- Tonight, on The Proof Is Out There.
A reconnaissance plane captures an image
that makes UFO history.
- Some people have called this the best UFO photo of all time.
- [Tony] Was a deaf nun miraculously cured
by this weeping statue?
- The Our Lady of Akita statue has been puzzling us
for more than half a century.
- [Tony] Look out above.
Are aliens targeting SpaceX missions?
- This could be an explicit declaration of war.
- [Tony] And there's no way this video is real, right?
- The thing is missing its head, but there it is swimming around.
Like, how could that be true?
[dramatic music]
- [Tony] Around the globe are videos.
- [Witness] What are those things?
- [Witness] It's moving.
- [Tony] Photos and sounds that defy explanation.
[electric whirring]
- [Kathy] We don't know where they come from,
who made them, or how they operate.
- [Tony] What are they?
- [MJ] Some sort of bizarre mutation.
- [Marc] What's exciting is nobody really knows.
- 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 music]
- Good evening and welcome to The Proof Is Out There.
Our first story tonight takes us back to 1979
when Jimmy Carter was president,
disco ruled the pop charts,
and I had hair.
It was in that same year
that one of Italy's most famous UFO incidents took place,
and more than four decades later,
we're still talking about it.
[ominous music]
It's June 18th, 1979.
Pilot Marshall Giancarlo Cecconi
is flying his Fiat G.91 reconnaissance aircraft
outfitted with four cameras.
They're about to come in handy.
Around 11:30 a.m.,
Cecconi receives a radio transmission
indicating the radar crew at Istrana Airfield
has detected an unidentified object at low altitude.
When Cecconi encounters the object,
he uses the aircraft's cameras
to capture some of the most puzzling UFO photos ever taken.
- It's this strange, cylindrical-shaped object.
He says it sort of looks like a semi-squashed cigar.
The sides of it are black.
However, the middle section and the top
are a slightly lighter color
and it seems to just be floating in the air.
- [Tony] Now, this object is reportedly 20 to 25 feet long
and around 10 feet wide with a dull, dark surface.
And importantly, the alleged craft
seems completely unaffected by the turbulence thrown
from the plane's formidable jet wash.
When the object begins climbing, Cecconi pursues,
speeding past it as he sets up another photo run.
But when he returns, the object has vanished into thin air.
Strange, sure, but this is nothing new for Italy.
- Italy has a long history of UFO reports.
- [Tony] Pentagon whistleblower David Grusch
has recently reiterated Italian claims
that Mussolini had a secret UFO program
which recovered at least one downed craft.
Grusch says that when the Axis fell to Allied forces,
the Allies confiscated the alien craft
and shipped it stateside.
Sound incredible? How about another incident
with a few thousand eyewitnesses?
- One of the most famous cases in Italian UFO history
occurred in 1954.
There was a big soccer match in Florence
and a crowd of 10,000 people looked up
and saw these strange objects flying over the stadium.
- [Tony] Some accounts claimed the objects dropped
a glitter-like substance
and others describe the objects as looking like,
you guessed it, a Cuban cigar.
But as MJ Banias points out,
this cigar-shaped sighting has something others may lack.
- This case has a lot going for it
from a credibility perspective.
One, you have a fighter pilot who knows the sky.
He knows what should and shouldn't be up there.
- All pilots are trained to be aware of their surroundings
and to be on the lookout for something unusual.
Plus, the pilots who flew the Fiat G.91 reconnaissance plane
had very specialized training
to observe, record, and report with critical detail.
Could we have a better witness?
Let's see how our experts do with this one.
[tense music]
Rich Hoffman of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies
begins his evaluation of Cecconi's sighting.
- Nobody's had craft that are cylindrical like this
without wings, without any typical structures
that we normally see on aircraft.
But it has positive lift.
There's no propulsion system on it
and yet, it's up in the air.
- [Tony] And as astrophotographer
Andrew McCarthy points out,
it did manage quite a disappearing act.
