Original subtitles

Narrator: they're watching you.

More than 4,000 satellites Circle the earth.

Every day, they uncover new, Mysterious phenomena

That defy explanation.

Seen from space, The alien-like, metal monsters

Coming from the sea...

They look like ominous Black boxes

Out in the middle Of the ocean.

Oh, my god. This is insane.

...Nature at war, 50 million crabs

Versus a mega-army Of crazy killer ants...

As far as the eye can see, It's crabs.

The ants spit corrosive acid.

Narrator: ...And the white wall of death, From which there is no escape.

It's sudden, it's catastrophic, And it's deadly.

Narrator: baffling phenomena, Mysteries from space,

What on earth are they?

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

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

**

May 8th, 2018, eyes in the sky High above england,

They capture a cluster Of objects in the sea

Seven miles from the coast.

Albertson: Looking at this image,

You see what appear to be dots.

It's not clear what they are, Really, from above.

You got to get closer.

Pappalardo: it looks like Something that belongs on land,

But it's right there In the middle of the water.

Pavelec: Obviously, it's the transformers

Coming out of the ocean To attack england.

Narrator: image analysis reveals The seven structures

Each measure 36 feet in diameter.

We know they're not ships Because there's no wake.

I suspect they're something Like oil rigs

Or something to do With drilling.

Narrator: yet, there is no Recorded drilling here,

And the nearest oil rigs Are hundreds of miles away.

Clearly, they're not based there

For some kind Of commercial activity.

Narrator: archaeologist And explorer klint janulis

Decides to take a closer look.

The first thing that came To my mind

When I saw them was the tripods In "War of the worlds."

Narrator: janulis Goes to the county of kent,

A part of the english coast Near the structures.

As he scans the area, He finds another unusual object

In the satellite image.

If I push down the coast here, There's one small island

With a feature that I can't Really tell what it is.

The object appears to be some Kind of wreck, large and long.

I'm gonna go investigate,

And that may Help me understand

What's going on Just off the coast here.

The object is hard to reach,

Lying semi-submerged At the edge of a vast

930-square-mile Labyrinth-like estuary.

He turns to a local fisherman To help guide him

Through this maze Of waterways and inlets.

-klint. Nice to meet you. -nice to meet you, yeah.

I'm looking to do some exploring Here in the estuary,

And I don't know This area very well,

So I'm hoping You can help me out.

A good tip for you is use Something like this

To access all the funny Little ins and outs

And nooks and crannies That we have in this river.

That would be the kitty. Okay.

This is the medway estuary.

It's been the site Of two great battles...

...The first in a.D. 43,

When a roman fleet Led the invasion of britain,

The second in the 17th century

During the second Anglo-dutch war.

Janulis rounds a headland.

The object is indeed An historic wreck,

But it's not What he is expecting.

Wow.

This is nuts.

So, I'm kayaking inside what Appears to be an old submarine.

Narrator: janulis starts To explore the wrecked sub.

He calculates that it's 20 feet wide

And around 180 feet long.

It's layout, shape and size Give clues to its age.

Janulis: this one seems Actually kind of small

When you compare it To the ones

That we know they were Building in world war ii.

It seems to me Most likely world war I.

Narrator: But something else is weird.

The bow has more torpedo tubes

Than any similarly-sized British world war I sub.

This is a submarine that's got Like four torpedo tubes.

My money is on -- This is probably a german sub.

Narrator: military historians Confirm janulis' findings.

Morgan: this is a german u-boat But not just any u-boat.

It's a type iii coastal Attack boat.

Narrator: for the men In a world war I u-boat,

Life is a waking nightmare.

Most world war I u-boats are Lost at sea, never seen again.

The men and boys Who operate u-boats

Are twice as likely to die

Than the troops sacrificed In their millions

On the killing fields Of the western front.

Morgan: When submerged, these 34 men Are packed in like sardines.

It was a miserable experience Of fighting

On one of the kaiser's u-boats During the first world war.

Narrator: But these u-boats also send

Countless enemy sailors To their death,

Destroying 13 millions tons Of shipping.

On may 7th, 1915, a u-boat

Torpedoes the ocean Liner lusitania.

It sinks in minutes,

Killing more than 1,000 innocent civilians,

Including 128 americans.

America responds by declaring War on the kaiser,

Insuring germany's defeat.

