- Tonight, on the proof is out there.
What are these legendary texas lights?
- The apache believed that these lights
Are ghost of a long dead chief named alsate.
- [tony] what spirit possessed
This goat to walk down the street like a human?
- Wow, that's crazy.
We would not expect to see this on a hoofed animal.
- [tony] what is this over a crowded city?
A ufo or a kamikazi weapon?
- [tony] and what's the evidence
This woman was saved by a guardian angel
After falling under a subway.
- This person definitely came through this unscathed
Because of some sort of divine intervention.
(dramatic music)
- [tony] around the globe are videos.
- [woman] what the heck is this?
- [man] it's moving.
- [tony] photos and sounds that defy explanation.
(dramatic music)
- [marc] is it some kind of unidentified object?
What's exciting is nobody really knows.
- [tony] what are they?
- [mj] some sort of bizarre mutation.
- Extraordinary claims need extraordinary proof.
- I'm tony harris,
And as a journalist for more than 30 years,
I've followed the facts where they take me.
Now, I'm bringing that spirit of investigation
To the world's strangest sounds and images.
We'll analyze each one with top experts.
- It's a credible case, it's a credible video.
- [tony] and pass a verdict on what it is.
- This video was clearly faked.
- The proof starts now.
(dramatic theme music)
Good evening and welcome to the proof is out there.
Around the world, we've been seeing
A strange phenomenon that so far,
Science has been unable to explain definitively.
Well, it's here again,
This time in the lone star state.
We all know texas is probably best known
For its cowboys and cattle, but wait until you see this.
June 5th, 2019.
It's dusk in the west texas desert
Outside the town of marfa,
About 400 miles from the capitol of austin.
Margaret collier is with her family on the side of the road
Hoping to see something that has been reported
For well over a hundred years.
And just as the sun begins to go down,
She captures this.
Bright glowing orbs appear on the horizon
That begin to twinkle and then disappear.
I think the big, like, surprise moment for me
Was when they really started, you know,
Lighting up and splitting off
And all the different colors showing up.
That was the most exciting for me.
- [tony] then as night falls, margaret
Continues to film the lights dancing over the desert plains.
- I was just so mesmerized by it.
It would be really cool if it was something paranormal
Or alien related.
- [tony] what are these strange balls of energy?
Journalist mj banias explains
This mysterious phenomenon is known as the marfa lights.
- The marfa lights fall into a broader category
Of light phenomena we often refer to as ghost lights.
Ghost lights are these anomalous sources of light
That appear and disappear at random in a given area.
People have no idea where they come from.
- [tony] banias explains that ever since
The first documented case of the lights
Was reported by a cow hand back in 1883,
There have been plenty of theories
As to what they could be.
- The local indigenous group in the area, the apache,
Believed that these lights
Are the ghost of a long dead chief named alsate.
According to the legend,
Alsate was killed by a mexican firing squad in 1882
And what people are seeing is his ghost
Roaming through the territory for some unfinished business.
- [tony] but while many experts believe
There must be a more scientific explanation,
Banaias says exactly what they could be is up for debate.
- They would say that this is some
Sort of other light phenomenon,
Whether it's some sort of electromagnetic phenomenon.
You know, humidity mixing
With electricity in the air causing sparks.
But between these different theories,
Supernatural versus natural,
We still don't really know what causes the marfa lights.
It still remains a mystery to this day.
- So what do we have here?
It has been said that if you ask 100 different people
What the marfa lights are,
You will get 100 different answers.
In fact, many come together each summer
For the marfa lights festival,
But admittedly that's more of a party
Than a scientific conference.
For that angle, we'll need to ask our experts
What they think.
(tense music)
We begin with astronomer and video effects designer,
Marc d'antonio.
Is there a logical explanation?
Is this simply car lights in the distance?
- I don't think so.
What we watch here,
These lights are pretty stationary
And the marfa lights have been seen
For over a hundred years
And we didn't have cars on highways back then.
- [tony] could this then be a natural event?
