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Speaker 1: I want you to close your eyes for a second,

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just for a second, and transport yourself to Pune in India.

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You're standing on the banks of the Mutha River. It's

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late afternoon, the light's starting to fade, and there's that

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humidity in the air that just sticks to your skin.

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Speaker 2: You can almost feel it exactly.

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Speaker 1: And you look up. You're expecting to see, you know,

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maybe some heavy monsoon clouds rolling in, or perhaps a

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flock of birds heading home for the night. But instead,

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the texture of the sky is just raw.

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Speaker 2: It's not smooth. Yeah, it's grainy. It's shifting.

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Speaker 1: It's shifting.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And then you see them, these massive, dark, swirling columns.

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They're stretching from the water surface all the way up

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into the sky and they're twisting, pulsating, swaying.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And if you're standing there, your first instinct is not weather.

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It's panic. It looks like the sky is physically tearing

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itself apart, or maybe like smoke from some massive oil

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fire is just choking the entire horizon.

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Speaker 2: It's a really visceral image. I was looking at the

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footage we have in the research deck, and if I

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didn't have the content, my first thought would have been

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a tornado, you know, a tornado that somehow lost its way, right,

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a tornado.

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Speaker 1: Or I don't know, some kind of weird magnetic anomaly

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just dragging dust up into the stratosphere or something not normal.

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Speaker 2: But you can't dodge this tornado because it's not wind. No,

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it's life.

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Speaker 1: It's a biological event masquerading as a meteorological one. What

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you're looking at is millions, and I mean literally millions

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of mosquitoes, the mosquito tornado.

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Speaker 2: Just seeing those two words together in our show notes

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today made me like, check the window screens in the studio.

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It is the absolute stuff of nightmares.

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Speaker 1: It certainly triggers a primal flight response, doesn't it. But

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what's fascinating here, once you get past the skin crawling aspect,

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is that while it looks like the apocalypse, it's actually

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a display of swarm dynamics. Okay, what you're seeing is

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a mating ritual on an industrial scale. These aren't just

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random bugs buzzing around. It's a synchronized vertical column where

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the males are clustering.

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Speaker 2: Together to what put on a show.

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Speaker 1: Essentially, yeah, to make themselves more visible to the females.

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Against the contrast of the horizon.

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Speaker 2: So the end of days is actually just a giant

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singles bar for insects, A very loud, very biting singles bar. Yes,

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But the density of it, I mean, the fact that

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it's thick enough to block out the sun. That's the

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part that tells us something is wrong with the ecosystem.

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Speaker 1: Uh okay.

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Speaker 2: It suggests a real lack of predators, you know, frogs, dragonflies, bats,

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or maybe stagnant water conditions that allow the population to

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just explode completely unchecked. It's a glitch in the ecological balance.

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Speaker 1: And that is exactly what we're doing today. We are

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looking for those glitches. We have this massive steck of

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reports here, videos, papers, eyewitness accounts from all over the

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world where the physical world just seems to break its

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own rules.

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Speaker 2: We're talking about those moments where your eyes tell you

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one thing like that's a portal to another dimension, or

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that forest is breathing like a mammal, or even that

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river is bleeding and your brain has to just scramble

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to catch up with the physics.

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Speaker 1: We are going to decode the magic and find them underneath. Oh,

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welcome to thrilling threads.

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Speaker 2: Glad to be here, and I have to say, looking

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at the docket for today, we're going to need to

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keep a very open mind because some of these phenomena,

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even when you know the science, they still feel impossible.

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Speaker 1: I'm ready, I've got my skepticism on high alert, but

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I'm also fully prepared to be terrified.

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Speaker 2: All right, let's start with the sky, because we have

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this like primal trust that the sky is a reliable backdrop. Right,

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it's blue by day, it's black with stars by night.

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Sun comes up, sun goes down. It's the one constant

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you would hope.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, but the atmosphere is a fluid and it's

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full of lenses and mirrors if you know where to look.

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Speaker 2: So let's look at this first case study, the sun candle.

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Now I've seen photos of this before, usually from really

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really cold places. To me, it doesn't look like a candle.

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It looks like a port. Yeah. It's this vertical beam

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of intense light shooting sort from the horizon disappearing into

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the cloud.

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Speaker 1: It's absolutely breathtaking. In meteorology we often call this a

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or just a light pillar. And you're right. It almost

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always comes from places like Scandinavia or northern Canada or Russia,

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super cold places. It looks like the beam from the

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Death Star, or like a sulfi tractor beam. If I

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saw this while I was driving at two in the morning,

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I'm not thinking weather. I'm thinking abduction.

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Speaker 2: And you wouldn't be alone in that. Yeah, a significant

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number of UFO reports actually trace back to this specific phenomenon.

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But what you're seeing is essentially a massive floating mirror trick.

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Speaker 1: A mirror trick.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. It all comes down to the geometry of ice.

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Speaker 1: Okay, but ice is just frozen water. Ice is messy,

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it's chaotic. Why does it make a perfect straight geometric

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beam of light.

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Speaker 2: Because in the atmosphere, under very very specific conditions, ice

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doesn't just freeze into random blobs or snowflakes. When the

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air is very cold and very still, water vapor freezes

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into these flat hexagonal.

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Speaker 1: Plates sagonal plates.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, think of them like tiny microscopic, six sided dinner

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plates made of glass.

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Speaker 1: Yes, okay, so we have millions of tiny little dinner

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plates just floating around in the air.

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Speaker 2: Correct, And this is the key part. As they fall

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through the air, aerodynamics takes over, just like a leaf

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falling tends to drift with its flat side down. These

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little ice plates orient themselves horizontally, so they all line

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up precisely. So now you have the entire atmosphere filled

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with millions of horizontal mirrors, all perfectly parallel to the ground.

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When a light source like the setting sun or even

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a street lamp hits them, the light reflects off those

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flat surfaces relative to your eye.

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Speaker 1: So your brain just stecks them up.

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Speaker 2: Your brain stacks those reflections vertically, creating the illusion of

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a solid pillar of light.

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Speaker 1: Wait. Wait, so the pillar isn't physically there. It's just

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a reflection relative to.

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Speaker 2: My position, exactly that if you walked a mile to

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the left, the pillar would appear to move with you.

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It's a subjective reality.

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Speaker 1: It's even weirder.

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Speaker 2: It's a personal light show generated by the interaction between

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your retina, the light source, and those floating ice plates.

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Speaker 1: That actually makes it trippier. Feels solid, but it's a.

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Speaker 2: Ghost it is, and that creates a sense of unease.

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I think we aren't used to seeing giant structures in

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the sky that move when we move.

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Speaker 1: Speaking of structures that shouldn't be there, let's move to Canada.

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We have a report here of a similar thing happening,

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but at night with artificial light.

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Speaker 2: Ah. Yes, the end Times pillars. I remember this one, right.

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Speaker 1: This guy is out for a walk late at night,

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the ground is covered in snow, and suddenly the sky

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just lights up. But not like an aurora. It's these

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insanely bright, multi colored vertical pillars shooting up from the

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ground into the black sky.

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Speaker 2: It really looks like the rapture is happening.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely. The reaction from the locals was panic, and honestly,

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I get it. We're wired to fear sudden dramatic changes

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in the sky, of course.

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Speaker 2: But again, this is our friend, the hexagonal ice plate

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at work.

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Speaker 1: But these were all different colors. They weren't just.

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Speaker 2: White light because the light sources on the ground were multicolored.

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You had sodium street lights giving off these orange pillars,

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maybe some led car headlights creating blue white pillars, a

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neon sign creating a red one. The ice crystals people

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often call it diamond dust. When it's this load to

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the ground, they're just reflecting whatever light is below them.

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Speaker 1: So the city was effectively projecting itself into the sky.

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Speaker 2: That's a beautiful way to put it. Actually, it's a

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mirror image of the city lights just stretched vertically by

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the optics of the ice. It's light pollution turned into

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accidental art.

