[josh] on this episode of expedition x...
The encounter was way bigger than just those videos that the public saw.
[jessica] what cool stuff we're gonna find in here?
[josh] my team digs into the most shocking military footage
ever leaked to the public
of unidentified objects
flying in our skies...
It maneuvered around them in a hypersonic velocity,
like it owned them.
...And below the surface of our oceans...
Reports of usos,
unidentified submersible objects,
moving thousands of miles per hour.
[josh] ...All centered around an island
of the california coast.
Oh, my god. We got it.
No idea what the heck that thing is.
[josh] is it top secret tech from a foreign power?
[man] the activity's been going on far too long for this to be military.
[josh] or are we being visited
from something out of this world?
These things are indeed real.
We still don't know what they are, but they're real.
[josh] the former director of a top-secret government program
joins the x team on a deep dive for answers.
-[man] you seeing that? -[man 2] I don't know what the hell it is.
[josh] the truth is out there.
There's something that comes into our airspace
that's ridiculous.
What do you think? Alien?
[josh] it's time to unravel the mystery.
-Holy [bleep] right there. -[phil] I see a light!
Oh, my god. It's incredible.
[josh] aliens of the deep.
My name is josh gates.
In my travels, I've experienced
strange things that defy logic
and made me question everything.
Oh, my god!
Now, I've put together a team to investigate
the stranger side of the unknown.
Let's go!
Phil torres is a scientist
who hunts for rational explanations.
[phil speaking]
jessica chobot's paranormal research
has made her a true believer.
Phil, do you see that?
[whispering] I just saw something run across.
[josh] together, we're searching for answers...
[phil whispering] what is that?
...To the world's most extraordinary mysteries.
This is expedition x.
All right, riddle me this.
What can travel faster than the speed of sound,
flies circles around an f-18 fighter,
and pretty much challenge everything we thought we knew
about aviation technology?
Does it also wear a cape and have an aversion to kryptonite?
Not superman, but when the story broke
in the new york times and the washington post,
it was headline news,
and for a lot of people,
really legitimized the study of ufos.
-So the tic tac ufo video. -Well done, lieutenant.
The fact that this navy f-18 pilot
was able to record this back in 2004,
says to me that the government knows so much more about ufos
than what they're letting us know.
This is one of those rare moments where, jess, I couldn't agree more.
-Oh! -Whoa. Somebody print that on a t-shirt.
It's rare. But, this was filmed by the onboard camera
on an f-18 by an elite fighter pilot,
and what they filmed has no wings,
no discernable means of propulsion,
it was flying faster than mach 5...
This video changed the game.
I think the government feels the same way,
which is why they've been investigating this.
And, in fact, the only reason that we ever heard about this
secret navy video
is because it was leaked by a guy named luis elizondo.
He was running a secret program, operating out of the pentagon,
called the advanced aerospace threat identification program.
This was former senate majority leader harry reid's program.
Elizondo's mission here in this organization
was to investigate and evaluate these potential craft
and to try to understand if they could be a threat.
But there is so much more to this story.
November, 2004,
the navy's uss nimitz's carrier strike group,
including the uss princeton,
are performing a series of training missions
in the waters off southern california.
Over a two-week period,
navy radar operators detect
upwards of 100
fast-moving unidentified flying objects in the area.
Radar operators on the uss princeton
first detect unidentified objects in low earth orbit.
The targets dropped to 80,000 feet,
arriving in groups of 10 to 20,
then 28,000 feet.
Suddenly in .78 seconds, they're at 50 feet.
Some completely disappearing below the waves near catalina island.
After deploying f-18s to investigate,
one of the war planes gets a lock on one of the objects.
But pilots lose this strange oblong-shaped craft
when it shoots off at speeds that would kill any human pilot.
And it's not the first time our military witnessed craft
of unknown origin in the area.
Ufo reports from both civilians and military personnel
around catalina island have been mounting since the 1920s.
In 1957,
radar operators on the uss columbus
spot several strange objects off catalina shores,
hovering above the water before finally disappearing.
In 1966,
navy news photographer leland hanson
captures video of an unidentified object flying over the island.
And like the tic tac-shaped object in the recent navy video,
this craft also has no apparent wings.