- One of the most peculiar things about this object,
it went from being stationary in midair
to vanishing without a trace.
In order to accelerate out of this area that quickly,
it would've to have some kind of propulsion
that didn't exist in 1979
and certainly doesn't still exist today.
- [Tony] Some have speculated
it could be a secret military test craft,
but McCarthy doesn't see the logic.
- You would think if this was some secret military craft,
they would've known what it was
and not sent a fighter pilot to go document it.
- [Tony] So we turn to another theory,
that this object was a solar balloon.
- [Andrew] This actually really closely resembles
a solar balloon.
Solar balloons are made with black materials
so that they can absorb the sun's energy
so that they heat up the air and begin to float.
- [Tony] As Hoffman points out,
the balloon theory does also explain
the sudden disappearing act.
- When it disappeared off radar,
was that because the balloon blew up and disintegrated?
- [Tony] But one piece of the balloon puzzle
just doesn't fit.
The object's stability
in the face of Cecconi's roaring jet wash.
- In order to not be affected by the aircraft's turbulence,
this object would've had to be tethered
from at least three different locations.
That way, it would be stationary in the sky
and not move at all.
Despite being photographed from multiple angles,
not a single tether is visible
in these photographs of this object.
It's really hard to say for sure.
[tense music]
- Our verdict? Genuine UFO.
At first glance, everything about these pictures indicates
we are looking at some kind of massive balloon.
But the pilot's testimony
about the object's bizarre stability in the jet wash
poses far more questions than we have answers for.
Now, let's move from the sky to heaven.
Statues of the Virgin Mary that appear to cry
have become pilgrimage sites for true believers.
Are these real acts of God or underhanded hoaxes?
When it comes to our next story,
even official investigators have been left befuddled.
It's the summer of 1973 in the outskirts of Akita, Japan.
42-year-old novice nun Sister Agnes Sasagawa
has just joined a Catholic convent.
When she arrives, the former Buddhist is totally deaf.
That June, she reportedly sees brilliant lights
suddenly coming from the tabernacle
where the chapel's Eucharist is stored.
- A couple of weeks later, a cross-shaped wound showed up
on the inside left palm of her hand,
bleeding profusely and causing her a lot of pain.
Then, on July 6th, she actually heard a voice
coming from the Virgin Mary statue.
[choir singing]
And how she heard it was profound.
The voice said, "Be patient.
Your deafness will soon be healed."
- [Tony] Later, on the same day that Sister Agnes
miraculously hears the voice with her deaf ears,
the nuns notice what they believe to be blood
flowing from a wound on this three-foot-tall statue
of the Virgin Mary.
- On four different occasions,
the act of blood flow repeated itself
from the Virgin Mary statue's right hand.
On September 29th, the day that the blood disappeared,
what the sisters then noticed was sweat that started to emerge
from the forehead and neck of the statue.
It also began to give off this scent of sweet roses.
- [Tony] In Catholicism,
red roses represent Christ's passion
and white roses symbolize the Virgin Mary's purity.
More than a year later, in January 1975,
is when the statue begins to weep.
It's seen crying around 100 times
over the next 6.5 years.
- Many Catholics across the world believe
that the tears that come from the Virgin Mary
are said to be crying over the sins of the world.
This is Mary's way of having empathy
for the sins and the sinners.
- As Our Lady of Akita had promised,
in 1982, Sister Agnes suddenly and permanently
was cured of her deafness.
What's more, after eight years of in-depth investigations,
the local bishop recognized the supernatural character
of the mysterious events that happened at the shrine.
The entire diocese now venerates the statue.
So, was this all truly an act of God,
or was this something else entirely?
[tense music]
Dr. Ed Hope considers that these strange incidents
could have a natural, biological explanation.
- There have been findings that crying Virgin Mary statues
are happening through natural
rather than supernatural events.
Like the materials used to create these statues
may build up condensation
which might cool and then look like tears or even sweat.
There's also been instances of fraud
where people would actually put tears
or blood on themselves.
