- Tonight, on The Proof Is Out There.
Is this proof UFOs are tracking Elon Musk's rockets?
- This rocket has been known
to have secret military applications.
- [Tony] The Indian Army declared these yeti tracks.
Has another one left these footprints in Alaska?
- Big footprints equal a big animal.
- [Tony] A mysterious pirate antenna
installed on a mountain.
What's its secret purpose?
- Maybe a foreign power wants to eavesdrop on us
and we caught them red-handed.
- [Tony] And does the Vatican have video proof of
a demonic possession?
(victim screaming)
- This video is extraordinary and horrific at the same time.
(victim screaming)
(dramatic suspenseful music)
- [Tony] Around the globe are videos.
- [Scientist] What are those things?
- [Commentator] It's moving.
- [Tony] Photos and sounds that defy explanation.
(air squealing)
(dramatic suspenseful music continues)
- [Investigator] We don't know where they come from,
who made them or how they operate.
- [Tony] What are they?
- [Scientist] Some sort of bizarre mutation.
- [Commentator] 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.
(upbeat dramatic music)
- Good evening and welcome to The Proof Is Out There.
In 2022, a record 57 rocket launches
took place at Cape Canaveral, Florida,
carrying everything from satellites
to astronauts into space.
Every launch brings a crowd of local spectators,
but we found a pair of eyewitnesses who think
they may have captured launch spectators
from another planet.
January 31st, 2022, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket
launches from Cape Canaveral, Florida,
carrying an Italian earth observation satellite.
200 miles south,
a couple watches the launch from Fort Lauderdale.
They're following the path of the Falcon 9
with their cellphones
when they notice the rocket is not alone.
- [Camera Operator] Yeah, you see there's two things.
- [Tony] Two bright white dots of light appear to be
following the rocket as it zooms through the atmosphere.
- [Spectator] Doesn't it look like it's flying with it?
- [Camera Operator] Yeah, it's going weird. Yeah.
- [Tony] Let's zoom in on these things.
The lights appear to be orb-shaped
and whether they're part of one craft or two separate crafts,
they appear to be tracking the rocket.
Journalist MJ Banias says that
rumors began to circulate that whatever they are,
they're not of this world.
- There's been a lot of
speculation online that
this is some sort of
UFO that is monitoring
or surveilling the Falcon 9 launch.
- [Tony] But why would aliens be interested in monitoring
one of our rocket launches?
- [MJ] There's been some theories posted online that
perhaps they wanna keep tabs on our development.
- [Tony] The idea that alien observers track human activity
isn't new.
Ufologists point to the surge of sightings in the 1940s
that coincided with the birth of the atomic bomb.
It's estimated the year 1947 saw at least a thousand UFOs
over the United States alone.
Now with private companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin
stepping up their launch schedules,
could ETs be taking note?
If so, Banias says, "It's not the first time."
- Another incident was from 2021
on the crewed mission to the ISS that was launched by SpaceX
and people online were pointing to pieces of footage
where there was some sort of little object
following the main capsule.
- [Tony] As part of the Falcon 9 rocket
separated from the spacecraft,
a spherical object flew through the gap
in a close call heard round the internet.
- People were saying that
these are indications of alien activity.
So it's a big subculture within the UFO community at large
of people who kind of monitor live feeds
from rocket launches and NASA missions and whatnot,
and assert that this is evidence of
some sort of alien research or surveillance.
- So is Earth just one of the exhibits on display
in some alien civilization's galactic zoo?
Well, scientists estimate there could be about
100 billion other planets in our galaxy alone,
so it's reasonable to assume we aren't alone
in the universe.
But does this video prove we're being watched?
Let's see what our experts have to say.
(somber music)
Aviation and Military Expert, Tim McMillan, agrees.
There's something strange about this footage.
- They're looking at a rocket.
As it leaves the Earth's atmosphere,
you would expect to see what we're seeing there.
However, you wouldn't expect to see other bright objects
appear in close proximity to it.
I certainly see why that would look like a UFO.
- [Tony] But is it a UFO?
- I think even though certain aspects look very odd,
they're all manmade objects and they're all associated with
the Falcon 9 rocket launches.
