WEBVTT - S01 Episode 5: What Hides Beneath 0:00:10.400 --> 0:00:12.960 When we think of the great unknowns, it is often 0:00:13.000 --> 0:00:15.560 to the heavens that we have looked gazing out into 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.439 the deepness of space in wonder at what lies beyond. 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:21.720 But what lies below the surface of our planet's vast 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:26.799 oceans is perhaps almost equally mysterious, and for some it 0:00:26.920 --> 0:00:28.720 is a world that will never be glimpsed in any 0:00:28.720 --> 0:00:34.880 way at all. Since time immemorial, the ocean has held 0:00:34.880 --> 0:00:37.720 a powerful grip on the imagination of all cultures that 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.800 have come into contact with it. Through the power of 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:43.960 myth and folklore. It is a raging manifestation of all 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.640 that is unknown. For some, it is the very embodiment 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:50.839 of freedom. For others, it is nothing less than the 0:00:50.920 --> 0:00:57.960 murky fluid of their darkest nightmares. In signa Freud's interpretation 0:00:58.000 --> 0:01:01.160 of dreams, it is to water that the psychologist turns 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.800 to elaborate his ideas. Where at the surface we find 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:09.200 the conscious mind. Down below, deeply submerged, lies a shadowy 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:12.680 world of all that is repressed. And yet for all 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:14.800 the myths and stories that have sprung from the sea, 0:01:15.040 --> 0:01:18.600 fantastical tales of monsters and mermaids, there remain those that 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:21.760 make no allusions to metaphor whose place is not for 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:24.800 the pages of the poet or the psychologist's couch, but 0:01:24.959 --> 0:01:28.680 exist merely as a matter of record stories of hidden 0:01:28.760 --> 0:01:31.959 worlds and unknown creatures that may yet prove to be 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:38.440 beyond our wildest imaginations. You're listening to Unexplained, and I'm 0:01:38.680 --> 0:01:53.000 Richard McClain Smith. The sea monster has been ever present 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:56.080 in ocean folklore since men and women first gazed across 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:01.440 the surface of the mysterious deep. Many creatures of myth 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:03.800 and legend have since been found to be nothing but 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:08.200 misidentified aquatic mammals, creatures such as the beautiful and beguiling 0:02:08.240 --> 0:02:11.359 manatee that gave rise to the sirens of Greek mythology. 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:15.320 But there are also stories equally abundant of strange sightings 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.080 of creatures that don't quite tally with the known biology, 0:02:18.680 --> 0:02:21.760 sighting such as the one experienced by Lutheran missionary Hands 0:02:21.800 --> 0:02:26.240 Ighied in July seventeen thirty four, whilst traveling on a 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:28.960 ship bound for the city of Nuke in Greenland. Ighied 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:31.800 claimed to have seen a staggering creature resembling nothing he 0:02:31.840 --> 0:02:36.320 had seen before. With a small head, elongated neck, and 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:41.400 short body. It propelled itself through the water using giant fins. Later, 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:44.080 when the sailors also saw its tail, it was judged 0:02:44.120 --> 0:02:46.280 to have measured longer than the whole length of the ship. 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:53.840 In December eighteen seventy two, the HMS Challenger, captive by 0:02:53.880 --> 0:02:58.040 George Naires set sail on a pioneering circumnavigation of the globe. 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.480 On board were of scientists led by famed Scottish zoologists 0:03:02.560 --> 0:03:06.320 Charles Thompson. Their mission to map the physical conditions of 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:10.040 the deep sea. What they discovered was nothing less than astounding. 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:15.359 The expedition, widely accepted to have marked the birth of oceanography, 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:17.760 is perhaps best known for the discovery of an area 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:21.080 known as Challenger Deep, located at the bottom of the 0:03:21.080 --> 0:03:25.040 South Pacific, part way between Guam and Palau. Challenger Deep 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:26.640 is to be found at the southern tip of the 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.600 Mariana Trench and is thought to mark the deepest point 0:03:29.600 --> 0:03:33.440 of the ocean floor. Although initially measured at over eight 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:36.640 thousand meters, it has since been calculated as being closer 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:40.240 to eleven thousand meters. To put it into context, if 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:42.920 Mount Everest were placed at the bottom, there would still 