- Tonight on "The Proof is Out There".
What's hidden in the Brazilian UFO files?
- This is one of the most credible series of photos
that have ever been taken.
- [Tony] What's this creature found
by the road in Texas?
- Could this prove that the Chupacabra is real?
- [Tony] What can this meteorite tell us
about alien civilizations?
- It contains minerals
that have never been seen on Earth.
- [Tony] And what's going on with these baby Nessies?
- If the Loch Ness monster actually exists,
it's gotta have babies, right?
[dramatic music]
- [Tony] Around the globe are videos...
- [Eye-Witness] What are those things?
- [Eye-Witness] It's moving.
- [Tony] Photos and sounds that defy explanation.
[static buzzing]
[dramatic music]
- [Eye-Witness] We don't know where they come from,
who made them, or how they operate.
- [Tony] What are they?
- [Eye-Witness] Some sort of bizarre mutation.
- [Eye-Witness] 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.
[suspenseful music]
Good evening and welcome to "The Proof is Out There".
At over 70 years old, this first story is an oldie,
but a very goodie.
These images out of Brazil have been called
the most sensational sequence
of flying saucer photos ever seen,
and you're about to see them right here.
May, 1952, João Martins,
a journalist from Brazilian weekly magazine, "O Cruzeiro",
and his photographer Ed Keffel, are on a routine assignment
to the Barra Da Tijuca, near Rio de Janeiro.
In the late afternoon,
Martins spots what he thinks is an airplane
traveling at great speed,
but upon further inspection,
he realizes it was actually no airplane at all.
Martins screams, "Shoot it!" And so Keffel does.
What they capture is astounding.
A saucer shaped disc flying through the sky at great speed.
They describe the object as blue-gray in color,
and completely silent.
Careful inspection of these historic photos
seems to reveal the object has three distinct layers.
A flat disc on the outside, a raised rim in the middle,
and a small bump on the top center.
Keffel is also able to photograph the
bottom of the craft, which appears flat
except for a raised ring around the center.
The stunned men continue shooting for a full 60 seconds
before the object speeds out of sight,
cementing its place in UFO history.
According to journalist Eric Grundhauser,
when the reports are published in "O Cruzeiro",
they create a firestorm.
- Issues just flew off the shelves.
It created a UFO craze in Brazil.
People still reference these photos
as some of the most credible evidence
of extraterrestrial visitation.
- [Tony] The photos get the attention
not only of the public, but the Brazilian military,
which launches an immediate investigation.
- The Brazilian Air Force determined
that they were in fact, genuine.
One Brazilian investigator has even called them
the most sensational sequence of photos
of an extra terrestrial ever seen.
- The "O Cruzeiro" photos are so groundbreaking,
they set off decades of Brazilian UFO sightings,
many investigated with zeal by the Brazilian Air Force.
70 years ago, these photos may have been credible enough
to make the Brazilian Air Force take notice,
but can they stand up to modern scrutiny?
Our experts are on the case.
[suspenseful music]
Some have speculated the disc could have been superimposed
on the background using double exposure,
where the same frame of film is exposed
to two separate images without advancing the film roll.
But astrophotographer Andrew McCarthy says
the sharpness of these images kills that theory.
- I'm not seeing any kind of ghosting in this image,
which would be very common from a double exposure.
This is also a very high contrast image,
which also suggests that it's not a double exposure
because the item in the sky would be washed out
by that relatively bright sky.
So I think this was captured with a single photograph.
- [Tony] So could it just be a model saucer
tossed in the air for the photo?
- It's hard to say for sure,
because generally, you'd see a little bit more motion blur
with an object that was thrown
moments before the photo was being taken.
- [Tony] A fast exposure speed
could correct for motion blur, but according to McCarthy,
the deep depth of field in these photos
gives us critical info.
- The focal ratio used for the shot was F2.A.
That actually lets a lot of light in,
so they're able to shorten the exposures,
so they would be able to reduce motion blur significantly.
However, it's actually really hard to get an object
that's in focus both close to your camera
and far away, like the landscape.