And so we're not looking at a UFO,
we're not looking at any alien technology
or anything like that.
- [Tony] McMillan thinks
these two lights may be rocket boosters,
which separate from the rocket
after their fuel has been depleted
to minimize dead weight.
- [Tim] That type of debris is gonna burn up
as it's coming down,
or you're just seeing the reflection off of it
so it may look brighter or larger than it really is.
- [Tony] But Astronomer Marc D'Antonio begs to differ
with McMillan's space trash theory.
- These objects that we see here,
they're not physical objects in the rocket stream.
It's actually an artifact of the rocket plume
that's a low pressure zone beneath that rocket exhaust
and it's gonna be subject to atmosphere changes.
Those effects are the creation of
these little tiny shockwaves right here in the atmosphere.
- [Tony] D'Antonio shows us that
you don't need a rocket launch to illustrate
the same phenomenon in action.
Natural turbulence can create the same effect.
- A tornado's a very violent place.
And as that funnel is twisting,
you see that little transient white thing that appeared?
What was that?
That was an atmospheric effect caused by the tornadoes.
Keep in mind that
a rocket launch is gonna produce similar effects.
Among them, these two little supersonic shockwaves
that we see there from the location.
- Our verdict?
Supersonic shockwaves.
D'Antonio's explanation
of the atmospheric physics
seals the deal.
More and more rockets are being sent into space every year
so it looks like for now
we don't have to worry about being on display for aliens.
We just have to bone up on our rocket tech
and learn to recognize the shockwaves when we see them.
And now we move from the launchpad to the Vatican?
There are many rumors about what's buried deep within
the estimated 16 million pages of documents
in the Vatican Secret Archives.
Some are claiming these archives also include
shocking videos.
And this next clip is their alleged proof.
We are not convinced this footage is real,
but we're certain it is disturbing.
It's August 2019.
A strange video said to be filmed in Auray, France
starts making the rounds on the internet.
It's rumored to be footage
that was discovered in the Vatican, and you can see why.
A brief black and white clip shows a woman in a plaid dress
climbing a brick wall with one arm
while dragging a woman in a dark dress
up by her hair in the other.
When the creepy wall climber gets close to the top,
she dangles the frightened struggling woman
for a few seconds before dropping her to the ground
as the video suddenly cuts off.
What gets me is this moment. Let's freeze it right here.
The woman in the plaid dress isn't just climbing up the wall
with superhuman strength, she is doing it with one hand.
How on Earth is that possible?
Catholic Miracle Researcher Michael O'Neill says
the internet lit up with claims that
this woman was possessed by the Devil.
- In the Gospels we have 12 or more cases
where Jesus casts out a demon.
In one, Mark, Chapter 5, He encounters Legion.
And in that case, the person who's possessed
exhibits such strength that no chains can control him.
- [Tony] According to the Bible,
Legion refers to a group of demons
who collectively possess the man,
but are exorcized by Jesus
and turned into pigs that then drown.
But there are modern possession stories, too.
In 2012, three children in Gary, Indiana
were said to walk up walls,
levitate and speak in demonic voices.
This strange behavior continued until
a local Catholic priest performed a series of exorcisms.
- The Catholic Church acknowledges demonic possession
as a real phenomenon and actually has a rite of exorcism
that's carried out in dioceses all over the United States
and around the world.
Father Gabriel Amorth,
who is perhaps the most famous modern exorcist,
claimed to have done over 1,000 exorcisms
during his lifetime.
Exorcisms have even been done by popes.
- [Tony] And the number of priests performing exorcisms
is on the rise.
According to one source, in 2005,
there were only a dozen in the U.S.
Today there are around 150.
So could there be hidden examples of demonic possession
in the Vatican's vault?
- All kinds of crazy things are claimed to be in there.
UFO evidence, things that might debunk church teaching,
and also a time machine that supposedly could take you back
to the time of the crucifixion.
- Only thoroughly vetted scholars
are allowed access to the Vatican's Secret Archives
and to enter they must get through Swiss Guard security.
The researchers can view a maximum of three
pre-requested documents a day.
They are not allowed to photograph anything
and must re-request access every six months.
With that kind of security,
it seems it would take a real heist to leak this footage
if it's stored there.