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Speaker 1: It really highlights how much our brain tries to make

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sense of things. We see a pillar, we assume it's

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a solid structure. We don't assume millions of tiny floating mirrors.

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Speaker 2: Our brains aren't wired for atmospheric optics. They're wired for

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solids and liquids and things we can touch. When the

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atmosphere starts mimicking a solid structure, we get a glitch

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in our perception.

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Speaker 1: Talk about glitches, Let's look at this footage of the

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dual sun. This one messed with me the most.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah.

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Speaker 1: We look out the window and there are two distinct

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suns in the sky, not a reflection on water, but

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two glowing orbs in the One is bright and one

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is slightly dimmer right above it.

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Speaker 2: This is where the glitch in the simulation. Comments really

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take over the Internet.

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Speaker 1: Well, can you blame them? It looks like the rendering

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engine accidentally loaded the sun asset twice, like whoops, forgot

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to delete the placeholder.

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Speaker 2: It absolutely does, but this is usually a specific type

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of mirage or a refraction event. It happens when sunlight

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passes through unmatched layers of atmosphere that have different densities.

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Speaker 1: Explain that density layers, What does that mean?

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Speaker 2: Okay, So imagine you have a layer of really cold

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dense air sitting right next to a layer of warm,

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less dense air. Light actually travels at different speeds through

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those different densities, so when it hits the boundary between them, it.

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Speaker 1: Bends refraction like one of straw looks bent in a

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glass of water.

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Speaker 2: Exactly that, but on a planetary scale, the atmosphere is

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bending the light path so significantly that your eye is

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actually seeing the Sun in two different places. At the

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same time. You're seeing the real sun and then you're

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seeing a ghost image projected by the bet light.

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Speaker 1: So we are definitely not seeing a second star entering

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our solar system.

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Speaker 2: If another star entered our solar system, we would have

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much much bigger problems than a weird Instagram video. Right,

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gravity would have let us know by now loudly fairpoint.

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Speaker 1: Okay, let's try this one. The brock inspector. This sounds

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like a Robert Ludlum novel or maybe a heavy metal band.

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Speaker 2: It does have a very dramatic name. It's named after

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the Brocken Peak in the Hearts Mountains in Germany. But

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this specific report we're looking at comes from the English

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Lake district Saint John's in the Veil.

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Speaker 1: So a hiker is up there alone on a ridge

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and they look down into the mist and see a giant,

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shadowy figure and it's not just a shadow. It's surrounded

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by this perfect rainbow halo. It looks like a divine

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being descending from the heavens.

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Speaker 2: This phenomenon has spooked mountaineers for centuries. It's actually the

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origin of a lot of local ghost stories and mountain folklore.

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I mean, if you're exhausted, you're at high altitude, maybe

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a bit dehydrated, and you see a giant shadow man

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with a rainbow aura.

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Speaker 1: You're gonna have a spiritual experience.

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Speaker 2: They're definitely gonna have a spiritual experience.

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Speaker 1: I would absolutely run if I'm alone on a mountain

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and I see a shadow giant, I am leaving. That's

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it for me.

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Speaker 2: But if you ran, the shadow would run with you,

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because the shadow is you.

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Speaker 1: Wait, I'm the giant, You're the giant.

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Speaker 2: The brock inspect happens when the sun is directly behind

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you and you are looking down into mist or fog.

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Your shadow gets cast onto the water droplets of the mist.

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And because the mist is at a specific distance and

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there are no other reference points like trees or rocks

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nearby to give you a sense of scale, your brain

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misinterprets the size.

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Speaker 1: It just defaults too huge.

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Speaker 2: It projects the shadow as being huge and far away.

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Speaker 1: So I'm scaring myself with my own projection.

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Speaker 2: That's deep essentially, yes. Yeah. And the rainbow halo. That's

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an effect called a glory. It's caused by the diffraction

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of light back towards the source, which is you, by

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the water droplets. It's a personal rainbow just for you

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framing your giant shadow.

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Speaker 1: That is actually kind of poetic. You are the giant ghost.

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It creates a real main character moment, for sure.

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Speaker 2: It creates a sense of grandeur absolutely, and maybe a

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little bit of terror.

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Speaker 1: Okay, that one is beautiful, This next one not so much.

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Let's talk about Zushan, China. The Crimson Sky.

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Speaker 2: Oh, this footage looked apocalyptic.

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Speaker 1: The entire sky turned a deep blood red color. It

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was glowing, and you could just feel the panic. People

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thought the city was on fire. They thought they were

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under attack. There was speculation about chemical leaks. It looks

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like the sky is bleeding.

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Speaker 2: It creates an immediate danger response. Red is the color

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of fire, of blood, of warning signs. But the twist

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here is that this wasn't nature acting alone. It was

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a collaboration between nature and human technology. How so it

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turned out to be lights from fishing boats.

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Speaker 1: Fishing boats, no way, How could fishing boats create a

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blood red sky over a whole city.

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Speaker 2: Yes, specifically boats that were fishing for a fish called

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the Pacific saary. This is a fish that is very

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attracted to bright light. So these massive commercial vessels use

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a rays of hundreds of high intensity red led lights

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to draw the shoals to the surface.

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Speaker 1: Okay, but I've seen boat lights. They don't turn the

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whole scale red.

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Speaker 2: They do if the atmosphere conditions are perfect, and that

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night they were. There's a layer of very low hanging

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clouds and thick fog. The water droplets in the air

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were dense enough to catch that intense red light from

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the boats and scatter it everywhere.

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Speaker 1: So the light is just bouncing around inside the fog exactly.

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Speaker 2: And because red light has a long wavelength. It scatters

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very effectively through fog and clouds, filling the entire cloud layer.

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Speaker 1: So the city was essentially sitting inside a giant red

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lamp shade.

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Speaker 2: That's a perfect description. The clouds acted as the shade,

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diffusing the light from the boats far below. It really

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shows how light pollution can mess with our heads. When

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the weather conditions align just right.

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Speaker 1: We are so disconnected from the sources of things. We

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see a red sky, we think fire or apocalypse. I

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don't think fishing industry.

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Speaker 2: It's a reminder that we are constantly altering our environment,

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sometimes in ways we don't expect.

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Speaker 1: And sometimes in ways that absolutely terrify us. Definitely, speaking

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of light messing with us, there was one more atmospheric

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oddity I wanted to touch on in Alberta, Canada. The

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upward snow.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, this one confused the Internet for a solid week.

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Speaker 1: It's freezing way below zero. There's a light on the

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ground pointing straight up and the snow falling through. It

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looks like it's moving wrong. It's swirling upwards. It looks

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like it's defying gravity.

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Speaker 2: This is a great example of relative motion and the

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stroboscopic effect of certain lights. The snow is likely being

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blown in turbulent eddies by the wind, which is normal.

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But because the light source is directed up and the

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background is pitch black, your brain loses all its reference points.

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Speaker 1: You can't tell which way is up or down exactly.

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Speaker 2: You have no frame of reference. Yeah, and if the

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shutter speed of the camera or the frequency of the

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light happens to sync up with the movement of the flakes,

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it can make them look like they're floating still or

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even rising. It's an illusion created by turbulence.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so the sky is full of mirrors, prisms and

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fishing boat lights. Let's come back down to the ground,

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because if the sky is that tricky, surely the earth

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is solid, right, I need the floor to be the floor.

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Speaker 2: Well, I have some bad news for you regarding section

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two of our discussion. Oh no, no, the earth is

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a lot more mobile that we give it credit for.

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Speaker 1: That's a nice ominous segue to the breathing forest in Mugdock, Scotland.

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I watched this clip three times and I still don't

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quite believe it.

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Speaker 2: It is incredibly unsettling to watch.

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Speaker 1: So a guy is just walking his dog. It's right

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after a storm bahbed. He's on a path he's walked

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hundreds of times, and suddenly he stops because the forest floor,

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the actual ground covered in moss and pine needles, is

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literally rising and falling.

