All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S02E04.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

Narrator: eyes in the sky,
Watching us from space.

Hundreds of satellites
Showing us the world

Like we've never seen it before.

Objects and phenomena
Which defy explanation.

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

Narrator:
Mysterious arrows tracking
Across the deserts

Of the american west.

What are they there for?

Why were they built
In the first place?

Narrator: a blood-red waterfall
Stains the antarctic snows.

This looks like
A horror movie gone mad.

Narrator: an outbreak
Of smooth, round holes

Across the siberian wilderness.

What kind of force is powerful
Enough to create these craters

In the middle of nowhere?

Narrator: baffling phenomena,
Mysteries from space.

What on earth are they?

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August, 2014,

An airbus surveillance satellite
Studying contested waters

300 miles southeast of vietnam

Captures
Something extraordinary.

One moment, there's empty sea

Then bam,
There's something there.

When you first look at it,
You're like, "What is that?"

It seems like it's come
Out of nowhere.

Narrator:
The image shows something
Difficult to explain,

A brand-new island in a patch
Of what was once empty sea.

It comes to the attention
Of technology journalist

Seth porges who looks
Into the weird phenomenon.

What's strange about it
Is how sudden it is,

How quick it is for an island
To just appear

In the middle of the ocean,

Especially
A hotly contested piece

Of the ocean almost over night.

Narrator:
He begins his investigation

By consulting historic images
Of the area.

They show empty sea
At the coordinates

Just a month ago.

Scientists examining
The phenomenon

First consider
Possible natural explanations.

If you're going
To all of a sudden see

A brand-new island
Popping out of the sea,

Volcanism comes to mind.

Undersea volcanoes
Can create entire islands.

In 2015, for example,
Off the coast of tonga,

There was actually
A fairly large volcanic island

That was formed
From an undersea volcano.

Narrator: the mystery island
Sits on the edge

Of an area geologists

Call the ring of fire,

Which is home to 75%
Of the world's active volcanoes.

Seth turns to seismology
Reports of the area

To see if they back up
The volcano theory.

If a new island popped up
Due to volcanic activity,

We would see it in the readings.

We would see it in the data.

When you look at
When this island appeared,

There's no data
Of that sort.

Narrator:
Further surveillance shows that
The island is the wrong shape

For one made by a volcano.

I would expect a more
Rounded sort of shape to it

As opposed to this
Square-like or linear

Kind of island that we see here.

Narrator: if the island is not
A natural formation,

It must be man-made.

But who would build an island
In a far eastern sea?

Capps: this almost feels like
James bond stuff,

Like dr. No is building
A new lair.

I've heard it called
Super villain island.

But it's real,
And it's happening.

Narrator:
Only a bond-style super villain
Would have the wealth

To build a private complex
On this scale.

But building an island
In the middle of nowhere

Would be a strange move
For any real-life super villain.

Somebody went to a lot of effort

To make this island huge and in
A very short period of time.

The question is,
Who did this and why?

Narrator:
To build something like this

Would take the power
Of a country.

Investigators look at which
Countries claim ownership

Of the area and discover

That no less
Than six nations

Are battling over
This patch of ocean.

Porges:
Some want the area for fishing.
Some want it for oils.

Others want it just
So the other guy can't have it.

No matter what, you throw
A new island in the mix,

It is going to rock the boat.

Narrator:
On closer examination, the image
Clearly shows a large runway

On the north side
Of the island.

Investigators realize this is
A vital clue to the mystery.

The size of the runway
Can give us indications

Of what it's intended
To be used for.

The construction itself suggests

That it's possibly
Military aircraft.

Narrator:
At just under 2 miles,

The runway is long enough
To accommodate

The biggest bombers
In the world.

Porges: this isn't near
Any civilian population base,

Which makes you think
It's almost certainly

For military use.

Narrator: so if this could be
A military base,

Who built it?

Who has the means and the motive

To put up such
A massive structure?

This represents
Enormous financial undertaking.

If we look around the area
At who it could be,

Probably not vietnam,
Probably not the philippines,

Taiwan maybe.

