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.

[ beeping, distorted music ]

Nazis and cannibals In the black forest...

Woman: there's clear evidence Here of tongues being cut out

And the brains removed.

My gosh. This thing is enormous.

Whoa. Look at that.

Narrator: russia's tectonic Terror weapon...

It could be not detectable.

It looks like a natural disaster Just happened.

Narrator: And seen from the skies,

Narco guerillas go crazy.

Man: they can strike anywhere, At any time,

And bleed back into the jungle.

Narrator: baffling phenomena...

Mysteries from space...

What on earth are they?

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

Captions paid for by Discovery communications

**

Narrator: march 2nd, 2005.

An eye in the sky over southwest Germany captures this image.

Man: This is an amazing image.

Smack in the middle Of the landscape

Is a perfect Circle of trees.

Clearly, this is Something deliberate,

Something human-made.

Narrator: analysis of the center Of the circle provides a clue.

Man: what's visible in the image Is a low mound,

And that immediately suggests

That it might be A prehistoric monument.

Narrator: archaeologist Karen bellinger

Examines the image.

If this is an ancient site,

It could conceal A grisly secret.

Woman: it's possible that This circle of trees

Is somehow related To activities

Archaeologists have discovered Nearby in this region --

Death pits, Which are circular in nature

And hold some Pretty gruesome remains.

**

Narrator: death pits are ancient Mass graves.

So far, four of these gruesome Stone-age sites

Have been discovered in germany, Containing hundreds of bodies.

Bellinger: these skeletons were Treated in a way

That butchered animals are.

Man: there are cut marks On the bones.

This appears to be Human cannibalism.

Bellinger: there's evidence here Of tongues being cut out

And the brains removed.

**

Narrator: Historian martin morgan

Is traveling across germany

To investigate The suspected death pit.

I am in the middle of nowhere.

Narrator: celtic tribes lived In these forests

Hundreds of years Before the birth of christ.

Some were cannibals.

That's it. There it is. Right there.

**

Narrator: the weird circle sits On top of

A 1,500-foot-high hill.

Ancient peoples built high.

It brought them closer To their gods.

**

Wow. This thing is bigger than I thought it was going to be.

**

Wow. Now, this is fascinating.

It's a wall.

**

Or at least, That's what it looks like.

**

And it's substantial pieces Of concrete, at that.

Narrator: the wall is huge -- Four feet thick,

Almost 1,000 feet long, And perfectly circular.

Man: so, it's definitely not An ancient site.

It's pretty safe to assume This might be military.

This concrete looks to be About 75 years old,

Maybe a little more, Which would drop the period

Right into the nazi era.

Narrator: morgan believes a much Larger nazi structure

Once stood here.

**

Morgan: whatever this thing was, It was massive,

And it has been dismantled And taken away.

Narrator: morgan returns to The satellite images.

The mystery circle isn't the Only one visible from space.

Using digital globe Secure-watch technology,

Analyst ken joyce confirms Many more are spread

Across nazi-occupied europe.

Man: each one of these Circular objects

Has a very similar appearance.

What I've done is I've marked Some of the locations,

And what I find Is a strong concentration

Near the french coast here.

**

Narrator: morgan journeys to Northern france,

Through countless world war ii Battlefields.

The structure's shape And coastal position

Could offer a clue.

Morgan: normandy is a place Where the germans

Established launch sites For their vergeltungswaffen --

The vengeance weapons.

Narrator: vengeance weapons

Were revolutionary Long-range missiles

Designed to inflict maximum Damage and terror on the allies.

Morgan knows of one established Vengeance weapon site en route,

And wants to see if it will help Shed light on the nazi circles.

Morgan: the site is nearby.

Ah, that was it. I just saw it.

**

Just look at this building.

This is a robustly Built structure.

Narrator: it was from sites like This one that the nazis launched

One of the most feared weapons In human history --

The v-1.

**

Man: the v-1 rocket was

The world's first Cruise missile.

It was basically A pilot-less plane

That was flown with a warhead Across the channel

To land On the united kingdom.

