- [Narrator] In July
1955, Pan Am Flight 914 left New York City
Airport en route to Miami. However, the flight never
made it to sunny Florida. Without sending out a distress signal, or leaving behind even the
smallest piece of wreckage, the plane and its 57 passengers seemingly vanished into thin air. As the years passed without
any sign of the missing plane, most people assumed the
mystery would never be solved. But then, 37 years later,
the impossible happened. Grab your popcorn and
stay tuned to find out exactly what that
impossible occurrence was, alongside a whole host of other
eerie, mysterious voyages. One morning in 1992, at an
airport in Caracas, Venezuela, air traffic controllers were
going about their business when they noticed something very strange. Even though their radars
showed an empty sky, they could clearly see a plane hurtling in the direction of the runway. As it got nearer, they
noticed that this plane was old-fashioned and propeller-driven, a model that hadn't been used in years. Air traffic controller, Juan de la Corte, immediately made radio
contact with the pilot and asked him to identify
the mystery plane. The pilot replied that
this was Flight 914, ready to touch down in Miami. When Juan told informed him this was an airport in Venezuela, the pilot was horrified. He'd somehow traveled 1,200 miles away from his destination. And things were about to get even weirder. When the plane landed, witnesses could see passengers pressed up against the windows, wearing strangely old-fashioned clothing and staring in confusion at the modern aircrafts on the tarmac. After a long silence,
Juan's radio crackled. In a hoarse voice, the
pilot of the mystery plane asked him to confirm the date. Juan told him it was May 21st, 1992. As he spoke, he could hear
the pilot breathing fast, clearly distressed. Moments later, the pilot
flung open the cockpit window and began frantically
waving away the ground crew, screaming that he needed to leave. As he waved his arms,
something fluttered down from the clipboard he
clutched in one hand. But before anyone could react,
the plane was in motion. The airport crew watched in shock, as mere minutes after it had had happened, the mystery aircraft
sped off down the runway before climbing away into the clouds. Juan ran down to the tarmac
and picked up the document that had fallen from
the pilot's clipboard. To his shock, he saw
that it was a calendar dating from 1955. In the aftermath, aviation
officers were able to surmise that this unexpected runway visitor was indeed the mysterious Flight 914 that had disappeared back in the '50s. But even after a thorough investigation, they couldn't make any sense of the plane's sudden reappearance. And as for the plane itself,
it was never seen again. So, how can we explain
the time-traveling plane? The most popular theory among
fans of this tantalizing tale is that the plane accidentally
entered a wormhole through time and space,
transporting it somewhere else 37 years into the future. If you think that sounds crazy, it's worth noting that
the scientific theories of scientists like Albert
Einstein and Stephen Hawking mathematically support the idea that wormholes could potentially exist. But how? Well, imagine space and
time as a sheet of paper, with a point marked at either end. Usually, you'd only be able
to travel through those points by moving along the paper. But if you fold the paper in half, bringing the points together, that's a much quicker way
to travel between them. This is how a wormhole
theoretically works, a spacetime-bending
shortcut through the cosmos that connects two distant
moments points of space and/or time together. While no one's really sure how a wormhole could come into existence, nor has anyone ever actually observed one, could this theory explain the mystery of the time-traveling plane? Before I reveal the truth, if you think wormholes
were behind this mystery, click that like button. If you're skeptical, hit
that subscribe button. And with the fascinating
content I post daily, doing both is an equally good choice. Done? Great. Now, let's find out the truth. As it turns out, the real explanation doesn't require complicated
physics to work out. That's because, unfortunately,
the tale of Pan Am Flight 914 is actually a vintage piece of fake news, first circulated by the
Weekly World News in 1985. This tabloid was notorious for inventing mind-boggling stories
in order to sell papers, including the story of a
baby born with a wooden leg, and the tall tale of
a man who sued himself after he was hit by his own boomerang. In fact, the story of Flight 914 made such a splash in the eighties that the tabloid actually
