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Mysteries Unearthed With Danny Trejo - Season 2 Episode 12 -Digging Up Trouble
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00:12Mysteries can be buried anywhere, under the earth, beneath the sea, or even right under
00:22our own feet. And when we stumble upon them, sometimes what we find can change history.
00:34Tonight, we're digging up all kinds of trouble from a mysterious potion. Floating inside are
00:41rusty nails and hair. The liquid is not rum, not wine. It's 200-year-old human urine.
00:49To a backyard discovery that nearly ends with a bang. They go pale. She yells out to him,
00:56stop, that might be a bomb. To a cursed relic, flushed and forgotten. What they did to incur
01:07such a horrible curse was serious enough that the person went ahead and invoked Satan along with two
01:14demons. Join us now, because nothing stays hidden forever.
01:30There are a few rules that come with hunting for scrap metal. Follow the law, use a magnet,
01:36and most important, if it glows, let it go. On September 13th, 1987, in Guiana, Brazil,
01:48two scavenger hunters are combing through an abandoned hospital to see if they can find anything
01:53valuable. As they go through the hallways and patients' rooms, they're looking for metal that
01:59they can sell for scrap. After a long day of searching, though, they have little to show for
02:05it. So they decide to pack up and head home. But on their way out, they encounter what looks like
02:11a machine with a large stainless steel casing.
02:17There's just one problem. It's way too big to haul out.
02:21These guys aren't going to just walk away from a payday. So they grab screwdrivers and hammers and
02:27start taking the machine apart.
02:30Piece by piece, they load the parts into a rusty wheelbarrow and head for home.
02:36Soon the guys start feeling sick, vomiting, diarrhea, and dizziness. They chalk it up to
02:43something they ate and try to soldier on. Later, they haul it over to a junk dealer to sell it
02:50for a
02:50profit. The merchant then stashes the parts in his garage for safekeeping.
02:57That night, the dealer walks into his garage and he sees something strange. He sees a faint blue light
03:04glowing from a canister in the scrap pile. As he approaches, he notices that the source of the
03:10light is what looks like a powder made up of crushed gemstones.
03:15He takes the canister home and he shows it off to friends and family. His old neighborhood turns
03:21out to see this mysterious substance. He passes out fragments as souvenirs and some of his friend's
03:27kids even rub it on their body like glitter.
03:32Over the next couple of days, several guests become sick. Some so much so, they're rushed to the hospital.
03:40But it's the same symptoms as the guys who discovered it. Nausea, dizziness, vomiting, diarrhea. This clearly
03:49is not food poisoning.
03:51The junk dealer's wife is the first to connect the dots. She takes the canister, goes to the local
03:57public health department, slams it on the counter, and tells anyone who's willing to listen,
04:02this is killing my family. Officials think they know what's going on. So they pull out a
04:07scintillation counter, a device used for measuring radiation. And when they point it at the canister,
04:12it lights up like a Christmas tree.
04:17The reading confirms their worst fear. It's not just radioactive. It's deadly.
04:24It turns out the machine that they dismantled was a radiotherapy unit designed to shrink tumors
04:31with controlled doses of radiation.
04:37And that canister, with the blue glow, contained the radioactive agent, cesium-137.
04:45Even scarier, now that it's been unleashed, dangerous amounts of radiation are spreading
04:51across the entire city.
04:55Government teams sweep the area in helicopters with radiation detectors. Traces of radiation
05:01are found as far as 100 miles away. And 40 homes are so contaminated, they have to be completely
05:08demolished.
05:12In the end, over 100,000 people are treated for radiation exposure, and four die from its effects.
05:20The cruel irony to all of this is that a machine that was designed to save people's lives
05:26ended up hurting an entire community.
05:31From a deadly glow in Brazil, to something far darker hidden in the California mountains,
05:37this next find reveals the troubling end to a sky-high mystery.
05:45It's September 29, 2008, in Mammoth Lakes, California. A sporting goods store manager named
05:52Preston Morrow is hiking with his dog through the Sierra Nevada mountains.
05:57On a whim, Preston decides to take a diversion off the main trail. He cuts through dense underbrush
06:05and steep terrain, and then something unusual catches his eye.
06:10He crouches down for a further look, and he sees a wallet with a pilot's license, a bunch
06:16of ID cards, and $1,000 in cash.
06:21Thinking that the items belong to a hiker, he decides to bring everything home with him
06:25to try and find the owner.
06:28Preston shows the items to his co-workers, and when they see the name on the ID,
06:34they're shocked.
06:37Steve Fawcett is a millionaire adventurer who has made headlines all over the world.
06:43He's climbed Mount Kilimanjaro. He swam the English Channel. He's raced hot air balloons
06:49with Richard Branson. This guy's a legend.
06:51But for the past year, Fawcett has been missing after he took off in a small single-engine airplane
06:58from the mountains in Nevada on September 3rd, 2007.