**

Narrator: in 1944 and 1945,

During a campaign of terror,

10,000 nazi flying bombs Land on britain,

Killing more than 6,000 people.

Walters: you hear this very Distinct sound...

[ imitating rocket ]

Getting nearer and nearer.

And then it cuts out.

And you know for those next Few agonizing, silent seconds,

Whether that bomb's Going to hit you or not.

[ explosion ]

Narrator: yet, as morgan Explores the structures,

He discovers That the mystery circles

Cannot be similar Vengeance weapon launch sites.

Morgan: this is a launch ramp, And that's england over there --

Less than 150 miles away.

This is pointing like A gun barrel at it.

In order to make it Across the channel,

These rockets had to get up to 400 miles per hour.

So, they needed a long ramp To get them up to that speed.

What you don't have, though, Is a concrete ring

300 feet in diameter.

Narrator: if the nazi circles Aren't launch sites,

What on earth are they?

Morgan: I just won't be able to tell

Until I get to one of these sites

And I inspect it for myself.

**

Narrator: coming up,

The mad scientist And the mega-weapon.

He made this machine that could Actually make buildings

And bridges start To swing, shake, and crumble.

Narrator: and the strange Nazi circles

Reveal their purpose.

Morgan: oh, yeah. Now we're talking.

Look at this.

Man.

**

Narrator: historian Martin morgan is in europe

Investigating a series of Strange circular nazi structures

Captured by satellite.

He hopes one in normandy Will help solve the mystery.

**

As he approaches the site, He finds something he didn't see

In the satellite image --

An underground bunker.

Oh, yeah. Now we're talking.

Look at this.

Man.

**

Whoa. Look at that.

My gosh. This thing is enormous.

**

Narrator: for morgan, The heavily fortified facility

Confirms the circles once housed Clandestine technology.

It almost looks as if you have Splash from an explosion.

Maybe a hand grenade was tossed In here and went off,

And this is what has Caused this damage.

**

Narrator: morgan finds a second Entrance to the bunker,

One that yields a clue.

Morgan: The eagle is very distinctive.

The luftwaffe always depicted An eagle

That had swooping wings With curved edges.

So, we have A luftwaffe facility.

Narrator: the luftwaffe, Hitler's feared air force,

Also left an inscription.

Morgan: "Built under adolf hitler In the war with england, 1940."

Narrator: morgan continues on Towards the mystery circle.

All right, girls, look out. I'm coming through.

[ cow lowing ]

Narrator: as he approaches it, He discovers a problem.

The wall has been removed,

Leaving just its outline Visible from the skies.

Yet unlike the site in germany, Another structure remains.

Morgan: this pedestal block -- This is a big clue.

There was some sort Of mounting plate here.

I think that means that we had Some sort

Of a rotating apparatus -- Our structure of some kind.

Some sort of broadcasting site,

Transmitting site, Receiving site.

I don't think it's radar, Though.

We're too far inland, so maybe This is a navigational beacon.

**

Narrator: morgan also finds

The remnants Of power conduits.

This and the inscription Leads him to consider

If the circles are relics Of a little known

But revolutionary Nazi navigational beacon.

I think this might be A knickebein site.

The germans used this system In 1940

To provide A navigational beam

That luftwaffe bombers could Follow all the way to a target,

And I believe that This might have been

One of the stations That did this.

Narrator: in september 1940,

Hitler orders a ferocious Aerial assault on britain

To set the stage For a ground invasion.

**

If he succeeds, His domination of europe

And possibly the world Is complete.

Yet the royal air force inflict Huge losses on the luftwaffe,

Destroying over 1,700 planes.

Morgan: the losses became Ultimately so great

That the germans had to shift To nighttime bombing operations.

Man: essentially, the luftwaffe Pilots were flying blind

Because there was a blackout On the ground,

So they couldn't see a thing.

**

Narrator: the germans, however, Possess a trump card --

The knickebein system.

The knickebein uses circular Navigation stations,

Which send out radio beams

That intersect directly Above a british target.

