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Expedition Files Season 4 Episode 6
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00:00On this episode of Expedition Files, Dracula is said to be inspired by the real-life terrors of a bloodthirsty
00:1015th-century warlord, Vlad the Impaler.
00:14He's believed to have killed thousands, but the circumstances of Vlad's death and the location of his burial remained a
00:23mystery, until now.
00:26Then, as the Cold War burns hot, a top-secret U.S. government program attempts to spy on the enemy
00:34using the power of the mind.
00:36But were the abilities of these so-called psychic spies real or just science fiction?
00:43We declassify the jaw-dropping truth.
00:50And, in ancient Rome, Spartacus is a legendary slave-turned-gladiator who sparks a rebellion, bringing the nation to its
01:00knees.
01:01But did he really exist?
01:04New archaeological findings shed light on the man behind the myth.
01:12In the corridors of time
01:16Are mysteries that defy explanation
01:20Now, I'm traveling through history itself
01:27On a search for the truth
01:31New evidence
01:34Shocking answers
01:38I'm Josh Gates
01:40And these
01:43Are my Expedition Files
01:49I've been lucky enough to travel to 117 countries
01:53But some of the best places I've ever been aren't out there
01:57They're up here
01:58Arrakis
01:59The Shire
02:00Diagon Alley
02:01All completely fictitious
02:03All made real by a brilliant book
02:05Plus our own brilliant imaginations
02:08But the thing is
02:09Powerful fiction is still inspired by powerful facts
02:13Whether it was Tolkien's time in the trenches for Lord of the Rings
02:17Or Frank Herbert hitting those magic mushrooms to create Dune
02:20And tonight, we search for the facts behind some other equally epic fiction
02:26Investigating three iconic stories
02:29To find the truth behind the tale
02:31We begin in the year 1462
02:34In the forests of Carpathia
02:36In time, this will be part of Romania
02:39But in this century
02:40It's known as Transylvania
02:43And here's the man in charge around here
02:45Prince Vlad III
02:47Also known as Vlad Tepes
02:49And Vlad the Impaler
02:50He's currently leading a military campaign
02:53Against the invading Ottoman Empire
02:55Which has resulted in thousands of his enemies
02:58Dead by
02:59Well, you get the idea
03:01This very real man is said to go on
03:04To become the inspiration
03:05For one of fiction's most infamous vampires
03:08Because his other name is Vlad Dracula
03:11But while the monster becomes iconic
03:14Curiously, we know very little about the man himself
03:17We don't know how he died
03:19Or where he was buried
03:21But 600 years from now
03:23New discoveries may allow us to come face to face
03:27With the real Dracula
03:39Vlad III is born in the winter of 1431
03:43In Sigishwara
03:44In the region of Transylvania
03:46Then part of the Kingdom of Hungary
03:48Vlad belongs to a ruling family of Wallachia
03:52A brutal 15th century borderland
03:55Caught between Hungary
03:56And the expanding Ottoman Empire
03:58Vlad's father is the ruler of Wallachia
04:01And member of the Order of the Dragon
04:04A Christian brotherhood sworn to keep the Ottomans at bay
04:08His membership perk?
04:10A fearsome new title
04:11Dracul
04:12Which makes Vlad III Dracula
04:15Quite literally, the son of the dragon
04:20And the rest of Vlad's childhood
04:22Appropriately reads like the origin story of a monster
04:27As a boy, Vlad is hauled off as a hostage
04:30By his father's enemy, the Ottoman Turks
04:34But while Vlad is a prisoner of the Ottomans
04:37Wallachia's other great enemy
04:39The Hungarians decide to strike
04:43Assassinating Vlad's father and brother
04:48With his dad gone
04:50Vlad assumes the throne of Wallachia in 1448
04:54But that only lasts for two months
04:56Before he's forced out in a coup
04:58Led by rival nobles
05:01Vlad then spends the next eight years in exile
05:04Sharpening his grudges against the Ottomans
05:07The Hungarians
05:08The Wallachians
05:10Frankly, anyone who will stand in his way
05:15By 1456, Vlad is done waiting
05:18He returns to Wallachia with an army
05:21To retake his throne by any means necessary