07:03It was supposed to be a short pleasure flight, but he was never heard from again.
07:09A massive search effort was put together to find any trace of the millionaire or his plane,
07:16but no trace was ever found.
07:20Fawcett's disappearance shocked the world, but among pilots, the Sierra Nevadas were known
07:25to be so dangerous that they had a chilling nickname for them, the Nevada Triangle.
07:32Much like the Marine Bermuda Triangle, where ships and sailors have often disappeared,
07:38in the Nevada Triangle, over 2,000 aircraft have been lost since World War II.
07:46Theories range from wormholes to alien abductions, but experts suggest a more down-to-earth explanation
07:54for Fawcett's disappearance.
07:57This area of the Sierra Nevadas is notorious for downdrafts.
08:03These are bursts of wind that can push with incredible force anything,
08:09especially small, light aircraft in the mountain passes.
08:16Thanks to Preston Morrow's discovery, investigators have their first real lead in nearly a year,
08:23sparking a new search for answers and a chance to finally solve the mystery.
08:28Search teams return to the area and eventually find Fawcett's plane,
08:33just a quarter mile from where his ID cards were found.
08:37And what they determined is that at full speed, Fawcett's plane slammed into the side of the mountain,
08:48completely destroying the plane in a second.
08:50Among the debris, searchers uncover the last piece of the puzzle.
08:55Two small bone fragments are recovered from the wreckage of the airplane.
09:01Their DNA matched to Steve Fawcett, proving that this millionaire adventurer,
09:07who had conquered so much of the natural world,
09:10ultimately met his fate in the Nevada Triangle.
09:20In 2018, Matthew Emanuel decides to have some landscaping done in his backyard in Staten Island.
09:27As workers clear space to install a fence,
09:30one of them notices a rusty metal box tangled in poison ivy.
09:34He calls Matthew over to get the sign off before moving this thing.
09:38And Matthew says, go right ahead,
09:40because it's been an eyesore for four years since he bought this property.
09:45He figured it was just an old electrical box.
09:47But as the landscaper clears away the ivy,
09:50he sees that there are no wires attached to this box.
09:54So he digs it out,
09:56flips it over,
09:59and notices a dial on top of it.
10:02This is not an electrical box.
10:05It's a safe.
10:07They forget about the fence and turn their attention to opening it.
10:13Inside the safe, they see a familiar face.
10:18Benjamin Franklin is staring back at them from several thick stacks of $100 bills.
10:25Three-inch thick stacks.
10:27They also find diamonds, jewelry, gold.
10:31This is a literal treasure trove.
10:34Matthew rushes inside, his hands shaking.
10:37He weighs the jewelry on his kitchen scale,
10:40and it's over a pound of gems and precious metals.
10:45He peels the damp bills apart and hangs them to dry.
10:48He counts them, and it adds up to $16,000 cash.
10:52And the gold, jewelry, and gemstones is worth probably even more.
10:58Just as Matthew starts dreaming about how to spend his unexpected windfall,
11:04he finds something else in the safe.
11:07Tucked in with the valuables and the money is a piece of paper with an address written on it.
11:13And it's the house two doors down.
11:15Matthew's neighbors are an older couple, and he heads off and he knocks on their door.
11:20When they open the door, he asks a simple question.
11:25Have you ever been robbed?
11:27Their answer is yes.
11:29Back in 2005, long before Matthew moved into the area, a thief began terrorizing the neighborhood.
11:37Over a 10-year period, 100 homes were burglarized, $4 million in cash and valuables stolen.
11:45The man behind that decade-long crime wave is Robert Costanzo,
11:50better known to the press as the Ninja Burglar.
11:53In 2016, he was caught and sentenced to 22 years in prison.
11:59As to how the safe ended up in Matthew's backyard, nobody can say for sure.
12:04But police believe that the thief was caught mid-heist.
12:08An alarm went off, and he took the safe and just ran.
12:12But it's not that easy to run with a 100-pound safe.
12:15So he ditched it in a neighbor's yard before making his escape.
12:21And there it sat for years unnoticed.
12:26When Matthew shows the recovered treasure to his neighbors, they're speechless.
12:31They're, of course, happy to get the cash back.
12:33But they are most relieved about the jewelry,
12:37most of which was family heirlooms that they thought had been lost forever.
12:41So, of course, Matthew returns everything to his neighbors.
12:46Police estimate that the total value of the cash and jewelry is around $52,000.
12:51But the value of doing the right thing?
12:55Priceless.
12:57Next, another unexpected backyard discovery.
13:01Only this one could wipe out an entire neighborhood.
13:08It's May 1st, 2021, and Sam and Pamela Coffey are clearing away grapevines in their backyard in Missouri.
13:17And as they do so, Pamela notices something odd sticking out of the newly disturbed dirt.
