All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S03E17.1080p.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 phenomena

That defy explanation --

There's something weird
Going on here.

It's suspicious.

Narrator: ...A giant head
From the dawn of civilization...

2,000, 3,000 years older

Than some of
The great pyramids of egypt.

Narrator: ...Raises the fear
Of primeval monsters...

People firmly believe
That they are there.

Narrator: ...Instilling terror
In the locals...

Hoyle: they all died.

One of the hikers had
Her tongue bitten out.

Narrator: ...Mysterious islands
Just off florida...

There's no evidence
That in the history of humanity

Have we had the capability
To do engineering at this scale.

Narrator: ...And the rock
Creatures transforming earth...

Those bugs are still down here.

Narrator: ...Weird,
Giant lumps in the jungle...

Kourounis:
It looks like reptile skin,

Like scales on a snake
Or a lizard.

Narrator: ...And the black hole
That came down to earth.

Kourounis:
It's mind-blowing.

Narrator: baffling phenomena,
Mysteries from space,

What on earth are they?

**

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

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

Narrator: a satellite detects
A looming shape

In a remote spot on a vast
Russian mountain range.

[ satellite warbling ]

Kourounis: that's huge.

Whoever built this went
To a lot of trouble.

Narrator: analysts believe
This shape is not accidental.

It represents something,

Something that could shed light
On the savage rituals

And mystical beliefs practiced

At the dawn
Of human civilization.

These people would've made
A representation of an animal...

[ bear roars ]

In order to gain protection
From it.

Narrator: legend has it
The shape summons up

The specter
Of a long-dead monster...

[ thunder crashes ]

Blamed for the terrifying fate
Of mountain explorers.

One of the hikers had
Her tongue bitten out.

And they all died.

[ people screaming ]

Narrator: 2007.

A satellite camera captures
A shape carved into a mountain

In a remote region
Of southwest russia.

Kourounis:
I can see an outline,

But I'm not exactly sure
What it's meant to be.

It's hard to tell.

The shapes that are forming it
Look far more man-made

Compared to something
You might get from nature.

Narrator: at first glance,
It appears to be a woodland path

Or an off-road track.

But if the image is rotated,
A familiar figure emerges.

It looks like
It's some kind of horned animal.

It looks like a moose or an elk
Or some type of antlered animal.

Narrator: analysis reveals
The animal-head shape

Is over 700 feet tall.

It covers an area the size
Of 10 football fields.

That's huge.

Imagine trying to take a drawing
That you've made

And upscale it to that size
And have it still make sense.

Whoever built this went
To a lot of trouble.

Narrator: the image comes
From the ural mountain range,

100 miles northwest of the
Russian border with kazakhstan.

The area is home
To the mansi people,

A rugged, nomadic tribe of whom
Only a few hundred survive.

But they have lived here
For over 800 years.

Before they became subjects
Of the russian empire

And forced to convert
To christianity,

The mansi performed sacrifices
To supernatural beings

And sought the protection
Of animal spirits,

The elk and the bear.

To me,
The most logical explanation

Is that this elk
On the mountainside

Is like a totemic animal
That's protecting them

In their everyday life.

It's possible
These people would've made

A representation of an animal

Or phenomenon
That they feared...

[ bear roars ]

In order to gain protection
From it.

Narrator: in 2012,
A team of archaeologists venture

Into the russian
Forest wilderness

To examine the giant form
Up close.

What they find amazes them.

The animalistic figure is
Far more sophisticated

Than it appears from space

And far older even
Than the ancient mansi tribe.

Horton: when the archaeologists
Went and checked it out,

They discovered these aren't
Just a few scratches in the soil

But really elaborate,
Megalithic structures.

It was a major piece
Of civil engineering

With huge boulders being brought

To outline
The shape of the animals.

Narrator: among the boulders,
Archaeologists find

More than 100
Prehistoric stone tools.

Some of the stone tools found
With it suggest

That it's very old indeed

And maybe contemporary

With a whole series
Of megalithic cultures.

Narrator: the tools
And style of the stonework

Dates the structure
To 4,000 b.C.

Put in broad perspective,
This is, what,

2,00, 3,000 years older

Than some of
The great pyramids of egypt.

Narrator:
The local mansi people did not
Create this giant carving.

It's the work of a previously
Unknown prehistoric people.

When archaeologists dig deeper,

They discover the remains
Of ancient fire pits.

