All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S03E11.1080p.DSCP.WEB-DL.AAC2.0.H.264-BTN_track3_[eng]

Narrator:
They're watching you.

More than 4,000 satellites
Circle the earth.

Every day, they uncover new,
Mysterious phenomenon.

Some defy explanation.

You certainly don't expect
To see that every day.

Whatever it is,
It can't be good.

Narrator: blood-red scars ooze
Across the chinese desert.

I'm not sure the chinese
Government would be delighted

That we have this image.

Narrator:
Giant worm-like shapes emerge

From the wild canadian forests.

Is this some sort of
Freak of nature?

Narrator:
And an ominous circle appears

In a field in germany.

Could this be the remains
Of a nazi concentration camp?

Narrator: baffling phenomena,
Mysteries from space,

What on earth are they?

**

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

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

Narrator: june 2006,
Amateur sleuths discover

An unusual
Satellite photograph online.

Their investigation creates
A storm of controversy.

The image shows what appears
To be a mountain range,

Complete with rivers and lakes,

Surrounded by a fence

In an otherwise
Featureless desert.

The entire mountain range
Is inside a perfect rectangle.

How can that be?

Narrator: mountain ranges
Don't end in straight lines.

The image also shows
Nearby buildings

Bigger than many of the peaks
Within the fenced area.

The only possible conclusion

Is that the mountains
Are very small.

It's almost as if someone
Has cut out a picture,

Maybe a piece of the himalayas,

And has stuck it
Onto this satellite image.

Narrator: the photo was taken
Over the yinchuan district

In the gobi desert,
Central china.

This particular feature suggests

To me some kind
Of control over nature.

Narrator:
Scale analysis of the photograph

Reveals the area
Of the fenced-off rectangle

Is just
A quarter square mile.

It looks right.
Uh, but the scale is all wrong.

This mountain range
Must be really tiny.

Narrator:
Using the satellite photograph,

Investigators also gauge
The height of the mountains.

But the data raises
More questions.

The image data tells us

That these mountains all sit
At the same elevation.

That makes them
Effectively flat.

Now, how can you
Have flat mountains?

Narrator:
Why would anyone fence

Off a range
Of miniature mountains?

Perhaps the weirdest theory
Anyone's come up with is

That this could be
A chinese theme park.

Sites all over the world
Feature miniature settings.

Disney's small world
And legoland come to mind,

Entire cities of mountain ranges

And lakes reproduced for
The enjoyment of the tourist.

Narrator:
But the area in question

Is on the edge
Of the gobi desert,

570 miles west of beijing,

Hardly a place
For a tourist attraction.

This is a desolate region
Of northern china.

There are no tourists here.

It makes no sense

To build some cutesy
Small world attraction.

Who's gonna come?

This is a really
Curious situation.

What're they trying to do
Inside this rectangle?

Narrator: experts consider
Whether the site

Could be a pattern

Used to calibrate
Chinese spy satellites.

China has more spy satellites

Than the rest
Of the world combined,

Most of which are run

By the military
For the military.

And they're taking
Pictures of things

That they consider
Military important.

Narrator: to calibrate
The satellite's

On-board cameras,

Their lenses are trained

On special symbols
On the ground.

In the 1960s,

The cia's corona spy
Satellite program

Constructing huge concrete
Crosses

Across the arizona desert

For exactly this purpose.

Imaging satellites
Are calibrated

By having permanent targets

That they shoot at all the time

Just so they can check
The camera performance.

Those targets are laid out
In the fields

With things painted on them
Like scales and circles

And all kinds of stuff.

Narrator:
The high-performance cameras

On satellites need clear shapes

And regular lines to check focus
And image quality.

This haphazard pattern
Of mountains and valleys

Would make a poor
Calibration target.

It does not have the --
The normal things,

You know, marks on the ground
That are measured and all that.

There's nothing in this image,
To me, that says,

"This is for
Calibration purposes."

Narrator:
The official explanation

From the chinese government

For the weird rectangle
Of apparently flat mountains

Is that it's a tank
Training site.

Every military on the planet

Needs to train up
Their personnel.

