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00:00Warning. What you're about to see could be disturbing to some viewers. Viewer discretion is advised.
00:13What are the most peculiar places in the world? How about an island run by a population of dangerous predators?
00:21By all accounts, it is essentially a moving carpet of surface.
00:26The snakes on that island have a venom that is estimated to be five times as deadly as the venom
00:33for mainland snakes.
00:35Or a town that's a real circus.
00:38People get tired of being stared at for money, and they really just want to find a place they can
00:43call their own.
00:44Conjoined twins run the fruit stand. Grady Stiles, the lobster boy, makes the place his home.
00:50What about a beach where the waves deliver more than just seashells?
00:54She sees this large, size 12 men's sneaker washed up on the beach.
01:01She looks inside the sneaker and finds a foot.
01:07These are the tales of the strangest places on Earth. So bizarre, they're truly unbelievable.
01:25Mexico boasts an abundance of enchanted wonders, from the soaring El Castillo Pyramid to the sacred cenotes of the Yucatan
01:33Peninsula.
01:34But there's another must-see, known for something a little more unusual.
01:42Outside of Mexico City is one of the strangest places on Earth.
01:46Why? Because there are over 4,000 mutilated dolls tied to the fences, to the trees, and spread around everywhere
01:56on this island.
01:57But this area's strange origins go back long before the dolls took over.
02:03It's the 16th century, and the Spanish conquistadors are invading the Aztec Empire.
02:14What's called Tenochtitlan, which would later become Mexico City, is the capital of the Aztec Empire.
02:21What we think of being in a high-altitude basin is actually a massive lake, with man-made islands, canals,
02:29and causeways all through it.
02:33So some of the earliest, darkest tales about these islands really emerge in this period, and they come from the
02:38conquistadors,
02:39who, when they fall off these islands because of their heavy armor, sank, never to be seen again.
02:45And this leads to some mythology about them being haunted or spiritually guarded places.
02:53By the 20th century, these islands are still attractive to people who want to be off the grid.
02:57And that's the case with Don Julian Santana Barrera, who has a falling out with his family and decides to
03:03go to one of these islands.
03:04And that's when things start to get a little weird.
03:07The lore is that at some point, he finds the body of a drowned child, a drowned girl.
03:15But he also finds a doll nearby that he believes is hers.
03:20And he hangs the doll up as this way to honor her.
03:24He doesn't stop at this one doll.
03:27He decides to pay homage to the deceased young girl with a shrine of thousands upon thousands of dolls.
03:37Thousands of dolls?
03:39Hung from trees?
03:40What prompted this macabre memorial?
03:43There is this sense that this discovery of a deceased child, which would be harrowing for anyone,
03:50is especially troubling to him, and that this maybe has caused him to have some sort of break with reality
03:56or some sort of issue.
03:58He also is said to hear spirits, hers and possibly others.
04:04He is so moved and scared of the bad omens that go with this tragedy that we assume he went
04:12absolutely crazy.
04:14Even stranger is what happens to Don Julian in April of 2001.
04:18His nephew comes to visit him on the island, and he finds Don Julian Barrera face down, drowned in the
04:27canal at age 80,
04:29in almost the same spot that he alleged that he found the original girl so many years before.
04:37After Julian's death, tourists keep his peculiar tradition alive by adding their own dolls to the collection.
04:44Dolls are created in our image, so it doesn't matter what your belief system is.
04:50To see 4,000 mutilated dolls hanging from trees, an island full of that would drive anybody crazy.
04:58Today, gondola-like boats called Trajinara take the curious out for a closer look, but only during daylight hours.
05:07The island is strictly off-limits to visitors after dark.
05:12Up next is another place you probably don't want to visit at night.
05:19Widow Sarah Winchester had a particularly bad run of it.
05:25She's lost her child, her father, her mother, and her husband, William, who was heir to the massive Winchester rifle
05:34fortune.
05:36The Winchester 1873 repeating rifle is touted as the rifle that won the West, and widow Sarah now owns 50
05:46% of the company.
05:48Sarah inherits $20 million, which would be half a billion dollars in today's terms.
05:57But all these resources do nothing to heal the grief in her heart.
06:03She starts asking questions of, why is this happening to me?
06:07What is it about me that has caused so much loss in my life?
06:11And she starts to worry that she might even be cursed.
06:15In this moment of vulnerability, she chooses to consult a spiritualist.
06:19This medium tells her she is cursed because her fortune is blood money.
06:28The spirits of all the Native Americans and others that were killed by the Winchester rifles are essentially exacting revenge.
06:37She's told by the medium that the only way to lift the curse is to uproot herself, move west, and
06:45build an enormous house as an act of tribute for the lives lost by the fortune she has inherited.
06:56Sarah moves out to California, and she buys a pretty modest farmhouse.