We'll leave it to our experts to sniff out any culprits.
(somber pulsing music)
First, Emergency Medicine Physician, Dr. Ed Hope,
analyzes If it's even possible for a person
to climb a wall one-handed, as seen in the clip.
- The wall is probably much harder to climb than most rocks.
She's also only climbing with one hand.
She has to let go with that hand to then be able to extend it
to climb higher up.
You'd expect her probably just to fall off the wall.
- [Tony] So the woman's climbing technique
seems highly improbable.
But could a rush of adrenaline make this achievable?
There's a theory some accounts of possession
can be attributed to hysterical strength
where the body's stress response triggers this hormone.
- Whenever we're in a stressful situation,
we secrete adrenaline into our bloodstream.
This sends more blood supply to the muscles.
It also makes more oxygen available,
so it increases your heart rate and your respiratory rate.
But adrenaline only goes so far.
It's not suddenly gonna increase your muscle mass,
improve your tendons, or give you climbing technique
enough to suddenly scale a building.
- [Tony] Then could this actually be
a demonic possession?
Dr. Hope wonders, "Is it even possible to be physically
or psychologically possessed?"
- In medieval times mental illnesses such as schizophrenia,
and physical illnesses such as epilepsy,
were often diagnosed as demonic possession.
So that's thankfully largely been replaced
as our medical knowledge has increased.
And if someone was demonically possessed,
they're still working within
the physical boundaries of the human body.
- [Tony] With Dr. Hope doubting this video's authenticity
can Forensic Video Analyst Michael Primeau
help us figure out if it's truly legit?
- Geometric shadow analysis was applied to
specific areas of the image where we see shadows.
And you can see here that
there's shadows coming from this direction,
which is the primary light source,
but the way that the light is coming in
and down in this direction, that's inconsistent.
You know light can't produce two different shadows,
if we're to assume this is a natural primary light source
being the Sun.
These shadows were fabricated.
- [Tony] Primeau concludes
this scene must have been composited with CGI,
using techniques to make it look old.
- This appears to be a high-quality image,
something that would have been produced from
a high-definition camera.
Being that it was black and white,
this was most likely a filter that was applied
to try to demonstrate that this happened some time ago.
The general size of the
video is inconsistent with
older technology that
would've produced
a black-and-white video resolution.
- Our verdict? This video
was made with CGI.
While the mysterious Vatican
Archives are very real,
this video just isn't.
- If you're a regular viewer,
then you are probably aware of
the alarming number of weird creatures and carcasses
that seem to turn up on Russian soil.
This next story is the latest
and will most certainly not be the last.
September 2015, Sosnovy Bor, Russia.
In an urban corridor built in 1958
for workers at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant,
two local residents wade into
the shallows of the Kovashi River
where they discover something otherworldly.
A tiny creature which appears to have an elongated skull,
shrunken frame and taloned limb.
In order to find out more,
the local residents christened the creature Kesha
and handed it over to a biologist.
Field Researcher Ken Gerhard
takes a look at this tiny monstrosity.
- This is really freaky and weird.
Russian scientists were unable to identify
this particular carcass
which led to some remarkable speculation.
Is it possible that we could be looking at
some type of alien creature?
A juvenile of some strange species perhaps?
A fetus of something not of this Earth?
- [Tony] What seems like a wild theory
might not be so farfetched.
This exact area where the creature was discovered
is known to be
a hotbed of strange UFO sightings and activity.
- As recently as February of this year,
the airports around St. Petersburg
were actually shut down
due to reports of a UFO entering Russian airspace.
And in one notable incident from 1977,
in the nearby city of Petrozavodsk,
there was this giant luminous object
that was reported by many of the locals.
And according to the eyewitness testimony,
it actually shot down these beams of light or radiation
from the sky onto the Earth below.
This is a pretty famous incident
in terms of Russian UFO history.
- [Tony] The physical appearance of the specimen
is not unlike previous descriptions of alien visitors
specific to Russia,
many of whom bear resemblance to the infamous Grays.
- Many of the Russian alien accounts
describe these humanoid creatures with huge craniums
and spindly bodies with long limbs.
And that certainly reminds me of
this image that we're looking at here,
and it certainly fits within
the paradigm of Russian UFO lore.