They train up the new recruits.

They maintain discipline
And qualifications

For their existing soldiers.

When you're blowing things up,

You wanna be well
Away from urban centers.

So it's remoteness
Would make sense.

Narrator: closer analysis of
The image reveals

That something doesn't fit
With the official explanation.

You're not driving a tank

Without leaving
Tread marks, right?

So this is gonna be
A pretty churned up area,

Uh, for -- for part of this.

The roads are much
Smaller than you'd think.

So it's not a full tank
Training area, by any means.

If the official explanation

From the chinese government

Is that it's a tank
Training site attached

To a military facility,

Then you would take that
With a grain of salt

And assume it's probably not.

And you would look
For other purposes.

Narrator: an anonymous post
On an internet discussion group

Provides
A potential breakthrough.

Painstaking searches reveal

The rectangular area
In the photograph

Is an exact match
For a mountain range

In a disputed border province.

This area is called aksai chin,

1,500 miles away
On the china/india border.

The presence of this
Precise miniature replica

Arouses fears
That china could be

Preparing to reignite
A long-running border conflict

With neighboring india.

Militaries all over the world

Build replicas of things

That they're going
To potentially have to --

Have to face.

If you're preparing
For an operation,

Then it is very typical
To create mock-ups.

And those mock-ups
Can be extremely detailed.

Narrator: china and india
Have fought a war once

Before over this border region.

And the two opposing
Military forces

Are the largest in the world.

It's been a longstanding
Point of contention

Between the two nations.

The area was originally
Given, uh, to pakistan.

And pakistan gave to china.

Right now,
India wants it back.

If you're gonna fight
With the indians

Up in the high mountains
Of tibet,

You'd wanna know
What you're gonna face.

Narrator: both sides also have
A powerful nuclear capability.

If those two militaries,
Chinese military,

Indian military,
Actually did clash,

It would be catastrophic.

It would not just be
A regional concern.

That -- that's a global issue.

Narrator: to date, chinese
Officials continue to deny

That the weird
Miniature mountain site

In the gobi desert is anything

More than an ordinary
Military training ground.

But both china and india
Maintain

A constant vigil along
The disputed border.

A giant letter "Z" appears
In satellite images

Of a hilltop in northern mexico.

Could this be some
Sort of zorro fanboy

Making a giant homage
To his hero?

When you see this big letter
Zed on the side of the mountain,

That is something intimidating.

Narrator: the mark appears
In an area torn apart

By fierce gang warfare.

I've been into the region,
Covering stories

And it's, uh, it's really
Quite frightening.

Narrator: may 2012,
The goi-1 satellite captures

An image of a strange scar
Carved into a hilltop

In a region of mexico torn
Apart by gang wars.

It's something which stands out

Very clearly
From the mountain.

It looks very clearly marked.

Narrator: the image comes from

Just outside the town
Of torreon,

In northern mexico.

The sudden appearance
Of the letter-shaped scar

On the hill causes
Widespread confusion.

I don't know what to make of it.

Nobody's quite sure
Exactly where it came from.

Narrator: scientists assess
Whether there could be

A natural explanation

For the bizarre-shaped scar.

There are natural features

On the surface of the earth,

Particularly ones
We can see from space,

That look like things,

That look like things
We recognize

And are familiar to us

From our cultural experiences,

Including letters.

Narrator:
Certain geological processes

Can naturally create
Weird-shaped anomalies.

It could be
An erosional feature,

Like a river running
Straight downhill.

It could be a fault line.
It could be a ridgeline.

Narrator: detailed examination
Of the satellite image

Reveals that the "Z" symbol
Is inside another shape,

An almost-perfect rectangle.

Things that are natural
Are never this straight,

Never this perfect.

It just doesn't fit
With the natural phenomena.

It makes me wonder
What's goin' on here?

Narrator: the hill's location
Forces analysts to conclude

That this shape
Is most likely man-made.

When you zoom out of the image,

You see it's right
Next to a major highway.

That is way too convenient.

Somebody wants this to be seen.

