- 9 hours ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00On this episode of Expedition Files.
00:04For centuries, sailors feared a monster called the Kraken,
00:09which dragged ships to their doom.
00:13But what if their stories were rooted in something real?
00:18Now, a creature from the depths has been found alive
00:21that might expose the truth behind the legendary Kraken.
00:25Then, Georgia's largest lake is also its deadliest.
00:33With decades of mysterious drownings
00:37fueling whispers of a supernatural curse.
00:41But insights into the lake's dark past
00:44may finally shed light on these fatal tragedies.
00:49And Atlantis, the ancient metropolis
00:53said to be sunk below the waves by the wrath of angry gods.
00:58Is there any historic basis behind the iconic myth?
01:03After a series of potential discoveries,
01:06we reveal all.
01:11In the corridors of time
01:14are mysteries that defy explanation.
01:19Now, I'm traveling through history itself
01:25on a search for the truth.
01:30New evidence.
01:33Shocking answers.
01:36I'm Josh Gates.
01:38And these...
01:41are my Expedition Files.
01:48I spend more time than most on or under the water.
01:52From zero visibility flooded pyramids in Sudan
01:55to the swirling seas of the Mediterranean.
01:57Honestly, I owe most of my career to Dramamine.
02:00But the thing is,
02:02if you're in the business of adventure,
02:04there's nowhere more exciting or mysterious
02:06than the watery depths.
02:08And tonight, we look at three files
02:10that prove just that.
02:11Plunging deep to find secrets hidden below the surface.
02:15We begin, where else?
02:17But out on the wild ocean.
02:19The North Sea, to be exact.
02:21And you're about to experience
02:23one of the world's most legendary nautical encounters.
02:26It's the 12th century,
02:28and this crew of Norse sailors
02:30is among the hardiest on the high seas.
02:32But they're about to be humbled.
02:34Moments from now,
02:36according to an extraordinary written account,
02:38this vessel will be ambushed from the depths
02:41by a terrifying and gigantic monster.
02:44The beast will earn a name
02:46that will echo through the centuries.
02:48The Kraken.
02:49Like Nessie and Bigfoot,
02:51it will take its place
02:52among the pantheon of legendary creatures.
02:55But 800 years from now,
02:58shocking scientific evidence
02:59will suggest this mythic sea monster
03:02might be more than just a fantasy.
03:20As the tale goes,
03:22the first sign of something out of the ordinary
03:24is when the Norse crew notices fish appearing in abundance.
03:31Thousands of them thrashing near the surface.
03:35Then comes the smell.
03:37Something foul.
03:39Something evil.
03:40In the salt air,
03:42there's a sulfurous stench
03:44that burns the nostrils.
03:47At that moment,
03:48it's said that a crewman
03:49spots a small island dead ahead,
03:52but one not on their charts.
03:55Like a slick black rock in the ocean.
03:58But it's no rock.
04:01It's alive.
04:10The crew scrambles to evade the creature,
04:13but it attacks.
04:17A colossal mass of arriving tentacles
04:20grabs the ship,
04:23snatching sailors from the deck.
04:26Legend says that the horrified Norsemen fight back,
04:30but it's futile against the onslaught.
04:37At last, the Leviathan submerges,
04:40forming a whirlpool in its wake
04:42as it drags the ship and her crew into the watery abyss.
04:54Supposedly, days after this sea monster encounter,
04:58a lone survivor washes ashore.
05:00Exhausted and waterlogged,
05:02the terrified sailor
05:03has not only escaped the clutches of the beast,
05:06but he lives to spread the tail far and wide.
05:14The survivor shares his stunning story with Norway's King Sverre.
05:20The king's personal historian formally records the tale around 1180.
05:26It's the first known written account of a monster
05:29that will one day be called the Kraken.
05:32Over the next few centuries,
05:34many more reports emerge of confrontations with a similar creature.
05:40Swedish clergyman Olus Magnus records multiple sea monster encounters
05:45in his 1555 book, History of the Northern Peoples.
05:49Magnus also illustrated a large creature with squid-like tentacles
05:54and a serpent body that some say is the first depiction of the Kraken.
06:01Then, in 1734,
06:04Dano-Norwegian missionary Hans Ehu reported sighting a sea creature near Greenland.
06:09describing it as,
06:10quote,
06:11as thick as our ship and three to four times as long,
06:14with a long undulating body.