- [Tony] But while some believe it's an alien,
others think it's a mutation from right here on Earth.
- A lot of this has to do with
the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant.
According to the former
Russian Inspector for Nuclear and Radiation Safety,
Vladimir Kuznetsov, this particular plant
has a long tradition and history of coverups
involving all manner of nuclear and radioactive accidents.
- [Tony] Two such incidents occurred in 1992 and 2009
where massive amounts of radiation
were leaked into the surrounding environment,
causing many to draw comparisons between
the plant in Leningrad and Chernobyl.
- If we look at the Chernobyl nuclear accident site,
it's been documented that some of the animals in that area
have actually begun to undergo
different types of mutations and genetic changes.
So it's not impossible that this strange creature
could actually be the result of some terrible
nuclear accident at the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant.
- In a previous episode,
we discussed another alleged Russian alien fetus
known as Alyoshenka,
which was also discovered under bizarre circumstances
in an area near a nuclear disaster.
It remains unidentified to this day.
Will our experts be able to determine
what was found this time in Leningrad?
Let's find out.
Biologist Shea Steingass explains how
one would even go about determining
if this was an alien life form or not.
- The first thing we would probably do is
look for genetic material in this animal.
If this animal did have genetic material,
we would probably deduce that
this is actually an earthly animal of some kind.
- [Tony] Scientists have discovered that
all living things on Earth share some of the same exact DNA,
proving that we all have descended
from one common ancestor.
Any alien life forms
would potentially be missing this universal DNA.
But unfortunately this creature's carcass
was sent to Moscow
and the Russians have remained tight-lipped
about any DNA testing.
- Until we get those results back,
we won't really know what exactly we're looking at.
- [Tony] Wildlife Biologist Stephanie Manka
believes we are looking at a deformity of some kind.
- I think it's some sort of deformity
because it doesn't look fully developed.
The head tends to look honestly kind of fish-like
and it almost seems like there's a hoof.
It looks like it's in the position of a fetus.
It doesn't go along with
the fetuses of different animals that we know.
There's something wrong here.
- [Tony] So could this be the mutated result of toxins
from the nearby nuclear power plant?
- There is a high possibility that this deformity
could be a result of contamination.
When you have a developing fetus,
your cells are constantly dividing.
When cells are replicating,
they're more vulnerable to the radiation.
So it does make sense that radiation could have caused
developmental problems like this.
- Our verdict?
Unknown fetus.
We like Manka's nuclear radiation theory,
but we just don't have the DNA to prove it.
If that information exists,
the Russians are keeping it under lock and key.
Makes you wonder what they're scared to reveal.
But if and when Moscow decides to release those results,
we'll be the first to let you know.
- There are holes in the depths of our understanding
there are holes in the depths of the ocean floor, too.
So where exactly did the series of holes in this next clip
come from?
And what do they mean?
It's July 2022 and the U.S. National Oceanic
and Atmospheric Administration, or NOA,
is exploring the submerged Mid-Atlantic Ridge or MAR.
It's part of the longest mountain range in the world.
As the researchers sink to the depths,
Journalist Eric Grundhauser says they spy a strange sight.
- The really amazing thing that you're seeing is
this perfectly straight series of holes or indentations
that don't even look circular,
but instead look rectangular, oblong.
- [Tony] Take a closer look.
This uniformly spaced out trail of small holes
looks like someone created it.
If so, how did the person get down here?
This site is about a mile and a half below sea level.
At that depth, the pressure on a diver would be equal to
an elephant stepping on your big toe.
So Grundhauser says,
"Some suggest this might be evidence of
some kind of covert operation."
- Is it possible that these odd holes
are actually the remnants, the leftover patchwork,
of a former military base or a secret underwater laboratory?
- [Tony] We know the U.S. Navy has a deep water facility
in The Bahamas to test underwater vehicles and weapons,
but maybe there are undercover bases hidden from the public
that the government uses to conduct espionage
or highly classified weapons tests.
Author Jason Martell says,
"Others wonder if these holes could have
a more otherworldly origin,
such as a kind of alien craft known as a USO."
An unidentified submerged object.
- Maybe something has landed at the bottom of the seabed
and these are the actual imprints left
from this technological craft.
