Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files (2010) s02e11 Episode Script
Old West Haunting & Freeway Flyer
Tonight on "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files".
- Oh! Woah! - Did you see it? - Whoa! - Wow! Oh, my gosh, that's creepy.
There were 26 murders in the theater, and there's a ghost for each one.
Listen to this.
- Whoa! - That's creepy.
We're moving into place.
Are you ready? Copy that, guys.
We are in position.
Begin motion! If you care to make any noise, to move anything? Oh, my goodness! There's a flying saucer.
I'm getting a series of lights right there.
So, you're seeing what I've seen? What the heck is happening? Hey, Ben.
- Hey.
How's it going? - Hey.
All right.
Well Why don't we start off with you, Devin? Okay.
Guys, I brought you a video from my home state of Arizona.
In 2008, an amateur paranormal team was investigating the bird cage theater in old tombstone.
- This place is famous for hauntings.
- Ooh.
Yeah.
They captured a ghostly apparition on the wall.
Check this footage out.
You have an amateur paranormal team, and they're there.
They're all sitting at the table, and this kid is looking on the wall, and they flash a flashlight, and this is what they see.
- Oh! - Whoa! - Did you see it? - Yeah.
What is that? - Wow.
- Wait.
So they're saying that's not, like, a mannequin or something in the wall? There's nothing on the wall.
It almost looks like a person in a coffin.
for people like Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday.
There were all kinds of gunfights going on here.
And reportedly, there were and there's a ghost for each one at the theater.
That's crazy.
It's got a lot of history.
Yeah.
Well, I think, considering the history and the fact that there's a lot of paranormal activity there, I think it's worth investigating.
Iconic cowboys, 26 deaths, - Why wouldn't we do it? - I agree.
But let's see what else we have in the pipeline first.
Okay, guys, well, I've brought us a photograph that came from Burwick, Louisiana.
A hunter had a trail camera on her property, and she was tracking the movement of deer.
She found a photograph of what many people call a zombie.
Let's take a look at it.
Yeah.
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Oh, my gosh! That's creepy.
Look how those eyes are just so piercing.
- Yeah.
- That's really eerie.
I can see why they're calling it a zombie.
It's very humanoid.
I mean, it's got legs and arms and a really creepy mouth that's like Well, when you zoom into the image, you can see the pixelation of a digital overlay.
Now, to me, that means that the picture's been modified.
I'm not convinced.
I agree with lanisha.
I think this is Photoshopped.
And we're not gonna know until we see the equipment, look at the original photo, and say, "okay, this couldn't have been hoaxed," or, "you know what? There was an opportunity for someone to Photoshop this.
" Right.
Well, I think it's an eerie photo.
I'm still really leaning towards the fact that this was Photoshopped, but let's revisit it if we find out more information.
- Okay.
- All right.
Okay.
Who's next? I have a great case that I think totally warrants our attention, and it happened right here in Southern California.
It was October 2006, and Russell McKenzie was driving home on the 134 freeway when he noticed something very strange in the night sky.
Take a look at this video.
Ooh! So, it's on the upper-left top of the screen.
Ohh.
It's holding still.
He sees the light.
Whoa! That's amazing.
Whoa.
It was going fast.
Are you kidding me? After he realized what he had recorded on video, he posted it online.
Then he started getting replies from people that said they had seen the same UFO the very night that he did.
Well, I like the fact that many people saw it, and I'm hard-pressed to believe that that was a man-made vehicle because you saw how fast it sped off.
I don't see any proof that it's man-made.
You guys, I can already think of so many experiments we could create surrounding this video.
I like it a lot.
But it'd be a challenge because, I mean, this is a heavily populated area.
That's true.
The fact that we're all debating it and we have these ideas of what we can do with it, I think it's a great contender.
Agreed.
Well, let me tell you what I've got for you.
Now, it was February 2010, and will Oxley He's a Londoner Was vacationing in the French alps.
Now, he comes upon this really big triangle that's in the snow.
It's a design that fits into the category of snow circles.
They're like crop circles.
Many people think, you know, that they're some type of communication with extraterrestrials.
So, take a look at this.
Wow! Whoa.
Look at the size of that.
Geez, look at how many triangles there are inside of that thing.
Giant.
People have taken a look at this and found out that this is what's called a fractal.
Now, a fractal's a geometric shape, where you can cut it into equilateral parts.
Every time you cut it, it's a carbon copy of the larger geometric shape.
Right.
Now, this type of fractal is known as a Sierpinski triangle.
And researchers believe that if aliens were gonna contact us, they would do it through the universal language of mathematics.
Makes sense.
It looks like there's a road up there off to the side.
What if this was man-made? People could have just went down there, came off the road, made the design, covered up their tracks, and walked back off the road.