07:00It's eight rooms, but it's on a massive tract of land, and Sarah begins building.
07:07She employs large carpentry crews, round-the-clock, building room after room, hallway after hallway.
07:16She adds hundreds of rooms to this house.
07:20But it's not just the size of the project that's stunning.
07:23It's the bizarre layout.
07:26There are very tiny doors that open to huge ballrooms.
07:30And there are massive doors that just open to a brick wall.
07:34There are skylights in the floor.
07:37Sarah is doing this because, according to lore, she's trying to confuse spirits and send them off track.
07:47Crews work independently.
07:49None of them know what the other crews are doing.
07:52This house becomes such a cockamamie arrangement of rooms.
07:56No one can make their way through the house except for her.
07:59It's hard to even call it a maze, because a maze has a purpose.
08:04You're supposed to end up somewhere.
08:06This is just strange and bizarre.
08:10Workers start experiencing odd cold spots.
08:16Random things moving.
08:18Several workers say they see the outline and the shape of Native American warriors happening again and again.
08:28Someone says they see the apparition of an old woman holding a candle.
08:34Sarah's assertion that this is about the spirit world suddenly might hold a little water.
08:41By 1922, Sarah has spent $5 million on this 160-room tribute to her own torment.
08:47The one thing that finally halts the project?
08:50Her own mortality.
08:53Sarah dies in September of 1922, and construction immediately stops.
09:02In fact, there are nails half-banged into walls.
09:06And today, it is one of the most widely visited Cheerios in the California area.
09:16Take it from me.
09:18Outsmarting angry ghosts is difficult work.
09:21Well done, Sarah.
09:25Off the coast of Brazil lies an island so deadly, it's been sealed off by the government.
09:31No residents.
09:33No tourists.
09:34Just thousands of venomous reasons to stay away.
09:38Welcome to Snake Island.
09:43There's approximately five snakes per square meter.
09:46That is a ton of snakes.
09:48By all accounts, it is essentially a moving carpet of serpents.
09:56Snake Island is formed at the end of the last ice age,
10:00when rising ocean waters isolate what had been a peninsula off the coast of Brazil,
10:06and they make this island.
10:08And in doing so, they isolate a population of snakes.
10:12Specifically, one of the most venomous snakes in the world,
10:15the golden lancehead viper.
10:17The golden lancehead population that's left on Snake Island
10:21quickly goes through all the available prey.
10:24And then the only thing left to eat are birds, which they don't normally eat.
10:28And that forces them into some pretty tremendous evolutionary pathways.
10:33Now, when a golden lancehead, which is a venomous snake,
10:36attacks its normal prey, a mammal,
10:38it bites it, the mammal walks away,
10:40doesn't get too far, and the snake can easily find it.
10:43But with birds, the bird can fly away and the snake doesn't get a meal.
10:47So evolution favors golden lanceheads with more potent venom,
10:51so that they can bite a bird and have it die instantly.
10:54The snakes on that island have a venom that is estimated to be five times as deadly
11:00as the venom for mainland snakes.
11:03So it's creating this kind of super snake on this island that can thrive.
11:08You would imagine no one in their right mind would ever set foot on this island.
11:12Rumor has it that sailors prefer to stay on burning boats rather than swim ashore here.
11:18But some have tried.
11:22In the early 1900s, a group of entrepreneurial banana farmers go to Snake Island
11:29in the hopes of establishing a banana plantation.
11:32They burn down a bunch of vegetation to plant the banana fields,
11:37and that's when they see all the snakes.
11:41They realize immediately this is not a place not only not for a banana plantation,
11:45this is not a place for human beings to stay.
11:48So in 1910, they decide to build a lighthouse to warn people to steer clear of this island.
11:54It's probably a pretty difficult job description in that here you are invited to inhabit
11:59a very picturesque lighthouse on an island inhabited by one of the most venomous snakes in the world,
12:05and a lot of them.
12:07So they do find a lighthouse keeper who's willing to take this job,
12:10and he brings his family to Snake Island.
12:13According to local lore,
12:15life on Snake Island goes about as well as you think it would.
12:19The legend is,
12:21one night,
12:22supposedly someone left a window open,
12:25the snake slithered in,
12:26and killed the entire family.
12:31Snake Island
12:33is basically communicating
12:35to mankind,
12:36you are not welcome here,
12:38you will die here.
12:40The lighthouse on Snake Island still stands today,
12:43but it is automated,
12:44so no human has to set foot anywhere near it.
12:49If snakes don't scare you off,
12:51this next spot just might freeze you in your tracks.
12:58As soon as you see pictures of Lake Natron,
13:01you know that something strange is happening here.
13:05It seems eerie, dead, and otherworldly.
13:09It's 13 miles away from a volcano.