Think of it as like a corridor In the sky,

And he's listening to that beam As he goes along,

And then as soon As he starts hearing

The other beam coming in,

He's right above his target, And he can drop his bombs.

Morgan: the knickebein system

Made it Possible to guide pilots

Even in the pitch black of night To a target with great accuracy.

[ explosion ]

Narrator: this new technology Enables the luftwaffe

To pound key industrial targets.

But the brits finally catch A break.

Walters: the british identify These beams

Above the rolls-royce factory,

And of course The rolls-royce factory

Isn't churning out luxury cars At this point.

It's churning out vital Aircraft engines.

It's therefore A big german target.

Narrator: british intelligence Gives the nazi system

A codename -- "Headache."

It develops countermeasures To disrupt the beams,

Codenamed "Aspirin."

Walters: what emerges now

Is what's known As the battle of the beams,

In which the british are trying To jam the german radio signals,

And the germans are then Trying to outwit the british

Outwitting them.

Narrator: The brits' jamming technology Buys them crucial time.

In june, 1941, The advancing red army

Forces hitler To turn his attention eastwards

And abandon his plans To invade britain.

The rest is history.

There were a lot of small Moments that may have influenced

Whether the germans Or the allies won,

And this may have been one Of those significant moments.

Narrator: the strange circles Seen from space

Are an indelible Reminder of a time

When the fate of humankind Hung in the balance.

You can come stand here And it transports you back

In time to this moment, Where lives were changed,

The course of history Was altered,

And places like this, Although now forgotten,

Were in the center

Of the greatest Possible consequences.

**

Narrator: coming up, Cold war scientists play god.

It's entirely possible that This crater could be

The cause of a tectonic weapon.

Narrator: and the giant splats Seen from space

That scientists can't explain.

Woman: whatever it might be,

It's always going to be A mystery.

**

Narrator: june 10, 2006.

Above far-eastern siberia, Eyes in the sky capture

This feature In the barren landscape.

This is weird because it looks Like a mountain system,

But it's perfectly circular.

I've never seen anything Like this.

It's almost as if it had been Dropped there

By some unknown force.

Narrator: image analysis reveals The feature is huge --

Five miles wide And 2,000 feet high.

Typically when we see A feature like this,

We think one of two things --

Either an impact crater Or a volcanic cone.

One reason I don't think This is a meteor crater

Is the sides are very regular --

Wouldn't look Like this perfect ring.

Man: And in this part of siberia,

There is no volcanic activity,

So it's got to be Something else.

Narrator: This leads some to consider

If the structure's symmetry Is in fact artificial.

Man: this thing is almost Perfectly round.

It seems like It's almost unnatural.

But it's so huge.

If it is man-made, What kind of force and effort

Would it take To move that much earth?

Narrator: siberia was The location

Of some of the cold war's Strangest, darkest experiments.

The 40,000-foot-deep "Well to hell"

Is the deepest Artificial point on earth,

And the kolyma highway contains The bones of those who built it.

**

Mike capps considers If the image is evidence

Of a long-rumored experiment Capable of rupturing the earth.

Tectonic weaponry sounds

Straight out of A science-fiction movie,

But it's entirely possible That this siberian crater

Could be the effect Of a tectonic weapon.

Narrator: a tectonic weapon Aims to disrupt

Natural subterranean processes

To unleash the earth's Awesome geological power.

Like an opera singer Can break a glass

With a high-pitched note...

[ trilling ]

...The idea of a tectonic weapon

Is that you could use Sound or sonic waves

To release the potential In tectonic plates.

It could be not detectable, Right?

It looks like a natural disaster Just happened.

Narrator: the idea of A tectonic weapon

Originates in the work

Of visionary Scientist nikola tesla.

Fluent in eight languages And holder of 300 patents,

Tesla conducts pioneering work On electric light,

X-rays, remote control, And robotics.

In 1896, he begins work on his Electro-mechanical oscillator,

The so-called Earthquake machine.

Man: he made this machine

That had A steam-activated piston,

That he could figure Out the harmony

Of anything he put it on.