With the road so close and what looks like tracks walking through it I think we need a cleaner example before we would pursue the snow-circle phenomenon.
Let's look for a better one, but I would like to do a crop-circle or snow-circle design.
Okay.
Yeah, I would like to, as well.
- Let's vote on it.
- As a photographer, I'm really drawn to the bird cage case.
I would love to dig deeper into that coffin image.
Tombstone for me, you guys.
Slam dunk.
Tombstone is awesome.
I say freeway flyer.
I mean, think about it.
We finally have a UFO with actual witnesses that are documented in a metropolitan area.
It's great footage, and on top of that, we could do some big experiments to try to figure out what that is.
Yeah.
I'm with you, Austin.
I'd like to find out what Russell saw that night.
With the freeway-flyer case being just a couple of Miles from here, it's just too inviting.
I don't want to pass up on that.
Because you brought us the freeway flyer, bill, why don't you take Austin and jael? And I will go with lanisha and Devin.
We'll saddle up and go to tombstone.
Yes.
Giddy up.
Okay.
All right.
Okay.
Let's get started.
Tombstone, Arizona Home of the notorious shootout at the o.
K.
Corral.
some people capture on video what appears to be the figure of a man in a coffin.
I did some research, and the bird cage theater was opened on December 25, 1881.
It was known as a rowdy den of sin.
Supposedly, you can even hear the sounds of laughing and yelling and music at night, almost as if the theater's still alive with the old west.
Well, there it is right there, guys.
All right.
Perfect.
Wow! Hey, how you doing? Ben Hansen.
Nice to meet you.
Bill.
How you doing, bill? What are some of the most famous murders that took place here? They're all documented.
One of the most common ones is when gold dollar kills Margarita.
Wow.
Wow.
Those are cool names.
Bird cage is known for its cribs upstairs.
These were where the ladies plied their trade to their men customers from $25 a night upstairs.
Well, I love it.
Can we get started? Give us a tour, and take us around? Sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is the original bar.
Is that a bullet hole right there? - Yeah.
That's a .
45.
- Oh, wow.
And the slug still remains in there today.
It's actually bigger than it looks outside.
This is the casino floor.
Out of the 106 saloons that were on Allen street, the bird cage was the elite of the red light district.
Because you're here pretty much every day, do you experience anything? Yeah.
Stale cigar smoke.
Boots walking When you don't You turn around, there's nobody there.
One of the most interesting things about this crib right here, in the mirror, every once in a while, you get a photograph of a lady's face.
You have to take up to 11 before she'll start appearing.
So, bill, why is this place so haunted? The people that lost their lives here, the fun that they had here.
I think that there were people here that just, you know, did not want to leave.
And we're about to meet with Dan Ackley.
He shot the footage in 2008.
He's going to show us exactly where in the theater he was and tell us what happened that night.
Dan, I'm Ben.
So, tell us about the video you shot.
Describe us the layout.
I can show you.
The tripod was right here.
The angle would be directly at the top of the stairs.
The investigators at this end of the table towards the hearse noticed something in the dark moving over the stairs.
They see movement.
And one of the investigators asked for somebody to take a flashlight and shine it up there because they When you listen to the audio, it's like, "it's still there.
Somebody get a flashlight on it.
" What do you think it is? I have no idea.
Um, to me, it looks like someone in a coffin.
So the flashlight is coming from that direction.
Correct.
And the person in frame is just sitting there.
Right.
And when the flashlight goes across, he looks up.
Okay.
Did you ever try to debunk this yourself and investigate? I did.
And what did you come up with? I couldn't re-create it.
Well, Dan, thanks for meeting us here.
We're gonna take a look at your camera, your setup, try some things, see if we can find an explanation.
I wish you luck.
Take care.
So, let's get started with our experiments.
You guys, looking at the original video, the apparition looks a lot like a man inside of a coffin.
This could be a case of pareidolia effect, and that's where the mind tries to make sense of ambiguous objects and shapes and sounds.
It tries to assign them something familiar.
We do this all the time when we recognize a face in the clouds.
And psychologists use this when they do inkblot tests.
We did see a lot of different objects on the table, so what we might be looking at is a prism effect, maybe a silhouette.
We're gonna experiment with some things on the table to try and project some type of image up on the wall.
In the spirit of tombstone We have a lantern.
- Nice.
- All right.
All right? We have an apothecary bottle.
Cool.
And then I don't know what this is.
But it'll bend light.
All right.
These objects were on the table, and the flashlight passed in front of it and possibly created a silhouette on the wall.
Let's try to get the light to go through them and get a prism or some type of silhouette effect on the wall.
All right.
It is possible.
For sure.
Let's kill the lights.
Let's go green.
All right.
All right, lanisha.
Are you ready? Yep.
I'm all framed up.
- Devin? - Yep.
