- Tonight, on The Proof Is Out There.
A UFO in broad daylight?
Is it connected to this notorious island?
- The longer I look at it, the less it makes any sense.
- [Tony] Is this a dead preserved mermaid?
- This animal is obviously very important
because it’s been held onto for 300 years.
- [Tony] What is this beast with glowing eyes
chasing a boat?
- There’s all sorts of crazy things living in the jungle
and this, apparently, is one of those crazy things.
- [Tony] And was this ancient artifact a tool
to communicate with another world?
- There is a long tradition in the ancient world of oracles
who would receive messages from the gods
to bring down to the humans.
(dramatic music)
- [Tony] Around the globe are videos.
- [Witness] What the heck is this?
- [Witness 2] It’s moving.
- [Tony] Photos and sounds that defy explanation.
(electric buzzing)
- [Marc] Is it some kind of unidentified object?
What’s exciting is nobody really knows.
- [Tony] What are they?
- [MJ] Some sort of bizarre mutation.
- Extraordinary claims need extraordinary proof.
- I’m Tony Harris,
and as a journalist for more than 30 years,
I’ve followed the facts where they take me.
Now, I’m bringing that spirit of investigation
to the world’s strangest sounds and images.
We’ll analyze each one with top experts.
- It’s a credible case. It’s a credible video.
- [Tony] And pass a verdict on what it is.
- This video was clearly faked.
- The proof starts now.
(dramatic theme music)
Good evening and welcome to The Proof Is Out There.
You may think that the best thing to do at a park is picnic,
enjoy nature, and take the kids for a run on the playground.
But our next video may add a new activity to that list:
UFO watching.
Don’t think so?
Take a look at this.
January 30th, 2022, Laguna Niguel, California,
Steven Greenstreet and his family
are spending the day at Ocean Breeze Park
when his wife points out a mysterious object in the sky.
- [Steven] Man!
- [Tony] As Steven pierces through the branches of a tree,
he begins to record this.
- [Steven] No idea what the heck this is.
- [Tony] Take a closer look.
Steven zooms into an elongated shiny object
hovering in the clear blue sky.
Now, we’ve seen plenty of UFOs on this show,
but this one is kind of different.
Look here, it appears to be made up of three different
sections of circular or possibly cylindrical parts
on top of each other.
I’m not seeing any wings or visible means of propulsion,
at least not at this angle.
Stephen shot it from multiple angles around the park
and he admits he has no idea what he’s seeing.
- The longer I look at it, the less it makes any sense.
Because there was wind,
but this object was stuck in the sky.
I was just baffled as to what the heck this could be.
Yep, I swear to God it’s been there 20 minutes.
- [Tony] Could it be a UFO?
According to science writer Amy Teitel, in this town,
it’s a definite possibility.
- This isn’t the first time a local in Laguna Niguel
has seen something strange in the sky.
Most of the sightings in Laguna Niguel
actually happened a decade ago,
with residents seeing bright orange lights,
white lights chasing red lights,
and even bright green fireballs.
- [Tony] In fact, some believe
the evidence points to an alien presence
in southern California dating back centuries.
- [Amy] Some caves feature petroglyphs
that some say are evidence of ancient civilizations
visited by aliens.
The drawings on these cave walls depict shapes
and some figures that many believe hint at aliens.
- Google UFO and Laguna Niguel
and you’ll see multiple sightings
that have been reported in recent years,
but why all the sudden activity?
Well, many think Catalina Island,
just across from Laguna Niguel, might be a factor.
In 1967, two 12 year old boys were allegedly
abducted by aliens from a boat docked near the island.
And even our own expert, Matthew Szydagis,
has been studying strange phenomena
over Catalina Island with the research group UAPX.
But what do our experts think Steven saw?
Let’s find out.
(tense music)
We begin with aviation expert Tim McMillan.
Could this floating object just be a balloon?
- Shape wise, a balloon would be our best fit,
however, we should see it floating away.
So whatever we’re looking at is able to maintain
a stationary position far longer
than a balloon would be able to.
- [Tony] On the other hand,
there’s no telltale signs of UFO like movement.
- We don’t see any of the behaviors that seem impossible.