13:12The locals call it the Mountain of God,
13:15and it spits out carbonatite lava.
13:18And that stuff is pretty extraordinary
13:20because it's calcium,
13:22sodium,
13:23and carbon dioxide.
13:24And that's what makes it so corrosive.
13:29This is currently the only place on Earth
13:32spewing this particularly nasty kind of lava.
13:35And much of it makes its way into Lake Natron.
13:38So water is constantly flowing into the lake,
13:42carrying with it minerals.
13:44And then the water evaporates off the surface,
13:46and it leaves behind a high concentration
13:49of sodium carbonates.
13:52This makes the lake extremely alkaline.
13:56It has similar pH to straight ammonia.
14:02Alkaline is the opposite of acidic,
14:04but the effects that it'll have on you
14:06are equally corrosive.
14:08If you were to drink some of that water,
14:11you're going to feel it immediately on your lips
14:14as it goes down your tongue
14:16and into your esophagus.
14:17All along the way,
14:19nothing but horror and pain.
14:23Even though most of the animals avoid it,
14:25sometimes animals do get in the lake.
14:28And they basically become petrified.
14:31It's like they looked at Medusa.
14:33Creatures that perish in Lake Natron
14:35don't actually turn to stone.
14:37They become calcified,
14:39meaning they are encrusted
14:41in these mineral salts
14:43in such a way that preserves their bodies.
14:47There are these pictures of these birds that are dead.
14:50They look like they're still alive,
14:52but alive like a zombie is alive.
14:59Incredibly, not everything that touches
15:01as this strange lake dies.
15:03Perhaps most marvelous of all,
15:06you have two and a half million lesser flamingos
15:10who don't just live at this lake,
15:14but they actually nest there.
15:16The flamingos are specially adapted
15:19to this environment.
15:21They have thick scales on their legs
15:24that allow them to withstand
15:26this highly corrosive environment.
15:29And then all the salts
15:30that they're constantly ingesting,
15:32they have special salt glands
15:34near their beaks
15:35that pull salt out of their bloodstream
15:38and expel it.
15:40The algae they eat are also peculiar.
15:43There's a special kind of algae
15:45that thrives in these conditions
15:48and occasionally has seasonal blooms
15:51that turn it a very red color,
15:52which actually provides the pigment
15:55that makes those flamingos pink.
15:58It's astounding that this body of water
16:00produces such visions of beauty
16:02and horror.
16:04Just goes to show you
16:06even the most tranquil places
16:07can have a deadly edge.
16:12If you're drawing a map
16:13of the weirdest places in America,
16:15start with one line.
16:17Because along this stretch of latitude,
16:19the bizarre, unexplained, and top secret
16:21all seem to collide.
16:25It is spring of 1975
16:27and ranchers across Colorado
16:31begin discovering dead cows
16:34in their fields.
16:37These cows aren't just dead.
16:39They're mutilated in really bizarre ways.
16:43Ears, eyes, udders, genitals
16:46have all been removed
16:47with surgical precision.
16:50These cows are typically found
16:52lying on their left side
16:53and there's no blood.
16:55Now, we need to understand
16:56that cows have five gallons of blood in them.
16:59To find a dead cow
17:00that's been mutilated
17:01with no blood anywhere...
17:03Well, that's weird.
17:04Over the next six months,
17:06the body count skyrockets to 200.
17:08And local ranchers want answers.
17:12Game and wildlife officials
17:14are certain that it must be
17:16the work of scavengers.
17:18And yet, there are no footprints.
17:21There is no damage
17:23to the surrounding vegetation.
17:26There's no claw marks
17:27or teeth marks
17:28or any sort of sign
17:29that something was chewing on them.
17:31As similar reports
17:32start pouring in
17:33from 11 other states,
17:35the FBI has no choice
17:37but to act.
17:39A common theory that pops up
17:41is that some sort of satanic cult
17:43is running around the country
17:44mutilating cows.
17:45The feds perform stakeouts,
17:49autopsies,
17:50they look for witnesses,
17:52they come up with nothing.
17:55Meanwhile,
17:56local investigators come up
17:57with their own unusual theory.
18:00Most of these deaths
18:02cluster around
18:03a single line of latitude
18:05known as the North 37th Parallel,
18:08which crosses Kansas, Arizona,
18:11New Mexico, and Colorado.
18:14One New Mexico deputy sheriff,
18:16a guy by the name of Chuck Sikowski,
18:18finds something interesting.
18:19The cow mutilations correlate
18:21with known UFO sightings
18:24that have occurred during that time
18:25across this one line of latitude.
18:28Also, there are an awful lot
18:30of important and sometimes secret
18:33government and military facilities
18:35all along that same line.
18:37Fort Knox, Area 51,
18:40Air Force bases,
18:42missile silos.