Narrator:
A photograph taken from the road

Reveals that the carved shape

Is clearly visible
As a giant "Z."

It's the call sign of one
Well-known mexican legend.

When you see a giant
Letter "Z" in mexico,

How can you not think
Of the legendary zorro?

Narrator:
The heroic masked bandit zorro

Made his first appearance
In a 1919 action novel

And has gone on to spawn
Countless movies and tv shows.

Take care of this.
[ speaks indistinctly ]

...Attempted an attack.

But I managed
To drive them off.

It would be just
So amazing and miraculous

If the zeta
On the hillside belonged

To this masked man named zorro.

He is certainly
A romantic figure,

A little bit of a robin hood.

Zorro was a hero

Who would mark his letter
Zed where he went.

Could this be some
Sort of zorro fanboy

Making a giant homage
To his hero?

Narrator: the "Z" extends over
100 feet across the hillside,

Too big to be the work
Of a lone artist.

Whoever created this had help.

But who from and why?

One possible motivation
Behind the symbol is politics.

In mexico, political campaigning

Is highly visible
At street level,

With signs and walls

Often used as makeshift
Election posters.

The thing you see
Most often is graffiti,

Painted or scrolled onto walls.

And usually, it's the initials
Of the candidate.

Narrator:
The name of a recent politician

Running for state governor
In this area

Could provide an explanation
For the mysterious "Z."

One of the candidates
In this election

Goes by the name zermeno.

There's your "Z" right there.

Narrator:
But in 2016, investigators

On the ground
Go to re-examine the "Z."

They discover the sign
Has been removed.

The investigation
Turns to the area's

Recent troubled history
For clues

To who may have
Carved the huge "Z."

What it uncovers
Is far more sinister

Than any political connection.

There is a gang
Called the los zetas.

And they use the "Z"
As their symbol.

Los zetas is probably
One of the most deadly,

Vicious drug cartels in mexico.

These are monsters.
They really are monsters.

Narrator:
Members of los zetas

Were trained in
The mexican special forces

Before becoming a powerful
And violent cartel.

They rule the region
With an iron fist.

I've been into the region.

I've been in there a number
Of times covering stories.

And it's, uh, it's really
Quite frightening.

There's a saying in mexico --
¿plata o plomo?

So, "Silver or lead."

You know, "You either pay me,

Or I kill you."

Narrator:
For the past six years,

Los zetas have been involved
In a bloody turf war

Against other drug cartels
To claim the lucrative

Trafficking routes into the u.S.

They committed some
Of the worst atrocities

In the mexican drug war.

They left 49 decapitated
Corpses on the side of a road.

They left a field
With 193 bodies.

In this bloodshed,
They became so notorious,

That their letter, their symbol
Was known by everybody.

And it became like
They owned the letter zed.

If that letter was mentioned,
You thought of the zetas.

Narrator:
This is a cartel with the funds

And resources
Of a small country.

That means weapons,

Satellite capabilities,

Um, drones,

Uh, the ability to listen in
On radio calls.

Narrator: is it possible
The giant "Z" visible from space

Could be a territorial mark

In the turf war
Between rival cartels?

The zetas were saying,
"This is our territory."

You know, we battled for it.
We won it.

And now, we're just gonna
Stick it in your face.

Los zetas is known to carve
Z's into their victims.

So it shouldn't surprise us
In the least

That they could carve
A "Z" into the hill.

Narrator:
If the mystery "Z" was the work

Of a gang marking its territory,

That would provide a motive
For local people to remove it.

You don't want gang graffiti.

It's intimidating to people.

So many people
Would have a motive

For that symbol not to be seen

Every time you drive
Past on a road.

Narrator: los zetas have never
Claimed responsibility

For the hillside "Z."

But for the local people
Living in fear of the cartel,

It doesn't matter.

Whether this big zed
On the side of the mountain

Was a natural formation

Or done for political campaigns

Or some old sign of a bandit,

The vast majority of people

When they see it will
Right away think,

"The zetas cartel."

Narrator: flying high over
India, a satellite captures

The image of a lake covered
In strange rings.

Some of them appear
To be moving.