The presence
Of ancient fire pits

Adds credence to the notion

That this was used
For ritual purposes.

[ people chanting indistinctly ]

Geoglyphs would've been
The perfect sacred site

For the gathering
Of communities.

And within some belief systems,

There would've been
Ritual sacrifices.

Narrator:
The rituals carried out here
Date back to neolithic times.

Bloody shamanistic sacrifices

Were supposed to ward off
Evil spirits.

But if this giant
Mountainside symbol was meant

To protect its creators,

The question is, "From what?"

According to local legend,
A large, prehistoric being,

A survivor
From the last ice age,

Still roams these mountains.

Larger than a man, upright
But ape-like in appearance,

The russians call
This terrifying beast the menk.

People firmly believe
That they are there,

And there isn't evidence
That they're not.

Narrator:
Could the prehistoric animal
Carved into the mountainside

Be there to protect the ancients
From the legendary menk?

You could speculate
That this hill figure

Is to warn off
Scary, yeti-like folk.

Narrator: scientists have
Dismissed the menk as mythical.

But a menk-like beast
Has been blamed by some

For the terrifying events
That took place in 1959...

In the very same ural mountains

The prehistoric
Animal carving is located.

The dyatlov pass incident talks

About a team
Of experienced hikers.

At one point in the expedition,
Something went seriously wrong.

Sleeping in their tents,

The hikers seem
To have been disturbed

By something terrifying.
[ people screaming ]

Some of them cut themselves
Out of their tents

To escape something.

[ wind howling ]

Narrator: what happened next
Will never be known

Because not one of the explorers
Survived to tell their story.

One of the hikers had
Her tongue bitten out,

And they all died.

Narrator: archaeologists hope
That further investigation

Of the ancient, magical
Animal symbol spotted from space

Will shed light on a lost world,

A world of strange creatures,

Strange beliefs,

And savage practices.

The field of archaeology
Has expanded so much recently,

Especially using
Satellite imagery

To see things
That we've never seen before.

That's exactly
How this site was discovered.

Narrator: coming up, the mystery
Of the moving desert.

It's this collection
Of dark marks and shapes.

It's very strange.

Narrator: and something's up
With the minutemen.

It's very "Dr. Strangelove."

Narrator: two images from space,
One weird phenomenon --

Mystery islands geologists say
Shouldn't be there

And don't appear natural.

There's no evidence
That in the history of humanity

Have we had the capability
To do engineering at this scale.

Narrator: the caribbean islands
Off the florida cost.

The location of the first-ever
"James bond" movie,

In which dr. No plans
To attack america

With an atomic radio beam

From his lair
In a dormant volcano.

A lot of the islands
In the caribbean are made

From volcanic processes

Because they're situated
Along an active tectonic margin.

The reason
There are volcanic islands

In the caribbean is because
You have one plate

That subducts
Underneath the other.

Narrator: the islands,
Produced by volcanic activity,

Are formed by searing magma
Spewing out of the earth

And then cooling
To form the mountain peaks

That rise dramatically
From the waves.

The islands are the tops
Of these volcanic mountains.

**

But there's
One chain of islands

Close to florida
That doesn't fit the pattern.

The bahamas look like

A picture-perfect
Tropical paradise.

It sucks you in.
It's hypnotic.

It's the turquoise
And the white and the blues.

It's just spectacular.

Narrator: the bahamas, sitting
Just 150 miles off florida,

Are the wrong shape.

There are no mountains,

And the islands become
Even more mysterious

When seen from space.

Stott: they don't have
That same island look to them.

There's something unique
And just different

About the way they look
From space.

Porges: when you first look down

And you see
The bahama banks from space,

You have to ask yourself,
"What is that?"

It doesn't look like land
At all.

It's this collection
Of dark marks and shapes.

It's very strange.

Narrator: the bahamas
Cannot be volcanic.

They like north
Of the active plate zone.

Yet there's no obvious,

Natural, geological explanation
For them.

They shouldn't exist.

So, then,
Who or what created them?

Muller-karger:
Man-made islands are not
A far-fetched idea at all.

We construct
And try to gain territory

From the ocean all the time.

Narrator:
Christopher columbus recorded
Their existence in 1492.

But could a primitive society
Have possessed

Such incredibly advanced
Technology?

The qing dynasty in china did it
Several hundred years ago,

And even before that
In mesoamerica

There were efforts
To do reclamation of lands

In central america.