When we think of UFOs,
extreme acceleration, right angle turns.
Nothing that we see this object exhibiting
is something that couldn’t technically be done.
- [Tony] Taking McMillan’s advice to consider
some more down to Earth possibilities,
we turn to science writer Mick West.
He says the fact that Steven was so thorough
in filming this object rules out one possibility.
- [Mick] One of the gold standards of UFO videos
is to get multiple shots of the same thing
from different locations.
- [Steven] Again, using branches as reference.
- So, this is definitely not a camera artifact
because it appears in the right position in multiple videos.
It’s definitely something that’s out there in the scene.
- [Tony] What about a drone?
We’re not seeing the standard quadcopter rotors,
but West says, don’t be fooled by the slim vertical shape.
- [West] The only thing that is left is a coaxial drone.
Now, a coaxial drone is a drone
where all the propellers are in line,
one above the other.
Some of them look like vertical cylinders.
- [Tony] Coaxial drones are designed
with two centrally positioned rotors
which provide more lift,
allowing them to carry heavy payloads
and also fly within tight spaces.
And this object appears to have the same shape and design
seen in a coaxial drone.
McMillan likes that theory,
though he adds that if it’s a coaxial drone
it would be something unusual to see in the sky.
- [Tim] They’re not extremely common,
but one of the things that coaxial drones have been
developed for is the idea of delivery of goods or products.
- [Tony] However, drone delivery
is only available in a few test markets
and this one doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.
So why else would a coaxial drone be hanging in the sky
above Laguna Niguel?
Mick West has an idea.
- Traditionally, area surveillance
has been done with a helicopter,
but now police departments around the country
are increasingly using drones,
so I think that’s the most likely explanation
based on what we see in these videos.
(tense music)
- Our verdict?
We think this is likely a coaxial drone.
Not only do the police use them to surveil,
but fire departments often use them
to aid in wildfire prevention.
However, the purpose of this apparent coaxial drone
remains a mystery because when we contacted
the town of Laguna Niguel,
they assured us they don’t use any such drones.
We’re going to hopscotch now
to the other side of the Pacific Rim.
Centuries ago, mysterious sea serpents
and mermaids were believed to be hidden
in the world’s vast oceans.
They’ve captured the human imagination for ages,
but in Japan, scientists now think
one of the alleged creatures may have been caught
and preserved for generations,
and they’re taking x-rays to prove it.
February 2nd, 2022,
scientists in Japan open a box said to contain
a mythical creature captured by a fisherman
in the Pacific Ocean in the 1700s.
According to legend,
the mummified body in this box was passed down
from generation to generation until now.
Inside the box is a bizarre mummy
that measures 12 inches long
and leaves scientists baffled.
Using a CT scan, paleontologists are now looking
into the 300 year old mummy’s origins.
Researchers are also using DNA samples to identify
which known species, if any, the creature is made of.
Take another look at this oddity.
It has hollowed out eye sockets,
pointy fang-like teeth, hands,
and a fish like tail complete with scales
and a small flipper.
What is this thing?
Field researcher Ken Gerhard says Japan
has a long tradition of Merfolk.
Even though their folklore might be a bit different
than what we’re used to.
- In Japanese culture,
we have some very distinct types of mermaids.
One in particular is known as the ningyo.
Unlike the beautiful, glamorous, Western mermaid,
the ningyo is described as being hideous,
and frankly the stuff of otherworldly nightmares.
It is usually depicted as being fish-like,
but with varying degrees of humanoid features.
The ningyo is often described as having a monkey-like mouth
full of razor sharp teeth like we’re seeing here.
- [Tony] The ningyo first appeared
in ancient Japanese text 2,600 years ago
and it’s said that if one were to eat a ningyo,
you’d add centuries to your life.
- [Ken] There’s one account of a woman
who once ate a ningyo and lived for 800 years.
Still others conjecture that this creature
could in fact be another type of Japanese mermaid
known as the amabie.
Now, the amabie is said to have long flowing hair
and it’s covered in scales.
It is said that the amabie first appeared in relation
to a pandemic that happened centuries ago,
and that this light or glow that was omitted
from the amabie was sort of taken to be a warning
that this pandemic was coming.