ran it twice more in 1993 and in 1999. It soon became an urban legend, circulated online by conspiracy theorists as evidence of time travel. But, of course, I wouldn't bring you here with the promise of genuine
mystery and not deliver. While the case of Flight
914 turned out to be a hoax, that's not to say our world hasn't seen its fair share of voyages that took a turn toward
the unexplainably bizarre. Stay tuned to find out just
how peculiar some real examples of this type of thing are, because sometimes, truth is
even stranger than fiction. Bizarre Bermuda. Would you take a trip
over the Bermuda Triangle? Over the years, this portion
of the North Atlantic Ocean between Bermuda, Miami, and Puerto Rico has seen a number of planes and ships disappear in mysterious-seeming
circumstances. None of these disappearances are stranger or more perplexing than
the vanishing of Flight 19. In December 1945, a squadron
of five torpedo bombers and their 14 crew took off from
Fort Lauderdale in Florida, ready to tackle a three-hour
training exercise. Not far into their journey, Flight 19 began to run into problems. The flight leader,
Lieutenant Charles Taylor, began to radio in distress messages, claiming that the squadron had become lost after Taylor's plane's
compasses malfunctioned. As dusk began to set in and
weather conditions turned nasty, the radio messages became
increasingly confused, until eventually, they stopped altogether. As it became apparent, the
squadron was in trouble. Two planes were dispatched on
a search and rescue mission, heading for Flight 19's
last known location, a point over the Bermuda Triangle. Only one rescue plane made it back. The other plane, which
was carrying 13 men, disappeared from radars
within 20 minutes of takeoff and, along with the
original Flight 19 crew, was never seen again. An extensive search found no wreckage from any of the missing aircrafts, and investigations were unable to explain the mysterious disappearances. To this day, the planes
have never been recovered. So, what is it with stuff like this happening over the Bermuda Triangle? Well, conspiracy theorists
argue that the Triangle could be a hunting ground for UFOs, or the site of an all-consuming whirlpool. There's even a theory
that ancient technology from the lost city of Atlantis scrambles the navigation
equipment of vehicles in the area. On the other more rational hand, in the case of Flight 19, it's possible that the planes
really did lose their way after their leader's
compasses malfunctioned, leading them all to run out of
gas and crash into the ocean. After all, compasses in the 1940s weren't invulnerable to errors, especially considering the significant electromagnetic fields that can build up around planes in stormy weather. Some also theorize that
in the low visibility, Taylor may have mistaken
the Bahama islands with the Florida Keys, causing him to accidentally
direct the flight further out to sea rather
than back towards land. And as for the rescue mission, the planes were Martin PBM Mariners, which had a known tendency to build up flammable fuel vapors. A nearby tanker reported
seeing flames near the spot where the rescue plane
vanished from radars, suggesting that it may have exploded due to these flammable vapor build-ups. What's more, scientists
have long disputed the idea that the Bermuda Triangle is really the mysterious vanishing vortex
that it's cracked up to be. Despite its reputation,
actual accident statistics suggest that disappearances
in the Bermuda Triangle don't happen more often than
in any other comparable region of the Atlantic Ocean. But even with all that considered, with no wreckage ever found, the true fate of Flight
19 remains unconfirmed. What do you think happened? Let me know in the comments below. Mystery Man. Ladies and gentlemen,
fasten your seatbelts, and get ready to hear about
one of the most mystifying unsolved cases in FBI history. In November 1971, a man in his mid-40s boarded a plane traveling
from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington. He gave his name as Dan
Cooper, took his seat, and ordered a bourbon and soda. Shortly after takeoff, he
informed the stewardess that he had a bomb in his briefcase, opening the case to
reveal tangled red wires, cylinders, and batteries to prove it. He stated everyone would be
safe as long as his demands for four parachutes and
$200,000 in cash were met. The authorities were quickly notified, and the FBI ensured the ransom money and parachute were ready when
