On this episode of "Expedition Files."
[intriguing music plays]
[Josh] In 1934, legendary inventor Nikola Tesla claims
he's built a ray gun capable of obliterating
anything in its path.
[power voltage buzz]
[Josh] But the super weapon is never discovered.
Nearly a century later, newly declassified documents
finally reveal the truth
behind Tesla's most mysterious invention --
the death ray.
Then, in 1676, a Sicilian nun says she's overtaken
by a mysterious force,
writing 14 lines of cryptic symbols
that no one can understand.
The church believes it's the work
of the Devil himself.
Today, cutting-edge technology decodes the sinister message.
And in ancient Greece,
people would visit the Oracle of Delphi --
a priestess who claimed to communicate with the gods
and reveal the future.
Now, scientists believe they've uncovered
a startlingly real explanation for her otherworldly powers.
[mysterious music plays]
In the corridors of time
are mysteries that defy explanation.
Now, I'm traveling through history itself
on a search for the truth.
New evidence.
Shocking answers.
I'm Josh Gates.
And these...
are my "Expedition files."
People often ask me if I believe in the supernatural.
I always say I'm a born skeptic with a very open mind.
And after the many, many things I've seen on my adventures,
I've learned that the so-called impossible
can be all too possible.
So tonight, check your skepticism out the door
as we explore three shocking stories of the supernatural.
Searching beneath the sensationalism
to discover what actually lives up to the billing
of strange but true.
So, let's begin
on January 9th, 1943, in Manhattan.
The city is covered by winter clouds,
but inside the Hotel New Yorker,
it's more a blanket of secrecy.
Two days earlier, the famed inventor
Nikola Tesla
died in this very suite,
and these guys aren't here to make up the room.
They're government agents on a mission to secure
Tesla's belongings,
because the safety of America may depend on it.
Somewhere in this room, there's supposed to be
a hidden super weapon,
or at least the plans for it.
A death ray so strong it can obliterate anything in its path.
But does it actually exist?
The question of whether Tesla succeeded in creating
this deadly device will be fiercely debated for 80 years.
That is, until declassified documents
emit a burning beam of truth.
♪♪
[Josh] These days, when you hear the name "Tesla,"
you probably think of an electric car
with annoying door handles.
[sliding effect]
But our story begins 152 years earlier
with the man the car is named after.
[voltage buzzing]
[thunder roars]
[Josh] Born during a lightning storm in 1856
in what is now Croatia,
Nikola Tesla is a prodigy in mathematics and physics,
obsessed with creating electric motors.
-[ticking] -[soft music plays]
[Josh] After pioneering success in Europe,
in 1884, Tesla moves to the U.S.
to work for America's greatest inventor --
Thomas Edison.
♪♪
Edison is already famed for creating the light bulb
and the first sound recorder.
To power his inventions,
he uses direct current, or DC.
A one way flow of electricity
that works well over short distances.
But DC has a major limitation --
it can't travel far without losing power.
Tesla sees that flaw and turns to alternating current, or AC,
which can be transmitted at high voltage
over long distances,
and then reduced to safe levels for everyday use,
making it far more efficient.
With his characteristic monomaniacal focus,
Tesla quits working for Edison after just a year
and goes out on his own to make AC work.
And in 1888, he succeeds.
[inspiring music plays]
Tesla invents an induction motor that runs on AC
to operate machines, tools,
even entire factories.
In 1893, Tesla becomes a household name
as his AC generator system
lights up the Chicago World's Fair,
dazzling millions.
The so-called war of the currents
between DC and AC is officially over.
Edison may have invented the light bulb,
but Tesla invented something much, much bigger --
the entire electrical grid used to power it.
In other words,
you couldn't be watching me on that screen right now
without Nikola Tesla.
[Tesla] Behold.
[Josh] And Tesla's inventions don't stop with the AC generators.
[buzzing]
In 1891, he invents the Tesla coil,
proving electricity can transmit wirelessly through the air,
laying the groundwork for things like radio,
radar, and wireless charging.
He also helps birth X-ray technology
and fluorescent lighting.
But for all his brilliance in the lab,
Tesla proves to be a poor businessman.