- [Tony] And Hope adds,
there's also another, more sophisticated way
to pull off a hoax.
- One of the other methods to fake this
would be to make a duct system behind
where fluid would be drawn through.
And by making a small incision
near where the tear duct would open up,
it gives the impression
that the tears are coming from the eyes.
- [Tony] But Catholic miracle researcher Michael O'Neill
says a thorough investigation of Our Lady of Akita
has eliminated some of these fraudulent
or accidental explanations.
- When investigators looked at this statute,
they tried to rule out internal duct work or a leaky pipe
or somebody sneaking in with an eye dropper
and dropping these tears on the statue.
But this tear started and stopped
with witnesses from the very beginning
at the end of these occurrences.
- [Tony] In addition, the sculptor has confirmed
the statue was made from one solid piece of dry hard wood,
so there are no joints where piping could be added.
O'Neill says scientists also did
a thorough examination of the statue.
- Here's a closeup of this weeping statue
of the Virgin Mary.
Scientists have validated as them being human tears
coming from this wooden statue.
- [Tony] O'Neill adds that the other fluids
have also been tested.
- They tested the tears, the blood, and the sweat
emanating from the statue.
They found that it was from group AB, group B, and group O.
And in doing so they also identified that it didn't match
that of Sister Agnes Sasagawa,
the mystic who was claiming these experiences.
- [Tony] O'Neill believes it only leads to one conclusion.
- I personally consider the supernatural events
that are claimed with Our Lady of Akita in Japan
to be perhaps one of the greatest instances of miracles
that the Catholic Church has ever examined.
[tense music]
- Our verdict? We are going to call this a possible miracle.
The obvious explanations have been eliminated.
The local bishop and the estimated 2,000 people
who witnessed the Lady of Akita's tears
certainly think God is involved here.
What about you?
- Since its first rocket achieved orbit in 2008,
SpaceX has continued to innovate
and push the boundary of space exploration.
And while CEO Elon Musk hopes to bring humans to Mars
as soon as 2029,
video from one SpaceX mission has raised concerns
about what might await us in the final frontier.
- [Announcer] Eject and liftoff.
- [Tony] It's April 23rd, 2021.
SpaceX's spacecraft Endeavour
is on its way to the International Space Station.
12 minutes after liftoff,
the capsule containing four astronauts
separates from the rocket's second stage.
But as the crew back at NASA
applauds the successful uncoupling,
the livestream camera captures something truly shocking.
A foreign object can be seen floating through the gap,
missing the craft by mere seconds.
The object is round, though not a perfect sphere,
and it appears to be black in color
but its details are shrouded in shadow.
- It looks like if they hadn't separated
in the nick of time, it would've impacted the spacecraft.
And no one knows what it is.
It's not an object anyone was tracking in orbit,
so no one knew that it was going to be there.
- [Tony] One theory that gains traction
is that the object is some sort of scout UFO
that originally came from a larger UFO.
- Basically, the idea is that alien craft
are exploring our planet
and instead of landing with the mothership,
they're launching these small reconnaissance vehicles,
which is not that dissimilar
to how we've explored our own solar system.
- [Tony] Think that's too out there?
Consider that Sean Kirkpatrick,
former Head of the Pentagon's UFO Office,
and Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb
wrote a paper to support the theory.
But what could be drawing the interstellar attention?
- Our use of space used to be just scientific exploration,
but now we've got space tourism,
we've got early militarization.
- [Tony] In fact, 2022 saw a record 180 rocket launches.
- Some might wonder
whether extraterrestrials are getting concerned
that we're starting to really encroach on their territory.
- SpaceX is reportedly involved
in over half of all near misses in space.
Many of all SpaceX's Starlink project,
an unmanned satellite internet network.
But a near miss with a spacecraft
carrying four astronauts?
Now we're talking about human lives.
So is something targeting our spacecraft?
Our experts are on a collision course with the truth.
