe a hundred,

200 looting pits
At some of these other sites.

But dura-europos had thousands
And thousands.

Narrator:
Unlike other ancient monuments,

At dura-europos,
The entire site is being looted.

But this is a ruined, backwater
City on the edge of the desert.

What could be down there
That makes it so valuable?

The answer lies
In a violent chapter

From dura's early history.

Almost 2,000 years ago,

This city was part
Of the mighty roman empire.

And it was besieged
By a persian army.

They attempted to breach
Dura's defenses

With a brutal method
Known as siege mining.

Coulston: the idea is
To so undermine that wall

That it falls outwards,
Creating a great gap.

Narrator: while the persians
Try to breach the city walls,

The romans
Engage in countermeasures.

The romans
Strengthened the defenses,

Knowing
The persians were coming.

And by dumping huge amounts
Of earth

On the back of their walls,

They preserved a line
Of city blocks,

Which included a fantastically
Well-preserved

Christian house church,
A synagogue,

Several temples
To roman and palmyrene gods.

And a line of private houses.

Narrator:
By shoring up their defenses,

The romans packed tons of dirt
Over valuable wall paintings,

Unwittingly preserving them
For millennia.

Once they'd secured the walls,
They went on the offensive.

So what do you do when you know
You're being mined?

You countermine.
You dig your own mine,

Hoping to break
Through into the enemy's gallery

And neutralize that threat.

Narrator:
But for the roman counterminers,

A nasty surprise was waiting.

There is some evidence

To suggest
That sulfur or bitumen,

Other dark, smoky substances,

Were being burnt
By the persians,

In fact being used
To effectively

Smoke the romans out.

One view might be
That this is the first use

Of poison gas in warfare.

For the roman soldiers,

This would be
Absolutely terrifying.

Narrator:
The persians collapsed the mine,

Preserving their bodies
And equipment beneath the sand,

Leaving them
And the other treasures

Of dura-europos
For the future to find.

The mine was sealed,

And therefore, it created
A preservative environment,

Which is why, when these
Skeletons were excavated,

Some of them still had brains
In the crania,

And it was a very unpleasant
Process of excavation.

Narrator: the violent siege
Entombed the defenders

And sealed the city,

Making it a treasure trove
For modern-day looters.

The city's remarkably
Well-preserved

Because it was abandoned,
And it was left in the desert.

And no one has built
On top of it

Because it wasn't reinhabited.

Narrator:
Now I.S.I.S. Is exploiting

The archaeological bonanza

To fund
Their deadly war machine.

[ drill rattling ]

The site's been
Completely ransacked by looters.

I.S.I.S. Is encouraging that
By offering permits

To loot in that area.

They would be taxing those finds
From the local people

That would then sell these --

These objects
On the black market.

Narrator:
What they can't sell,

They destroy...

[ explosion ]

...Erasing all trace
Of the peoples

Who ruled this land
Before I.S.I.S.

This is a disaster, obviously,
For, uh,

Archaeologists, for people
Who study the history of syria,

People who glory in the rich
Cultural heritage of syria.

It's just a tragedy
For the world at large.

A u.S. Satellite over china

Discovers disturbing evidence
Of stolen technology.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

There it was,
In the middle of china,

An american stealth fighter.

Why is an f-117 sitting
On the ground inside of china?

Narrator:
Has china gained access to some

Of america's most closely
Guarded military secrets?

If the chinese
Have stealth technology,

Then they would have
A capability

That no one else
In the world possesses

Except the united states.

[ whooshes ]

[ shouts in chinese dialect ]

Narrator: as china
Becomes a global superpower,

It guards its secrets closely.

But even the tightest security

Is no match for the satellites
Watching our planet.

[ camera whirs ]

2010 -- military analyst

Allison puccioni trolls through
Reconnaissance images of china.

In the industrial city
Of luoyang,

A disturbingly familiar shape
Catches her eye.

Boom, there it was --

An american f-117 nighthawk
In the middle of china.

I couldn't believe my eyes.

Narrator:
The f-117 nighthawk

Is a highly advanced
Stealth attack aircraft

Designed for the u.S. Air force.

The f-117 was a game changer
In terms of aviation technology.

It was the first example
Of stealth aircraft.

Narrator:
It earned the nickname "Goblin"

For its unusual
Radar-evading shape.