18:44The 37th Parallel
18:46correlations
18:48start to
18:50engender speculation
18:52that maybe
18:53the cattle mutilations
18:55and some of the related events
18:57like UFO sightings
18:59are signs of a secret
19:01government op.
19:02Maybe some strange
19:03airborne weapon
19:05is being tested
19:06on the mutilated cows.
19:08This theory
19:09gets so serious,
19:10in fact,
19:11that the National Guard
19:12orders their helicopter pilots
19:13to fly above 2,000 feet
19:15when they're flying
19:15over cattle ranches
19:16because of a legitimate fear
19:18that ranchers
19:19will start taking pot shots
19:21at U.S. military helicopters
19:22to protect their cattle.
19:28In the end,
19:30after 50 years
19:31of investigation
19:32of this mystery,
19:33we still have
19:34no smoking gun
19:35or alien death ray.
19:38What we have
19:39is thousands
19:40of dead cows.
19:44Meanwhile,
19:457,354 miles away
19:47is another strange location
19:49where dead livestock
19:50is the least
19:51of its residents' worries.
19:57It's a pretty average day
19:59for this young Cameroonian
20:01on his bicycle
20:02riding from his village
20:04to the neighboring village
20:05of Nyos.
20:06While he's riding down the road
20:07with his wagon behind him
20:09and he encounters
20:09a dead antelope
20:11right in the middle of the road.
20:12Great, he thinks.
20:12That's free meat
20:13to feed my family.
20:15Straps it to his wagon,
20:16continues on his way
20:17only to encounter
20:18another dead antelope.
20:20And then dead rats
20:22and dead cows
20:23and all kinds of livestock
20:24are dead all around him.
20:26And this isn't looking
20:27right at all.
20:28And as he approaches
20:29the village,
20:30he realizes that it is
20:31freakishly silent.
20:33So he goes into
20:34one of the neighbors' houses
20:35and finds that
20:36all those people are dead.
20:37He goes to another house,
20:38same thing.
20:39He begins seeing
20:40dead bodies
20:41around cooking fires,
20:43dead bodies
20:43sitting at tables,
20:45dead bodies
20:46in their homes.
20:47He rides his bike
20:48to Lake Nyos,
20:49where that village
20:50is named for,
20:51and finds hundreds
20:53of dead bodies
20:54lying along the lake shore.
20:57Strangers still,
20:58there are no flies
21:00buzzing around.
21:01They're completely gone.
21:03The buildings
21:03are all intact.
21:04Everything looks fine
21:05other than this weird,
21:06silent death scene.
21:10What you find here
21:12is 1,700 dead people,
21:15thousands of dead livestock.
21:17There's nothing left living,
21:19and even the tiny insects
21:21that feast on the dead
21:23are not even present.
21:25Everything has been killed off.
21:27What can you imagine
21:28is going on here?
21:30Has there been some sort
21:31of new weapon tested
21:32that does not leave a trace,
21:34but yet kills
21:35every living thing?
21:36It's the stuff
21:36of science fiction.
21:38Scientists from across Africa,
21:41the U.S. and France
21:42are sent to investigate.
21:45What could cause
21:46such mass casualties?
21:48Lake Nyos is sitting
21:50on top of a magma pool
21:54where carbon dioxide
21:56is venting continuously
21:58into the waters
21:59in the depths of the lake
22:01and reaching
22:02super high concentrations.
22:05So what happens
22:05at Lake Nyos
22:06is that there's a landslide,
22:08and the landslide
22:09displaces some of the water
22:10at the surface,
22:12allowing the carbon dioxide
22:13that's trapped below
22:14to escape.
22:15That's what causes
22:17a limnic eruption to occur,
22:20limnic meaning a lake eruption.
22:22And then all of that trapped gas
22:24surges to the surface
22:26and suffocates any living thing
22:29that's caught in the cloud.
22:33Even scarier,
22:35experts worry
22:35a tragedy like this
22:37can happen again.
22:41There's another lake,
22:42Lake Kivu,
22:43that has 2 million people
22:45living around it.
22:47If a similar disaster
22:48occurs there,
22:50estimates state
22:51that it could result
22:53in the deaths
22:53of 4 million people.
22:57Lake Kivu is,
22:59without question,
23:00and in no exaggerated terms,
23:03it's a ticking time bomb.
23:07With all of the dangerous
23:08and unpredictable places
23:10out there,
23:10it kind of makes you wonder,
23:12how on earth
23:13do people sleep at night?
23:17Portland, Oregon,
23:18New Orleans, Louisiana,
23:19Austin, Texas,
23:20all proudly claim
23:21the title of weirdest city
23:23in America.
23:24But there's a town in Florida
23:25that might have them all beat,
23:27a place where
23:28unusual individuals
23:30are the norm.