- [Tony] In the early part of 2020,
when the worldwide pandemic hit,
people in Japan began to sketch visions of the amabie
and post them online,
because looking at a picture of an amabie
is said to ward off disease.
In other cultures,
mermaids are said to possess four main powers:
immortality, telepathy, hypnosis, and clairvoyance.
For more clairvoyance on this mystery,
we turn to our experts.
(tense music)
First, professor of anatomy and anthropology
Dr. Jeff Meldrum dives into the ningyo theory.
- A ningyo is described as being the size of a seal
and has a face like a monkey.
So in those respects,
this relic would seem to align with this identification.
On the other hand, if you consume its flesh,
you will be endowed with everlasting life.
That then begs the question,
why someone would preserve the remains
of such a creature as a relic,
as opposed to serving it up for dinner
and reaping the benefits of that immortality.
- [Tony] Of course, maybe the person who found it
didn’t want to live for 800 years,
or was saving it for someone who did.
Remember, it was preserved in a box by priests
like a kind of heirloom.
Next, marine biologist Shea Conger
considers whether this could be the amabie.
- The amabie is said to have
some sort of transformative powers,
and one of these is that it’s able to form legs
to walk on the shore,
and it’s said to have three appendages.
This creature doesn’t seem to have anything like that.
It actually seems to just have a tail or a fin.
- [Tony] Conger also points out that a mermaid
with this body type
would be unlikely to survive in the ocean.
- Something like this would have
a really difficult time thermal regulating.
The fact that a mermaid has long limbs and arms
and usually a head situated on its neck
wouldn’t be very advantageous
and that’s because living in an aquatic environment
sucks a lot of body heat away from you.
Marine animals are actually fusiform in body shape,
meaning that they are oval shaped.
They don’t have a defined neck.
Seals and sea lions and whales have a lot of blubber
around their shoulders and neck
because it keeps their head
and their central nervous system warm.
So a creature that had a human head like this
actually would be very cold.
- [Tony] So could this all be a hoax worthy of PT Barnum?
- [Shea] Some objects, like for example, the Fiji mermaid,
were determined to be a salmon taxidermied
with some kind of a primate
and in some cases they were orangutans.
- [Tony] No evidence of sutures has been found,
though a hidden stitch is commonly used
in taxidermy for facial repair
and in very short-haired areas
like the one we see here between the belly and the fin.
- The fact that we don’t necessarily know
if this is a real animal or if it ever lived,
doesn’t diminish the cultural importance
of what we’re looking at,
because they directly reflect some really important
nature-based religious aspects of Japanese culture.
(tense music)
- Our verdict? Unexplained object.
The paleontologists will soon release their results
and while Conger believes this is a hoax,
until those DNA tests come back,
we’re going to say we just don’t know.
- [Tony] Many people believe there was
a clear line linking UFOs and nuclear technology.
In 2021, declassified US government documents
and witness testimony from former
and retired US Air Force personnel
were presented at the National Press Club
as evidence of ongoing incursions
by unidentified aerial objects at nuclear missile sites
over several decades.
Could this next video be proof that we have a problem?
March 2019, it’s evening in Two Creeks, Wisconsin.
Marine Corp veteran Miles Panoche
sees a bright light outside his window,
but he doesn’t have a camera
so he calls a neighbor who records this.
A large glowing orange orb appears in the darkness,
and take a closer look.
Three smaller, dimmer lights are near it.
Miles says he is convinced about what he saw.
- [Tony] But writer MJ Banias explains
that what really got everyone’s attention
isn’t just what these lights are, but where they are.
- According to the witness,
this video was shot over Point Beach nuclear power plant.
- [Tony] Reports of UFOs at nuclear sites go back decades.
- [MJ] There are ideas out there that these UFOs require
our nuclear assets for the purpose of refueling.
The other theory is that whatever is piloting the UFOs
is monitoring our nuclear development,
as if we are sort of animals in a zoo
and the UFOs are keeping track
of the technology level we are at.
- [Tony] Galactic Zoo Theory would explain
why UFOs might observe without fully revealing themselves,
they don’t want to disturb their pet’s habitat.
And it would explain their fascination
with nuclear facilities.
They’re interested in how we use these new toys.