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:47.000 be over a mile of ocean above its peak. The 0:03:47.080 --> 0:03:49.960 region located roughly a mile below the surface is known 0:03:50.000 --> 0:03:53.400 as deep sea, comprising eighty percent of the entirety of 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:56.200 the oceans. More people have traveled into space than have 0:03:56.280 --> 0:03:59.680 been known to travel there. Indeed, the Voyager one probe 0:04:00.240 --> 0:04:03.400 has explored over twelve billion miles of space, and with 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:06.280 the incredible workings of the Hubble telescope, we have never 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:09.320 before been able to see so far, with present distances 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.800 estimated to be roughly thirteen point eight billion light years. 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:15.840 But when it comes to the area that comprises ninety 0:04:15.880 --> 0:04:18.359 nine percent of all living space on the planet, it 0:04:18.480 --> 0:04:20.880 is estimated that we have explored less than ten percent 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:23.680 of it, a fact or the more startling when you 0:04:23.720 --> 0:04:26.400 consider the deep sea contains eighty percent of the Earth's 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:30.599 entire biosphere. So when you put it like that, it's 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:34.200 hard not to wonder just what exactly might remain undiscovered, 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:38.039 lurking deep in the shadows. It is a thought that 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:41.800 has haunted one Russian sea captain for thirty years, the 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.800 mystery of what happened to Soviet nuclear submarine K two 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.120 one nine when it ventured into the region known as 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:50.599 the Bermuda Triangle in the early hours of Friday, October third, 0:04:50.760 --> 0:04:55.200 nineteen eighty six has never fully been accounted for. Considered 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:57.680 by some one of the most controversial instants of the 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.520 Cold War, it is a mystery that mains to this 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:16.000 day unexplained. For many, there could perhaps be no more 0:05:16.040 --> 0:05:18.640 frightening notion than to be trapped in a glorified tin 0:05:18.760 --> 0:05:21.960 can deep below the ocean surface for months on end. 0:05:23.440 --> 0:05:26.760 But for Captain's second Rank Eagle Brittanov of the Soviet Navy, 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.279 it was the nearest thing to home, albeit a home 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:33.800 stocked with a substantial number of nuclear warheads. For this 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.440 was the Cold War, and the stakes could not have 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:42.719 been higher. Although believed by some to have never ended, 0:05:42.839 --> 0:05:45.680 the war is generally regarded to have taken place between 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.760 nineteen forty seven and nineteen ninety one between the Western 0:05:48.800 --> 0:05:51.440 Bloc powers of the United States and NATO and the 0:05:51.480 --> 0:05:57.960 Eastern Block spearheaded by the Soviet Union, an intensely complicated 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:01.160 period of proxy wars and nuclear threat It is perhaps 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.279 best summed up by the series of catamouse games played 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.520 out by submarines of the Soviet and United States navies 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:12.360 in early September nineteen eighty six. The submarine K two 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:16.240 one nine, captained by the experienced Igor Brittanoff, set off 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:19.160 from the port town of Gadzievo, located in the northwest 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:22.039 of Russia. On board the vessel was a total of 0:06:22.040 --> 0:06:25.440 one hundred and fifteen crew and forty two nuclear missiles 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:33.720 and torpedo warheads. Thirty days into the mission, on October third, 0:06:34.040 --> 0:06:36.560 the sub was patrolling a stretch of water roughly six 0:06:36.680 --> 0:06:41.640 hundred and eighty miles northeast of the British territory of Bermuda. 0:06:41.839 --> 0:06:46.000 At approximately fourteen, one of the crew's engineers noticed something 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:50.359 alarming in missile compartment number four. Saltwater appeared to be 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:52.560 dripping from under the plug of one of the subs 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:56.640 nuclear missiles. Their alarm soon turned to panic when an 0:06:56.680 --> 0:06:59.720 attempt at decompression turned the slowly dripping water into a 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:05.720 gushing stream at zero twenty five. The engineer alerted Captain Brittanoff, 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.080 who immediately ordered the sub to the safer depth of 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:12.160 forty six meters. Minutes later, a brown cloud of occident 0:07:12.360 --> 0:07:15.920 issued from the missile plug. The missile casing had split. 