They actually look too round
To really be natural.

It's a baffling mystery.

These look like they were
Carefully placed by someone.

Narrator: february 2012,
The quickbird-2

Imaging satellite
Is orbiting 300 miles

Above a remote corner of india

When it photographs a bizarre
Lake covered in circles.

Looking down at this from space,

It looks like some kind
Of sci-fi movie

Or almost like looking
Through a microscope.

They're all slightly different.

So it's really hard to tell
If they're man-made.

Or if there's some
Sort of natural formation.

Narrator: the lake is near
The city of moreh,

Manipur state,

40 miles from india's
Remote frontier with burma.

The unusual body of water
Is known locally as loktak lake,

Which means stream end.

These formations are unique
To this one lake in the world.

Narrator:
The local people live in fear

Of a powerful water deity
Who inhabits the lake.

If you lose your boat,

If you lose a day's fishing,

The river god is angry with you.

The river is a being.

It gives you life or it
Takes your life.

They all worship it so that

They're not swept away
By its rage.

Narrator: the ancient legends
Of the local water god

Shed no light
On the strange circles.

But the traditions of the people

Who live here
Could offer a clue.

For hundreds of years,
The lake dwellers

Have survived by fishing.

When we've seen circles

Like this before
In satellite footage,

It's often fish farming.

And that would be a guess here.

Fish farms are a way
To grow lots

And lots of fish
For human consumption.

Oftentimes, they are
Built in a circle

Because that's the easiest way

To get the largest
Amount of fish.

Narrator: but closer analysis of
The satellite image

Reveals something green

Growing across many
Of the circles.

The green growths arouse fears

The lake is being overrun

By a plague of toxic lifeforms.

Could these circles be a sign

Of a some sort of pollution
In the lake?

Narrator: microscopic blue/green
Algae called cyanobacteria

Can multiply uncontrollably,

Turning clean water
Into a toxic green sludge.

Cyanobacteria have been around
Since the precambrian era.

If they have the right
Environmental conditions

And the right nutrient
Conditions,

These species can
Divide very rapidly.

Big blooms of cyanobacteria
Can actually be dangerous.

A bloom in the river
Darling in australia

Actually killed 1,600 sheep.

The toxins from cyanobacteria
Can affect human health,

Animal health,
And environmental health.

Narrator:
Although cyanobacteria are tiny,

Single-celled organisms,

They can clump together

To form massive
Floating islands.

But it's unheard of for them
To form perfectly shaped rings

Like the ones visible
In the image.

I think it's fair to say
That, uh, the --

The algal blooms wouldn't form
Perfect, uh concentric circles.

Uh, that'd be very unusual.

And that is a very large
Area for an algal bloom.

Narrator:
Ground-level investigation

Reveals the circles

Are made of long strands
Of plant-like material.

We're just looking at the top

Of this spongy
Vegetable growth that

Goes all the way
Underneath the surface.

It's like the tip
Of a massive iceberg.

Narrator: the local people
Call the strange blobs

Phumdis,
Meaning floating mats.

Analyzing satellite imagery
Over the course of a year

Reveals something bizarre.

At certain times,
The phumdis appear to move.

And the neat thing is that a lot
Of them are actually attached

To the ground via roots.

When the monsoons come,
The water levels go up.

And then when they leave,
The water level goes down.

These phumdis float in
The water.

And in theory,
They move up and down

As the monsoons come and go.

Narrator:
The locals are known to shape

The spongy plants into circles

And even use them
As floating living spaces.

There is a thriving community
That lives on the phumdis.

They make their huts out of it.

It's something that's been
Going on and a tradition

That's handed down from father
To daughter to son to mother.

And it goes on.

Narrator: scientists have yet
To discover why

The phumdis form.

Research into the phenomenon
Is ongoing.

It really is astonishing

That these are
Natural formations.

I have never seen
Anything like it.

I definitely think
It's a wonder of the world.

Narrator:
Government inspectors flying

Over central germany spot

Something strange
On the ground --

A large, circular shadow hidden
Beneath a field of wheat.