D'antonio explains.
- Maybe it could be a static discharge.
Lights generated by the planet because of static charge,
Current being generated by rushing water
And through a particular rock strata.
It's like when you rub your feet in the carpet
And you touch something.
- [tony] while d'antonio can't rule out static discharge,
Most of us associate flashes of light and electrical
Activity with the weather.
So is this an atmospheric event?
We take that question to meteorologist juan hernandez.
- When light is created by the atmosphere,
It comes from electrical charges such as lightning.
It's a very big flash,
Something that is very quick to happen and then disappears.
But to get storms, we need moisture.
We need plenty of shear.
We need something to move across the region
To create those storms.
In this case, it's a clear day which would rule out
The possibility of an atmospheric phenomenon
Causing these lights.
- [tony] while hernandez rules out
Weather above ground,
D'antonio notes another theory comes from below.
Are gases from beneath the ground being released
And igniting from tectonic forces?
- The theory is that lights that are generated
By some type of electrical energy
Coupled with some magnetic influences perhaps underground,
That ends up becoming visible in the air
As some type of lit phenomena.
Certainly something is glowing.
- [tony] but hernandez isn't so sure.
- Tectonic activity is unlikely to have caused these lights
Because in reality, there is no significant
Tectonic movement in the marfa region.
It all is associated across the west coast
And some portions of the east coast.
- What's exciting is nobody really knows.
That's cool.
And so I think the marfa lights are really a true modern mystery
That we don't have answers to.
(tense music)
- Our verdict?
We're going with unexplained phenomenon.
Like we've seen before with similar, mysterious,
Unexplained lights around the world,
There are too many theories to settle on just one.
But that doesn't mean we're going to stop trying.
So the next time you're traveling through marfa texas,
Be sure to stop on the side of the road
And get us more footage to investigate.
We're gonna take a step back from our ongoing inquiry
Into ufos and take a moment to talk about satan.
You know, many people believe he exists
And often takes the form of a goat.
So when we saw what the goat was up to in this next video,
We wondered, did the devil make him do it?
It's October 2020, in telwara, bihar, india.
A villager is making his way into town
When he spots something almost demonic,
He grabs his camera and records this.
A goat clearly walking on its hind legs.
The creature advances down the road.
As we push in, the goat seemingly unaware
That it's being watched, struts for several yards
Before dropping down on all fours.
Take a look at this baffling display.
- Wow, that's crazy.
- [tony] field researcher ken gerhardt discusses the goat's
Connection to a dark figure
From the fringes of christianity.
- The templars from the crusades
Would worship this deity known as baphomet.
Which was often portrayed
As a half man, half goat type creature.
That particular imagery has been adapted
And passed down up until modern day times
When satanists and pagan belief systems
Will worship baphomet.
- [tony] early christianity co-opted pagan beliefs
And associated them with the devil
In order to discredit paganism at a time
When christianity was spreading.
To further demonize paganism and goats,
Societies went as far as to create humanoid goat monsters.
- Krampus, a folklore figure from alpine mythology,
A half man, half goat-like creature that appears
Only on christmas, sort of the antithesis of santa claus.
- In the bible,
The book of leviticus tells of a ritual
In which one goat is sacrificed,
While another is touched by a priest
And imbued with the sins of local residents.
It's then sent into the woods,
Taking the town's impurities with it.
That's where the term scapegoat comes from.
Which explanation for this upright goat
Is the greatest of all time?
Let's ask our experts.
(tense music)
Catholic miracle historian michael o'neill discusses
The possibility of satan possessing an animal.
- If we were to look at the point
Of possession in the first place,
Satan is looking to capture souls.
To deprive that soul from union with god.
And so when we talk about animals
Not having an immortal soul,
We say satan wouldn't bother with possessing an animal
So we can rule out animals altogether based on that.
- [tony] so what about the thought
That this could be the satanic entity baphomet?
- Baphomet is a modern conception
Of what the devil would look like,
Perhaps a symbol that's used by satanists in modern times.