05:24He's brutally successful
05:39Vlad's first order of business
05:41Is settling scores with those who he feels
05:44Had betrayed his family
05:47Accounts say he invites hundreds of local aristocrats
05:50To a grand feast
05:53Framing it as a gesture of peace
05:55Then he has them arrested
05:57The Lucky are sent to toil as forced laborers
06:02The Unlucky are executed
06:04In what becomes Vlad's signature style
06:07Impalement
06:08A sharpened stake driven through the body
06:12Leaving victims to die slowly
06:14Their corpses are left skewered
06:17A forest of warnings to anyone who dares defy him
06:21The fearsome nickname
06:23Vlad the Impaler
06:24Spreads throughout the land
06:28Meanwhile, Vlad's enemies
06:30The Ottoman Empire
06:31Push west towards his territory
06:34Spreading their Islamic regime
06:36In response
06:37The Pope calls for a new crusade
06:40To protect Christian territory
06:42That includes Vlad's
06:44Eager for revenge against his former captors
06:47The Impaler seizes the moment
06:51When the Ottomans march into Wallachia
06:54Vlad strikes back with scorched earth fury
06:57Raiding camps
06:58Poisoning wells
06:59And yes, impaling thousands
07:05The savagery works
07:07The Ottomans pull back
07:09And Europe hails Vlad
07:11As a defender of the Christian faith
07:13A hero to some
07:15A nightmare to others
07:18Vlad's brutal tactics
07:19Become the stuff of legend
07:21One commonly repeated tale
07:24Claims he dined among the impaled
07:26Dipping his bread in their blood
07:28Now, we should be clear
07:31Much of what we know about these stories
07:33Comes from enemy propaganda
07:35Pamphlets from the late 1400s
07:38In Romania itself
07:40Vlad is today considered a national hero
07:43A brave leader who defended his country
07:45From foreign invaders
07:47So the line between fact and fear-mongering
07:50Is blurry
07:53The story of Vlad's death
07:54Is similarly debatable
07:56Even the year
07:571476
07:58Or maybe 1477
08:01Some say he fell in battle
08:03Others claim he was betrayed
08:05By his own men
08:08Another tale says
08:09His severed head
08:10Was sent to the Ottoman sultan
08:12As a trophy
08:15As for his body
08:17His final resting place
08:19Has never been found
08:21But just as the man
08:23Becomes lost in the shadows
08:24The monster takes center stage
08:27In 1897
08:28Irish author Bram Stoker
08:30Writes the novel Dracula
08:32Inspired, at least in part
08:34By Vlad the Impaler
08:37While writing the novel
08:39Stoker dives into
08:40Eastern European lore
08:41In an 1820 history book
08:44He finds mention of Vlad III
08:46As Dracula
08:48Son of the Dragon
08:49The name is exotic
08:51Mysterious
08:53Terrifying
08:54Stoker scraps his
08:56Original villain
08:57Count Vampyr
08:58And instead
08:59Christens him
09:00Count Dracula
09:01From there
09:03Stoker pulls details
09:04From Vlad III's life
09:06To shape
09:06Count Dracula's backstory
09:08His role as a ruthless warlord
09:10The Transylvanian setting
09:12And his battles
09:13With the Ottoman Turks
09:17Meanwhile
09:17The mythical side
09:19Of Stoker's tale
09:20Comes from his deep dive
09:21Into centuries-old vampire folklore
09:24In Eastern Europe
09:26In the Middle Ages
09:27Long before science
09:29Could explain disease
09:30And decay
09:31Villagers sometimes
09:32Exhumed the dead
09:33Fearing those
09:35Who lived evil lives
09:37Died with unfinished business
09:38And might rise again
09:40When the graves were opened
09:42Some bodies showed
09:44Bloated faces
09:45Darkened skin
09:46And blood at the mouth
09:48Natural signs of decomposition
09:50That villagers misinterpreted
09:52As proof the dead
09:53Had returned
09:54To feed on the living
09:56To stop them
09:57Communities resorted
09:59To brutal measures
10:02Archaeologists
10:03Have since uncovered
10:04Anti-vampire burials
10:06Throughout Europe
10:07Skeletons nailed to the ground
10:09With stakes
10:10Others with bricks
10:11Or metal
10:12Forced into their mouths
10:13To prevent biting
10:17Several years ago
10:18I explored these practices myself
10:20Working alongside archaeologists
10:22At a dig site in Bulgaria
10:26Amazing
10:26So this is the metal
10:28And what is it exactly?