These types of submarines Were brilliantly effective.

It represented A whole new threat

To the way the british Had to fight wars.

Narrator: analysts consider If the monoliths in the image

Were constructed To defend against

These world war I Subsea assassins.

The presence of a world war I u-boat

Indicates that this is an area Where there was fighting,

So does that mean that these Structures are somehow related?

Narrator: Janulis charters a boat to take Him out to the structures.

**

After one hour on the water,

He gets his first eye-level View of the monoliths.

Wow.

[ camera shutter clicks ]

From here, they just look like Sort of ominous black boxes

Sitting on little, spindly Toothpick legs

Out in the middle Of the ocean.

**

Up close, they appear even more Bizarre than janulis imagined.

Surely, they can't be Anti-submarine weapons...

...But if not, What on earth are they?

Oh, my god. This is insane.

**

Coming up, guns and gold fever In the jungle...

Thousands of men are there, Guns on their hips,

Just like The american wild west again.

Narrator: ...And the alien structures Reveal their dark secrets.

These are moms and dads And their kids,

And suddenly, People are trying to kill them.

**

Narrator: klint janulis is at Sea off the coast of england,

Investigating seven Mysterious structures

Captured by satellite.

**

Whoever made this did not Make it easy to get up here.

Narrator: on his way, Janulis has already found

And examined the wreck Of a world war I german u-boat.

He wonders if these Strange-looking structures

Are connected.

Janulis clambers to the top Of a monolith.

If these structures are A defense against u-boats,

It seems they were also prepared For assault from above.

You've got these thick Walls here.

You've got steel on both sides

Filled with this conglomerate Of rock and tar.

This looks like some sort Of ballistic cladding

Meant to protect whoever's here From explosions or bullets.

Narrator: this monolith clearly Has defensive capabilities,

But janulis believes It could also go on the attack.

So these are interesting.

These are really Heavy-duty brackets,

And this one right here Looks like it was meant

To handle something swiveling.

This seems to me like An air defense artillery system.

Narrator: Hidden in the reinforced wall,

He finds housing For giant bullets,

Confirmation that these are The rusting remains

Of an antiaircraft Fortification.

These are almost 4 inches wide,

So these would have created A cloud of shrapnel

In every direction,

Meant to take down Bomber planes.

Janulis enters the decaying Bowels of the rusting monoliths.

[ door grinding ]

He tries to find clues To determine

When they were put here And when they were abandoned.

Janulis: These lights up here, this is Probably after world war I.

This all says world war ii To me, at least.

**

Narrator: Rooms filled with lodging And sanitary facilities

Imply that dozens, Maybe hundreds of people

Once inhabited These weird structures.

In all warfare, the biggest Factor that most people ignore

Is the logistics.

All the sexy hollywood stuff Is great,

But it's toilets That win wars.

Narrator: historians confirm That the structures are located

Beneath the flight path Used in world war ii

By luftwaffe bombers Heading for london.

The german bombers have got A great advantage

As they try to navigate Their way to london,

And that's the very distinct

Curving snake-like form Of the river thames

That leads right into the heart Of the british capital.

Narrator: Following france's shock defeat To the nazis in 1940,

Hitler devises Operation sea lion,

The plan to conquer britain,

But before hitler can launch An attack by sea,

He must control the skies.

What follows is The battle of britain,

One of the first And biggest battles

Fought in the skies In all military history,

But when the battle starts To go against hitler,

He orders his bombers To destroy london.

Pavelec: the germans are trying To find a way to get britain

To surrender, So they launch the blitz,

Which is the bombing campaign Of london.

[ siren wailing ]

Narrator: during september And october, 1940,

The luftwaffe pounds london for 57 consecutive days and nights.

Over the following months, 14,000 tons of bombs

Destroy over 1 million homes And kill 43,500 civilians.

These people aren't Battle-harden troops.

These are moms and dads And their kids,

And suddenly, People are trying to kill them.

Pappalardo: they want To demoralize the british.

They want to reach out And hurt them.

Narrator: but the blitz Galvanizes the british,

And they find new ways To counter the nazi threat,

Including, it seems,

Constructing these alien-looking Structures out at sea.

Desperate times call for Some desperate engineering,

So you have a challenge, And you want to extend

Your defenses Out into the channel.