23:33In the early
23:34and mid-20th century,
23:36traveling circuses
23:37and sideshows
23:38are still a popular form
23:40of entertainment
23:41in America.
23:42A caravan can roll
23:44into town
23:45and transform
23:45a sleepy neighborhood
23:47into something fantastic
23:49and out of this world.
23:51There are rides,
23:52exotic animal acts,
23:54and of course,
23:55the freak show.
23:58These sideshows highlight
24:00dwarves, giants,
24:01bearded ladies,
24:02conjoined twins.
24:04For many of these folks,
24:05this is the best opportunity
24:07they have to make a living.
24:09But life is grueling
24:10in the sideshow.
24:11People get tired
24:12of being stared at
24:13for money
24:13and they really just
24:14want to find a place
24:15they can call their own.
24:17Welcome to Gibson Town,
24:20a.k.a. Gib Town.
24:22Population strange.
24:25Gib Town is
24:26is on the Gulf Coast
24:27of Florida
24:28and it becomes
24:29this place
24:30where a lot of these
24:32circus performers
24:32can put down roots
24:34and it's somewhere
24:35that being atypical
24:37is not perceived
24:38as unusual.
24:39It's perfectly normal.
24:41One of the first
24:43residents of Gib Town
24:44is Al Tumani,
24:46known as the world's
24:47tallest man.
24:48He stands at
24:497 feet 11 inches.
24:51He becomes
24:52the local fire chief,
24:54starts a fishing club,
24:56and even settles down
24:58with Evelyn,
24:59the half woman.
25:01Word spreads
25:02on the sideshow circuit
25:04and by 1967,
25:05more than 100
25:07circus performers
25:08called Gib Town home.
25:10This is a place where
25:11these circus performers
25:13could thrive.
25:15Like Louise Capps-Hills,
25:17an armless girl
25:18is able to drive a tractor,
25:20milk cows,
25:20and raise her kids
25:22on her farm.
25:23Conjoined twins
25:24run the fruit stand.
25:27Grady Stiles,
25:28the lobster boy,
25:29makes the place his home.
25:32But this utopia
25:33won't last forever.
25:36Popularity of
25:37traveling sideshows
25:38erodes,
25:38and fewer and fewer
25:39new performers
25:40move into Gib Town.
25:42By the 1980s,
25:43it pretty much becomes
25:44a circus retirement community.
25:47Most of the old guard
25:48has passed away by now.
25:49There are some museums
25:50and a few old-timers left,
25:52so if you hurry,
25:53you can still catch
25:54a faded glimpse
25:55of the old glory
25:56of Gib Town.
26:00The curtain falls
26:01on one community of wonder
26:03and opens on a tale
26:04that goes even deeper.
26:08It's the 1820s.
26:10We're in Washington, D.C.,
26:11and President John Quincy Adams
26:13is being asked
26:14to fund an expedition
26:15to send search parties
26:17deep beneath
26:18the Earth's surface,
26:19hoping to discover
26:20subterranean worlds
26:21and conduct trade
26:22with a race of people
26:24who maybe live there.
26:26According to some,
26:28Quincy Adams
26:28is a believer
26:29in what's called
26:30the hollow Earth theory.
26:34The idea that the Earth
26:36may be hollow
26:36and hide hidden worlds
26:38is actually a theory
26:39that goes back
26:40all the way
26:40to the ancient Greeks,
26:41but in the 1700s
26:42and in the 1800s
26:43is when it really
26:44picks up steam
26:45in Europe and the Americas.
26:46There's one man
26:47in particular,
26:48a guy by the name
26:48of John Cleaves Sims,
26:50who in 1818
26:52writes a piece
26:53known as
26:54Circular No. 1.
26:57Sims postulates
26:58that there's two pathways
27:00to the hollow center
27:01of the Earth,
27:02one on the North Pole
27:03and one on the South Pole,
27:05and that if we
27:07dig deep enough,
27:08we can find those pathways
27:10and get to this new world.
27:13Sims is ready
27:14to make this happen,
27:15and so he calls out
27:16for 100 brave souls
27:18to help him
27:19dig into the Earth
27:20and to try to find
27:21these hidden worlds
27:22that lie just beneath
27:24our feet.
27:25As an enticement,
27:27he tells these
27:27would-be volunteers,
27:29they're going to find
27:30worlds full of men,
27:32full of riches,
27:33and full of
27:34this great phrase,
27:36thrifty vegetables.
27:37I guess this is
27:38what a world looks like
27:40before the discovery
27:41of gold,
27:42that the chance
27:43for riches
27:43comes in the form
27:45of thrifty vegetables.
27:46Now, most people
27:48would obviously think
27:48that an idea
27:49like this is crazy,
27:49but it's not that far-fetched
27:52to the president
27:53of the United States.