Even after image analysis is conducted by nasa's jet propulsion lab,
the object remains unidentified.
Throughout the '70s, '80s and '90s,
civilians on the water
claim to see strange lights below the surface.
And boaters report objects flying into the ocean at incredible speeds.
These reports are largely ignored by authorities.
But the leak of the now infamous tic tac video has changed all that.
And new reports are emerging right now.
In March of 2021,
a freedom of information act request
revealed numerous ufos were once again detected
around navy warships in the area for several days.
And with brand-new ufo reports originating from this same area,
catalina island is officially ground zero
for a ufo hunt
that has the attention of the world.
So I think the two of you need to get out to catalina and start investigating.
I've lined up a research vessel for you
and also two navy eyewitnesses
who are willing to go on the record and share what they saw firsthand.
I'm still working on luis elizondo from the pentagon.
If we could get him to go on the record, that would be huge.
Oh, definitely huge.
In the meantime, I would also try to track down the most recent
ufo eyewitnesses out on catalina
and deploy the best tech that we have
to try to capture evidence of what people are seeing there.
-Sounds good. -We're on it.
This is a huge story. It really is one of the most
compelling ufo cases ever.
So, good luck out there.
-Thanks. -Thank you.
[josh] the next day, the team hops on a 2,500 mile flight
to los angeles, california,
where they meet with captain bob kennedy,
who will take them 22 miles off the coast, to catalina island.
He's been navigating these unpredictable waters
for nearly four decades,
in an area considered by many as a hotbed
for ufo activity, both above
and below the waves.
[captain bob] hey, welcome! Your journey begins.
-[phil] permission to come aboard? -Absolutely.
Your stateroom is forward on the starboard side,
restroom and shower just forward of that.
-You got me the bigger one, right? -Of course.
-Thank you. -What?
Ha-ha.
We'll get you underway to the island
and we'll have you there in a couple of hours.
[jessica] our attention won't be just on the mysterious objects
seen in the skies above the island,
we'll also need to keep an eye on the surrounding waters
for any signs of unidentified submerged objects,
or usos,
that are commonly reported in the area.
So to stay mobile around the island,
this research vessel will act as our home base
during this investigation.
Its sonar equipment will help us detect
any unusual objects under the water.
[captain bob] we should be able to see the island soon.
[jessica] look at how pretty this is!
[josh] santa catalina island is 75 square miles,
nestled off the coast of southern california.
Known for its awe-inspiring seascapes,
the majority of the 4,100 full-time residents here
reside in the small city of avalon,
leaving the rest of the island largely untamed.
How're we doing? Getting close?
Getting close. We're about ten minutes out.
-[phil] all right. -Perfect.
[phil] we're heading for the southwestern shore of the island
that faces the open water
where many of the ufo and uso sightings have occurred,
including the nimitz incident in 2004.
[phil] how close can you get?
I'll get this boat in about 100 feet of water and anchor,
then we're gonna put you in the inflatable and you can take yourself to the beach.
-We'll be here when you get back. -Got it.
[phil] we've arranged a meeting with two of the navy officers
who were part of uss nimitz's carrier strike group,
who were conducting drills here in 2004
when strange objects started showing up on radar
and resulted in the most famous ufo footage in modern time.
-[captain bob] safe sailing. -[both] thank you.
[phil] they've agreed to share their side of the story
about what really happened on that fateful day.
All right. Hold on, we're going in!
Jess, you said you did want to get wet today, right?
No, I did not. I did not say that, phil!
[phil] hold on!
[both whooping]
[jessica] I'm going to throw up.
-Hey there. -Hi.
[sean] hey, how's it going?
[jessica] sean cahill, was the chief master-at-arms
working on the bridge of the uss princeton,
a ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser.
Gary voorhis was the computer technician responsible for the operating mainframe,
of the aegis combat and radar system.
They are both retired and allowed to talk about their experience
since the pentagon officially declassified the uss nimitz
tic tac video in 2020.
[phil] I think the whole world knows
that something kind of crazy happened in 2004.
Walk us through it.
Back in 2004, we were out there
off of catalina here
in an op area doing an exercise,
and at one point during the week, um,
senior chief kevin day called me up on the bridge
and started to tell me about some anonymous contacts that he had on radar.