In fact, Banias says the most infamous incident
occurred in 1967 at Malmstrom Air Force base in Montana,
a launch site for nuclear missiles.
- In the Malmstrom case,
we have guards outside the facility.
Suddenly this red light appears over the base,
and one by one, the nuclear missiles
start getting turned off.
So the launch capability was removed
and the entire system died.
- [Tony] In fact, despite being nearly 50 years old,
the Malmstrom incident became a hot topic
during the May 2022 congressional hearings on UFOs.
- A glowing red orb was observed overhead.
I’m not commenting on the accuracy of this.
I’m simply asking you whether you’re aware of it,
and whether you have any comment on the accuracy of that report.
- I have heard stories.
I have not seen the official data on that.
- It’s that infamous 1967 Malmstrom incident
that’s got so many people worried about UFOs and nukes,
and now we have an orangeish light
over the point beach nuclear facility.
But what is it? Let’s see if our experts can decide.
(tense music)
Assuming the video is legitimate,
could we be looking at some sort of aircraft?
- Nuclear plants, nuclear facilities,
they are protected airspace.
These are for very obvious reasons,
restricted areas where people aren’t supposed to fly.
You wouldn’t normally see a commercial airline
flying over a nuclear facility
as part of its conventional flight path.
Drone and helicopter falls into that same category.
- [Tony] Okay, so if we’re not looking
at a conventional aircraft,
could this be a genuine UFO?
During the Malmstrom incident,
airmen did report light streaking directly above them,
which then stopped and changed directions at high speed.
But McMillan sees a difference.
- It certainly doesn’t fit in the category
of the exotic kind of UFO events
that we’ve heard of or seen before.
We’re also not seeing any type
of extreme flight characteristics.
You know, sudden acceleration,
something that really makes me step back and go, "Whoa,
now this is really strange."
- [Tony] So what could it be?
Rich Hoffman of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies
believes he sees a smoking gun.
- I saw a brief flash of what looked like
a structure that was in front of
or right below that orange light.
There’s like an illumination of some sort
of a building there.
- [Tony] Hoffman believes that building changes everything.
- It goes much higher than the actual lights
that are out in the distance.
In terms of its apparent height,
to me, is very indicative of the fact
that the lights are relatively low in relationship
to the building that’s off to the left.
- [Tony] Hoffman is convinced these lights
are not in the sky but instead on the ground.
That fact would also explain their color.
High pressure sodium vapor lights
are widely used in industrial buildings
and street lights,
and often emit an orange hue.
- It’s very clear that the image is looking almost
straight ahead at lights that are off in the distance.
It’s not looking up at all.
It’s looking straight ahead.
They’re pretty much consistent
with anything from the distant street light
or building light.
(tense music(
- [Tony] Our verdict?
We’re going with likely street or building lights
and we’ll add though, despite our conclusions,
Miles insists he witnessed a real UFO
that night up in the sky.
As for Galactic Zoo Theory,
it may sound humiliating at first,
but consider this,
we take better care of our pets
than we do many of our own species.
Maybe our benevolent alien masters
could keep us from destroying ourselves.
- Earth’s waters are filled with awe inspiring wildlife,
but when an aquatic creature
can keep pace with a motorboat and glow in the dark,
we are inspired to investigate.
February 2022.
It is a warm winter night off the coast
of Rio Grande Do Sul, Brazil,
and a fisherman is cruising home after a long day on the water,
but he soon notices he has some unexpected company.
The boat speeds along,
it’s motor creating a wake behind,
when out from the water emerges
a glowing yellow eyed creature.
The creature appears to be following the boat.
Again and again, it jumps from the waters
revealing its piercing eyes
before diving into the craft’s wake.
The pursuit is ominous.
The fisherman even captures the video with the phrase
that translates as, "It wanted to attack me".
Take another look.
This thing’s glowing eyes are striking.
- [Cliff] To see a five, six, seven, eight foot long
thing coming outta the water with glowing eyes.
I wouldn’t want to be on that boat.
- [Tony] Field researcher Cliff Barackman
says the creature could be a particular figure
from Brazilian folklore, the Minhocão.
- The Minhocão was reported to resemble
a giant worm covered in black scales,
and two tentacles attached to its head.