59 of the silent killers
Went active from 1983

After years
Of top-secret research,

Which drew on a theory
Pioneered by the soviets.

A russian physicist
Named pyotr ufimtsev

Developed a theory
On how to use the aircraft

As kind of a pyramid
To direct the radar waves

In the direction
You want them to go.

Narrator:
The panels of the plane

Would bounce the signal
Away from the radar receiver.

But only america had
The resources to turn the theory

Into a practical weapon.

It was very effective

During the first gulf war
With its laser-guided bomb.

F-117 hit about 1,600 targets.

Narrator: the satellite image
Appears to suggest

A worrying possibility

That china
Has somehow obtained a piece

Of america's most sensitive
Military technology.

Why is an f-117
Sitting on the ground

Inside of an industrial complex
Inside of china?

Narrator: intel reveals
The object in luoyang is housed

In a facility that develops
Military targeting systems.

One of the ways you test
Your anti-aircraft technology

Is to build mock-ups and models
Of the potential targets

You might perceive yourself
To have to go and deal with.

Narrator: to test the theory
That it's just a model,

Researchers use radar satellites
To bounce the signal off it.

If it's truly stealth
Technology,

They should get no signal back.

The italian space agency

Took radar images
Over this particular object.

And the radar return
Was very insignificant,

Which told me that,

Potentially, this may have been
Actual stealth technology.

Narrator: the object in china
Looks like an f-117,

And it seems to possess

The stealth aircraft's
Radar-evading properties.

Could this be part
Of a chinese stealth program?

China has spent
A considerable amount

Of effort trying
To develop their own versions

Of the f-117 stealth fighter.

A decade ago, they wouldn't have
Been able to develop

Or field stealth technology.

Narrator:
Somehow, china is catching up

In the stealth arms race.

In december 2010,

Pictures emerged of china's very
Own homegrown stealth aircraft,

The j-20.

Here we are 10 years
Down the road,

And they're
Flying multiple prototypes

Throughout the country.

Narrator: so where did
The chinese get this know-how?

They're really good
At taking existing technologies

From other countries,

Replicating it,
And mass-producing it.

Right after the chinese
Publicly released the j-20,

The americans found out
About this image of the f-117.

It seems kind of coincidental.

Narrator:
A clue to how the chinese

Could've obtained pieces
Of stealth technology

Comes when analysts
Notice the aircraft's nose

And cockpit
Appear to be missing.

The tail section looks like
An f-117, uh, stealth fighter,

But it's hard to tell
What's in the nose area there.

Narrator: this observation
Provides a possible lead

To the rogue nighthawk's origin.

The u.S. Air force
Lost a 117 in 1999

During the kosovo war
When one of 'em was shot down.

Narrator: callsign vega-31
Was the only nighthawk

To ever be shot down.

Nobody knows
Where the back three-quarters

Of that aircraft is.

There may be a potential

That this is
The actual back three-quarters

Of the very f-117
That was downed in serbia.

So it sort of fits the story.

The nose cone and the pilot's
Cockpit was kept,

But the body was sold to china.

Narrator:
However china achieved it,

One thing is certain.

America's lead
In the stealth race is slipping.

Worst case scenario is

If the chinese have
Stealth technology equivalent

To the united states of america,

Then they would have
A capability that no one else

In the world possesses
Except the united states.

Narrator: the stealth stakes
Just got raised.

**

Most scientists have long
Dismissed

The loch ness monster
As a myth.

There's a million reasons

Not to believe
In the loch ness monster.

It's too cold.
What would it eat?

And you certainly think that we
Would've found it by now.

Narrator:
But this satellite image

Spotted in 2014 raises questions
That are hard to brush aside.

Is there something alive
In there, something big?

Could this be
The loch ness monster?

**

[ beep, static ]

Narrator: in 2014,

A british user
Of apple maps stumbles

Across a mysterious image
In the waters

Of scotland's fabled loch ness.

You can see something
In the lake, or the loch,

As the scottish call it.

And it's clearly the wake
Of something.

But the question is, of what?

Narrator: the image appears to
Show the ghostly outline

Of something huge lurking
Below the surface...

[ electronic whizzing
And beeping ]

...Something so big
That it can be seen from space.

Obviously, something
Is going on in the water here.

It looks organic.
Is this a fish?

Narrator:
The object appears to be

At least three times bigger

Than the house in the bottom
Right-hand corner of the image,

Over 100 feet long.