And these contacts were appearing at very high altitude,
nearly suborbital in some cases. And then...
-They were seen on the radar... -[jessica] mmm-hmm.
...To drop down instantaneously
right above the water.
What did you think you were seeing?
[sighing] instantly I'm thinking clutter.
Something that's not actually there,
it's just-- we need to just reset the systems and then they go away.
-Mmm-hmm -um, but,
these didn't go away.
What happens next?
I was going out, it was my lookout,
and look up in the sky on certain vectors and try to find things
that say these are at least actual objects that we're picking up.
Gary was doing the same, because he was the one calibrating everything.
And we both saw something anomalous in the sky.
-With your own eyes. -With our own eyeballs. Yeah.
That matched up with what was showing up on the radar?
What did you see?
-There were five lights in the sky. -Mmm-hmm.
And I watched those lights twist together
in a clockwise proportion, all towards the middle, and each of them blinked out
all by them-- one by one.
I had never seen anything like that
in all of the aircraft that I have observed,
in all of the exercises that I've been on
and being an aircraft-- aerospace geek my entire life.
Nothing does that.
You're seeing these things, it's getting picked up by radar.
What do you do?
It was agreed upon to intercept
and take a look at what these are.
[phil] we've brought along the flir footage
taken by the f-18 pilots
after orders were given to intercept these objects.
Sean and gary, two men trained on the navy state-of-the-art radar
and target acquisition technology,
agreed to give us their take on the footage.
[sean] so, what we're looking at here is through the gun camera footage
of the flir pod on an f-18 in daylight.
Now you're looking at it in infrared.
You can see here that it's roughly tic tac-shaped.
-Then you get the close-up. -Mmm-hmm.
And then, that was when it took off.
The best fighter attack aircraft that we have,
it maneuvered around them
in a hypersonic velocity, like it owned them.
And then it just zorched out of the area
like it was in a star trek video.
They couldn't even come close to maneuvering the way that these could.
So looking at this video, what stands out you to say
this is something that's never been seen before.
Number one, that has no control services.
-That has no wings. -[gary] no wings.
-No visible engine. -No propellers.
No means of control whatsoever.
This is a completely smooth
-tic tac-shaped thing. -Mmm-hmm.
There's no way that it should be up in the air.
-[gary] and then it's all one color. -[jessica] yeah.
Yeah, there's no difference.
It's not just once color,
it's very cold. It's colder than everything around.
What?
[phil] the exhaust emitted from a typical jet engine
is around 1,100 degrees fahrenheit.
That means any engine seen through a thermal camera glows brightly.
The tic tac shows no signs of heat.
In fact, it's the opposite.
The atmospheric temperature at the altitude where it was seen hovering
is an icy 12 degrees below zero.
This object is even colder.
I know radar was detecting stuff in the sky.
Were you picking up anything under water?
At a certain point, when they were going to
take a look at what these are,
you know, there were a couple of different pilots that actually saw them
and they all reported
that there was a large 747, uh...
-Sized object... -[phil] mmm-hmm.
...Right up underneath the water.
-What? -[gary] yeah.
-[sean] it's not often reported. -Yeah.
Wait, so there's a 747-sized object
just under the water and then these tic tacs
-flying around that that they're seeing? -That's correct.
No kidding!
[josh] phil and jess are speaking with two navy officers
that witnessed ufos off the coast of california
in 2004.
And according to these soldiers,
this now infamous event
was even more bizarre than originally reported.
[jessica] so there's a 747-sized object
just under the water
and then these tic tacs flying around that that they're seeing?
-That's correct. -Yeah.
How do you know it's not a submarine?
-The uss princeton is an anti-submarine platform. -Got it.
That's one of its main missions. So no one else on this planet
-could have infiltrated that water... -[jessica] uh-huh.
...Inside of that battle group's bubble.
Could it be training for top-secret new equipment
and just took advantage of the fact that you guys were in the area?
Very simply, we don't do that.
We do not train unbeknownst
-to the people being trained. That's how casualties happen. -[gary] it's too dangerous.
-Got it. -Mmm.
What is your personal take
on large mysterious underwater object and these ufos?
To be absolutely... Candid about it, I have no idea what they were.