- [Tony] The U.S. Navy has documented
numerous encounters with alleged USOs
that reportedly fly in the air and then dive underwater.
Most recently, this now-famous 2019 incident in the Pacific
recorded by the USS Omaha.
- [Navy Crew Member] What was flashed?
It flashed!
- [Tony] But others suggest this pattern was created by
an unidentified sea creature.
- We have to wonder if these aren't created by
a pod of beaked whales.
We know that beaked whales poke holes in the sand,
searching for their prey.
- [Tony] Yet these holes seem like
they would be too small to be made by a whale.
So perhaps they're from some yet undiscovered beast.
Home to thousands of species
and running north to south from the Arctic
to the lower tip of Africa,
the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is about 10,000 miles long.
Yet it's not done growing.
The ridge spreads about an inch a year.
With such a large reach,
it still holds so many unsolved mysteries.
Will our ocean holes remain one of them?
(pulsating suspenseful music)
Geologist Dr. Bob Anderson looks into whether
these holes could be the result of manmade technology.
- There are a lot of not just cables across the ocean floor,
but piping for oil companies,
and this looks like it could be something manmade
where the cable is coming up to the surface
and you can see parts of it.
- [Tony] However, Anderson says there is a big but.
- If it was an active gas line,
you would believe that we'd see it active all the time,
because the gas would be flowing through the pipes,
but you don't see that.
- [Tony] So what about a manmade
or alien-made underwater structure?
Marine Biologist Dr. Shea Steingass sinks that theory.
- If this were the remnants of
some mysterious underwater lab,
I think we'd see more elements to it
than just these small series of holes here.
As it is, this seems like a relatively small feature.
- [Tony] Steingass also takes a bite out of this
having anything to do with marine life feeding habits.
- There are some kinds of animals like beaked whales
that use suction feeding to actually suck their prey
out of the ocean substrate.
And I would say that's pretty unlikely
because of the formation of these particular structures.
- [Tony] Here you can see what scientists believe
are the markings left by a beaked whale on the sea floor.
The tracks are not as rectangular
or as evenly arranged as the straight line of divots
in the MAR.
So if these uncanny ocean holes do not originate from man
nor beast nor alien, what's left?
Anderson says the answer is the Earth itself.
- When you have these tectonic plates
that are shifting and moving,
they could cause a little fissures opening up.
And when that happens,
these gases trapped inside these areas
get released pretty fast.
- [Tony] The release of the gases creates a void
into which the sediment above collapses.
When pit craters form along a fissure or fracture lines,
they can develop into what's known as a pit chain.
- [Bob] The pit chain usually are big enough where
people can go into them.
They're like caves into the ground.
These are like miniature pit chains.
- Our verdict?
We will lean on Anderson and call these ocean fissures
that have created mini pit chains.
Similar pit chains have been discovered on Mars
and other neighboring celestial bodies.
And because our oceans can have similar conditions
to those on other planets,
we are able to see a little bit of cosmic wonder
right here on Earth.
we are able to see a littlare all around us.nd- Any
Radio, TV, cell towers,
just another part of the modern landscape, right?
But when they pop up in off-limit places
and nobody knows who put them there or why,
you can bet we'll be tuning to investigate.
January 2023, it is a crisp winter day
in the Wasatch Mountains around Salt Lake City, Utah.
A group of hikers is taking in the scenic views
when they come across something peculiar on the trail ahead.
They take out their cameras and get a snapshot of this.
It's a six-foot-tall fiberglass antenna
attached to what appears to be a solar panel
and a battery pack,
none of which feature any official markings
or indication that this antenna is supposed to be here.
But what's even stranger, it's not alone.
According to Journalist MJ Banias,
about a dozen of these antenna have been found
scattered throughout
the mountain ranges of Salt Lake City.
- The Salt Lake City Department of Public Lands
has no idea who put them there.
No one has filed for a permit to put these towers up.
So it's definitely a bit of a mystery.
- [Tony] Authorities began to speculate about
what this could be.
- One of the theories is that
these devices are what we call a stingray.
A stingray is basically a device that is able to
trick your cellphone into thinking that
it's speaking to a cell tower,
when in fact it's speaking to one of these antenna.