When I first saw this image,

I thought, this has got
To be some kind of creature.

Narrator:
Even analysts who don't believe

It's a monster struggle

To provide a rational
Alternative explanation.

People say that it's the wake
Of a boat.

Now, I've lived on boats
For several years.

I've worked on boats
My entire life.

No boat that I have ever been on
Has a wake like that.

The shape of the boat
Would have to be quite odd

To create a wake pattern
Like that.

And of course, there's no boat.

Where's the boat?

Narrator: if the strange wake

Isn't made by something
On the surface of the loch,

Perhaps it's something
In the water's murky depths.

When people say "Loch ness,"

They often think of monsters.

What are the odds that a bizarre
Satellite image like this

Just happened to be taken,
On loch ness of all places?

Narrator: this high-tech image
Is the latest in a long line

Of so-called monster sightings
Dating as far back as 600 a.D.

Since then, over 3,000 reports
Point to a giant creature

Living in
The lake's 750-foot-deep waters.

There have been a lot
Of theories over the years

About what the loch ness monster
Actually is.

And the most popular of these is
That it's a type of pliosaur,

Which is an aquatic dinosaur,

That has pectoral fins

That are almost a perfect match
For this image.

Narrator: the idea of a primeval
Creature living today,

Hiding in plain sight,
Might seem like science fiction.

But it's happened before.
[ roars ]

If it's true,
It wouldn't be the first time

That a prehistoric species
Has been found in modern times.

There was the coelacanth
Off the coast of south africa,

Thought to have been extinct
For millions of years.

And there it is, alive.

For a living fossil,
Such as the coelacanth,

An ocean provides ample space
To remain undetected.

But for a giant,
Prehistoric monster,

Hiding in the 22-square-mile
Loch ness would be harder.

First of all,
It's a huge animal.

We're in the 21st century.

You'd think that we would have

Found an animal
Of that size by now.

Dinosaurs are also known
To be air breathers.

So they would be presumably seen
At the surface a lot more often.

Narrator: the apparent size
Of the phenomenon

Compels investigators
To re-examine the source data

Of the image for more clues.

You have to look
At how the image is made.

This image is a composite.

It's stitched.

If you're trying to create a map
Of the world

Through satellite imagery,
You have no choice.

You have to stitch thousands
Of images together.

Narrator: stitching is
A technique widely used

With satellite imagery.

It helps create a single,
Seamless picture

From multiple different source
Images.

Narrator: image analyst
Marc d'antonio suggests

That this could be a key factor
In establishing the truth

Behind the eerie object
In this photograph.

So in this picture,
We have a picture of water,

A picture
Of a boat on that water.

And they get stitched together.

They get overlapped,
And then they get blended.

And when they get blended,

Sometimes you lose the object
Like the boat.

And that's what we see here.

Narrator: the unidentified image
Of the loch ness oddity

Can still be found
On apple maps.

Whatever created it
Remains unconfirmed.

Looking at this image,

There's something there,
All right, something real.

**

Narrator: a satellite spots
A strange structure

In the remote afghan sands,

A relic
From some long-forgotten war.

Afghanistan is a graveyard
Of empires.

Narrator: but one man on a quest
For vengeance

Successfully conquered
This area.

[ crowd shouting indistinctly ]

Narrator:
His name strikes fear

Into the hearts
Of those who faced him.

They called him
Iskander the demon.

We call him alexander the great.

[ crowd shouting indistinctly ]

[ beep ]

Narrator: 2008 --
Reconnaissance satellites

Survey the battle-scarred
Southern provinces

Of afghanistan,
Looking for insurgent activity.

The area's incredibly violent.

-[ shouts indistinctly ]
-it's full of insurgents.

There's very little
Local control over the region.

Narrator: in the heart
Of the barren registan desert,

A strange object
Lurked amongst the dunes.

The image looks
Like a hollow square.

It looks like a number
Of geometric shapes carved out

In the middle of the desert.

Narrator: what is it?
And why is it here?

**

The history of this region
Suggests that the purpose

Of this structure
Could be military.

Pavelec:
This part of the world has been

Fought over for thousands
Of years.

Afghanistan is seen
As the graveyard of empires.

Different military powers
Have gone back and forth

Across this country
Only to meet their demise.

Narrator:
There are so many ruins

Of lost empires in the region

That separating one from
The other is almost impossible.