But china has the motivation

And the ability
To be able to do this.

China fits the profile.
They've got the money.

They've got the resources.

They got the ability
To pull off an operation

Of this size very quickly.

But that leaves a lot
Of unanswered questions

About what exactly they want
To do with their military

In the region.

Narrator: in september, 2015,

As speculation mounts
About activities

On the mystery island,

Barack obama confronts

The chinese president
Over the issue.

Xi jinping denies

Any plans to establish
A military stronghold there.

But further analysis
Of satellite imagery

Reveals that the island's harbor
Is so big,

It can handle the largest ships

In the chinese navy.

China is establishing outposts
On nine islands.

Huston: this island is like
An unsinkable aircraft carrier.

It vastly extends its ability
To project aircraft power

And land and control
The airspace in the area.

Narrator:
The latest satellite images
Of the region

Show evidence
That this is just the beginning.

The mystery island
Is not just a land grab.

It's a strategic piece
In a high-stakes power play.

Pavelec: the chinese are making
Overt advances

Into the south china sea.

It's obvious that they want
To push the boundaries

Of the power play for the area.

But they also want
To establish dominance

To make sure
That everybody knows,

Including the united states
And japan specifically,

That they are in charge
Of that part of the world.

This isn't just saber rattling.

This could be the flash point
For the next global conflict.

If anything bad happens here,

It could be bad
For the entire world.

Narrator:
Satellites reveal a series
Of perfectly round holes

Appearing out of nowhere
In the siberian tundra.

These things are huge.

Narrator:
There is only darkness within.

It looks like you're
Staring into the abyss.

Kourounis:
What kind of force is powerful
Enough to create these craters

In the middle of nowhere?

Narrator: siberia 2014,

An mi-8 transport helicopter
Is on a routine flight

Over one of the most
Remote places on earth.

The locals call it yamal,
The end of the world.

They don't call this place

The end of the world
For nothing.

It's complete desolation
In almost every direction.

Narrator:
The pilot sees something
Totally unexpected,

A huge, round void

Almost as wide
As a football field

That looks like something
Just punched through the earth.

What caused it?
How deep does it go?

And is it something
We should be worried about?

Narrator:
Days later, reindeer herders
Discover a second hole.

Analysis
Of further satellite imagery

Reveals several more holes
Emerging in the vicinity.

When one of these appears
Out of the blue,

It's worth investigating.

When nearly 10 of them show up,

You got to wonder
What's going on.

Narrator: investigators
Consider the possibility

That the mysterious holes
Could be related

To a strange geological feature

Unique to siberia, the pingo.

Jerram: pingos are circular,
Ice-cored growth

Where concentrations of ice
Have built up

And pushed up
The land around them.

Lester:
Pingos are a unique feature
To these polar regions

That undergo freezing
During the winters,

Thawing during the summers.

Beneath everything
Is a permafrost

That's always frozen,

Always below
The freezing point of water.

Narrator: but closer images
Of the strange holes

Show a crucial difference
From the pingos.

The holes
Are surrounded by debris,

Thrown up by some great force.

What caused this?

What kind of force is powerful
Enough to create these craters

In the middle of nowhere?

Narrator: the holes seem
Too large to be natural.

But there's no suggestion
They're man-made.

The search for an answer
Goes extraterrestrial.

Could a storm of meteors
Have blitzed siberia?

Kourounis: when meteors hit,
They're gonna leave a crater.

Could this be one of them?

Siberia has a long history
Of meteors.

In 1908, the famous
Tunguska event happened.

And this was the largest
Air-burst explosion in history.

And it flattened
Millions of trees.

It was like
An atomic bomb going off.

The size, shape and depth of
These holes found in siberia

Are similar to the morphology
Of impact craters.

Narrator:
When russian investigators
Arrive at the scene,

They find none
Of the tell-tale scars

Of a meteor strike.

Brand: when you have an impacter
That hits the ground,

It can overturn
Entire layers of rock.

And, sometimes,
You'll even have a peak

In the center of it
That's kind of shattered.