[tense music]
Before we embrace an exotic theory like alien space probes,
we first ask Tim McMillan if this could be a hostile act
from a rival human military.
As Sci-Fi as it sounds,
he says multiple countries have considered
placing weapons in space.
- In the late 1970s,
the Soviet Union did a experiment
with something called the Almaz,
which was putting a 23-millimeter cannon
on one of their satellite systems
to give it an offensive capability.
And in the 1980s,
as part of President Reagan's Star Wars initiative,
was a classified program called Brilliant Pebbles
and the idea behind it was
to place various missile systems in orbit
as a defensive and offensive capability.
- [Tony] But McMillan doesn't think
this foreign object is from a foreign power.
- If someone had fired a weapon at the capsule,
we would know,
because a satellite system that's firing
some type of projectiles would certainly be noticeable
to the other space-based sensor systems
that are already in place.
- [Tony] What about another manmade object, a satellite?
- It's got none of the physical characteristics
of a satellite, like the large solar sail,
in addition to the fact that satellite systems
are on known trajectory paths
and you certainly wouldn't have run the risk
of an impact from a satellite.
So it's definitely not a satellite.
- [Tony] Taking into consideration
this object's organic shape,
we ask astronomer Marc D'Antonio if it could be a meteor.
- This might actually be about the right size for a meteor.
The only problem is that meteors hit the Earth
at thousands and thousands of miles per hour,
and this thing is just lazily floating through the view,
so that wouldn't be the case.
- [Tony] Then could it simply be space junk?
Scientists estimate orbiting the Earth
are about 13,000 pieces of debris
bigger than a soft softball,
100,000 bigger than a penny,
and tens of millions of pieces even smaller than that.
- Space is cluttered.
There could come a time when it will be very dangerous
for us to try and leave our planet.
But in this particular case, probably not space junk,
and the reason comes down to the fact that
you can see it passing in front of this,
which is part of the rocket itself.
Phew, that means this is a small, tiny object
that got loose, probably from the inside of the rocket
during the staging process,
where this stage moves away from this stage.
- [Tony] And McMillan says this would explain
the radar omission.
- That's one reason that you wouldn't have picked it up
as any type of space junk
is because it actually traveled with the rocket into space.
[tense music]
- Our verdict? We are leaning toward rocket debris
that broke off from the second stage,
though we can't say for certain
which piece of the rocket it was.
It's sad to hear that pollution
is becoming a problem in space like it is on Earth.
Thankfully, NASA is well equipped to help spacecraft
dodge most of the debris
with a meticulous catalog of 27,000 objects
in Earth's orbit.
- We have all heard the expression,
"running around like a chicken with its head cut off."
But what about swimming around like a fish with no head?
Haven't heard that one?
Well, it might catch on after our next video.
November 2021, Oxbow Lake, Bangladesh.
Recent college grad Rayyan Rafat
is getting ready to go fishing with his family
when he spots something horrifyingly strange
swimming towards him.
He pulls out his camera and records this.
A fish swimming gracefully in the water
completely devoid of its head.
Surprisingly, the creature's acting naturally
and seems to be perfectly fine,
other than the fact that it's been decapitated.
- It was quite shocking because we never saw
a headless fish ever in our lives.
Neither did the locals.
How is this fish still alive?
This absolutely creeped us out.
- [Tony] Field researcher Cliff Barackman
takes a look at this baffling footage
that's been viewed over three million times
on social media.
- So people would automatically wonder, like,
is this some sort of strange mutant fish
that can live without its head?
There are a lot of different fish in the world
and a lot of these species of fish
can do some pretty amazing things.
The Antarctic toothfish, for example,
can swim through freezing cold water and not die
because they have some sort of natural antifreeze
in their blood.
And the black swallower can actually swallow prey
10 times their size.
- [Tony] So could this be some kind of amazing, undead fish
that can function without a head?
Chickens, cockroaches, snakes, and even turtles
have all been documented to live moments past decapitation.