Janulis: In world war ii, the bombing Campaign ran by germany

Was something the english Just could not stop,

So it makes sense It's a world war ii position.

Narrator: historians reveal The towers are built

By the british royal engineers

To attack bombers Heading towards london.

What you do is, you build Effectively a great, big,

Steel castle on dry land, And then you tow it out to sea,

Where you put it on top of these Four massive concrete legs

Bedded on the floor of the sea.

Narrator: 160 soldiers are sent to inhabit These weird sea forts,

Who train their antiaircraft Guns on the skies,

Taking out dozens of nazi planes And v-1 flying bombs.

The troops who are positioned On these sea forts

Had a nickname for them, Which was "Fort madness".

They would get Psychological treatment

Oftentimes when they came back.

Having said that, There was a lot worse places

To be positioned In world war ii.

Try gonna stalingrad, You babies.

Narrator: at the end of the war, The forts are abandoned,

But as janulis prepares To leave,

He realizes this Decaying edifice

Has yet to reveal All its secrets.

On one roof, He finds what appears to be

Post-world war ii Communication equipment.

It's been used, repurposed And periodically occupied

Off and on since it was built.

These are radio towers And transmitters.

The question is, Who is doing the receiving

Or the transmitting?

Narrator: as janulis continues To explore the structure,

He finds further clues to the Tower's post-world war ii role.

So here it says, "Radio 390, 6:30 to midnight."

[ '60s rock 'n' roll plays ]

Narrator: These rusting forts, it seems, Were used by pirates,

Radio pirates Hijacking the airwaves

And transmitting music Into britain in the 1960s.

Pirate radio stations Were a big deal,

Particularly in england.

It would've been a pretty ideal Radio station to transmit from

If you were looking to avoid

The british communications Rules and regulations.

Walters: The sea forts were an absolutely Perfect place to broadcast from.

Why? Because the forts were In international waters.

Narrator: during the early '60s, Radio was controlled by the bbc.

Private broadcasting On british soil is banned,

So some rebel music lovers

Established pirate Radio stations out at sea.

Up to 15 million listeners Tune in each day,

Helping to launch the careers Of the rolling stones

And the beatles.

Pirate radio was so influential, It even made the bbc sit up

And take notice and form Its own pop music station.

Narrator: Whether it was fighting hitler

Or destroying the british State's monopoly control

Of broadcasting, These strange rusting structures

Are monuments To the struggle for freedom.

The thing that makes this Really interesting

Is the many lives its had.

It started as a place Of defense, war,

And ends up being A broadcast center

For the counterculture movement In the 1960s.

How cool?

**

Narrator: coming up, Terror in the jungle...

The immediate reaction Is horror.

This is actually a crime scene.

Narrator: ...And the creatures From the crimson lagoon.

Whatever this red mass is, It's moving.

It's alive.

Narrator: october 8th, 2017,

A spy in the sky Orbits high above

The 2-million-square-mile Amazon rainforest.

As it passes over southeastern Peru, it captures this image.

Lester: this is a huge tract Of rainforest

That has been Completely disrupted.

The immediate reaction Is horror.

The question is not just What happened, but who did it?

Narrator: farmers cut down

Around 28 football fields' worth Of amazon rainforest

Every minute to clear land

For raising cattle And growing food,

But analysis of these Agricultural sites suggest

That's not what's happening In the satellite image.

I see entire areas that have Been cleared of forest

And evidence Of crops being grown.

The pattern of change On this site

Looks completely different Than the mystery site.

It is known the remote amazon Is being used

By organized criminal syndicates For various activities.

Munoz: For decades, the drug cartels In central and south america

Have made a habit of clearing Out wide swaths of jungle.

Their main goal is to create These plantations to grow coca,

Which is where cocaine Comes from.

Pappalardo: so what if this Isn't just a satellite image?

What if this is actually A crime scene?

[ shouting ]

Narrator: analysts calculate That drug cartels

Control a market Worth almost $90 billion.

The amount of money coming Into these organizations

Is astronomical.

Narrator: 35 million americans Confess to using cocaine,

And traces of the drug Can be found

On 90% of all dollar Bills in circulation,

Yet too few of them know what They're putting up their noses.

Narcos make cocaine By mixing coca leaves

With cement powder, Gasoline, and sulfuric acid.