06:17He also recounts how it dove back under the waves,
06:20stirring up a massive whirlpool.
06:23Later, in the 1750s,
06:25it's Danish maritime historian Eric Pontapanan
06:28who finally names the creature the Kraken,
06:31which means something twisted or crooked.
06:36As more and more sailors share their extraordinary eyewitness tales,
06:41a consensus emerges.
06:42The creature resembles a squid, but one of monstrous proportions.
06:46But with no evidence of squids this large,
06:49the Kraken becomes something every seafarer dreads
06:52and every scientist questions.
06:59In 1870, tales of the Kraken inspire Jules Verne to write
07:0320,000 Leagues Under the Sea,
07:05which features an attack by giant squids,
07:08which he refers to as devil fish.
07:12The Kraken has become a thing of popular fantasy,
07:15but now potential evidence of a real-life monster is about to surface.
07:22In 1873, the carcass of a massive squid,
07:26much larger than any known species,
07:28washes ashore in Newfoundland, Canada.
07:31The extraordinary specimen is examined by an amateur biologist,
07:35Reverend Moses Harvey,
07:37who measures a seven-foot-long body,
07:39with tentacles stretching another 24 feet in length.
07:43This specimen becomes the first formally identified species
07:47of Architeuthis ducks, also known as the giant squid.
07:52Is this creature what seafarers through history have been reporting?
07:56Has the truth of the Kraken finally been revealed?
08:06In the late 1800s, remains of an enormous giant squid wash ashore.
08:12Could this be the real creature behind the legendary Kraken?
08:16To learn more about this most mysterious species,
08:19scientists need to find one alive.
08:22But it won't be easy.
08:23In fact, it will take another 131 years.
08:27Marine scientist Matthew Mulrennan,
08:29who founded a company dedicated to finding and filming the elusive colossal squid,
08:34explains how it was finally discovered.
08:37As a marine scientist, I had become really fascinated with the colossal squid
08:42because it lives in the deep sea.
08:43It's such a foreign environment for us.
08:45It's so hard to do research there.
08:47And for hundreds of years, the myth of the Kraken was worldwide.
08:51And there was legends of these huge squids out in the ocean.
08:56But then, the myth became reality.
08:59In 2004, off of Ogasawara Island in Japan, researchers captured something truly amazing.
09:07Japanese zoologist Tsunimi Kubadera and his team lowered a specially designed baited camera
09:13nearly 3,000 feet beneath the surface into a world rarely seen by human eyes.
09:20And after centuries of rumor and fleeting evidence, the giant squid finally revealed itself.
09:26The camera records a massive giant squid surging out of the darkness,
09:31attacking the bait with speed and force.
09:34One of its long tentacles lashes out and becomes entangled,
09:39allowing the team to photograph the animal alive in its natural habitat for the very first time.
09:46The squid got caught on the lure at 3,000 feet depth.
09:51And then as they were trying to pull it back to the surface, it broke free.
09:55And one of its arms actually detached.
09:59The squid may have lost a tentacle in the encounter with the camera,
10:03but with the ability to regrow appendages, it likely survived.
10:07The images confirmed what scientists had long suspected.
10:11The giant squid is no passive deep-sea drifter, but a powerful active predator,
10:16estimated to reach nearly 27 feet in length.
10:20So this was truly an amazing moment for marine science.
10:23For hundreds of years, we knew that giant squids were out there in the ocean.
10:27They had found bits and pieces in the stomach of sperm whales.
10:31They'd heard tales from fishermen and other scientists of them washing up in Newfoundland and in Norway.
10:37But they'd never been able to see the giant squid and how it behaves in the deep sea.
10:42Those groundbreaking photographs sparked a surge of new exploration.
10:46In 2012, researchers lowered a specialized deep-sea video camera to a depth of about half a mile.
10:53And what they filmed was jaw-dropping.
10:59For the first time, a giant squid was captured alive on video,
11:04its long tentacles reaching and probing through the darkness.
11:08Using a stealthy low-light camera system, researchers made a key discovery.
11:14Giant squid are visually-driven predators.
11:17They got that first close-up of the giant squid.
11:20It kind of changed a lot of perceptions.
11:23This wasn't a terrifying sea monster.
11:25This is a beautiful animal that undulates in really interesting ways.
11:31And seven years later, there'll be another stunning squid encounter.