I just know that
there's something that comes into our airspace
and it's got a level of technology that's...
Ridiculous.
We've no clue what's piloting these craft.
Who designed them? Who brought them here?
We're talking about technologies that operate up
in energetic levels,
uh, that are far beyond our nuclear reactors.
I would never go near one of these things.
-Oh, okay. -My goodness.
Well, that was easily one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard.
Ever.
There's so much more to that encounter than what you think.
Whatever happened in 2004,
-in these waters out there, is -mmm-hmm.
Super unexplainable by anything we know here on earth.
Which is kind of bonkers to say.
Looking around here though,
if we wanna see anything tonight,
there's a lot of hills around.
I think we need to get up on top of those hills,
so that we have way better visibility of both the water
-and the skies all around the island. -Yeah, I agree.
[phil] as the sun burns off the morning cloud cover,
we set off to mount orizaba,
the highest point on catalina.
It's a 5-mile hike
through some of the wildest parts of the island,
where we'll have to maneuver past
southern pacific rattlesnakes
and something even more dangerous.
Oh, stop!
-What? -[whispering] you seeing that?
Oh, [bleep].
Do not move.
That is a giant bison.
[jessica] what do we do?
[phil whispering] stay quite. No big movements.
These things can run like 35 miles per hour.
We're uncomfortably close to this thing.
I know, we do not want it to charge us.
Yeah, no kidding.
[phil] there are about 100 bison roaming freely on catalina island.
However, they're not native to the island.
In 1924, a herd of american bison were brought here
to provide the backdrop for the production of an early silent film
and have been living here ever since.
These powerful 2,000-pound animals
can easily break bones if they decide to charge.
[whispering] I can't remember
if you're supposed to look them in the eye or not look them in the eye.
-I'm gonna go with "not look them in the eye." -okay.
I mean, it looks like it's happy eating.
So I say we take this opportunity to just skidoosh down that way.
[whispering] yeah, I think that sounds good.
-So, skidoosh. Go. -Okay.
[phil] free-roaming bison are not the only things that make catalina unique.
-Jess, did you know that-- -what?
...There is a butterfly only found here in catalina
called the catalina hairstreak.
-I did not know that. -Yeah.
Did you know there's a pet cemetery here?
[phil] it's weird.
Did you know that there's a shrew only found here that they thought was extinct
and they recently found for the first time in 15 years?
-I did not know that. But that's pretty cool. -Yeah.
[jessica] did you know
that a door turn alternate dimension, randomly shows up on the island?
Jess, you know some really weird facts about catalina,
-just saying. -I know.
[jessica] a dozen more "did you know"s and 2,000 vertical feet later,
we arrived at mount orizaba,
catalina's highest point.
And with unidentified lights reported right over these waters just last week,
it's the perfect vantage point for spotting any unusual activity.
-Great view of the ocean. -Really amazing.
-And somewhere out there, -uh-huh.
This whole incident went down.
They caught it on radar,
-they scrambled the jets, -mmm-hmm.
And those fighter pilots recorded the video of the ufo.
So there was something weird flying out here.
Yeah, they definitely ran into something.
I think we should set up the dap camera.
Back in world war ii,
the military actually had a radar installation set up here
to scan the waters as well and I figure if it's good enough for them,
it's good enough for a dap camera.
[phil] this data acquisition project camera, or dap camera,
is designed to track and identify flying objects
with incredible accuracy.
Its ai-powered software analyzes the shape
and movements of the object
and then compares them to a database of
every known aircraft in the world to confirm its identity.
Once we set it,
-if it spots something that can't identify it, -mmm-hmm.
Then that's when the alarm goes off on this.
[jessica] that's when we know we got a ufo.
That's when we know we got something
it can't identify in the sky.
Like an unidentified flying object
-in the sky. -Technically, sure.
-[phil] all right, ready? -Yeah.
Set this thing.
[jessica] I mean,
-this doesn't suck. -It does not.
[jessica] no.
[phil] ooh, I just saw a whale.
[jessica] or it's a ufo flying into its underwater base.
-Sure. -Yeah.
[phil] or it was a whale.
We turn our attention back to the dap camera's monitor
as it searches for unidentified flying objects.
-Ooh, tracking something. -Oh, yeah.
