All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S05E05.1080p.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.

[ beeping, distorted music ]

Ghosts, cannibals, and a mystery
Sunken fleet in maryland.

French: look how many are
Out there.

Wow.

What in the hell
Happened here?

Narrator: the weird image
That nasa can't explain.

Nelson: this is really bizarre.

You would not expect these
To be here.

Narrator:
And close to area 51...

Chamberlain: it looks like there
Are spacecraft.

It looks like they're from
"Star wars."

Narrator: baffling phenomena.

Mysteries from space.

What on earth are they?

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

[ beeping ]
[ camera shutter clicking ]

[ whirring ]

Captions paid for by
Discovery communications

**

March 1, 2007,

Satellites in orbit
Over the potomac river

On the maryland/virginia border.

Visible in the water --
A series of strange shapes.

This is intriguing.

We've got what appears
To be this fleet of ship hulks.

Man: it's almost like
A ghost fleet,

And they're kind of sunk
Into the muck of the river.

Throughout history,
There have been stories

Of these "Ghost ships,"
Which are essentially ships

That appear out of the mist
With their crew nowhere in site.

Narrator: the potomac river
Ghost fleet

Lies off the chesapeake bay.

These waters were once
The hunting ground

Of the english pirate
Known as blackbeard.

Morgan: blackbeard
Was killed in 1718,

And the governor
Ordered him to be beheaded

And that his head
Be placed on a spike

As a word of warning
To future would-be pirates.

And because of that,
Legend now has it

That blackbeard's headless
Ghost haunts the area.

**

Narrator: determined to find out
The real story,

An archaeologist
From penn state university --

Kirk french -- journeys
To the site

Of the satellite image.

French: it's pretty haunting.

Why would there be so many
Of these ships

That are sunken in the potomac
Or small bay?

What were they for?

How'd they get there?

Narrator: the chesapeake
Bay area formed part

Of the 13 original colonies

And was one of the first in the
United states to be settled.

French believes that there
May be a connection

Between this colonial past
And the ghost fleet.

French: just the simple fact
That it's within this region,

It could tie into --

Into that important part
Of american history.

Narrator: the wrecks sit up
The coast from jamestown,

The first permanent english
Settlement in north america

Established on may 14, 1607.

It occupied a strategic point
On the coastline,

And this is sort of where a lot
Of the classic colonial stories

And history was made.

That's great.
That's great.

Narrator:
On his way to the ghost fleet,

French receives word of a recent
Archeological find at jamestown.

They have a current dig
Going on down at jamestown,

So I'm gonna head down there
And check it out.

Narrator: french travels
To the site

Where he meets
With archeologist david givens.

They try to establish
A possible connection

Between the settler's ships
And those in the image.

French: what do you know
About the ships

That these early settlers
Came over on?

They're actually
Privateering ships.

We call them pirates today.

They're english merchants,

And so there's
A lot of colonials

On these english ships.

Everybody you read about
In the history books,

The john smiths,
The bartholomew gosnalds,

Things like that.

That's the story,

And they all are
On those ships.

Narrator: the early colonization
Of america

Was marked
By horrific violence and death.

The settlers battle against
Native american tribes,

Each other, and the elements.

In 1609, the people of jamestown
Face a brutal winter,

And within months,
The population goes from 500

To just 60.

Faced with starvation,
They turn on each other.

Givens:
That starving time winter,

That's when the colonists
Had to resort to cannibalism.

There are six primary
Accounts of colonists

Eating both each other,
The english,

And then some indigenous
People they dug up.

In one of the settler's
Primitive huts,

Archeologists have discovered
The skeleton of a young woman.

Analysis reveals that this
Body has been dismembered,

Not by a killer,
But by a chef.

This was somebody who didn't
Know what they were doing,

And they were very furtive,
So the cutting was very --

Really just gruesome.

It was clear that this woman
Had been processed to be eaten.