Narrator: over 600 years ago,

The aztecs in nearby mexico
Reclaimed vast lakes.

They grow crops by building
Massive platforms in the water.

But not even
Modern island builders

Have the technology
To create something

As big as the bahamas.

Muller-karger:
The bahamas is huge.

There's no evidence
That in the history of humanity

Have we had the capability
To do engineering at this scale.

Narrator: the mystery deepens
When scientists explore

A remote bay nestled
Amongst the islands.

They find stromatolites,

A weird, very rare
Kind of living rock.

Like something
Out of "Star trek,"

It's part rock, part creature.

These are big rock structures
Built by little, tiny microbes.

Narrator: stromatolites
Did not build the bahamas,

But they provide a crucial clue
To what did.

They're reefs built
By cyanobacteria.

Narrator: these weird
Rock critters are feeding,

And as they do
They create limestone.

All of this island is
Calcium carbonate.

It's calcium carbonate beaches,
Calcium carbonate dunes.

These structures are
Actively growing now.

And eventually
Those platforms make reefs

That can be tens to hundreds
Of kilometers long.

**

Narrator: but why here?

These tiny organisms
Can be found

In other parts of the world
And in other environments,

But they don't end up
Building islands.

And there's something
Even more strange.

Microorganisms, like all of us,
Need nutrients to grow --

Very specifically iron.

The amazing thing
About the bahamas

Is the very
Nutrient-poor waters.

The main problem -- there's not
A natural source of iron here.

Narrator: in theory,
These tiny critters

Should struggle
To survive in these waters

Because they need iron
To grow and reproduce.

So the question is,
"Where is it coming from?"

Narrator: when scientists
Closely examine the iron

In the islands' living rock,
They are amazed.

The only known match
For this particular iron

Is actually the sahara desert
3,000 miles away.

[ satellite warbling ]

Narrator:
The findings make no sense.

Until, that is,
Scientists examine

Satellite images taken over
The sahara region of africa.

Dr. Brand: if you look
At a satellite image

Of the ocean
Just off the coast of africa,

You'll see
This plume of red dust.

The reason this dust is red

Is because
It's really rich in iron.

Narrator: the desert winds
Of the sahara whip up

An iron-rich sandstorm.

This red, iron dust cloud
Heads out over the ocean,

Beginning a long journey
Across the atlantic

And over the volcanic islands
Of the caribbean.

So, the iron in the dust acts
To fertilize the cyanobacteria

Living in the water column,

Causing them
To go into overdrive

In terms of producing carbonate.

**

These weird rock creatures
Are, in effect,

Eating the sahara desert,
And as their numbers swell,

They create the swirling islands
Of the bahamas.

It's so cool that the sand
That's helped build them

Is coming from sand in africa.

Narrator:
This extraordinary process

Has been unfolding
For 100 million years,

Creating the beautiful,
Twisting bahamas

Rising gently above the waves,
Shaped by the wind.

Stott: one of
The really mind-boggling things

About seeing the earth
From the space vantage point

Is that you see
This interconnectivity.

Porges: those bugs
Are still down there.

They're still working.
They are not done yet.

The bahamas are still
Under construction.

Narrator: up next...

Many of these ancient sites have
Been looted by treasure hunters.

Narrator: ...Monstrous bumps
In the land of the giants.

Giant species known
As andiorrhinus.

Narrator: a scientist exploring
Colombia's prehistoric wetlands

Captures this startling image.

Kourounis:
It looks like reptile skin,

Like scales
On a snake or a lizard.

This is something
I've never seen before.

Narrator: tens of thousands
Of square miles are covered

In a vast mosaic
Of reptilian green mounds.

What are they?
What creates them?

Narrator: 2012 -- colombia.

Satellite images
Reveal something strange

In the ancient
Southern wetlands.

This is really weird.

The land is broken up
Into these weird,

Geometric fragments that look
Something like a jigsaw puzzle.

Kourounis: we're talking tens
Of thousands of square miles

In a very remote part of
A very remote part of the world.

Narrator: the images
Were taken over swamps

To the east
Of the andes mountains

Known as the los llanos plains.

The bizarre pattern
Attracts the attention

Of biologist delphine renard.

Renard: the satellite images
Were really, like,

The first step discovering
These things.

What was really stunning was
The regularity of the mounds.

We didn't know
What these mounds were,

How they were created.