11:35In 2019, using the same system that they used off the coast of Japan,
11:41they were able to again film a giant squid on video in the Gulf of Mexico.
11:47This squid was measured to be around 10 feet long, but was believed to be just a juvenile.
11:55Most sightings appear to involve younger specimens, raising a chilling possibility.
12:00If these are the juveniles, far larger giants may still lurk in the ocean's deepest reaches.
12:08Scientists now theorize there could be squids out there in the deepest oceans that are even larger than these specimens,
12:15perhaps as huge as 70 feet.
12:18There's also remarkable evidence of attacks on sperm whales from monster squid.
12:23In the southern hemisphere, whales have been found with huge scars from the barbed, swiveling hooks of the colossal squid's
12:31tentacles.
12:32Thanks to modern scientific observations and discoveries, many believe the legendary kraken has finally been unmasked.
12:41It turns out it's no myth, but a very real giant squid.
12:45The kraken is a sailor-eating, ship-sinking sea monster.
12:50For hundreds of years, it all became legend and myth.
12:54Well, the kraken is a myth, but the giant squid isn't.
12:59The scientific reality is that we have live giant squids out in the ocean.
13:04And giant squids can reach extraordinary sizes.
13:07It is possible these early mariners did see a giant squid out there in the ocean.
13:12And what they saw could have been the foundation for the legend of the kraken.
13:17I can say with pretty good confidence that there are larger squids than we've been able to find still out
13:22there in the ocean left to discover.
13:24But whether the kraken size, who knows?
13:30If a monster squid can take on a 60-foot sperm whale, is it that much of a stretch to
13:35imagine that it also might have taken on something like, oh, I don't know, a 12th century Norse trading ship?
13:41Those sailors may well have encountered 40-foot tentacles bubbling up from the deep.
13:46Then, through countless retellings, and no doubt a fair amount of mead, the story may have transformed into a terrifying
13:53battle with an island-sized monster.
13:56In the end, the fearsome kraken may just be a case of a tall squid twisted into an even taller
14:02tail.
14:09It's November 14th, 1959, a beautiful morning on Georgia's Lake Lanier.
14:15But behind me, a shocking crime scene.
14:18A lone fisherman was casting for bass, but reeled in a nightmare.
14:22The badly decomposed body of a woman in a blue dress, her hands missing.
14:27Even more shocking, dozens of people will later report seeing the ghost of this woman.
14:33who'll become known as the Lady of the Lake.
14:36These sightings will fuel the belief that this place is cursed, and the body count will seemingly back that up.
14:42By the 2020s, an estimated 700 will have drowned here.
14:47Now, a dark history long hidden deep below the surface reveals the horrifying truth lurking in Lake Lanier.
15:04The tragedy of the woman found in the lake begins a year and a half earlier.
15:09On April 16th, 1958, 22-year-old Delia May Parker Young and her friend, 37-year-old Susie Roberts, are
15:18dancing the night away at the local roadhouse.
15:21The two young mothers are enjoying a rare night off.
15:25Around 11 p.m., they hop into Susie's Ford sedan, heading home in the direction of Lake Lanier, taking the
15:32Highway 53 bridge.
15:35They are never seen again.
15:46The next day, tire marks near the bridge lead some to believe the women lost control and plunged into the
15:52water.
15:54Police drag the lake and scour the shoreline, but come up empty-handed.
15:58It's as if the women simply vanished.
16:0218 months later, our fisherman makes his ghastly discovery.
16:09Police suspect the dead woman is Delia May Parker Young, who was wearing a blue dress the night she went
16:15missing.
16:17But with her advanced state of decomposition, the tattered shreds of sun-bleached fabric are not enough to make a
16:24definitive ID.
16:25And there's still no sign of Susie Roberts or the car.
16:29The mystery of what happened to the two women hangs in the air like the lake's heavy mist.
16:35And that's when the ghost stories begin.
16:39Drivers along State Route 53 tell of a spectral woman in a blue dress, missing her hands, pacing the bridge
16:47at night as if searching for something.
16:50Or someone.
16:52Boaters and fishermen whisper of strange encounters near the bridge.
16:56A shadowy figure in blue, gliding along the shoreline, then vanishing into the mist.
17:03Swimmers report something even more chilling.
17:06A sudden grip at their ankle, pulling them under.
17:12These stories give birth to a legend.
17:14The Lady of the Lake, forever haunting Lanier's waters.
17:21Believers say she's the ghost of Delia May Parker Young.