Even the brain was removed
And consumed.

You've got to imagine a scenario
Where you are so hungry

And it is winter,

And you do not know
If you're gonna make it through.

The only way you're going
To survive

Is by eating the body
Of your partner, your friend.

Narrator: during this so-called
Starving time,

Powhatan tribe warriors
Lay siege to the jamestown fort.

Experts speculate that
The wrecks in the image

Were casualties of this winter
Of terror and violence.

Janulis: it's possible that what
We're seeing

Is a sort of graveyard
Of a mass attack gone wrong.

The native americans would use
Their canoes

Loaded with warriors
Either killing

Or capturing whatever
Europeans that they found.

Narrator: but scale analysis of
The settlers' ships cast doubt

On the idea that the ghost
Fleet dates from colonial times.

These are an artist's
Representation

Of the first three ships,
And this is godspeed.

And you can see that
They're just really small.

Yeah, well, those are totally
Different than the ones

I'm seeing
On the satellite image.

Yeah, the profiles
Of these would be

Sort of horseshoe shaped

And then come down and
Sort of drop into the center.

What you might see from modern
Ships is maybe more elongated,

More -- the ribs of the ships
Might be much flatter.

Narrator: if these aren't
Colonial ships,

What are they?

French wants to get on the water
And inspect the wrecks up close.

What he sees stuns him.

French:
Look how many are out there.

Wow.

What in the hell
Happened here?

**

Narrator: coming up...

Terror rising from the ice.

You can imagine the inuit
Viewing these horns

Coming up out of the ice
To be some sort of a monster.

Narrator: and kirk french
Tries to decode the wrecks

Found in the potomac.

It looks like there's three
Separate ships

That were all scorched.

Though any boat would literally
Be blasted out of the water.

**

Narrator: archeologist
Kirk french has journeyed

To a remote stretch
Of the potomac river

To investigate this image.

He's discovered the satellite

Has captured a fleet
Of wrecked ships.

Wow.
Okay, getting --

Coming up on one now.

Looks like one, anyway.

There's pieces of metal
Sticking up as well,

Not just wood.

Narrator: the presence of metal
Provides a clue

To the fleet's age.

I mean, we're talking about
Civil war,

Which I guess is a possibility.

You know, they had a firm grasp
Of metal use,

But they also had
A lot of wooden ships.

Narrator: the war at sea is
A side of the civil war

That is often forgotten.

And the wrecks in the image
Border an area

Known for its intense battles

Between the union
And the confederates.

I mean, this area of the potomac
Essentially

Was a border
Between the north and the south.

I mean, virginia's just right
Over there across the river.

Narrator: in 1861, the union
Government blockades

Confederate ports.

Hundreds of ships patrol
3,500 miles of coastline,

Preventing supplies getting in
Or out of the southern states.

The aim -- to starve
The south into submission.

The union strategy was basically
To choke

The confederacy economically
And logistically.

And this was actually called
The anaconda plan,

Like a snake
Wrapping around the economy.

Narrator: the south badly needs
Food and weapons.

To get them,
They will have to break

The union's naval blockade.

Janulis: one of the solutions
The confederates came up with

Were blockade runners.

Small, light ships that would
Go out

Under the darkness of night

And evade detection
By the union.

Narrator: confederate
Blockade runner ships

That are caught in union waters
Are captured or destroyed.

Any boat that would try to leave
The area that was quarantined

Would literally be blasted
Out of the water.

It would be destroyed
By the bombarding ships.

Narrator: french finds signs
That suggest

These ships
Were destroyed by fire.

French: yeah, that definitely
Looks like burnt.

That's burnt, isn't it?

So it looks like there's three
Separate ships

That were all scorched.

Narrator: the scorchmarks
Are telling.

These could be some of
The notorious

Confederate fire ships used to
Disrupt the union blockade.

You'd send a ship that was
On fire or several ships

That were on fire
Toward another fleet

In order to burn them.