the plane landed in Seattle. Upon landing, Cooper
allowed all 36 passengers to walk free in exchange
for the money and equipment. He kept the flight crew on board, though, and calmly told them to set
a new course for Mexico City. Once they were back in the air, Cooper told the crew
to wait in the cockpit. He then walked to the back of the plane, took off his tie, opened the rear door, and parachuted away with his ransom money. The plane went on to land
safely at Reno Airport, but Dan Cooper was never seen again. For 49 years after that night, the FBI maintained an open investigation into the daring mid-air crime. Their prime suspect was
Richard Floyd McCoy, who was arrested for a
similar airplane robbery a few weeks later. But he was eventually eliminated
from the investigation as there was evidence that he spent the day of
the hijacking in Las Vegas. Despite compiling a list
of more than 800 suspects, the FBI were unable to crack the case. There's another bizarre
twist to this tale. In 1980, nine years after
the crime took place, a young boy discovered
$6,000 in tattered notes along the banks of the
Columbia River in Vancouver. The FBI soon confirmed that these notes came from the ransom paid to Dan Cooper, though investigators couldn't
agree on whether the notes had been deliberately buried or drifted there from somewhere upstream. With no official conclusion
even to this day, it seems we'll never know what really happened to Dan Cooper. Some officials share the opinion that Cooper couldn't possibly
have survived his daring jump. But since no body was ever found, many believe he got away scot-free. Whatever happened, Dan Cooper's crime remains the only unsolved act of air piracy in aviation history. Up, Up, And Away. Hitching a ride like
Dan Cooper is one thing, but imagine trying to
steal an entire plane and hide it away somewhere. That's exactly what two
men attempted in 2003, when they stole a Boeing
727 straight from the runway of Quatro de Fevereiro Airport in Angola. Amazingly, despite
extensive investigations by the FBI and CIA, it
was never recovered. So how did it happen? Well, in May 2003, two airport employees boarded the plane and began
to taxi it along the runway. Of the two, Ben Padilla
was an American pilot, while John Mutantu was a hired mechanic from the Republic of Congo. Both men had access to the plane in order to carry out repairs, but neither of them were
certified to fly it. The control tower team observed the plane making its erratic way down the runway and tried to make contact,
but received no response. Before anyone could do anything about it, the plane took off into the sunset, and hasn't been seen since. So what happened to the plane? Currently, it's all theoretical. Padilla and Mutantu may have
stolen it for personal gain, hoping to sell parts, or they may have stolen
it on behalf of its owner for insurance purposes. The plane's owner, Maury Joseph, had previously been charged with falsifying financial statements and defrauding investments, leading many to suspect that
he paid Padilla and Mutantu to carry out the daring theft. But it's equally unclear
whether the plane even made it to its unknown destination, or whether it crash-landed in the ocean. Neither the plane, its
parts, nor a wreckage have ever been recovered, leaving this expert theft a
truly head-scratching mystery. The Lady Vanishes. Whatever happened to Amelia Earhart? She was a record-breaking pioneer, a best-selling author and
the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. However, in July 1937, Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, set off from New Guinea
on one of the last legs of her historic attempt to
circumnavigate the globe. Despite a promising start, their plane never made
it to its destination, and given that she never reappeared, Earhart was declared legally dead in 1939. So, what actually happened? Nobody knows for sure, but
one popular explanation is that Earhart made an
emergency landing on or near the deserted Gardner Island
in the West Pacific Ocean. Without a functioning plane, she and Noonan may have been forced to spend the rest of
their days as castaways. Various expeditions to the island have found strange artifacts, including a woman's shoe
dating from the 1930s and some improvised tools. In 1940, British
officials found a skeleton on a remote part of the island, and analysis suggests
that it may have belonged to a woman of European ancestry. However, no plane or
wreckage has been found on or near the island, casting some doubts on
the castaway theory. Others argue that Earhart was captured and executed by Japanese