27:54There's some debate
27:56about whether Adams
27:58was all-in
27:59on the hollow Earth theory,
28:01or if he just wanted
28:04to do some exploration
28:05of the North and South Poles.
28:09Sadly for Sims
28:10and Quincy Adams
28:11and the mole people,
28:12Adams is voted out
28:14in favor of Andrew Jackson,
28:15who was far too busy
28:17with above-ground natives
28:18to bother with
28:19any subterranean natives.
28:21With government funding gone,
28:23Sims would die
28:24a few years later,
28:25never realizing his dream
28:27of meeting the mole people
28:28and eating their
28:29thrifty vegetables.
28:32While we have yet
28:33to dig 4,000 miles
28:35to the center of the Earth
28:36to uncover a new world,
28:37there are plenty
28:38of unusual places
28:40right here on the surface.
28:44What does it take
28:45to start your own country?
28:47A good idea,
28:48some ambition,
28:49and a decaying maritime structure.
28:51Welcome to the self-proclaimed
28:53kingdom that proves
28:54anything is possible.
28:57Six and a half miles
28:58off the coast of England
28:59is a tiny platform,
29:01about 60 feet off
29:02of the ocean's surface.
29:04It looks like,
29:04from a distance,
29:05maybe that it's an oil rig.
29:07This small little speck,
29:09about the size
29:09of maybe two tennis courts,
29:10is the principality
29:12of sealand.
29:15Does the United Kingdom,
29:16the United States,
29:17or the United Nations
29:18recognize this small
29:20little micronation?
29:21No, but its royal family
29:23and small number of citizens
29:24have fought fiercely
29:25for sealand's independence.
29:27Before asserting
29:28its itty-bitty independence,
29:30sealand served
29:31as an anti-aircraft post
29:32during World War II.
29:34There were three others like it,
29:35called monsel forts.
29:36Their job was to shoot
29:38out of the sky
29:38German Luftwaffe bombers.
29:42And they were pretty successful.
29:44They shot down
29:4422 enemy aircraft
29:45and 30 V-1 rockets.
29:49After the war ends,
29:51battered British servicemen
29:52leave the post
29:53to return to their families
29:54back home,
29:55all except one.
29:57He's a retired major
29:58named Patrick Roy Bates.
30:00And he and his family
30:02take up permanent residence
30:03on one of these platforms.
30:06Roy isn't just making this
30:07a vacation home getaway.
30:10His grand vision?
30:11To make this tiny fort
30:13an independent
30:14and free nation.
30:16The reason he's able
30:17to do this is that
30:18at this point,
30:19a nation's sovereignty
30:20ends at about
30:21three nautical miles
30:22out from the coast.
30:23So these forts
30:24that have been built
30:24six and a half miles out
30:26puts it beyond the reach
30:27of the United Kingdom.
30:29That puts Roy in a position
30:30to say,
30:30this is out
30:32in international waters.
30:33That might tell us
30:34how this retired major
30:35claimed this former fortress
30:37for his own,
30:37but it doesn't tell us why.
30:40The answer
30:40is pretty unexpected.
30:42One of Bates' motivations
30:43is that he is
30:44a World War II veteran.
30:46He has fought
30:47against fascism
30:48and now 20 years later
30:49in the mid-1960s,
30:50he is disgusted
30:52with the way
30:52the British government
30:53is repressing
30:54freedom of expression,
30:55freedom of speech,
30:56and even different
30:57kinds of music.
30:58He's dealing with a country
30:59that, because of the Cold War,
31:01censors popular culture.
31:03And from his platform
31:05just outside
31:06of the international limit,
31:07he will broadcast
31:08a pirate radio station.
31:11Patrick sees the possibilities
31:13beyond just setting up
31:15a pirate radio station.
31:17If he's successful
31:18in creating
31:18his own micronation,
31:20that means creating
31:21his own constitution,
31:23issuing his own currency.
31:24The possibilities
31:25really are endless.
31:27The British government
31:28is not happy with Bates,
31:30and they jam
31:31his radio station.
31:33Bates resists this
31:34and in 1967
31:35decides that he is going
31:36to formally announce
31:37the sovereign independence
31:39of this nation
31:40and he names it
31:40the Principality of Sealand.
31:44And he gives himself
31:46the title of prince
31:46and his wife
31:47the title of princess.
31:49This is truly a slap
31:51in the face
31:52to the British government.
31:53To show Roy and his family
31:55that they mean business,
31:56the government has
31:57the British Royal Navy
31:59go out and destroy
32:00the other three Monsell forts.
32:03The Bates family
32:04is unfazed
32:05by this show of force,
32:06so the British Navy
32:07tries a more direct approach.