Well, as crazy as it sounds,
Barackman says the idea that we are looking
at some type of zombie fish
has gained significant popularity online.
- Zombies have just really infiltrated our culture
in a lot of ways.
Anything that lives beyond its seeming death,
of course, nowadays, we would say,
"Oh, that's very zombie-like."
- [Tony] According to Barackman,
the fantastical concept that a zombie could be created
by a virus that animates dead flesh
has some roots in reality.
He points to one specific zombie-inducing parasite
that starts its possession cycle in the water.
- Euhaplorchis californiensis is a saltwater parasite
that lives in marshes.
It finds a fish and it goes into the brain
and then changes its behavior
to make it swim more erratically.
- [Tony] The fish, which is now under the physical control
of the parasite, makes these erratic movements
in the hope that it will attract a hungry bird
and be swallowed up,
a necessary step for the parasite to spread.
- And now the parasite is living inside the bird.
The bird will eventually poop
and the poop will be eaten by snails,
a new host in which to breed.
The snails' offspring finds another fish,
and that is how these animals live.
- On a previous episode,
we took a look at a fish's severed head
that was still actively biting
long after it was separated from its body.
Could we be looking at a similar phenomenon but in reverse?
Let's see what's swimming around in our experts' heads.
[tense music]
We first checked in
with our video forensic analyst, Michael Primeau,
to make sure what we're looking at here is real.
- We weren't able to identify any particular tool
that had manipulated it
or any evidence that it was manipulated.
From a general point of view, this file appears to be genuine.
There are no inconsistencies or evidence of CGI
that I'm alarmed with.
- [Tony] According to Primeau, whatever this is, it's real.
So we went to biologist Floyd Hayes to see if he thought
we could be looking at some parasite-controlled zombie fish.
- This cannot be an example of a parasitic infection
because there's no head for a parasite to infect.
What I think happened is the head was severed by a predator,
or by the propeller blade of a boat,
and it's still able to swim for a while before it dies.
- [Tony] Marine biologist Shea Steingass agrees with Hayes
that this fish definitely encountered some mishap.
But there might be a little more here than meets the eye,
or in this case, eyes.
- It appears to be a plecostomus.
Plecostomus, or plecos, are very tough.
We can actually see what appear to be
the eye sockets of this fish.
The brainstem of these animals is actually located
behind the eye sockets,
so as long as it has basic parts of its brain
and central nervous system in place,
it can survive for quite a period of time
until it essentially runs out of calories from eating.
And it still has gills and it still has muscles,
but it probably won't live too much longer
based on what I'm seeing here.
[tense music]
- Our verdict? Natural phenomenon,
although a rather macabre one.
Thanks to an intact brainstem,
this fish is still able to swim normally
for a finite amount of time.
And while our friend here
may have become a viral internet star,
it doesn't look like he'll be getting
ahead in life anytime soon.
- In July of 2023,
a former military officer testified to Congress
that the US has long had
a secret UFO crash retrieval program.
If true, it means that aliens exist
and that at least one country's military
has access to their technology.
Is there an alien tech arms race going on right now?
Some people think this next video could be proof.
June 12th, 2015.
Quade Mott from Greenwood, Indiana
is taking a leisurely afternoon bike ride.
But when he looks up at the overcast sky,
what he sees shocks him.
Emerging from the clouds is a strange beam of light
that seems to shift erratically.
Let's take a closer look.
The beam doesn't seem to emanate from the ground.
Instead, it seems to be coming from the sky.
The beam ominously pulses and changes direction,
leaving Quade unnerved.
- I've never seen anything like it before
and the way it kept moving back and forth,
it looked like almost like a lightning,
but it wouldn't go away,
it just kept moving and stayed like in the same spot.
- [Tony] After seeing the footage,
author Jason MartelL says one theory
is that it's some kind of advanced government tech.
- Some people think what we're seeing here
is some type of perhaps a directed energy weapon.
