[ Eerie music plays ] NARRATOR:
On a cold January night in 1950, a military transport plane rumbles through
the Alaskan skies. [ Airplane engine whirring ] On board,
44 people en route to Montana. [ Lever clicks ] [ Static,
indistinct talking on radio ] Two hours into the flight,
they communicate with base. And then... [ Accelerated whirring
and beeping ] [ Dramatic music plays ] ...they vanish. No one knows what happened...
or what they saw. Only that they have never been
seen again. Inside the vast frontier
of Alaska is a mysterious triangle where, each year, 5 out of
every 1,000 people go missing. [ Animal growls ] [ Animal roars ] Three investigators look
for answers -- Jax, a former police officer... Ken, a specialist
in strange phenomena... and Tommy,
an expert on Alaskan legends. Together, they uncover
mysterious sightings and ancient legends, exploring the possibilities
of those who go... Captioning provided by
A+E Networks KEN: All right, guys.
Here we go. All right.
Ready to roll? NARRATOR:
The team's investigation begins outside Snag, Canada, right at the edge
of the triangle heading toward the site of
the last reported communication of the missing C-54. PILOT:
All right, we're on our way to the coordinates you gave me. Weather's looking pretty good. No single event captures the
mystery of the Alaska Triangle better than this lost C-54. When one person goes missing,
that's strange, but when a whole planeload
of people vanishes, now, that's a real mystery. It's been 65 years since
this plane went missing. I think it's incredible that, really, no sign of it,
no trace of it at all. KEN: 70 to 100 planes have actually searched
for this thing. Actually had a couple of planes
that went down during the search. You think the melt
would push something off, something would be found
at some point. NARRATOR: The Douglas C-54
was a large plane for its time. The four-prop transport
had a wingspan of 117 feet and a max takeoff weight
of over 35 tons. Capable of transporting
50 troops, it was at near capacity
for its fateful trip. Somehow it did not leave a shred
of evidence behind. JAX: The fact that
it just disappeared is mind-boggling, really. As an investigator, my initial
guess is the plane just crashed. That's the easy answer, but it
does leave a lot of questions. Why no distress call? And why were no pieces
of the plane ever found? The Alaska Triangle
is a huge area. This is a massive plane.
It really feels like someone should have found
something by now. Have you ever seen any
airplane wreckage out here? PILOT: I have, actually. Lots of, uh -- Almost every pass
has quite a few wreckages, small and big planes alike. Why does this area
have so many crashes? PILOT:
With the bad weather, it can really push you
into a sticky situation where you end up having to drive it into
the ground, unfortunately. NARRATOR: The number
of air disasters in Alaska is staggering. Over the past decade, nearly
1,200 craft have gone down -- almost four times
the average per state despite having only 0.2%
of the U.S. population. JAX: One reason there's so many
crashes here in Alaska is there's so many
inexperienced pilots here. There are places
within the state you can only get to by plane, and there's too many people
doing it. Another reason
is the dangerous wind shear that can come off the mountains. Even an experienced pilot
could have problems with this. In native lore, mountains
are often looked at as gods that can judge you. They can either protect you
or strike you down. KEN: We're coming right up
on the location where the missing C-54 had
its last radio transmission and essentially
disappeared from radar right up here
in this little valley. JAX: See how close we are
to the mountain -- another reading there again. We're holding pretty steady
at 2.5 to 5. NARRATOR: Ken Gerhard has an EMF
meter, a device commonly used to measure electric flow
in power lines, but it can also detect
electromagnetic radiation in the atmosphere. A small amount of background
radiation is normal, but any change in level
suggests a hidden anomaly. You ever had any experiences of any magnetic disturbances
out here? Yeah, a little bit on the
compass every once in a while. It can, uh, spin on you. Why would you think that --
that would occur? I was hoping
maybe you guys could tell me. Is that where we are
about now, Jax? For the last radio
transmission -- here. -The weather.
-Wow. JAX: A white wall
right there, huh? Yeah, I can't --
Look at the visibility here. You can't see anything
beyond a quarter of a mile. Can we get some readings
here on this, Ken? PILOT: Hold on here, guys. Weather's changing on us
real quick in this valley. Look at that.
[ EMF beeping ] The first time
it's reacting like that. It's kind of like
a solid... Right back through
that last valley. [ Beeping intensifies ] Oh, holy crap!