32:09The British government
32:10decides to send a message
32:12by sailing around
32:13the Sealand platform,
32:15harassing the family.
32:17Roy's 16-year-old son,
32:19Michael Bates,
32:20fires a .22-caliber pistol shot
32:22down at the boat
32:24as a warning.
32:25That does not sit well
32:28with the British Royal Navy.
32:29You'd think a civilian
32:31firing upon the British Navy
32:32in broad daylight
32:33would be an open
32:34and shut case,
32:35but the proceedings
32:36take an unbelievable turn.
32:39Michael discharged this gun
32:41outside of UK jurisdiction,
32:44meaning that
32:45they can't pursue it.
32:47The showdown
32:48with the crown government
32:49tracks the attention
32:50of a German businessman
32:51named Alexander Achenbach.
32:52He sees potential
32:54for an offshore enclave
32:56where money can be parked
32:58with no questions asked,
33:00with no taxes being levied.
33:02Achenbach decides
33:03to reach out to Roy
33:04to talk to him
33:05about possibly becoming
33:06a citizen of Sealand,
33:08maybe even buying
33:09the whole place,
33:10and he invites them
33:11to meet him in Austria
33:13to discuss it.
33:14But this is all a trick
33:15because while the prince
33:16and princess of Sealand
33:18are on their way
33:18to Austria,
33:20Achenbach is flying
33:21a helicopter full of German
33:23and Dutch mercenaries
33:24to go invade Sealand
33:26while they're gone.
33:27So Achenbach takes
33:29the Bates' son,
33:30Michael, hostage
33:31and declares himself
33:33to be the prime minister
33:34of Sealand.
33:35This may be
33:36the smallest coup
33:38in recorded history.
33:40The coup may be small,
33:41but they're messing
33:42with the wrong monarch.
33:44Let's remember
33:44that Achenbach
33:45is a businessman
33:46and a scientist
33:47and Roy is a retired major.
33:51Bates organizes
33:52his own force
33:52which flies in
33:53and air assaults
33:54onto Sealand
33:55using helicopters.
33:57Most of Achenbach's
33:58men flee.
33:59However,
34:00Roy manages to take
34:01Achenbach as a prisoner.
34:03Bates allows his prisoner
34:04the proverbial
34:05one phone call
34:06while in custody
34:07to contact
34:08the German embassy
34:09in London.
34:10This is where things
34:11take another strange turn.
34:13The German officials
34:14contact their
34:15British counterparts
34:16and the British officials
34:17say we don't have
34:18any jurisdiction there
34:19so you're on your own.
34:20Now the German government
34:21has to negotiate
34:22with this tiny little
34:24micronation
34:25over the release
34:25of a German citizen.
34:27Incredibly,
34:28this coup d'etat
34:29only further
34:30demonstrates
34:31the viability
34:32and reality
34:32of Roy's principality.
34:36Today,
34:37Sealand,
34:37like any other country,
34:38has its own currency
34:39featuring the royal family,
34:41its own stamps,
34:42even its own constitution.
34:43They can also stamp
34:45your passport
34:45when you visit.
34:46Though be warned,
34:48there's not a single
34:49decent hotel.
34:53In Canada,
34:54off the Sunshine Coast
34:55in the Strait of Georgia,
34:57one quiet beach
34:58has earned
34:58a strange reputation.
35:00And it's not
35:01for the views.
35:04It's 2007.
35:06A little girl
35:07is out on the beach
35:08of Jedediah Island
35:10in British Columbia
35:11and she sees
35:12this large,
35:13size 12 men's sneaker
35:16washed up
35:16on the beach.
35:19So she runs over,
35:20she sort of looks
35:21inside the sneaker
35:27and finds a foot.
35:32Was this a murder victim?
35:33Did someone fall off
35:34their boat
35:35and get chopped up
35:35by the propeller?
35:36Who knows?
35:37But it's pretty disconcerting.
35:40The only comfort
35:42locals take
35:42is that this horrific discovery
35:44seems to be
35:45an isolated incident.
35:46That is,
35:47until it's not.
35:50Less than a week later,
35:51on nearby Gabriola Island,
35:54another sneaker washes up
35:56with another foot inside.
36:00But the sneakers
36:01don't match
36:02and both feet
36:04are right feet.
36:05So this is a second person,
36:07a second victim.
36:09You now have a pattern.
36:132008,
36:14a size 11 Nike
36:15washes up
36:15on Valdez Island,
36:16also with a severed foot.
36:19In November 2008,
36:21a woman's
36:21New Balance shoe
36:23washes up
36:23on Kirkland Island,
36:24also with a severed foot inside.
36:27November 2011,
36:29men's size 11
36:30hiking boot,
36:31foot inside.
36:33Over the next 14 years,
36:35more than 20 severed feet,
36:37complete with
36:37late model
36:38athletic footwear,
36:40wash up
36:40on nearby beaches.