Directed energy weapons are usually
some type of a high-powered system
that allows for sets of energy
to be focused on their target,
completely destroying the target
that it focuses its energy on.
- [Tony] There are three main types
of directed energy weapon systems.
Laser-based, which date back to the 1960s,
radio frequencies such as high-powered microwaves,
and particle beams, which are still in development.
What they all have in common is an ability to attack
with nothing but energy.
However, others have speculated that what we're seeing
is actually extraterrestrials
attempting to communicate with us
using the pulses of the light beam
as a sort of interstellar Morse code.
- An author from NASA by the name of Douglas Vakoch
theorized that our first encounter
with some type of an extraterrestrial civilization
would be utilizing some type of a messaging system.
Even Albert Einstein suggested that light rays might be used
as some easily controllable method
to communicate with some type of a non-human
or extraterrestrial intelligence.
- These aren't the first strange energy pulses
to have been recorded emerging from cloud cover.
Check out this 2011 video from Singapore.
Watch these pulses here.
Are they random and erratic,
or is it proof of something intentional?
Is this some new terrifying military tech,
or a signal from above?
Let's see what signals our experts sent us.
[tense music]
But first, astronomer and VFX artist Marc D'Antonio
investigates the theory
that we're looking at a powerful directed energy weapon.
- A directed energy weapon shoots a beam of particles
in one direction.
They won't necessarily make a beam like you see here.
- [Tony] This is because
the pulses created by directed energy weapons,
like radio frequency systems,
use non-visible types of energy such as microwaves.
- You'd see a source and then a result down at the bottom.
You may not see anything in between
of a directed energy weapon.
So this doesn't have the characteristics
of one of those directed weapons.
- [Tony] Some speculate that this could be a searchlight,
like the high-powered spotlights found on police helicopters.
But D'Antonio isn't so sure.
- Where would the source of the searchlight be?
It'd be here in the middle of a thundercloud.
If you're flying your helicopter in a thundercloud,
you risk getting your license pulled
because that's a dangerous, irresponsible act.
- [Tony] According to our meteorologist Juan Hernandez,
inside the thundercloud is exactly
where we need to search for answers.
- Anytime there is a change in the electrical charges
in the storm, particles of ice that are on top
of the storm are switching back and forth,
causing the light being reflected
to change direction as well.
What we're looking at here is a crown flash.
It's a meteorological optical illusion.
- [Tony] Think of it as a meteorological disco ball.
As the reflective ice moves, so does the reflected light.
- [Juan] The reason we see it wiggling back and forth
is because those ice platelets that are on top of the storm
are changing quite rapidly in direction.
Now, if they shift one way or the other,
the light beam is gonna change direction.
- [Tony] Hernandez looks at the weather in Indiana
from that day and confirms the conditions were perfect
to create a crown flash.
- It was a hot, humid day,
which was perfect for thunderstorm development.
Taking a look at the satellite view, we see
those strong thunderstorms across southern Indiana.
Now, all these thunderstorms
likely have crown flashes ongoing.
It's just a matter of whether somebody's there
to see them or not.
[tense music]
- Our verdict? Gotta go with crown flash.
No enemy military tech or alien overtures,
just nature putting on an incredible show.
But keep your eye on the skies.
If we do get a pulsing instant message from another galaxy,
we don't wanna miss it.
If we do get a pulsing instant mesto the sounds of naturey,
in order to calm down and relax,
but I'm pretty confident the forest sounds in our next story
will have quite the opposite effect.
It's September 2018 in the Great Smoky Mountains.
A bird enthusiast is making his way along the trail
when he suddenly hears this.
[screeching]
At first, many listeners assume it's a buzz saw
starting and stopping.
However, there are no known logging operations
happening in the area,
so another theory emerges.
Could it be the trees themselves?
[screeching]
- For centuries, stories of living or magical trees
can be found all over the world.
You can find examples in Greek mythology,
where you have creatures like the dryads
who are forest spirits that inhabit every tree.
And even in Arab folklore,
you can find examples of djinns living in trees.