The site is located right
In what was the heartland of --

Of -- of the nazi movement.

Narrator: excavations
Reveal what could be

A gruesome legacy
Of germany's dark past.

Could this be the remains
Of a nazi concentration camp?

It has three
Prominent entryways.

Inside here, we have bones.

Narrator: june 1999,

Government inspectors
Conducting an aerial survey

Over central germany spot
Something on the ground --

A faint circular shadow

Just visible beneath
A field of wheat.

It doesn't look like
It's cut into the earth.

So maybe it's --
It's built up, uh,

In some fashion, hard to say.

Narrator:
Closer inspection of the image

Reveals key details.

Altaweel: it has three
Prominent entryways.

Um, they're very clearly
And distinct on the image.

Narrator: the weird circle
Was spotted

Near the town of goseck,
Central germany.

Its location raises
The possibility it

Could be a relic
Of the cold war.

During the cold war,
What was significant

About the area of goseck

Is that, actually,
It's on the iron curtain.

It's close by boundary
Between east and west germany.

Narrator:
Communist forces patrolled

The border areas
With helicopters.

Could this be a landing site
For russian security forces?

We have to remember
That border wasn't --

It's a massive wall

With security outposts every,
You know, hundred meters.

A lot of that border
Was nothing.

There was nothing there.
So they used patrols.

They used helicopters
To cover all that territory.

In order to be able to patrol

From the air,
You would need bases.

And they would need
Landing areas.

And they'd obviously
Need supplies and fuel

And everything else
That you'd need to have.

Narrator: scale analysis of
The image reveals the circle

Is 250 feet wide,

The width of a soccer field.

The theory that
This could be a helipad

Used by the soviets
During the cold war,

Nah, you know,
I'm not buying it.

It just -- the --
The site seems way too large

For that purpose.

Narrator:
Investigators look further back

Into germany's history for clues

To what this strange
Shape could be.

The site is located right
In what was the heartland of --

Of -- of the nazi movement.

That gives you possibly
A direction to go.

Could this be the remains
Of a nazi concentration camp?

Narrator: this circle lies close
To the site of one

Of the most feared concentration
Camps in nazi germany

Known as mittelbau-dora.

Over the course of three years,

Thousands of jews
And other so-called undesirables

Were sent here
For horrific forced labor.

Mittelbau-dora was largely
Used for forced labor,

Building underground facilities
For the nazi movement,

Particularly manufacture of fuel
And aircraft parts.

Between 1943 and 1945,

Deportees arrived at the camp,

Up to 60,000 of them,

Living under
Horrendous conditions.

One in three of them
Simply were worked to death.

Narrator: dora was so large,

It had a network
Of 30 additional sub-camps

In the surrounding countryside.

Is this one of those camps

That was actually used as a way

Of holding the inmates?

Narrator:
As germany faced defeat,

The nazi forces tried
To destroy all evidence

Of their concentration
Camp system.

But the speed of
The allied advance

Took them by surprise.

The advance was moving
So fast that typically,

The german military
Just left the camp standing.

They didn't have time
To destroy them.

Robertshaw:
Dora was evacuated.

But only the inmates
Were removed.

The allies found the buildings.

And this camp,
If it was a camp,

Would have been identified
At the end of the war.

It wasn't.

Narrator: for years after
Its discovery,

The mystery of the circle
Remains unsolved.

Then, in 2002, guided by
The aerial photos,

A team of archaeologists
Move onto the site.

Excavations find no trace
Of wartime buildings.

But what they do discover shocks
The archaeological community.

Within the circle,
They unearth remains

Of human and animal bones

That date back to 4900 b.C.,

Millennia before stonehenge
Or the great pyramids of egypt.

The team is lead
By françois bertemes.

The people who built this place

Were the first agriculturalists
Coming to europe.

They were no traces
Of buildings,

No traces of settlements.

It was an open space
Without any roof.

Narrator: using clues unearthed
During the excavation,

Bertemes is now
Restoring the site

To its original appearance.

So we do not know if this was
The center of a new cult

In, uh, the neolithic period
All over europe.