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Speaker 2: Like a chest heaving. It's rhythmic.

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Speaker 1: Yes, it looks exactly like there is a giant monster

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sleeping underground. Taking these deep, slow breaths, the ground lifts

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up a foot maybe two, then sinks back down.

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Speaker 2: If you didn't know the mechanics, you would absolutely assume

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you were standing on the back of a sleeping giant.

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It triggers that uncanny valley feeling because the earth isn't

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supposed to have a respiratory rate.

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Speaker 1: Please tell me there isn't a giant underground.

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Speaker 2: There is not. The explanation is actually rooted in botany

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and physics. To understand this, you have to look at

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the architecture of the trees. These are likely spruce or

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pine trees growing in soil that is either very rocky

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or water logged.

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Speaker 1: And what does that do to the roots of the tree.

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Speaker 2: When trees can't send a main tap root deep down

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because of rock or water, they spread their roots wide

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and shallow, like.

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Speaker 1: A flat plate just under the surface exactly like a plate.

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Speaker 2: They weave together with the roots of the neighboring trees,

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the soil, the moss, and everything to form this cohesive mat.

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It's like a rug laid over a hardwood floor.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so the rug is the entire forest floor.

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Speaker 2: Right now, you introduce storm babet. You have these massive

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wind gusts hitting the canopy. The top of the tree,

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which is sixty maybe eighty feet in the air. That

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tree acts as a giant liver.

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Speaker 1: Physics one oh one. A long lever arm means a

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lot of force at the full crumb, and the.

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Speaker 2: Full crumb is the base of the trunk. So the

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wind pulls the top of the tree and the base

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of the trunk lifts up. But because the roots are

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a woven rug and not a deep anchor, the whole

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floor lifts with it.

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Speaker 1: Wow.

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Speaker 2: The inhale you see is the gust pulling the tree.

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The exhale is gravity pulling the tree back down as

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the wind lulls.

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Speaker 1: For a second plus a ground isn't breathing. The trees

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are just doing a tug of war with the wind

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and we're standing on the rope.

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Speaker 2: That is a perfect analogy, but it's a very dangerous

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place to be if you're standing on that chest. When

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the roofs finally snap or the tree topples over, you

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fall into the pit and the heavy root ball slams

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back down right on top of you.

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Speaker 1: That's a mechanism for being buried alive. Note to self,

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do not stand on the heaving forest floor ever.

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Speaker 2: Good note to have.

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Speaker 1: Now, speaking of ground that stops acting like ground, let's

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talk about japan liquefaction.

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Speaker 2: This is a phenomenon often associated with earthquakes, and for

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civil engineers it is the absolute ultimate nightmare.

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Speaker 1: The video shows a quake happening and then suddenly the

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solid pavement, the dirt, everything just turns into this slushy,

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liquid mess. Manholes start floating up like quirks, Cars sync

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up to their axles. It honestly looks like the ground

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is melting.

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Speaker 2: It's terrifying because it violates our most basic trust in

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the solid earth. Liquefaction happens when loose water saturated soil

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loses all its strength and responds to strong shaking.

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Speaker 1: How does solid dirt turn into a liquid? Is it

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actually melting?

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Speaker 2: It's not melting like ice melts with heat it's all

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about pressure. Imagine you have a jar filled with sand

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and water. If it's just sitting still, the sand grains

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are touching each other, they have friction, they can support weight.

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Speaker 1: Okay, solid structure.

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Speaker 2: Now shake that jar violently. The water tracked between the

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sand grains, what's called the poor water, gets pressurized. If

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the shaking is fast enough and strong enough, the water

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pressure actually pushes the sand grains apart. They lose contact

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with each other.

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Speaker 1: So the friction disappears instantly.

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Speaker 2: The soil loses what's called its sheer strength. It stops

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behaving like a solid and starts behaving like a dense fluid.

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Speaker 1: And that's why heavy things sink and light things flood up.

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The physics rules literally switch from statics to fluid dynamics

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in a matter.

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Speaker 2: Of seconds exactly. And the really scary part is once

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the shaking stops, the water drains out, the sand settles again,

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and it becomes solid. Whatever sank is now encased in

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what's basically concrete, hard earth that.

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Speaker 1: Is deeply unsettling. From melting ground to flowing rivers, but

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not rivers of water. Let's talk about the Arabian Peninsula,

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the river of oil.

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Speaker 2: This video is so striking just visually.

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Speaker 1: It shows these guys driving through the desert, pristine yellow sand,

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bright blue sky, and cutting right through It is a river,

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but it's black, it's viscous. It's crude oil flowing like

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a stream.

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Speaker 2: It's such a bizarre, surreal contrast. We're used to seeing

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oil in barrels or in pipes, not flowing naturally through

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a landscape.

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Speaker 1: The report says it might be a natural lea or

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maybe a pipeline burst, but it really drives home the

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reality of that region.

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Speaker 2: It does. It's a visual representation of wealth, yes, but

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also of environmental strangeness. If it's a natural seep, it's

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a powerful reminder that this substance is just sitting there

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right under the crust, pressurized and just waiting to come out.

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Speaker 1: It's wealth and toxicity flowing side by side, precisely. And

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speaking of stuff bubbling up from the ground, let's go

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00:19:24,440 --> 00:19:28,359
to the tab And Wildlife Reserve in Sabah. The mud volcano.

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Speaker 2: Now, this isn't your typical run for your life lava volcano,

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not at all.

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Speaker 1: No, it looks like a giant science experiment. It's this

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00:19:36,079 --> 00:19:38,839
thick gray mud just mubbling and oozing, it just goes

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00:19:38,880 --> 00:19:41,680
blue boop. It's oddly satisfying to watch.

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Speaker 2: It's actually quite cool. Literally. Mud volcanoes are often cold

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00:19:44,839 --> 00:19:48,359
to the touch. They're caused by pressurized gases, mostly methane,

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pushing mud and water up some deep.

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Speaker 1: Underground like a planetary z.

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Speaker 2: It a big gross but yeah, yeah, pretty accurate. It

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00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:57,559
shows that the pressure on our feet needs release veils,

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00:19:57,880 --> 00:19:59,559
even if there isn't any magma involved.

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Speaker 1: Okay, From gray mud to red water. The red river

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in Peru, the Ryak River.

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00:20:06,279 --> 00:20:10,200
Speaker 2: The footage shows this river turning a bright, almost unnatural

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00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:13,240
blood red, and of course the locals fear it's a curse.

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I mean, if my local river turned to blood, I'd

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be checking the ancient texts too.

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Speaker 1: It evokes all that biblical imagery, but the cause is

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likely just mineral.

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00:20:22,839 --> 00:20:26,480
Speaker 2: Yes, in mountainous reasons like the Andes in Peru, you

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00:20:26,519 --> 00:20:29,680
have soil that's incredibly rich in iron oxide and other minerals.

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When you get heavy seasonal rains, all that soil washes

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into the river. The blood is essentially rust colored mud.

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Speaker 1: It's fascinating how often blood in nature turns out to

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be just.

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Speaker 2: Rust, iron oxide is a very dramatic pigment. Nature uses

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it to paint things red all the time. It's the

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same exact reason Mars as the red planet.

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Speaker 1: Before we leave the ground, we have to talk about gravity,

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or maybe the lack thereof. There's a spot in Maharashtra,

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India with a reverse waterfall.

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Speaker 2: This is a fun one. I love these. You see

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00:20:58,240 --> 00:21:01,680
water pouring off a mountain cliff, but instead of falling down,

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it sprays up.

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Speaker 1: It completely defies physics. It looks like the water is

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afraid of the ground.

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Speaker 2: It's actually just surrendering to a stronger force than gravity

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in that moment.

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Speaker 1: And that force is the wind. The wind strong enough

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to push water up.