Narrator: confederate
Blockade runners used fire ships

To destroy union ships,

Allowing their own supplies
To get through.

French probes the wrecks
With an underwater camera.

**

French: that's got tons and tons
Of these heavy pins in it,

Which to me would resemble
What you would have in --

On an engine mount
Or something like that.

And why would you have an engine
Mount for a wooden ship?

Narrator: the wooden hulls
Suggest that these ships date

From the civil war period
Or earlier,

Yet the engine mounts hint
At vessels from a later era.

French: obviously,
There's something weird here.

You've got different materials

That are all being used
At the same time.

It seems like a quick fix
For something.

If I had to place a bet on it,
I would just say

That it had to be
After the civil war.

Narrator: french heads back
To the shore

In search of some local
Historical knowledge.

French: okay, well,
That was super lucky.

Just found out about a local guy
Lives in this area

That knows a lot
About these ships,

So I want to go talk
To this guy.

I think he's really gonna
Be able to shed some light

On what happened there.

Narrator: french travels to meet
Arthur willets...

-hello.
-hey, arthur.

Narrator: ...Who has lived
On these shores for 90 years

And remembers stories
And events,

Which were never
Set down on paper.

The wrecks, he claims,

Are the relics of a mammoth
Shipbuilding program

Undertaken when america
Joins world war I in 1917.

Willets: the program started
In april,

And they was gonna build
A whole lot of them.

During world war I,
The british fleet,

Like the union
During the civil war,

Blockades german-occupied
Europe,

But it takes a battering from
German u-boats in the atlantic.

As war wages in france,

The allies desperately
Need new supply ships.

President woodrow wilson
Responds

By ordering the greatest
Ship-building program

In the country's history.

The idea was to build
800 to 1,000.

Morgan: basically every shipyard
In the united states

Stopped what they were doing
To focus

On constructing
This merchant fleet

That will keep the war
Material flowing to europe.

Narrator: to build 1,000 ships
Will take

A massive amount of steel,

But the steel industry
Doesn't have the capacity.

The solution --
Build them the old way.

Altaweel:
Boats were being built,

And they have to be built
Very rapidly,

So instead of using steel,

Boats were actually
Built out of wood.

Narrator: yet, not one vessel
Manages to reach europe

Before the war
Comes to an end.

America finds itself with
A fleet of 134 wooden ships.

After the war ends,
The ships were obsolete.

And even when they built
Some of them,

They were obsolete.

Morgan: the navy doesn't
Want them

Because they're made of wood.

The navy wants ships
That are made of steel.

And the result is that
The government has these ships

And doesn't know
What to do with them.

Narrator: storing the ships
Costs the american taxpayer

$50,000 a month,

So the government sells
The brand new ships for salvage.

Janulis: so the western marine
Salvage company

Takes all these ships

And moves them
To a private plot of land

Adjacent to a harbor
That they have purchased.

Well, they were towed
Into james river,

And then they were towed
To mallows bay.

Narrator: in 1925,
The ships are burned.

A decade later, arthur willets

And other mallows bay
Residents --

Jobless and desperate
During the great depression --

Try to remove metal fittings
To sell for scrap.

That sounds dangerous.

Yes, it was dangerous.

To get the metal,
They used dynamite, pick ax.

Dynamite?
Yeah.

Back in the '30s, you could
Go to the grocery store

And get a stick
Of dynamite.

The work is backbreaking,
And the returns are meager,

But under roosevelt's new deal
America, men are desperate.

You had to do a lot
Of scrap metal

To make some kind of money.

I would say scrap metal
Was selling a dollar

Or two for 100 pound.

The ghosts that haunt
These wrecks

Are not those of blackbeard
And his pirates,

But of the families who lived
Through the grinding poverty

Of the great depression,
And the young americans

Who died fighting far
From home in a foreign war.