Just like his beloved AC current,
his fortunes swing wildly.
At times, he has millions.
At others, he's nearly penniless.
He gives away valuable patents,
picks public fights with rivals,
and chases ideas so ambitious they scare off investors.
And no idea is more bold or scary
than an invention he calls Teleforce.
In 1934, at 78 years old,
Tesla announces he's devised a particle beam weapon
that could destroy tanks, ships,
even aircraft from hundreds of miles away.
It soon earns a more sensational nickname in the press --
the Death Ray.
This new weapon, Tesla claims,
could slice through metal like a hot knife through butter.
He also believes it could act as an invisible shield,
protecting a country with a wall of energy so powerful
that war itself would become pointless.
Tesla insists he's even tested the revolutionary weapon,
but never shares any details of those experiments.
[voltage buzzing]
Still, he pitches the idea to multiple governments,
U.S., the U.K., and the USSR,
despite never publicly demonstrating it.
Most potential buyers turn him down,
and by 1935, Tesla is in debt
and unable to pay his bills.
[military chanting]
[Josh] Then, a company connected to the Soviet government
pays him $25,000 for plans and blueprints.
But a working prototype is not part of the deal.
[bomb explosions]
[Josh] Before the deal can be completely sealed,
World War II ignites.
But Tesla's supposed super weapon does not
enter the battlefield.
Flash forward to January 7th, 1943.
Tesla is living in a room at the Hotel New Yorker
and heads off to bed.
But he'll never wake up.
He passes away in his sleep from a blood clot.
By now, Tesla was broke and has no fortune to leave behind.
But almost immediately,
rumors begin to circulate about a locked wooden trunk
amidst his personal effects.
Hotel staff claim Tesla told them
that the box contains the fabled Teleforce prototype.
Suddenly, there's a rush to lock down everything
belonging to Tesla.
The U.S. government is at war and realizes the risk of
a potential super weapon falling into enemy hands.
They dispatch the FBI to Tesla's hotel room
to secure the scene.
The feds lock down his papers and possessions,
but they will have to fight to keep them.
Tesla's nephew, a Yugoslavian diplomat
named Sava Kosanovic, enters the picture.
He argues that Tesla's possessions
are the rightful property
of his family and his homeland, Yugoslavia.
After eight years of back and forth,
in 1952, Tesla's nephew finally gets permission
to ship his uncle's estate to Europe.
The 60 cases and their contents,
as well as Tesla's personal papers,
are now under lock and key
in the Nikola Tesla Archives in Belgrade, Serbia.
But do those papers contain any proof of Tesla's death ray?
Was he really able to construct a prototype?
And if so, what happened to it?
For over 60 years they're silenced,
until, in 2016,
a remarkable breakthrough changes everything.
What follows unfolds
like a real-life Cold War spy thriller.
Famed inventor, Nikola Tesla, died in 1943,
but before he did, he claimed to have created
a death ray called, the Teleforce.
For decades, any proof of Tesla's super weapon
remained elusive.
Then, in 2016, a Freedom of Information Act request
forces the release of classified U.S. government documents
about Tesla.
Historian, Stephen Kotowych, studied the files
and their shocking revelations.
[mysterious music plays]
The 2016 release of the classified files was
a game changer for Tesla research.
We finally, for the first time, understood all of
the behind the scenes scramble
to get to hold of Tesla's materials after his death.
One of the things we learned is that in January of 1943,
the National Defense Research Committee tasks Dr. John Trump
with sorting through Tesla's belongings
in search for any weapons technology
that might be useful for the Allied war effort.
You heard right, Trump.
Dr. John G. Trump was the future U.S. president's uncle.
At the time, Dr. Trump was a professor at MIT,
an expert in electrical engineering.
Trump reviewed Tesla's notes
and concluded there was, quote.
"Nothing of significant value."
No new sound, workable principles or methods.
But Stephen Kotowych suspects
this statement was a smokescreen.
[Stephen] If there was nothing in these files,
then why would the United States fight so hard
to keep hold of them?
The United States government goes on for nearly a decade
to fight the release of Tesla's belongings to his next of kin
and to the museum in Belgrade.