Capps: as long as there's been An appetite for cocaine,

There's been people Growing it illegally.

Narrator: jungle narcos have Been known to smuggle cocaine

Inside breast implants And frozen sharks.

Though most of the cocaine is Actually produced in colombia,

This is a borderless crime,

So we're wondering if peru Could be falling victim

To the colombian dope problem.

Narrator: Yet when ken joyce deploys

Digitalglobe's Securewatch technology

To closely analyze the image, He sees something else.

As I zoomed into the site...

Look here. This is interesting.

I can clearly see camps, Earth-moving equipment,

And then The earth-moving equipment

Is dredging these ponds.

So this kind of deforestation is Quite possibly linked to mining.

Narrator: Whatever is being mined

In such a remote jungle location

Must be very valuable.

Geologist alan lester Believes it is gold.

Lester: millions of years ago,

Magma bodies within The andes mountains

Were driving High-temperature water

Into cracks in these rocks,

Producing What we call vein gold,

But those rocks Eventually erode,

And they can be washed Into rivers and streams,

And that's how we get What we call alluvial gold,

Gold that's present In the silts of a river.

Narrator: According to legend, there were Ancient civilizations

Awash with gold,

And geologists believe

There may be vast reserves Of the precious metal here

Yet to be discovered.

Peruvian prospectors unearth

Billions of dollars worth Of gold every year,

Yet trevor albertson Can find no record

Of any registered mining company

Operating in this area.

Albertson: after a review of the Permits and maps of the area,

It's clear that this is not On any of them.

Something illicit's Going on here.

Narrator: journalist carlo munoz Reveals that today,

The drug cartels Are branching out.

It's highly likely What we're seeing here

Is an illegal gold mining Operation run by the cartels.

Narrator: with a world economy Crippled by debt

And warnings of An apocalyptic economic crash,

Gold is predicted To soar in value.

Drug cartels are moving Into illegal gold mining

On an industrial scale.

Munoz: it's become so profitable That now the cartels

Earn three times more From those operations

Than they do from actually Trafficking in narcotics.

Narrator: locals report That up to 50,000 miners

Have flooded to the region where The satellite image was taken.

There's gold in them Their forests, right?

Thousands of men are there, Guns on their hips,

Pop-up brothels, The whole thing.

It's just like The american wild west again.

It's not uncommon To hear gunfights

Going out In the middle of nowhere

As gold mining operations Spar for the best turf.

Narrator: Those who survive the cartels And the gun-toting pimps

Still face the deadly challenge Of the mining itself.

Extracting the gold-rich mud From the river is dangerous,

And the miners process It using a deadly toxin.

It has to be separated out, Typically chemically,

And the chemicals used, Often mercury, is nasty stuff.

Capps: what we're talking about Is putting mercury

Right into the water sources,

And it's a horribly Strong poison.

Narrator: in recent years, The narco gold miners

Have dumped hundreds of tons Of mercury into the waters here,

Creating a ticking toxic Time bomb.

It's estimated that 80% Of people

Living in this part of peru

Have potentially fatal levels Of mercury poisoning.

It gets into the food supply,

So humans Then eat those animals,

And they become affected, And there's huge consequences,

Including brain damage.

Narrator: peruvian marines Have started launching attacks

On the cartel gold mines...

...But the cartels are rich, Resourceful, and ruthless.

This war, like the war on drugs, Will be hard to win.

With the amount of money That you can make

From an illegal Gold-mining operation,

You shut one place down, Another one is gonna pop up

Somewhere else.

**

Narrator: Coming up, the strange numbers Stations threatening america...

It's pretty clear That havana is still trying

To penetrate Government installations

And institutions here In the u.S.

Narrator: ...And killer ants versus crabs In their countless millions.

As far as the eye can see, It's crabs.

Narrator: october 17th, 2017,

An aerial image Taken over an island

235 miles from the coast Of indonesia

Captures something strange In the waters below.

Wow. These are just pristine, Beautiful, blue waters,

And then...

Something has turned The water red.

Spicer rice: This is very frightening.

It looks like there's blood Filling the water.

Narrator: the image reminds Biologist haley chamberlain

Of a disturbing event

She has witnessed on Other islands 7,500 miles away.

In the danish faroe islands,

Every year there is A slaughter of pilot whales.