So that was, like,
Kind of the big question.

Narrator: someone or something
Has transformed the earth

Into a vast
And intricate pattern.

From space, the scales
Or lumps look small.

But the mounds are
Actually as high as 6 1/2 feet

And can reach 16 feet across.

Delphine and her team
Examine the possibility

The strange shapes
Were made by humans.

We know of earth mounds
Created by humans

In mesoamerica
And south america.

We know them, for example,
In the coast of guianas.

In fertile wetlands,
Farmers have been known

To make raised mounds

To stop their crops
From getting waterlogged.

Was there a group of people

That were growing
Something here,

Some type of grain or vegetable,

And this is just
The remnants of their farms?

Narrator: there is no record of
A settlement in this exact area.

But was there once?

New discoveries
Are being made all the time.

A whole new lost city
Is actually located

Up in the mountains
Above cartagena.

It's a series
Of very sophisticated

Irrigation terraces
Along the mountainside.

Narrator:
Discovered in 1972,

Colombia's so-called
Ciudad perdida was built

On a man-made landscape
Of over 100 raised terraces.

The dream
Of a real-life el dorado

Has lured thousands
Of treasure hunters

Into colombia's wilderness,
And some have struck gold.

Horton: many of these
Ancient sites have been looted

By treasure hunters
And so forth.

Narrator:
Is this scaly landscape
Evidence of another hoard?

Delphine visits
The site of the mounds

And tests the soil
For evidence of farming,

Which would prove humans have
Had an impact on this landscape.

But the tests show nothing.

We didn't have any indication

Of these mounds
Being cultivated in the past.

Whatever made these mounds
Was not human.

Investigators begin to suspect

That the mounds
Have been created

By some kind of animal.

There's many species
In the natural world

That are very good
At constructing things.

Dr. Kays:
In parts of africa,

You get mounds built
By termites.

If you have enough termites
Concentrated into one area,

They can build structures that
Can actually be seen from space.

I've been to africa.

I've seen termite mounds,

And some of them are huge,
Taller than me.

Narrator: termites are known
To live in dry savannahs,

But they can also be found
In wet tropical forests.

[ thunder crashing ]

A lot of termites build mounds
To prevent being flooded

During the rainy season.

Narrator: delphine
And her team dissect the mounds,

Which locals call surales,

To see if termites
Are responsible.

When you cut a surale
Into two parts,

You can see
That the surface is, like,

Kind of crumbly, and the inside,

There is not a lot of galleries
And chambers

That would be characteristic
Of a termite nest.

Narrator:
Termites were present,

But they are not making
The mounds.

Instead,
Delphine's team discovered

That the monstrous structures
Have themselves been made

By a monster --

A gigantic worm.

We found one species
Of earthworm especially big

That can be able to produce
These very big casts.

The earthworms here are
A giant species

Known as andiorrhinus.

These south american earthworms
Can be up to five feet long.

Narrator:
These are monster worm casts

Created by monster worms.

Kourounis: [ chuckling ]
These are piles of worm poop.

Who would've guessed?

You got to hand it
To these earthworms.

You can see the effects
Of their poop from space.

Narrator: the giant worm casts
Are rich in nutrients,

Encouraging an explosion
Of growth on top of the mounds,

Which helps bind them together.

It's all caused by millions
Of these invertebrates.

Narrator: the mystery
Of the mounds is solved.

The new mystery

Is the monster worms
That created them.

We still have a lot to do
In this landscape

To know more
About the earthworm in itself.

This is
A very exciting place to be.

Nature is amazing.

Narrator: still to come,
Don't look now --

It's america's nukes...

Moran: it's easy to imagine

Why the u.S. Air force
Would want to hide this.

Narrator: ...A giant vortex
Sucks up the arabian sea...

Kourounis:
I see an image like this,

And it makes the hairs
On the back of my neck stand up.

Narrator:
...And area 51 in the jungle.

Dr. Pavelec: why is it so
Dangerous to even report on it

If you're a journalist?

Narrator: rural montana.

A commercial satellite captures
A crystal-clear image

Of an isolated
Military facility.

D'antonio:
You can see building structure.

You can see light poles.

And these are the shadows
Of the light poles.

Narrator: but an image
Of the same location

Taken some time earlier shows
A striking difference.

Dr. Miller:
In comparing these two images,

We see that one is very clean,
Very crisp.

The other is kind of blurry.