It’s said to drag cows and horses into the water
and drown them before it devours them.
- [Tony] Barackman then wonders if it could be a documented
yet equally peculiar species.
- Another possible candidate is the Boto Cor-De-Rosa,
or the Amazonian River dolphin.
- [Tony] Since these mammals are unique to this region,
they’ve become fodder for local myth.
- [Barackman] One of the stories is that
they can change into a man
and they find the unattended females, they seduce them.
And so when kids don’t know their father,
they say they’re children of a river dolphin.
- [Tony] But if we set aside the supernatural angle,
is it possible this is one of these rare dolphins?
And if so, why is it seemingly hungry for humans?
Brazil is one of the most bio-diverse
countries in the world, estimated to have
about 4 million plant and animal species,
about 20 times more than the United States.
So it’s easy to see why there are so many
possible explanations for this creature.
Let’s see if our experts have any ideas.
(tense music)
Biologist Floyd Hayes torpedoes the Minhocão theory
because of speed.
- The Minhocão allegedly has a worm-like
or eel-like body,
but this cannot be a Minhocão because eel-like creatures
don’t swim very fast.
- [Tony] Hayes estimates this creature
could be swimming at 15 miles per hour,
but eels max out at a measly 2.4 miles an hour.
Electric eels can jump out of the water,
but not in this undulating way.
They only emerge from the waters
to defend themselves against predators.
They do not use this behavior as a means of hunting prey.
Marine biologist Dr. Shea Conger
considers the river dolphin theory.
- Amazonian river dolphins are actually very light in color.
They’ve been described as bubble gum pink.
This animal is very dark
and also doesn’t have a beak like a dolphin,
and I don’t see anything like a dorsal fin.
So this is not some kind of a dolphin.
- [Tony] Conger hits on another more feasible possibility.
- [Conger] One possible species is a leopard seal.
Leopard seals are known to be very aggressive.
They’re top tier predators
that can swim at least 20 miles per hour,
so it would easily be able to keep up with this little boat.
- [Tony] You think of seals as lovable,
but leopard seals are apex predators.
They eat penguins, even sharks.
Keep in mind, they weigh more than many bears
and have teeth designed to shred blubber and crush bones.
In 2003, one even tragically killed a marine biologist.
So is this a leopard seal on the hunt for humans?
And what about those glowing eyes?
- [Conger] Leopard seals have the tapetum lucidum like a deer,
the reflective membrane in their eye.
It maximizes the visible light
because it reflects it into the front of the eyes.
So it’s almost like a self-designed flashlight.
Because seals spend time at depth in the ocean hunting prey,
the better you can see in that type of environment,
the more you can survive.
So because of all of that, I think this is a leopard seal.
- [Tony] Dr. Conger had us convinced,
but we couldn’t resist sending the footage
to our video forensic analyst, Michael Primeau,
and he had a surprise.
- It’s clear that this area of the image
was different than the rest of the image,
which is an indication that it was overlaid.
There’s also a difference in this shadow area.
The eyes are essentially moving away
from that region at some points,
like here is where we see the difference in the eyes.
And if it was actually moving too fast
for the camera to be able to interpret,
I would expect to see some motion blur.
But this is a doubling effect where those frames
are essentially being produced twice,
which is not an accurate depiction
from that original camera.
If this was genuine and was recorded in real life,
the macro block motion vectors would indicate that,
and thus the verdict is that this is fake.
(tense music)
- Our verdict? This was a hoax.
It’s possible the video overlaid footage
of a real leopard seal.
So Dr. Conger’s analysis might be spot on,
but there’s definitely some video shenanigans involved here.
- For centuries, there have been stories
ities
Now as you’re about to see,
a video of one mysterious man raises a startling question.
Could these legends actually be true?
Check it out.
2018. Rondonia, Brazil.
Deep in the Amazon jungle,
researchers from FUNAI,
the Brazilian National Indian Foundation,
are scouting when they come across this stunning scene.
A lone indigenous man naked except for loin cloth,
swings an ax and chops into a tree.
Who is this man and why is he out in the middle of nowhere?