10:30It's a plowshare
10:31The tool that local people use
10:33To plow the ground
10:34So this is something
10:36That was done
10:36After the person died
10:38This was then driven into them
10:39Definitely it happened after death
10:41And it shows evidence
10:42That this is a ritual
10:43Preventing this person
10:45From becoming a vampire
10:47These real world horror stories
10:50Gave Stoker's Dracula
10:51Its fangs
10:53But not all Dracula legends
10:56Are rooted in medieval folklore
10:59One of the most iconic
11:01The bat
11:01Is a later invention
11:03Drawing on reports
11:05Of blood-sucking bats
11:06In the Americas
11:07First documented
11:08In the 16th century
11:09Bram Stoker fused this image
11:12With Vlad's fearsome reputation
11:14To create his infamous monster
11:18Since the late 1800s
11:21Dracula has sunk his teeth
11:22Into popular culture
11:24Like almost no other character
11:26The Count has starred
11:27In stage plays
11:28Silent films
11:29Blockbuster movies
11:30And TV shows
11:31Comic books
11:32Even breakfast cereal
11:35But behind the legend
11:36Lies an unsettling mystery
11:38The fate of the real man
11:40Who inspired it
11:41Vlad the Impaler
11:43For centuries
11:45Historians have disagreed
11:46On how he died
11:47And where he's buried
11:49Now
11:50A modern day search
11:51Has uncovered new evidence
11:52That may finally lead
11:54To Vlad's long lost remains
11:56And the secrets
11:57Buried with them
12:04For centuries
12:05The final resting place
12:07Of Vlad the Impaler
12:08The ruthless ruler
12:10Whose reign of terror
12:11Helped inspire the legend
12:13Of Dracula
12:13Has been a mystery
12:15Now
12:15Dr. Anne DeLong
12:17Professor of British
12:18And Gothic literature
12:19And editor of the
12:20Journal of Dracula Studies
12:22Follows the trail of clues
12:24That may finally lead
12:25To Vlad's lost grave
12:27The fact that there is
12:29No clear trail
12:31To Vlad's death
12:32Or to his burial site
12:34Is a bit strange
12:35Particularly considering
12:37His status today
12:39As a hero
12:40Of Romanian history
12:42For many years
12:43Popular tradition
12:45Believed that
12:46Vlad the Impaler
12:46Was buried
12:47In a monastery
12:48In Romania
12:49One of those
12:50Is the Snagov Monastery
12:52A site that was
12:54Connected to Vlad's family
12:56On a small island
12:58North of Bucharest
12:59Snagov Monastery
13:01Has long been linked
13:02To Vlad the Impaler's fate
13:0416th century accounts
13:05Claim he died
13:06In battle nearby
13:07And was buried there
13:09For generations
13:10Locals pointed to
13:11A plain stone slab
13:13Inside the church
13:14As his hidden grave
13:15A humble marker
13:16For a man
13:17With a monster
13:18Sized legend
13:20The monastery
13:21At Snagov
13:22Was excavated
13:24In 1933
13:25In order to search
13:26For remains of Vlad
13:28The tomb turned out
13:30To be completely
13:31Empty
13:32Except for animal bones
13:35That's led some historians
13:37To look elsewhere
13:38Like Komana Monastery
13:40A fortress-like church
13:41Vlad founded
13:42During his reign
13:44The Komana Monastery
13:46Is closer to the site
13:48Where he is believed
13:49To have died
13:49It makes more logical sense
13:51That he would have been moved
13:53To a closer monastery
13:56But excavations at Komana
13:58In the 1970s
14:00Discover no proof of Vlad
14:01In the end
14:02No grave site
14:03For the Impaler
14:04Has ever been discovered
14:05In Romania
14:06Leading some to the theory
14:08That Vlad was buried
14:09Somewhere else
14:10In 2014
14:11There's a fascinating
14:12New development
14:13A team of Italian researchers
14:15Identified a curious tomb
14:17At the church
14:18Of Santa Maria Lenova
14:20In Naples
14:20Featuring ominous engravings
14:22And what some claim
14:24To be a coded inscription
14:25Of letters and symbols
14:29Some historians believe
14:31That Vlad's remains
14:32Ended up in Naples
14:33Which is where his daughter lived
14:35And some have suggested
14:36That she sent for the body
14:38Then was able to
14:40Memorialize him
14:41Where she lived
14:42And presumably be buried
14:43With him also
14:44Supporters of the theory
14:45Point to details
14:47Carved into the tomb's facade
14:48An ornate dragon
14:50And a knight's helmet
14:51Symbols that could reference
14:53The order of the dragon
14:54To which Vlad's father belonged
14:56Behind the tomb
14:58Lies an epigraph
14:59That has yet to be
15:00Fully deciphered
15:00But two translated words
15:03Vlad and Balkans
15:04Have fueled speculation
15:06That it may be connected
15:07To Vlad the impaler
15:09Raising the possibility
15:10That this is his long lost grave
15:13More than a thousand miles
15:14From the land he once ruled
15:17Skeptics argue
15:18That the tomb
15:19May simply belong
15:20To a noble Neapolitan family
15:22Who adopted similar symbols
15:24To reflect their status
15:25And religious devotion
15:26But that hasn't stopped
15:28The church from embracing
15:29Its newfound celebrity
15:31As the possible resting place
15:33Of Dracula
15:34Researchers have asked
15:36For permission
15:36To investigate the tomb
15:38To find out for sure
15:39But legal and ethical obstacles
15:41Mean it could be years
15:43Before we have
15:44A definitive answer
15:46And Vlad's alleged tomb
15:48In Naples
15:49Isn't the only recent
15:50Dracula news
15:51To come out of Italy
15:52In August of 2023
15:54Italian scientists
15:55Examined centuries-old letters
15:58Attributed to Vlad the impaler
16:00They detected
16:01Microscopic protein traces
16:03That may have been left
16:04On the paper
16:05By his hands
16:06These proteins
16:07Are linked to a rare condition
16:09Called hemalacria
16:10Which can cause
16:11A person's tear ducts
16:13To bleed
16:13If true
16:14It means the man
16:15Who inspired Dracula
16:17May have literally
16:18Wept blood
16:19That doesn't make him
16:20A vampire
16:22But it's not going to
16:23Help me sleep
16:23Any better tonight
16:24Either
16:29It's 1979
16:31That's a Soviet military base
16:33Somewhere near
16:34The Arctic Circle
16:35American intelligence
16:36Suspects they're building
16:38A new aircraft carrier here
16:40But can't confirm it
16:41Because the CIA
16:42Has no agents
16:43On the inside
16:44Or do they
16:49Nearly 5,000 miles away
16:51In a windowless room
16:52At Fort Meade, Maryland
16:54A new kind of operative
16:55Is at work
16:56The psychic spy
16:58Agents who claim
16:59They can see anywhere
17:00On earth
17:01At any time
17:02Using nothing
17:03But their minds
17:04The U.S. government
17:05Will pour millions
17:07Into Project Stargate
17:08Until
17:09After decades
17:10Of operation
17:11It's labeled
17:12A failure
17:12And shuttered
17:13But 50 years
17:15After its inception
17:16Former members
17:17Of this top secret initiative
17:19Will speak out
17:20And declassified documents
17:22Will emerge
17:22What they reveal
17:24Is nothing short
17:25Of mind-blowing
17:35The story of Project Stargate
17:38May sound like science fiction
17:39But according to Joe McMoneagle
17:41It's all too real
17:44In 1978
17:46He's a 32-year-old officer
17:48In the Army's
17:49Signal Intelligence Program
17:53He says he's invited
17:54To interview for a position
17:56With physicist
17:57Hal Puthoff
17:58Head of a new
17:59Top-secret military operation
18:03You served in Vietnam, correct?