So I think what we're looking at
is actually much further away from the observer
than any disc that could have been thrown.
- [Tony] So if it's not double exposure
and it's not a model thrown in the air,
does that mean these photos are legit?
McCarthy would say not so fast in Portuguese,
if he spoke Portuguese.
- You can see the craft appears to be illuminated
from the left and behind the observer.
However, when you look at the trees,
they appear to be illuminated from the right,
so the shadows are actually inconsistent in this image.
- [Tony] Rich Hoffman of the scientific coalition
for Ufology has his own theory on the shadows in the images.
- I don't think the shadow issue that was raised
is a concern.
- [Tony] Hoffman insists the shadows thrown in the tree line
can't be compared to the shadowing
in the clear air above the mountain.
- The things that are up above that tree line
are gonna catch the sun
that are not being exposed by the shadow
from the tree on the left side.
- [Tony] But McCarthy sticks to his guns.
- In the days before Photoshop, film was actually doctored
through a technique called airbrush.
They were essentially drawing directly on the film.
In this case, they could have very easily
drawn on these elements.
That may be what we're looking at here.
[suspenseful music]
- [Tony] Our verdict?
We are going to call it an even split for now.
Hoffman says genuine UFO, McCarthy says hoax,
and we are left uncertain,
especially with the shady status of the lighting.
But even if it is a hoax, if this incident inspired
a whole new field of study in Brazil,
then perhaps some hoaxes do some good after all.
[suspenseful music]
Now, let's head to Texas,
and one of the lone star state's most enduring legends.
The Chupacabra may be relatively young,
having first been reported in 1995,
but sightings have been widely noted
across the southwest ever since.
Could this next story finally prove
the creature's existence?
May 19th, 2011, in San Antonio, Texas,
a sanitation worker is called to pick up a deceased animal
on the side of Highway 181,
and when he arrives, he finds this.
The creature appears to be hairless
and has sharp savage teeth.
Its gray skin and a human-like fist
make this creature unknown to the sanitation worker.
Upon further examination, he discovers three inch claws
and an opposable thumb.
A thumb?
Check out the toes.
The creature shares a similar human type foot.
Field researcher Ken Gerhard
believes that we could be looking at real evidence
of the infamous small vampire-like creature
known as the Chupacabra,
a predatory animal first described
in Puerto Rico in 1995.
- Livestock began to die in a very mysterious way
and were being found drained of their blood.
And shortly thereafter,
there were sightings of a strange creature on the island,
described as being about three to five feet tall,
scaly body, giant eyes, long fangs and claws.
Chupacabra was such a big deal in Puerto Rico
that the government actually became involved
and formed vigilance committees and possies
in an attempt to find and hunt down this strange animal.
- [Tony] Allegedly, this Chupacabra
is similar to a vampire.
It comes in the night and survives on sucking the blood
from livestock and other animals.
- One researcher has speculated
that these Chupacabra animals
are actually feeding on the blood because they crave iron
and perhaps they are mineral deficient.
- [Tony] Gerhard says the Chupacabra
eventually migrated to the American southwest.
At least the legend did.
- The first American Chupacabras were reported in Texas
in the year 2005,
and specifically right here where this thing was found
near the town of Elmendorf in southern San Antonio.
In 2010, in Jack County, Texas,
a woman named Stacia Henderson
was actually bitten by one of these Chupacabra animals
and had to be rushed to the hospital.
Could there be a relationship between this mysterious animal
that we see in this photo and the other Texas Chupacabras?
[suspenseful music]
- As of April 23rd, 2023, six cows have been found mutilated
along the stretch of highway in San Antonio.
The tongue was completely removed from each one,
with no blood spilled.
Could those killings be the work of a Chupacabra?
As police investigate, we turn to our experts.
[suspenseful music]
- [Tony] Anthropologist Kathy Strain discusses
the problematic diet of a potential Chupacabra.
- Historically, the Chupacabra
has been blamed for quite a few cattle
that have been bled to death,
but no blood found in the area,
and no meat was removed from an any of the animals.