Look at that! -Yeah.
-You see that? Just spiked red.
-Off the charts. Feel that?
-Everybody, hold on. [ Beeping continues ] -Feel that?
-Yeah. -Crazy.
-Hey. Yeah, we're definitely
hitting some turbulence now. JAX: The whole thing's shaking.
My ears are popping. [ Beeping rapidly ] Whoa! You see that? Getting a pretty active reading
right now. PILOT: Sorry, guys. This weather
creeped out of nowhere. I got to take us back. [ Chuckles ]
Whoa. KEN: Man, that chopper ride
was utterly terrifying. I mean, you had the sudden surge
of turbulence, there were
the electromagnetic spikes. I honestly don't even really
know what all that meant or even if those two things
are related. NARRATOR: According
to meteorological models, violent weather is caused
by pressure differentials, not electromagnetism. Were the EMF spikes before
the storm just a coincidence? Or is there more to it? It seems like a lead. Got my adrenaline pumping
there for a second, man. It got mine going. Now my
heart's going. I'm sweating. You know, back in the 1970s,
there was a study conducted to look at different areas
around the planet where there were
high incidences of missing airplanes
and ships, and a lot of it was related back
to geomagnetic properties. There's a theory that perhaps
we're dealing with these sort of
vortex areas. NARRATOR: A vortex is an area of
intense concentrated spinning. Natural examples
are whirlpools in water or the air of a tornado. It's been speculated
by Einstein, among others, that they can also form
in the fabric of space-time and connect different areas
of the universe. A vortex is suspected in
the infamous Bermuda Triangle, which has claimed planes
and boats for centuries. In fact, abnormal readings
have been recorded in 12 triangular regions
around the world known as the Vile Vortices. Could the Alaska Triangle
be number 13? Could a vortex account
for the missing C-54 and strange readings
in this area? I'm eager to figure out
exactly what's going on and explore
the Vortex Theory -- if there's any possibility
like something like that could exist over Alaska. The Vile Vortices all feature
strange disappearances, but what's interesting is that
they all match up geometrically along the same lines
of latitude. On the surface, Alaska doesn't
really fit the pattern. But maybe the Alaska Triangle
represents one of these areas that's yet to be discovered that
features a similar connection. NARRATOR: The team feels
fortunate to escape the initial phase of their
investigation in one piece, but pilots have been reporting
anomalies and possible vortices in Alaskan aviation for decades. Jeffrey and his dad, Earl,
were on a routine flight when they experienced
something incredible. JEFFREY:
It was a beautiful day. You could see for miles.
It was just gorgeous. [ Helicopter blades whirring ] And then we saw these clouds, and they were swirling
in this very strange motion. We really hadn't seen
anything like it. And then there was this wind
that just shot out, sucking us towards it. [ Metal rattling ] Somehow he was able
to balance out the plane, and we both
got out of there alive. Just pure luck that day
that both of us got out. JAX: Ken's idea of the Vortex
Theory is very interesting, but this is Alaska. There's a lot
of dangerous mountains and very crazy weather. So Tommy and I
are headed to Anchorage to meet with a geophysicist
named Gary Hufford. How you doing, Gary? -Pretty good. And you?