This is an amazing secret --

Lesser known story of america's
Role in the first world war.

**

Narrator: coming up...

Things get weird
In rural ireland.

Typically the celts captured
Someone to sacrifice them.

Narrator: and explorers go
In search of an icy lost world.

These arctic explorers
Are completely mad.

**

Narrator: april 14, 2018,

Nasa scientists are carrying out
An aerial survey in the arctic.

Below they capture
Three large holes in the ice.

Holes unlike anything
They've seen before.

Unlike anything known to exist
In the arctic.

It almost is like someone came
Along with this giant tea kettle

And poured boiling hot water
Into the surface.

This is really bizarre.

You would not expect
These to be here.

Narrator: the nasa team believes
The holes are too irregular

To have been created
By humans.

Scientists consider possible
Natural explanations.

Cerveny:
When the ice gets covered,

We still have
Underneath open water.

And that open water has currents
That are flowing through.

Different areas are going
To be slightly warmer.

Warm water rises.

And when it hits the top
Of the ice, if it's warm enough,

It could actually start
To melt a circular opening.

Narrator: what puzzles experts
Is that these holes

Are the wrong size.

Ellis: if there's warm water
Coming from below,

The effects would be more broad.

We're seeing three very specific

Almost puncture wounds
To the ice.

I think we need to look
Elsewhere.

Narrator: a possible clue
To the mystery

Comes from reports
From the late 19th century

When a stranded whaler,
John keenan,

Claimed to have found
An unknown landmass

Hidden beneath the arctic ice.

Surprisingly little was actually
Known about the arctic.

It was known that it was covered
By an ice sheet,

But some people believed that it
Was rather like antarctica

Or the hidden continent

Underneath the ice
Known as keenan land.

Narrator:
In 1906, ejnar mikkelsen
And ernest de koven leffingwell

Set sail for the arctic

To search for keenan's
Fabled land beneath the ice.

In january 1907,
Their ship begins to leak,

And the explorers are forced
To abandon her.

These arctic explorers
Are completely mad.

They've got their basic clothes,
They've got their equipment.

They have to take the ship apart

And they build themselves
A permanent hut on the land.

They end up overwintering
On an island

Off the north coast of alaska.

It must have been just
Hellish conditions.

Narrator: when spring arrives,
The teams set forth again

In search of keenan land.

You would think they would
Give up at this point,

But they don't.

They continued to walk,
Drilling holes every so often

Deep into the ice
To see if they could find land.

Could these holes in the ice
That we see today

Be remnants of that expedition,

Misshapen by the constant
Shifting, melting,

And refreezing sea ice
Over so many years?

If holes drilled into the ice
Lasted more than a century,

We would be seeing
These all over the arctic.

I don't think
This could be possible.

I don't think they would be
Around since 1906.

Narrator: the expedition failed
To confirm the reports

Of a lost world
Beneath the ice,

Yet there is certainly a world
Of sorts --

A water world.

This area might look
Uninhabitable,

But below the sea ice,

It's actually teeming with life,
Including marine mammals.

When you have an icy area,

They have to keep
A part of that exposed

So they can come up and breathe.

Narrator: the oral histories
Of the local inuit tribes

Tell of a terrifying creature
Inhabiting this water world --

Pa'ri yook.

They say he may rise
From the depths of the sea

And smash kayaks,
Dragging them to the depths

With his long
Serpent-like tongue.

Narrator: marine biologist
Rob nelson considers

If another creature shrouded
In inuit myths

And legends could have
Caused the holes --

The narwhal.

Narwhals are the most bizarre
Animals you've ever seen.

Nobody would probably
Believe you

If you drew
A picture of a narwhal and said,

"This animal actually exists."

Rice: you can imagine
The inuit viewing these horns

Coming up out of the ice
To be some sort of a monster.

Nelson: narwhal comes from
The old norse "Nar",

Which means corpse-like,

Which alludes to the color
Of the narwhal's skin.