Chupacabras are supposedly much larger than a dog
and a little bit smaller than a wolf,
and it would need more nutrition to survive
than just the blood of an animal.
- [Tony] And while Strain isn't a believer
in the Chupacabra legend,
she's still not exactly sure what we're looking at.
- What you're seeing here is very small and has hands,
that rules out a canine-type species.
- The strange thing about this is the paws.
They don't have a typical canine paw,
with padding and then smaller toes,
they appear to have longer
almost kind of finger-like appendages.
There's very few animals that have paws that look like that.
Raccoons that have, quote unquote, hands,
they have more finger-like paws than dogs and cats do.
- [Tony] So potentially, a raccoon.
But then why is it hairless?
- This animal looks really thin.
It's possible that it could have had mange,
which is a type of mite that burrows into the skin
and it can affect its health
and it can become malnourished and lose their fur.
- [Tony] But hang on, wildlife biologist Floyd Hayes
doesn't believe what we are looking at is a raccoon.
- When we look up closely at the paw,
we could see there's four relatively small digits here,
and a fifth opposing digit.
A raccoon has five relatively long and thin digits
that are pointing forward without an opposing digit.
There are not very many species of animals
that have an opposing digit like this one,
but the opossum does.
So I believe this is a Virginia opossum.
The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial mammal
that lives in North America.
It occurs throughout much of the USA
and it's very common in Texas,
and it's also similar in size to a raccoon.
[suspenseful music]
- Our verdict?
Our experts disagree on what the animal is,
but they do agree it's a mammal that died of mange.
If we see more compelling stories
about the notorious Chupacabra, we'll bring them your way.
- [Tony] For at least five generations,
a mysterious landmark has baffled and inspired people
in one East African nation.
Now it's finally been analyzed scientifically,
and researchers have discovered something
that is literally out of this world.
In September, 2019, near the village of El Ali in Somalia,
prospectors searching for opals in a lush valley
stumble upon a completely different
type of valuable stone.
Video of the scene shows a group of locals
examining the unusual rock.
[local man speaking in foreign language]
- [Tony] One man attaches a magnet
to this reddish-brown boulder, and it sticks.
All told, this object is about six and a half feet long,
just over three feet wide, and more than four feet tall.
It weighs in at over 16 and a half tons.
And as the locals demonstrate, when struck by a small rock,
it resonates with metallic tones.
Tests show it's a meteorite,
and experts suspect that like this similar meteorite
encountered by the Inuit people in Greenland,
the boulder in Somalia was useful
for making important tools.
As such, it acquired both a practical and a spiritual value.
Science writer Amy Teitel says this treasured rock
is known as Nightfall by the locals,
since according to legend, it came from the skies
hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago.
- Nightfall became an object of deep significance
for locals in Somalia,
and it's thought to be a link between
the Earth and the heavens.
It kind of brings to mind the mysticism
surrounding the monolith in the early scenes of 2001
"A Space Odyssey," where that monolith had the power
to change human evolution and change the course of events.
- [Tony] But here's the weird thing,
the tests show some of the metal in this rock
doesn't seem natural.
- The meteorite is 90% iron and nickel,
but there are also two new minerals
that scientists have discovered in this meteorite
that we don't see naturally occurring on Earth.
One is called Elaliite, for the town of El Ali.
The other is Elkinstantonite,
named for planetary scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton.
- [Tony] Elaliite and Elkinstantonite
don't exist naturally on earth,
but we've created them artificially in a lab.
That quirky fact has led some to believe
there may be more to this meteorite that meets the eye.
- [Amy] Because the meteorite came from space
and has high metallic content,
some wonder if they see technosignatures
or proof of some alien technology.
- A technosignature is a property
that provides evidence of past or present tech.
The thinking is if this material only exists on Earth
when we create it with our sophisticated methods,
can it only exist elsewhere because, likewise,
other beings are creating it there with their tech?