36:41This is causing terror
36:43along the coast,
36:44and to make matters worse,
36:46now pranksters
36:47are putting chicken bones
36:48inside sneakers
36:49and sending them afloat.
36:54Investigators are flummoxed.
36:56Could all of these victims
36:58be connected?
37:00None of them
37:01show any evidence
37:02of having been
37:03hacked off
37:04or sawed off
37:05or chopped off
37:06through human action.
37:07All of them
37:08are severed
37:09through the ankle joint
37:11by decomposition.
37:13Eager to calm the public,
37:14forensic investigators
37:15start performing experiments
37:16in deep water decomposition
37:18with an unusual test dummy.
37:21Investigators
37:22take some
37:22pit cadavers
37:23and sink them
37:24to the bottom
37:24of the Salish Sea,
37:26the area where
37:26all these feet
37:27are washing up.
37:29And what they know
37:30during these experiments
37:30is that
37:32the scavengers,
37:33crabs, lobsters,
37:34things that are down there
37:35immediately
37:35start to disarticulate
37:37the body.
37:39Disarticulating
37:39is a fancy way
37:40of saying
37:41pulling the body
37:42apart at the joints.
37:43You know,
37:44just like humans
37:45do to crabs
37:45and lobsters
37:46when we eat them.
37:48Apparently,
37:49the feet
37:49are often
37:50the first to go.
37:52But why are they
37:53only showing up
37:53in this one
37:54particular area?
37:56Turns out
37:57the Salish Sea
37:58has these sort of
37:58rotational currents.
38:01As they're circling around,
38:02western and eastern winds
38:04blow them back and forth.
38:06And so rather than
38:06stuff flowing out to sea,
38:08it sort of circles
38:09in a particular region
38:10to push them up
38:11onto these beaches.
38:14The cause of all
38:15these severed feet
38:16is actually natural
38:17and it's not
38:18the signature move
38:19of some crazed
38:20serial killer.
38:23Authorities in
38:24British Columbia
38:24are so happy
38:25with this explanation
38:26that they actually
38:27tell the public
38:28not to worry
38:28if more dismembered
38:30feet wash up.
38:31Because,
38:32and I quote,
38:33this is no cause
38:34for alarm.
38:35If that beach scene
38:36isn't unsettling enough,
38:38just wait until you see
38:39what turns up
38:39in the basement
38:40of one very surprised
38:42homeowner.
38:45In 1963,
38:46in the Turkish town
38:48of Derinkuyu,
38:49a man is doing
38:50a home improvement project.
38:52Now,
38:52most of us who do
38:53this kind of DIY stuff,
38:54you expect to find
38:55old stuff in the walls,
38:57you know,
38:57old photos
38:57and maybe some jewelry.
38:59Well,
38:59this guy takes
39:00a sledgehammer
39:01and he hits the wall
39:01and he hits it again
39:02and again
39:02and he breaks through.
39:07What he finds
39:08is a passageway.
39:12which when he crawls
39:13into it
39:15leads to another tunnel
39:16and another tunnel
39:18beyond that.
39:19It's the 2,000 year old
39:21lost city
39:22of Derinkuyu,
39:23one of the largest
39:23subterranean towns
39:25in the world.
39:28What he uncovers
39:29is absolutely unbelievable.
39:31A tunneled city
39:32that can house
39:33up to 20,000 people,
39:35animals,
39:36livestock,
39:37grain stores.
39:38The first eight stories
39:40have ventilation shafts
39:42that ensure
39:42that fresh air circulates
39:44through the entire
39:44subterranean city.
39:47But why build
39:48such an elaborate city
39:50underground?
39:52The main purpose
39:53of this underground city
39:54is for the people
39:55of Derinkuyu
39:56to come in
39:57and hide
39:58from outside forces,
39:59from dangerous people
40:01who may have
40:02infiltrated the area.
40:04One of the most
40:05amazing sights
40:06is there are
40:07these huge millstones
40:09which are in place
40:10still to this day.
40:11They have a round hole
40:12in the middle
40:13and you can roll
40:14this millstone
40:15into place
40:16which would then
40:16block the tunnel
40:17and stop the enemy
40:19from going any further.
40:21This defense system
40:22works so well
40:23the city remains in use
40:24until 1923
40:25before it's sealed up
40:27and nearly lost to history.
40:29Good thing
40:30for DIY projects.
40:33We've visited places
40:34that drive people
40:35to the brink of insanity.
40:36Others that lead us
40:37to question
40:38what else is out there
40:39and one that has
40:40a whole bunch
40:41of venomous snakes.
40:43These are not only
40:44the strangest places
40:45on earth.
40:45They are also
40:47the very best
40:48of the unbelievable.
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