- Researchers have been tracking this man
for quite some time
and discovered several huts that he’s built
and in the middle of his huts,
he digs a very deep six foot hole.
- [Tony] The man lives as a hermit,
and those holes are as much of a mystery as he is.
But when researchers have tried to contact the man,
he’s either fled or shot arrows at them.
- He clearly seems to be thriving well
in the conditions that he’s living in
and is definitely nervous
when it comes to outsiders entering his area.
- [Tony] Researchers believe the man
has been the sole inhabitant of this territory
for at least 26 years,
but they still have no idea what language he speaks,
his name, or what tribe he came from.
- [MJ] We know that there are a lot
of uncontacted tribes that still exist in the world today
where no one is allowed to go near it.
The reason being,
every time any research team’s gotten too close,
the people have acted quite aggressively
in trying to scare them away.
- [Tony] So an uncontacted tribe, yes,
but one solitary man? That’s unheard of.
And without any information on his origins,
an intriguing possibility arises.
Could he be the last surviving member
of a lost civilization long rumored
to lie hidden in the Amazon?
- So the first expedition down into the Amazon area
happened around the 1500s.
- [Tony] In the 16th century,
Spanish conquistadors ventured into the Amazon rainforest
seeking a fabled lost city of gold.
Some referred to it as El Dorado,
other times the city of Z.
By the 19th century,
most people dismissed the existence
of a lost city as a myth,
deeming the Amazon too inhospitable
to support large scale populations.
But that didn’t stop this man from looking.
British Explorer, Percy Fawcett would conduct
eight expeditions to find Z.
He departed for his final voyage in 1925,
and he and his two companions were never heard from again.
The questions, did Fawcett actually find the city of Z?
Did its citizens kill him?
And is our solitary man in the hole
their sole, surviving descendant?
There’s a lot to unpack here.
To solve the riddle,
we’re going to need our experts to do some digging.
(tense music)
Archeologist Ed Barnhart says that the lone man’s hut
and garden are more modest than the cities
of conquistador’s legend,
but he fits the physical description
of ancient indigenous tribes,
and he grows the same yucca and paw paw plants
and hunts monkeys, wild pigs and birds in the same fashion.
- He’s barely clothed.
Like most of the cultures in the Amazon,
he’s got the right haircut.
This man obviously grew up in the Amazon
and he knows how to survive there.
- [Tony] Could he have some connection
to the people mentioned in the legends?
Thanks to a new cutting edge technology known as lidar,
in 2022, archeologists discovered the remains
of an urban settlement that spans
more than 1,737 square miles
in Bolivia’s Llanos De Moxos region,
which isn’t that far from the Brazilian border.
The city belonged to the Casarabe culture,
and it is just the latest proof that large urban societies
did exist in the Amazon.
The Casarabe abandoned this city
around 1400 AD for unknown reasons,
and the jungle soon swallowed what was left behind.
So clearly lost cities were real and they really were lost.
For all we know, Z did exist
and its remains are waiting to be discovered by lidar.
And this man is the sole survivor of that civilization.
- So we know that once societies collapse,
the people that were living there
just disperse back into the environment
that they’ve always lived in.
So it is possible if the man in the hole
is directly related to the people that lived
in these great cities.
- [Tony] Why is he alone?
Barnhart says the likely solution to that mystery
is a tragedy that’s befallen many uncontacted tribes.
- [Ed] Unfortunately,
a lot of them fall prey to loggers or miners or hunters,
and without anybody ever realizing it,
folks from the Western world come in
and they eradicate these tribes.
- [Tony] That’s also the most likely reason for those holes.
Brazilian officials think it’s likely
our man’s tribe was wiped out by attacks
and poisonings instigated by encroaching ranchers.
The holes are defenses against further attacks.
- [Barnhart] This poor individual is probably
the last member of his tribe.
No one knows how to talk to him,
and has no reason to think that the people
that are contacting him aren’t trying to kill him.
- [Tony] On August 23rd, 2022,
his dead body was found in a hammock outside his straw hut.
He is believed to have passed from natural causes.
The good news is that he didn’t die violently
as he logically feared.
The bad news is that his language, culture,
and religion all died with him.
- He’s a tragic example of exactly
what’s going to happen to all these wonderful cultures
unless we spend more time protecting them.