According to a recent Cornell study,
new minerals found in other meteorites
appear to be promising candidates for superconductors,
meaning they may be of real use
for a technologically advanced alien civilization.
So, could this mystical meteorite
be proof of extraterrestrial life?
Let's see what our experts say.
[suspenseful music]
NASA geologist Dr. Bob Anderson
explains that there may be very good reasons
why we don't see Elaliite and Elkinstantonite
occurring naturally on Earth.
- Both of these are iron phosphorus minerals
that we do not fight on Earth
because of the presence of water.
In the presence of water, these minerals would dissolve
and form into other minerals.
What we have on Earth are not even 1%
of the number of minerals that you could form
under different environmental conditions.
- [Tony] So they may be alien to us here on Earth,
but could minerals like these
be found naturally on other planets?
- From our recent studies of Mars and the moon,
we found several minerals
that are found under different environmental conditions.
We have higher pressure here
than we do on Mars or on the moon,
and so those pressures affect how these atoms form together
what we call a crystal lattice or a crystal cage.
- [Tony] Anderson says these minerals were probably made
not by alien mineralogists, but by a high-speed collision
which turned the solid surface of the meteor molten,
and the minerals then crystallized into a new form
when that molten metal cooled.
And physicist Matthew Szydagis says if it were alien tech,
we'd see proof of sophisticated design and manufacture,
not just raw materials.
- In this particular case,
we see no evidence of a structured craft
or pieces of a structured craft.
We also see no writing or inscriptions.
We are just looking at a rock
that happens to have a couple new minerals
that can be synthesized naturally.
[suspenseful music]
- Our verdict?
This is an exotic rock from our own solar system
that by coincidence, contains special minerals
we artificially developed decades ago.
A potential third new mineral found in the meteorite
is still being analyzed.
No wonder the locals treat Nightfall with such reverence.
- [Tony] We investigate sightings
of legendary monsters all the time,
but very rarely do we get a chance to look at
baby versions of these mysterious creatures.
Well, that's about to change right now.
April 24th, 2022, Itaguare Beach
just outside Sao Paulo, Brazil.
It's a beautiful sunny day,
and beach goer Rafael Maydadruse Baranga
is enjoying a calming stroll along the surf
when suddenly, he encounters this.
A gaggle of baby Nessies.
Take a closer look as Rafael watches a whole group
of what appear to be miniature long-necked dinosaurs
run into the greenery offshore.
- So if the Loch Ness monster actually exists,
it's gotta have babies, right?
The classic image of the lochness monster
is an animal with a very long neck with a small head.
It's easy to understand
why people are calling these things baby Nessies.
- [Tony] Gerhard's investigations have
led him to believe that animals like
this exist all around the world
including right here in South America.
- South America's version of the lochness monster
is known as Nahuelito.
It's said to inhabit Lake Nahuel Huapi
in neighboring Argentina,
and perhaps other lakes throughout South America.
Accounts of Nahuelito were actually logged
by the Indigenous people in the area.
In 1922, the Buenos Aires Zoo
actually launched an expedition
to search for the creature.
And as recently as 1997,
a woman who worked at a lakeside resort
claimed that she saw this giant humped animal
swimming through the water.
- [Tony] Could these be the offspring
of the infamous Nahuelito?
One theory about these lake monsters
being spotted around the world suggests
that they are actually only using these lakes
for breeding purposes.
- There are many species of animals
that are known to travel from the ocean into fresh water.
A very strong answer as to why we have not proven
that these lake monsters exist
is the possibility that these animals
actually live in the Earth's oceans
and only occasionally will travel into fresh water.
- [Tony] Even one of the earliest legends
of the Loch Ness monster
has the creature being driven away up River Ness
and out into the ocean by a Christian missionary in 565 AD.
So perhaps our eyewitness was in the right place
at the right time to see some ocean monster offspring
newly hatched in some freshwater pockets,
but Gerhard suggests another theory.
- There were dinosaurs throughout South America
for millions and millions of years.
Maybe the possibility exists that there could in fact,
be living dinosaurs in South America.