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Speaker 2: Oh yeah. In certain cliff formations you get these incredibly

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00:21:19,839 --> 00:21:24,440
intense updrafts. The wind hits the cliff face and has

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nowhere to go but straight up. If that wind is

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00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,960
stronger than gravity's pull on the individual water droplets, the

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00:21:31,039 --> 00:21:34,599
waterfall goes up. It's simple vector addition. The upward force

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00:21:34,839 --> 00:21:36,359
beats the downward force.

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Speaker 1: So it's a waterfall that falls up a waterfly.

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Speaker 2: Just stick with averse waterfall fair enough.

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Speaker 1: And then we have the anti gravity hill at Mount Macedon.

475
00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:45,839
This is a classic tourist mystery.

476
00:21:45,839 --> 00:21:48,680
Speaker 2: Now these are everywhere. Spookale magnetic hill, there's one in

477
00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:49,480
almost every country.

478
00:21:49,519 --> 00:21:51,079
Speaker 1: Girl puts a bottle on the road and you watch

479
00:21:51,079 --> 00:21:53,640
it roll up hill, or so it seems. So is

480
00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,440
it magnetic? Is it a gravity vortex? What's the deal?

481
00:21:56,799 --> 00:21:59,079
Speaker 2: It is a powerful optical illusion.

482
00:21:59,319 --> 00:22:01,720
Speaker 1: You're breaking my heart. I want it to be magic.

483
00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:04,839
Speaker 2: I know, I know. These gravity hills are all just

484
00:22:05,079 --> 00:22:08,880
tricks to the landscape. Usually the horizon line is obscured

485
00:22:09,039 --> 00:22:11,640
or it's deceptive. The trees might be growing at an

486
00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:14,720
odd angle, or the surrounding hills slope in a way

487
00:22:14,720 --> 00:22:17,160
that just fools your vestibular system.

488
00:22:17,279 --> 00:22:19,640
Speaker 1: So my eyes are telling me uphill, but my inner

489
00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:23,160
ear and you know, the bottle are saying downhill exactly.

490
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:27,000
Speaker 2: The bottle is rolling downhill as gravity demands, but the

491
00:22:27,079 --> 00:22:29,720
land around it tricks you into thinking down is up.

492
00:22:30,240 --> 00:22:33,279
It's a total disconnect between your visual system and your

493
00:22:33,319 --> 00:22:34,559
innate sense of balance.

494
00:22:34,799 --> 00:22:38,359
Speaker 1: Nature the ultimate gas lighter in this case, Yes it

495
00:22:38,440 --> 00:22:40,000
is Okay. We've done the sky, we've done the earth.

496
00:22:40,079 --> 00:22:41,599
Now we have to do the part I've been dreading.

497
00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:45,920
Section three nightmare fuel, The creepy crawlers.

498
00:22:46,079 --> 00:22:48,200
Speaker 2: The world of invertrates always a fan favorite.

499
00:22:48,200 --> 00:22:49,920
Speaker 1: Why does it always have to be spiders. Let's talk

500
00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:51,640
about Brazil spider rain.

501
00:22:51,799 --> 00:22:54,079
Speaker 2: A phenomenon that would send a lot of people into

502
00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:55,480
hiding for a very long time.

503
00:22:55,720 --> 00:22:59,519
Speaker 1: The video shows hundreds, maybe thousands of spiders just hanging

504
00:22:59,559 --> 00:23:01,880
in the sky. It looks like they are falling from

505
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:05,279
the clouds. It looks like it is literally raining erachnands.

506
00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:09,000
Speaker 2: But thankfully for everyone's sanity, spiders cannot fly in the

507
00:23:09,039 --> 00:23:09,880
traditional sense.

508
00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:13,240
Speaker 1: So what is happening. Are they paratrooping? I've heard of ballooning,

509
00:23:13,319 --> 00:23:15,839
where baby spiders use a strand of silk to catch

510
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:16,240
the wind.

511
00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,519
Speaker 2: That's a real thing, but this looks different. This is

512
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:24,319
likely a community of social spiders, something like Analossumus exzemius,

513
00:23:24,640 --> 00:23:27,960
that build massive, interconnected communal webs.

514
00:23:27,960 --> 00:23:28,799
Speaker 1: Massive webs.

515
00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:32,440
Speaker 2: We're talking webs that can span between trees, between telephone poles,

516
00:23:32,599 --> 00:23:36,640
extending for huge distances. The silk itself is incredibly thin,

517
00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:39,000
so when the light hits it a certain way, or

518
00:23:39,039 --> 00:23:41,960
if it's an overcast day, the silk can become completely

519
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:43,920
invisible to the camera and the human.

520
00:23:43,640 --> 00:23:46,200
Speaker 1: Eye, so we just see the spiders floating exactly.

521
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:49,240
Speaker 2: They're sitting on a giant invisible ceiling in the sky.

522
00:23:49,640 --> 00:23:51,400
They aren't falling, they are hunting.

523
00:23:51,799 --> 00:23:54,599
Speaker 1: That is only slightly better than them raining from the sky,

524
00:23:55,200 --> 00:23:57,519
but it's still terrifying. It means you could walk into

525
00:23:57,599 --> 00:23:59,200
a giant invisible.

526
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:03,000
Speaker 2: Web wallbsolutely could imagine walking down the street and suddenly

527
00:24:03,079 --> 00:24:06,119
hitting a wall of silk and hundreds of spiders.

528
00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,319
Speaker 1: I would prefer not to imagine that, thank you. But

529
00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:10,960
looking at the next report, sometimes the webs aren't invisible.

530
00:24:11,039 --> 00:24:15,240
Sometimes they are very very visible. The spider ghost trees.

531
00:24:15,599 --> 00:24:18,839
Speaker 2: This happens after major floods. We saw this in Pakistan

532
00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:20,480
and parts of Australia recently.

533
00:24:20,559 --> 00:24:23,240
Speaker 1: The water rises and the spiders need to escape, so

534
00:24:23,279 --> 00:24:23,839
they go up.

535
00:24:24,039 --> 00:24:26,119
Speaker 2: They head for the high ground, which in this case

536
00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:26,759
is the trees.

537
00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:30,039
Speaker 1: The images show entire trees just wrapped in the thick

538
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:33,960
white silk. It looks like a Hallween decoration gone horribly wrong.

539
00:24:34,039 --> 00:24:35,440
It looks like a giant cocoon.

540
00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:39,839
Speaker 2: It's a survival mechanism. You have thousands of spiders congregating

541
00:24:39,839 --> 00:24:42,960
on a single tree, all spinning silk to move around

542
00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:45,799
and catch prey. That's also trying to escape the water.

543
00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:49,400
It's a ghostly sight, but it shows just how adaptable

544
00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:50,240
these creatures are.

545
00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:52,799
Speaker 1: It's nature's way of saying, do not touch this tree.

546
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:54,279
Speaker 2: I would definitely heed that warning.

547
00:24:54,440 --> 00:24:58,680
Speaker 1: Moving from spiders to giant lice, the report calls them

548
00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:00,880
giant Seaslater is that the Cape.

549
00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:05,720
Speaker 2: Of Good Hope giant isopods, basically massive armored woodlights that

550
00:25:05,759 --> 00:25:06,720
live in the deep ocean.

551
00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:09,359
Speaker 1: A family parks their car near the beach, goes for

552
00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,079
a walk, and they come back to find their car

553
00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:14,000
covered in these things. Dozens of them, crawling all over

554
00:25:14,039 --> 00:25:17,480
the tires, the doors. They're the size of your hand.

555
00:25:17,839 --> 00:25:20,160
Speaker 2: Just imagine the sound of them skittering on the metal.

556
00:25:20,799 --> 00:25:24,079
That click clicks in I'd rather not.

557
00:25:24,359 --> 00:25:27,440
Speaker 1: It's the ultimate nope moment. The report says the car

558
00:25:27,519 --> 00:25:30,079
needed a few washes after that, I think the car

559
00:25:30,160 --> 00:25:31,920
needed to be burned. Why were they even there?