One of the big revelations was the issue of many crates were
in Tesla's possession
and how many of those crates made their way to Belgrade.
[Josh] According to the FBI,
Tesla reported that he had 80 cases
containing transcripts and plans concerning his experiments.
But only 60 cases arrived in Europe in 1952,
and it gets stranger.
The question becomes,
what happened to that missing 20 cases?
The most logical explanation is that 80 cases that were
half-full were condensed down into 60 cases
that were completely full, just to make it easier to ship.
But people have fixated on these missing 20 cases.
Does the U.S. government still have hold of them,
and for what reason?
There could be anything in them, which is why
I think speculation about them has been so tantalizing
for researchers.
[Josh] And what about that particular trunk,
rumored by Tesla himself to contain his death ray?
Thanks to these newly released documents, we have an answer.
-[Dr. Trump] Is that the case? -[employee] Yeah.
The staff of the Hotel New Yorker
take Dr. Trump down to the basement.
They point out the crate that Tesla has left there.
When he left the crate, Tesla said,
"No one is to disturb this."
[employee] That one right there.
[Stephen] "The contents are very dangerous.
"If anyone unauthorized tries to open it, it will explode.
It could destroy the hotel."
Dr. Trump says, "All right, I will open this crate.
Everybody can step back."
Dr. Trump opens the crate,
and it's a big letdown.
[employee] What is it?
[Stephen] The only thing in it is an old piece of lab equipment,
a resistance box,
and there's certainly no prototype
for the Teleforce device.
[Josh] Historians now suspect Tesla exaggerated the value
of the box, making it sound far more important than it was,
so he could use it as collateral with hotel staff,
as he was more than $400 behind on rent at the time.
In other words, a ruse concocted by Tesla
to help pay off his debts.
So although we can seemingly rule out the existence of
a death ray prototype,
evidence from elsewhere in the declassified FBI files
suggests there may still be much more to this story
than the U.S. government declared.
Because even if a working prototype was never built,
the idea itself was real.
Tesla designed a system that would fire a concentrated
stream of charged particles,
essentially a beam of energy,
that could potentially disable aircraft
and act as a defensive shield.
Newly declassified FBI files show
that back in 1945,
the U.S. government was working to find out
what Tesla's Teleforce could actually do.
The U.S. government launched Project Nick
at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
This was a top secret project that was designed to investigate
how Tesla's Teleforce could be used as a defensive measure
to protect the United States against nuclear attack
by the Soviet Union.
[Josh] Among those involved was Bloyce Fitzgerald,
a young electrical engineer who had known Tesla
and corresponded with him during his life.
A strong believer in Tesla's Teleforce,
Fitzgerald worked with the government
to analyze Tesla's notes and help determine
whether a practical version
of the particle beam weapon could be built.
While there's no evidence a working system was ever created,
the ideas themselves continued to shape future research.
[Stephen] Tesla's ideas have really laid the foundation for a lot of
modern research into directed energy weapons.
In 1983, President Ronald Reagan announced
the Strategic Defense Initiative,
which was nicknamed "Star Wars."
Proceeding boldly with these new technologies,
we can significantly reduce any incentive
that the Soviet Union may have
to threaten attack against the United States or its allies.
It was the idea of using ground- based and space-based lasers
and particle beam weapons to help defend against
the potential for nuclear attack
by intercontinental ballistic missiles
and enemy satellites in space.
It was similar to the idea that Tesla had had
50 or 60 years earlier.
Where he envisioned Teleforce using directed energy
as a defensive mechanism to protect a country.
And that's very much what Tesla had in mind
with his Teleforce weapon.
Despite the government's claims there was nothing of value
in Tesla's files,
Stephen Kotowych thinks the declassified documents
could suggest there were powerful scientific insights,
insights used to shape America's own top secret
energy weapons development.
As for that "Star Wars" program,
it didn't pan out because it was limited by cost
and the technology available in the 1980s.
Like much of Tesla's work,
it seems a particle super weapon remained ahead of its time.
And as a fan of the movie "Star Wars,"
and the planet Alderaan,
let's hope it stays that way.