- Thanks to movies like "Jurassic Park",
many people wonder if there aren't already cloned dinosaurs
walking amongst us, but without actual dinosaur DNA
that has stayed intact for more than 65 million years,
that scenario remains out of reach.
Although the recent discovery
of a 70 million year old fossilized embryo
suggests that we may be very close.
Let's see what our experts think about
these potential baby dinos.
[suspenseful music]
Marine biologist Shea Steingass
says the idea of oceanic sea monsters
using lakes to breed their offspring
isn't completely farfetched.
- Imagine living in the ocean
where you can't always see very well,
anything bigger than you, can eat you.
And for that reason, there's a lot of marine species
that start life out as tiny organisms
in the sheltered warmer waters of bays and estuaries.
- [Tony] But as for these little guys
being real life baby Nessies,
Steingass is unconvinced,
especially because Nessie is generally believed
to be a plesiosaur.
- They clearly have limbs
where they're running on the beach.
The plesiosaur had paddle-like appendages or fins
that it used to move through the water.
It didn't actually have feet, and what we see here are feet.
So I can rule out the idea
that this is some sort of plesiosaur.
- [Tony] So what are we really looking at here?
Forensic video analyst Michael Primeau
checks this video for tampering,
and he discovers some interesting clues.
- We had several indications
of some sort of processing used.
There's a graphic of the app
which was potentially used to create this.
We were able to verify that it is possible
to reverse the playback of the video.
The time was inverted,
and thus the video was playing backward.
- [Tony] And when Primeau plays these images in reverse,
which is actually real time, a whole new image unfolds.
- And now it looks more explainable.
It's some sort of smaller animal going in that direction.
And that's the face, the tail, the body, the legs.
What we originally thought were long necks
of baby dinosaur-like creatures
turned out to be the long tail of a raccoon-like creature.
[suspenseful music]
- Well, after Michael Primeau nailed it,
it seems so obvious.
Our verdict? Editing trick.
This is just a video played in reverse
of the raccoon-like creatures known as the Coati.
They can be found all over South America, Mexico,
and even parts of the United States.
But we're still hoping
some of our favorite monsters have babies,
and we get to show you the pictures.
- [Tony] In 2023, the tragic loss of a submersible
carrying tourists to the Titanic was a stark reminder
that the famous tragedy continues to fascinate us.
The disaster has always been surrounded by controversy
about what really happened and why,
including one theory that the Titanic never sank at all.
Balderdash, you say?
Well, take a look at this.
It's 1998 in England,
an amateur sleuth is reexamining a photo
of the maiden voyage of the largest ship of its time,
the Titanic, but is the ill-fated vessel in this image
really the actual Titanic?
This photo of the famous ship
leaving England in April, 1912,
shows what appears to be 16 portholes at the front,
and windows that are thin and unevenly spaced.
But check out this other photo.
It's from the previous year when the Titanic was being built
in Belfast, Northern Ireland,
before the smoke stacks were installed.
Here, there are only 14 portholes
at the fore of the boat.
And when the ship is first launched
from land to sea in 1911,
in preparation for being fitted out
for its subsequent maiden voyage,
there are large evenly spaced windows
on the deck level above.
It is easy to notice the differences
when we stack the two images one on top of the other.
You can clearly see the 16 portholes
and the thin, uneven windows
in the 1912 photo of the maiden voyage.
But in the earlier launch photo from 1911,
there are only 14 portholes and larger windows
that don't line up with the ones in the image above.
Journalist Eric Grundhauser says
this leads some to believe
that before Titanic's ill-fated voyage, the ship was swapped
with one of its mirror image sister ships,
the Olympic, which had 16 bow portholes.
- [Eric] The Olympic was on one of its early voyages
when it got into a wreck and was severely damaged.
The White Star Line and its owners
supposedly came up with the scheme
that they would switch the Olympic with the Titanic,
and sink the ship
so that they could collect the insurance money.
- [Tony] As supporting evidence,
conspiracy theorists point to the fact
the Titanic was originally insured for $5 million,
but shortly before its launch, White Star Lines allegedly
upped the insurance on her by millions.