(tense music)
- So, sadly, much remains unanswered.
Our verdict is that the mystery man
was likely the last of his tribe,
but we don’t know whether or not his people
were connected to Z, or any other lost city.
We do know that against all odds,
he thrived in the jungle alone
and hunted for over a quarter of a century.
He truly was a living legend.
May he rest in peace.
- Most people see yard work as nothing but a tedious chore.
But what if doing these chores uncovered mysterious,
unexplained treasures from the ancient past?
That’s just what happened one summer day
to a lucky man in England.
It’s August 1987 in the town of Romford in East London, UK.
A local resident is filling a hole in his yard
when suddenly his shovel hits something hard and metallic.
In this photo, you can see the strange 12 sided
hollow object that’s about the size of a tennis ball.
Each side has a pentagonal face
with a circular hole in the middle,
and in each corner is a small, rounded knob.
Writer Eric Grundhauser says,
other mysterious devices like this
were first discovered in the early 1700s
and they’ve been baffling people ever since.
- What you’re looking at in this image
is one of the most unexplained mysteries
of the ancient world.
Even though we found over a hundred of them across Europe,
no one is still clear on what exactly they are.
- [Tony] They’re known as dodecahedrons
because of their 12 sided shape,
but no one knows exactly how or why they were made.
Grundhauser says some suspect the ancients
may have used them for communing with the spiritual world.
- One of the theories surrounding these dodecahedrons
is that they were used as divining tools
by augers or seers,
some kind of dye, or rolling of the bones.
- [Tony] So perhaps these devices
were used to predict the future.
They have 12 faces that could correspond
with the 12 celestial signs of the Zodiac
creating a sort of horoscope.
Perhaps they were related to the first century
mystery religion known as Mithraism.
This was a secretive cult centered on the God Mithras
that drew heavily upon astrological symbolism.
A similar connection to the star constellations was proposed
by one of the greatest philosophers of all time.
- [Eric] Plato had this idea of these shapes
that were the ideal shapes of the universe.
The dodecahedron was meant to represent the heavens,
that the dodecahedron was itself a mirror
of the shape of the universe.
- [Tony] And what makes these objects even more enigmatic
is that though they’ve been found throughout Europe,
they’re all precisely forged out of metal
with the exact same design,
though in a variety of small sizes.
There’s no mention of them in any written records.
- We don’t know who created
these dodecahedrons or how they were even created,
but it doesn’t look like it would’ve been easy,
given ancient technology.
- These mysterious contraptions
have been uncovered in ancient military camps,
temples, and even public baths.
So in addition to a fortune telling tool or religious totem,
some have speculated they could be weapons,
money, or even just a game.
But after centuries of study,
we’re still no closer to the truth.
So let’s see if our experts can define what this is.
(tense music)
Anthropologist Kathy Strain explores
whether the bronze object could have some
religious or spiritual purpose,
perhaps related to Mithraism,
which was seen as an early rival
to Christianity in the Roman Empire.
- Mithraism was a star cult.
When you think about a star that is multifaceted,
multi edged, maybe this is something
that that could represent a star.
It could be something that you kept
in order to practice your religious action.
- [Tony] But Strain reiterates that what complicates
this theory is that these objects haven’t just been found
in temples and other religious sites.
- [Strain] Knowing that they have been found in bathhouses,
they’ve been found in Roman camps.
We can’t use that as evidence
to say that this is a religious object.
- [Tony] Archeologist Dr. Ed Barnhart
says these objects have sometimes been uncovered
among caches of coins.
Then perhaps this dodecahedron could be some form of money?
- It’s very large, impractical for a currency.
There aren’t any identifiable and repeating symbols.
If an organized civilization is going to make a currency,
it’s got the bust of a Roman emperor or something on it.
- [Tony] So it may not be a type of coin,
but perhaps it still had a valuable purpose.
- I think that it’s a survey object.
I think that the balls on every corner
let it securely attach to basically a tripod.
The locations where we find these objects
are fairly neatly where the Roman empire
expanded itself by building Roman roads.
If you look through the hole on one side,
whatever the other side you’re looking through
is a different diameter hole,
which means they are very functional
in terms of judging both distance and size of things
out in front of you.