So something
Obviously is going on here.

Narrator: this looks like
Ordinary farmland,

But it's the secure area

Around the highly sensitive
Malmstrom air force base.

No one goes in
Or leaves this place

Without top-level clearance

Because operating
Out of this base

Is the 341st missile wing

Of the u.S. Air force
Global strike command.

This is one of the several
U.S. Bases

Which house
American nuclear missiles,

Specifically the minutemen,
Minutemen iii missiles.

Man: door open.

Narrator: the minuteman iii is

An intercontinental
Ballistic missile

Capable of destroying targets
8,000 miles away.

They're launched from carefully
Camouflaged underground silos,

Barely visible
Even in clear satellite images.

It's at the heart
Of the united states' defense

Against nuclear war.

I mean,
It's very "Dr. Strangelove,"

End-of-the-world type thing.

Narrator:
The destructive capability
Of the minuteman iii missiles

Makes them a truly terrifying,
Apocalyptic weapon.

It's easy to imagine
Why the u.S. Air force

Would want to hide this place.

But why would they want to
Hide it only some of the time?

Narrator: but the u.S. Is
A free, open society.

We already know they're there.

Even enemy powers know
They're there.

The fact that blurring comes
And goes suggests

It's not the site itself
That is being covered up,

But some other activity
Around it.

Moran: you've got to think
That when the image is blurred,

The u.S. Air force
Must be doing something

That they don't want anyone
To know about.

Narrator:
The minuteman nuclear missiles

Have been in service since 1970.

As far as intelligence goes,
They're old news.

But the u.S. Military
Has recently been developing

A top secret, radical
Missile-defense system,

Which might explain
The increased secrecy.

Moran: of course,
It would make sense to use

A pre-existing launch facility

Where you already have
A lot of the infrastructure

And technology in place

Rather than build
A whole new one.

Man: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Narrator: the ground-based
Midcourse defense system,

Or g.M.D.,
Is designed to protect

The entire united states

With an umbrella
Of defensive missile cover.

It's the latest evolution
Of the star wars initiative --

High-tech space war.

Groundbreaking technology
Enables interceptors

To destroy incoming missiles

Simply with the force
Of their impact.

Moran: this anti-missile
Defense system is

One of the most sophisticated
In the world.

So the u.S. Government
Is probably never going

To confirm or deny
Any speculation related to it.

Narrator: this site could be
A g.M.D. Silo.

But what if the cover-up is not
About something being installed

But something being removed?

Marshall: it looks like
A silo has been decommissioned,

Possibly filled in with gravel
And then water.

Moran: a lot of these
Old missile systems and sites

Are now being deactivated.

[ applause ]

Narrator:
The end of the cold war
Saw treaties that began

The long process
Of decommissioning

70% of the world's
Nuclear weapons.

The nightmare scenario

Is that decommissioned
Radioactive material

Could fall into terrorist hands.

[ people shouting indistinctly ]

The destructive capabilities
Of weapons like this

Are so great
That it stands to reason

That even the decommissioning
Of a facility is something

That needs to be wrapped
In secrecy.

Narrator: the key ingredient
To these weapons, plutonium,

Is one of the earth's rarest
And most harmful elements.

If terrorists get their hands
On radioactive materials,

They could construct
What's called a dirty bomb.

Carlin: you're talking
About one of

The most poisonous substances
Known to man,

And it takes very little
To do a lot of damage.

Narrator: a dirty bomb is
A lethal, homemade cocktail

Of explosives
And radioactive material.

Marshall: it would have
Devastating effects

If you put that
Into an urban area.

The terror you could create
Is one of the reasons

Why is it one of the things

That keeps the security experts
Awake at night.

Narrator:
The u.S. Government admits

Nuclear-weapons decommissioning
Is ongoing.

But which sites are involved
Remains highly classified.

Coming up, the black hole
That's bright green.

Talking about an ocean vortex

That's that large
And that powerful --

You wouldn't want
To be anywhere near it.

Narrator: february 2013.

As the worldview-2 satellite
Orbits above the arabian sea,

It captures an image
Which is as weird as it is big,

A giant green vortex spreading
Over more than 500 square miles.

Kourounis:
I see an image like this,

And it makes the hairs
On the back of my neck stand up.

Narrator: scientists are amazed
At what they see.

I've seen ocean whirlpools,
But nothing on this scale.

Narrator: it's not just
The shape and size

Of this mysterious vortex.

