00:00Does an ape man walk the uncharted forests of America's northwest?
00:25What unknown monster of the sea grappled with this U.S. Navy frigate in South American waters?
00:34Why did people raise up this enormous circle of stones in Orkney 4,000 years ago?
00:39Who drew this giant, the largest figure in the world, on Chile's loneliest mountain?
00:48What hands fashioned the skull of doom?
00:51Does it bring death?
00:55Why do stones move by themselves in California's Death Valley?
01:02Mysteries from the files of Arthur C. Clarke, author of 2001 and inventor of the communications
01:07satellite.
01:08Now in retreat in Sri Lanka after a lifetime of science, space, and writing, he ponders
01:13the riddles of this and other worlds.
01:17Mysteries have intrigued and amused me ever since I was a child and read stories of fishes
01:22falling from the heavens, of giant sea monsters attacking ships, and luminous shapes moving
01:29through the skies.
01:32Over the years, I've classified them in order of strangeness as mysteries of the first,
01:38second, and third kinds.
01:41Even in this small island, there are extraordinary things on every side.
01:46Fifteen hundred years ago, a king of Sri Lanka built this fantastic staircase.
01:52Why?
01:53We can only guess.
01:57This was a lost world for a thousand years.
02:00We may never know its purpose.
02:03What made a tyrant king create this palace with its pleasure gardens in the sky?
02:09For me, it's a starting point in a journey through our mysterious world.
02:39Well, here we are in the middle of India on a beautiful, bright, sunny day.
02:50Yet, we're waiting for one of the most awe-inspiring phenomenon that the whole natural world can
02:55show, a total eclipse of the sun, a splendid example of a mystery of the first kind.
03:00In a few minutes, this brightly lit landscape will become perfectly dark.
03:06Of course, this still terrifies many people, and indeed, even to a modern civilized man,
03:13it's quite an awe-inspiring experience.
03:16We know that the sun is 400 times bigger than the moon, but also 400 times further away.
03:23So by this very strange coincidence, the moon can almost exactly cover the sun at certain
03:29times of its orbit around the earth, and that gives us a total eclipse.
03:35So this is a mystery which has been solved, and at the same time, there are a good many
03:38scientific mysteries about the sun which have not been solved, which is why astronomers,
03:44you see here, travel all around the world, so they can observe this wonderful phenomenon,
03:49which is of great scientific interest.
03:51No, it's aluminum foil, aluminum foil, two pieces.
04:21Already, the light on this landscape, which was so brilliantly illuminated half an hour
04:33ago by the full tropical sun, is fading to a sort of grey.
04:36Did you hear that, the cock crowing?
04:39Already, the animals know that something strange is happening.
04:42In fact, the level of light here at the moment is something like that of Mars on a fairly
04:48bright day, and it's quite cold now.
04:52I can feel when the wind blows, I feel as though I'm back in England.
04:58Less than a minute to go now, like a door closing with a great light behind it, a curved
05:02door hanging up there in space.
05:05The moon has almost completely covered the sun.
05:10The last light is beginning to go.
05:18Just a tiny, narrow thread of light, that's all.
05:23There are streams around me, people are scared of what's happening.
05:27The landscape around us fades out.
05:35Only the very narrowest thread now.
05:39Just a few seconds left.
05:45It's going, going, going, gone.
05:55Eye patch is off.
05:57There is the corona, the most glorious sight, a great crown of light, the solar corona.
06:06There are streamers of light stretching out around it, and very bright bursts of flame
06:12near the edge itself.
06:14It's still quite bright.
06:15We can see the landscape around us, as though it's probably a bright moonlight night as
06:21far as the illumination is concerned, because the light from the corona is so intense.
06:29I can't see any other stars except Venus and little Mercury.
06:36Of course, the longer one looks, the more detail one sees.
06:40You can tell that there are enormous magnetic forces at play there because of the way these
06:44streamers follow lines, like lines of filing around a magnet.
06:50Now you can just see the sun coming, it's all ended, a burst of light, the diamond ring,
06:55as they'll call it, just a single spot of light, as the sun shines through one of the
06:59lunar valleys.
07:00It does it like a diamond ring in the sky, and now it's all over.
07:07That wonderful eclipse is what I call a mystery of the first kind.
07:11It was a mystery to our ancestors, but not to us.
07:14We know exactly how it was caused.
07:17Yet tragically, millions of Indians failed to see it because they were terrified and
07:22stayed indoors and so missed the spectacle of a lifetime.
07:27We can enjoy an eclipse without fear, yet not without awe.
07:32However, this series is mostly about what I call mysteries of the second kind.
07:38There we don't have the answers, though we may have many clues.