And as you can imagine,

It's gonna turn Whatever ocean color you have

Into a red, bloody mess.

Narrator: the hunt, known Locally as the grindadráp,

Dates to the 13th century.

Chamberlain: It's significant to them not Only on the level of tradition

And being able to sustain Themselves,

But also to be able to support Themselves economically.

Narrator: historians calculate That at the peak

Of the whaling industry During the 1840s,

There were more than 900 ships On the world's oceans

Hunting the marine mammals.

Schuttler: The oil from the whale's blubber

Was used in lamps, soaps, And candles,

And the bones were actually used To make umbrellas,

Whips, and even ladies corsets.

Narrator: Today, the faroese only hunt The whales for their meat,

Which is divided up Among the local population

By the chief of police.

Sanford: the practice Is highly controversial,

But the faroe islanders Will argue that it's tradition,

And they're not letting Any of the animal go to waste.

That said, it doesn't make it Any easier to watch.

Narrator: Experts speculate that the Crimson tide in this image

Could be similar evidence Of a mass slaughter.

Globally, whaling is not just Going on in the faroe islands,

So could this be something That we're seeing here?

Could this be a whaling event?

Narrator: yet when Investigator kiki sanford

Consults geographical records Of the area,

She discovers this theory Doesn't stack up.

Sanford: we know This is christmas island,

Which is within The australian territory,

And the australians Are anti-whaling,

So the likelihood of it Being whaling is really slim.

Narrator: When experts uncover more Images of the weird phenomenon,

The mystery of The crimson tide deepens.

It's coming out of the ocean And onto land.

Whatever this red mass is, It's moving.

It's alive.

Narrator: biologist Stephanie schuttler has a theory

For the mysterious, Moving red mass.

Perhaps what we're looking At here is a migration.

Narrator: schuttler Believes the aerial images

Have captured a bizarre event

That sounds straight out Of a 1950s horror movie,

An invasion of millions Upon millions of crabs.

It's like a moving red carpet, A marching army of crabs.

Narrator: The story of the weird invasion Begins several weeks earlier

In the woods In the center of the island.

For most of the year, they live Quietly, deep in the forest,

But all at once, in conjunction With the lunar cycle,

These crabs move In mass migration to the ocean.

Narrator: The 50-million-strong crab Army's side-stepping march

To the waters Of the indian ocean

Is driven by one thing --

Sex.

As far as the eye can see, It's crabs.

There's crabs -- [ laughing indistinctly ]

Narrator: for the islanders, It's crabageddon.

It causes absolute chaos.

The whole island is brought To a standstill.

There's not much they can do Except for wait for the crabs

To do their thing and leave.

Narrator: once they've traveled Across the island to the beach,

The males dig love nests In the sand

And prepare to get their claws Into the females.

Spicer rice: It's one of the weirdest

And most awe-inspiring sights In nature.

Narrator: A single female crab lays up to 100,000 eggs in the ocean.

Juveniles emerge from the sea Like a red, swarming tsunami,

A phenomenon captured as never Before by eyes in the sky.

It's such a beautiful Biological event.

Narrator: yet today, The crab army is under attack

From an even more Gigantic mega-swarm.

These crabs have been doing this For eons on this island,

But now there's a problem.

An invasive species called The yellow crazy ant.

Narrator: And this alien species carries A crab-killing super weapon --

Projectile formic acid.

The ants spit corrosive acid.

The crabs are blinded By the formic acid,

And not being able to see,

They will die of starvation And dehydration,

And then the ants will come And eat the dead bodies.

Narrator: biologists have tried To rid the island

Of the acid-spitting terrors...

...But the killer insects always Seem to be six steps ahead.

If the ants are allowed to Continue their reign of terror

On christmas island unabated,

Then the island's crabs Will be totally wiped out.

**

Narrator: Coming up, bloodlust and occult Rituals in red cuba...

It looks like a pair of eyes Looking at you

From the landscape.

Narrator: ...And white death At the top of the world.

Just imagine what climbing Everest is like.

Now imagine it with people Shooting at you.

Narrator: november 18th, 2003,

290 miles Above communist cuba,

The quickbird earth Observation satellite

Captures a series of marks In the landscape.

Krueger: It's a really unusual image.

There are two oval shapes Side by side

With little dots Kind of in the middle.