And none of those features
Are consistent

With this particular hole.

Narrator: but there's no record
Of recent strikes

To support the theory.

When a meteor comes
Into the earth's atmosphere,

We can detect that.

We have satellites.
We have radar.

You're not gonna have a big
Event like that go unnoticed.

It's got to be
From some other force.

Narrator:
Investigators take a closer look

At marks visible
At the edge of the holes.

There are scattered bits
Of debris and rock

And soil around these things,

As if there might have been
Some kind of explosion.

Those holes happened in
Some type of violent release.

Narrator: the russian government
Doesn't admit to conducting

Any weapons testing
In the yamal region.

The earth itself seems
To be spontaneously exploding

With no obvious cause.

A possible clue
Comes when the investigators

In the nearby arctic ocean

Spot plumes of gas rising
From the ocean floor.

The bubbles
Are explosive methane.

If the frozen earth
Is releasing methane,

It could turn siberia
Into a giant gas leak.

In permafrost regions
Like siberia, there's also a lot

Of methane that's also
Frozen within the ground,

Pressurized beneath the surface.

As we warm our atmosphere,

That atmosphere
Is warming the permafrost.

And as the permafrost melts,

It's releasing
Trapped methane gas.

Narrator: so is it possible

That these holes were caused
By an eruption of methane gas?

The problem with this theory

Is that the permafrost
In the region

Is not melting fast enough
To cause such a blowout.

Something else must be going on.

The most likely scenario
Would be

For these to be melt-outs
Of the pingo

Above the pockets of methane.

And it's a problem.

And when they melt,
It's catastrophic.

Brand: it's gonna lower
The pressure on that gas,

Allowing that gas to expand.

But if it's not able
To expand where it is,

It'll eventually pressurize
To the point

Where it can actually
Blow out the surface.

Narrator:
Not everyone is convinced
By this theory.

What's bizarre or strange
About this image

Is that it's showing us
Something

That didn't exist before.

So there's never been a case

Of a pingo spontaneously
Combusting.

Something has happened.
Something has changed.

We don't know exactly what.

Narrator:
It's impossible to be certain

Whether this is what truly
Caused the holes.

But if methane is now escaping
Through the permafrost,

It could have
Devastating consequences.

Drillers here are tapping down
Into larger reservoirs of gas

Commonly have to deal
With methane escaping

Through their bore holes
From the permafrost region.

So we know that there's a lot

Of methane stored
In the permafrost.

Kourounis:
That methane gas that's trapped
In the permafrost is flammable.

All it takes is a spark
Or some source

Of combustion and ka-pow.

Imagine one of these happening
Underneath a city or a town

Or even a small village.

A hole like this in a town

Could have devastated
An entire square block.

Narrator: a satellite spots
A set of huge arrows

In the badlands
Of the american west.

What are they there for?

Why were they built
In the first place?

Narrator:
The shapes can only be seen
Clearly from high in the air.

Is this pattern carrying
Some sort of message?

These arrows are clearly
Part of something important.

Narrator: may, 2014,

Retired cop brian smith
And his wife, charlotte,

Are spending their vacation
Exploring the nevada wilderness.

25 miles from the nearest town,

They stumble
Across something extraordinary.

Look at that.

Among the rocks
And the rattlesnakes,

They find a massive
Concrete arrow

About 60-feet long
With a head 4-feet wide.

At ground level, it's hard
To see the whole structure.

But from above,
It's unmistakable.

Pavelec:
Looking at these pictures,
You see enormous arrows

Seemingly pointing to nothing.

Narrator:
Brian and charlotte head
In the direction

The arrow points.

Six miles from the first arrow,
They find another.

But they're not easy to spot
Amongst the sage brush.

Charlotte takes
Her search online

To see if
Satellite imagery can help.

What she uncovers is baffling.

They're all over the place.

A series of arrows

Spreads across
The entire state of nevada.

These arrows are clearly
Part of something important.

But the question is,
Who or what had the resources

To do something on this scale?

It's really hard
For me to tell right now.

They're really old.

And I can't think
Of anything really old

That would use
An arrow other than maybe

The pioneers coming across.