The idea of associating baphomet, the pagan idol,
With a goat, is a satanic convention starting the 1850s.
We see this goat walking like a person
And people might say, "well, there's baphomet,"
But there's absolutely no connection between the two.
- [tony] that answers why goats
Are associated with satanism, a rep they have not earned.
But why is this one walking?
Wildlife biologist dr. Stephanie schuttler has a hypothesis.
- Goats are pretty smart animals.
There have been instances of goats
Learning how to open door latches
And let themselves in and out.
They often go on their hind legs
To be able to reach those plants more out of reach.
- [tony] the foraging goats engage in
What is called browsing.
Having evolved in mountains,
They've adapted to finding food in hard to reach places.
They're selective about which foods they eat
And are able to stand on their hind legs
And reach with their mouths to obtain a snack of choice.
- What I think is happening here
Is that this is a well-trained goat.
Perhaps it was taught to go in its hind legs for tricks.
These aren't the only quadruped animals
That have been taught to walk on their hind legs.
People have trained their dogs to walk on
Their back legs, and also bears.
I can definitively say that this is
A well-trained goat doing a pretty cool trick.
(tense music)
- Our verdict, this is a well-trained goat.
While this behavior is out of the ordinary,
Goats were one of the first animals to be tamed by humans.
I guess it's no huge surprise
That they've learned to walk like us.
I'm just waiting for them to do my taxes.
- Now, we head over to asia.
According to some scholars of islam,
There are verses in the holy quran that seem to allude
To the possibility of extra terrestrial life.
So perhaps it's no surprise that we're getting
Reports of ufos from islamic countries like pakistan.
Are they the real deal?
Let's take a look.
January 25th, 2022.
Islamabad, pakistan.
It's dusk and arslan warraich
Is watching the sunset from the roof of his home.
He's just about to go inside when he spots this.
- [arslan] this is just an odd, odd thing.
- [tony] do you see it?
A mysterious, black object is hovering in the sky.
- [arslan] definitely not a bird.
- [tony] as arslan zooms in,
It appears to resemble a flying rock
With a huge bulge in the back.
The craft hovers almost stationary for nearly two hours,
About 1,500 feet in the air, at times changing shape
Until it almost resembles a triangle.
- I was shocked and excited actually.
There was no light or anything.
It wasn't emitting or reflecting any light.
It wasn't anything that I have seen ever.
I firmly believe that there are other civilizations
Who are probably billions of years
Ahead of us in evolution.
Who's to say that they're not visiting?
- [tony] so could it be a real ufo?
Writer heidi hollis, who specializes in the unexplained,
Says it may be part of a recent growing trend
In the skies above pakistan.
- Just a year prior to this event,
Pilots on a pakistani international airlines
Photographed a ufo during a domestic flight
And a spokesperson for the airlines actually confirmed
The incident on social media.
Adding that the company didn't know what the object was
And would continue to investigate the matter.
- [tony] but hollis also notes
That location may play a key role in what we're seeing.
Arslan lives in islamabad's military residential zone,
Called the defense housing authority,
And there is speculation that this is very much
An earthbound craft called a loitering munition.
- Loitering munitions will go into an area
And wait until it finds its target and it goes to attack.
- [tony] loitering munitions work exactly as it sounds.
Some can linger in the air for hours,
Then be instantly fired and hit a target
Faster than a rocket or mortars deployed from further away.
Some can carry a warhead powerful enough
To take out armored vehicles and artillery nests.
- More and more lately, I am seeing
And hearing about these types of craft,
But ultimately being that
This location is military residential,
There's so may things that you could speculate
About what it is.
- Talk about a close call.
Good thing arslan lived to tell us his story.
These loitering munition drones
Are unofficially known as kamikazi drones,
As they are designed to be on a one-way mission.
More than a dozen countries
Have these kinds of drones in their arsenal.
Did arslan see one of them?
Maybe another kind of drone,
Or did the object have otherworldly origins?