17:25But Delia's far from the lake's last victim.
17:32On Christmas Day 1964, a station wagon packed with two families swerves off the bridge and sinks.
17:41Eleven people go under.
17:43Only four surface alive.
17:46Two adults and five children are lost forever.
17:52Over the years, hundreds more perish in the lake and its infamy grows.
17:58Then, in 1990, there's a shocking discovery that splashes the name Lake Lanier across newspapers nationwide.
18:06A construction crew working on the Highway 53 bridge over Lake Lanier calls in divers to inspect the base of
18:13the foundation.
18:14But what they find isn't concrete or rebar.
18:18It's a car, sitting silently on the lake bed.
18:22A salvage team manages to get the vehicle to the surface.
18:26The license plate proves it belongs to Susie Roberts.
18:30And inside, they discover her skeleton, still behind the wheel.
18:35This all but confirms the body found in 1959 belonged to her friend, Delia May Parker Young.
18:43After 32 years, the mystery of what truly happened to the women is finally put to rest.
18:57And yet, Lake Lanier's body count keeps rising.
19:0119 deaths in 1999.
19:0418 in 2016.
19:0713 in 2023.
19:10Far more than other popular lakes in the region.
19:13Most are officially ruled drownings or boating accidents.
19:18Deaths continue to the present day, as recently as several months ago.
19:23Ghostly sightings also continue, with people still regularly reporting seeing the Lady of the Lake alongside other disturbing entities.
19:33Each new tragedy deepens the sense that Lanier must be cursed.
19:38So, the question remains, why is this lake so deadly?
19:41Is it truly haunted by a ghost?
19:44Or is it something even more sinister?
19:51Or is it something even more sinister?
19:52Over the years, chilling reports of fatalities keep surfacing at Georgia's Lake Lanier.
19:57Earning it a reputation as one of America's deadliest bodies of water.
20:02For decades, many have wondered what makes Lanier so dangerous.
20:06Today, experts are focusing on the way it was constructed.
20:10That's right, Lake Lanier is not natural.
20:12It's a man-made reservoir.
20:14Bernal University professor and Lanier historian, Dr. Charlie Garner, explains.
20:20Lake Lanier was the brainchild of some rather heavy hitters in politics in the Atlanta area.
20:26In the early 1950s, they needed flood control for the area.
20:31Said they needed that drinking water for Atlanta.
20:34They needed power generation for Atlanta.
20:36So those were the reasons for the lake's creation.
20:39To build the reservoir, the government constructed a hydroelectric dam in Forsyth County.
20:45As a result, an area of nearly 60 square miles was flooded.
20:50And of course, there's a number of families' homes.
20:54Their farms were within that area of impoundment for the lake.
20:59The lake covered up whole communities like Oscarville.
21:05If the name Oscarville is unfamiliar to you, that's because it was literally washed off the map.
21:11And with it, a dark chapter in American history was also submerged.
21:16After the Civil War, as you can imagine, there were a great many slaves that were freed in that particular
21:24area.
21:25And a small community grew up on the banks, on the north bank of the Chattahoochee.
21:29This small community called Oscarville.
21:33And yet, as throughout the south, during the time, there's a great deal of tension between the white population and
21:41the black population.
21:43Despite the hostility, the black community thrives.
21:47Then comes September 8th, 1912.
21:50May Crowe, a local white teenager, vanishes on the way to her aunt's house.
21:55I think we found it!
21:57The next day, a search party finds May in the woods outside of town, violently assaulted and clinging to life.
22:07She never regains consciousness and dies two weeks later in the hospital.
22:12The usual suspects for the white population would be the African Americans.
22:17And so they quickly arrested three on very, very flimsy evidence.
22:27One was lynched right away.
22:30The two others went to trial, but of course they were convicted by an all-white jury, and they were
22:37executed as well.
22:38That seemed to set off the powder keg of racial tension in that area.
22:47And mobs of white people stormed through the Oscarville community and drove the African American families away from their homes.
22:59When the government decided to create Lake Lanier, the remaining property owners were bought out and structures were demolished.
23:07But not everything was cleared before the waters rose.
23:10Lake Lanier is a dangerous lake because of the things that are on the bottom, but also the things that
23:17float up.
23:19The history of the destruction in Forsyth County at Oscarville.
23:24The covering up of all the people's properties and cemeteries of loved ones.