07:43The first example I'm going to give is a literally striking one.
07:47It took place on another beach in Scotland a few years ago.
07:58It was in 1966 that a terrifying visitation came to the beach cafe where Mrs. Jean Meldrum
08:05and her mother, Mrs. Evelyn Murdoch, were working.
08:07I looked up because I heard this noise getting louder and louder, and it was just like a
08:13ball of fire.
08:14It was like orange in the middle, and it was luminous white round, and it rolled right
08:17along the side of the cafe, the wall in the cafe, and it came to the window, and it came
08:22out the window.
08:23And I came up, lifted up the window to have a look to see what this was, and the thing
08:27came out the window and battered across the front of my chest, and then it just, well,
08:31it vanished because I picked the kid up and I went inside because everybody was panicking
08:34by this time.
08:35But I was sore for days after it, and just there was nothing else to see after it had
08:39gone, but it was just like a big ball of fire.
08:42All of a sudden, the whole kitchen that I was standing in just lit up luminous white.
08:48I couldn't understand.
08:49It was very frightening, and then the people, the screaming went on till the beach was empty,
08:55the cafe, people had all run out of the cafe.
08:58They ran out like lightning, and the beach attendant who had a wooden leg, he usually
09:02sat on a table just next to the counter, and you never send him out so quick in all your
09:07life.
09:08He was gone with the rest.
09:10And the following day, I discovered the two gas jets on the top of the cooker were cut
09:15right through, and we had to send it to the blacksmith in Creel, the local blacksmith,
09:19to be repaired.
09:22This man, Professor Roger Jennison, who's in charge of Kent University's radio telescope,
09:27collects such tales.
09:28Indeed, he's had such an experience himself, on board Eastern Airlines Flight 539, coming
09:34into Washington one stormy night.
09:36Well, all of a sudden, just after one of the more intense crashes of lightning, there appeared
09:42from the pilot's compartment a most beautiful blue ball, about the size of a football, near
09:49enough the size of a football, a lovely thing, which moved at a slow pace, about this sort
09:54of speed, down the aisle of the aircraft, a fast walking pace, and I could certainly
09:58feel no sensation of heat, although it passed at arm's length from my face.
10:04I suppose it must have been a few seconds, I can't remember exactly how long thereafter,
10:08but the air hostess came clambering up the aisle, she flopped into my lap, she put her
10:13arms around my neck, and she said, did you see that St. Elmo's fire?
10:17Well, I tried to console her that it wasn't St. Elmo's fire she'd seen, that St. Elmo's
10:22fire, by the way, are the beautiful crown that you see over the tops of the master ships
10:26and things like that, but this indeed was ball lightning, we'd indeed been very, very
10:29fortunate to see at very close quarters, ball lightning actually travelling down the middle
10:35of a screened aircraft.
10:38Ball lightning is still a major scientific mystery, in fact, until quite recently, many
10:43scientists refused to admit that it even existed.
10:48In the case of other mysteries of the second kind, we often have quite good films and photographs,
10:53yet we are still arguing about their interpretation.
10:59Does this film, shot in 1936, show the Loch Ness Monster?
11:05Did it surface once more, 41 years later, to be captured again by the camera?
11:12Is this the footprint of the Yeti, the abominable snowman of the Himalayas?
11:18And does this shaky film, taken in a forest in Northern California, really show Bigfoot,
11:23another ape man who has so far eluded all his pursuers?
11:30This strange light which flew over Southern England near Aylesbury remains unidentified,
11:35but was it a spacecraft from another planet?
11:38This gruesome corpse was trawled up by fishermen in the South Pacific.
11:42Is it what it appears to be, an unknown monster of the sea?
11:46When the camera seems to capture an African snake twice as long as any ever recorded,
11:52or a missing link killed by explorers in South America,
11:58or an unknown species of big cat roaming the plains of Africa,
12:02can we believe the evidence the film conveys?
12:06Apart from the films and photographic evidence for these mysteries of the second kind,
12:12there are perplexed and often frightened eyewitnesses who'd like an answer just as much as I would.
12:18Water bailiff Alex Campbell reports he's seen the Loch Ness Monster 18 times.
12:23His closest encounter came one night as he rode in a boat with a policeman friend, Constable John Fraser.
12:29There was this terrific upsurge of water, terrific.
12:36I knew right away what it was, but poor John Fraser didn't, and he was scared stiff.
12:43And he said, what in the name of heaven is that?
12:46Oh, I said, don't worry, John, it's OK. It'll be OK.
12:51I said, it's messy.
12:53Oh, that calmed him down a bit.
12:56But this surge kept going on, and then after what seemed to be two or three minutes,
13:03the surge still going on, we heard it breathing.