13:23It looks a little bit like a fish.
13:27So she picks it up, takes it inside to rinse it off.
13:32It looks like there are Japanese characters on it.
13:35And even after they've rinsed it, they still can't really read it well.
13:38So Sam gets out a knife and tries to scrape some of the dirt out of where the characters are.
13:45Pamela takes a couple of photographs of the object
13:48and runs it through an image recognition app.
13:51As Sam is poking and prodding this object,
13:54Pam's looking on the Internet and she goes pale.
13:57She yells out to him, stop, that might be a bomb.
14:01The search results are clear.
14:03It looks like a World War II Japanese Navy mortar.
14:07And it's in their kitchen.
14:09So Sam carefully picks it up,
14:12takes it out to the driveway,
14:14gently places it on the ground,
14:16and calls 911.
14:18Soon, the police, the ATF,
14:21and a bomb squad show up at their house.
14:24The blast radius of this thing
14:26is potentially 500 feet.
14:29The whole neighborhood's in danger now.
14:32A bomb disposal robot is deployed.
14:35It picks up the bomb,
14:36places it into a blast-proof truck,
14:39which drives it to a local Air Force base,
14:42where a few hours later,
14:43it's safely detonated.
14:49When news of the discovery gets out,
14:51the public is stunned.
14:53How did a live Japanese bomb end up in Missouri?
14:57Very quickly, a theory emerges
14:59that this device got to Missouri
15:01as a part of the Fugo campaign
15:03of 1944 and 1945,
15:06when the Japanese launched a barrage
15:10of over 9,000 balloons
15:12that were equipped with explosive devices.
15:15The idea is that these devices
15:17would make it to the U.S. mainland,
15:19drop and detonate in thick brush,
15:22starting forest fires
15:23and instigating widespread panic in the country.
15:29Most of these bombs
15:30never made it to the U.S. mainland,
15:33but some did.
15:33So possibly another one of these
15:36veered a little bit off course,
15:37landed in the dirt in Missouri,
15:38sank into the earth
15:40and stayed there, unexploded,
15:42until it was found 80 years later.
15:45Eventually, Sam and Pamela
15:46invest in a metal detector,
15:48and they go ahead
15:48and they scan their entire backyard.
15:51Fortunately, they don't come across
15:53any funny fish-shaped charges,
15:55and they've been free
15:56of any explosives ever since.
16:03In 2010,
16:05an elderly German man
16:06named Cornelius Gerlitt
16:08is stopped crossing
16:09the Swiss-German border
16:10with 9,000 euros in cash.
16:14It's just under
16:15the legal reporting threshold,
16:16so it catches their attention.
16:18They wave him on,
16:19but border agents
16:20report it to local authorities.
16:22Investigators decide to follow up
16:24and pay Cornelius a visit
16:26at his home
16:27in Munich, Germany.
16:29When the agents
16:30enter the apartment,
16:31they discover
16:32something astonishing.
16:35This modest apartment
16:37is stuffed floor-to-ceiling
16:39with art.
16:43We're talking about
16:44masterpieces
16:45by some of art's biggest names,
16:48names like Picasso
16:49and Monet.
16:51Altogether,
16:52the investigators find
16:53close to 1,200 pieces
16:54of artwork
16:55with an estimated worth
16:57of close to $1.4 billion.
17:01How did one of the world's
17:03greatest art collections
17:04end up in a tiny
17:06Munich apartment?
17:07The answer is shocking.
17:09Investigators realized
17:10that Cornelius Gerlitt
17:12is the son
17:13of Hildebrand Gerlitt,
17:14one of four art dealers
17:16that Nazis had commissioned
17:18to sell off
17:19what Hitler proclaimed
17:20to be degenerate art.
17:22This was mostly modern art
17:24deemed to be
17:25un-German by the Nazis.
17:27But some of the pieces
17:28had much darker origins.
17:31The Nazis
17:31systematically targeted
17:33Jewish families'
17:34private collections,
17:35forcing them
17:36to surrender the art
17:37through a combination
17:38of both extortion
17:39and outright theft.
17:41Jewish collectors
17:42faced impossible choices.
17:44Either sell
17:45their works of art
17:46for lower
17:47than their actual value
17:48to pay punitive
17:49Nazi taxes,
17:50or just watch
17:52their priceless collections
17:53be confiscated entirely.
17:55And it was Hildebrand
17:57who brokered everything.
17:58But it turns out
18:00Hildebrand kept a lot
18:02of the art
18:02for himself.
18:03In the years
18:04after the war,
18:05those who profited
18:06from the Nazi program
18:07were often prosecuted
18:09and forced to give back
18:10their dubiously
18:11acquired treasure.
18:12So Hildebrand
18:13kept quiet
18:14about his collection.
18:15And when he died
18:16in 1956,
18:18he passed it
18:18to his widow,
18:19who then later
18:20passed it to his son.