23:31And to this day, it is really unknown how many graves are under Lake Lanier.
23:37There are so many things under the lake.
23:41Large barns and houses, structures still under the water.
23:45Very easily, these could be the explanations for people thinking that they've been grabbed by a ghostly hand.
23:53When in actuality, they've just got entangled with the branches of a tree or a bush or some other thing,
24:00some sort of building underneath the water.
24:03And then you add into that the tragedies of families even that were killed in car accidents.
24:13Or like the story of the Lady of the Lake.
24:17You see how these all come together to build up a feeling that Lake Lanier is cursed.
24:23Is it haunted? Is it evil in some sense?
24:26Well, I know a lot of people that do believe that very firmly.
24:31But I've got to see a little bit more evidence.
24:35For historians like Dr. Garner, the submerged structures of Oscarville offer a more practical explanation for the high amount of
24:43accidents here.
24:44Especially given that the lake is now a major summer tourism destination.
24:50Experts have also pointed out that the lake waters can be dark and murky, making it hard to find people
24:56who slip beneath the surface.
24:57Some critics have even called for the reservoir to be drained, as the bodies of some who drowned there have
25:03never been recovered.
25:04But the fact remains that the lake is critical to the area's water and power needs.
25:09And the lion's share of the 11 million yearly visitors leave with nothing more harmful than a sunburn.
25:15But believers, especially those who swear to have seen the so-called Lady of the Lake, remain convinced that this
25:22place is home to powerful paranormal forces.
25:26If you ask me, I'd say Lake Lanier is haunted.
25:29By ghosts? Perhaps.
25:31But certainly by the long and tragic history submerged below its surface.
25:43I've traveled to some incredible places, but this might just take the cake.
25:47Welcome to the glittering island utopia of Atlantis, circa 9400 BC.
25:54But don't get too attached, because this place ain't gonna be around much longer.
25:58After getting too big for their britches, the Greek gods have decided to punish the Atlanteans with floods and earthquakes
26:05that will send this city to the bottom of the sea.
26:09At least that's the story according to the philosopher Plato.
26:12He'll be the first and only primary source for the Atlantis legend.
26:16And forever after, the world will wonder, was Atlantis actually a real place?
26:22Well, 11,000 years from now, a series of potential discoveries will bring the world's most famous sunken city back
26:30from the depths.
26:41Meet Plato.
26:42Maybe you already know him as a wearer of fine togas.
26:47But if you don't, he's arguably the most famous philosopher in Western history.
26:54Famed for his ideas about metaphysics, society, politics, and most importantly for us right now, for recording the story of
27:03Atlantis.
27:08According to Plato's story, in the beginning, the gods divide the earth among themselves, with the deity Poseidon claiming the
27:16island of Atlantis.
27:17After falling in love with a mortal woman, Poseidon fathers ten sons, giving each a region of Atlantis to govern.
27:25Then he watches as the island blooms into a cultural and technological utopia.
27:35Legend says a massive seawall protects a network of harbors filled with merchant ships from all over the world.
27:44Defended by a navy, 1,200 warships strong.
27:48The capital itself is constructed with concentric rings of land and water, built around a central island on which stands
27:56the royal palace and a 600-foot-long temple to Poseidon, clad in silver, gold, and a mysterious metal called
28:05orichalcul.
28:06Bridges and canals connect the water rings, allowing large ships to navigate throughout the city.
28:13Sophisticated aqueducts keep the farmlands fertile.
28:20Plato writes that Atlanteans possess a divine nature.
28:24Like a nation of Boy Scouts, they value friendship, wisdom, and self-restraint, not wealth and luxury.
28:31In short, it's nothing less than the ideal civilization.
28:35But nothing perfect lasts forever.
28:41Atlantis' leaders get greedy, deploying their formidable navy to take over neighboring lands.
28:49They conquer and enslave parts of North Africa and Europe, expanding their vast empire.
28:55Atlanteans turn from superheroes into supervillains, their moral compass swayed by a lust for power.
29:05Atlantis' rise seems unstoppable until it reaches Athens.
29:11There, the Athenians rise up and repel the invaders.
29:18But Atlantis' thirst for conquest doesn't just provoke the Athenians, it enrages Zeus, the supreme leader of the Greek gods.
29:27And he's about to unleash a punishment so cataclysmic it will wipe their entire world off the map.
29:42In 9400 BC, the legendary city of Atlantis is a thriving city-state, according to Greek philosopher Plato.