-[camera beeps] -oh, it's a plane.
[phil] at least it's working.
This thing is clearly running.
I got the flir in my bag and I think,
you know, it might be worth taking this thing out
and checking the skies on this side
to see if we get anything unusual flying around
that we can't see with our own eyes.
-I mean, this thing has an alarm. -Let's do it.
Okay.
[phil] we positioned the dap camera to the south,
facing the waters where the nimitz incident occurred.
But it's only able to monitor 180 degrees of skyline.
To surveil the remaining skies above the island,
we're deploying this high-powered thermal camera
capable of detecting temperature variations
over 3 miles away.
We've synced the dap camera's alarm to our phones
so even if we venture out,
we'll be notified if it gets a hit.
-You seeing anything? -Nothing right now.
I'm gonna kind of follow the horizon
and then I'll do a sweep up.
[jessica] okay.
Yeah, let's see what else we got.
-[phil] oh, look at that. -[jessica] what is that?
-Oh, my god, that looks like a house! -[phil] that's in the ground.
-Oh, my god. -[jessica] look at this!
You know what this is?
This is a building left over
from that radar station in world war ii.
Oh, I bet you're right.
[jessica] December 7, 1941.
The us army built this bunker as part of camp cactus
which hosted advanced radar technology
designed to detect japanese ships and aircraft.
And in 1942,
it's possible the radar in this bunker
also detected something no one could identify.
-[phil] this thing is huge. -It's creepy.
Ooh. We got a ladder.
-I'm going in. -[phil] you think?
[jessica] what do you mean "I think?" yeah!
What cool stuff are we gonna find in here?
This entire base was thrust into action
just a few months after it was built.
On February 25, 1942,
military radar detected
unidentified flying objects in the sky,
100 miles west of catalina island.
Witnesses reported spotting
anywhere from 25 to 200 crafts swarming over coastal waters.
Believing them to be attacking japanese bombers,
troops unleashed an hour-long barrage
sending more than 1,400 shells
from anti-aircraft guns into the night sky.
When the smoke cleared,
no bombs had been dropped and no planes had been hit.
This incident is now known as the battle of los angeles.
To this day, nobody can explain what the craft were
or why our anti-aircraft guns couldn't hit a single one,
making it one of the highest-profiled ufo cases
in us history.
I'm wondering if we can find some clues in here
about that bizarre, iconic incident.
[jessica grunting]
[phil] jess, watch where you put your hands down here.
[jessica] okay, why?
Because we have a black widow right there.
-[jessica] oh, [bleep]. -[phil] so there's probably a lot more.
-[jessica] okay. -[phil exhales]
[jessica exhales] okay.
Look at this thing. Wow.
Another black widow.
-All sorts of fun things in here, huh? -[jessica] yeah.
Oh, check this out. You can see some of the old tiles...
-Oh, yeah. -...From when this was in use.
-Oh! Oh! Bat, bat, bat, bat! -[jessica] what? What?
-Whoa! [yells] there it is! There it is! -Bat! Bat!
-[jessica screams] oh, my god! -Oh.
[jessica] it bopped me! Holy [bleep]! [laughing]
-[phil] there he goes, there he goes. -Ew!
Holy [bleep]!
-[phil] you good? -Yeah, I'm good.
[phil] this place is officially
very, very abandoned.
-All right. -[jessica] okay.
This is a reminder that the military has been active
in this area for a very long time.
I mean, this is world war ii.
We've got a naval base on san clemente island
25 miles south of here.
Could explain a lot of the other sightings
that have happened around here by people in catalina
-from decades. -I'll meet you halfway on that.
I think some of those sightings
could have been military,
but, you know, don't forget.
The navy didn't know
what those objects in the sky were
flying around the nimitz carrier group back in 2004.
So, to me, that's like, "okay, well, what's going on there?"
I can admit, it is weird.
[alarm beeping]
-you hear that? That's the dap camera. -That's the dap camera.
-[alarm beeping] -[phil] go, go, go!
-[alarm beeping] -that's the dap camera.
That's the dap camera.
-[alarm beeping] -[phil] go, go, go!
[alarm beeping]
and we got something. Okay, I'm gonna hit playback here.
[jessica] there it is. Unknown.