So the theory goes
that White Star intentionally sank the damaged Olympic,
pocketed the insurance payout,
and kept the original pristine Titanic
secretly sailing under the name Olympic.
- They would collect the insurance money,
pulling off the greatest switcheroo in modern history.
- [Tony] Now, redressing the Olympic
to appear as the Titanic
would've been a highly detailed plot to pull off.
But believers say, not impossible.
- The flooring in the Olympic was a tile floor,
and according to the theory, it was carpeted over
when it was switched over to the Titanic.
Anything that would've borne the name Olympic
was switched out with something that bore the name Titanic.
Menus, ship's bell, the name plate.
- [Tony] Beyond the porthole issue,
conspiracy theorists point to other coincidences
they find suspicious,
like the last minute actions of White Star Line owner
and business tycoon, JP Morgan.
- JP Morgan canceled his place on the Titanic
shortly before the voyage.
The reason he gave was that he was in ill health.
However, just days later,
he was spotted in France in seemingly perfectly good health.
In addition, just hours before
the Titanic sailed from Southampton,
JB Morgan had seven valuable bronze statues
removed from the ship,
seemingly in the knowledge that it was going to sink.
- People who believed there was a switcheroo
also note that unlike the Olympic before it,
the Titanic was not actually open to press
or for public inspection prior to its maiden voyage.
And we know how that ended.
This adds to the idea that White Star had something to hide,
or possibly that it needed more time to complete the switch.
Let's see if our experts can bring this ship to shore.
[suspenseful music]
First, archeologist Dr. Ed Barnhart
explains the Titanic's last minute insurance changes.
- They have one level of insurance for a ship at dock,
and they increased the insurance
when all of the cargo and passengers are on.
If the company's motivation
was to collect this insurance money,
their reputation would've been hurt more
by their newest, fanciest ship on its maiden voyage
touted to be unsinkable, sinking.
- [Tony] So if this wasn't an insurance scam,
then why is there a discrepancy in the number of portholes?
14 in the photo of the construction,
and 16 in the later one from the maiden voyage.
Science writer Mick West chalks it up to a misunderstanding.
- Research has shown that an additional two portholes
were also added to the Titanic,
because the crew mess hall in the front of the boat
was too dark
- [Tony] And what about the fact that the 1911 launch photo
shows large evenly-spaced windows,
while the ones on the 1912 maiden voyage
are thin and unevenly spaced?
West explains that the Titanic's windows
were reconfigured from its original design
while it was being fitted out.
- The Titanic has these tiny windows
because the promenade wasn't really being used
and they converted that to first class cabins,
which was a considerable undertaking.
- [Tony] And Barnhart doubts
that all of the Olympic branding could have been replaced.
- The names of the ships weren't just painted on the side,
they were actually indented into the metal
an inch and a half deep.
They would have to dock them
and severely change the entire plating.
- [Tony] Finally, West says
there is documented visual proof there was no switcheroo,
which exists to this very day.
- An investigation by the Board of Trade
shows that all the wreckage at the bottom of the Atlantic
matches exactly the specifications of the Titanic.
[suspenseful music]
- Our verdict?
This is an unfounded conspiracy theory.
Plus, think about it, folks,
whose job was it to crash the ship into an iceberg?
The captain who went down with the ship? I don't think so.
We're happy to sink this rumor once and for all.
- [Tony] There have been both myths and documented cases
of civilizations living underground.
Have we just found proof of another one?
Let's travel to a mysterious spot
at the edge of the Earth to find out.
It's August, 2020, in Russia's Yamal Peninsula.
A TV crew is flying over the remote permafrost
of the Siberian Arctic,
when suddenly, the scene goes from beautiful to bizarre.
Emerging from the tundra is a large opening in the earth.
Back down on the ground, a research scientist
captures the giant maw of the 65 foot diameter pit
from right on the edge of the precipice.