18:22Cornelius holds
18:23on to the art
18:24for over four decades
18:25until investigators
18:27seize the collection.
18:30Cornelius insists
18:31to authorities
18:32that his father
18:33acquired this art
18:35collection legally,
18:35but he agrees
18:37to cooperate
18:38in at least helping
18:39them determine
18:39the origin
18:40and provenance
18:41of these works.
18:42Then,
18:43in 2014,
18:45before investigators
18:47can press charges,
18:48Cornelius
18:49suddenly passes away
18:51and he leaves
18:52his entire collection
18:55worth over
18:56a billion dollars
18:57to the Museum
18:58of Fine Arts
18:59in Bern, Switzerland.
19:01With German authorities
19:03still investigating
19:04the art's proper ownership,
19:06the museum takes
19:07the collection
19:07with the promise
19:08to return any works
19:10looted from Jewish collectors.
19:12By 2020,
19:1314 stolen masterpieces
19:15find their way back
19:17to the descendants
19:18of Holocaust victims.
19:19with dozens more
19:20still under investigation.
19:22The rest of the collection,
19:24including hundreds
19:25of controversial masterpieces,
19:27are now being displayed
19:29in exhibits
19:30all around the world.
19:31The hope is that
19:32with each exhibition,
19:34someone somewhere
19:35might recognize
19:37something that belongs
19:38to their family.
19:43Hidden art
19:44isn't the only thing
19:45that can stir up trouble.
19:46In California,
19:48one discovery
19:49of the dirt
19:49does the same
19:50on a much bigger scale.
19:54In January of 1848,
19:57a carpenter
19:58named James Marshall
20:00is overseeing
20:01the construction
20:01of a sawmill
20:02along the American River
20:04in what is now
20:05Coloma, California.
20:06When he spots a problem,
20:09there's a blockage
20:11in the channel
20:12that carries water
20:13away from
20:14the mill's water wheel.
20:15and the wheel
20:16isn't turning.
20:18Marshall calls
20:19several of the workers
20:20over and they start
20:21digging to clear it out,
20:22get the flow going again.
20:23And suddenly,
20:24something catches
20:25Marshall's eye.
20:27Marshall is no geologist,
20:29but it looks like gold.
20:31Knowing that gold
20:32is malleable,
20:33he picks up
20:34a pea-sized pebble
20:35and pounds it
20:36with a rock.
20:38Instead of shattering,
20:39it bends.
20:41Marshall holds it up
20:41and shouts out
20:42to his crew,
20:43boys, by God,
20:44I believe I found
20:46a gold mine.
20:49Marshall brings
20:49the nugget
20:50to his boss,
20:51John Sutter,
20:52who also tests it
20:53and concludes
20:54that it's the real deal.
20:55The two men
20:56decide to keep
20:57the discovery quiet
20:58until the mill
20:59is finished
20:59and fully operational.
21:01Sutter's worried
21:02that if word gets out,
21:03that prospectors
21:04will come and
21:05overrun the property,
21:06prevent his men
21:07from getting
21:08the sawmill constructed.
21:09But Sutter
21:10just can't help himself.
21:13He ends up
21:14bragging
21:15about the discovery
21:16in a letter
21:17to a friend
21:17and very soon
21:20word gets out.
21:22By May,
21:23any man
21:24with enough strength
21:25to heft a pickaxe
21:27heads
21:27for Northern California
21:29in search
21:29of their fortune.
21:30Soon,
21:31talk of gold
21:32in California
21:33is spreading
21:34across the country.
21:35One army officer
21:37sends some
21:37of the gold east
21:38and it gets
21:39into the hands
21:40of President James Polk
21:41who refers to it
21:43in his State of the Union message.
21:45From here,
21:46the California
21:47gold rush
21:47takes off.
21:49Between 1849
21:50and 1855,
21:51an estimated
21:52750,000 pounds
21:54of gold
21:55are extracted
21:55from the ground,
21:57transforming
21:57the American West.
21:59Cities like
21:59San Francisco
22:00explode in size.
22:02and California
22:03becomes a state
22:04in 1850,
22:05just a few years
22:06after it was
22:07ceded by Mexico.
22:08While the gold rush
22:10brings riches
22:10to many,
22:11it's less prosperous
22:12for the two men
22:14who accidentally
22:15started it.
22:16Just as Sutter
22:17feared,
22:18his land
22:19is overtaken
22:20by rabid miners
22:21who are looking
22:21to strike it rich.
22:22They destroy
22:23his crops,
22:24eat his livestock,
22:25and bankrupt him.
22:27In 1850,
22:28having lost
22:29all of its workers
22:30to gold mining,
22:31the sawmill
22:32shuts down
22:33before ever
22:34even being finished.
22:36James Marshall
22:37suffers an even
22:37worse fate.