Oh, my god!
Oh, just moved.
-It's moving pretty steady right now. -Yeah.
-[phil] whoa! -[jessica] holy [bleep]!
Oh!
No comet changes directions like that.
Look, it's over here now.
Oh, [bleep]!
It's dashing all over the place.
Uh...
[jessica] and now it's over here.
[phil] okay.
It's definitely not a plane.
Whoosh. Off screen, right towards the ocean.
I mean, that's not a plane. That's not a satellite.
That's pretty crazy.
[phil] from the size of the object
and the estimated distance from us,
it appears to be jumping
30 to 40 miles almost instantly.
If that is a piloted craft or plane,
moving that far that fast is nearly impossible
for any man-made technology.
No idea what the heck thing is.
Well, it's a ufo.
Is what that is.
You can say "ufo," it's an unidentified flying object.
I'm not saying you're saying it's aliens, phil,
-but you can say... -Okay!
-...It's a ufo. -I will say
it's unidentified, it's flying in the sky,
and it's an object of some sort.
-[laughs] okay, okay, okay. -[phil] sure.
I'll take it. I'll take that.
Okay.
[jessica] we decide to camp out here
so we can scan the skies for the rest of the night.
But unfortunately, we weren't able to pick anything else
on the dap camera or thermal camera.
But the footage we were able to capture
confirms there is something
unidentified flying above the island.
The object appears to dive down towards the ocean,
but because of the limited view of the camera,
we can't confirm it dove beneath the water
or that it's connected to the reports
of unidentified submerged objects in the area.
We need to see if we can track down anyone else on the island
who may have seen the same thing.
So the next morning,
we give josh a call to see if he can help.
Hey, how's it going?
-Hey, josh! -Good.
[josh] I see a tent behind you.
Did you guys camp out last night?
Yeah, we did.
-We certainly did. -[phil] long night.
So, what's going on?
Well, we actually got some activity,
but before we tell you about that,
I wanna talk to you about gary and sean.
'cause those guys blew our mind.
Absolutely. The encounter was way bigger
than just those videos that the public saw.
[jessica] they said that when the pilots went out
to intercept the tic tac,
they actually saw, that underneath the water,
there was some sort of object
that was about the size of a 747
that seemed to be interacting
with the craft that they were seeing above.
This is nuts!
And so, what about last night?
The dap cam we set up,
got a recording of something that was flying
that it couldn't identify.
It was flying in a pretty strange pattern.
[jessica] I think, at this point,
I'd like to know if anyone else reported
seeing a ufo in the area last night.
[josh] for sure.
Well, a guy that I feel like
would be really good to talk to
is someone named preston dennett.
He's an investigator with the mutual ufo network
or mufon, which I know you've heard of.
They're a big organization, a very credible organization
that investigates these kinds of stories.
So he might be someone who can help
guide the next stage of the investigation here.
-Perfect. -Sounds great.
And keep looking at the skies,
and, I guess, the water as well now.
Look everywhere, basically.
[josh] preston dennett has written 20 books
and more than 100 articles
about ufos and other unexplained phenomenon.
He's interviewed hundreds of witnesses
and is one of the few researchers in the world
to investigate catalina's long history
of ufo and uso encounters.
-Hey, preston! -Hi!
Hey, how are you guys?
-Good! -Great! Glad we got a chance to connect.
Um, listen, how long have you been looking
into ufo sightings around catalina?
Very long time, actually.
I got involved in this field in 1986,
I immediately started giving reports of usos.
Unidentified submersible objects.
[jessica] so, we actually captured footage of a ufo
flying off the southern coast of the island last night.
Have you heard any reports
of anybody else seeing the same thing?
[preston] no, actually,
I don't get a whole lot of reports
from the southern side, but that's great.
So what is it about catalina island
that makes it such a target for these sightings?
Even the navy officers that saw these things
said we don't have that level of technology.
My main theory
is that there's some sort of undersea ufo base down there.
[jessica] an alien base?
Yeah, and that's what I think we're dealing with here.
You know, extraterrestrials.
[josh] phil and jess are speaking
with author and researcher, preston dennett,
who has a shocking theory
about the high concentration of ufos
sighted above and below catalina island.