Our experts weigh in.
(tense music)
We begin with forensics video analyst michael primeau
To see if the video was even real.
- There is some macro block compression around,
And when it was processed it reduced a lot
Of that detail necessary to make an identification.
So it's heavily compressed although there's no direct
Evidence to support that it's been changed or fabricated.
- [tony] so if what we see is real,
Could arslan have captured a genuine ufo?
We ask physicist matthew szydagis.
- Ufo sightings, if they're actually captured on film,
Are typically brief, minutes at best.
Here we have an object that stayed in the sky for hours
And let itself get captured on film.
- [tony] szydagis thinks that lack of motion
Along with its shape are important clues.
- It appears like it could be triangular
And while triangle is a classic shape associated with ufos,
It is also a classic shape of kite,
Perhaps diamond shape, which this appears like it could be.
- [tony] but how could a kite stay in place for so long?
- [szydagis] kites should move along with the wind,
But what can happen is is you can have
Different gusts of wind from different directions
That can almost cancel out to create
The illusion of something being stationary.
- [tony] so if it's a kite,
Those minor movements could explain why a change of shape.
But military aviation expert tim mcmillan believes
There's a clue in the video
That suggests another possibility.
- You can see what appears to be some type of rotors.
- [tony] it's hard to see,
But mcmillan thinks this choppy movement
Around the object could be rotating blades.
- That leads us down the the road
Of is this some type of drone system?
- [tony] but is it possible this is one
Of the dreaded kamikazi drones?
Mcmillan isn't so sure.
- There are several different variants of loitering munitions,
However, these only have
About 20 to 30 minute flight times
And actually a little smaller
Than this object appears to be.
And we would have to ask who would
Be flying a loitering munition
Over a very populated city in pakistan.
- [tony] instead, it's the extended flight time
That leads mcmillan to the most likely scenario.
- I am inclined to believe that this
Is some type of rotary wing drone aircraft.
It's purpose, if I had to speculate,
Intelligence reconnaissance type activities
In an urban environment.
- [tony] so is this all about information gathering?
Surveillance drones above a neighborhood
That could also be considered a sensitive military location,
Like the defense housing authority?
- There's lots of different things from
The local pakistani government
In terms of anti terror operations.
Could be signals intelligence.
It's gathering phone messages,
It's gathering electronic data such as cell phone data,
That type of thing.
Or if it's just an optical surveillance system.
So it's following and monitoring somebody
That's maybe a person of interest.
I think the area in which they're being filmed,
That's a possibility.
(tense music)
- Our verdict?
Well, primeau said it could be a fake but he's not sure.
If it's real, we're going to go with a surveillance drone.
Mcmillan's remark on the extremely
Long flight time was the clincher,
But one thing's for sure.
Loitering munition drones appear to
Be a crucial tool in the future of warfare.
- The last thing you'd expect when you're hiking
Through the woods is to stumble upon a legendary flying ship.
But maybe that's only because you haven't done
Enough hiking around ancient asian ruins.
I sure haven't.
It's November 2017, near the village
Of asuka, southeast of osaka, japan.
Travel blogger doug merrit is filming his trek
Through the surrounding hills
And forest when he arrives at his destination.
- [doug] I think I see it right in front of me.
Wow, it's actually bigger than I expected.
- [tony] his video shows a gigantic stone
Structure rising above the dense forest floor on a hillside.
There's an indentation down the middle
With two rectangular holes on either end.
Made of solid granite,
The carved mound is 36 by 26 feet and stands 15 feet high.
- The stone seemed to be out of place
There at the top of the hill.
It was just sitting there appearing to have
Just fallen from the sky out of nowhere.
- [tony] mars researcher george haas
Says this 800 ton carved boulder
Is known as masuda-no-iwafune.
Which means the rock ship of masuda.
Some believe it's tied to a japanese legend
Put into writing in the early 1800s.
- A group of fishermen noticed an unusual spacecraft
Landing in the distance in the water.