-Good. We want to find out
all the different reasons why this plane
might have gone down. This is within this area
where the C-54 went down right on the Alaska/Yukon
border. After 2 1/2 hours
of communication off and on with Elmendorf,
they basically disappeared. They reported their last time
that they thought they were over the little town of Snag. Where the problem is, is that
if they were not on that route, and they were actually
deviating a bit, just about are some of the
nastiest coastal mountains one can find in the world. End up in what we call
the Coffin Corner. You got strong winds, and with
strong winds comes turbulence. You have winds coming down
gaps, you have aircraft icing, and it means that if you take
a flight like that, you may, in fact, run into
some really nasty weather. If it's up in these mountains, the amount of snow they get
a year is phenomenal. You could have had that plane
crash in those mountains on a day when it snowed
4 or 5 feet, which would have hidden
the plane very rapidly. Very, very quickly. Is there a connection
between the weather in Alaska and the magnetic fields
they have here? Ah. It's certainly one of those
things you have to look at. It is certainly something that
you notice that pilots up here are really aware of magnetic
deviation, because up here, there's a number of things
that don't work. What would that have done
to their natural instruments that they were using
in the cockpit at that time? The biggest problem when you see
the magnetic storms is the compass. You'll see it bounce around. If you're trying to go north
to a target, you're gonna end up northeast, and man, all of a sudden,
you find out you're 40 miles, 60 miles too far to the east. JAX: Hearing Gary talk about
planes that go off course and winding up in places
called the Coffin Corner makes me think that
this is just a crash. I don't think he'll support
the Vortex Theory, but there's some evidence
for it, so I have to ask the question. I was wondering if you could
give us your opinion on the possibilities
of vortexes. Well, that one's a tough one
to call. It's certainly one of those
things you have to look at. There are some clues that say
we have magnetic field changes. When I look at the magnetic
vortex possibility, this is an area that
we should be looking at. You hear the numbers
about accidents, and Alaska's always many times
above the norm for the United States, and yet we only have .2%
of the nation's population. The question is,
what's going on? NARRATOR: Alaska -- a vast
expanse of untouched lands, where more than 3,000 people
per year go missing. Are the disappearances related to the strange legends
of the Alaska Triangle? Witnesses claim visions
of hairy beasts, carnivorous gnomes, even a mysterious vortex
in the sky. In 1950,
a military C-54 vanished with 44 personnel on board. The team has learned
that magnetic anomalies might have something to do
with the disappearance. Is it possible magnetic
deviations created by a vortex might drive a plane
fatally off course or even make it disappear
completely? [ Eerie music plays ] While Ken Gerhard
researches that possibility, former cop Jax Atwell
and folklorist Tommy Joseph have a meeting with aviation
historian Rob Stapleton. -Hey. Hello. How are you?
-Good. NARRATOR:
They want to learn more about the military's
initial search efforts in January of 1950. Here you go. Here's some bedtime reading
for you. It talks about the C-54. There's also information
in here about Operation Mike. NARRATOR: Operation Mike
was the code name for the search-and-rescue effort
to find the C-54, named for the missing plane's
commander, First Lieutenant Kyle McMichael. Operation Mike utilized
7,000 military persoel and covered more
than 55,000 square miles. It lasted
for nearly three weeks, but found no sign
of the aircraft. Do you know if when they were
determining the search pattern if they considered
alternative things like the magnetic fields
and other issues like that that might have led it
further off course? That's kind of interesting. I would say that,
you know, the airplane probably
encountered a heavy mining area, and there'd been
a lot of reports of real strange
magnetic activity. Over here
on the Fortymile Country, there were some people
that said that they had heard
an airplane flying low, and there was a ranger
that even thought that he heard a thud
after it flew over. JAX:
Rob's theory is interesting. He thinks that magnetism might
have played a role in the crash, but not as part of a vortex. He's saying that a high
concentration of metal within the mining area
of the Fortymile Country could have thrown
the plane's instruments off. This is definitely an area
we should check out. Appreciate your time.
Thank you. Very enlightening.
-Pleasure's all mine. NARRATOR: Based on the reports
of magnetic disturbances and witness testimonies, the team heads out
to Fortymile Country named for the nearby
Fortymile River to search for any signs
of the missing C-54 plane. I'm gonna keep a lookout,
see if I can see anything. Probably a long shot,
but who knows? Maybe mining areas are
bigger problems for planes than we thought. NARRATOR: The mining industry has long been a cornerstone
of the Alaskan economy. Zinc, lead, gold, and iron
have been pulled from the rugged mountains
in Fortymile Country by the ton. Iron, especially,
is a ferromagnetic metal that could affect the compasses
of a passing aircraft. ♪♪ Obviously one of the most
treacherous places that you can possibly
be flying over. I mean, it's probably
treacherous air currents that kind of float off
of these mountains and so forth. PILOT:
Okay, we are definitely now
in the area you requested. Hey, look up here!
What's this? JAX: Looks like something buried
in the snow. What is that? See that? Hey, pilot.