soldiers after crash-landing in the Japanese-controlled
Marshall Islands, while some even speculate
that she faked her own death and moved to New Jersey. But given the lack of
any substantial evidence for those wilder ideas, the idea that Earhart crashed into the sea after radio failures and bad weather is the most likely theory. It's worth noting,
though, that since 2002, deep-sea exploration company Nautilus has scanned nearly 2,000 square
nautical miles using sonar around the area Earhart may have crashed, and has found no trace of wreckage. Until that elusive plane is found, it's likely that the fate
of this iconic aviator will remain an enigma. Free Falling. In 1972, one woman
experienced an extreme amount of both good and bad luck simultaneously while flying over Czechoslovakia. Vesna Vulovic was her
name, and to this date, she holds the Guinness World Record for surviving the highest
fall without a parachute. The Serbian flight attendant
fell a whopping 33,330 feet after a briefcase bomb exploded in the baggage compartment of her plane. Not only did she live to tell the tale, but she also made a full
recovery from her injuries and even asked for her old job
as a flight attendant back. Now that's commitment. So what allowed her to survive? Well, aside from a heaping
portion of good luck, Vesna was trapped behind a food cart in the rear part of the
aircraft when it exploded. While most of the other
passengers were sucked out of the plane immediately
after the explosion, Vesna remained wedged in place. The tail section of the
plane then plummeted to earth and landed on a wooded
mountainside in Czechoslovakia, where the trees and thick blanket of snow cushioned its fall. This slowed the rate of
deceleration on impact, slightly lessening the forces
acting on Vesna's body. What's more, doctors
believe Vesna's history of low blood pressure may have prevented her heart from exploding on impact. Think of how a fully-inflated
balloon could easily pop under a little added force, whereas a half-inflated balloon
has some room to compress. Because Vesna's heart and
arteries were under less pressure, it reduced the chances of her heart rupturing during the impact. Pretty crazy, right? Soon after the crash, a nearby villager heard
Vesna's cries for help, and she was taken to a hospital. She spent days in a coma,
suffering from broken bones and temporary paralysis
from the waist down. But miraculously, Vesna
soon made a full recovery, and became a national hero and celebrity, although she never recovered
her memories of the crash. Perhaps that's for the best. Secret stowaway. In April 2014, 15-year-old Yahya Abdi embarked on a truly bizarre journey which stumped air travel
officials and doctors alike. He'd run away from his California home in order to board a plane to Ethiopia, where he hoped to visit his mother. Without a ticket, the daring
teen climbed over the fence at San Jose Airport, chose a plane, and clambered into the wheel well. What happened next was terrifying. The plane, which was bound
for Hawaii, took off, traveling for five and a half hours, and ascending to an eye-watering
height of 38,000 feet. Abdi had to contend with
extremely low oxygen levels, below-freezing temperatures and the eardrum-shattering
boom of the engine. He stayed conscious for long enough to watch the plane climb over the clouds, before passing out for long
sections of the journey. When the plane arrived in Hawaii, onlookers were shocked to see a young man stumble out of the wheel compartment and weave his way across the tarmac. His survival in those extreme conditions left doctors dumbfounded. One possible explanation
is that Abdi's body became so cold during the flight, that his blood flow and metabolism slowed down significantly, reducing the amount of
oxygen required in his cells. His body likely began slowing or stopping unnecessary functions,
causing him to pass out, but ultimately keeping him alive. Now before you get any ideas, stowing away on a plane is not a great way to save money on your next holiday. Experts agree that the
odds of survival are tiny, as the temperature at the
heights Yahya traveled at can drop to lower than
-80 degrees Fahrenheit, and that's assuming you're
not crushed by the wheel when it draws up into the plane. All things considered, it's
probably best to book your seat. The Ghost Ship. Not all cases of peculiar,
mystifying journeys take place in the sky. Some of the most puzzling of
all have occurred in the ocean. The story of the Mary
Celeste, for example, has puzzled the world for over 100 years, and it's guaranteed to
shiver your timbers. The brigantine ship left