But we can say, uh, it's one
Of the oldest settlements

Of this type we know.

Narrator: the ancient people
That built this site left

Behind fragments of pottery

And a grizzly collection
Of animal and human remains.

Inside here, within the ditch

And within the pits,
We have bones.

We find skeletons, for example,
Also in the ditch

And, uh, in special pits.

Next to the entrance
Over there,

We have another pit
With the right hand.

But not from the same person.

Narrator: the discovery of body
Parts triggers speculation

That this site was the venue
For ritualized murders.

Many civilizations
Sacrifice humans

As a way to placate the gods.

Narrator: the three openings
Seen on the aerial image

Have now been reconstructed
On the ground as gateways.

Their orientation suggests
The ritual activities

May have been guided by the sun.

Two of the gates seem to be
Pointing towards the direction

Of where the sun rises and sets,

Suggesting it might
Be associated

With some kind of seasonable
Calendar kind of system.

You can observe the sun rise

And the sun down
During the solstices

In the winter
And, uh, the summer.

And also for the first may.

And the first may, finally,
Is a very important,

Uh, uh, festivity,

What are very important today
For germanic religions.

Narrator: archaeologists now
Believe this site could've been

Used as a portal or gateway
To the spirit world.

Maybe one of the reasons

They had to build
These kind of sanctuaries

Was, uh, to try
To bring a new balance

Between the other world

And, uh, our world,

To have a better contact
Or balance between the --

The deities and their
Actual, uh, life.

Narrator: this 7,000-year-old
Site predates written history.

And little is known
About its mysterious creators.

The secrets of their gruesome
Rituals are lost to history.

Passing over western china,

The goi-1 imaging satellite

Captures a scene
Of blood red scars

Cut into the desert landscape.

Whatever that is,
It doesn't look good.

Narrator: the red shapes appear
In a dangerous region

Of china plagued
By violence and unrest.

The area is, uh,
Very heavily

Policed by chinese police

And a very large presence

Of the chinese people's
Liberation army as well.

Looks to me like
The ground is bleeding.

Narrator: october 2015,
The goi-1 imaging satellite

Passes high above western china.

It captures
A disturbing image.

The ground below
Is covered with large,

Blood-red scars.

I'm not sure what those are.

These red marks?

No, they don't
Look good at all.

Looks to me like
The ground is bleeding.

Narrator:
The arid landscape in the image

Is in the xinjiang province

At the edge of china's
Taklamakan desert.

This region is a volatile
And dangerous place,

A site of fierce uprisings
By the local uyghur people

And brutal crackdowns
From the chinese authorities.

Tight controls over information
And travel in the region

Make it difficult
For international observers

To assess the situation
On the ground.

There is a certain, uh,
Restive element

That would like to see the area
Become independent of --

Of the rest of china.

There's heavy chinese
Army presence there.

And so journalist access to --

To the country, like tibet,
Is very limited.

And we don't always have a --

A great sense of
What's going on there.

Narrator: the massive red marks
Arouse fears

Of a devastating
Industrial accident.

When we look at china,
One of the first things we --

We always think of
When we see a great,

Big red patch or something
Like this is pollution.

What sort of pollution
Turns a place blood red?

Narrator:
Industrial incidents in china

Have seen cities engulfed
By huge chemical explosions

And rivers run red
With toxic pollutants.

Several years ago,
In the jianhe river

In northern china,

A chemical works did spill
Large amounts of red dye,

Which turned the entire river
And all the tributaries

From it a very bright
Shade of red.

I've heard of rivers
Running red but never deserts.

This is weird.

What we could be
Looking at here

Is illegal mining
For nickel or rare earths.

And as the earth is churned up
Through open cask mining,

Which of course
Destroy the landscape

So large amounts of red earth

Are spilled across the land.

Narrator:
Could the chinese government

Be using its control
Of information

Coming out of the region
To cover up something

They don't want
The international community

To know about?

The chinese government
Has the ability

To switch off
The internet in xinjiang

So as to prevent any news

That they don't like
Filtering in or filtering out

Of the country.