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:19.880 A full scale emergency was declared and all personnel were 0:07:19.880 --> 0:07:22.760 instantly evacuated from the area, with the exception of nine 0:07:22.760 --> 0:07:26.480 crewmen who stayed behind to fix the problem, but it 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:38.600 was too late. Moments later, a huge explosion ripped through 0:07:38.640 --> 0:07:42.440 compartment number four. Two crewmen were killed instantly by the blast, 0:07:42.520 --> 0:07:47.600 and another died shortly after from toxic fume inhalation. Most 0:07:47.600 --> 0:07:50.280 alarmingly for the remainder of the crew, the explosion had 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:53.320 torn open the hull and the submarine began rapidly taking 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:57.440 on water. The vessel made a sickening lurch before quickly 0:07:57.440 --> 0:08:03.320 plummeting deeper and deeper into the darkest step of the ocean. Incredibly, 0:08:03.400 --> 0:08:06.120 the crew managed to close off all compartments, and eventually 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.200 they were able to engage the seawater pumps. As the 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:13.560 submarine approached crush depth, it began to stabilize. The crew, 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.360 now wearing gas masks and safely positioned in the bow 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:19.320 and stern of the vessel, breathed a collective sigh of relief. 0:08:20.000 --> 0:08:24.040 The worst appeared to be over, but something was deeply wrong. 0:08:26.040 --> 0:08:28.960 In the event of major catastrophe, the nuclear reactors were 0:08:28.960 --> 0:08:32.200 programmed to shut down, but as the chief engineer carried 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:35.040 out a check of the ship's instruments, he noticed something odd. 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:39.800 The temperature of the nuclear reactors was rising. In short, 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:43.680 the reactor was an imminent danger of a complete nuclear meltdown. 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:50.160 The engineer scrambled to the control station in an attempt 0:08:50.200 --> 0:08:53.199 to initiate a remote shutdown, but the damage had been 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:58.880 too great. It would have to be done manually. Although 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.600 all vessels were with contamination suits, there was nothing on 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:05.319 board that could protect from the gamma and neutron radiation 0:09:05.360 --> 0:09:07.760 of the reactor's cores. It was clear to all the 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:10.959 men that any attempt at a manual shutdown would be fatal. 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.920 At this point, a twenty year old sailor named Sergey 0:09:16.040 --> 0:09:19.599 Preminin stepped forward. The son of an electrician and a 0:09:19.640 --> 0:09:22.360 factory worker, it had been Sergey's dream to follow in 0:09:22.400 --> 0:09:25.640 the footsteps of his oldest brother, Nicholas by becoming an engineer, 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:29.000 a dream he took a step closer to achieving after 0:09:29.080 --> 0:09:33.360 graduating from engineering school in nineteen eighty four. Shortly after, however, 0:09:33.720 --> 0:09:37.360 Serge was drafted into the Russian Navy. Fully aware of 0:09:37.360 --> 0:09:40.640 the severity of the situation, Sergey volunteer to shut the 0:09:40.679 --> 0:09:45.960 reactor down together with senior reactor officer Lieutenant Nikolai Belakov. 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.480 He donned the regulation safety suit and full faced gas mask, 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:55.240 and Julie entered the burning reactor chamber. After they managed 0:09:55.240 --> 0:09:57.880 to reinsert three out of the four displaced fuel rods, 0:09:58.200 --> 0:10:01.920 Nikolai Belakov succumbed to the seventy degree heat, just managing 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:06.000 to evacuate the chamber before falling unconscious. In a monumental effort. 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:09.440 Sergey completed the last part on his own, successfully engaging 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:13.080 the fourth rod. But when Sergey tried to reach his 0:10:13.160 --> 0:10:15.680 colleagues on the other side of the compartment, the chamber 0:10:15.720 --> 0:10:19.040 hatch would not budge. The rising temperature in the room 0:10:19.120 --> 0:10:21.240 had increased the pressure so much that it had become 0:10:21.280 --> 0:10:25.120 impossible to open. As his colleagues tried desperately to rescue 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:28.080 him from the other side, Sergey too succumbed to the 0:10:28.080 --> 0:10:37.800 heat and soon after died. Are you always taking care 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.360 of your family? Do you often take care of others 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:43.720 and not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself, 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:47.559 to make time for you you deserve it. Tele Adoc 0:10:47.679 --> 0:10:50.440 gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:53.880 get back to feeling your best, to feeling like yourself again. 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:57.600 With tele adoc, you can speak to a licensed therapist 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:01.400 by phone or video. 