It's the color.

The livid green
Immediately leads to speculation

Of some gigantic,
Toxic, industrial disaster.

That bright-green color, it's
The first thing you think of

When you think of toxic waste.

Kourounis:
Is this naturally occurring

Or some huge
Environmental catastrophe?

Narrator: lethal toxic spills
Are often bright, dayglo colors,

The result of a deadly mix
Of chemicals.

Nelson: we actually have images
From argentina

Of a river glowing
The same toxic green.

Narrator: the riachuelo river,
Just outside buenos aires,

Is one of the most polluted
Bodies of water on the planet.

There's no end
To what has been done to this --

Filled with toxic waste,
Garbage, who knows what.

Narrator: in 2010,

The noxious river
Suddenly turned neon green.

What's amazing is
That it's so bright green.

But what's interesting is that
That green water

That we're seeing is

Actually not from the toxins
In the water.

It's actually from dye,
Colored dye,

That greenpeace put in there
To help highlight

How polluted
This area actually is.

The stunt makes headlines
Around the world.

Dyeing a river
To highlight pollution

Is kind of like bombing
For peace.

But it turns out this dye is
Actually very harmless

And in a few days
Will be completely gone.

Narrator: but this green vortex
Covers 570 square miles,

And the nearest human settlement
Is the sultanate of oman,

Whose people trade
In fish and dates,

Not industrial chemicals.

Oman typically has
Very low levels of pollution.

Nelson: there's no reason
Somebody would want

To pull a stunt like this there.

It's got to be something else.

Narrator: the vortex disappears
As inexplicably as it appeared.

Scientists working
For the sultan traveled

To the place
The vortex was photographed.

The real "Eureka" moment
Really happened

When the omani authorities
Went out to this body of water,

Tried to sample it,
Figure out what it was.

They discover the water
Still has traces of green.

And it's alive.

Mysterious glowing seas
Have been reported by sailors

For hundreds of years.

But most of these sightings
Can be explained

As a simple natural phenomenon.

Bioluminescence is
The effect of a protein

And an enzyme coming together,

And when they come together,
They light up.

Narrator: in certain conditions,
Vast blooms of microorganisms

Can emit eerie blue light
Over areas big enough

To be seen from space.

Muller-karger:
There's all sorts of life forms
That have bioluminescence.

Why would organisms use
Bioluminescence

Is still one of
The big mysteries in science.

It's something
That we don't understand.

Narrator:
But these glowing creatures
Are only visible at night.

The green swirl can be seen
'round the clock.

They discovered
That it was tiny, microscopic,

Green algae swirling around
In a giant ocean whirlpool.

Kourounis:
It's pretty mind-blowing.

You've got these tiny,
Microscopic organisms

That individually
You can barely see

But in large numbers
You can see from space.

Narrator: the invasion of algae
Explains the green color

But not the giant vortex.

It looks like a black hole,
And, indeed,

Scientists have discovered what
They call black hole whirlpools.

Disturbingly,
This black hole behaves

In ways similar
To its astronomical counterpart.

Both types of black holes
Suck in the matter around them.

In one case, light.
In the other, water.

Hill: talking about
An ocean vortex that's

That large
And that powerful --

You wouldn't want
To be anywhere near it

If you were in a small boat.

Narrator: the terrifying
Maelstroms described

By old mariners were
Once thought

To be nothing more
Than fanciful stories.

Now, it seems, the old sailors
Were telling the truth.

Black hole whirlpools
Have been seen

In satellite images
Of the south atlantic.

But the seas
Off the sultanate of oman

Are believed to be too shallow
For such whirlpools.

Scientists still debate
What is really going on.

Still to come, something
Dangerous hidden in the jungle.

What did they stumble upon

That the military
Didn't want them to find?

A military satellite orbits
430 miles

Above one of the most
Secretive states on earth.

Far from civilization,

In myanmar's dense,
Forbidding jungle,

It captures an image
Of something totally at odds

With its surroundings.

Moran: when you look closely
At this image,

You can ascertain

That it is some sort
Of high-security installation.

This installation is
Very, very mysterious.

[ camera shutter clicking ]

Narrator: it's the extraordinary
Levels of security

Which immediately cause alarm
Among analysts.

Whatever is being done
Or made here

Is being kept
Completely under wraps.

So, the first thing
That arouses suspicion for me

At this place
Is that there's a helipad.