So, it could actually make Buildings and bridges

Start to swing, shake, And even crumble.

Narrator: in 1935, tesla claims That he destroyed the device

When a successful test Threatens to flatten

Several buildings In downtown manhattan.

Three decades later, The american military studies

The geological impact of its Most powerful mega-weapons.

One reasonable way to affect Tectonic weaponry

Would to be use some sort Of atomic or nuclear weapon.

United states tried that With project faultless.

Narrator: the 1968 Project faultless mission

Involves detonating A nuclear bomb

3,200 feet beneath nevada.

It creates numerous fractures Up to 9,000 feet long

In the earth's surface.

It just goes to show we can't Predict what nature will do,

And the idea Of weaponizing nature

Scares the heck out of me.

Narrator: in the 1990s, Reports emerge that claim

The kremlin also developed Tectonic weapons

During the cold war.

They're an effort to, from Hundreds of kilometers away,

To trigger earthquakes Or other tectonic activity.

So, that would be a reasonable Testing ground for some things.

Narrator: yet other Investigators discover a clue

That suggests The weird structure

Has a different origin.

Woman: I pulled some geologic Maps and found out

That this area actually Has a lot of igneous rocks.

So, one of The possibilities here

Is that it's something Known as a pluton.

**

Narrator: a pluton, Also called an intrusion,

Is a freak geological process Whereby molten magma slowly

Pushes its way up Towards the earth's crust.

As the surrounding softer rock Gradually erodes away,

The hard volcanic rock remains.

One of the classic examples Of an igneous intrusion

Is devil's tower in wyoming.

It was made famous in the movie

"Close encounters Of the third kind."

Narrator: further image analysis Reveals something unexpected.

When you zoom in on the image, You can actually see

That there are roads Going in and out,

And there's building, Little encampments.

It looks like there may be Some sort of

Industrial activity here.

Narrator: Russian newspaper reports

Reveal something Extraordinary --

The bizarre feature Is also a mine,

And the prospectors here Are after something

That's 30-times rarer than gold.

The mineral being mined here Is platinum.

However, one kind of interesting And unusual aspect of this mine

Is that they're Pulling out platinum

That's actually Encrusted in gold.

Narrator: the mine in the image

Produces four tons of The precious metal each year,

Worth around $100 million.

Analysts speculate This treasure trove

Has caught The attention of moscow.

Man: vladimir putin is known To have

A particular penchant For platinum,

So I'm starting to connect The dots here.

Narrator: putin declares His income

To be around $100,000 per year,

Yet he allegedly owns A $500,000 platinum watch.

Of his 58 aircraft, one toilet Alone costs $75,000 --

The perfect throne for The kremlin kingpin

To gaze down on this asset.

Putin has got some Pretty extravagant tastes,

And it's said that his net worth Is in the billions.

Could this site be Vladimir putin's

Personal platinum piggy-bank?

**

Narrator: coming up, The vanishing town.

Man: the zip code for this town Has actually been removed.

It's almost like it Doesn't exist anymore.

Narrator: and signs of A visitation

From another world.

This reminds me of an image I've seen before,

Which was of one Of the moons of jupiter.

**

Narrator: february 5, 2013 --

A satellite Passing nearly 500 miles

Above venezuela Captures this...

Woman: this image has several

What look Like star bursts in a row,

Like there's a star shooting Across the sky and bursting out.

Man: It looks like solar flares,

But these are actually Landmarks on the ground,

And it looks really bizarre.

Narrator: investigators turn To historical images.

Man: looking at satellite images From the 1970s,

These strange markings Were not there,

But they are here today,

Which means That it must be modern.

Narrator: analysis suggests

The weird solar features Are craters.

Military corespondent Carlo munoz

Has seen Features like this before.

So, what I'm looking at here, Really,

It looks like sort of A chain of explosions.

Narrator: the site In the satellite image

Sits just 15 miles From the colombian border.

This region of south america

Is not well-known For political stability.

You've got a lot of Guerilla warfare.