But I don't think they had
Cement to make arrows

To follow a trail back then.

Narrator: the early pioneers
May not have had the resources

To build arrows like these,

But just a few decades later
Another group of adventurers

Set off for the west coast.

The trail from salt lake city
To san francisco

Where they find a lot
Of these arrows

Was the path
Of the famous gold rush.

In the 1840s, it brought

Thousands upon thousands
Of people

Across the country to california
To search for gold.

Gough: could these arrows
Have been a mechanism

To show them the way?

Narrator:
The theory has one obvious flaw.

No, they're facing
The wrong way.

So that wouldn't have
Worked.

Yeah. They're facing
Towards the east.

Yeah, because all the pioneers
Came from the east.

That isn't gonna work.

All of the arrows brian
And charlotte

Have found point west
To east against the flow

Of the gold rush.

And historians find it hard
To believe that the 49ers

Would have been so helpful
To their competition.

Why would miners
Tell other miners

Where their gold was?

Gough:
These people were cut-throat.

This was a chance
Of a lifetime to become rich.

They're not gonna help anyone

But themselves find out
How to get there.

Narrator: but could the arrows
Have a different connection

To the gold rush?

Many of the miners
Were freemasons.

Marrs: history tells us
That the united states

Was founded by freemasons.

Narrator:
Some believe secret societies

Like the masons still
Control much of our world.

The masonic influence
Is just overwhelming.

Narrator:
For believers, the evidence
Is in plain sight.

The freemasons use
A number of symbols.

But their meaning is known only
To their inner circle.

We see masonic symbology
On our dollar bill.

Narrator:
The freemasons undoubtedly
Left their mark

On the american landscape.

One designed mount rushmore.

There is even a theory

That the entire city plan
Of washington, d.C.,

Is one giant masonic symbol.

Gough: if this is all connected
With freemasonry,

Then the question
We have to ask is,

What message might it conceal?

Narrator:
If there is a masonic meaning
To the arrows,

The secret society
Hasn't revealed it yet.

Charlotte's online research
Shows that these arrows are part

Of something far bigger

Than she and brian
Had first imagined.

89 locations
I found on the internet.

Narrator: the arrows are not
Just in nevada.

They cross the whole
Of the american west.

Putting together the resources
To build something on this scale

Would need a group with
Commitment and organization.

The pony express had both,

And their routes stretched
All across nevada.

Pavelec: the pony express was
A mail-delivery system,

Riders on horseback taking
Mail thousands of miles

Across vast expanses
Of the united states.

Narrator: in the 1860s,
There was no easy ride

For these heroic horsemen.

An average rider
Could ride 250 miles.

They rode day and night.

Narrator: they battled outlaws,
Native americans

And wild animals.

Navigation was key.

Gough: the western frontier
Was a really dangerous place.

So you really just had to know
Where you were going.

But when investigators compare
The satellite map of the arrows

To the pony express' route,
There's no match.

Gough: the arrows cover
A truly vast amount

Of the western region
Of the united states.

The pony express does not.

Narrator: then, as brian smith
Scours the u.S. For more arrows,

He makes a surprising discovery.

Some of the arrows
Have towers above them.

We've started to discover
Some of these beacons

Are located
Over the concrete arrows.

What are these beacons used for?

Why were they over the arrow?

The beacons were metal towers

That were built with
Rotating lights on the top.

Narrator:
He also finds traces of color
On the concrete.

They painted the arrows
Yellow or sometimes orange.

The only reason
You would do that

Is if you wanted
Them to be visible from the air.

Narrator:
Whoever built these things
Needed bright yellow arrows

That can only be
Seen from above.

Pilots and planes, that's
What they were designed for.

Pavelec: in the days
Before navigational aids,

There was no radio navigation.

Maps were very primitive.

These were a fantastic solution

For the problem of pilots

Finding their way
Through the air.

Narrator: the logical conclusion
Is that the arrows

Must have been built
In the early days of aviation.

There weren't many planes
In the air in those days.