New York in November 1872, with ten passengers on board. Eight days later, it should
have arrived in Genoa, Italy. Instead, it was spotted
floating east of the Azores, a group of islands in
the North Atlantic Ocean. A party was sent to offer
help to the Mary Celeste, but when they reached the boat, they realized something wasn't right. The crew's personal
belongings were untouched, the cargo was intact, and the ship was stocked
with enough food and water to last six months. But not a soul was onboard. Some speculate that the
crew were gobbled up by sea monsters, or thrown
overboard by pirates. But as the ship wasn't damaged,
the cargo wasn't raided, and there were no clear
signs of a struggle, these theories don't really hold water. A more likely explanation is that all or some of the passengers deliberately abandoned ship,
sailing away on the lifeboat. But why would anyone
abandon the Mary Celeste, especially when it was
fully stocked and seaworthy? Some have suggested the
crew staged a mutiny, throwing the captain overboard before sailing the lifeboat
away into the horizon. But it's also possible
the crew were startled by extreme weather. In their panic, they may
have boarded the lifeboat, interceding to head for safety, but sunk before reaching
their destination, while the main ship itself survived. Supporting this theory is the fact that one of the ship's pumps was found disassembled on the deck, and the cargo hold was awash
with 3.5 feet of water. It's possible that, after taking on some
water in harsh conditions, the captain feared the ship
was no longer seaworthy. If he did so, he was sadly mistaken, the ship was totally fit for purpose, and went on to be used
for several more years. But with no sign of the crew, nor any definitive evidence on board, it seems hopes of finding the truth has long drifted away on the waves. What do you think happened
to the ghost ship? Let me know in the comments below. Mystery Companions. Soaring back into the skies now, we find ourselves in the winter of 1944, near the end of World War II. Around this time, Allied
pilots began reporting strange glowing lights
following their aircrafts. The red, orange, and white lights appeared to toy with the planes, darting closer and then spinning away through the air at high speed. The sightings were so widespread, that soldiers began to refer
to them as foo fighters, a name taken from a popular cartoon character called Smokey Stover, who used the nonsense
word foo as a catchphrase. But considering how common
these sightings became, they appeared to be anything but nonsense. There are a few different theories about the origin of these spooky lights. Author Renato Vesco
claims that the Germans had developed a secret
weapon called a fireball, which flew in the air and spun around like a
Catherine wheel firework in order to distract Allied pilots. However, historians have pointed out that there's almost no
evidence to support this claim. Some conspiracy theorists, meanwhile, believe that the foo fighters
could have been UFOs, perhaps checking out humanity's latest military
technology in action. Of course, whether or not
you believe that theory really depends on your stance on whether aliens have visited Earth. A more universally-palatable
explanation, however, involves a weather phenomenon
known as St. Elmo's fire, and is arguably just as fascinating. This phenomenon causes
fluorescent bursts of light to appear around pointed
objects during storms. The fire is actually a
form of luminous plasma, which is generated when
there's a strong electric field in the air, often during thunderstorms. It's often observed to
erupt from the wings or nose of a plane, which could explain some sightings of these strange, glowing foo fighters. However, considering many of the reports described the foo fighters as floating orbs of red and orange, these don't all fit St. Elmo's fire, which looks more like purple lightning. Some have pointed to ball lightning, a reported phenomenon that hasn't yet been definitively proven
to exist by science, where lightning reportedly takes on a floating, spherical form. This would certainly fit the bill, but until we properly determine whether ball lightning
is a real phenomenon, and learn how to study it, it seems a satisfying explanation will remain floating just out of reach. For now, we'll just have to listen to the band of the same name if we want our fill of Foo Fighters. What are your wildest theories to explain some of
these bizarre incidents? Let me know in the comments below. And as always, thanks for watching. (upbeat music)