22:39For his role,
22:40the state of California
22:41does end up
22:42granting Marshall
22:43a $200 per month
22:44pension
22:45for two years.
22:46It's barely enough
22:47to live on.
22:48And so,
22:49the man who sparked
22:50America's biggest gold rush
22:51dies penniless
22:53in a small cabin
22:54in Kelsey,
22:55California
22:55in 1885.
23:00It's the summer
23:01of 2021
23:02and skipper
23:03Daryl Ertl
23:05is piloting
23:06his boat
23:06across the glassy
23:07waters of Lake Superior.
23:10As he passes
23:11over a deep trench,
23:13something flickers
23:14on his sonar.
23:17Something large,
23:18600 feet below
23:20on the lake's floor.
23:22Looking closely,
23:23he sees
23:24the unmistakable
23:24shape
23:25of a steamship
23:27smokestack.
23:30Now,
23:31he's not aware
23:31of any ships
23:33of that description
23:33having wrecked
23:34anywhere
23:35in this area,
23:36so his interest
23:37is piqued.
23:38Later,
23:39Ertl heads back
23:40to the water
23:40with a remote
23:41operated camera
23:42and he sends
23:43the camera
23:44down into the waters
23:45of Lake Superior
23:46and the images
23:47that start to come
23:48back to him
23:49are a bit
23:50unsettling.
23:51The first thing
23:53he sees
23:53is a pilot's house,
23:55then a hull,
23:56and then finally
23:57a name
23:57that's etched
23:58into the side
23:59of the ship,
24:00the Adela Shores.
24:03What he's found
24:04is no ordinary wreck.
24:06Ertl has just unearthed
24:08a 112-year-old mystery.
24:11Built in 1894,
24:13the Adela Shores
24:14was a massive
24:16195-foot,
24:19735-ton wooden steamer.
24:22It was designed
24:23to haul heavy freight.
24:24In 1909,
24:26she followed
24:26the steel icebreaker,
24:28Daniel J. Murrell,
24:29into a storm.
24:33The icebreaker
24:34managed to push
24:35its way through the storm
24:36and these blinding,
24:38horrible conditions,
24:39but the Adela Shores,
24:40well, she vanished
24:42without a trace.
24:43The ship
24:44and all 14
24:45of its crew
24:46are never
24:47seen again.
24:49Experts are
24:50baffled by this
24:51because a ship
24:52this size
24:53should have been able
24:54to weather the storm.
24:56Some blamed ice
24:58piercing the hull,
25:00but others
25:01blamed something
25:02darker,
25:04a curse.
25:06one that may
25:07have started
25:07before she
25:09even left
25:09the dock.
25:11At the launch
25:12event for the
25:13Adela Shores,
25:14a woman named
25:14Bessie,
25:15who was the
25:16real-life
25:16sister
25:17of the ship's
25:18namesake Adela,
25:19was responsible
25:20for christening.
25:22Now,
25:23to christen a ship,
25:24you're supposed
25:24to break
25:25a bottle
25:26of alcohol
25:27like champagne
25:28or wine
25:29against the hull.
25:30But Bessie's family
25:31had a strict
25:32no-alcohol policy.
25:34So instead of
25:35a bottle of champagne,
25:36she smashed
25:37a bottle of water.
25:40Now,
25:41the mariners
25:41and sailors
25:42involved
25:42believed that
25:43this immediately
25:44cursed the ship
25:45because it was
25:46not a sufficient
25:48tribute to them.
25:50What happens next
25:51only reinforces
25:53the superstition.
25:55Only a few years
25:57after the christening
25:58ceremony,
25:58the Adela Shores
25:59sinks in pretty
26:00shallow waters.
26:01So a crew comes,
26:02raises the ship,
26:04restores it.
26:05The ship goes
26:05back into service.
26:06But only a few
26:07years after that,
26:10same thing
26:11happens again.
26:12The Adela Shores
26:13sinks shallow waters,
26:15gets lifted out
26:15of the water,
26:16gets restored,
26:17goes back
26:17onto the water again.
26:18And then,
26:19a few years later,
26:20when the ship
26:22disappears
26:23in 1909,
26:25newspapers
26:25resurrect
26:26old rumors
26:28about the
26:28cursed vessel.
26:30while we may
26:31never know
26:32what ultimately
26:33sank the
26:33Adela Shores,
26:34we do know
26:35one thing.
26:35Thanks to a
26:36curious captain,
26:37we have at least
26:38solved the location
26:39of one of the
26:40lake's great
26:40nautical mysteries.
26:44Not all dark
26:45omens stay
26:46buried at sea.
26:47This next hill
26:48brings the bad luck
26:49ashore and makes
26:51it personal.
26:53It's 2023
26:54and there's
26:56a German
26:56construction crew
26:57that is busy
26:57at work
26:58extending the
26:59city hall
26:59of Rostock,
27:00Germany,
27:01a town that's
27:01about 150 miles
27:02north of Berlin.