18:05Yes, sir
18:07Midway through the meeting
18:08McMoneagle gets a question
18:10He never expected
18:11Have you ever experienced
18:13Anything called
18:13A paranormal event?
18:16He hesitates
18:18But then decides
18:19To answer truthfully
18:20Well, actually
18:25He tells Puthoff
18:26About a night at a bar
18:28With his wife
18:28And a friend
18:29When he suddenly
18:30Feels sick
18:36Stepping outside for air
18:38He collapses
18:40And stops breathing
18:45They rush him to the hospital
18:46Where he remains unresponsive
18:48McMoneagle is unconscious
18:51But will later claim
18:52He sees everything
18:53That is happening to him
18:54Watching the doctors
18:56Work on his body
18:57From somewhere above it
19:01When he finally wakes
19:03After being revived
19:04He's back
19:05In his own body
19:11McMoneagle figures
19:12Puthoff must think
19:13He's crazy
19:14After hearing
19:15Such a wild story
19:16But instead of being
19:17Dragged out of the office
19:18In a straitjacket
19:19He's offered a job
19:21In a top-secret
19:22Psychic espionage program
19:25McMoneagle will help
19:26Found the program
19:27Tasked with harnessing
19:28His supposed
19:29Supersensory abilities
19:31To see and hear things
19:32Across the world
19:33All without ever
19:35Leaving his office
19:37He's allegedly
19:38Even given a codename
19:39Remote Viewer 001
19:41And in a time
19:43Of global tension
19:44His mind may become
19:45One of the government's
19:47Most unconventional
19:48Weapons
19:57In 1978
19:59Army officer
20:00Joe McMoneagle
20:01Allegedly joins
20:02A top-secret program
20:04Called Project Stargate
20:05And trains
20:06To become a psychic spy
20:08Now if you're wondering
20:09How one trains
20:10To become a psychic
20:11You're not alone
20:14The project stems
20:16From the work
20:17Of physicists
20:17Russell Targ
20:18And Stargate director
20:20Harold Puthoff
20:21At the Stanford Research Institute
20:22In the 1970s
20:25Convinced psychic abilities
20:26Can be taught
20:27They spend years
20:28Testing the limits
20:30Of remote viewing
20:31A kind of mental
20:32Teleportation
20:33Where the mind's eye
20:34Reaches across time
20:36And space
20:36To perceive
20:37Distant locations
20:38And events
20:40Their experiments
20:42Soon catch the attention
20:43Of the U.S. Army's
20:44Intelligence command
20:45Especially with reports
20:47That the Soviets
20:48Are researching
20:49Similar techniques
20:50The unit stays small
20:52Just 15 to 20 people
20:54Working in secrecy
20:56In an old
20:57Leaky wooden barracks
21:00In 1979
21:01McMoneagle claims
21:03He starts getting
21:04Real assignments
21:06A U.S. spy satellite
21:08Has captured images
21:09Of a massive
21:10Industrial complex
21:11At a Soviet naval base
21:13650 miles
21:14North of Moscow
21:16Ground operatives
21:18Can't get close
21:19Leaving American
21:20Intelligence
21:21Completely in the dark
21:22About what's
21:23Happening inside
21:25McMoneagle says
21:26He isn't told
21:27Any of this
21:28Instead
21:29He's given
21:30The coordinates
21:31Meanwhile
21:32A satellite photograph
21:33Of the target
21:34Is sealed
21:35In an envelope
21:36So what do you
21:36Make of this
21:37He's asked
21:38To view the contents
21:39Not with his eyes
21:40But with his mind
21:49McMoneagle says
21:50He begins to sketch
21:51A series of boxes
21:52Like an aerial view
21:54Of buildings
21:54Then he reports
21:56What he believes
21:57Is inside
21:58I see
22:00An object
22:02I see water
22:04It's a shark
22:07Shark is important
22:08But
22:09It has fins
22:11Elongated fins
22:17It's a submarine
22:24McMoneagle is told
22:26That his sketch
22:27Eerily matches
22:27An overhead view
22:29Of what the photo
22:30Captures
22:30A secret Soviet base
22:33And if McMoneagle
22:34Is right
22:35Then that base
22:36Hides a submarine
22:39McMoneagle says
22:40Army intelligence
22:41Reports his findings
22:42Up the chain
22:43To the National Security Council
22:45But the council
22:47Dismisses it
22:47Saying it's
22:48Not plausible
22:49Still
22:51McMoneagle believes
22:52His so-called
22:53Psychic instincts
22:54Were eventually
22:55Proven correct
22:58Just four months later
23:00New satellite photos
23:01Reveal a massive submarine
23:03Docked at the same
23:04Soviet base
23:05Exactly as
23:06McMoneagle described
23:10To the Americans
23:11This type of sub
23:12Becomes known
23:13As typhoon