My main theory
is that there's some sort of undersea ufo base down there.
[jessica] an alien base?
Yeah, and that's what I think we're dealing with here.
You know, extraterrestrials.
[preston] there's been good, solid reports.
And it's a very active area.
Mile for mile, this is probably the top location
in terms of the number of uso reports.
-[jessica] no kidding. -Wow.
Oh, yeah. Some of these cases,
we're dealing with very large numbers of objects.
I mean, not one or two, or even 10 or 20.
Dozens.
Or, in a few cases, hundreds.
How many of these sightings
do you think could end up being something from another world?
Good 10%, 20% of these cases,
these craft are being chased by military jets.
They can travel at speeds that are almost incomprehensible.
They've been sighted since the 1920s,
when we certainly did not have any technology of that kind.
Okay.
[josh] this same principle applies to objects
seen moving at breakneck speeds underwater.
There's not much comparable military technology.
The fastest german u-boat from world war I
could only travel 19 miles per hour.
Even today, the fastest recorded underwater object
is the va-111 shkval supercavitating torpedo,
which travels 230 miles per hour,
far slower than the reported speeds
of the craft seen around catalina.
[jessica] we spoke to two eyewitnesses
that experienced the nimitz incident,
and they mentioned that there was some other strange object
the size of a 747 underneath the water.
Have you ever heard of anything
under the water like that?
There's accounts where there's an object above the water
and there's an object below the water,
and they are moving in perfect tandem.
They are very much in tight communication with each other.
[jessica] so, if there's really an alien base somewhere off the shore,
where do you think we should focus our efforts?
[preston] uh, area of water between catalina island and the mainland
is very deep in parts.
This area does have a lot of caves as well in the water.
This is a perfect location for them to have access
to a very large population base,
while still remaining pretty much perfectly hidden.
So, a place where they can, kind of, lay low
but still keep an eye on the west coast.
Exactly.
There's a lot of reports around the northwest edge.
I would definitely stick to the side that overlooks the mainland.
[phil and jessica] awesome.
[jessica] could a secret alien base
really be hidden somewhere under the waves of catalina,
and explain all the anomalous sightings,
including the infamous event in 2004
that even our own government can't explain?
Last night, we focused our camera
over the waters south of the island.
According to preston's research,
the highest concentration of unidentified submerged objects
have been seen to the north of the island.
So, if there's even more activity
in the deep waters between catalina and the mainland,
that's a region we just can't ignore.
Getting some waves out here now.
Feel that.
Could you imagine being in a boat
and having a mothership just like, "hey,"
come out of the water.
I would lose my mind.
It's like you can't resist looking up.
You're just so used to looking for objects in the sky
that to remember, like, no, you know, you've got this whole world
covered up with water underneath you
that you should be paying attention to.
That old cliche that we know more about space
than our own oceans is actually kind of true.
We might be landing probes on mars,
but 95% of our ocean here on earth
remains completely unexplored.
So, who knows what's really down there?
-This looks good to me. -[phil] all right.
Captain, do you mind if we just creep along this coastline here?
-[captain bob] sure. -All right, thanks.
-I can take the bow of the boat... -Okay.
...And you take the back of the boat.
-The stern? -That is the bow, right?
-Mmm-hmm. -I got one of them right.
That's pretty good.
[phil] preston said this stretch of water north of catalina
has the most reported uso sightings in the area by far.
So, as we make passes through the area,
captain bob will keep his eye on the vessel's sonar
which will help us locate any objects under the surface.
Sonar, which stands for sound navigation and ranging,
emits sound pules into the water.
If there is an object below, the sound waves are reflected back to the surface
and will give us data on the depth
and even orientation of that object.
All right, jess, I'm in position.
[jessica] all right.
[phil] while our captain monitors underwater,
jess and I are covering the surface.
We're setting up a bank of gopros
to cover an entire 360 degree view...
All right, ready to roll.
...To capture photographic evidence
of anything that disturbs the water.
[jessica] oh, holy [bleep]. There's something in the water.
The now infamous tic tac video,
captured by navy pilots in 2004,
wasn't the only navy ufo footage
that was leaked to the public.
Two others have also seen the light of day
and also show bizarre flying objects
caught on infrared targeting systems.