[church bells]
[Josh] It's August 11th, 1676.
I'm in the Benedictine convent
of Palma di Montechiaro in Sicily.
This young nun, Sister Maria,
is performing her evening prayers.
But things are about to get seriously unholy.
-[gagging] -[neck cracking]
Maria senses powerful, evil energy engulfing her,
and then begins to write as if under its control,
scrawling out 14 cryptic lines in a strange language
that she can't understand.
She believes this letter is dictated by Satan himself.
For the next three centuries,
no one will be able to crack the code
of this strange document.
That is, until groundbreaking technology claims to solve
the diabolical riddle of the Devil's Letter.
-[church bells] -[ominous music plays]
[women screaming]
[eerie whispers]
[Josh] After hearing screams of distress,
the mother Abbess, the leader of the convent,
finds 31-year-old Sister Maria writhing on her chamber floor
in the midst of what looks like a seizure.
[screams]
Her face is smeared with ink.
And her hand clutches the sheet of paper scrawled
with strange writing.
-[liturgical music plays] -[gasps]
[Mother Abbess] Oh, my goodness! Oh, Sister!
[Josh] When she comes out of her trance,
Sister Maria claims she was forced to write the message,
that it was dictated to her by the fallen angel, Lucifer,
also known as Satan.
[ominous music plays]
[Josh] In the aftermath of
Sister Maria's harrowing experience,
church officials closely inspect the letter.
Yeah, the Sister was found...
[Josh] It's a 14-line jumble
of enigmatic symbols and characters.
Some appear to be archaic script.
[Mother Abbess] ...speaking in tongues.
[Josh] Some, almost, otherworldly.
And despite all their efforts to understand it,
the clergy are confounded.
Sister Maria swears she doesn't know how to decipher it either.
Church authorities believe the incident is a sinister
attempt by Satan to corrupt Sister Maria, and pull her
and others away from God.
If so, why did the Devil choose Sister Maria as his pawn?
Well, curiously, this wasn't the first time
she experienced disturbing visions.
Born Isabella Tomasi in 1645 to Sicilian nobility,
she enters the convent at age 15,
taking the name Sister Maria Crocifissa Della Concezione.
While immersing herself in daily prayer,
she's also a keen student,
learning Latin, Greek, Arabic,
and even ancient Germanic runic script.
Around 1672, Sister Maria claims to experience
a potent vision of the Madonna Adolorata,
the Mother of Sorrows.
[speaking Italian]
[Josh] A depiction of Mary, mother of Jesus,
grieving at his death,
often shown with seven swords
piercing her heart to symbolize her deep suffering.
The Mother of Sorrows informs Maria that she too will suffer
and that hardships, both physical and spiritual,
will define her existence.
Never a pleasant thing to hear,
especially for a pious 17th-century nun.
So Sister Maria begins to prepare for the worst.
In the years before the Devil's Letter,
she isolates herself from the rest of the convent
more and more.
Engaging in self-punishment
to prove her devotion to God.
But her extreme piety doesn't seem to bring peace.
Rather, she claims to be hounded
by evil spirits bent on corrupting her soul.
[indistinct prayers]
[screams]
[Josh] Then, on that fateful afternoon of August 11th, 1676,
it all builds to a terrifying crescendo.
No... Go away!
Leave me!
[gasps]
[grunts]
[Josh] It's a scene straight out of a horror film.
[tense music plays]
[Josh] The only thing she claims to remember is Lucifer.
[church bell]
Threatening her with eternal damnation
if she didn't sign the letter by name.
Maria did sign the letter, in a way.
It's the only decipherable word on the page.
Ohimè,
an Italian word meaning "alas,"
expressing regret and sorrow.
Some read it as a sign of submission
to the Devil's power.
Others, including the Mother Abbess, say that by refusing
to sign with her own name,
it was an act of desperate defiance against Satan.
Even after her horrifying experience,
Sister Maria's faith did not falter.
It is said that she spends the rest of her life
at the convent, devoutly worshiping God
and resisting Satan to the very end.
On October 16th, 1699,
just before passing away at the age of 54,
she reportedly whispers --
Santo! Santo! Santo...
