All language subtitles for What.on.Earth.S05E10.1080p.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 ]

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.

**