The ship came to shore,
A door opened and they could see a lovely woman
Coming out of the spacecraft
And she started speaking to them
In a language they had never heard before.
And as soon as she got there,
She got back into the craft and flew away.
Never to be heard of again.
- [tony] so is the rock ship of masuda
A carving to commemorate this encounter?
Some believe it looks like the hollow ship drawings,
But most think it's a lot older dating to japan's old mound
Period between two 50 and 500 ad.
During that time, in the same area as the rock ship,
The ancient japanese built several
Giant keyhole shaped formations.
And here's where it gets weird.
George haas says similar formations
Are found in one other place.
Mars.
Look at them side by side.
The photo on the right was taken by nasa.
- [haas] this structure on mars is completely symmetrical,
Is a keyhole formation with a circular mound at the top
And a triangle form at the bottom.
- [tony] is there a connection between
This part of japan and the red planet?
Something that had cosmic visitors interested in both?
The valley of oscar, where the rock ship
And these tombs are found, is considered
The birthplace of japanese civilization.
Many cultural transformations,
Including the introduction of buddhism,
Began there around 500 ad.
But little is known about the era before that.
So what can our experts dig up?
(tense music)
Archeologist dr. Ed barnhart considers
If the rock ship of masuda could have
Anything to do with the legend of the hollow ship.
- There's a whole myth around this magical woman.
It was actually documented in three historic texts
That talked about the same story.
- [tony] still, barnhart agrees
The formation is much older than the rock ship legend
Of the early 1800s.
He joins other experts who place its creation
To that period of ancient japan
When the keyhole formations were built.
Barnhart adds that those strange keyholes on mars
Are most certainly the result of natural forces
Like erosion while the japanese keyholes are man-made tombs.
- This is a very religiously steeped area
And at a time period called the tumulus period,
There were a number of stone built
And carved tombs in the area.
So this may fall into that tradition.
- [tony] okay, then since the rock ship
Of masuda was found near these tumulus-era burial mounds,
Could it also be a tomb?
Anthropologist kathy strain investigates.
- What we do know is that this area
Was used a lot during the great burial period
And so it's quite possible that this
Was the start of a burial and it ended up
Getting abandoned because it got a crack in it.
So then it's not perfect anymore.
- [tony] but barnhart has another idea.
It relates to the ancient practice
Of fermenting rice to make the brewed alcohol, sake.
- There's another stone in the area
Called the sake boat stone,
That has a variety of circular holes and canals
That functionally could be used
In the process of sake making.
Skimming the top of one,
Making it more pure in the other ones
As the canal feeds the the process through.
This one is very different though,
The holes are deep, there's only two of them,
They don't actually align up very well
To let one skim the other.
- [tony] it's an interesting theory,
But at this point that's all it is.
There's no evidence for the tomb or the sake theory
Either in the written or archeological records.
All we have is the stone and our best guesses.
(tense music)
Our verdict, it is still unknown
Exactly who carved this mound and why.
The legend of the hollow ship ufo
Also remains a nazo.
That's japanese for mystery,
But there are enough independent accounts of it
That we're not ruling out a close encounter
Of the japanese kind.
- The sunshine coast of australia
Is known for its seaside resorts
And who doesn't love a walk on the beach?
But as you'll see in our next video,
One beach goer discovered more than shells in the sand.
It's March 21st, 2022,
Maroochydore beach 60 miles outside of brisbane, australia.
Alex tan is strolling along the coast
When he stumbles across something unusual.
He takes out his camera and records this.
- I honestly don't know what it is.
- [tony] an odd looking creature,
Which appears to be deceased, lying in the sand.
Let's take a closer look.
Make sure doesn't look like it came from the sea.
More like something out of an hg wells novel
With its dog like body and rodent like head.
- So I'm trying to figure out what it was
And had the color of, you know, like a chicken nugget.
It was just weird. It really just threw me off.
I was just so fascinated at what I'd found.
