Original subtitles

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.