Narrator: colombian government Reports confirm

The vicious communist guerilla Group "Farc"

Has links to this region.

The terrorist group Is formed in 1966 --

Inspired by The cuban revolution,

They embark on a campaign Of anti-capitalist violence.

The farc guerillas really pose One of the most serious threats

To the colombian government.

They're well-trained, Well-armed,

And they wage a guerilla war

Against the government For decades.

Narrator: during half a century Of violence,

The guerilla conflict Claims 220,000 lives.

To help fund their 7,000-strong Rebel army,

The guerillas conduct a series Of high-profile

Kidnaps for ransom.

At the height of the campaign, Someone is kidnapped in colombia

Every two-and-a-half hours.

They were willing to die For their cause,

More than the colombian troops Who were battling them

Were willing To die for their country.

So, when you have An enemy like that,

It's incredibly difficult To defeat them.

They can strike anywhere At any time

And bleed back into the jungle.

Narrator: in 2010, leaked Colombian intelligence reveals

That 1,500 farc rebels Are active in camps

Near where the images are taken.

Munoz: What we could be seeing here

Are various paramilitary groups

Battling for control Of that border.

These could be the sign of some Very heavy weaponry

Being used in that area.

**

Narrator: yet the markings Are equally spaced

Along a 1.25-mile straight line.

I got to say, I don't believe Their weapons are so accurate

That the mortars end up In a perfect line.

Narrator: astrophysicist Athena brensberger uncovers

Another set of images similar to The ones taken over venezuela.

Nasa's galileo orbiter Captures them

390 million miles from earth.

Woman: this reminds me of An image I've seen before,

Which was of callisto, which is One of the moons of jupiter.

And it's showed the exact same Thing, which was a crater chain.

Narrator: a crater chain is A highly unusual pattern,

Created when a trail Of meteorite fragments

Impact at the same time.

Man: crater chains are Multiple-impact events.

It's a lot like taking in My hand a bunch of steel balls

And throwing them On a muddy, mucky surface.

They're going to have more Or less a line of impacts

On that muck.

Narrator: the earth spins at Over 1,500 feet per second.

This means that although The line of meteorites

Fall at the same rate,

The impact craters can be spaced Along a perfectly straight line.

Woman: the first impact happens, The planet rotates.

The next impact happens, The planet rotates.

The next impact, And this sequential pattern

Starts to happen,

Which could form these patterns Of craters

That we've noticed In the images.

Narrator: when analysts broaden Their search

Of the site in venezuela,

They discover three other Similar patterns.

Yet one runs at A different angle,

Suggesting these patterns May not have been created

By falling space debris.

There appears to be No explanation for the remote,

Otherworldly patterns Seen from the skies.

There's no way to know exactly What caused these craters

Until we go there And look for evidence.

Unless find evidence of Explosions, meteorites,

Whatever else it might be,

It's always going To be a mystery.

**

Narrator: coming up, bombing A multi-million-dollar boat.

Man: they detected a 3.7 Magnitude earthquake

At daytona beach, Which was over 100 miles away.

Narrator: and the united states' Secret, winged bioweapon.

Man: the fact that this would Even be developed into a weapon

Is, frankly, horrifying.

**

Narrator: High above pennsylvania,

A series of satellite images Spanning several years

Captures something disturbing.

Woman: This is a big town,

And in less than 50 years It's almost disappeared.

It's almost like nature Has fought back

And completely Reclaimed the town.

Narrator: analyst bronwyn agrios Dials up the magnification.

This place has Double-lane highways

Going through; Plots of land...

Right? It looks like it's built For residential.

But you don't see any people, You don't see cars.

This place is a ghost town.

**

Narrator: investigators scour The wider area for clues

To explain The historical mass exodus.

A facility to the southwest Catches their eye.

**

Man: Fort detrick is a really

Infamous military base In maryland,

And they did some Very nefarious stuff

During the cold war -- Biological weapons research.

dangerous organisms are confined to safety cabinets.

scientists can handle deadly cultures

and still be safe from infection.