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The 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:50.240 young sailor's actions had saved the rest of the crew 0:11:50.440 --> 0:11:54.760 and in so doing, prevented a certain nuclear catastrophe. The 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:56.959 consequences of such an event would have been on a 0:11:57.000 --> 0:12:00.440 scale comparable with the Chernobyl disaster that had occurred only 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:07.200 six months previously. With the reactor sufficiently secured, Submarine K 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:09.800 two one nine returned to the surface of the Atlantic. 0:12:10.679 --> 0:12:14.079 But when the conning tower hatch was opened, something extraordinary 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:18.040 caught the attention of the crew, As senior assistant Captain 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:21.880 Sergey Vladimova recounts, all the way along the left side, 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:25.240 just above the missile silos, was what looked like two 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:29.360 huge scratch marks. The gouge extended from the edge of 0:12:29.400 --> 0:12:32.120 the damaged missile section right across to the port side 0:12:32.160 --> 0:12:36.880 of the vessel. Clearly something big had collided with the submarine. 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.000 A few days later, a Soviet freight had duly arrived 0:12:42.000 --> 0:12:46.040 to tow the damaged vessel back to port. Despite repeated 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:48.800 efforts to salvage the up, a series of gas leagues 0:12:48.840 --> 0:12:52.440 prompted Captain Brittenoff to order an immediate evacuation of the vessel. 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:57.080 At eleven hundred hours on October sixth Captain Igor Brittanof 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.880 became the last living man to exit Submarine K two 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:04.000 on nine. Three minutes later, the vessel, along with the 0:13:04.040 --> 0:13:07.040 body of Sergey Premininent, sank to a depth of roughly 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:11.600 six thousand meters, where it remains to this day. The 0:13:11.640 --> 0:13:14.760 heroic Premanin was posthumously awarded the Order of the Red 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:29.600 Star for his Bravery shortly after returning home, all the 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.080 surviving members of the crew were required to take part 0:13:32.160 --> 0:13:35.240 in what became a year long investigation into the precise 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:40.600 cause of the explosion. However, the full results have never 0:13:40.640 --> 0:13:43.080 come to light, and nor are they likely to, since 0:13:43.120 --> 0:13:45.640 all the men were ordered to sign non disclosure agreements 0:13:45.679 --> 0:13:50.680 prior to the investigation. What is known is that after 0:13:50.720 --> 0:13:54.160 a series of simulations and careful analysis, the Soviet Navy 0:13:54.240 --> 0:13:56.640 was satisfied that the disaster had not been the fault 0:13:56.640 --> 0:13:59.000 of the crew, but was indeed due to the impact 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:04.319 of external factor, the most likely culprit being a submarine 0:14:04.400 --> 0:14:11.640 belonging to the United States on the other side of 0:14:11.640 --> 0:14:14.440 the world. Attention soon focused on reports of a US 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:16.680 vessel that had been damaged. At some point in the 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:21.640 early part of October. The submarine US Augusta had been 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.040 taken to the port of New London, Connecticut, to repair 0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.360 damage caused by an apparent collision. It is believed the 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:30.360 Augusta had been patrolling the same region of ocean as 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:34.760 K two one nine, and yet Soviet intelligence at the 0:14:34.800 --> 0:14:38.200 time indicated not a single NATO submarine had in fact 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:43.960 been repaired around the time of the incident. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 0:14:44.160 --> 0:14:47.360 the US Navy denied all involvement. Despite the Soviet Navy's 0:14:47.360 --> 0:14:51.720 insistence that the boat was indeed rammed. Had this in 0:14:51.760 --> 0:14:54.080 fact been a cover up of the US Navy, It 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:56.720 is strange that, over thirty years later, this stance is 0:14:56.760 --> 0:15:00.520 still strongly maintained by the American government. What is even 0:15:00.520 --> 0:15:04.320 more surprising, however, is that Captain Brittenoff himself has also 0:15:04.400 --> 0:15:08.400 denied the allegations, claiming unequivocally that he did not collide 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:15.120 with an American submarine. In twenty and ten, a Soviet 0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:18.240 captain of the first rank called Nikolai Tushin, gave an 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:22.920 extraordinary interview to the Russian news website Pravda Ru. Tashin, 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:26.240 the former deputy commander of a brigade of nuclear submarines, 0:15:26.400 --> 0:15:29.640 appeared convinced that although K two one nine had collided 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:34.640 with something, whatever it was, was not man made. Instead, 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.840 he believed the vessel had been brought down by a mysterious, 0:15:37.920 --> 0:15:42.160 unidentified underwater object known in maritime circles as a quacker. 