13:09And it was fantastic itself, that, because it sounded exactly like a horse
13:15that had been running, and it was sounded like this.
13:20Just like that.
13:26This Belgian helicopter pilot, Colonel Remy van Lerde, was menaced by a gigantic snake.
13:32He was operating in the Congo.
13:34Now, when I came down on that snake in his hole,
13:38when approaching it at the minimum speed, I would say at 20, 25 miles,
13:43and I would say at about 25, 30 feet up, the snake raised up by about, I would say, 10 feet.
13:52And I could very clearly and closely see the head, which was looking,
13:56and I could not make a better comparison with a very large horse,
14:02with big, very, very big jaws, looking triangular.
14:06And you're just standing up like that to me, and I feel, and I'm convinced,
14:11if I had been in its range, it would have struck at me, it would have been striking me.
14:19The Holmes family believe they came face to face with the legendary Serpent of the Sea.
14:24We were going along, and all of a sudden we heard a disturbance in the water,
14:28and saw this mound come up out of the water.
14:31Well, you've seen these motorway tractor units with very large tyres,
14:36five feet in diameter, that sort of situation.
14:38Well, if you can imagine one of those being released from below the water,
14:42and then shooting up under its own propulsion, yes.
14:46We could see that it had two shallow humps, they were three or four feet long,
14:54and then it had a small head, it had a thin neck and a small head,
14:58which was dipping in the water and looking around.
15:01What it was, we'll never know, never seen anything like it in our lives.
15:06It was like some sort of prehistoric monster that you see, it's a huge size, absolutely huge, incredible.
15:12Yes, there's something very strange in the seas, without any doubt, it's a huge thing.
15:19Well, we've started to investigate some of these mysteries,
15:22where a little work or logical deduction might help to solve them.
15:26Of course, where the evidence is lacking, they may remain mysteries of the second kind forever.
15:36The steamy airport at Palmasur, set deep in banana country, near Costa Rica's border with Panama.
16:07Dr Luis Gomez is director of Costa Rica's National Museum.
16:12He's flown in to hunt for any clue which might explain one of the world's most intractable mysteries,
16:17the giant stone balls of Costa Rica.
16:20Huge and uncannily perfect spheres, handmade and of unknown origin.
16:26They're even beside the airport runway.
16:29But Gomez's goal lies in the heart of the banana plantations,
16:33where an archaeologist has reported a new find.
16:51For 50 years since the giant stone balls were first brought to their attention,
16:55archaeologists have travelled here hopefully,
16:58but none has arrived at any explanation of their purpose or their date.
17:03In charge of this dig is Mike Snaskis.
17:09Hello, Mike.
17:10Luis.
17:11How are you?
17:12It's about time you're here. This is hard work.
17:13I imagine so. Is this heat?
17:14No, listen, this is something.
17:16We found not only this one, which looks to be about the size of the one that's in the Palmar airport,
17:20but also over here about 100 yards, another large one.
17:24Right here, behind you, still another.
17:27I think it's been broken, but looks large as well.
17:30We probably have the arrangement that we read about years ago of balls in lines.
17:36There's absolutely nothing to tell who made the spheres or when or why.
17:40Bewildered archaeologists can merely clutch at straws.
17:43The fact that they are in lines brings into my mind the possibility
17:48that they represent actual maps of constellations, for instance.
17:54That's my favourite theory, but I don't know what...
17:58Mike?
17:59Mike, what do you think these stone balls were made for?
18:04Well, Luis, that's a difficult question.
18:08Now, I, as an archaeologist, should know better than anyone what these balls represent.
18:14And, in fact, I know almost nothing.
18:17More than 1,500 giant stone balls have so far been found,
18:21the biggest 8 feet across and weighing 16 tonnes.
18:25The granite they are made from has been brought from mountains many miles away.
18:29They are mathematically precise and must have taken years to grind down
18:33with nothing more than stone tools and abrasives.
18:36Today, they are the Costa Rican equivalent of the garden gnome.
18:40Dozens have been carried off to the capital, San Jose, to adorn important buildings.
18:45Others have been smashed by treasure hunters inspired by talk of hidden gold.
18:51But many still lie half buried in the jungle and banana groves,
18:55where an unknown people placed them in a forgotten era.
18:59In half a century of painstaking work,
19:01not one real clue has emerged to explain the giant stone balls of Costa Rica.
19:06As you can see, we know nothing about the stone spheres.
19:10They remain and will remain for many years to come.
19:14A very true mystery.
19:21A few clues and a little logical deduction
19:25may, however, have helped this German scientist
19:28to find an astonishing explanation for another group of mysterious objects from the past.