23:14Later made famous
23:16By Tom Clancy's
23:17The Hunt for Red October
23:19But it's what
23:20The Soviets call
23:21The sub
23:22That really gets
23:23Head spinning
23:23They call it
23:25Shark
23:26Just like
23:27McMoneagle
23:28First declared
23:29When he was attempting
23:30To remotely view
23:31The site
23:31It's a shark
23:34You'd think
23:35A success like this
23:36Would cause the military
23:37To double down
23:38But apparently
23:39Not everyone's convinced
23:42The CIA argues
23:44That Project Stargate
23:45Is wasteful
23:46And its results
23:47Are inconsistent
23:48And hard to verify
23:49In real time
23:50In 1984
23:52A National Academy
23:53Of Sciences report
23:54Backs them up
23:55Concluding remote viewing
23:57Relies on poor methodology
23:59And cherry-picked data
24:00The U.S. Army
24:02Shuts down the program
24:03As a result
24:06But just a year later
24:08In late 1985
24:09The Defense Intelligence Agency
24:12Steps in
24:13To continue funding
24:14The work
24:14That's too late
24:16For Joe McMoneagle
24:17Who had already
24:18Retired in 1984
24:19By the end
24:21Of his service
24:21McMoneagle says
24:23He was involved
24:23In hundreds
24:24Of remote viewing missions
24:26Though it's worth noting
24:27The results of his work
24:28Remain classified
24:30With no public paper trail
24:32To independently verify them
24:33Still
24:34McMoneagle would not
24:35Be the last remote viewer
24:37To claim the program
24:38Produced real results
24:45On May 15th, 1987
24:47Remote viewer
24:48Paul Smith
24:49A one-time co-worker
24:51Of McMoneagle
24:52Claims to see something
24:53Terrible
24:54During a session
24:56An American ship
24:58Under fire
24:58From missiles
24:59Launched by an enemy aircraft
25:01From a desert region
25:02It's the height
25:04Of the Iran-Iraq war
25:06And tensions in the Gulf
25:07Are at an all-time high
25:09Smith says
25:10His warning
25:11Is passed up
25:12The chain of command
25:13But officials
25:14See nothing
25:15They can act on
25:18Two days later
25:19News breaks
25:20The USS Stark
25:21A U.S. Navy destroyer
25:23Is struck by two missiles
25:26From an Iraqi jet
25:2737 sailors are killed
25:30Remote viewing skeptics
25:33Chalk it up to coincidence
25:36The program also suffers
25:38Some clear failures
25:39In 1988
25:40The DIA reportedly turns
25:42To Project Stargate
25:44To help locate
25:44William Higgins
25:45A Marine colonel
25:47Taken hostage in Lebanon
25:49A remote viewer
25:50Supposedly claimed
25:52A vision
25:52That he was alive
25:53And being held
25:54At an underground location
25:56But the information
25:57Doesn't lead to his rescue
25:58And Higgins
25:59Is eventually
26:00Found dead
26:03With a much disputed
26:05Record of success
26:06Project Stargate
26:08Comes to an abrupt end
26:09Once again
26:10In 1995
26:11After a U.S. government
26:13Review conducted
26:14For the CIA
26:15Concludes that
26:16Remote viewing
26:17Fails to produce
26:18Reliable
26:19Actionable intelligence
26:20Most of the documents
26:22Relating to program
26:23Operations
26:24Remained classified
26:26Fueling decades
26:27Of rumor
26:27And speculation
26:28About what the government
26:30Might still be hiding
26:31For more than 20 years
26:33Those files
26:33Sit buried in archives
26:35Sealed away
26:36From public view
26:37But then
26:38In 2017
26:39Everything changes
26:41The CIA
26:42Quietly uploads
26:43Millions of
26:44Declassified documents
26:46To its online
26:47Crest archive
26:48And hidden among them
26:50Are the long lost records
26:51Of Project Stargate
26:53And what they reveal
26:54Is staggering
27:00After years of secrecy
27:02Classified files
27:03Tied to the government's
27:05Experiments
27:06In psychic intelligence
27:07Are finally declassified
27:09For the first time
27:11The public can access
27:12Over 12,000
27:13Stargate documents
27:15From CIA headquarters
27:16In Langley
27:17Even the former
27:18Remote viewers
27:19Themselves
27:19Step forward
27:20Eager to prove
27:21Their incredible stories
27:23Paul Smith
27:24Who claims
27:24He predicted
27:25The missile attack
27:26On the USS Stark
27:27Is at the front
27:28Of the line
27:29One of the things
27:30I found exciting
27:31About the archives
27:32Becoming public
27:33Finally
27:34Was that it allowed
27:35Me to get back
27:36Into them
27:37And find
27:38My session
27:39Against the ship
27:41That was attacked