560
00:25:32,279 --> 00:25:35,559
Speaker 2: They were likely just exploring or seeking warmth or maybe shade.

561
00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:39,079
But because they look so prehistoric, they look exactly like trilobites.

562
00:25:39,519 --> 00:25:42,839
It triggers this primal disgust response in us. It's an

563
00:25:42,839 --> 00:25:45,559
invasion of our personal space by something that belongs in

564
00:25:45,599 --> 00:25:45,960
the deep.

565
00:25:46,400 --> 00:25:50,759
Speaker 1: Speaking of invasions moths. We have reports from both Manitoba

566
00:25:50,839 --> 00:25:51,359
and France.

567
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,000
Speaker 2: This is a classic case of a population boom meets

568
00:25:54,039 --> 00:25:54,559
light pollution.

569
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,200
Speaker 1: In Manitoba, every single light source was swarmed. You step

570
00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,519
outside and you just get a face full of moths.

571
00:26:00,880 --> 00:26:05,039
And in oion X, France, the boxwood moths completely took

572
00:26:05,079 --> 00:26:05,640
over the town.

573
00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:09,079
Speaker 2: The images are gross. Streetlights are just fuzzy balls of

574
00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:11,799
fluttering wings. Windows are plastered with them.

575
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:14,480
Speaker 1: It disrupts daily life. You can't open a door, you

576
00:26:14,519 --> 00:26:16,400
can't breathe without inhaling a moth.

577
00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:19,759
Speaker 2: It's a reminder of how quickly insects can multiply if

578
00:26:19,799 --> 00:26:22,720
the conditions are just right. Nature is usually kept in

579
00:26:22,799 --> 00:26:25,359
check by predators in weather, but if you get a

580
00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:29,599
mild winter and a lack of bats, boom, population explosion.

581
00:26:29,680 --> 00:26:34,480
Speaker 1: But moths are just annoying. Locusts. Locusts are destructive. We

582
00:26:34,519 --> 00:26:36,920
have a report from southern Russia from twenty nineteen. This

583
00:26:37,039 --> 00:26:43,119
was biblical, truly a giant swarm of locusts. They ate everything, crops, fields,

584
00:26:43,279 --> 00:26:45,400
The sky literally turned dark with them.

585
00:26:45,519 --> 00:26:49,279
Speaker 2: The farmers tried everything nets, sprays, banging pots and pans.

586
00:26:49,319 --> 00:26:49,960
Nothing worked.

587
00:26:50,079 --> 00:26:52,119
Speaker 1: The report says they own the place.

588
00:26:52,440 --> 00:26:55,160
Speaker 2: Locust swarms are a genuine force of nature. They are

589
00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:59,640
a biomass consuming machine. When they reach that critical population density,

590
00:26:59,799 --> 00:27:02,599
they undergo a physiological change. They actually change color and

591
00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:05,240
become more aggressive, and they just strip the land bear.

592
00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:07,079
It's total economic devastation.

593
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:10,359
Speaker 1: It's a humbling reminder that despite all our technology, a

594
00:27:10,480 --> 00:27:12,759
billion hungry bugs can still wipe us out.

595
00:27:13,039 --> 00:27:16,720
Speaker 2: They have the numbers. We are just guests in their world.

596
00:27:16,799 --> 00:27:19,559
Speaker 1: Really, okay, let's move away from the chaotic swarms and

597
00:27:19,599 --> 00:27:24,440
look at something a bit more ritualistic. Section four. The

598
00:27:24,480 --> 00:27:25,480
mystery of the circle.

599
00:27:26,039 --> 00:27:29,920
Speaker 2: Animal behavior is often strange, but when it becomes geometric,

600
00:27:30,119 --> 00:27:31,599
it gets really eerie.

601
00:27:31,799 --> 00:27:35,680
Speaker 1: Let's start with the reindeer cyclone in Murmansk, Russia. The

602
00:27:35,799 --> 00:27:38,640
drone footage of this is absolutely incredible.

603
00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:40,720
Speaker 2: It is stunning. It looks like a piece of performance art.

604
00:27:40,839 --> 00:27:44,079
Speaker 1: It's a herd of reindeer running in a perfect spinning circle.

605
00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:45,519
It looks like a furry tornado.

606
00:27:45,759 --> 00:27:48,680
Speaker 2: It does. And while it looks like some mysterious ritual,

607
00:27:48,920 --> 00:27:51,000
it's actually a brilliant defensive.

608
00:27:50,599 --> 00:27:54,119
Speaker 1: Strategy defense against what predators.

609
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:58,400
Speaker 2: Yeah, wolves, bears, or in the case of this particular video,

610
00:27:58,799 --> 00:28:01,359
probably a veterinarian trying to administer vaccines.

611
00:28:01,559 --> 00:28:03,960
Speaker 1: Ah the needle the ultimate predator.

612
00:28:04,119 --> 00:28:06,599
Speaker 2: By running in that tight circle, the reindeer creates a

613
00:28:06,599 --> 00:28:09,839
moving wall. It's impossible for a predator to target a

614
00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:13,480
single individual. It's just visual overload. Yeah, and guess who's

615
00:28:13,519 --> 00:28:15,319
safe in the center of the cyclone.

616
00:28:14,880 --> 00:28:17,680
Speaker 1: The babies, the vulnerable ones.

617
00:28:17,759 --> 00:28:20,920
Speaker 2: The calves, and the females. The big bucks run on

618
00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,559
the outside flank. It's a fortress made of antlers in speed.

619
00:28:24,359 --> 00:28:28,039
Speaker 1: That is incredibly smart, and it's like fluid dynamics applied

620
00:28:28,039 --> 00:28:28,759
to biology.

621
00:28:28,920 --> 00:28:31,680
Speaker 2: It is. It's a perfect example of herd intelligence.

622
00:28:31,759 --> 00:28:34,480
Speaker 1: Now contrast that with the turkey ritual. This one went

623
00:28:34,559 --> 00:28:35,519
viral a while back.

624
00:28:35,599 --> 00:28:38,680
Speaker 2: Yes, the turkeys circling the dead cat, or in this case,

625
00:28:38,759 --> 00:28:39,480
a dead turkey.

626
00:28:39,640 --> 00:28:41,359
Speaker 1: Right, a dead turkey lies in the middle of the

627
00:28:41,400 --> 00:28:44,359
road and a group of live turkeys is walking in

628
00:28:44,400 --> 00:28:45,880
a perfect circle around it.

629
00:28:46,200 --> 00:28:48,599
Speaker 2: The internet screamed cult it looks.

630
00:28:48,400 --> 00:28:51,119
Speaker 1: Like a seance. They're trying to resurrect their fallen brother

631
00:28:51,519 --> 00:28:53,279
a rise Chicken Arise.

632
00:28:53,759 --> 00:28:58,720
Speaker 2: It looks terrifyingly ritualistic to watch, but biologists think it's

633
00:28:58,839 --> 00:29:02,279
just a weird mix of cure curiosity, and instinct. They

634
00:29:02,279 --> 00:29:04,839
are inspecting the dead bird, but they're also wary, so

635
00:29:04,839 --> 00:29:07,359
they keep moving. They end up just following each other's tails,

636
00:29:07,599 --> 00:29:08,880
and suddenly you have a circle.

637
00:29:09,000 --> 00:29:12,319
Speaker 1: So it's less black magic and more follow the leader

638
00:29:12,400 --> 00:29:12,920
gone wrong.

639
00:29:13,039 --> 00:29:16,680
Speaker 2: Most likely birds can get stuck in these strange behavioral loops.

640
00:29:16,839 --> 00:29:20,839
Speaker 1: Speaking of loops, the sheep circle in China. This was

641
00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:22,599
a huge mystery just recently.

642
00:29:22,799 --> 00:29:25,480
Speaker 2: Yes, the sheep that walked in a circle for twelve

643
00:29:25,519 --> 00:29:26,160
straight days.