19:35Dr. Arne Egerbricht, director of the Hildesheim Museum,
19:39took us to Munich to an exhibition of treasures from ancient Iraq.
19:45There, modestly displayed, are three relics from old Baghdad.
19:49Dr. Egerbricht believes they prove that ancient people developed technology
19:542,000 years ahead of its time.
19:57These three curious objects were found in 1936
20:02during excavations in Baghdad, in Iraq,
20:06and they were found altogether.
20:10One in the other.
20:12Now, here you have, first of all, a ceramic pot,
20:16and in this pot was put this copper cylinder,
20:19and in this copper cylinder, again,
20:22this iron rod was found.
20:26On top and on the bottom of this copper cylinder,
20:31there was found bitumen.
20:34And if you take all these things together,
20:37this can only mean for a scientist
20:40that you have here an electric cell or a battery.
20:44The remarkable thing is that these objects are 2,200 years old.
20:49That means 2,000 years before electricity was invented in Europe, in Italy.
20:59In this experiment, part of an Iron Age fort is recreated in northern Scotland.
21:04Under test is an extraordinary claim
21:07that the ancient fort builders managed to produce
21:10almost incredible temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees centigrade
21:14and so melt stones and turn them to impregnable glass.
21:21With American Richard Brinkehoff,
21:23we walked on the very lintels of a great stone circle
21:27to investigate his theory that Stonehenge was an observatory.
21:32And the rude man of Cern may, after many centuries,
21:36yield up his true identity.
21:38Well, I think he's a Celtic god, really.
21:41A sex symbol.
21:43We did have one girl that had been married for about seven years
21:48and hadn't managed to have a child,
21:51so we told her to go and sit on the giant.
21:53Apparently, you're supposed to sit up low.
21:55I don't know whether she did that or not.
21:57But the next spring, she was pregnant.
21:59I look at him every day.
22:01I think he is a sex symbol because he does wonders for me.
22:06The secret of who he is may lie in the soil
22:09beneath the turf from which the giant is cut.
22:19Our tests, using the latest scientific techniques,
22:22reveal that the giant, who looks like this today,
22:26may once have looked like this.
22:29The clue to his name and date lies in the line under his arm.
22:34A mystery of the third kind is something where we just haven't a clue.
22:38It's absolutely unaccountable.
22:41If they exist,
22:43psychic phenomena would be mysteries of the third kind.
22:47However, some events are so strange
22:49that they seem like mysteries of the third kind
22:52with no rational answers.
22:54But perhaps we can provide some clues.
22:56What would you think if this sort of thing happened to you?
23:00I was coming up this road. I was coming north.
23:03I was just about a block away
23:05when all of a sudden a fish fell right to my right hand,
23:08the left-hand side of the car.
23:10I saw the fish. I saw the fish fall out of the sky.
23:13I kept driving. I was very amazed.
23:16And when I got here, at this location here,
23:19the yard was just absolutely covered with fish.
23:22And I was amazed. I stopped.
23:25And just about that time, other people started getting here.
23:28And everybody was just amazed at the whole thing.
23:30They just couldn't believe it.
23:32They couldn't believe that the fish had just dropped out of the sky.
23:35We heard something thudding against the umbrella.
23:37And when we looked, to our amazement,
23:39it was a shower of frogs.
23:41And they still were coming from the sky.
23:43There were hundreds of them.
23:45Our umbrella was covered. All our shoulders were covered.
23:48And as we looked up, we could see them.
23:50We happened to be in the dining room.
23:52First of all, we heard this terrific clatter.
23:55It was an awful noise, wasn't it?
23:57Yes.
23:59We rushed out and went down into the garden,
24:03and presently a load of broad-bean seed came over.
24:07And we both ducked.
24:09You ducked down because they're fairly big, broad-bean seed.
24:13And then you got a little bit annoyed about it.
24:18I turned round to the wife and I said,
24:20Well, this is bloody silly.
24:22I couldn't help it.
24:24Looking around, we found they were in the middle of a shower
24:27of hazelnuts coming from the sky.
24:30And they were dropping on the cars,
24:34falling in the gutter, and I should think
24:36there would be as many as we saw, about 350 of them.
24:40It was very clear, and the sky was blue,
24:43and it was one small cloud.
24:45But there was no aeroplanes or anything like that about
24:48for them to come down from there.
24:50How they came and where they came from, I have no idea.
24:54But I have thought that it might be a vortex that sucked them up.
24:58I don't know where you suck up hazelnuts in March.
25:02Our universe is such a strange and wonderful place
25:05that reality will always outrun the wildest imagination.
25:09¶¶ ¶¶
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