I have no clue what they are, No idea.

Narrator: Analysis reveals the structures Are around 1,300 feet across.

It almost looks like A pair of eyes

Looking at you From the landscape.

Narrator: Historian david krueger

Considers if the eye shape

Has any occultist Or pagan significance.

So, the eye is An important symbol

In many cultures Around the world,

Including santeria, An afro-caribbean religion.

Perhaps this could be some type Of an eye formation

Shaped in the landscape To ward off the evil spirits.

Narrator: Cuban slaves transported From nigeria and benin

In the 16th century

Brought with them Religious beliefs

That evolved into the Underground ritualistic religion

Called santeria.

Krueger: They had a strong, burning Desire to be able to worship

Their own gods from west africa.

[ singing indistinctly ]

Narrator: santerian worshipers Sacrifice animals to commune

With the spirits And appease their gods.

During colonial times, These bloody rituals strike fear

Into the cuban rulers Who outlaw santeria,

Believing it to be A powerful form of witchcraft.

The enslaved africans had A very clever response.

They would continue to worship Their west african gods

Through the image Of catholic saints.

It became a secret way of Practicing their own religion

While maintaining Their own safety.

Ex-cia operative mike baker Is not convinced.

Instead, he looks at The military activities

Of the communist regime in cuba.

Baker: it very well could be A shortwave antenna array,

And often times, those antenna Arrays are in a circle.

Narrator: the site's position At the north of the island

Could be significant.

Cuba is a communist country

Only 100 miles From the american border.

We could be looking At a key site

In cuba's espionage network.

The location of it on The northern end of cuba

Closest to the florida coast Would make sense.

Narrator: When fidel castro seizes power In a bloody revolution in 1959,

He establishes a one-party Dictatorship

And forms an alliance With the soviet union,

Posing a direct threat To the united states.

There was concerns about cuba Being a jumping-off point

For a potential invasion Of the united states by russia.

Narrator: It is alleged that the cia Hatched hundreds of plots

To kill the cuban leader,

Including lacing a handkerchief With deadly bacteria

And filling his famous cigars With explosives.

Over the following years,

Hundreds of thousands Of ordinary cubans

Decide to escape castro's Socialist paradise.

Not everyone in cuba Is a fan of castro,

And a lot of them Ended up fleeing the country

And landing In the united states.

Narrator: during just one 5-month period in 1980,

Over 125,000 cubans Arrive in miami.

To spy on them and on america,

Cuba's secret police Come up with a plan.

Cuba saw this group Of anti-castro people in miami

And realized that they could be A potential threat,

And they saw an opportunity

To plant their own operatives In the united states

And track what these guys Were doing in miami.

Narrator: Technology expert mike capps

Considers if the structures In the image

Are a part of a radio Transmission system

Used in covert operations Known as a numbers station.

Numbers stations have been Around since world war I.

It's a really effective Mechanism

For communicating To in-country assets.

Narrator: numbers stations Transmit patterns of numbers

Alongside repeated bursts of Strange music or other sounds.

[ radio distortion ]

The numbers Are coded instructions

To spies in the field

And are almost impossible To crack.

Numbers stations Are such a great way

To send to assets in-country Because they just go to walmart

And buy a shortwave radio And listen in.

Narrator: When fbi agents detect messages

Coming from what they believe To be a cuban numbers station,

The bureau is put on high alert.

There was a woman who had Come on very politely, say,

"Atención," and then Read out a string of numbers.

[ radio distortion ]

Woman: [ distantly ] atención...

[ speaking indistinctly ]

Narrator: in 1995, Agents recover a cipher,

Which enables them To decode messages

From the atención station.

Six years later, they use The decrypted messages

To prosecute members Of the so-called wasp network

Of cuban spies.

Munoz: dubbed the cuban five,

These individuals Were eventually charged

And convicted of espionage In the united states

And sent to federal prison.

Narrator: following the trial,

The atención Numbers station falls silent...

[ radio distortion ]

But in 2012...

Woman: atención... nueve, cinco...

Narrator: ...Intelligence agents Detect messages

Occupying the same frequency And time slots

Once used by atención...

Woman: ocho, nueve, cinco...

Narrator: messages that continue To this day.

It's pretty clear that havana Is still trying

To penetrate government Installations and institutions

Here in the u.S.