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.960 The oddly titled quaker gets its name from a mysterious 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:03.400 sound frequently picked up by submarine audio equipment, resembling something 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:05.440 between the quack of a duck and the croak of 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:08.520 a frog. It is thought by many submariner crew to 0:16:08.640 --> 0:16:11.480 belong to an unknown creature of the deep, or perhaps 0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:17.080 even something somewhat more alien. The phenomena is thought to 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.479 have first come to our attention due to the advances 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.400 in sonar equipment necessitated by the arms race of the 0:16:22.440 --> 0:16:25.600 Cold War, and when you take into account the extreme 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:28.360 hyper vigilance of the Soviet and US navies at the time, 0:16:28.840 --> 0:16:31.400 it is quite probable that these sounds had just not 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:39.000 been noticed before. In a particularly striking story, one submarine 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:41.880 sailor recounts picking up the fabled quacker sound while out 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:46.760 on a routine operation. His readings suggested something of a 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:49.840 significant size that appeared to be circling the vessel in 0:16:49.920 --> 0:16:58.000 what he believed was a benign attempt to make contact. Incidentally, 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:00.680 in two thousand and nine, the Russian gun released a 0:17:00.760 --> 0:17:05.280 number of previously classified documents. The reports were taken from 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:09.480 a Soviet Navy group specifically established to document unexplained incidents 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:14.360 reported by naval vessels. Former Navy officer of Vladimir Adzatza 0:17:14.440 --> 0:17:17.800 points to one incident in particular, where a complete submarine 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:22.040 system malfunction occurred as an unidentified object was recorded close 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:25.679 by traveling at the seemingly impossible speed of two hundred 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:30.680 and fifty miles per hour. In another report, one Navy 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:34.119 intelligence veteran notes the strange ufoes were most prone to 0:17:34.160 --> 0:17:37.800 appear in the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean, specifically 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:51.119 the Bermuda Triangle. In nineteen fifty seven, a team of 0:17:51.160 --> 0:17:54.679 Soviet explorers led by Alexei Treshnikov set off from a 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:57.800 small research station on the coast of Antarctica in search 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:02.800 of the geomagnetic South Pole. After a hellish journey, suffering 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:05.959 intense storms and extreme cold, the team arrived at their 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:10.440 destination on the sixteenth of December. A research center was 0:18:10.520 --> 0:18:14.000 quickly established. It has since become known as Vostok Station. 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:18.000 Temperature readings taken from the area have confirmed the region 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:23.359 as the coldest known place on Earth. However, eighty million 0:18:23.440 --> 0:18:26.399 years ago, the frozen desert we now know as Antarctica 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:29.240 was in fact an equatorial region making up part of 0:18:29.280 --> 0:18:33.800 the supercontinent known as gonduanaland home to dinosaurs and a 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.280 number of other creatures. The land was a thick mass 0:18:36.280 --> 0:18:42.199 of ferns and other tropical vegetation. At some point, the 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:45.120 land began to fragment and split apart, with the bit 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:48.080 we now call the Antarctic, eventually settling millions of years 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:53.480 later over the South Pole. Over time, the vegetation changed, 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:58.040 being replaced by thick forests of deciduous trees. It became 0:18:58.080 --> 0:19:01.120 home to a colorful array of birds, reptiles, and mammals. 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:05.600 Rivers and streams teemed with life as the ecosystem adjusted 0:19:05.680 --> 0:19:10.520 to a post dinosaur world. But then things began to change. 