27:04As an excavator
27:06is digging into
27:07the side
27:08of this construction
27:09site,
27:10it pings
27:11off of something
27:11very large
27:12and really hard.
27:15When they go
27:16to see what
27:16the excavator
27:17actually hit,
27:18it looks like
27:19an old
27:19building foundation.
27:22They call
27:22an archaeologist
27:23to take over.
27:25When they keep
27:26digging out
27:26more of this
27:27ancient foundation,
27:28they realize
27:29that it's actually
27:30multiple stone houses
27:31dating back as far
27:32as the 13th century.
27:34Among the ancient
27:35structures,
27:36they find a wealth
27:37of household treasures,
27:39medieval dishware,
27:41even the remains
27:42of a water system,
27:43and in one section,
27:45they find what
27:45appears to be
27:46a latrine
27:47with bits of metal
27:49at the bottom.
27:50When one researcher
27:51decides
27:51to give that metal
27:53a closer look,
27:54he notices
27:55something strange.
27:59One of these pieces
28:00looks different
28:01from the others.
28:02It's rolled up
28:04kind of like a scroll.
28:05When he unfurls it,
28:07he sees etchings
28:08on it.
28:09The writing is faint,
28:11but the researcher
28:11makes out the words
28:13Satan's Talike,
28:14Beelzebuk,
28:15Henrik, Barrett,
28:16written in a medieval script
28:18called Black Letter.
28:19Recognizing the words
28:21Satan and Beelzebub,
28:23he quickly realizes
28:24they've stumbled
28:25on an ancient
28:26curse tablet.
28:28Curse tablets
28:29were typically
28:30sheets of lead
28:31that featured spells
28:32with a wide range
28:33of different applications.
28:35According to historians,
28:36often they were used
28:37to target ex-lovers,
28:39rival dancers,
28:40and even enemy horses.
28:42But curse tablets
28:43had never been found
28:44in Germany before.
28:46Historians had thought
28:47that only the ancient
28:48Greeks and Romans
28:50used curse tablets
28:52in a span of time
28:53going from roughly
28:54800 B.C.
28:55to around 600 A.D.
28:57But this curse tablet
28:59comes from the 1400s.
29:02The tablet's age
29:04is astonishing,
29:05but the dark forces
29:06it calls upon
29:08are even more outrageous.
29:11This tablet is targeting
29:12a couple,
29:14Talike and Henrik.
29:15Now, what they did
29:17to incur such
29:19a horrible curse,
29:20we have no idea.
29:21But whatever it was,
29:23it was something
29:23that was serious enough
29:25that the person
29:26who made this curse
29:27went ahead
29:28and invoked Satan
29:30along with two demons,
29:32Beelzebub and Barrett.
29:33But the true clue
29:35to their intent
29:36isn't just the demons
29:37they invoked.
29:38It's where they chose
29:39to hide the curse.
29:41The fact that this curse tablet
29:42was placed in a latrine
29:43is kind of significant
29:45considering that
29:46back in the day,
29:47latrines were kind of seen
29:49as a direct link
29:50to the underworld
29:51and to Satan himself.
29:56Whether or not
29:57the curse tablet
29:58actually worked
29:59remains a mystery,
30:00but clearly
30:01this spellcaster
30:02meant business.
30:09It's Saturday,
30:11August 10th, 2024
30:12at La Jolla Cove.
30:14Lots of swimmers,
30:14snorkelers,
30:15and kayakers.
30:16Out in the water,
30:17a group drifts
30:18farther from shore
30:19until one of them
30:21jerks upright
30:22nearly knocked off
30:23their kayak,
30:24not by a wave,
30:25but by a wall
30:26of stench.
30:29Rotty,
30:30rancid,
30:31and unforgettable.
30:34The kayakers
30:34eventually see
30:36something in the distance.
30:37It's long
30:38and bloated.
30:39They assume
30:40that it's a sea serpent,
30:41but as they get closer,
30:43they realize
30:43that it isn't.
30:45Oh, there we go.
30:46Yeah.
30:47It's over 12 feet long
30:48with a silvery,
30:50ribbon-like body,
30:51and the group works
30:52to get it onto
30:53a paddleboard
30:53so they can drift
30:55it to shore.
30:55They're hoping
30:56somebody might be able
30:57to identify it,
30:58but nobody on the beach
30:59has any idea,
31:00so they call in
31:02the pros.
31:05Scientists
31:05with the National Oceanic
31:07and Atmospheric Administration
31:09arrive on the scene
31:10and know exactly
31:11what they're seeing.
31:13It's called an oarfish.
31:15It's a deep-sea creature
31:17that is incredibly rare.
31:20In the past 100 years,
31:21fewer than two dozen
31:23have washed up
31:24on California shores.