If that happens,
the stingray is able to collect data off of your phone,
record phone calls, look at text messages,
anything that's sent over the network.
And essentially a person tries to use their phone,
it connects to the criminal stingray,
and that criminal is able to then collect data.
- [Tony] If these are stingrays, who could be the target?
Banias notes
one of the country's most vital intelligence organizations,
the National Security Agency,
is known to operate a large data center near Salt Lake City.
- We know from a 2016 report that came out that
that specific facility in Utah is hacked
as much as 300 million times a day by foreign hacker groups
or local hacker groups trying to extract information.
So there's a lot of interest in the NSA's facility there,
both from outside powers as well as internal groups
that just simply want to have access to that information.
- This isn't the first time
a mysterious object has popped up in Utah.
You may remember we previously covered
the story of this large, shiny, silver pillar.
Many speculated it was of alien origin.
We determined it was likely an art installation or hoax.
But this antenna looks more practical
and frankly a little scarier.
Let's see if our experts can put our mind at ease.
(somber mysterious music)
We asked Physicist Michio Kaku, could this be a stingray?
- I don't see anything like that here.
Nothing that sophisticated.
You have a solar panel, but they're very cheap.
You can even make an antenna by yourself.
And there's a power supply and a processor
that you can get off the shelf at an electronic store.
If I was an agent
wanting to eavesdrop upon American military facilities,
I would want a much more powerful device here.
And not only that, I would've concealed this equipment.
There's no attempt to hide this thing at all
from prying eyes.
We're talking about a pretty amateurish setup.
- [Tony] Since stingrays intercept cellphone data,
they're equipped to operate in 4G or 5G platforms
like most cellphones.
But as Science Writer Mick West points out,
the antenna discovered here
seemed designed for something else entirely.
- This is a long-range antenna,
typical of the types of antennas
that are used for Lora Wan,
which is Long Range Wide Area Network,
which is basically a kind of a digital network
commonly used to mine cryptocurrency
by providing internet services
in areas where there is no coverage.
- [Tony] If the 21st century economy
wasn't funky enough for you already, dig this.
These internet hotspots are set up
to support a new cryptocurrency called Helium.
Helium networks use long range wide area networks
to support their crypto exchange.
People who set up hardware that support
and expand that network coverage, like these antenna,
are paid in crypto tokens
whenever their hotspot is used by the network.
The more traffic across your network, the more tokens.
And though these Helium miners may not have permission,
they do have location, location, location.
- Just simply by providing this service in this location
which doesn't have any other stations,
they get all of the tokens,
and so it can be quite lucrative.
- [Tony] Kaku concurs.
He says, "This explains the location of these devices
on an isolated trail at elevations over 7,000 feet."
- There's big bucks now for people that have
tremendous amounts of these antennas
and in the middle of nowhere
where they can receive and send large amounts of information
and gamble on the value of cryptocurrency.
And so I think that this is consistent with
an attempt to make money.
- Our verdict?
Cryptocurrency mining.
We think West's and Kaku's
assessment of the homemade nature of these devices
fits the bill.
But as for how the individuals responsible
got these up there or if they even turned a profit,
that will have to go unexplained for now.
got these up there or if they even turned a profd evie
in criminal investigations
dates back to a murder investigation in 1862.
Almost a full century later,
the term Bigfoot was first coined in 1958,
and from then on
the two fields would be forever intertwined.
While there's no murder in our next story,
we sure could use a detective.
March 2021, Denali National Park and Preserve, Alaska.
Park rangers are hiking across the frozen tundra
when they come across something they had never seen before.
A strange group of footprints sits frozen on the Alaska ice.
Adding to the mystery, the four-toed prints appear to be
on top of the ice rather than in it.
The scale of the large prints is evident in
the compacted snow oddly left behind.
Many online sleuths believe these prints could be
between 16 and 18 inches long
with the spaces between each footprint appearing to average
around three feet.
Field Researcher Cliff Barackman,
who runs the North American Bigfoot Center,
knows a thing or two about mysterious footprints.
- When you look at the footprints in the photographs,
they poke above the ground.
That's unusual.
Now could they actually be in a bipedal fashion?
And certainly the snow screams, "Yeti."