This indicates that there are
High-level officials

Who are probably visiting
This facility.

There's
A security checkpoint here,

Which means that they're careful
About who they let in.

Narrator: but perhaps
The most puzzling thing

About the facility
Is its location.

The complex
Is situated deep inside

The infamous, dense jungles

Of the republic
Of the union of myanmar,

Known to most of the world
As burma.

Jagan: it's very clearly
In a secluded area.

It's one
Where access is limited,

And therefore
The most likely explanation is

That this is
A military installation.

It makes you wonder what does
The military have going on here

That they really don't want
Anyone to know about?

Narrator: there's
No good, commercial motive

To build anything
Deep in the jungle.

Jagan:
One would suspect initially

To have some kind
Of sinister reason behind it.

Narrator: in an effort to find
Out what this facility might be,

Two burmese journalists
Make the long trek

Through the jungle.

Eventually, they reach
The perimeter fence.

They are arrested,

Interrogated,

And sentenced
To a decade of hard labor.

[ door slams ]

What did they stumble upon

That the military
Didn't want them to find?

Jagan: there's no doubt
That the reaction

From the military
Makes one suspicious.

[ fanfare plays ]

Although burma
Is formally a democracy,

The burmese state is,
In reality, a military junta.

And burma's rulers
Are oppressive.

To figure out
What they could be hiding,

Analysts look for clues
In the architecture.

To me, it looks sort of like
A production facility.

There are these smokestacks.

There's a connecting tunnel
To this other building.

What this looks like
Is some enormous military

Or industrial complex.

Narrator: in response
To growing concern

From the international
Community,

Burma's military claims
The complex is nothing more

Than a perfectly ordinary
Ammunition factory.

But analysts are not convinced.

Moran: if this is
Just a regular factory

Churning out bombs and guns,

You can understand
The high security,

But what's the need
For all the secrecy?

Narrator:
To build a weapons factory

In the middle
Of the burmese jungle

Surrounded by the highest levels
Of security makes no sense.

Unless, perhaps,
The weapons produced here

Were of a kind
The burmese military

Doesn't want the world to see.

[ soldiers singing
In native language ]

The reason the journalists went
To investigate this facility

Is because of rumors that it was

A potential
Chemical-weapons plant,

Something that the military

Would definitely not want
People to know about.

Narrator: burma's ruling elite
Has a grim record

Of human-rights abuses.

They are suspected
Of using chemical weapons

Against rebel tribespeople
In the north of the country.

Of course, the government
Of myanmar flat out denies

Any involvement
With chemical weapons.

But as we've seen recently
In places like syria,

You can never be too sure.

The thing to remember
Is that the myanmar military

Are one of the most
Highly secretive militaries

In the world.

Dill: there are lots of features
That such a facility would have.

This facility has
All of those things,

But it is almost impossible
To draw any conclusions

About a chemical-weapons
Production facility

From satellite imagery alone.

Narrator: the satellite image
Is inconclusive,

But most analysts believe
This new complex

In the jungle serves
Some sinister purpose.

Could this satellite imagery
Be looking

At a new installation
To house political prisoners?

That would explain the secrecy
Surrounding this facility.

Jagan:
If you look at the structure
In the satellite imagery,

It could possibly be
Cell blocks.

Dr. Pavelec: although
On the surface it's a democracy,

Myanmar incarcerates
Thousands upon thousands

Of political prisoners.

And there are also labor camps
In that country

For the political prisoners.

Narrator: but despite
Burma's shocking record

Of atrocities
Against its own people,

Most analysts are not convinced
This is a labor camp.

In recent years,
Burma's military junta

Has been attempting to shake off
Its reputation for state terror.

This is at a point
In myanmar's history

When they had less need
For prisons than previously.

They were releasing
Political prisoners.

[ speaking native language ]

They were not preparing
For new mass arrests.

[ cheers and applause ]

Narrator: as with area 51,
The purpose

Of this facility remains
A closely guarded secret.

Anyone foolish enough
To visit the base faces

The prospect of arrest
And imprisonment

In one of burma's
Notorious jails.

Dr. Pavelec: why is it so
Dangerous to even report on it

If you're a journalist?

Why all of the mystery?

Narrator: whatever is being
Concealed in these vast sheds,

It's something so dangerous
It must be surrounded

By razor-wire fences
And armed guards

And hidden in the depths
Of the jungle.