27:41By the Iraqi jet
27:42The USS Stark
27:44And I found
27:45The typescript
27:46Of that session
27:48But what was
27:49Maybe even more
27:50Exciting
27:51Was that I found
27:53The documentation
27:54For the typhoon
27:57Submarine
27:58Project
27:59That Joe McMoneagle
28:00Is famous for
28:01With the sketches
28:03The descriptions
28:04Everything
28:05And it absolutely
28:06Matched the story
28:07That had been
28:07Passed down to us
28:08So this is documentation
28:10That proved
28:10That it really happened
28:11Not only that
28:13The CIA files
28:15Revealed that
28:15Plenty of government
28:16Officials
28:17Believed the program
28:18Was getting results
28:19For the first time
28:21We can show
28:22McMoneagle's sketch
28:23Of the Soviet base
28:24Supposedly attained
28:25Through remote viewing
28:27We can also show
28:28That it eerily matches
28:29The actual satellite
28:31Images of the site
28:33Some even go so far
28:35As to say
28:35That the data gathered
28:36Through remote viewing
28:37Was generally consistent
28:39With later intelligence
28:40And assessments
28:43We were doing things
28:44Of course
28:44That humans
28:45Aren't supposed
28:45To be able to do
28:46And yet here
28:47We were doing them
28:48And if this
28:50Was impossible
28:51And wasn't real
28:51We shouldn't get it
28:52Right ever
28:54And yet
28:55But we actually
28:56Have the evidence
28:57That we have
28:58Gotten it right
28:59Many, many, many times
29:01While believers
29:03Like Paul Smith
29:04Argue Project Stargate
29:06Proved the mind
29:07Can reach beyond
29:08The limits
29:08Of space and time
29:09It should be noted
29:10That a number
29:11Of the declassified
29:12CIA files
29:13Tell a different story
29:15One of lucky guesses
29:16And vague details
29:18Stretched
29:19To fit facts
29:20That developed
29:20At a later date
29:21The divide endures
29:23Yet the accounts
29:24Of these former
29:25Remote viewers
29:26Remain fascinating
29:27Leaving many to wonder
29:29Were they really
29:30On the verge
29:31Of an extraordinary
29:32Breakthrough
29:32In mental espionage
29:34To answer that question
29:36Well
29:36You'd need to be psychic
29:44The year is 71 BC
29:46On the banks
29:47Of the Solarius River
29:48In southern Italy
29:49An army
29:50Has just been defeated
29:52In battle
29:52Valiantly led
29:54By this dying man
29:55He is a former slave
29:57Turned gladiator
29:58Turned general
29:59No it's not
30:00Russell Crowe's
30:01Fictional character
30:02From the movie
30:02Gladiator
30:03This is a real person
30:05Or at least
30:06He might be
30:07His name
30:08Is Spartacus
30:09Legend says
30:10Legend says that
30:11For the last two years
30:12He's led nearly
30:13120,000 slaves
30:15In a rebel uprising
30:17Against the Roman Republic
30:18Until it ends
30:19With his death
30:22Did this one man
30:23Really fight his way
30:25Out of slavery
30:25And nearly take down
30:27The mighty Romans
30:28Or is all of this
30:30Just a myth
30:30For 2,000 years
30:32There will be no
30:33Definitive proof
30:34That Spartacus
30:35Existed at all
30:36But a remarkable
30:38Archaeological discovery
30:39May change all that
30:49If you know the name
30:51Spartacus
30:51It's probably
30:52Thanks to Kirk Douglas's
30:54Iconic on-screen portrayal
30:56In Stanley Kubrick's
30:571960 film
30:58Or perhaps
31:00Through the more
31:00Recent TV series
31:03But as for the
31:04Real story of Spartacus
31:06Curiously
31:07We know almost
31:08Nothing firsthand
31:09No written eyewitness accounts
31:11No definitive
31:12Archaeological evidence
31:13Instead
31:14Almost everything
31:15We think we know
31:16Is written over
31:17A century after his death
31:19By the two ancient
31:20Historians behind me
31:21Plutarch and Appian
31:23They wrote their accounts
31:24Separately
31:25Decades apart
31:26But the story they tell
31:27Is quite the tale
31:31According to
31:32Ancient historians
31:33Spartacus was born
31:34Around 103 BC
31:36In Thrace
31:37Then a province of Rome
31:39But what today
31:40Is an area of Bulgaria
31:42Greece and Turkey
31:44He was likely raised
31:46As a free tribesman
31:47Before serving
31:48In the Roman army
31:49Probably as an auxiliary
31:51Soldier
31:51Which means he fought
31:53For Rome
31:53But without the full
31:54Protections of a Roman
31:56Citizen
31:57But before long
31:59Spartacus is no longer
32:00An ally of the Roman army
32:02He ends up on the run