Corpse-like in the same way that
A dead sailor is dead and gray.

Narrator: the narwhal's horn
Is a huge tooth.

Over the course
Of a whale's life,

It can grow up
To 10 feet in length

And is packed
With 10,000 nerve endings.

The latest research suggests

That this is
A giant sensory organ,

Which the whales use to search
For prey and mate.

The vikings had this practice
Of catching them,

Cutting off their horn,

And selling it, claiming that
It was actually from a unicorn.

Narrator: narwhals can hold
Their breath for 25 minutes,

An hour less than a sperm whale

And need regular access
To holes in the ice to breathe.

The idea that a narwhal
Could cause these holes fits

With the satellite image

Because you can see
The round circles of slush

Around the holes
As if an animal had burst up

Allowing water
To spray around the hole.

Narrator: biologist
Stephanie schuttler studies

The ice thickness in the image.

She doubts the holes could have
Been caused by a narwhal

Or any other animal.

Given that the ice is so thick
In so many areas,

It seems pretty far fetched that
A single animal could do this.

Narrator: there is still no
Convincing explanation

For the existence
Of these holes.

**

Coming up...

Seen from the skies,
Dr. Love's wonder drug.

Schuttler:
The demand is skyrocketing.

It's almost like the whole
Population is getting high.

Narrator: and unspeakable acts
For ancient gods.

They literally
Burned people alive.

**

Narrator: january 5, 2018,

A satellite
Over northern ireland

Captures this image.

Bellinger: at first glance,
This looks kind of like

A typical landscape,

Except right in the middle,
Your eye is just drawn,

As if magnetically,
To this circular complex.

It's like nothing else
In the area.

Walters: I can't really imagine
What it could be.

You've suddenly got something
Which looks

Positively otherworldly.

It's completely baffling.

Narrator: military historian
Martin morgan scans the image.

He considers if the shapes
Are a relic from world war ii.

Morgan: I spend a great deal of
Time on european battlefields.

These look to me like
They might be craters.

You can look at craters
From explosions

From the american civil war,

And they're still
Visibly discernible,

And so it's not unsurprising
That craters

From a mere 75 years ago
Can still be seen.

Narrator: in september of 1940,
German luftwaffer bombers

Filled the skies
Over the united kingdom.

The nazis pummeled key
Industrial targets,

Including shipyards in belfast,
Northern ireland.

Hitler hopes to cripple
The allied war machine

And force
The british to surrender.

Belfast and the surrounding area
That constituted

Northern ireland is a part
Of the united kingdom.

That was fair game.

Walters: belfast is a big port,

And it's also a place
Where a lot of ships get built.

Let's not forget this is
The birthplace of the titanic.

Herman goring,
In charge of luftwaffe,

Looks at belfast
And says to his bombers,

"Flatten it."

Narrator:
According to informants,

During this
So-called belfast blitz,

The luftwaffer
Receives assistance

From irish terrorist groups.

Walters: there are a lot of
Rumors that members

Of the I.R.A.,
The irish republican army,

Were bitter foes of britain

Actually lit beacons
To help the luftwaffer bombers

Navigate their way to belfast.

Now, this has never been proven,

But it's quite likely
To be true.

Narrator:
Yet the site in the image

Is over
30 miles away from belfast.

Further image analysis reveals
The circles

Aren't depressions after all.

Paul: this satellite image shows
That this circle

Actually appears to be a mound.

The fact that there's a circle
Within the circle

Indicates that there's more
Significance to this site.

Narrator: karen bellinger spots
Something unusual

Inside one of the mounds --
A ditch.

For bellinger, this suggests
The formation has its origins

In ireland's ancient past.

These mounds have
Very clear ditches

On their interior perimeter.

Defensive ditches are always
Outside of a mound.

This, to me, is a very
Clear example

Of neolithic earthen
Work henges.