Italian for "Holy, holy, holy."
In the centuries that follow,
Sister Maria's Devil's Letter is studied by generations
of priests and historians in the hopes someone might be able
to decipher it.
None succeed.
The contents of Sister Maria's letter appeared destined
to remain a mystery forever.
But even Satan is no match for technology.
In 2017, researchers made a breakthrough,
finally unlocking the Devil's Letter
using secret spy software.
In 1676, a cryptic letter allegedly dictated
by Satan himself to Italian nun,
becomes an incomprehensible mystery.
For 300 years,
scholars tried and failed to decode the message.
But, finally, in 2017,
experts from Sicily's Ludum Science Center decided to run
the writings through state-of-the-art
decryption software.
And to their great shock, a message began to emerge.
The Ludum Science Center is headed up by Daniele Abete.
And they were able to access the original document
that had been written by Sister Maria
some 341 years earlier.
And they applied new software that they were using,
originally developed by intelligence agencies,
to help them break codes.
As the software worked to solve the mystery of this letter,
the researchers were stunned.
There was a hidden message embedded in the Devil's Letter.
[Josh] Once translated, the letter revealed
a series of ominous statements,
including, "God thinks he can free mortals,"
"the system works for no one,"
and, "The Holy Trinity are dead weights."
This is especially blasphemous coming from the pen
of Sister Maria, a devoted servant of God.
It is a stunning discovery,
and it's one that may have you asking,
is this the real deal?
Did someone or something actually channel a message
through Sister Maria?
Well, the answer lies in how the researchers
decoded the letter.
[Roy] The team at Ludum recognized that there were certain
repeating symbols,
which they supposed might be vowels.
In addition, some of the characters appeared to be
drawn from languages that would've been known
to Sister Maria.
Italian, Arabic, Latin, Greek,
even Germanic runic characters.
Taking this information,
they then, primed the software to try to decipher the text.
The researchers discovered the software was able to reveal
a message that had been embedded in this mishmash
of characters and symbols.
[Josh] The experts had revealed something shocking.
Even though Sister Maria was likely unable to translate
what she'd written,
all of the characters were from languages
she already knew.
In other words, the creator of the secret code
in The Devil's Letter is none other than Sister Maria herself.
But how did she do it?
[Roy] Today, most people would understand that
what Sister Maria was experiencing was probably
some kind of undiagnosed mental illness --
schizophrenia or severe depression.
For Sister Maria,
this type of experience would've been understood
within their own religious worldview
as a demonic attack.
Remember, folks like Sister Maria
in these convents are in a crucible of wrestling
with deep existential questions around the meaning of life,
the presence of evil,
the question of God.
Combine that with very intense spiritual practices,
extended fasting, deep periods of prayer,
meditation, isolation,
and you have the perfect conditions,
which we know can affect people's perception of
the world and generate visions.
These extreme destabilizing conditions might be exactly
what we're seeing in the Devil's message.
For 350 years,
the Devil's message was mostly dismissed
as a jumble of chaos.
But now, instead, we have a portrait
of a deeply devout, complicated woman --
Sister Maria.
By blending the languages she studied at the convent,
Sister Maria did something equal parts impressive and terrifying.
She unconsciously created a code so devilish
that it was credited to Satan himself.
Now, three centuries later,
we can breathe a sigh of relief
as this unholy mystery has finally been solved.
Amen to that.
[ominous music plays]
I'm inside the most sacred site in all of ancient Greece,
the Temple of Apollo in the city of Delphi.
And behind me is a woman who shapes the fate of empires.
She's one of a long line of priests known as Pythia,
who's said to communicate directly with the gods,
and through them, can see the future.
To learn their fates,
kings and commoners alike bring gifts,
gold and treasure,
hoping the gods will be kind to them.
Then, as Pythia enters a powerful trance,
she shares her divine message.
These strange powers will become the stuff of legend,
but nearly 2,000 years from now,
modern science will finally reveal the stunning truth
behind the so-called, Oracle of Delphi.
Perched high in the mountains of central Greece,
the ruins of Delphi hint
at its once extraordinary importance.
According to myth, Zeus released two eagles
from opposite ends of the Earth.