- [Tony] Recent scientific discoveries
have revealed that these legends of vocalizing trees
may have some actual roots in reality.
- Recent experiments in Tel Aviv have even shown
that plants that are exposed to painful pressures,
such as damage or dehydration,
can emit sounds.
The results of this experiment
could alter the way that we think about the plant kingdom,
which has, up until now, often been thought of as silent.
[screeching]
- [Tony] In the Smoky Mountains,
hemlock trees are under attack from an invasive pest,
the hemlock woolly adelgid.
Some suggest that perhaps out of desperation,
these plants are attempting to create sounds
for human attention.
- Is it possible that this area is trying to communicate
and say, "Help"?
[screeching]
- Scientists believe the Smoky Mountains to be somewhere
between 200 and 300 million years old.
Some of the full-grown trees there
are older than half a millennium.
I would imagine if a tree that old could talk,
it would have some pretty fascinating things to say.
But for now, let's listen to our experts.
[tense music]
NASA geologist Bob Anderson confirms
that the hemlock trees in the Smoky Mountains
may actually be screaming for help.
- There's research going on
that plants can actually make sound.
The research recently happened in Tel Aviv University
where they recorded a tomato plant
in ultrasonic frequencies.
About up to 16 feet away,
they were still hearing this clicking or popping sound.
It's not a rhythmic sound.
It usually happens when the plant is low on water
or it has stem damage.
- [Tony] Some scientists theorize
that these sounds are being made by air bubbles
forming and bursting in the plant's vascular systems.
And while plants and certain other animals
may hear these sounds, unfortunately, humans can't.
- Most plant sounds
are into what we call the ultrasonic rage,
which means that they're very, very high pitched.
Humans cannot hear in the ultrasonic spectrum.
And so if the trees or if any plants
were making that kind of sound,
humans would not be able to pick it up.
[screeching]
- [Tony] And as far as a mechanical sound
such as a buzz saw,
Anderson says no way.
- With a manmade sound like a drill or construction,
the sounds are much more consistent
and have a very narrow frequency range.
This sound starts, stops,
goes up in pitch, it goes down in pitch.
The most obvious thing would be that it is biological.
- [Tony] And while Anderson is a geologist
and not a wildlife biologist,
he has an educated guess about which local creature
might be making this noise.
- In the video, you can see what appears to be a female elk.
Male elk can make a sound that's very deep and very hollow
that comes out during the mating season.
So I can almost come to the conclusion
that there is a male elk in the area.
- [Tony] Is it possible that this otherworldly sound
is just a mating call from a male elk?
We checked with forensic audio analyst professor Rob Maher.
- When the male elk are trying to attract females,
they emit a sound that's referred to as bugling,
and here's an example.
[elk bugling]
The frequency range of the most energy
in these cases is very similar,
and then the duration is very similar.
[screeching]
[elk bugling]
And that leads me to the conclusion
the unknown sound that we're hearing
is actually a bull elk bugling.
[elk bugling]
Making this sound that they would make
to attract the females in that season.
[elk bugling]
[tense music]
- Our verdict? Bull elk mating cry.
So no screaming trees desperate for help this time,
just an obnoxiously loud male elk desperate for love.
So no screaming trees desperate for help this time, i,
"The eyes are the window of the soul."
But there's a man in Turkey
who's been challenging that notion since he was 12,
and he just might be able to teach Leonardo
a thing or two about painting.
March 2009, Ankara, Turkey.
Artist Esref Armagan is at work in his studio.
He may look like an ordinary painter,
but as the camera films him working,
Esref reveals something extraordinary
about his background.
- [speaking in Turkish]
- [Tony] Astonishingly, Esref's work,
which he's shown painting with his fingers on camera,
seems to display an advanced understanding
of depth and perspective using shading.
He also uses an impressive array of vibrant colors
as seen in these landscapes and still lives.