Narrator: investigators looked
To the early history

Of transcontinental flying.

So you have to ask yourself,

What institution is best suited

To build
These enormous structures?

Narrator: the sheer scale
Of the construction at a time

When aviation had not yet
Become big business

Points towards
The u.S. Government.

After world war I,

They had a surplus of aircraft
Left over from the war.

Rather than scrapping them, they
Created a new postal service

Using planes instead
Of ponies...

The air mail.

So, guess what, it was
The postal service

That created these arrows.

Narrator:
The u.S. Postal service was one
Of the first institutions

To fly regularly across america.

But it wasn't easy.

The problem is, how can
The postal service ensure

That its product gets delivered

When there's bad weather,
Good weather,

There's night-time traffic,
There's fog?

Narrator:
Air mail pilots were
Nicknamed the suicide club

After 31 of the first 40
Died in crashes.

In an era before radio
And satellite navigation,

They needed a simple way
To navigate by eye.

So they had to pour
These concrete arrows

With rotating lighted beacons

Next to them to guide pilots.

Narrator: these arrows weren't
Just navigational aides,

They were lifesavers.

Pilots just had to follow
The yellow concrete road.

The brilliance
Of the postal service solution

Is that it's so simple.

Bright yellow arrows
Illuminated at night,

What could go wrong?

Narrator: the arrows faded from
Use within a few years,

Replaced by radio navigation.

Now they remain as a snapshot
Of the moment in history

When america learned to fly.

A research satellite discovers
A sinister stain in antarctica.

Nelson: the first thing
That comes to mind

Is blood and lots of it.

Narrator:
It defies explanation.

Why have you got this blood-red
Material coming out?

Lester: this is, clearly,
An unusual thing to happen.

Is it human-induced?

So you wonder, what kind
Of massacre happened there?

Narrator: november, 2000.

High above antarctica,

Nasa's terra satellite measures

The growth of glaciers
In the remote wastelands below.

It captures an image
That stuns scientists.

This looks like
A horror movie gone mad.

Narrator:
The satellite has found a livid,

Scarlet waterfall
Five stories high.

The first thing
That comes to mind

Is blood and lots of it.

Narrator:
The bright-red fluid is spewing

From the 34-mile-long
Taylor glacier

In an area known
As the mcmurdo dry valleys.

This is crazy.

It's blood red coming
Out of the side of a glacier.

You wonder,
What kind of massacre

Must have just happened there?

Narrator: the disturbing feature
Becomes known as blood falls.

It's like nothing
Found in nature.

Nelson:
It definitely looks like blood.

But is that even possible?

Narrator:
Surely the nauseating color

Isn't evidence
Of a sickening slaughter?

I've seen images similar
To this of blood on the snow,

For example,
When humans kill a whale

And butcher it on the shore.

Narrator:
In the past, man's lust
For whale and seal meat

Has transformed
Miles of coastline

Into gory killing fields.

But even butchery
On an inhuman scale

Cannot explain
This crimson tide.

Whale hunting is illegal.

And even if it wasn't,
This is much too big

Of an area, much
Too much blood,

Even for a whale.

If it's not blood,
Then you have to ask yourself,

What could it be?

With unusual things
Like this, we might ask,

Is this human-induced?

Narrator:
Fears arise that the waterfall
Might be the product

Of illegal ore extraction.

Nelson:
In other parts of the world,
When you see this effluent,

This bright-red colored
Or different colored,

It's usually
A tell-tale sign of mining.

Narrator:
Investigation of the area
Around the satellite image

Doesn't show
Any mining infrastructure.

There's clearly nothing of any
Industrial activity

Going on in that area.

Narrator:
If blood falls is not man-made,
What could have created it?

Scientists venture
Into the desolate region

To try to find out.

Jerram:
I've been to the dry valleys.

And there's this sort of frozen
Antarctic wilderness everywhere.

Narrator:
In ferocious conditions, they
Use an airborne radar scanner

To probe beneath the ice.

What they find
Is totally unexpected.

The source of the red ooze is
An ancient underground reservoir

Hidden from view
For millions of years.