And where they met marked the center of the world --
Delphi.
In the 7th century BC,
the people of Delphi establish a formal sanctuary here,
building a temple dedicated to Apollo,
the son of Zeus,
and transforming the site into one of the most important
religious centers in the ancient world.
[wind blowing]
Apollo is one of the most revered Olympians.
[mellow playing]
He is the god of music, poetry, archery,
and above all, prophecy.
To share that divine knowledge,
he speaks through a mortal woman
chosen to serve as his voice,
delivering prophecies to those who journey to Delphi
in search of answers about the future.
She is known as the Pythia,
the Oracle of Delphi.
Not a single individual,
but a sacred role that passes on over generations,
with one woman succeeding another.
[Pythia] Apollo, come to me!
[Josh] Candidates are selected by the temple priests,
usually from local women of good reputation.
Many are older and removed from family obligations.
Once selected, the Pythia leaves her ordinary life behind
and enters the service of the temple,
taking on a role that is both an honor
and a lifelong obligation with little choice to step away.
Her prophecies, often spoken in riddles,
are used to determine everything --
from where a farmer plants his crop
to when an empire declares war.
On every day of prophecy, it's recorded that
the Oracle of Delphi ritualistically prepares herself
with water from sacred springs.
Then, inside the temple's inner sanctum,
she sits on the sacred tripod and chews laurel leaves
plucked from Apollo's sacred tree.
Soon after, she enters an ecstatic,
euphoric state.
Some ancient accounts describe her trembling
or speaking wildly.
[indistinct mumbling]
[Josh] Others suggest a calmer trance...
[Pythia] Apollo come to me!
[Josh] ...with her voice changing
as Apollo speaks through her.
[speaking ancient Greek]
[Josh] For each prophetic ceremony,
a priest is at her side,
translating and recording the messages.
People travel for weeks and spend their life savings
for the chance to reach Delphi
and receive their own message.
The ancient Greeks believed that the Oracle of Delphi is
speaking directly on behalf of a god.
But skeptics have long questioned
whether those messages were truly divine
and really foretold the future.
I have a prophecy of my own,
that the truth behind the Oracle is about to be revealed.
For centuries, thousands journeyed to visit
ancient Greece's Oracle of Delphi,
seeking a glimpse of the future bestowed by the gods.
How her messages are interpreted
can lead to great triumph or terrible disaster.
[Pythia speaking in trance]
[Josh] Just ask King Croesus of Lydia,
who consults with the Oracle before going to war with Persia.
Her vision, transcribed and declared by her priest, reads,
"If you cross the Halys River,
you will destroy a great empire."
The king believes this is a message of victory,
but, important disclaimer,
prophecies can be deceiving.
Confident in the oracle's words,
Croesus crosses the Halys River
and launches his invasion of Persia.
And sure enough,
the oracle's prophecy comes true.
A great empire is destroyed.
Just not Persia,
but rather, the army of Croesus.
[unsettling music plays]
Years later, when the Persian Empire
threatens Greece again,
this time targeting Athens,
the Athenians once more turn to the oracle for guidance.
Though all else will be taken,
Zeus grants that the wooden wall alone shall not fall.
[Josh] She seems to suggest that while everything else will fall,
something made of wood will be what saves them.
Some believe the message refers to a literal wooden barrier,
a wall that could protect the city.
But Greek general Themistocles believes it means wooden ships,
a reference to the Greek navy,
rather than the old wood fortifications of the Acropolis.
He leads Athens to a fight at sea and wins a decisive victory,
saving Greece from destruction.
Once again, the oracle's words appear to shape the course
of history, but that raises a deeper question.
What is the secret of the oracle's power?
How does she enter her strange trance-like state?
Well, there have long been rumors that the answer
might lie beneath Apollo's temple itself.
During the first century AD, a priest of the Oracle of Delphi
is the renowned Greek philosopher,
Plutarch.
In his writings, he mentions a legend
that the Oracle's ability to channel Apollo's prophecies
comes from sacred vapors with mystical powers.
By Plutarch's time, the Oracle's sway
over the ancient world is already fading.
He writes of fewer prophecies
and long silences between sessions.