[camera snaps] As he walks along the brink,
he snaps photos of the packed dirt
that rings the circumference, [camera snaps]
and the sheer gray rock
that stretches down to an unseen depth.
Author Jason Martell says this is just one
of more than a dozen similar chasms
found recently in the region.
- We have to wonder
what is the cause of these massive holes?
They don't seem natural. They seem out of place.
- [Tony] Martell says, some suspect these pits
could be the mouths of tunnels
leading to an ancient underground civilization.
- Ancient humans first started taking shelter in caves
as much as 1.8 million years ago.
But it wasn't until the late 1600s
that a scientist named Edmond Halley
proposed that a larger open space existed within the planet,
possibly inhabited by humans or other creatures.
- [Tony] One offshoot of Halley's Hollow Earth Theory
suggests that advanced prehistoric people
made a honeycomb of caves in the earth
from which their descendants still terrorized
those living up on the surface.
This is what's known as troglodyte architecture.
A troglodyte is a person who lives in a cave,
and Martell says there's another storied example
out of California.
- Hopi legends speak of an advanced race of lizard people,
not reptilians, but worshipers of lizards,
who built a great city under what is now Los Angeles.
They did this to shield themselves
from some type of cataclysmic fires.
- [Tony] In 1933, mining engineer George Warren Shufelt
went on a hunt for this catacomb city,
but soon ran out of funding.
But apart from the troglodyte civilization theory,
Martell says these holes
could have an even scarier modern explanation.
- During the Cold War,
the Soviets engaged in several secret,
yet somewhat reckless nuclear tests in the region.
Would we really be surprised if this crater
is the result of recent or even prior
Russian nuclear detonation tests?
- This isn't the only strange hole on Russian soil.
In the 1970s, the Soviets drilled
the Kola Superdeep Borehole,
now the deepest manmade hole on earth,
reaching down almost eight miles.
They claimed the project was purely for research,
but could these mysterious tundra holes be connected?
Let's see what our experts can unearth.
[suspenseful music]
Theoretical physicist Dr. Michio Kaku
analyzes if this could be the result of a nuclear blast.
- The crater created by nuclear detonation
does not look like this at all.
Plus, the killer application here
is a geiger counter that looks for signs of radiation.
If it was a nuclear blast,
you'll find evidence of radioactive strontium, iodine,
cesium, scattered throughout the area,
and we find nothing.
No alpha beta gamma radiation.
It is a perfectly non-radioactive area.
- [Tony] So could this be an example
of troglodyte architecture?
- There is evidence that ancient civilizations
did move underground during times of extreme weather,
during times when ice was appearing on the planet.
Unfortunately, we don't find anything in there
from an archeological point of view
that indicates that this was manmade.
You don't find any staircases,
you don't find anything that indicate
that this would be an entrance
into an underground civilization.
- [Tony] So if this hole wasn't made by humans,
then could it be the result of a natural disaster,
like a meteorite strike?
- When a meteorite hits,
it has a tendency to take the material that's in the center
and flip it over onto the edges.
And when you look at these,
we don't find that reversal of stratigraphy at all.
You're just seeing a combination of materials here,
which leads one to believe
that this is what's called an endogenic explosion
that came from the inside,
causing the material to explode outwards.
- [Tony] And Kaku thinks he knows
just what caused that outwards explosion.
- This is tundra.
Tundra has vegetation that froze thousands of years ago.
And as we have global warming
and as the tundra begins to thaw out,
this vegetation releases organic gases like methane gas.
These methane gas will often columnate, rise to the surface,
and create a dome.
These domes, in fact, are unstable,
and eventually the dome collapses.
Methane is potentially explosive
and it has enough energy to create a hole of this nature.
[suspenseful music]
- Our verdict?
This is likely what's known as a gas emission crater
caused by methane that built up underground
and was then released by climate change.
The explosions are described as going off
like a huge bottle of champagne,
throwing debris hundreds of feet,
and setting off gas fires that burn for over an hour.
- [Tony] And finally, tonight,
we all remember the story of Dr. Dolittle.
This fictional animal doctor used to speak
with his furry and feathered patients
in their own languages.