Narrator: henges
Are stone age monuments.

Their origin and purpose
Remain a mystery.

Around 2,000 years after
It was built,

It's likely that this henge was
Used by celtic pagan savages.

Celtic tribes were in constant
Conflict with each other.

Typically before battle,

They would have their priest
Perform ceremonies

To get the tribe ready
For the conflict ahead.

Narrator:
Celtic druins are known

To have indulged
In ritual bloodletting.

Archeologist mark altaweel
Speculates

That before battle, humans,
Including young men and girls,

Were killed here to pacify
And please pagan gods.

Typically the celts captured
Someone to sacrifice them.

They would perform these rituals
On these mounds,

Places that were elevated,

In a way, bringing them
Closer to their gods.

Narrator: for all their use
Of extreme violence,

The romans considered
Human sacrifice barbaric

And julius caesar comments on
The savagery of celtic druins.

He tells us in his writings
About the gaelic wars

That the druids would build
An enormous human effigy.

An actual large statue
Of a man made of wicker,

Almost as if he were a cage
Would be constructed

To hold hundreds
Of individuals.

Bellinger: druids would
Throw in animals

And people and set them alight.

They literally burned
People alive.

Narrator: when archeologists
Excavate the center of the site

Captured by satellite,

They discover
Something baffling.

One of the most bizarre finds
That archeologists

Have found within
This circular enclosure

Is the skull of a primate
Known as a barbary ape.

Narrator: barbary apes come from
North africa's atlas mountains.

What is an ape doing in ireland?

It's a very curious
Kind of discovery.

Narrator: ancient irish
Mythological texts suggest

That the structure
May hold yet more secrets.

The texts name the site
As the headquarters

Of the red branch knights,
One of the royal courts

Of legendary celtic kings
Of ireland

And the seat
Of the king himself.

The image that we're looking at
May be showing us

One of the most important
Pre-christian

Communities in ireland.

This might be the seat of this
Ulster kingdom

That was once located here.

Narrator: a place of ritual
Pagan bloodletting

Or the remains
Of one of the thrones

Of the legendary kings
Of ireland.

This ancient monument continues
To guard its secrets well.

**

Coming up...

China prepares
To colonize space.

Today's space race isn't about
Who can land on the moon first.

It's about who can live
On the moon first.

Narrator: and the force is
Strong in the mohave.

Chamberlain: you've got two
Millennium falcons

Sitting here
In the middle of the desert.

**

Narrator: october 2013,

Satellites
Over the mohave desert

Capture an image of strange
Structures in the sand.

I honestly have no idea
What I'm looking at.

It almost looks like the surface
Of another planet.

Chamberlain: it looks like
They're spacecraft.

It looks like
They're from "Star wars."

You've got two
Millennium falcons

Sitting here
In the middle of the desert.

Narrator: the mohave desert
Covers 50,000 square miles

Of southern california,
Nevada, arizona, and utah.

They are in the middle
Of nowhere, desertville.

The more you zoom out
From the image,

The more you can see,
This is completely isolated.

Narrator: the mohave's
Vast interior makes it

The perfect location

For covert,
Often illegal activities.

Any kind of desert area,
There's not a lot of people

And therefore,
Not a lot of law enforcement,

So you basically have free reign
To do what you want.

Narrator: in 1969, serial killer
Charles manson is on the run

And hides out at a remote ranch
In this desert.

Those interested
In the paranormal,

Secret military activity,
Religious cults,

You name it,
The mohave has seen it.

Narrator: journalist
Carlo munoz wonders

Whether another of the mohave's
Clandestine residents

Could explain
The mystery image.

So I've come across an image
That features a dome-like

Structure
That's kind of similar

To what we've seen
In the original image.

It was built by a guy
Named george van tassel.

He was one of these individuals
That in the '50s

Was really drawn to the desert.

Narrator: van tassel meditates
In the desert

Beneath giant rock,

The largest free-standing
Boulder in the world.