[ gas hissing ]

Narrator: fort detrick's Bioweapons program

Has its origins In world war ii.

The whole point of this is To put these biological weapons

Onto missiles and bombs

To terrorize an enemy Into submission.

Narrator: after the war, Scientists here test

Typhus, lsd, And the plague on humans.

Many are seventh-day adventists

Who refuse to fight In korea or vietnam.

And inside a building called "The anthrax tower,"

A terrifying Winged-weapon is born.

One of the programs They're looking into

Is weaponizing mosquitos With yellow fever.

[ mosquitos buzzing ]

Narrator: As part of the program,

Scientists release a swarm Of female blood-suckers

To monitor How many people they bite.

[ mosquitos buzzing ]

The fact that this would even Be researched

And developed into a weapon By the united states,

Or any country, Is, frankly, horrifying.

Narrator: in 1969, pressure From the public

And congress forces President nixon

To renounce the use Of biological weapons.

We now have scientists Devoting their efforts

Toward saving lives Rather than destroying lives.

[ applause ]

Narrator: the military disposes Of fort detrick's

Deadly stockpile underground,

Contaminating water supplies In nearby towns.

In the area surrounding Fort detrick,

The number of lethal cancers Has gone through the roof.

If this stuff is leaking Into the water table,

Could the water Be causing people to flee?

**

Narrator: Footage of the ghost town

Confirms something weird Is happening underground,

But it's not water related.

You look around and you see This mysterious smoke

Coming out of the ground itself.

That's a very -- Kind of a creepy thing.

Narrator: the abandoned town

Appears to be Burning from below.

Investigators turn to Geological records.

This is in one of the biggest Coal mining areas

In the state of pennsylvania,

And there's no one Actually mining.

You know, what's going on here?

Narrator: historical news Reports yield a clue.

It's possible that the town We're seeing

In the satellite images Is centralia,

A coal-mining town, where a fire Started in the 1960s,

And this fire's been burning Ever since.

Narrator: in the early 1960s,

Centralia is a thriving Community of over 1,000 people.

Centralia is a typical Small pennsylvania town --

A residential community For coal miners.

Woman: but something happens In may of 1962,

Right before memorial day.

Narrator: according to reports,

The city council orders A clean-up of the local dump

In time for memorial day Celebrations.

Volunteer firefighters Incinerate the landfill sight,

Which is located At a disused mine.

It proves to be a grave mistake.

The ground starts to get warm In certain areas,

Smoke starts to rise from The earth all around the town.

You begin to smell this Very toxic smell

Coming out of the ground.

**

That fire gets into The coal seam

And just starts Burning underground.

Narrator: the raging inferno Quickly spreads through

The maze of mining tunnels Beneath the town.

The ground gets hotter And hotter,

Reaching 900 degrees fahrenheit In some places --

As hot as lava.

As this underground fire spread, It begins to open up sinkholes.

It's almost like the gates Of hell are opening up to you.

It causes all these Noxious fumes

That basically cause people To suffocate.

Centralia becomes A living nightmare.

Narrator: all attempts to Extinguish the blaze fail.

This isn't just a short, Temporary fire,

This is a fire That goes on for decades.

Narrator: in 1992,

The state government Condemns the burning town.

The zip code for this town Has actually been removed.

It's almost like it Doesn't exist anymore.

Woman: experts say that it Probably will continue to burn

For at least 100 -- Some people say up to 250 years.

Narrator: a once-bustling Mining community --

Today, a smoldering ghost town,

Incinerated by the black gold On which it was founded.

**

Coming up, a really bad day At the beach.

A diver got sucked Into the nuclear power plant.

**

Narrator: august 7, 2007 --

As the u.S. Geological survey satellite

Passes over the coast Of florida,

It spots these shapes On the seabed.

I've spent a lot of time In the ocean,

And I have never encountered Something looking like this.

Woman: there's some very clear Geometric shapes,

So this looks like It's man-made,

But what exactly could it be?

Narrator: the shapes appear to Be concave.