31:25Oarfish can grow
31:26over 30 feet long.
31:28They have these large,
31:29haunting eyes
31:30and blood-red spines
31:31that gather on their heads
31:33in a cluster like a crown.
31:34A lot of people think
31:35they were the original
31:35inspiration for the
31:36monstrous creatures
31:37you see on the edges
31:39of old maritime maps.
31:40But the sight of one
31:42rising from the deep
31:43isn't just wondrous.
31:45It's a warning.
31:48In Japan,
31:49oarfish are known
31:50as doomsday fish.
31:55The theory is
31:57that they can sense
31:58deep-sea tremors
31:59before they hit land.
32:01So if you see one
32:02on the surface,
32:03it means that something
32:04big and bad
32:05is about to happen.
32:09This legend grew
32:11in 2011
32:13when multiple oarfish
32:15were purportedly spotted
32:17washed up on a beach
32:18in Japan
32:19just before
32:20the catastrophic
32:21Tohoku earthquake
32:24and subsequent tsunami
32:27that caused
32:28the deadly
32:29Fukushima nuclear disaster.
32:35In 2019,
32:37scientists conduct
32:38a comprehensive study
32:40and conclude
32:42that this is all
32:42just a coincidence.
32:43There is no
32:44causal connection
32:45between the appearance
32:46of oarfish
32:47and any natural disaster.
32:49But if you were
32:51to ask the kayakers
32:52at La Jolla Cove,
32:53they'd probably disagree
32:54because just a few days later,
32:57Southern California
32:58is hit with
32:59a 4.4 magnitude earthquake.
33:03The ocean
33:04is not the only place
33:05that people look for
33:06protection from dark forces.
33:09Sometimes the danger
33:10is a lot closer to home.
33:14In 2024,
33:15a renovation crew
33:16in the seaside town
33:18of Cleethorpes, England
33:19is tearing down walls
33:21in a centuries-old building.
33:24As they expose
33:25the ancient frame,
33:27one of the workers
33:27notices something unusual
33:30tucked into
33:31a hidden wall cavity,
33:32a strange,
33:33bulb-shaped object
33:35packed in dirt.
33:37The crew freezes.
33:39With the object's
33:40rounded shape
33:41and that faint
33:42metallic glint,
33:43they think the worst.
33:45What if it's
33:46an unexploded
33:47ordinance from
33:48World War II
33:49left over
33:50from the Blitz?
33:51When the sunlight
33:52hits this object,
33:53they realize
33:54it's not metal.
33:55It's actually
33:56made of glass.
33:57But what it is,
33:59they have no idea.
34:01After carefully
34:02extracting the glass
34:03from the wall,
34:04they notice
34:05it is full of liquid.
34:09Convinced,
34:09they've uncovered
34:10some very well-aged booze.
34:12One of the workers
34:13goes for the cork,
34:14ready to take
34:14a swig of history.
34:16The project manager
34:17doesn't think
34:18that's a great idea.
34:19He takes this bottle
34:20and he brings it
34:21to the archaeology department
34:22at a nearby university
34:24to find out more.
34:25Third-year undergraduate,
34:27Zara Yates,
34:28examines the contents
34:30more closely.
34:31She's able to date it
34:32to somewhere
34:33between 1790
34:35and 1840,
34:37but she still
34:38doesn't know
34:38what's inside.
34:41Using multispectral imaging
34:43and X-ray fluorescence,
34:45Zara peers through
34:46the bottle
34:46without breaking it open
34:48and what she finds
34:50surprises everyone.
34:52The liquid
34:53is not rum
34:53or wine
34:54or any kind
34:55of alcohol.
34:57It is 200-year-old
34:59human urine.
35:02Floating inside
35:03the liquid
35:04are rusty nails
35:05and hair.
35:06This is definitely
35:08not a concoction
35:09meant for drinking,
35:10but it is something
35:11that historians
35:12have encountered
35:13before.
35:15It's what's known
35:16as a witch bottle,
35:18a kind of medieval
35:19form of home security
35:21once common
35:21throughout Britain.
35:22The person
35:23seeking protection
35:24would put some urine
35:25into a bottle
35:26along with personal items
35:28like nail clippings
35:29and hair.
35:30These bottles
35:31were intended
35:32to repel
35:34any malevolent forces.
35:35The curse
35:36or the spell
35:36would be drawn
35:37to this bottle
35:39in the wall
35:39and they would go
35:40and they would get
35:40trapped inside.
35:44The idea
35:45was simple.
35:46As long as the bottle
35:47stayed sealed
35:48and intact,
35:49the person
35:50inside the house
35:51remained protected.
35:52So next time
35:53you're renovating
35:54an old house
35:55and you discover
35:55a mysterious bottle
35:57hidden in the walls.
35:58Maybe think twice
35:59before popping the cork.