If what we're looking at was
Actually due to pollution,

That would not
Necessarily be news

That they would want to get out.

Narrator:
But when image analysts look

At satellite imagery

Taken at different
Times of the year,

They discover
The blood red scars

Come and go
At regular intervals.

The regulation makes
The chemical spill

Theory seem unlikely.

The fact that these
Red patches appear

And then disappear,

It's baffling, I have to say.

Narrator:
The red patches are only present

For a few months each year.

But their seasonal appearance
Could be an indicator

That the satellite
Has captured evidence

Of china's illegal
Narcotics trade.

Perhaps these are fields
Of red poppies.

Narrator: interpol gateway
Reports that the xinjiang region

Has become a gateway for heroin
Entering the country.

For drug traffickers,
Growing opium poppies locally

Would eliminate the need
For risky importation.

But poppies blossom
In spring and summer,

Not in the autumn
When the image was taken.

Poppies do grow in xinjiang.

But I don't think
They are grown

On an industrial
Sort of agricultural scale.

So I don't think
It can be poppies.

Narrator: zooming in further
On the image reveals

That the red patches
Are divided into distinct rows.

Ground level investigation
Finally reveals the answer

To the mystery.

And it's red hot.

The region is famous

For its hot peppers and chiles.

Xinjiang cuisine is very spicy.

It's very hot.

Narrator: the rows seen in
The image are millions of chiles

Drying out in
The hot desert air.

Throughout the fall,
The hillsides of xinjiang become

Bright red as the chiles
Are laid out to dry.

The chilis are not
Indigenous to china.

But for the last
300 years or so,

They have been increasingly
Used as an ingredient

In all sorts of cuisines
To add flavor and spice.

And the demand for them
Is extremely high.

Chiles have to dry in the sun,

Preferably at temperatures
Around 90 degrees,

Which is certainly what
The temperature is out

In that part of xinjiang.

That's a whole lotta chiles.

French: so what the satellite
Image is actually showing us

Is that china's national taste

Now can be seen from space.

Narrator: a satellite orbiting
Above canada spots

Giant worm-like shapes emerging

From the forest wilderness.

The shadows being casts
By these mounts are larger

Than the shadow being cast
By the building.

These things are massive.

It looks like some
Writhing mass of white worms.

Narrator: september 2006,

The quickbird-2 satellite
Is orbiting over

The canadian wilderness

When it captures
An image of giant,

Worm-like shapes
Emerging from the forest.

It really looks like some
Writhing mass of white worms.

There's no obvious
Beginning or end,

Just how big are they?

It doesn't show anything that
Makes any logical sense.

What could have formed
These strange shapes?

Narrator: the image was captured
4 miles east of the isolated

Town of dawson city
In yukon territory, canada.

Image analyst
Amanda marchetti examines

The photo to get an idea
Of their size and scale.

The shadows being casts
By these mounds are larger

Than the shadow being cast
By the building.

And that tells me
That that feature

Is much larger
Than the building.

These things are massive.

What on earth could cause

This type of a feature
To occur at such a scale?

It looks like a worm cast
You get on the beach.

But it's far too big.

Unless it's absolutely
An enormous worm.

Narrator: legends of giant worms
Are found throughout history.

Could any of these
Stories offer a clue

To the strange shapes
In the image?

Tall tales of giant,
Monstrous worms like

The norse jormungandr
Or the inuit sikusi

Have been around for centuries.

But a 2011 discovery off

The coast of australia
Makes the old stories

Look a whole lot
Less far-fetched.

This whale-size monster
Is called a pyrosome

And measures up
To 100 feet long.

Is this some sort of
Freak of nature?

Narrator: the good news is,
You only get worm-like creatures

This big in the ocean.

But this remote
Region of canada

Has its own legendary worm.

Dawson city here
Is actually famous

For some real-life
Bizarre creatures --

Ice worms.

Narrator:
In 1898, a local journalist

Called ej stroller white
Made a startling claim.

He published an article
In the "Klondike nugget"

Newspaper announcing
The discovery of a worm emerging

From the ice of a glacier.

He called it an ice worm.