One of these, named the gofast video,
was captured aboard another navy jet in 2015, near the coast of florida.
The other, known as the gimbal video,
shows a saucer-shaped object flying above the clouds
against 120 knot winds.
And, apparently, it wasn't alone.
After years of public scrutiny,
the navy finally confirmed the authenticity of all three videos in 2019,
leaving us to wonder,
what other classified footage
of unidentified objects haven't we seen?
My team is investigating the waters off of catalina island,
a hotspot for both ufos and usos,
unidentified submerged objects,
and jess may have just witnessed one firsthand.
[jessica] oh, holy [bleep]. There's something in the water.
Right there. Do you see that? Okay, well, now it's gone.
It was right over there.
Captain, can we stop the boat?
I mean, it was right there.
-Phil? -Yeah.
Can you come back here? I saw something.
[phil] all right, coming.
[jessica] right over here.
It's kind of where the land meets the water.
Slightly below that.
And it was just this quick, kind of, like, pulse of light
that came up and then went back down.
Wait. So you saw a light on land or in the water?
-In-- in the water. -In the water?
[jessica] in the water.
-Really? -Yes!
Well, I'm seeing some towns south and north,
-but nothing over here. -No, it wasn't a town light.
It matches up with a lot of eyewitness reports.
We gotta go check it out.
The only way to identify that light is to follow it,
so phil has volunteered to brave the cold
to get a closer look on a kayak.
-Hey, you all set? -[phil] all set.
-[jessica] okay, careful. Here's the bag. -All right.
All right, walkie working?
-Check. -Check, check.
All right, be careful.
[phil] you got it.
Hey, jess, I'm seeing some really big rocks
of what might be a cave.
[jessica] you're gonna head on inside?
[phil] I think so. Not sure how far it goes,
but I feel like we gotta go in.
When you get inside, walkie me
and let me know what it looks like.
All right, jess. Heading in.
The current is strong and already pulling me into the cave.
If I'm not careful, as the tide comes in,
this entire passage could be underwater in minutes,
and I'd be trapped inside.
Right now, it just all looks kind of geological,
but, wow, it gets big in here.
Oh, my god. It's incredible.
Really?
Come on. There's like an entire cave system in here.
So, you think, like, a craft could be inside there?
Like, it's large enough for one?
I think so.
Looks like there's one branch off to the side,
and it gets narrow up ahead.
Can you see what's underneath the water?
[phil] it's murky. Can't see much.
Hang on, jess. I'm getting pulled in a little bit.
-Jess, I'm seeing light up ahead. -Are you serious?
-[phil] I'm seeing a light. -Okay. Well, be careful,
but follow that light.
[phil] whoa!
Phil, are you... Are you all right in there?
[phil] the current's really strong here.
Phil, do you read me?
[phil] I got shoved up against a rock.
Oh.
[bleep]
jess, I'm getting banged around a lot down here.
I think the tide's standing in here.
All right, be careful. If you need to come out, come out.
Keeps trying to pull me in deeper.
[jessica] phil, are you okay in there?
-[walkie-talkie crackling] -I'm only getting bits and pieces.
-[phil] you there? -Phil?
Phil, are you there?
Phil?
[josh] next time on expedition x...
The conclusion of one of our most
perplexing investigations ever.
[jessica] oh, my god.
Are you seeing what I'm seeing?
[josh] for over a century, mysterious unidentified objects
have been spotted above and below the water
near southern california.
But what are they?
Captain, stop the boat.
We got something down there.
[josh] and what's attracting them to this spot?
I have to be careful of what I say
because I still have a security clearance.
[josh] the former director of the pentagon's
top-secret ufo program speaks out...
[man] we have something flying around
that we really have no idea what it is,
where it's from, what the intentions are.
[man 2] wait. Are you seeing that?
[josh] ...And joins my team to hunt down strange craft
reported in these shadowy depths.
[man 1] I don't know what the hell it is.
[man 2] what are we looking at right here?
[josh] can they explain the unexplainable?
We just got a big flash on the rov screen.
[josh] and uncover the secrets...
[jessica] holy [bleep].
I just saw a light come out of the water.
...Of the aliens of the deep.
[phil] what the...
For more information on expedition x,
head to discovery.Com/expeditionx.