Can you land us down there? PILOT:
I'll get you as close as I can, but I'm gonna have to
drop you off and move down to a safer elevation
for a while. [ Helicopter blades whirring ] JAX: When we jumped off
that helicopter, we immediately plunged
in a couple feet of snow. I know Ken is chasing
the Vortex Theory, but when I look
at this large valley, I can see how a plane
could disappear out here. KEN:
So the chopper dropped us off about 200 yards
from the object we sighted. I'm really glad
we have proper gear because this is a barren
and unforgiving landscape. Anything could happen out here. Here we are, guys. [ Sighs ] Hard to do a walk in this stuff,
that's for sure. Think we're at the spot? Yeah, this is a perfect
starting point. Let's see. TOMMY: Good thing
we have these shoes, man. Whew. Could that be
a piece of our plane? Maybe. Holy crap. Citation. Looks like the hood
of a snow machine. What would a snow machine
be doing out here, man? That doesn't make any sense.
We're in the middle of nowhere. You know,
hunters, trappers. They come up this far? I'm sure
they could get up here, yeah. Well, we're in a right area
to search. We devised a plan
to scan the area, but we're also gonna utilize all the instruments
that we brought along, in particular the metal detector
and the EMF reader to see if we can find anything
that's buried under the snow. JAX:
This is really tough terrain. We're spreading out so we can cover as much ground
as possible, but this is a huge area. It's like finding a needle
in a haystack. ♪♪ JAX: Hey, Ken.
Over here! Come check out
these readings. [ EMF meter beeping ] It's jumping. Yeah.
Color in there. [ Beeping resumes ]
There we go. There we go. -Whoa. Did you see that?
-Yeah. There we go. Jumping off the charts. NARRATOR: For the second time
in this investigation, the EMF meter picks up
strange jumps in electromagnetic
radiation levels. If the meter was picking up
the metal in this area, the readings should stay
consistently high. But the wild, inconsistent
fluctuations suggest some mysterious variable
beyond just rocks. Similar erratic readings have been recorded
in the Bermuda Triangle. Could these spikes reveal the opening and shutting
of a vortex? There is a scientific precedence
for this process. Black holes. A black hole begins
with a collapsing star that explodes in a supernova, which releases massive amounts
of radiation. The inner core then collapses, creating a vacuum so strong
not even light can escape. Could the same process happen on a much smaller scale
right here on Earth? TOMMY: It is possible
that vortices have been seen by native peoples
for thousands of years. Mystical spirals can be found
in the native artwork all over the Americas
all the way to Europe. Whatever inspired that art obviously made
a lasting impression. Now, regarding the vortex, I do have a theory
that when the vortex opens, theoretically, it releases this huge amount
of electromagnetic energy. But when it closes, and it would
have to close quickly -- it couldn't be open
for a long time or it would suck in everything,
right? When it closes, you have
kind of a dramatic reduction in electromagnetic energy. That type of energy
might affect, you know, aircraft instruments,
things like that, and causing the crash. JAX:
The Vortex Theory sounds cool, but until I see
some hard evidence like someone's actually recorded
this thing, it's all just a bunch of talk
to me. I think the plane
can still be found. NARRATOR:
With the sun heading down, the team has to abandon
their search for now. But in order to explore
his Vortex Theory, Ken heads to meet
with Melanie Hodgman, a fellow investigator
of the unexplained. Ken Gerhard. Hi, Ken.
Really nice to meet you. Pleasure to meet you. Thanks so
much for meeting me out here. Not a problem. Ken wonders if a vortex
could act as a doorway through which planes in the
Alaska Triangle could disappear, and if so,
could the door go both ways? Wow, this is really
breathtaking, Melanie. It is a beautiful view, but the whole state
of Alaska -- that's what I love
about it here. The whole state
looks like a postcard. I wanted to bring you
to the site because I had a UFO sighting
right over in this area. It was the most incredible thing
I've ever seen in my life, and we're right
in the trajectory that that C-54 flight was
taking in the 1950s. KEN: This revelation from
Melanie about seeing a UFO here, this could be a game changer
for our investigation. ♪♪ Okay, so we're actually in
the general vicinity right now where in the 1950s, the Douglas C-54
just disappeared. HODGMAN: I wanted
to bring you to the site because I had a UFO sighting
right over in this area. It was the most incredible thing
I've ever seen in my life. [ Static ] I saw light
that was perfectly round, and it was really bright, and then it kind of
split into two, turned red, and then the first one
joined the second one, and it turned white again,
and then it just was gone. Wow, that's amazing. It is amazing.