644
00:29:26,160 --> 00:29:29,000
Speaker 1: Twelve days, that's insane. And it was hundreds of them.

645
00:29:29,240 --> 00:29:31,319
Speaker 2: It started with just a few and then more and

646
00:29:31,359 --> 00:29:34,359
more joined in. People thought it was hypnosis or a

647
00:29:34,400 --> 00:29:35,920
magnetic anomaly affecting them.

648
00:29:36,079 --> 00:29:36,960
Speaker 1: Was it a disease.

649
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:41,880
Speaker 2: There is a disease called listeriosis that causes circling. It's

650
00:29:41,880 --> 00:29:46,279
often called silogie, but usually the animals die within twenty

651
00:29:46,279 --> 00:29:48,759
four to forty eight hours. For them to do it

652
00:29:48,799 --> 00:29:53,119
for twelve days, that points more towards a behavioral glitch.

653
00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:54,880
Speaker 1: A herd mentality glitch exactly.

654
00:29:55,079 --> 00:29:58,799
Speaker 2: Sheep are extreme followers. If the lead sheep starts circling,

655
00:29:59,039 --> 00:30:02,000
maybe because of a week pen structure or stress, the

656
00:30:02,079 --> 00:30:04,839
others will follow, and if the leader then locks onto

657
00:30:04,839 --> 00:30:06,640
the tail of the last sheep in the line.

658
00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:09,119
Speaker 1: The loops and they're stuck, and they.

659
00:30:09,039 --> 00:30:11,319
Speaker 2: Just keep going. It's a really stark example of the

660
00:30:11,319 --> 00:30:12,920
power of conformity.

661
00:30:12,440 --> 00:30:15,279
Speaker 1: Which leads us to the darkest version of this phenomenon,

662
00:30:15,759 --> 00:30:18,480
the ant mel the death spiral, the march to nowhere.

663
00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:21,240
This is honestly the most disturbing thing on the entire

664
00:30:21,279 --> 00:30:21,799
list for me.

665
00:30:22,200 --> 00:30:25,960
Speaker 2: Army ants are blind. They don't navigate by sight. They

666
00:30:26,039 --> 00:30:30,279
navigate by smell. Specifically, they follow the pheromone scent trail

667
00:30:30,319 --> 00:30:32,079
of the ant directly in front of them.

668
00:30:32,119 --> 00:30:33,480
Speaker 1: I think I know where this is going, and I

669
00:30:33,519 --> 00:30:34,160
don't like it.

670
00:30:34,400 --> 00:30:37,200
Speaker 2: If the leader of the column accidentally turns inward and

671
00:30:37,279 --> 00:30:40,599
crosses its own pass, it starts following its own scent.

672
00:30:40,759 --> 00:30:42,279
Speaker 1: And every ant behind.

673
00:30:41,960 --> 00:30:46,599
Speaker 2: It just follows, and they form a spiral, a death spiral.

674
00:30:47,240 --> 00:30:49,559
They will walk in that circle, following the ant in

675
00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:51,559
front until they die of exhaustion.

676
00:30:51,799 --> 00:30:55,240
Speaker 1: That is horrifying. It's a system bug, a literal bug.

677
00:30:55,039 --> 00:30:57,720
Speaker 2: It is. It's a fatal flaw in their programming. They

678
00:30:57,759 --> 00:31:00,839
have no override command. They have no common sense to say, hey, wait,

679
00:31:00,880 --> 00:31:03,240
we've been here before. They just follow the one rule,

680
00:31:03,359 --> 00:31:04,000
follow the scent.

681
00:31:04,279 --> 00:31:07,880
Speaker 1: It shows that this complex colony behavior isn't intelligent in

682
00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:10,960
the way we think of it. It's emergent, and sometimes

683
00:31:11,079 --> 00:31:12,640
it emerges into a death trap.

684
00:31:13,079 --> 00:31:15,000
Speaker 2: Nature could be incredibly cruel and indifferent.

685
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:19,440
Speaker 1: Speaking of crul Let's talk about the monkey brawl in Lutbury, Thailand.

686
00:31:19,519 --> 00:31:22,240
Speaker 2: This was shocking to see the sheer scale of it.

687
00:31:22,519 --> 00:31:25,319
Speaker 1: Huge gangs of monkeys fighting in the middle of the street,

688
00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,440
and it was over a single pot of yogurt.

689
00:31:28,680 --> 00:31:31,480
Speaker 2: This was right in the middle of the COVID nineteen lockdown.

690
00:31:31,160 --> 00:31:32,480
Speaker 1: Right, So there were no tourists.

691
00:31:32,599 --> 00:31:35,640
Speaker 2: No tourists means no people feeding them bananas and snacks

692
00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,440
all day their primary food, soorts vanished overnight.

693
00:31:38,759 --> 00:31:41,680
Speaker 1: So the social order just completely collapsed instantly.

694
00:31:42,319 --> 00:31:44,960
Speaker 2: You had rival gangs who usually stick to their own

695
00:31:45,039 --> 00:31:47,799
territories clashing in the streets over scraps.

696
00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,319
Speaker 1: It's such a stark reminder of how fragile civilization is,

697
00:31:51,559 --> 00:31:55,240
even monkey civilization. You remove the resources and it turns

698
00:31:55,240 --> 00:31:57,000
into a street brawl for yogurt.

699
00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 2: It's a very potent lesson in resource dependency.

700
00:32:00,160 --> 00:32:02,319
Speaker 1: Okay, let's look up at the sky again. We've talked

701
00:32:02,319 --> 00:32:04,480
about snow and light, but what about when it rains

702
00:32:05,039 --> 00:32:10,000
things that are not water. Section five precipitation mysteries.

703
00:32:10,279 --> 00:32:13,839
Speaker 2: This is a classic category of high strangeness. It goes

704
00:32:13,880 --> 00:32:15,319
back centuries.

705
00:32:15,039 --> 00:32:17,480
Speaker 1: And the classic example fish rain.

706
00:32:17,880 --> 00:32:19,359
Speaker 2: This is one of those things that sounds like a

707
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,240
complete myth until you see the video.

708
00:32:21,480 --> 00:32:24,319
Speaker 1: People are walking in the rain and fish live fetch

709
00:32:24,359 --> 00:32:26,200
are flopping onto the pavement.

710
00:32:25,799 --> 00:32:27,680
Speaker 2: Around that, and people are just collecting them for dinner.

711
00:32:27,799 --> 00:32:31,279
Speaker 1: It's free seafood delivery from the sky. But how how

712
00:32:31,279 --> 00:32:34,039
do fish get into the clouds water spouts?

713
00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 2: Imagine a tornado that forms over water. It acts like

714
00:32:38,279 --> 00:32:40,680
a giant, powerful vacuum cleaner.

715
00:32:40,759 --> 00:32:43,440
Speaker 1: It sucks up the water and the fish that are

716
00:32:43,440 --> 00:32:44,279
in it exactly.

717
00:32:44,319 --> 00:32:47,759
Speaker 2: It sucks up the surface water, frogs, fish, crabs, whatever

718
00:32:47,839 --> 00:32:50,319
is small enough. It flings them high up into the

719
00:32:50,319 --> 00:32:53,960
atmosphere into the storm clouds. Then the wind carries them inland,

720
00:32:54,240 --> 00:32:54,680
and when.

721
00:32:54,519 --> 00:32:56,440
Speaker 1: The wind finally dies down.

722
00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:59,680
Speaker 2: Gravity takes over and the fish fall out of the sky.

723
00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:02,680
Speaker 1: That is just wild. Imagine you're getting hit in the

724
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:04,640
head by a mackerel on your way to work.

725
00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:06,920
Speaker 2: It's rare, but it definitely happens.

726
00:33:07,039 --> 00:33:10,319
Speaker 1: What about blood rain in Iran on Horrmuo's Island.