29:50But when its rulers push beyond their borders in a bid for conquest, they enrage the gods, including Zeus, who
29:57resolves to unleash a devastating punishment for their greed.
30:03Plato records that a cataclysm arrives.
30:07Massive earthquakes shake Atlantis apart.
30:15Monstrous tidal waves pound the once mighty island empire into the sea.
30:25Within a single day, all of Atlantis is wiped off the face of the earth, as if it never existed.
30:35Even though Plato first recorded the story of Atlantis nearly 2500 years ago, its cultural impact is as alive today
30:43as it was in his time.
30:45Inspiring countless books.
30:48TV shows.
30:50And movies.
30:52We're looking at you, Jason Momoa.
30:55But is any of it based in truth?
30:58Well, Plato wrote this whole Atlantis story in two dialogues called Timaeus and Critias.
31:05Dialogues were basically a fictional conversation for the purpose of discussing philosophy and ethics.
31:12In this case, Plato writes about the ancient kingdom of Atlantis as an allegory for hubris and the dangers of
31:19unchecked power.
31:21Some go even further and say the whole story is a way for Plato to mourn the death of his
31:27beloved mentor, Socrates.
31:29Socrates is, after all, Plato's hero, a foundational Greek philosopher championing critical analysis and ethical living.
31:39But in 399 BC, an Athenian court condemns him for corrupting the youth, teaching them to challenge authority and question
31:48the accepted truths of the city.
31:51Rather than abandon his beliefs, Socrates chooses to drink poison hemlock and dies.
32:02The death of Socrates sends shockwaves through Athens.
32:06As for Plato, the loss of his mentor is life-changing, causing him to dedicate himself to philosophy and to
32:13become disillusioned with how small-minded he believes Athens has become.
32:19That's why his Atlantis symbolizes the glory Athens once personified, and how it too is succumbing to arrogance and moral
32:27decay.
32:28But is Plato's text really just a political allegory featuring a fictional superpower?
32:35Or was Atlantis a known historical place?
32:38Let's not forget that many of the world's mythic stories have some basis in truth, like the legendary Trojan War
32:45and the now discovered city of Troy.
32:48Could that be the case with Atlantis too? And if so, where is it?
32:54In his text, Plato says that Atlantis lies just beyond the pillars of Heracles, now believed to be the Strait
33:01of Gibraltar, which would place it in the Atlantic Ocean.
33:07Although Plato implies that Atlantis is in the Atlantic, many have said that the Great Greek got the location wrong,
33:14proposing some rather colorful ideas for where it's really located.
33:18Think Antarctica, or even closer to home, that it was once part of Florida, specifically Tampa. Seriously.
33:25One popular theory even places Atlantis in the Bahamas. And no, I'm not talking about some long-lost five-star
33:32resort.
33:35Seekers of the lost city claim that an unusual underwater formation known as the Bimini Road is all that remains
33:42of an Atlantean thoroughfare.
33:45Several years ago, I had a chance to investigate it for myself.
34:02The rectangular blocks stretch as far as the eye can see, forming a pathway that looks, well, designed.
34:10It does almost look like massive thieving blocks.
34:20To see what's going on beneath the mysterious blocks, we deployed a sub-bottom profiler, powerful sonar that can image
34:2830 feet below the ocean floor.
34:31Am I looking at structure down here? What is this?
34:35It's a solid sea floor.
34:36Okay.
34:37It's not an anomaly.
34:42The sub-bottom profiler reveals that the Bimini Road is definitely a natural rock formation.
34:49Its paving stone appearance may be the result of ocean currents wearing away the soft limestone sediment.
34:58While I didn't manage to find Atlantis in the Bahamas, other teams of explorers continue to search for it all
35:04over the world.
35:05And it's pretty tough sledding.
35:09One theory places Atlantis in the desert.
35:12This is the Reshot structure, also known as the Eye of the Sahara.
35:19It sits deep in the deserts of Mauritania in northwest Africa, a vast circular formation nearly 15 miles across.
35:28There's just one problem.
35:30It's actually an ancient geological structure and not man-made.
35:36Another idea surfaces when marine biologists exploring waters near Hawaii record strange topography on the seafloor.
35:44The location looked like a paved path, leading the team to nickname it the Yellow Brick Road to Atlantis.
35:52Later analysis showed it was a naturally fractured volcanic rock and not an actual road.