- [Tony] There are plenty of stories and evidence
to suggest that a Sasquatch-like humanoid
could thrive in the frozen tundras like that of Alaska.
The indigenous people of the Himalayas coined the term Yeti
to describe an ape-like bipedal creature
they believed to be stalking the icy cold mountaintops.
And the Alaskan natives had their own name
for a similar creature they called Nantinaq,
which translates to half-man, half-beast.
- One particular story from Alaska.
Hunters shot a moose and tracked it,
and when they got to the area there was blood everywhere
and 18-inch long footprints,
but no sign of the moose whatsoever.
Whatever left 18-inch footprints brought the moose with it.
- [Tony] But according to Barackman,
there could be another explanation for these prints
that many say are downright wolf-like, but huge.
- Some people have suggested that
these footprints represent that of a dire wolf.
These things were big.
Their skulls were over 12 inches long
and their teeth dwarfed those of modern day wolves.
- [Tony] The dire wolves were the largest canids
during the Pleistocene era,
and although extinct a Montana rancher
recently reported encountering one.
He was even successful in hunting it.
Although DNA evidence revealed
it was in fact just a large gray wolf.
- Could it be that we have some sort of ice age remnant here
leaving footprints through Denali National Park?
- The dire wolf could weigh up to 200 pounds
and grow to up to six feet long.
And while they are usually associated with
the modern day gray wolf,
the dire wolf's DNA actually has
more in common with today's African jackals.
But is it a wolf or a Bigfoot that left those prints
in the snow?
Our experts tell us what's afoot.
(somber music)
We sat down with Biologist Floyd Hayes
to make sure that these prints were in fact
not left behind by a known species such as a bear.
- A problem with that is that this is in the month of March.
These tracks have been there for a while
and at this time of the year, those bears would be asleep.
They basically hibernate during the winter months.
- [Tony] Hayes points out that the shape of the prints
do not align with that of a typical grizzly.
- These footprints look more like a canid,
which is a dog of the family Canidae.
In bear tracks you typically see five toes,
whereas in dogs you normally see only four toes
because the fifth toe doesn't quite reach the ground.
- [Tony] If these tracks were made by
a member of the Canidae family,
how could they appear bipedal?
Hayes explains.
- When a dog walks, it often places its hind foot
in the same position as its front foot
and they often create a single line of tracks
that are slightly offset from each other.
- [Tony] So could these be the prints of
a long-lost dire wolf?
Hayes says that big bad wolf
needed a massive steady supply of fresh meat.
- The dire wolf formally preyed on
large species of grazing mammals,
but after they became extinct,
the dire wolf didn't really have much of a food supply left
and it too became extinct.
- [Tony] But that still doesn't rule out
the possibility that these prints could belong to
some Sasquatch-like beast such as the Yeti.
Anthropology Professor and Bigfoot Expert Jeff Meldrum
first breaks down how these strange prints could be
perfectly preserved, pedestalled atop a giant sheet of ice
rather than sunk into it.
- When a footprint compresses that snow,
it makes it much more resistant both to melting,
but also to wind erosion.
The wind has just scoured away the loose snow,
leaving behind the compacted snow beneath the footprint.
- [Tony] This process could possibly make footprints
appear like they were left behind by an animal much larger
than the actual culprit,
but they also preserve some key hidden details.
- Primates don't have individual digital pads.
You can see the individual digital pads
as well as the larger pad of the hind foot of this canid.
The pattern is very recognizable.
So this is absolutely a gray wolf and not a Sasquatch.
- So our verdict?
These weren't made by a Sasquatch or a giant dire wolf,
just one of the 10,000 gray or
black wolves living in Alaska
with some help
from the snow drift
to make its paw prints appear larger.
from the snow drift most UFO encounters,to
it's usually just one person who happens to be
at the right place at the right time.
However, this next incident got a lot of buzz recently
because it was seen over two days by multiple people.
So we've got different perspectives of
the same strange phenomenon,
but do they lead to the same answer?
December 1st, 2022, Fredonia, Wisconsin.
It's just before 11:00 p.m. and after working a long day,
Ken B. is out for a stroll.
- So I was walking outside and it's very dark.