727
00:33:10,119 --> 00:33:12,319
Speaker 2: The beach in the waves literally look like they're made

728
00:33:12,319 --> 00:33:13,759
of blood. It's this vibrant red.

729
00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:16,200
Speaker 1: It looks like a crime scene on a massive scale.

730
00:33:16,319 --> 00:33:19,519
Speaker 2: But again it's all about geology. Horrmon's Island has soil

731
00:33:19,559 --> 00:33:22,559
that is incredibly rich in red ochre, which is just

732
00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:23,440
iron oxide.

733
00:33:23,519 --> 00:33:26,279
Speaker 1: Ah, our old friend, iron oxide. Again.

734
00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:30,160
Speaker 2: Yes, when it rains heavily, that red soil washes into

735
00:33:30,200 --> 00:33:33,160
the sea, it stains the water. It's incredibly dramatic, but

736
00:33:33,200 --> 00:33:34,359
it's completely harmless.

737
00:33:34,720 --> 00:33:36,720
Speaker 1: And then we have this one Texas blue rain.

738
00:33:36,880 --> 00:33:38,319
Speaker 2: This one is still a bit of a mystery.

739
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:42,720
Speaker 1: Puddles in Texas turning bright blue, not sky reflection blue

740
00:33:42,839 --> 00:33:44,039
like gatorade blue.

741
00:33:44,319 --> 00:33:46,880
Speaker 2: The reports say there's no solid explanation for it yet.

742
00:33:47,319 --> 00:33:51,279
Some suspect chemical reactions in the soil. Others suspect pollution

743
00:33:51,839 --> 00:33:53,799
or maybe runoff from industrial sites.

744
00:33:53,839 --> 00:33:56,920
Speaker 1: See that's the scary part. Red rain is just iron.

745
00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:02,039
Fish rain is just wind. Blue rain might be chemicals.

746
00:34:02,319 --> 00:34:05,039
Speaker 2: It's an anomaly that definitely needs some serious testing.

747
00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:08,480
Speaker 1: Let's stay with water for section six. Aquatic mysteries.

748
00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,480
Speaker 2: The ocean is still full of so many mysteries.

749
00:34:11,599 --> 00:34:14,239
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the whales stranding at King Island, Tasmania.

750
00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:15,360
This is just tragic.

751
00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,400
Speaker 2: It was nearly two hundred pilot whales beach themselves.

752
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:21,320
Speaker 1: Why do they do this? Why does a whole podge

753
00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:22,599
drive itself onto the sand.

754
00:34:22,800 --> 00:34:25,920
Speaker 2: Pilot whales are what we call gregarious. They are incredibly

755
00:34:25,960 --> 00:34:27,159
tight knit social animals.

756
00:34:27,199 --> 00:34:29,719
Speaker 1: They have a leader, and if the leader makes a mistake.

757
00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:33,000
Speaker 2: If the leader gets sick or confused by man made sonar,

758
00:34:33,559 --> 00:34:36,320
or just disoriented in shallow water and heads to shore,

759
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:37,599
the others follow.

760
00:34:37,679 --> 00:34:38,920
Speaker 1: They follow them to their deck.

761
00:34:39,039 --> 00:34:44,239
Speaker 2: Their social loyalty overrides their individual survival instinct. It's absolutely

762
00:34:44,280 --> 00:34:47,679
heartbreaking to watch. The locals tried to save them, pushing

763
00:34:47,719 --> 00:34:49,840
them back out to see, but many of them kept

764
00:34:49,880 --> 00:34:51,840
swimming back to the beach to be with their pod.

765
00:34:52,119 --> 00:34:55,760
Speaker 1: It's that herd mentality again, but this time in the ocean.

766
00:34:55,840 --> 00:34:58,880
Speaker 2: A very similar thing happened with the sardine beaching in

767
00:34:58,960 --> 00:34:59,719
northern Japan.

768
00:35:00,159 --> 00:35:03,840
Speaker 1: A kilometer of beach was just covered in dead sardines,

769
00:35:04,239 --> 00:35:05,880
thousands and thousands of them.

770
00:35:05,960 --> 00:35:08,639
Speaker 2: The theories here vary. They could have been chased by

771
00:35:08,679 --> 00:35:12,360
predators like tuna or yellowtail and driven into the shallow water,

772
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:14,239
where they ran out of oxygen.

773
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:15,519
Speaker 1: Or they hit a cold pocket of water.

774
00:35:15,719 --> 00:35:18,760
Speaker 2: Yeah, rapid temperature changes can stunfish and kill them in

775
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:19,599
huge numbers.

776
00:35:19,719 --> 00:35:20,360
Speaker 1: Yeah.

777
00:35:20,400 --> 00:35:23,519
Speaker 2: Either way, it's a mass casualty event that looks apocalyptic

778
00:35:23,559 --> 00:35:24,880
when it washes up on the shore.

779
00:35:25,079 --> 00:35:27,760
Speaker 1: It's a reminder that nature produces so much life and

780
00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:30,039
sometimes it just dumps it on the beach.

781
00:35:30,119 --> 00:35:31,039
Speaker 2: It's a brutal cycle.

782
00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,079
Speaker 1: Let's talk about something a bit lighter. Tree fountains.

783
00:35:34,280 --> 00:35:35,400
Speaker 2: This is a fun anomaly.

784
00:35:35,679 --> 00:35:38,320
Speaker 1: There's a video of water gushing out of a cut

785
00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:41,800
tree stump and another one of water just pouring out

786
00:35:41,800 --> 00:35:44,639
of a knothole in a living tree in Southeast Europe.

787
00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:48,400
Speaker 2: It looks like someone turned on a faucet inside the tree.

788
00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:50,880
Speaker 1: The guys in the video are drinking it, which.

789
00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:53,320
Speaker 2: I would not recommend unless you know the source. But

790
00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:56,239
in this case, it's likely just hydrostatic pressure at work.

791
00:35:56,440 --> 00:36:01,800
Pressure how heavy rains can completely saturate the ground. The

792
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:04,280
pressure builds up in the root system of the tree.

793
00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:07,440
If there's a hollow trunk or a cut pipe, which

794
00:36:07,480 --> 00:36:10,239
is the vascular system of the tree, the water has.

795
00:36:10,119 --> 00:36:12,039
Speaker 1: To go somewhere, so it shoots up the tree and

796
00:36:12,119 --> 00:36:14,199
out whatever hole it can find exactly.

797
00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:15,760
Speaker 2: It's a natural plumbing blowout.

798
00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:18,320
Speaker 1: I love that. A tree that doubles as a water cooler.

799
00:36:18,480 --> 00:36:19,760
Speaker 2: Just don't expect it to be chilled.

800
00:36:19,920 --> 00:36:23,880
Speaker 1: Okay, we're in the home stretch now. Section seven Miscellaneous Anomalies,

801
00:36:24,599 --> 00:36:27,760
the grab bag of weirdness. Let's do it the best

802
00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:31,599
for last descending clouds. A cloud floating right on the

803
00:36:31,599 --> 00:36:32,199
ground in a.

804
00:36:32,159 --> 00:36:35,119
Speaker 2: Forest and the witness tries to catch it, which is great.

805
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:38,360
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's not just fog. You can see it's a distinct, puffy,

806
00:36:38,519 --> 00:36:41,079
little cloud just drifting between the trees.

807
00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:45,559
Speaker 2: Well, technically fog is a cloud on the ground, but

808
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:49,000
sometimes you get these isolated pockets of cold air that

809
00:36:49,199 --> 00:36:53,000
keep a small cloud formation distinct and low to the ground.

810
00:36:53,440 --> 00:36:55,440
It looks like a piece of the sky just fell down.

811
00:36:55,719 --> 00:36:58,440
Speaker 1: It looks like a glitch. I would try to eat it.

812
00:36:58,440 --> 00:36:59,559
It looks like cotton candy.