0:19:11.640 --> 0:19:14.320 A radical drop in greenhouse gas levels led to a 0:19:14.359 --> 0:19:18.640 deep freeze that engulfed the continent. As the temperature plummeted, 0:19:18.920 --> 0:19:22.679 the ecosystem was irreversibly altered, resulting in the extinction of 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:26.320 all the terrestrial animals. The lakes and rivers frosted over 0:19:26.600 --> 0:19:29.720 until eventually they were locked under sheets of ice thousands 0:19:29.720 --> 0:19:34.639 of meters thick. In nineteen seventy five, a team of 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:37.880 British scientists were conducting a seismic survey of the area 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:42.359 when they discovered something extraordinary. Trapped deep below the ice 0:19:42.640 --> 0:19:46.200 was what appeared to be a huge freshwater lake, now 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:49.720 known as Lake Vostok. Satellite images taken in nineteen ninety 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:52.520 six to pick the mass as being similar in size 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:57.800 to Lake Ontario. Even more incredibly, despite being trapped for 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.399 hundreds of thousands of years, the lake was to be 0:20:00.440 --> 0:20:04.480 teeming with life, from single cell bacteria to molluscs and worms, 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:12.360 and even fairly complex arthropods. Is it completely inconceivable that 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:16.120 such undiscovered ecosystems may exist in other parts of the planet, 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:20.040 perhaps fostering the life of creatures once thought extinct or 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:37.439 that may not yet have even been discovered. For anyone 0:20:37.480 --> 0:20:40.160 doubting the likelihood of such an occurrence, it is worth 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:42.680 bearing in mind the mythic tales of the Mighty Kraken. 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:46.520 The great aquatic monster of Norwegian folklore, is thought likely 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:49.119 to be based on sailor's reports of the giant squid, 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:52.640 a creature that was itself once thought to be a myth. 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.520 In fact, despite extensive efforts to capture footage of the 0:20:56.520 --> 0:20:59.960 giant squid in its natural habitat, it wasn't until two 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.840 thousand and four that a team of Japanese scientists were 0:21:02.880 --> 0:21:10.800 finally successful in doing so. The great aquatic monsters, such 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.280 as the kraken, may of course, prove to be nothing 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:17.199 but figments of our imagination, embodiments of the many subconscious 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.919 fears that we might one day defeat. But perhaps for 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:24.480 a moment, consider the so called monsters hidden from view, 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:28.919 deep below the waves. Maybe they are hiding for a reason, 0:21:29.560 --> 0:21:31.680 for you can be certain what fate awaits them if 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:35.040 they were ever foolish enough to show themselves. It makes 0:21:35.080 --> 0:21:44.800 you wonder just what would they make of us? Below 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:48.399 the thunders of the upper deep, far far beneath, in 0:21:48.440 --> 0:21:53.680 the abysmal sea, his ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep, the krak 0:21:53.880 --> 0:22:01.359 and sleepers, faintest sunlights flee about his shadowy sides. Above 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:05.600 him swell huge sponges of millennial growth and height, and 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:09.560 far away into the sickly light from many a wondrous 0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:14.679 grot and secret cell, unnumbered, an enormous Polypi winner with 0:22:14.720 --> 0:22:18.920 giant arms, the slumbering green. They're happy. Lane for ages 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:23.080 and will lie battering upon huge seaworms in his sleep 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:27.800 until the latter fire shall heat the deep. Then, once 0:22:27.840 --> 0:22:31.560 by man and angels to be seen in roaring, he 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:42.800 shall rise, and on the surface die. All elements of 0:22:42.920 --> 0:22:46.760 Unexplained are produced by me, Richard McClane smith. Please subscribe 0:22:46.760 --> 0:22:48.760 and rate the show on iTunes, and feel free to 0:22:48.760 --> 0:22:51.159 get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the 0:22:51.200 --> 0:22:53.840 stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an 0:22:53.840 --> 0:22:56.520 explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can 0:22:56.560 --> 0:22:59.359 reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com or on 0:22:59.400 --> 0:23:21.160 Twitter Unexplained Pod Now. It's time to take care of yourself. 0:23:21.600 --> 0:23:25.320 To make time for you, teledoc gives you access to 0:23:25.359 --> 0:23:28.560 a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling 0:23:28.560 --> 0:23:32.280 your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by phone or 0:23:32.400 --> 0:23:36.280 video anytime between seven am to nine pm local time, 0:23:36.720 --> 0:23:40.600 seven days a week. Teledoc Therapy is available through most 0:23:40.640 --> 0:23:45.399 insurance or employers. Download the app or visit teledoc dot com, 0:23:45.440 --> 0:23:50.000 Forward slash Unexplained Podcast Today to get started. That's t 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:54.520 e l a d oc dot com slash Unexplained podcast