- [Tony] The dodecahedron has six angles of view.
And so if you know the size of an object,
you can calculate how far away it is.
By looking at the object through the device,
at a point where the two opposite
circular holes are superimposed.
You can determine the distance
by plugging factors like the diameter of each hole,
the distance between the two holes,
and the height of the object
into a simple geometric equation.
(tense music)
Our verdict,
we’re gonna go with Barnhart on this one
and say this was likely a surveying tool.
The need to be secured on a tripod
would explain why the device has
the seemingly extraneous knobs.
But remember,
there is nothing about these dodecahedra
in the written records,
and no molds for making them have ever been found.
So we’ll likely never know for sure.
- Flash floods can happen within minutes.
They lead to about 100 deaths in the US each year,
and anyone who gets caught in one
should only hope that the situation resolves itself
as miraculously as what you’re about to see.
Pueblo, Colorado.
Physician Dr. Rocky Khosla and his family
are on their way to dinner when they hit a bad rainstorm.
As they seek shelter,
they notice another car is being submerged
by the water rapidly rising on a low lying road.
Watch what happens next.
- [Rocky] And I look, this car took off
and started floating away way faster than I expected.
- [Tony] By chance, a news crew is passing by.
They roll cameras.
Dr. Khosla and others jump into action
and try to free 35 year old Charlene Herrera
from the 10 foot deep torrent.
- I just saw a piece of wood floating
and so I grabbed it and I just started swimming out.
- [Tony] The car is nearly submerged,
the situation looks hopeless.
- And I was really hammering away
with this piece of wood and making absolutely no progress.
- [Tony] Then it happens. Watch.
Another rescuer reaches into the water
and somehow he’s able to grab Charlene’s arm.
- Next thing I know,
this person is popping out of there like a champagne cork.
- [Tony] Charlene is pulled to safety.
It’s a feel good rescue story.
But here’s the amazing thing.
When the car is later recovered,
all of the doors and windows are closed and intact.
- At this point, I’m still mystified by the whole thing.
She’d obviously been through a near death experience,
but she was alive.
You know, it was just incredible.
- We tried to contact the woman in the car,
but we never reached her.
So much remains unanswered.
How were the rescuers able to get a hold of her?
How does she escape when the windows and doors were shut?
Could this be a case of divine intervention?
Or something else?
Let’s check in with our experts.
(tense music)
Could a window have been rolled down then rolled back up?
Physicist Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi says it’s unlikely.
- Most cars today, the windows aren’t manual.
They’re powered windows,
and we know that water and electricity don’t mix.
It’s gonna short out the electrical system eventually.
So a person doesn’t have very much time
to lower those windows before it’s impossible to lower them.
- [Tony] Something else to consider.
Could a door have been opened, then later shut?
Dr. Oluseyi concludes that would’ve required
a huge feat of strength.
- [Hakeem] Physics works against allowing them to escape.
The car feels a force pushing in on it on all sides.
So a person inside the car,
when they’ll try to open that door,
they’re working against that incredible force
and there is no person strong enough
to open such a car door.
- [Tony] Oluseyi says,
if you wait for the pressure to equalize,
the car will be so full of water
that there’s no air left to breathe.
So we have to consider, was this a miracle?
We ask Michael O’Neill,
a trained engineer who researches
claims of miracles in the Catholic church.
All we know is there is not a clear explanation,
naturally speaking,
of how that person was saved from the vehicle.
Was one of the rescuers an angel,
or some other divine presence that opened that door
and got the person out in an inexplicable way?
- So you look at all of the elements that are in play,
the camera crew stopping just in time
to capture that footage
as well as a physician being on site.
And you have to ask yourself,
is there something else at work here?
It was meant, it seems for other people to witness
that miracles occur and maybe happen every day.
(tense music)
- There is a gap of time between the driver being rescued
and the car being pulled out.
So there’s a small chance an open window
or door could have closed somehow during that time.
But I’m going with our physicist.
That’s highly unlikely because of the water pressure.
So until we get more information,
our verdict is possible miracle.
And that’s our show for tonight.
Thank you so much for watching.
And remember, keep those cameras rolling.
(dramatic theme music)