This leaves investigators to Consider if they're linked to

U.S. Military presence In the area.

Man: given the size and shape,

It is not out of the realm Of possibility

To assume that these are The results of

Controlled detonations conducted By the u.S. Navy

To test their warships.

Narrator: maritime records show The u.S. Navy

Regularly undertakes what are Known as

"Full-ship shock trials" Off the coast of florida.

Man: one of the big challenges In these kinds of ship trials

For the navy Is to recreate

Basically a catastrophic Kind of scenario to test

And see whether or not The ships can handle it.

Narrator: to simulate The rigors of combat,

The navy detonates thousands Of pounds of explosives

Near the multi-billion-dollar Ships.

They basically launch Massive amounts of explosives

Underwater to test To see how it holds up.

You want it to do that now During the full-shock ship trial

Versus, you know, Taking on a chinese destroyer

In the south china sea.

Narrator: these explosions Can be so powerful

That seismologists have mistaken Them for natural disasters.

In 2016, they did a test On the uss jackson,

And they detected a 3.7 Magnitude earthquake

At daytona beach, Which was over 100 miles away.

Narrator: yet other Investigators suggests

One of the features

Cannot be linked To subsea detonations.

If they were craters left over From explosions,

They would be circular.

Why is one of them square?

Narrator: for some, the geometry Is reminiscent of structures

Found on the seabed further down The florida coast

Near key largo.

Based on just looking From above,

These could be Underwater buildings.

Could this structure under The water in the satellite image

Be some new research center Like aquarius?

Narrator: roughly the size Of a greyhound bus,

The aquarius reef base Is an undersea laboratory

Located 62 feet Below the surface.

Scientists living and working There are known as aquanauts.

Man: people can spend A long time down here.

In fact, they can spend Days underwater

Studying the marine life.

It's a little bit like living on The international space station,

Except instead of astronauts It's marine biologists.

Narrator: like a submarine,

The main compartment Maintains atmospheric pressure.

This allows marine biologists

To live underwater For up to a month

Without suffering The potentially fatal

Decompression sickness, The bends.

Yet careful analysis Of this satellite

Reveals a discrepancy With aquarius.

Man: looking at the picture, It makes me think

That this is not An underwater research facility.

If you look at the individual Units, they're not connected.

Woman: how are you going to get To the next facility

Or the next building?

There needs to be A connecting point.

Narrator: the shoreline yields Another clue.

Man: when you look at The satellite imagery,

St. Lucie nuclear power plant Is just up from this.

Narrator: nuclear power plants Are often built close to water.

And that's because the biggest Danger of a nuclear power plant

Is the whole thing overheating.

If you have a big body Of water there,

That's going to help cool The whole thing down.

Narrator: a pound of uranium Can produce

Around three million times more Energy than a pound of coal.

Left unchecked, this energy Release creates

5,000 degree fahrenheit Temperatures,

Resulting in a chain reaction

And a catastrophic meltdown.

To prevent this, nuclear plants Draw in half a million gallons

Of water per minute for cooling.

So that's what this satellite Image is showing.

These are the intake pipes Of the power plant.

**

Narrator: in 2011, One of these intake pipes

Pulls in huge numbers Of moon jellyfish.

Five tons end up in the plant's Cooling canal,

Triggering an emergency shutdown Of the nuclear reactor.

Woman: anything swimming by Could get sucked in.

This theory Is actually confirmed

By looking at old news reports.

There's a story of a diver

Who was swimming Near the intake pipes

And actually got sucked into The nuclear power plant.

Narrator: in 2016, american Diver christopher le cun

Ventures too close To the strange shapes

Beneath the waves.

Man: He got sucked into the pipe

A quarter mile long up Into the nuclear power plant,

Spit out in the cooling pond,

And then one of the cooling Plant employees

Found him in amongst All of these dead fish.

Narrator: le cun survives, But is left feeling crabby.

This whole thing just reminds me Of playing "Super mario bros,"

Where he gets Sucked into the pipes

Into the underwater world.

It's crazy.

**