That water has been stewing

Down there as water
Around it freezes

And thaws and freezes and thaws

And cryogenically
Enhances the water in iron.

Narrator: iron, the same element
That makes blood red

Could be coloring the waterfall.

But the iron is not
The most disturbing thing

Scientists find.

Strange creatures are thriving
In the hostile conditions

Deep underground.

It's life but not as we know it.

Lester: iron-rich water
That is getting tapped

By microbes that live in
This dark, cold environment.

Narrator: the weird bacteria
Live off the iron

That produces
The bright-red color.

Lester: they are spewing
Out a kind of rust,

Very, very fine-grained,
Insoluble iron

That pours out of this hole
In the glacier.

Narrator:
Astonishingly, researchers
Think these hardy critters

Could be linked
To extraterrestrial life

Far out in our solar system.

These are microbes
We want to know about.

Narrator:
Red scars found on the surface

Of jupiter's icy moon, europa,

Could be caused by alien germs.

Lester: anything that can live
Underneath the ice

Trapped from air and sunlight

Is just the kind of thing

We might possibly find

When we go visit
Worlds like europa.

Narrator: the creatures lurking
Beneath the ice at blood falls

Could have cousins
Out in space.

A surveillance satellite
Spots a huge structure

In the depths of libyan desert.

It looks like
An underground tunnel complex.

Hanson: how did something
That significant and substantial

Get built in a pretty arid,
Remote area?

Narrator:
The sahara hides many secrets
From the country's dark past.

Petricevic: we know for sure
That gaddafi built

Massive underground complexes.

What if this is one of them?

What or who might be down there?

Narrator: libya, 2011,

A g.O.I. Satellite spots
A mysterious installation

In the middle of the desert

500 miles south of libya's
Capital, tripoli.

The discovery
Sparks numerous theories

About what it could be.

Eland:
Given where it is in libya,

It could definitely be

Some sort of remote
Weapons facility.

Narrator:
The mysterious structure is
1,400 feet by 500 feet across.

The shape gives rise to thoughts

It could be a secret base

Of libya's ruthless dictator,
Colonel muammar gaddafi.

There is a pretty
Significant outline of a wall.

And there are parapets
Along the outside of the wall

That are defensive positions.

They could be guard towers.

Or they could be towers
For anti-aircraft weapons.

If this really is one
Of gaddafi's bunkers,

Then the question is,
What's down there?

This man was a dictator.

He had many
Very, very dark secrets.

Narrator: libya had an active
Nuclear program until 2003.

Gaddafi claimed to have
Dismantled his weapons.

No one can be certain
He was telling the truth.

He had reason to hide things
From the west.

There was a lot of hostility,

Animosity built up
Over the years with gaddafi.

Narrator: gaddafi's arsenal
Of weapons of mass destruction

Included 24 tons
Of deadly mustard gas.

Weapons inspectors destroyed
Whatever they could find.

But much is unaccounted for.

It could be some sort
Of an underground facility

For a biological
Or weapons program.

They buried a lot
Of the facilities

To guard them from air attack.

Narrator:
For years, there were rumors

That gaddafi had a network
Of tunnels under tripoli

Wide enough for a small car.

When the city
Fell to rebels in 2011,

They discovered
The rumors were true.

But the shifting sands
Of the desert

Would make a complex tunnel
System hard to maintain.

Unlike tripoli, where
We do actually see a number

Of tunnels that gaddafi used,

If you try to tunnel
Into the region,

The tunnel
Will simply collapse on itself.

Narrator: there is no record
Of anyone building

Substantial structures
Above ground around here.

This doesn't look decades
Old or years old.

This looks extremely old.

Hanson:
It doesn't look like a modern
Military structure to me.

It looks like
It'll be ancient

Because it has
Those central turrets,

Because it has the spaces

For residential habitation
Outside and pens for animals.

Narrator:
When ancient historians
Are shown the satellite image,

The investigation takes a step
Back into the past.

At first glance, well,
We'll probably say

This looks like a roman
Military installation.

Narrator:
Could this fortress in the sand

Be an ancient
Roman frontier post?