We know the atención Numbers station existed,

But we never did find it, And this may have been it.

**

Narrator: coming up, wall Of death, the mega-avalanche.

This is one of The largest avalanches

That we have on record.

Narrator: july 17th, 2016,

Nasa scientists Studying satellite images

Of a remote region Of western tibet

Spot something puzzling,

The sudden appearance Of two white areas

On a mountainous landscape.

It looks as if someone took A can of white paint

And just dumped it Over this mountainous area.

Narrator: The nasa team wonders if the Satellite has captured debris

From two supersized avalanches.

Scale analysis reveals they are Over 3 square miles in size.

I can see that it's about the Size of 1,500 football fields.

This is enormous.

This is one of the Largest avalanches

That we have on record.

Man: do you hear that?

Narrator: even avalanches which Are much smaller than this

Can have awesome Destructive power.

-the ground is shaking. -on april 25th, 2015...

Go, go!

...An experienced team Of mountaineers

Are planning a climb At everest base camp.

-go! -...When they see

This terrifying wall of snow

Heading towards them.

And I've seen snow From an avalanche

explode through the trees, Coming at me,

And let me tell you, You get out of there

As quickly as you can,

If you're lucky.

Narrator: the catastrophic event Kills 21 climbers.

It was the deadliest day Ever on mount everest.

Narrator: geologists believe A 7.8 magnitude earthquake

Triggered the fatal avalanche Captured in the footage...

...Yet experts find no seismic Or meteorological evidence

For the mega-lanches In the satellite image.

I did some research,

And I didn't see any record Of earthquake activity.

Cerveny: when we look at the Past weather over this area,

There's nothing unusual.

Temperatures weren't changed That much -- there was no storm.

So the question is -- what would Trigger such an avalanche?

Narrator: military historian Martin morgan

Considers if a clue To the mystery

Could come from the nearby Disputed region of kashmir.

Since 1947, Indian and pakistani troops

Have been wrestling For control

Of this 86,000-square-mile Mountainous region.

Considering that geopolitical Background,

Maybe this isn't just A natural event.

Maybe this is something Related to warfare.

Narrator: for the past 35 years, The focal point of the conflict

Has been the siachen glacier,

A 48-mile-long body of ice

That dissects areas controlled By the two military superpowers.

Morgan: this spot is known as

The highest battlefield In the world.

Just imagine what Climbing everest is like.

Now imagine it with people Shooting at you.

Narrator: the battle over The 17,700-foot-high glacier

Has claimed thousands of lives.

This is a really Dangerous place.

You're gonna get Altitude sickness.

It's a constant daily struggle Just to keep warm,

And, of course, You run the real risk

Of being killed By the other side.

[ calling in urdu ]

Narrator: In 2012, an avalanche kills 129 pakistani soldiers

Stationed On the siachen glacier.

Some pakistanis accuse The indian military

Of using weapons To cause the disaster.

Walters: The two avalanches in this image

Could also have been caused By military activity.

Some locals reported at the time

That they heard a loud bang Go off before the avalanches.

[ explosion, rumbling ]

Narrator: eyewitnesses Describe a white wall

Traveling at 200 miles per hour,

Over twice the normal speed Of an avalanche.

Nine people die.

It's sudden, it's catastrophic, And it's deadly.

Narrator: On-site investigators find no Evidence of military activity,

But they do uncover Another mystery.

This is no ordinary avalanche.

This is an avalanche of ice.

Millions of tons of it.

Narrator: The only possible explanation

Is that the massive super-fast Ice floe

Originated from glaciers In the nearby mountains.

If you look at this region

Just before this major ice Avalanche occurred,

You'll see that there's Cracking in the glaciers.

Narrator: investigators believe That these cracks

Channel thousands of gallons Of meltwater

Down through the glacier, Where it pools at its base.

Lubricated by this water,

The immense wall of ice Slides forward.

What seems to have happened Is that glacier surged forward,

But then got stuck In a restricted area

Where there was a tight valley.

Narrator: the valley bottleneck Traps the moving wall of ice

But only temporarily.

It immediately became A ticking time bomb.

At some point, It's gonna break through.

Gravity always wins.

Narrator: recent satellite data Reveals that glacial meltwaters

Are increasing worldwide.

There are death traps In the mountains

Waiting to go off With no warning.