813
00:36:59,679 --> 00:37:01,039
Speaker 2: It would tastes like damp air.

814
00:37:01,320 --> 00:37:04,440
Speaker 1: Very disappointing. What about the eternal flame at Shale Creek.

815
00:37:04,559 --> 00:37:08,159
Speaker 2: This is beautiful, a waterfall with a fire burning behind the.

816
00:37:08,119 --> 00:37:10,880
Speaker 1: Water, fire and water living together in harmony.

817
00:37:11,119 --> 00:37:13,079
Speaker 2: It's a natural gas leak from the rock.

818
00:37:12,920 --> 00:37:14,719
Speaker 1: Face, and who lit it.

819
00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:17,400
Speaker 2: Probably hikers many years ago, or if you believe the

820
00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:21,559
lore for spirits. But once it's lit, the steady flow

821
00:37:21,599 --> 00:37:24,320
of gas keeps it burning, even with the water falling

822
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:24,719
over it.

823
00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:28,000
Speaker 1: It's a real life fantasy element, a magical item it is.

824
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:29,239
Speaker 2: It's a perpetual campfire.

825
00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:32,840
Speaker 1: Then we have the Bloodwood tree, another bleeding phenomenon. You

826
00:37:32,920 --> 00:37:36,440
cut this tree and this thick red liquid just pours

827
00:37:36,519 --> 00:37:37,239
out its.

828
00:37:37,079 --> 00:37:40,679
Speaker 2: Sap, specifically its sap that's incredibly rich in tannin. It

829
00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:44,719
looks gruesome, but it's actually for healing. The sap seals

830
00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:48,000
the wound and protects the tree from infection. It's a

831
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,559
sophisticated immune response that just happens to look like a

832
00:37:50,559 --> 00:37:51,719
horror movie special effect.

833
00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:55,440
Speaker 1: And finally, the birds birds free fall in Mexico.

834
00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:58,559
Speaker 2: This video was everywhere for a while, a flog of

835
00:37:58,639 --> 00:38:00,320
yellow headed blackbirds.

836
00:38:00,039 --> 00:38:02,880
Speaker 1: Flying in a tight formation, and then suddenly hundreds of

837
00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:06,039
them just drop out of the sky smash into the ground.

838
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:08,639
Some managed to fly away, but many of them died

839
00:38:08,679 --> 00:38:09,119
on impact.

840
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:12,920
Speaker 2: People immediately thought it was five G or toxic fumes,

841
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:14,440
or electrocution from power.

842
00:38:14,159 --> 00:38:16,800
Speaker 1: Lines, but the most likely guess is.

843
00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:19,679
Speaker 2: A predator, a falcon or a hawk diving into the

844
00:38:19,679 --> 00:38:20,719
flock from above.

845
00:38:20,559 --> 00:38:21,920
Speaker 1: And the birds just panicked.

846
00:38:22,199 --> 00:38:25,480
Speaker 2: When a flock panics, they dive to escape. They move

847
00:38:25,519 --> 00:38:27,960
as one. If they are flying too low to the

848
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:30,960
ground or the mass is too tight, they miscalculate. They

849
00:38:31,039 --> 00:38:33,719
drive themselves into the ground to escape the predator above.

850
00:38:33,800 --> 00:38:35,800
Speaker 1: It's a crash landing caused by pure fear.

851
00:38:36,159 --> 00:38:37,639
Speaker 2: Exactly tragic.

852
00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:40,679
Speaker 1: And one last bird story the cruise ship invasion.

853
00:38:41,239 --> 00:38:45,039
Speaker 2: Imagine being on luxury crews sipping a drink and suddenly

854
00:38:45,480 --> 00:38:46,519
the deck is covered in.

855
00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,880
Speaker 1: Birds, hundreds of them. The captain gets on the intercom

856
00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:51,920
and announces it as a shelter situation.

857
00:38:52,320 --> 00:38:55,079
Speaker 2: They are escaping a massive storm out at sea. The

858
00:38:55,119 --> 00:38:58,159
ship was the only solid ground for miles, the only

859
00:38:58,199 --> 00:39:00,960
safe place to land, so they just the party the

860
00:39:01,039 --> 00:39:04,119
hitchhike to safety. It shows that even wild animals need

861
00:39:04,119 --> 00:39:05,719
a port in a storm sometimes.

862
00:39:05,960 --> 00:39:08,199
Speaker 1: Okay, we have covered a lot of ground today, or

863
00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:09,880
sky or water.

864
00:39:10,039 --> 00:39:12,360
Speaker 2: We certainly have. My head is spinning a bit.

865
00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:14,920
Speaker 1: So let's unpack this. What does all of this mean?

866
00:39:15,239 --> 00:39:19,199
We've seen mosquito tornadoes, portal skies, breathing forests, and ant

867
00:39:19,199 --> 00:39:20,039
death spirals.

868
00:39:20,400 --> 00:39:23,480
Speaker 2: The common thread here for me is the gap between

869
00:39:23,519 --> 00:39:25,119
our perception and reality.

870
00:39:25,519 --> 00:39:28,119
Speaker 1: Right, we see a portal to another dimension. Nature sees

871
00:39:28,159 --> 00:39:32,039
ice crystals. We see a monster breathing underground. Nature sees

872
00:39:32,079 --> 00:39:33,239
wind and tree roots.

873
00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:37,559
Speaker 2: Nature is dynamic. It's messy, It glitches, but almost every

874
00:39:37,599 --> 00:39:40,679
single time there is a physical mechanism behind it. The

875
00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:44,239
world isn't broken. It's just infinitely more complex than our

876
00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:45,760
eyes can process at a glance.

877
00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:48,559
Speaker 1: But I love that human instinct to scream aliens or

878
00:39:48,679 --> 00:39:49,679
it's the end of the world.

879
00:39:49,719 --> 00:39:53,880
Speaker 2: First, It keeps life exciting. It shows we still have

880
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:56,599
a sense of awe about our planet. We haven't explained

881
00:39:56,599 --> 00:39:57,480
all the magic away.

882
00:39:57,639 --> 00:40:00,599
Speaker 1: So here's my question to you, the listener. We've given

883
00:40:00,639 --> 00:40:03,679
you a list of absolute madness today.

884
00:40:03,559 --> 00:40:05,519
Speaker 2: From the beautiful to the truly terrifying.

885
00:40:06,440 --> 00:40:09,159
Speaker 1: If you walked out your door tomorrow and saw the

886
00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:13,039
spider rain, thousands of spiders floating in the sky, or

887
00:40:13,039 --> 00:40:16,960
the blood sky, the whole world glowing red, would you

888
00:40:17,039 --> 00:40:19,039
film it or would you run?

889
00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:22,800
Speaker 2: That is the ultimate question. Isn't it curiosity or survival?

890
00:40:23,039 --> 00:40:25,440
Speaker 1: Which of these phenomena would be your breaking point? The

891
00:40:25,440 --> 00:40:28,159
point where you just say, okay, I'm done with Earth today.

892
00:40:28,159 --> 00:40:28,800
Beat me up.

893
00:40:29,159 --> 00:40:31,800
Speaker 2: I think mine is the liquefaction. I really need the

894
00:40:31,800 --> 00:40:33,840
ground to stay solid. That one gets me.

895
00:40:34,079 --> 00:40:37,480
Speaker 1: Mine is definitely the mosquito tornado. Absolutely not. I'm out.

896
00:40:37,679 --> 00:40:39,440
Speaker 2: We want to hear from you. Leave a comment wherever

897
00:40:39,480 --> 00:40:41,159
you're listening. Tell us your nope moment.

898
00:40:41,519 --> 00:40:44,280
Speaker 1: This has been thrilling threads. Keep looking up, but maybe

899
00:40:44,360 --> 00:40:45,480
check for falling fish first.

900
00:40:45,559 --> 00:40:46,719
Speaker 2: I watch out for the spiders.

901
00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:48,559
Speaker 1: See you next time.