Hanson: romans were interested
In expanding their empire.

They'd have natural resources

And populations and trade routes

That they would be interested
In controlling

And getting access to.

Narrator:
The nearest known roman fort

Is more than 300 miles
To the north.

This mysterious structure
Lies outside of roman territory.

Hanson:
This looks like a roman fort.

It has all the hallmarks
Of a roman fort.

But the problem is the romans
Never made it this far.

Narrator:
There's no easy answer.

The structure may be ancient,
But it's not roman.

The only way
To solve the mystery

Is to go there in person.

A team of archaeologists goes
To investigate the structure.

They discover that what looked
Like a simple fort

Is actually a whole settlement.

This isn't a simple structure.

This looks to be
A sophisticated city.

Narrator: it seems
That the g.O.I. Satellite

Has unearthed a settlement
Built by a lost civilization,

A race of nomads
Called the garamantes.

The garamantes are a local
Political power in libya

Who were contemporaries
With the romans.

We know that
The ancient garamantes

Were extremely advanced.

They created complex cities.

Narrator:
Yet how could the garamantes
Sustain a large settlement

In the middle
Of a bone-dry desert?

Close analysis
Of the satellite image

Shows traces of water channels
And agriculture

That has long since dried up.

The garamantes
Must have devised a method

For irrigating this ground.

They weren't just simply
Living off herding.

But they actually were able
To utilize

The few water resources
Found in north africa

As a way to irrigate
And conduct agriculture

And actually have a level
Of urban civilization.

Narrator: excavations reveal
An elaborate network

Of ditches and wells

Which tapped into vast
Underground reservoirs.

Today, the water is gone.

The only memory of the green
Oasis city of the garamantes

Is the marks
It's left in the sand.

Just imagine that if
You were actually standing

At this site in 200 a.D.,

What you would see here
Are palm trees, people,

Merchants, trade,

A whole complex society
Going on there.

Narrator:
By a.D. 600, the garamantes

Had disappeared into the desert
From which they came.

No one's quite sure what
Happened to their civilization.

But the mark
They left on the landscape

Can still be seen from space.

A new mexico news
Reporter discovers

Strange symbols in the desert.

Gough:
These are absolutely huge.

What are they doing there?
Who put them there and why?

No one will tell you
What it stands for,

What the signs are,
And you can't go there.

Narrator: the investigation
Leads to a powerful,

Highly secretive organization.

It's very sinister
And very creepy.

No question about it.

Narrator:
Albuquerque, 2005,

A television news reporter
Gets a lead

That will put her station
In the headlines.

She gets a phone call saying
That there is some weird signs

In this mountain.

She gets in a car.
She checks it out.

Narrator:
The location is 150 miles north

Of roswell near
A ghost town called trementina.

She sees fences going on
For miles and miles and miles.

And there's nobody around.

Narrator:
The reporter doesn't get in.

Whoever owns this patch
Of desert,

It doesn't look
Like visitors are welcome.

The news reporter checks
Satellite images of the site.

What she finds is astounding.

Two enormous rings
With diamonds inside them,

And the two rings intersect.

Narrator:
The trementina circles are more
Than 1,000 feet in diameter.

These are absolutely huge.

What are they doing there?
Who put them there and why?

Narrator:
The satellite image confirms

The news team
Has a story on their hands.

But shortly before the story
Is due to air,

The television station
Has unexpected visitors.

Sweeney: the station is invaded
By men in dark suits.

And their message is simple,
Do not broadcast this piece.

Gough:
These are google earth images.

So there's no transgression
Of anything legal whatsoever.

So they run with the story.

Narrator:
The provincial news station
Has just crossed a powerful

And secretive organization,

The church of scientology.

Domingo:
The church gets really itchy
About their secrets.

The first thing when you talk
About scientology

Is their legal team comes in.

Sweeney:
When the church comes after you,

It's scary,
No question about it.

Narrator:
Bbc journalist john sweeney

Has conducted his own
Investigation into trementina.

It was as creepy and frightening

As going to north korea.