By this so-called channeling,

He attempts to contact
Extraterrestrial beings.

Munoz: he really thought that
These crystallized rocks

Would allow him to communicate
With other forms of life

Outside of our own galaxy.

Narrator: van tassel claims to
Have met an extraterrestrial

Who provides him with blueprints
For a bizarre building.

Van tassel claims to have
Received instructions

On how to build this structure
Known as the integratron.

Looking at these images,
At first glance,

They bear a resemblance
To van tassel's design.

Narrator: the 35-foot high
Dome-shaped

Building features
A core of copper wire.

Van tassel claims
That it can harness

Untapped natural energy
From the atmosphere

To rejuvenate human bodies
And extend their life.

Nowadays, van tassel
Would probably be looked

At as kind of a kook,
But in the 1950s,

We're seeing the advent
Of sci-fi

In movies and literature.

So there was a real appetite
Amongst americans

For this kind of thinking,
This kind of approach.

Narrator: however, image analyst
Marc d'antonio

Believes the satellite image
Is an optical illusion.

If we move this around,

We see that there's actually
A building over here

And it's casting a shadow
In this direction.

That means the light is coming
From the bottom of the screen.

So if the sun's coming from
This direction,

This side, if it was a mound,

It would be brightly lit,
But it's not.

It's actually dark.

So these are actually
Two depressions in the sand.

Narrator: d'antonio scours
The surrounding terrain

For more clues
To the origin

Of the weirdly
Shaped depressions.

If we look south
In these objects,

We can see that
There are these dots.

Well, what are these dots?

We zoom in, we see that
They're actually tanks.

There are actually a lot
Of things around there --

Boats, even the wire frame
Of a plane.

I'm pretty positive now
That we're looking at

Some sort of military site.

Narrator:
U.S. Military records confirm

That the formations lie
In an area

Partly controlled
By edwards air force base.

Edwards has been at
The forefront

Of military testing
And development

Since world war ii and has
Control of the controversial,

Highly classified
Base area 51.

This is where altitude
And speed tests are broken,

Where all kinds of new
Stealth aircraft are tested.

I wonder if what
We're looking at here

Is something to do with some
Sort of secret weapons testing.

Narrator: an image taken
Six months later

Reveals something strange.

The features now appear
To be filled with water.

Ex-cia operative
Lindsay moran has a theory.

We may have stumbled
Upon a site

That's capable for both
Underwater and aerial testing.

Something that
You might use for say,

A drone hybrid that can
Transition from air to sea.

Narrator: when analysts contact
The base,

A spokesperson claims
That the mystery pools

Are designed to test
Advanced missile technology.

Without independent
Verification,

These structures and this image
Remain a mystery.

The only thing
That's clear to me

At this point
Is that the u.S. Military

Is up to something
Much more secretive

Than meets the eye.

Narrator: coming up...

Secret chinese experiments
On the dark side of the moon.

It makes sense that if the
Chinese are testing something,

They might want to keep covered
Up and away from prying eyes.

**

Narrator: september 25, 2017,

Satellite images taken over
A mountain in northeastern china

Reveal a series
Of brightly colored patches

Splashed across the landscape.

I don't know what's going on
In this place,

But those images are so blue.

It's just so, so blue.

It's very striking.
What could it be?

Narrator: image analyst
Marc d'antonio

Scans the mystery structures.

Looking at this photo,
This is a fertile area.

You can see very deep greens.

And then you see
These areas of blue,

Which in my estimation
Are tarps

Of some type
Covering growing plants.

Narrator: biologist
Stephanie schuttler suggests

That the coverings hint

At an experimental
Farming project.

It almost looks like
A futuristic farm.

It makes sense that if the
Chinese are testing something,

They might want to keep covered
Up and away from prying eyes.

Narrator: digging deeper,
Schuttler discovers

Something extraordinary.