They live in glaciers

And in other permanent
Sources of ice.

Has our planet been
Invaded by ice worms?

Narrator:
But the dawson city ice worm

Comes up short
As an answer to the mystery.

Ice worms are little
Tiny earthworm-like creatures.

Basically, imagine
The earthworm in your yard,

But little tiny things

That live completely
On glaciers.

Narrator:
The legendary ice worms

Are not the monsters of myth

And were even used
By pubs and bars

To add a kick
To the local moonshine.

To make an ice worm cocktail,
You're gonna need a glass,

Some hooch, and an ice worm.

Apparently, the locals use

These ice worms much
In the same way

That mexicans use
The mexican tequila worm.

You would never see
Ice worms from space.

So what is showing up
On this image?

I suspect some pretty frenzied
Human activity at some point.

Narrator: ground-level
Inspection of the site reveals

The worm-like
Shapes seen from space

Are massive piles
Of rock and gravel.

One intriguing possibility
Is that these stones

Could be part of
The u.S. Military's plans

To defeat an invasion by japan
During world war ii.

In 1942, in response
To a potential japanese invasion

Of america's western coast,

The american army
Built a completely new road

Right across alaska,

Linking east to west,

Allowing troops to deal

With any potential
Japanese threat.

Narrator: in the dark days
After pearl harbor,

The u.S. Navy was crippled.

Key islands
In the north pacific

Fell to the japanese,

Leaving the alaskan shoreline
Wide-open to invasion.

U.S. Military engineers
Built a huge highway

Stretching 1,500 miles
Across canada

And into alaska
To allow rapid access

To airfields
Within range of japan.

This could be the remains
Of the material used,

Perhaps part of the extraction.

We're talking about
Moving material,

The amount of which
Was equivalent to building

Another panama canal.

Narrator: if these bizarre
Shapes really are the leftovers

From world war ii excavations,

It would be logical
To expect them

To be close
To the alaska highway.

The problem is that
The actual highway itself

Is 100 miles away.

Why would you travel
Cross-country

Just to dump the rubble?

Narrator:
The answer to the mystery

Of the snaking heaps of rock
Could lie further back

In dawson city's
Turbulent history.

In 1896, uh, in a river valley,
Uh, they found gold.

Start of the klondike gold rush
Was a phenomenon

Never before seen by man.

There was so much
Fever-pitch excitement,

Uh, people coming up here
Looking for gold,

Expecting, uh,
More than they found.

And some found more
Than they expected.

The klondike was
Absolute wild west.

It's dangerous.
But you can make your fortune.

Narrator: but the sheer size
Of these massive piles

Of rubble rules
Out the possibility

They were made
By lone prospectors

Chasing a dream of gold.

We're not talking
About panning

For gold in a stream here.

To leave behind huge piles
Of gravel

Like this would require
A monster machine.

This is gold mining
In a huge, industrial scale.

The satellite image contains

The key to the mystery.

Close to the gravel piles

Is a large
Rectangular structure.

What looks like a building
Is revealed at ground level

To be a vast mobile gold dredge

Standing eight stories high.

Dredge number four is
Like a giant gold pan

On a floating barge

Where it picks up
The gold-bearing gravel.

It sorts them with water.

The gold would settle
In the bottom.

And the waste would
Go out the back.

You can gauge out enormous
Quantities of earth with trucks

That are the size of houses,

Extracting gold
From huge piles of material

And then dump the remnants,

Which are called the tailings.

It generates piles
Of material on the surface

That are hundreds of feet long

And many tens of feet high.

Narrator: the massive dredging
Machines would move along,

Digging out the earth,
Extracting the gold,

And then leave a long pile
Of leftover rubble behind them,

Creating the worm-like shapes.

These dredges were
Very efficient

At extracting that fine
Flour gold or sugar gold.

And they could do the work
Of several hundred men.

We're talking about one machine
On one occasion

Recovering something
Like 9 tons of gold.

Narrator: the bizarre worm-like
Gravel piles

Are a striking reminder
Of a bygone era

Of hope and desperation,

The history
Of canada's gold rush,

Visible from space.