I-I just -- It's the first one that I've
ever seen through a camera. Our universe is so immense, and I think these entities
may be on a parallel line at the same time
that we're here, and they just have
the secret, they know how to go
from parallel to parallel. NARRATOR: As strange
as parallel universes sound, scientists at the Large Hadron
Collider in Switzerland are testing
this exact phenomenon. Using nearly
12 trillion teravolts, they hope to create
a mini black hole that could be a portal
to another dimension. If humans are this close
to such a breakthrough, what about aliens
that are far more advanced? There are a lot of UFO sightings
in Alaska. As a matter of fact, you can
count hundreds and hundreds. -Really?
-Yes. KEN: Melanie's sighting, along with the high number
of UFOs in Alaska, now has me convinced that there's got to be more
to this vortex. NARRATOR: While Ken considers
Melanie's UFO theory, Jax and Tommy pay another visit to aviation expert
Rob Stapleton. Rob left us a message that
he has some new information that might be relevant
to our case. We're gonna stop by
and see what it is. Well, see what we've found.
-Okay. They don't look like
airplane parts, though. -No, not at all.
-Okay. That was the disappointing part. So what was that message
all about? You know, after you
were here last time, I went back and did
some more research at the University
of Alaska, and I found
between January 22nd and January 26, 1950, there was UFO sightings
during that timeframe. That's interesting. Yeah, yeah.
UFO sightings -- this is interesting to me. Um...
What are you thinking? Well, I found it
kind of interesting because they quoted
an Air Force Lieutenant Colonel as actually spotting them
from the military, so, you know,
that's fairly credible. NARRATOR:
According to official reports, Lieutenant Colonel
Lester F. Mathison was on Elmendorf Air Force Base, where the C-54's
flight originated, when something caught his eye. He saw three orange-red objects
moving together high in the air. They were shaped like cigars and flying in a curved line
towards the north. The military ruled out
any known aircraft, and the sightings happened just two days after
the C-54's disappearance. Is there a connection to the sighting Melanie had
decades later? The UFO she reported were not
cigar-shaped, but were they? A closer look reveals
the two lights could have been a singular
cigar-shaped craft. TOMMY: I think we need
to talk with Ken about this and see what he thinks. TOMMY: This idea
that UFOs may be involved adds a whole new level
to our investigation. If there is a vortex, the idea of aliens
being involved with it -- that's huge. NARRATOR:
Alaska has long been known as a hotbed of UFO activity. It's consistently among
the top states in the U.S. for sightings per capita. Why? With nine military bases
in the state, it's possible many are simply misidentified
government aircraft. But is there
something else going on? Could extraterrestrials
be invading this vast area and making planes go missing,
including the C-54? The team wants to dig deeper
into the data. -Hey, Ken.
-How's it going? What have you been up to? Well, um, I've been
kind of, like, logging some of these UFO sightings
in Alaska. There's a whole bunch
of them. TOMMY:
Show us what you got here. According to the classified
government files, the U.S. Intelligence
actually took an active interest in UFO sightings over Alaska
from 1947 to 1950. So, I mean,
it was on their radar. JAX: So we got a couple
of unusual occurrences. Let's start putting these
on the map. NARRATOR:
The team plot sightings across southeast Alaska, the area where
the C-54 vanished. Is this all we have? Uh, no.
There's a bunch more. I mean, I'm just starting
on this project right now. Well, why don't we put
a couple more up and maybe connect some dots?
-All right. KEN: We should check everything
over the last 60 years. NARRATOR:
As they fill in the map, a telling pattern
begins to emerge. KEN:
We start to notice a cluster developing
in one particular area, and it's a really remote area, which makes the high number
of sightings really compelling. JAX: The UFO cluster is a bit
off of the suspected flight path of the C-54. But when you consider
the magnetic deviations that could have affected
the instruments, it's possible the plane
could have ended up there. NARRATOR:
Could this cluster of sightings be the focal point
of the vortex, a portal where aliens travel
into and out of our world and take those of us they wish? KEN: I think that's our spot
right there. I think we need to gear up, man,
as soon as possible. We need to get on it. NARRATOR:
In the skies of Alaska, planes go missing
with alarming regularity. Is the Alaska Triangle
home to a hidden vortex that caused the disappearance
of a military C-54 in 1950? Ham radio enthusiast
Walter Denali believes he's seen proof
it exists. DENALI:
I live in a very remote area, and we use ham radio as a
reliable means of communication. [ Indistinct talking on radio ] One day I hear a call, it's a pilot in distress
giving coordinates. I see that his flight plan's
going right over my house. So I look out,
and I could see his plane. I hear a squelch on the radio. [ Beep and static ] When I looked back up,
the plane's gone. It just disappeared. I can't explain it. ♪♪ KEN: We're flying to our UFO
hotspot, and I'm really excited because we're finding
a correlation between a high number
of UFO sightings and the spot where this airplane
disappeared. [ Helicopter blades whirring ] JAX: You guys all ready? -All right.