The chinese are working
On a project

Straight out of science fiction.

They're going to put a farm
On the moon.

Schuttler: remember matt damon
In "The martian"?

Well, swap mars for the moon,
And you get the picture

Of what's going to happen
In the future.

Major: today's space race
Isn't about

Who can land on the moon first.

Today's space race is about
Who can live on the moon first.

Narrator: the key to
The survival of a moon colony

Is self-sustainability.

To succeed, scientists must
Solve the problem

Of a lunar surface

Entirely composed
Of barren rock and dust.

Major: a lot of that surface
Material has been eradiated

By the sun
And by cosmic radiation

For literally billions of years.

It's as sterile as it comes.

Turning that into something
That can generate life

Is very, very difficult.

Narrator: the chinese solution
Is ingenious.

They're creating mini-ecosystems
In a can.

How it's going to work is by
Sending tins full of potatoes,

Mustard flowers,
And silkworms.

The silkworms will give off
Carbon dioxide

And the potatoes
And mustard flower

Will consume
The carbon dioxide

And give off oxygen creating
This cyclical ecosystem.

Suddenly you have
A mini-biosphere

Functioning all on its own.

Narrator: the chinese are using
Their chang of four mission

To send one of these mini farms
To a test site on the moon.

The race to colonize
The moon has begun.

Capps: if this image is sort of
The seeds of that lunar village,

It's a little bit frightening
To think

That they're that far ahead.

But it's also a bit historic,
A bit awe-inspiring.

Narrator: however, biologist
Rob nelson isn't convinced

That the remote
Mountain location

Is a suitable lunar test site.

I don't think this is
A laboratory

For moon experiments,
It's just too out in the open.

To really control for
The habitat of the moon,

You'd have to do it inside.

Narrator: haley chamberlain
Searches for other crops

That require shade
And altitude to thrive.

Chamberlain: it's going to a lot
Of trouble

To grow something high
In the mountains like this

That needs a big shade cover.

So the only thing that would
Really make it economically

Feasible in this area
Would be growing ginseng.

Narrator: ginseng is the root
Of a plant

Belonging to the ivy family.

Growing it is difficult
And expensive.

A single acre costs
Over $200,000 to cultivate.

But the payoff is worth it.

Nelson: ginseng is thought
To have many medicinal uses

Including getting
Your mojo going.

Narrator: in 2013, the chinese
Government relaxes

Its controversial
One-child policy.

Amorous couples turned
To ginseng to help

Make up for lost time.

Schuttler:
The demand is skyrocketing.

With china's population growth,

It's almost like
The whole population

Is getting high on ginseng.

Narrator: chinese farmers
Produce thousands of tons

Of ginseng every year.

But experts in the art
Of the horizontal tango

Believe the best stuff
Comes from america.

Nelson: the chinese love
American-grown ginseng.

I mean, the taste, the flavor,
The potency.

Narrator:
Originally commissioned
By george washington

As a cash crop to fund
The revolutionary war,

Wisconsin farms now
Export millions of dollars

Worth of ginseng to china.

American ginseng
Is actually touted

As something that's
Really highly sought after.

It's much more expensive
Per pound than chinese ginseng.

Narrator: one pound of ginseng
Grown in the u.S.

Can cost $1,500.

This has led to a thriving
Black market

In fake american ginseng.

The chinese ginseng is cheaper,
So sometimes people will produce

That and stick the american
Ginseng label on it

And sell it for much more.

Narrator: chamberlain wonders
If the site

In the satellite image
Is a part of the thriving trade

In this contraband aphrodisiac.

Because you can make
So much money

With "American ginseng farms"

Or whatever you're labeling
Your farm as,

They're cropping up
All over china.

So could this be
What we're seeing?

Maybe this is an american
Ginseng farm in china.

Narrator: fake or real,
For china's lovebirds,

The only thing that matters
Is whether it works.