32:03After abandoning his post
32:05And under Roman law
32:07Desertion is punishable
32:08By death
32:11But because of Spartacus's
32:13Size and strength
32:14He isn't executed
32:16Instead
32:16He becomes a Roman slave
32:18And sent to become
32:20A gladiator
32:21In southern Italy
32:24Here
32:25Spartacus has one
32:26Simple
32:27Brutal job
32:28Fight to the death
32:30While some gladiators
32:32Were free men
32:33Who fought by choice
32:35Most were enslaved men
32:37Like Spartacus
32:39They had few rights
32:41Their only chance
32:42To ever earn their freedom
32:44Was through deadly combat
32:47For Spartacus
32:48If he is to die
32:49He believes it should be
32:51On his own terms
32:53At this time
32:54Much of Rome's power
32:55Depends on slave labor
32:57With more than
32:58A million people
32:59In servitude
33:00With so many
33:01In bondage
33:02Revolts are a huge threat
33:04And according to
33:06Appian and Plutarch
33:07In 73 BC
33:08Spartacus hatches
33:10An escape plan
33:11Organizing a band
33:12Of about 70
33:13Other gladiators
33:14Ready to fight
33:15For their freedom
33:18Under cover of darkness
33:20They manage to overthrow
33:21The guards
33:25They then retreat
33:26To a hideout
33:27Near Mount Vesuvius
33:28Twice the Romans
33:30Send a small band
33:31Of soldiers after them
33:32But Spartacus
33:33And the other gladiators
33:34Easily beat them back
33:37Even overwhelming
33:38Their forces
33:39To steal proper
33:40Military equipment
33:41The histories record
33:44That for months
33:44Rome treats
33:45Spartacus' revolt
33:46Like a mosquito bite
33:48More an annoyance
33:49Than a military threat
33:51This underestimation
33:53Allows Spartacus
33:54To spend time
33:55Gathering more
33:56And more rebels
33:57To his cause
33:57His army
33:59Is growing fast
34:06By the spring
34:08Of 72 BC
34:09Legend says
34:10That Spartacus' forces
34:12Swell to 120,000
34:14An almost
34:17Unbelievable number
34:18What will become
34:19Known as the
34:20Third Servile War
34:22Is about to begin
34:24Rome finally wakes up
34:26And they send
34:27Two legions
34:27About 10,000 soldiers
34:29To fight him
34:30Initially
34:31They are successful
34:32Cutting down
34:33About 30,000
34:34Of Spartacus' men
34:35But despite
34:37The Roman army's
34:38Superior training
34:39Spartacus' overwhelming
34:41Numbers prevail
34:42On the battlefields
34:47It's a crushing blow
34:48For the mighty republic
34:51It is an extraordinary legend
34:53That has been told
34:54For centuries
34:55But is it true?
34:57Is the uprising
34:58As epic as history claims?
35:00Furthermore
35:01Did Spartacus
35:02Really exist?
35:03Now
35:04A discovery hidden
35:05In the forests
35:06Of modern day Italy
35:07May finally offer
35:09Answers
35:14In 71 BC
35:16Following a humiliating defeat
35:18After a slave uprising
35:19Rome prepares
35:21To finish off
35:22Their leader
35:22Spartacus
35:23Once and for all
35:24The republic
35:25Sends nearly
35:2650,000 elite soldiers
35:28To hunt him down
35:29In southern Italy
35:30Led by one of
35:32Its most powerful
35:32And ambitious generals
35:34Marcus Licinius Crassus
35:36He has a single mission
35:37Kill Spartacus
35:41As Roman pressure mounts
35:43Spartacus and his army
35:44Are pushed toward
35:45The narrow toe
35:46Of southern Italy
35:48To the south
35:49Lies the Mediterranean Sea
35:51But Spartacus
35:52Has no navy
35:53No escape route
35:54And nowhere left to run
35:56Crassus
35:57Sees his opportunity
35:58According to Plutarch
36:00Crassus orders
36:01The rapid construction
36:02Of a massive wall
36:04Nearly 40 miles long
36:06Stretching from sea to sea
36:08Across the peninsula
36:09Effectively sealing in
36:11Spartacus and his forces
36:12The wall will also
36:14Become a turning point
36:16That will shape
36:17The final chapter
36:18Of this epic rebellion
36:20Once construction
36:21Of the wall
36:22Is complete
36:23Crassus then attacks
36:24Knowing that Spartacus
36:26Has nowhere to hide
36:29The rebel supposedly
36:31Recognizes he has no way out
36:33And asks for a truce
36:35But Crassus wants blood
36:37Denying the request
36:39And forcing Spartacus
36:41Into a fight
36:42For his life
36:43What is said to follow
36:45Is a brutal battle
36:46With both sides
36:47Losing tens of thousands
36:49Of men
36:49Remarkably
36:51Spartacus breaks through
36:53The Romans' barricade
36:54But it costs him