-I'm good. NARRATOR:
This desolate area only sees a handful
of mountaineers each year, making the high rate
of UFO sightings here even more remarkable. The interesting thing
about this area, there are no regular
flight paths here. So if people are seeing
flying objects here, that's really strange. KEN: You realize just how deep
this snow gets sometimes. There could be literally
anything buried under here. All right. -Good spot?
-Yeah. We're at the area
that we mapped out. It really holds a lot of promise
based on all of the UFO reports, and I'm actually anxious to see what kind of readings
we might get that might point
to the existence of a vortex. What you got there, bud? Nada. Nothing at all?
What do you think of that? This is the area where
most of those UFOs were seen in the time period. I think this might be
a good spot to play with our new toy. We've been using a lot
of high-tech instruments in our investigation, but now we're gonna take things
up a notch 'cause we've got a drone. So far all the tests that we've
done have been at ground level, but with a drone, we can test the atmosphere
at higher altitudes. What's really cool is that it also takes readings
of electromagnetic energy, and it'll send those back
to our phone in real time. We are a go. What you got there, bud? Uh, looks normal so far. Got to get it
up there high. Whoa!
This is weird. This is weird.
-What you got? It's spiking. It's spiking.
Check it out. KEN: I'm looking at my app, and suddenly
everything goes haywire. I mean, all the readings
are off the charts. I never experienced
anything like this before in all my years of research. Man, this is, like,
really strange. I've got no eyes, guys.
Where's our toy? TOMMY: I lost it.
I don't see it. Man, I'm losing
everything here. Tommy, you got anything? No, I just lost it.
It was here a minute ago. -It's gone.
-It's gone. I looked down at the phone here,
and it's completely gone. I don't hear anything,
either. I honestly have no idea
what happened to the drone. It's the strangest thing
I've ever experienced. I mean, one second it's there, the next second
it's completely gone. "Error. Error." It's not possible
we lost it that fast. "Error." Those readings just went off
the charts and it's just gone. Uh, I don't know, man. Hey, guys. It looks
like a storm's coming in. These clouds are dropping.
It's gonna be snowing here soon. Call in Sam.
We got to get out of here. Losing our drone
is a big setback. All the information is gone. Now we need to regroup
and see where we go from here. NARRATOR: With violent
storm clouds closing in, the team knows
they have to leave. They've experienced sudden
Alaska weather changes once. They don't want to again. JAX: What do you think
happened to the drone? Well, it just took off. I think, uh,
flew right out of range. It's really distressing
because, I mean, obviously, we have a lot invested
in that piece of equipment. You know, we don't have
the drone anymore, so we're just gonna have to
kind of rethink things. [ Thudding ] It looks like the weather's
getting a little hairy here, so hang tight. Wow, this is crazy. Holy cow. I'm changing flight altitude in search for a smoother pocket. Try to stay relaxed. -Wow.
-Weather. This is ridiculous.
We can't see anything here. This can't be good. This is pretty hairy.
Coming in fast. Heading right
into a whiteout here. PILOT: Okay, it looks like
the change in the pitch has given us
some positive stability. Thanks for hanging in there. JAX: Crazy part about being
in a helicopter in this type of weather
is you can feel everything. You can feel every wind gust,
and it feels like you're gonna slam
in the mountain at any moment. Hey, guys. Look.
Look at that! -What do you got?
-What do you see? -Look down there.
-What is it, Jax? Metal! Possibly a fuselage,
maybe a wing. KEN:
Well, whatever it is, we need to get down there
and check it out. Hey, guys. Look.
Look out here. KEN: What is it, Jax? Possibly a fuselage,
maybe a wing. Well, whatever it is, we need to get down there
and check it out. Is there some way
down here, Sam? Yeah, we can take a look,
but there's a ton of snow, so I'll have to drop you off a few hundred yards away.