We do not have street lights or anything like that
in the area.
- [Tony] Suddenly something dashes above Ken
in the night sky, so he pulls out his cellphone
and captures this.
A group of four lights quickly streak across the sky.
- And they appeared from behind me, went across the sky.
You could see a little flash of light
right before they disappeared.
- [Tony] Then five more lights moving a little more slowly,
make the same startling motion.
- It was kind of a creepy experience.
I'd be kidding you if I said it wasn't.
- [Tony] The following evening,
Chris Nowak is 40 miles south
in Greenfield, Wisconsin
where he records these mysterious lights in the sky.
- They would pulse through and race incredibly quickly.
It was like this charge of light that would go through
from as far back as we could see
in literally a second or two.
It really seemed to defy logical explanation.
- [Tony] Did Ken and Chris witness
the same mysterious phenomenon?
Could it be alien?
Writer Amy Teitel says, "It's not crazy to think so,
especially if you know Wisconsin."
- You can understand why someone would think
this is something otherworldly
because Wisconsin has an incredible amount
of UFO sightings
going back to the 1950s.
- [Tony] Teitel notes that
one of the most controversial sightings
took place in the mid-1960s near Green Bay.
- For four nights in a row,
eyewitnesses observed and filmed UFO activity.
But when they reported those incidents
to the National Guard, all of their films were confiscated.
In the years that followed,
the individuals tried to figure out
what it was they were seeing,
but none of them were ever given straight answers.
- [Tony] Wisconsin has been a UFO hotspot for so long
that over 70 years ago, husband and wife,
Jim and Coral Lorenzen, formed a group known as
the Aerial Phenomena Research Organization
to document UFO cases from all around the state.
Do these sightings qualify to make the list?
Let's see what our experts say.
(somber music)
Have Ken and Chris documented
another extraordinary moment in Wisconsin UFO history?
Rich Hoffman wants to believe, but in this case he can't.
- There's no instantaneous acceleration that was visible.
These were consistently moving
at not even hypersonic speeds.
The lights were moving across the sky
and going in a relatively normal pattern.
There's nothing here that looks extraterrestrial.
- [Tony] Time to call in our super sleuth,
Science Writer and Video Analyst Mick West.
And right off the bat
he's sure this isn't any video trickery.
- Chris and Ken's sightings are similar in that
we see clouds in both videos
and we see lights that move around,
- [Tony] But it's the way the lights change shape
as they move through the cloud cover
that gives the biggest clue in Ken's video.
- If you point a light straight up at something,
it's a nice round spot.
If it's at an angle, the further away they get,
the more stretched out they will get.
And as they get closer in,
we see they get shorter and shorter.
- [Tony] This indicates the lights are being projected from
a fixed point on the ground.
But what about the jumpier lights in the Greenfield video?
- We've all used a laser pointer and had our cats chase it.
I think what we're looking at here looks like
lights that are being shone up from below onto the clouds.
- [Tony] So what is the source of these lights?
Ken and Chris's videos were filmed at different times
and 40 miles apart.
West investigates Ken's video first
and learns of another eyewitness to his exact same sighting,
so he plots the coordinates.
- Now the good thing is we have another witness.
We know which road she was on
and we know roughly what direction she was looking in,
so we can stick her location on the map.
And she was actually in a very different location,
way down here towards West Bend.
So now we've got two lines of sight
from two different people.
- [Tony] Knowing approximately where the lights came from,
West makes a final call.
- I contacted the local Chamber of Commerce and they said
the Flanders family have an annual light show,
which they do for charity every year,
and the location of it is more or less
where these two lines cross.
And they had the spotlights
mounted on the roof of the house
and it's in every way, it is a match.
- [Tony] It turns out this alien invasion is just
a celebration of holiday cheer.
- I think that Ken was looking at
the Flanders family Christmas lights
and I think that Chris was looking at
a different set of Christmas lights about 40 miles away.
- Our verdict? Christmas spotlights.
It took some detective work,
but we see that given the known cloud cover that day,
West's interpretation makes sense.
And since it t'was the season for holiday lights,
we think that was the reason.
And that's our show for tonight.
Please send us any and all of your puzzling videos
and be sure to keep those cameras rolling.
(dramatic music)