- [tony] author and journalist erin mccarthy
Says that when the video first went viral,
Thousands of social media users suggested
This could be a bunyip.
Sure it could, but what's a bunyip?
- A bunyip, which is actually
A creature from indigenous australian folklore
That, it's said, loves to eat people,
Specifically women and children.
It's a creature that lives in waterholes,
Lakes and rivers around australia.
It's been said to look like a seal
Or sometimes a swimming dog.
The word bunyip actually first appeared in print
In the 1840s when some discovered fossils
That were theorized to be a bunyip.
There was actually what was said to be a bunyip skull
Displayed in the australian museum in sydney
For a couple of days in the 1840s.
- [tony] mccarthy also wonders if this creature's
Odd appearance could be explained
By some sort of mutation caused by nuclear testing.
- Some have actually speculated
That this creature is a mutated wallaby.
Between the early 1950s and the early 1960s,
The british government performed nuclear tests
At three sites across australia.
Emu island, marilinga and the montebello islands.
There were 12 major tests performed at these sites
And some of the weapons that were detonated
Were actually as big as the bombs used during hiroshima.
Those particles have caused a lot of problems
For the wildlife that live in those areas.
- [tony] one other thought.
There's also a biosecurity sciences lab
Located in nearby brisbane.
Could this thing have been the subject of some secret
Medical experiment and somehow gotten loose?
This show is no stranger to odd beach carcasses.
One of our first segments focused
On this strange creature found in south carolina.
Some said it had escaped from a nearby off-limits island
Where thousands of monkeys are bred for research.
Could something similar have happened here?
Or perhaps this is the legendary bunyip,
Or some new undiscovered species from australia's vast outback.
Let's let our experts see what's up, down under.
(tense music)
We begin with forensic video analyst michael primeau
To see if this video could have been altered.
- We were able to confirm
That these four recordings came from an apple iphone.
There were no programs that interacted with these files
And changed the evidence in any way digitally.
- [tony] if the video hasn't been altered,
What could we be seeing here?
We turn to marine biologist dr. Shea conger
To test the popular online theory that this is a bunyip.
- It looks like a mammal to me,
But there's not a lot of definable features.
The bunyip is said to be kind of a aquatic animal
And what I see here looks
To be a really typical quadrupedal animal.
So I think because of this fact,
It's very unlikely to say that this is a bunyip.
- [tony] but if it's not a bunyip, what could it be?
Wildlife biologist stephanie schuttler
Takes a look to see if this could
Be the result of radioactive experiments in the area.
- Radiation can damage dna cells and any time
There is damage to dna during replication process,
This creates mutations usually from radiation.
The dna makes mistakes in replication
And just keeps replicating cells, and they're tumor cells.
- [tony] damage caused by radiation
Like in the chernobyl disaster
Usually leads to side effects like cancer
Or radiation sickness, which can cause hair loss.
But schuttler has another theory
That explains why this creature is hairless.
- You can tell the tide is going down,
So it's very likely that this creature
Has been in the water for a long time in the ocean
And when they're exposed to the the ocean water
And the sun's rays,
It can cause the fur to come off as part
Of the decomposition process.
- [tony] so what about the wallaby theory?
A creature known to be widespread down under.
- Wallabies are are similar to kangaroos,
But I don't see evidence that it's a wallaby.
If it were a wallaby,
You would have more powerful hind legs.
They would be longer in comparison to the the forearms
And in this case they seem to be pretty equal.
It looks more like an animal that walks on all fours
Rather than hops like a wallaby would.
- [tony] so if it's not a wallaby,
What are we looking at here?
- Australia has lots of possum species.
I think it's the brushtail possum.
The limbs are similar in length.
Possums have naked tails.
They don't really have any fur in their tails.
(tense music)
- Our verdict?
This is a brush tailed possum in the stages of decomposition.
It's missing its hair because it's been in the ocean
And the head looks strange because predators
Will often chew the skin off of possum's head
And leave the skull.
But if any bunyips ever wash up on the shores of your beach,
Let us know.