Could it be, he wonders, that her power is fading
because the source of those vapors is drying up?
Then, in the fourth century AD,
as Christianity rises,
the Oracle of Delphi is said to deliver a final prophecy.
Foretelling the end of Apollo's temple and her own voice.
Soon after, pagan practices are outlawed.
The oracle falls silent, and Delphi fades into history.
Fast forward to the 19th century,
when European scholars seek to excavate Delphi
and reveal its secrets.
Unfortunately, at this point,
it's buried under the Greek village of Kastri,
perched on the slopes of Mount Parnassus.
Determined to uncover the ancient sanctuary,
a team of French archaeologists strikes a deal
with the Greek government,
and by 1893, the entire village of Kastri is relocated,
clearing the way for a historic breakthrough.
In addition to uncovering ancient foundations,
archaeologists find inscribed stones and bronze objects,
all confirming that this was the Temple of Apollo,
buried for centuries and now exposed to the world.
French archaeologists also examine the bedrock
beneath the temple, looking for a fissure or vent that might
explain Plutarch's strange account of sacred vapors rising
from the floor, but no such feature is found.
Like so many stories of the oracle itself,
the ancient belief that the Pythia's wisdom came
from divine fumes is dismissed, as nothing more than a myth.
Then, nearly 100 years later,
scientists uncover a clue that changes everything.
The source of the oracle's power is finally
bubbling to the surface.
Scientists investigating
the ruins of ancient Greece's Temple of Apollo
have uncovered new evidence
that explains how its oracle was able to enter
strange trances and supposedly predict the future.
Historian and author, Phil Cousineau, explains.
In 1980, the United Nations commissioned a delegation of
scientists to go to the area around Delphi to explore
geological activity.
Jelle De Boer led this team of geologists
and found two fault lines.
Where they met was directly
underneath the Temple of Apollo,
and specifically, underneath this small area
called the Adyton,
where the Delphic Oracle prophesied to the world.
De Boer's discovery suggests real seismic activity was
happening right beneath the oracle's feet.
The earth itself was stirring directly under Apollo's temple.
But it's not until the mid 1990s,
when archaeologist John Hale teams up with De Boer,
that things get really interesting.
[Phil] Hale was looking for the finer details.
He noticed small cracks in the stone itself,
which is what had been created by the water,
the series of springs that had been bubbling up
for many, many centuries.
When Hale and De Boer analyzed the rock,
they discovered traces of methane, ethane, and ethylene,
which is an intoxicating gas
that can bring about the trance state.
[Josh] Once used as a surgical anesthetic, ethylene is more
potent than nitrous oxide.
It can induce intense psychoactive states,
just like the power of euphoria of the oracle's trance.
The recent scientific studies suggest that the ethylene that
was released underneath the Temple of Apollo could have
sent the oracle into a trance.
What it sets up is a picture that the Delphic Oracle was
leaning over the fissure
[breathes in]
and breathing in some of these gases,
and then going into a trance.
So, the gases rising from below the temple may have eased
the oracle into a trance.
But that might not be the only ingredient
in this ancient recipe,
because some scholars think the oracle
may have been boosting the mind-altering effects
with something even more potent.
When ancient writers visited the oracular site,
they described the oracle as chewing a sprig of laurel,
probably as a salute to Apollo.
It is possible, however, that she was actually chewing
oleander, which is both hallucinogenic and toxic.
It can cause hallucinations, facial tremors,
and altered consciousness.
All three changes echo the reports of what happened
to the Pythia, to the Oracle,
when she took your questions and went into trance.
The Oracle of Delphi was one of the most potent
spiritual figures in the ancient world.
But now, the mystical vapors of Apollo's temple have cleared,
revealing the true source of her powers.
In the end, the trances and prophecies weren't divine.
They were chemistry,
intoxicating ethylene gas
combined with hallucinogenic leaves.
And though we now know that the Oracle's true voice
rose not from the heavens,
but from the bowels of the Earth,
her prophecies still influenced empires
and shaped the course of history.
A testament to the strongest magic of all,
the power of belief.
I'm Josh Gates, and I'll see you on the next expedition.