Cctv cameras
Are slowly tracking me.

And I walk up the intercom,
I press a button.

What happens next
Is even more peculiar.

[ pulsing tone ]

That doesn't sound very helpful.

Perhaps that's
The church of scientology

Trying to communicate with us.

Narrator: despite the church's
Notorious closed-door policy,

Ex-scientologists offer
An explanation for the symbols

Etched into the desert floor

And what lies beneath.

The facility is
An underground bomb shelter

Where they're gonna preserve
Their most sacred texts.

Narrator: a secondary structure
May house the opening

To these supposed
Subterranean vaults.

Sweeney: there's a house
Which backs onto the mountain.

Behind that, there are
The secret vaults.

Narrator:
Investigators can only speculate
About what may be hidden

Inside the secret base.

Sweeney: the word is that
Inside trementina base

Are discs of gold.

And on them are the speeches

And talks and wisdom
Of the church of scientology.

Narrator:
The founder of scientology,

L. Ron hubbard was obsessed
With his legacy.

L. Ron hubbard,
According to scientologists,

Is one of
The greatest human beings

That ever lived.

The critics of l ron hubbard

Say that he wrote
Bad science fiction.

And then one day,
He wrote a bad religion.

Hubbard warned
About a nuclear war.

And he said he wanted
Scientologists to survive.

If the world ends,
This weird symbol in the desert

Would mark where you
Could still find scientology.

Narrator: this explanation for
The purpose of trementina base

Raises more questions
Than it answers.

Even if this is gonna
Be a repository

For all of
Their teachings, fine.

But why do you need
This gargantuan symbol?

Narrator:
A faint line next to the image,

Although easily missed,
Could provide the solution.

Next to the sign,
There's a zig-zag.

That's a road.
And that leads to an air strip.

Narrator:
The air strip is registered
With the authorities

But doesn't appear on any maps.

Could the strange symbols
Be giant markers

To lead pilots to the runway?

You can only see this thing
From high, high up.

Gough: so having these symbols
On the ground

Are gonna alert
Those in the know

That there is
An air strip there.

Narrator:
If they are location markers,
Just who are they guiding in?

Perhaps the most intriguing idea

Is that trementina could be
A secret training facility

Where scientologists
Attempt to gain

And master superhuman powers.

Hubbard says there are
57 senses, not 5.

When you heighten your awareness
Of these senses,

You will, literally, be elevated

To the status
Of magic super spirit.

Sweeney:
You become a superhuman.

You have powers over matter,
Energy, space and time.

Narrator:
As strange as it might sound,

The church has already built
One training complex

Called the super power building
In clearwater, florida.

Domingo:
The super power building
Took 13 years to build.

And it looks like
A space ship inside.

Gough:
The rumors just run rampant
As to what goes on there.

Everything from
A wellness center

To something called an orbitron.

Sweeney:
People say the orbitron

Can change your state
Into a higher being.

To outsiders, talk
Of superpowers sounds insane.

To scientologists,
These abilities are very real.

The beliefs are a product
Of scientology's strange

And complex mythology.

75 million year ago,

A space alien called lord xenu,

A warlord,
Brought space aliens to earth

And massacred them with
Hydrogen bombs inside volcanoes.

And then the souls of these dead
Space aliens have stuck to us.

Domingo: the core of scientology
Is releasing

These trapped space alien
Entities from your body.

Narrator: when scientology's
Most dedicated disciples

Shed their alien souls,

They die peacefully
And fly into space

But only after
Signing a contract

Pledging to return
In the next billion years

Whenever the earth is in peril.

Domingo:
The billion-year contract
Is basically the idea

That we die, and we come back.

And we carry on the battle
To save the planet.

Narrator:
The theory goes that trementina
Could become a base

For scientology's super men
When they come back to earth.

Sweeney: this is a kind
Of space alien cathedral.

It's like a sign
To space aliens

Or space travelers, come here.

Domingo: hubbard certainly
Talked about

All the space adventures
We'd have together.

So for him to put tracks
On the ground

For space ships to see
Would be completely normal.