-Okay. So this is the moment
we've all been waiting for. Probably not gonna have much
time down here, guys. We have to work fast. This airplane wreckage
might be the C-54. We could potentially
be solving a mystery that's lasted for 60 years. ♪♪ KEN: All right, guys.
Stay tight. We're hiking across the glacier
towards this plane wreckage, and it's extremely frustrating. It's taking us forever. The snow is very deep,
it's very slippery. It's freezing cold out here, and we're totally exhausted
at this point. But we just want to get there. TOMMY: The air's
really thin up here. [ Breathes heavily ] And because we know that the weather conditions
can change in an instant, we've got to hurry up
and get this thing done. We're almost there, guys. That thing's pretty mangled.
Any markings on it? Well, I mean, I see the good
old insignia of the U.S.A. JAX: What do you think,
guys -- C-54? Maybe. It's definitely
a military aircraft. It's amazing
how well-preserved it is. Look, the hose
is still on there. KEN:
As we get to the crash site,
I've kind of got mixed feelings. I'm encouraged by the fact that this is obviously
a U.S. Air Force plane, so this could be
the missing C-54. But on the other hand, I'm reminded about the tragedy
that occurred here. People actually lost their lives
in this accident. NARRATOR: Knowing this is
a military crash, the team avoids going inside
the plane out of respect. They start gathering information so they can report it
to authorities. Hey, guys. I've got some numbers
here on this fuselage. I'm gonna -- maybe a serial
number or something. I'm gonna get a shot.
-Copy that. TOMMY: This is the engine
compartment here. Side panel is totally gone. Got cables and pulleys. [ Grunts ] I'm seeing some marking
here on this -- I believe a wing piece here. Let's get a shot. If this is the C-54, maybe with all this melting snow
and the receding glaciers, it's uncovered the plane
after all these years. KEN: The first thing I do
when I get to the crash site is take some readings. I want to use my K2 meter to see if I pick up any electromagnetic
anomalies in this location. I'm gonna take
some readings now. I'm curious to see
activity. [ EMF meter beeping ] The readings
are off the charts. I'd say we're definitely
in vortex territory. We got to get a shot
of that. Look, there's some serial
numbers on the side. Looks like a part number
or something. It's definitely a military
plane, but, I mean... JAX: Let me get a shot
of that right there. That's a pretty good sticker
right above your head. -Which one? This one?
-Yeah. Got it. Guys, we've got five minutes
till the helicopter's here. Let's roll through
our checklist. Ken, you got
all your readings? I got plenty of readings, man --
electromagnetic and radiation. All right.
What we got here? We've got two motors
and the wing and a fuselage. We got markings.
-Lots of serial numbers. Documented all
the serial numbers off it. -Part numbers. Yeah.
-Took some photos. We've collected
a lot of important clues with regard
to our downed aircraft. We can show them
to our aviation expert. But, now we got to high-tail it
out of here fast before the weather
gets bad again. Watch out
for the blue ice, guys. That's a glacier. It could take
you right out of here. [ Helicopter blades whirring ] Now we're gonna meet with Rob
and get his expert opinion as to what this downed aircraft
might be. ♪♪ JAX: Here we are, guys. All right.
Thank you, Jax. After you, sir. -Hey!
-How you doing? Good. Good.
Long time no see. -Yeah.
-All right. -We brought our friend with us.
-Okay. This is Ken.
Ken, this is Rob. Rob, nice to meet you, man. -Yeah, nice to meet you.
Great hat.
-Oh, you too. -Hey, good to see you again.
-Back at you. All right.
So what brings you guys here? JAX: So we were
looking into those areas that you'd pointed out in some of our research
and stuff like that, and we were on our way back and
just happened to visually see what might be our plane
that we've been looking for. Oh, what do we got here? Well, we were hoping
you could tell us. Hmm.