But in recent decades, one power
Has dominated this land.

If you say "Kandahar" nowadays,

The first thing
That pops to mind

Is going to be the taliban.

[ shouts indistinctly ]
[ boom ]

O'connor: so are they the ones
Who built this?

Narrator: but experts aren't
Convinced this structure

Fits the taliban way.

The taliban are guerrillas,

And so they would probably avoid
Making, uh,

Big structures like this.
[ gunshot ]

They mostly keep to the caves
And keep out of sight.

There's no tents.
There's no vehicles.

There's no security set up.

There's nothing
That suggests there's any type

Of military occupation.

Narrator: the condition
Of the structure

Suggests that it is old,
Very old.

It's heavily wind-eroded,

And it's got a lot
Of blown-up sand and debris.

I would guess that this is
An ancient fortress.

What could a fortress
Be guarding

In this isolated, arid region?

Perhaps this stronghold
Once stood watch

Over the most lucrative
Trade route in history --

The great silk road.

The great silk road
Was a trade network, really, uh,

Connecting everywhere from china
All the way to the roman empire.

Uh, it actually lasted thousands
Of years, really, in some form

But, um, was a road
That was facilitated

By these large empires that grew
During this time period.

[ camel grunts ]
It was the money funnel, um,

That anyone
Who was in political power

Would want to control.

Traders were obviously
At risk from bandits.

So if you had somewhere
Like a -- a fort

To go as a refuge at night,

That was where you'd hang out.

But according to local experts,

There's a serious flaw
In this theory.

Well, most of the silk routes,

Uh, go to the north
Of afghanistan.

And, uh, the forts that we found
Are to the south of the --

The mountains
In the center of afghanistan.

So I don't think that they're
Related to the silk routes.

Narrator:
The great silk routes

Were not the only roads
To riches

Running through central asia.

Satellite archaeologists

Have discovered
Another fortified highway

That dates back to the time
Of the persian empires.

It has an imperial route
Running towards kandahar,

Which is where these forts
Are located.

Narrator:
It seems likely that this fort

Was one of many built
By the ancient persian empire.

We've found hundreds of sites.

But it's only a small area
That we've been looking.

The persians
Built fortifications

To defend themselves
Against their deadliest enemy,

Alexander the great,

The most successful general
In the ancient world.

Alexander the great --
His name is corrupted

From "Alexander" into
"Iskander,"

Sometimes demonized
In the arab world because,

For the persians,
For iranian history,

He brings down a persian empire.

Narrator: to the afghans,

Iskander was a demon
Who destroyed the persian empire

And conquered their homeland

In a relentless quest
For vengeance.

This massive invasion might have
Provided a compelling reason

To build the fortress
In the dunes.

[ crowd yelling indistinctly ]

Narrator: afghanistan comes
To alexander's attention

When the persian king darius
Flees into the region.

[ indistinct yelling continues ]

Narrator: there, he is murdered
By his generals.

[ indistinct yelling continues ]

Alexander is horrified

By the generals' act of betrayal
To their king

And hunts them down.

He ties their ringleader
Naked to a stake

And cuts off his nose and ears

In the traditional punishment
Of a traitor to the king.

The struggle
Provides the perfect excuse

For alexander
To conquer kandahar.

[ sawing sound ]

He was really
Expanding his empire

The way he did everywhere.

Narrator:
But in afghanistan,

He gets more
Than he bargains for.

In this instance,
In afghanistan,

He ran into just incredible
Local resistance

And was devoted to trying

To create fortifications
And military response

To that local resistance.

When you take over
Or try to conquer a territory,

It makes sense to put up
Some type of fort

Or a military installation
To secure a toehold.

Narrator: but some historians
Are not convinced

They see the shape

Of an alexandrian fort
In the afghan sands.

Uh, wherever alexander
Conquered,

He left, uh, colony sites,
Effectively, fortresses,

But most of them
Were pre-existing cities

Which just had their name
Changed to "Alexandria."

So there's often
A romantic, uh, association

Between ancient ruins
And alexander or iskander.

But that doesn't
Necessarily mean

That there is any basis in fact.

Narrator:
Yet the tantalizing possibility

Still remains
That this persian fort

In the middle
Of the afghan desert

Once stood witness

To an epic struggle
Between its builders

And the greatest general
In the ancient world.