36:07It's September 2017
36:09and Martin
36:11and Michaela Tasker
36:12are exploring
36:13Routon Moor Woods,
36:15an area that used
36:16to be an old military base
36:17but is now a park
36:19and a favorite place
36:20for bird watchers
36:21and dog walkers.
36:23As they make their way
36:24deeper into the woods,
36:26they spot a container
36:28that's partially buried
36:30in the ground.
36:31Curiosity peeked
36:32and they start
36:32to uncover it.
36:35When they pry open
36:36the lid
36:37and look inside,
36:38they find rows
36:39of rusty canisters,
36:41each one about
36:4210 inches long
36:44and 3 inches wide
36:45and about the same size
36:46as a typical
36:4732-ounce water bottle.
36:48They have no idea
36:49what these things are
36:51but they do know
36:51this was a former
36:52military base
36:53and a lot of people
36:54like to collect
36:55military things.
36:56So they gather up
36:57these canisters
36:58and others
36:58and bring them
36:59to their house.
37:00To help figure out
37:01what they found,
37:02the couple reaches out
37:04to a friend
37:04in the military.
37:06While they're waiting
37:07to hear back
37:08from their friend,
37:09they open one
37:10of the canisters
37:10and find a thick liquid.
37:14They pour some of them
37:15out on the ground
37:16and immediately
37:17they're hit
37:18by this terrible smell
37:20which leaves them
37:21gagging and coughing.
37:24So they realize
37:25they have to clean
37:26this stuff up
37:27but before they do,
37:28they get a phone call
37:29from their friend
37:29and the news
37:30he has to tell them
37:31is terrifying.
37:32He thinks the canisters
37:34are old mustard gas shells.
37:38First used
37:40during World War I,
37:41mustard gas
37:42is a chemical irritant
37:44that attacks
37:45the mucous membranes
37:46of the body.
37:50It can have
37:51a powerful negative effect
37:52on the respiratory system
37:54that can cause
37:55coughing and bleeding.
37:56It can temporarily
37:57blind you.
37:59But mustard gas
38:00is so potent
38:01and so dangerous
38:02that it is eventually
38:03on an international basis
38:05banned
38:06by the 1925
38:08Geneva Convention Protocol.
38:11Now the taskers
38:13are starting to panic.
38:14Not only have they
38:15exposed themselves
38:16to a deadly compound
38:18but their friend
38:19informs them
38:20that just possessing
38:21a chemical weapon
38:22in the UK
38:23is illegal.
38:24This is where
38:24the bad decisions
38:25just keep getting worse.
38:28They take a boat
38:29out onto the nearby
38:30Stixwall Lake
38:31where they decide
38:32to dispose
38:32of the contraband
38:33themselves
38:34and they dump
38:35the remaining canisters
38:36into the water.
38:39The next day however
38:41Martin has to go
38:42to the hospital
38:43because blisters
38:45have erupted
38:46all over his arms
38:48and Michaela
38:49experiences
38:50difficulty breathing
38:51so much so
38:52that she passes out
38:53in the doctor's
38:54waiting room.
38:56The taskers
38:56decide to fess up
38:57and authorities
38:58launch a huge search
39:00to retrieve
39:01the canisters
39:01from the lake.
39:03It goes on
39:03for 11 days.
39:04Houses are evacuated.
39:06Roads are closed.
39:07They bring in
39:08a dive team
39:09that uses
39:09side-scan sonar
39:10in an attempt
39:12to find what
39:13the taskers
39:13dumped into the lake.
39:15In the end
39:16a seven-man
39:17navy dive team
39:18equipped in
39:19full chemical
39:20protection suits
39:21retrieve 10
39:22canisters
39:22from the water
39:23and then the police
39:24pull another 140
39:25from a nearby
39:26burial site
39:27on the grounds
39:27of the Routanmoor woods.
39:29When they are
39:29analyzed further
39:30tests reveal
39:31thankfully
39:32that all the
39:33canisters
39:33are still sealed.
39:35In the end
39:36both Martin
39:37and Michaela
39:38are convicted
39:39of illegal
39:39possession
39:40of a chemical
39:40weapon
39:40and illegal
39:41dumping
39:42of a hazardous
39:43substance
39:43into a waterway.
39:45For this
39:46they are both
39:47sentenced
39:47to more than
39:48a year in jail.
39:49However
39:50this story
39:51could have
39:51ended a lot
39:51worse for Martin
39:52and Michaela
39:53because being
39:54exposed to
39:55100-year-old
39:56chemical weapons
39:57could have led
39:58them to an
39:59early grave.
40:01Whether it's
40:02gold in the ground
40:03or a curse
40:04in the pipes
40:05one thing's
40:06for sure
40:07when you start
40:08digging
40:08trouble has a
40:09way of finding
40:10you.
40:11I'm Danny Trejo
40:12thanks for
40:13watching
40:13Mysteries Unearthed.
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