Interesting. All right. What else do you have
to look at? Uh, there's one more. And then this one. We're hoping this might be
our plane. Yeah, I think I can tell
what that is. We're hoping this might be
our plane. Yeah, I think I can tell
what that is. ♪♪ I hate
to tell you this, guys. It's not the right airplane. That is really
disappointing, guys. Extremely. It's a B-29
refueling version. There were actually
two B-29s. The other one was coming back
to Anchorage, Elmendorf, and they ditched
on a glacier. NARRATOR:
Rob has identified the crash as a known crash from the '50s, one of several during that
decade, including the C-54. KEN:
This is really good news because if there's multiple air
crashes in this particular area, this could be the vortex
we've been looking for. The fact that we've had so many
downed military aircraft in one specific area,
and it's the same area where we've had all these UFO
sightings, it's very intriguing. I think we need to do
more testing in this area to see what's going on out here. I agree, but let's get up there
before sundown. -Yeah.
-Rob, thanks for your time, man. All right. JAX: After landing,
we picked a spot near where we found
the plane crash. We think it has
a high probability of success for our investigation. We're gonna take EMF readings
and scan for UFOs. We'll see if we can get
any evidence that show proof of the vortex. TOMMY: You guys need
to keep your eyes open. Bears can still be out. Been a real mild winter
out here. Thanks. Keep your legs
churning, guys. I know the air's getting thin,
but one leg after another. Jax! Tommy, wait, wait,
wait, wait, wait. Yeah. Turn your lights off
real quick. What do you got? Look on top of that peak
right there. What is that?
See that -- that light? I see a glow. That's not a star, man. As we head up the mountain, I
notice this really weird light hovering over
one of the adjacent peaks, and as I watch it, this thing
literally starts to move laterally from left to right. And it looks like it's right
on top of that mountain peak. I mean, that doesn't look
like a star to me. JAX:
No, it's not a star. It's glowing, though,
whatever it is. JAX: I have no idea
what I'm looking at. It just seems to be hovering
and moving back and forth. I've never seen anything
like this before. I think an airplane would be
moving faster than that, man. Oh, definitely. I mean, come on, guys. It's definitely not a star,
it's definitely not a satellite. It's unlike any phenomenon
that I've ever observed. Hey, guys.
I'm gonna take this path up and see if we can get a better
view of what we just saw. Jax is on a mission, bud. There's definitely something
weird going on. And we can all sense it. We're moving up the mountain, and, personally,
I'm feeling pretty nervous. We don't know
what we're gonna find. JAX: Did you guys
just hear that?! Did you hear anything? I didn't hear anything! I'm coming down!
[ Breathing heavily ] Give me a sec. -You all right?
-Yeah. I'm up there, and I can hear it
going my direction to the right. Somewhere in between us,
the noise I heard. So I think we head up this path
a little bit, see what we can see
between these two ridges before we make our way
up this ridge. KEN: Okay. JAX: Wait.
Let's get this out. How's the radiation,
Tommy? [ Ticking ] KEN: .08 curies.
That's normal. Let me do
an EMF real quick. Okay. [ Beeping ] Look at that, man.
It's crazy. We're definitely headed
in the right direction. Eyes open.
Eyes open. Hey!
-What is that? Look! What is that? JAX: Hey, look at that. That looks like -- Holy [bleep] Is that ours? It's ours! Look!
That's the frigging box. This thing actually traveled
from one area to another, and it's like it found us. Almost like someone was sending
us a message, and, honestly, it's kind of hard for me
to wrap my mind around. We had that crazy weather, and all the instrumentation
was going nuts when the drone
disappeared, right? About 2 miles from here
where we last saw it. I mean, it essentially
vanished, guys. Let's be honest. Theoretically, it's been proven that something like a vortex
could exist, and perhaps here
in the Alaska Triangle, this so-called vortex
could be the cause of many of the strange
disappearances and airplane crashes, and perhaps it has
a little bit of help. We'll never know for sure. NARRATOR: With the fate
of the military C-54 still unresolved, the team is left to ponder
their evidence. They've learned that mining
areas rich in certain metals can throw off
a plane's instrumentation. They also know
that jagged mountains and unpredictable weather
are conventional reasons a plane might disappear. But could there be more? The team experienced areas of sudden unexplained
magnetic fluctuations similar to readings
in the Bermuda Triangle. [ EMF meter beeping ] Could this indicate a vortex,
an interplanetary door? Is it just coincidence these places have UFO sightings
in abundance? Well, this is one
for the books. -Yes, it is.
-Let's get out of here. NARRATOR:
The team will have to do more to find out why so many continue
to go...Missing in Alaska.