36:55A huge portion
36:56Of his army
36:57It isn't long
36:58Before Crassus' legions
37:00Catch what's left
37:01Of the rebels
37:02Forcing Spartacus
37:03Into his final stand
37:04Near the Solarius river
37:06Where the slave
37:07Turned rebel general
37:08Is wounded
37:09By a spear
37:10To the thigh
37:17Spartacus' forces
37:18Are decimated
37:20And with that
37:22The man himself
37:23Finally succumbs
37:24To the might of Rome
37:25Or so we're told
37:29The fact is
37:30Archaeologists
37:31Have never found
37:32Any evidence
37:33Of Spartacus
37:34No grave
37:35No first-hand accounts
37:36The historians
37:37Who recorded his story
37:38Were writing
37:39Hundreds of years
37:40After his death
37:41But that lack
37:42Of evidence
37:43Would seemingly change
37:44In 2024
37:45When Paolo Visona
37:47A classical archaeologist
37:48At the University of Kentucky
37:50Was on an expedition
37:51In southern Italy
37:53In 2024
37:54We were in southern Italy
37:56And I was accosted
37:58By a group of
37:59Local environmentalists
38:02Who had wanted to show me
38:03Some photos
38:04On their cell phones
38:04And this is
38:05When I saw
38:07The first images
38:08Of this wall
38:10In my 30 plus year
38:12Career
38:13Doing field work
38:15I've never seen
38:16Anything like it
38:17So I needed
38:19To see it
38:20When Visona
38:21And his team
38:22Arrived at the site
38:23It became clear
38:24That the small photo
38:25Shown to him
38:26On that cell phone
38:26Was only the beginning
38:28Of something much
38:29Much bigger
38:30Their investigation
38:31Would soon blow
38:32The archaeological community
38:34Away
38:34We walked the wall
38:36With a GPS receiver
38:37So that we could plot
38:39The root of the wall
38:41And the wall turned out
38:42To be almost
38:44Two kilometers
38:45In length
38:46From east to west
38:49What would the wall
38:50That long
38:51Be doing
38:52In such a remote area
38:54On a mountaintop
38:55In the middle
38:56Of a forest
38:57And then we deployed
38:58The magnetometer
39:00And sure enough
39:01We found presence
39:03Of the gully
39:03On one side
39:05Of the wall
39:06And only on one side
39:07The southern side
39:09Of the wall
39:10All the way
39:12To the end
39:12And they corroborated
39:15Plutarch's description
39:17Of the fortification
39:19Consisting of
39:20A ditch
39:20And a wall
39:21So that
39:22Made it
39:23Possible
39:24That this could be
39:25Crassus wall
39:27But the metal detector
39:28Was a clincher
39:29Because the metal detector
39:31Produced a number
39:32Of objects
39:32Some of which
39:33Were believed
39:35To be Roman
39:36And these objects
39:38Included fragments
39:40Of weapons
39:42They could fit
39:43A very narrow
39:45Time period
39:46Between 75
39:48And 50
39:50BCE
39:51Which is the time period
39:53Within which we have
39:54The Spartacus war
39:56Visona believed
39:58He had found
39:59The wall
39:59That the Romans
40:00Used to defeat
40:01Spartacus
40:02If it's true
40:03This would confirm
40:04The legend
40:05The first physical evidence
40:07Of Spartacus
40:08Stunning life
40:09This was a planned operation
40:11That implied military strategy
40:15And also a large labor force
40:18All of which would tend
40:19To support Plutarch's account
40:22But it is clear
40:23That this system
40:24Did not extend
40:25From sea to shining sea
40:27Like Plutarch's description
40:30In other words
40:31The archaeology that we have done
40:33Both proves and disproves
40:36The veracity
40:38Of Plutarch's account
40:40It reminds us
40:42That we can never take
40:43Ancient literary sources
40:45At face value
40:46But in any case
40:48I believe
40:49With confidence
40:50That this most likely
40:52Was the fortification system
40:55Built by Crassus
40:57So did Spartacus
40:58Truly rise up from nothing
41:00To nearly overthrow
41:01The Roman Republic
41:02It seems more possible
41:04Than ever
41:05Thanks to the evidence
41:06Uncovered by Dr. Visona's team
41:08To this day
41:09Italian researchers
41:11Continue to investigate the site
41:13And with any luck
41:14More evidence
41:15Will be discovered
41:16Enough perhaps
41:17To finally free Spartacus
41:19From the chains of rumor
41:20The freedom fighter
41:21Enslaved no more
41:23I'm Spartacus
41:24No, wait
41:25I'm Josh Gates
41:26And I'll see you
41:27On the next expedition
41:28And I'll see you
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