36:00In 2018, there was another potential discovery.
36:04A team announced they had found evidence of Atlantis in the Gulf of Cadiz, off the coast of Spain.
36:09Exactly where Plato hinted it might be.
36:12Could this be the breakthrough that finally proves this legendary city was real?
36:23Several years ago, breaking news surfaced said to offer real evidence of Atlantis.
36:28A British surveying and treasure hunting firm, Merlin Burroughs, announced they had identified structures they believed to be part of
36:36Atlantis in the Gulf of Cadiz, along the coast of Spain's Iberian Peninsula.
36:41Their claim is based on satellite images showing geometric shapes beneath the surface, straight lines, rectangular outlines, and large circular
36:51formations that they believed to be buried buildings or other structures.
36:55Stel Pavlo, co-host of the discovery series Hunting Atlantis, was among the first to investigate their findings.
37:03What made that story really sort of take off in 2018 is because they had satellite images.
37:10They were using the latest cutting edge technology, which had already been used to find hidden features in Egypt.
37:19It was like, aha, at last, technology is going to solve this.
37:22This is what Merlin Burroughs does.
37:24They have a track record.
37:26So when they make a claim like this, you're certainly going to raise an eyebrow and listen.
37:31The Merlin Burroughs team claimed to have found submerged structures laid out in concentric circles, just like Plato's city plan.
37:40But just like the eye of the Sahara, it would take more than a few circles to prove this was
37:45really Atlantis.
37:46Other researchers went out there to take a look.
37:48The circular features that they found turned out to be ponds.
37:54Man-made ponds, yes, but not from 11,000 years ago, from just 20 years ago, designed to study plankton.
38:02But there were other astonishing Atlantis claims to come.
38:07In 2020, a research team claimed Ireland once went by another name, Atlantis.
38:15They pointed to what they saw as striking parallels with Plato's account of Atlantis, arguing that Ireland's central plain, ringed
38:23by mountains, mirrors the landscape he described.
38:27Archaeologists remain skeptical.
38:29While Stone Age artifacts have been recovered, there's no evidence of the advanced society Plato described.
38:36And many say research like this tries a little too hard to make the legend fit existing maps.
38:42These theories are taking everything far too literally.
38:47These are people with real passion, but they bring their biases to it.
38:52And instead of just dispassionately looking at what there is, they kind of start filling in the blanks.
38:58If you're going to go looking for Atlantis, you're looking for broader brushstrokes.
39:03You're not looking for an exact match to what Plato describes.
39:10Although Stel doesn't believe there's a lost Atlantis out there matching Plato's description, he does still think there's some remarkable
39:18truth to the story.
39:20In the period that we're talking about in the fifth millennium BC, there's what's called a meltwater pulse.
39:26And what that is, is water coming from glaciers that are melting from the end of the ice age.
39:31That all rushes out and starts flooding the coastlines and starts sinking certain cities.
39:37It comes rushing in and it starts causing all kinds of chaos.
39:41That pretty much matches the type of thing that Plato's talking about.
39:46That catastrophe is in the record. It's in the archaeological and geological record.
39:52So that's a large element that Plato gets correct.
39:57There are indeed multiple historical occurrences of nature wiping out entire civilizations around Plato's time.
40:06The volcanic eruption of Thera around 1600 BC unleashes massive tsunamis that devastate the Minoan civilization on nearby Crete.
40:18Centuries later, the Greek city of Pavlopetri is submerged by rising seas.
40:24And just a decade before Plato wrote of Atlantis, an earthquake and tsunami destroys the Greek city of Heliki.
40:33It seems highly plausible to me that there was some ancient city that was destroyed in a flood that led
40:45to the myth.
40:45It could be that we already found it and haven't made the connection, or it could be something that's still
40:53lost.
40:53As much as I'd love to believe in an advanced civilization lost beneath the waves, it is sadly much more
41:00likely that Atlantis is not a real place.
41:03Atlantis is instead an allegory, a warning of how power corrupts.
41:08But what makes the story remarkable is we can now confirm that it's a fiction based on fact.
41:14Multiple ancient civilizations were lost in cataclysmic terror, sunk beneath the waves.
41:20And perhaps that's why the myth of Atlantis endures.
41:24You can really believe it happened.
41:26And you know what? It kind of did.
41:29I'm Josh Gates, and I'll see you on the next Expedition.
Comments