- [speaking in Turkish]
- [Tony] Esref's many wondrous works of art
raise the question,
how can someone who was born without sight
draw and paint objects they've never seen?
Journalist Erin McCarthy says it has long been established
that blind people can compensate for their lack of sight
with enhanced hearing, smell, taste, or touch.
One example of sensory compensation
is when blind individuals master the skill of echolocation.
- There's a blind man named Brian Bushway
who uses echolocation.
He will make these clicking noises
and then use the sound bouncing back
to orient himself within space.
Echolocation is used by animals like dolphins and bats,
so the fact that a human can do this too is pretty cool.
- [Tony] Another theory, could the theoretical third eye,
also known as the mind's eye, be at play here?
- The third eye is the sixth chakra
and it is said to be in the middle of the brow or forehead.
- [Tony] In some Eastern religions
like Buddhism and Hinduism,
chakras are thought to be focal points
for different types of energy throughout the body.
The third eye chakra is sometimes referred to
as our sixth sense
and is said to be linked to perception, awareness,
and communication with the spirit world.
- Opening up the third eye is said to increase intuition,
spiritual perception, and universal connection,
and helps you access information
beyond what we see with our own eyes.
- More than 300 years ago,
philosopher William Molyneux pondered whether a blind person
who was suddenly able to see
would be able to visually identify objects
which they previously knew only by touch.
A study finally answered the question in 2011.
No, blind patients who gained vision
through cataract surgery
could not identify such objects by sight.
So, what can explain Esref's ability?
Let's get our experts' perspective.
[tense music]
First up, Dr. Ed Hope explains why the third eye theory
doesn't pass the test.
- We all, in fact, have a third eye,
and this is a small gland right in the center of your head
called the pineal gland.
And it's called the third eye
because it actually has some cells in it
that are very similar to the photoreceptors
at the back of your eye.
Now, the pineal gland's function has nothing to do
with it being a sensory organ.
In fact, it secretes melatonin
to regulate your sleep-wake cycle.
It has no sensory function within humans.
- [Tony] This doesn't rule out
that some people can activate a spiritual third eye.
Yet, Hope believes Esref isn't employing
any extra sensory abilities,
but he's instead just using the senses
that most humans are born with in exceptional ways.
- The sensitivity of our touch sensors in our fingers
are second only to our tongue and lips,
and he uses that to feel exactly what he's about to draw.
And then he uses an ability called stereognosis,
which is the idea that we can build pictures in our mind.
And then he's able to translate that through the paint.
- [Tony] In 2004, Harvard University scientists
ran brain and eye scan tests on Esref.
They discovered that his brain's visual cortex
became activated whenever he began painting or drawing,
which theoretical physicist, Dr. Michio Kaku, identifies
as an astonishing example of human adaptation.
- When I saw evidence of what this person can do,
I said to myself,
"It must be an example of neuroplasticity."
The brain basically rearranges itself
so the visual areas are being hijacked
and the sensory areas of touch are expanding.
So this person is using the sense of touch
to compensate for the fact
that the person has no visual instincts.
- [Tony] But what about those realistic colors
and his ability to use shading to portray depth perception?
Kaku says practice makes perfect.
- He has to be trained as a child
to understand that the sky is blue and white with clouds.
That this paint here represents yellow.
Yellow in turn represents the color of the sun.
Perspective requires your movement in the third dimension.
For example, the farther you are away, the smaller you are.
Somebody has to teach him that,
and of course it takes time,
but eventually he became a master of both.
Colors are all correct
and the perspectives are all in the right proportions,
and that's how he's able to make these fantastic paintings.
[tense music]
- Our verdict? Esref's artistic ability
seems to be the product of neuroplasticity.
He has also managed to hone his skills
with decades of trial and error and training.
But even though he puts his hands on his paintings,
if you ever see one, please don't touch.
And that's our show for tonight.
We always have so much fun putting these episodes together.
Thank you so much for watching,
and altogether now...
- [All] Keep those cameras rolling!
[applause] [dramatic music]