And from the look of this next video, a man in India
might have that talent for real.
It's February, 2023, in Bhopal, India.
A group of men are gathered
at the center of a dirt intersection
when one of them starts to conjure up an unusual crowd.
[man cawing]
- [Tony] We hear the man suddenly
let out what appears to be a bird call.
- [Tony] Initially, only a couple of birds appear,
but then, after a second of stillness,
a whole sweeping flock of crows, known as a murder,
fills the previously empty sky,
like an outtake from Hitchcock.
Is this man a pied piper who can summon crows
by speaking their language?
According to field researcher Cliff Barackman,
it might not be as far fetched as you think.
- In 2013, MIT published a paper
that suggests that the origins of human language
have something to do with imitating bird songs.
Songbirds mostly communicate through an expression layer,
the order of words
and how you can rearrange those create meanings,
and the lexical layer is the meaning themselves.
So if humans in the early stages of our development
started imitating bird noises to do the expression layer,
well, we already had the lexical layer
because we're primates.
- [Tony] Researchers at Duke University
found that humans and birds
even share an identical set of genes
that are activated when birds learn to sing
and humans learn to talk.
Corvids, which include crows, jays, and magpies,
are among the most intelligent creatures
in the animal kingdom.
They can use tools and actively evaluate
how to solve problems by thinking them over.
Our experts examine if we have more in common
with our feathered friends than we thought.
[suspenseful music]
First, wildlife biologist Stephanie Manka
considers if the man in the clip
could truly be a crow whisperer.
- I don't think this man is speaking the language of crows.
Language is more complex.
There are communications that animals use with each other,
but it's incorrect to call it language.
- [Tony] Most agree that language can be defined
as a system of communication
consisting of sounds, words, and grammar.
But Manka says animal communications
are classified as call systems,
which are patterned forms of communication
that express meaning.
- It's possible that he knows some sort of crow call
that indicates something,
danger, get out of that area, or there's food in this area,
when they're calling to each other.
- [Tony] Manka says these crows
may recognize this guy specifically,
since they can remember individual humans
and what they do.
In fact, someone recently shared a story on Reddit
of how in early 2023,
a family of crows got so mad at him for moving
that the birds' 200 strong flock
flew to the dealership where he worked
and covered all the brand new cars in poop.
- In 2011, there was a study in Washington State
to see if crows could recognize faces.
Researchers thought that when they initially captured crows
for research, that crow wouldn't be hostile.
Some researchers have gone as far as to wear
ridiculous masks so the crows wouldn't recognize them.
- [Tony] On the flip side,
they can also recognize friendliness.
Could that be what we're seeing here?
- They are not acting with hostility towards this man.
It also doesn't seem like
they are trying to get him out of their area.
So in this case, it just seems like they're flying overhead,
searching for food.
- [Tony] Dr. Ed Hope wonders if Manka may be onto something.
- One of the possibilities is
that there's some Pavlovian conditioning going on here.
So maybe they've been fed in this area before,
or maybe they've heard a call like this before
and then been fed afterwards.
- [Tony] Hope says the location of this video
may provide an essential clue.
- This is taking place within India
where the feeding of crows is a very common thing to do.
During swada, the offering of food or penda
is also still in vogue.
There's a huge local population of crows
that know they'll be getting food.
- [Tony] But after reviewing the video again,
Dr. Hope isn't sure that explains everything.
- I think the explanation here
is that he is mimicking the call so well,
and once a few are interested,
get this big flock trying to figure out what's going on.
[suspenseful music]
- Our verdict?
This is another kind of UAP,
an unexplained avian phenomenon.
Dr. Hope thinks the crows are curious at the man's mimicry,
and Stephanie Manka thinks he may be offering them food,
but the locals clearly believe
this man has some kind of special
connection to these birds.
Since we can't speak to the crows,
it's impossible to say for sure
how or why they felt summoned.
And that's our show for tonight.
Thank you so much for watching.
And remember, keep those cameras rolling.
[suspenseful music]