Okay, let's start with this hair-tonic bottle.
Here comes the light in three Two One.
We're about to see if we can re-create the ghostlike image captured on Dan's footage.
What we might be looking at is a prism effect, maybe a silhouette.
We're gonna experiment with some things on the table to try and project some type of image up on the wall.
Okay, let's start with this hair-tonic bottle.
Here comes the light in three Two One.
Okay.
We're gonna try our mystery root bottle.
Last one that we have left This is our lantern.
Okay.
How'd that look? From where I was sitting, it looked like it had some good form, but I'm really concerned with how the camera sees it, so I don't know.
All right, well Let's take a look at it side-by-side.
Let's do lights up.
All right.
Okay.
This is our hair-tonic bottle.
We're not getting enough detail.
You have shoulder-y kind of corners.
But you still can see through it, and you don't have shadowy lines in the middle.
This is the mysterious root In the liquid.
Boom.
Right there.
There it is.
Nice.
I was hoping that the cap would create kind of like a head shape, but even that was kind of dark.
Here's our lantern.
All right.
Boom.
Wow.
The shadows we're creating here are much darker than the original video.
Maybe we should take a look at the possibility this could be a hoax.
Dan came back and tried to debunk this himself and couldn't figure out what it was, so maybe he was hoaxed.
We're gonna need to do something that changes things up.
Maybe we change the flashlight out for a different kind of bulb, like a black light.
It's possible.
Maybe there was some type of substance that was on the wall and it only reflects when the black light sweeps by it.
Why don't we try black-light paint? It's clear.
You can't see it until you shine the light on it.
Maybe that's exactly what it was.
Okay.
And we'll put up our own plexi to protect the museum.
But we'll put it right in place.
All right.
Perfect.
We need to make sure that the image on the plexi is exactly what we saw on the video for this hoax to work.
So, our image is gonna be in this big circle here.
The head is gonna be right here.
And the suspenders I think they look like suspenders Or the hair, like you say, Ben, is gonna be here.
When we put it up there in the black-light paint, it'll glow.
The white right there.
- See how clear that is? - Yeah.
If the investigators were here, they wouldn't see this.
Nice work, Devin.
Right up here on this ledge.
It looks good.
I can't even tell the difference between the two layers there.
All right.
Let's run this test.
Investigator, sir, take your chair.
We ready? I am framed up, Ben.
Okay.
Let's kill the lights.
Okay, now, here comes the black light In three Two One.
Did you see anything? I'm just seeing the light.
All right.
Let's just check out a side-by-side of it.
Ready? Let's check it out.
Yep.
You see the shape, the face.
Even still, the image doesn't pop out.
I was actually really surprised that the U.
V.
light even showed up.
This was really creative, but it's not it.
You know, you guys, I want to try something.
Let me take down the plexi, and let me show you something.
I've been staring at this image.
You know, I've painted it.
And I'm looking at it over and over, and I'm looking at the vantage point.
What if we were onto something with all of those items on the table? All right? What if it's just Wow! Let's kill the lights.
Let's run it.
And let's do it.
I want to see this.
You actually stay in that place this time.
- Okay.
- Okay.
You get to your vantage point.
All right.
I'll play the part of the investigator.
And let's run it.
Okay.
We're all set up.
And video's playing back.
And cue the light.
Three Two One.
Devin, wow! That's amazing! The shadow has ellipsed.
It's kind of turned into a giant oval, which looks like a coffin.
Let's see the side-by-side.
Yes.
All right.
It's really amazing that we were looking through the wheel of a coffee grinder, and we thought we saw a person.
I mean, it's so perfect, spot-on.
There's no question in my mind that that wheel is what we're seeing on the wall.
This is "case solved" for the apparition on the wall.
Just because we solved this case, it doesn't mean the bird cage theater isn't haunted.
There's been hundreds of accounts of paranormal activity here in the bird cage theater.
We're gonna stay and do a night investigation.
Lanisha and I will start with a sweep, okay? Pretty much through the whole theater.
I've got an emf meter.
And I'll snap off a couple stills as we go along.
We have got a camera in the poker room.
We have an I.
R.
Cam in the stairwell.
Okay.
And, then, we have another camera backstage.
And, then, we have another camera where the audience would be in the bird cage theater.
You placed one of the digital audio recorders in Sadie Jo's room, right? Yes, it's right on the edge of her bed, and it's already recording.
'Cause I know people have taken photographs in here, and they've got reflections or something in the mirror.
I've seen photos with her face appearing.
Yes.
Everyone gets a walkie.
Thank you.
Let's hit record, and let's go green, okay? All right, let's go.
Okay.
Gonna walk around, doing a mass sweep.
We're in the main hall.
Okay, I'm recording the flare.
We've got our audio and emf meter running.
And we want to go around the perimeter here.
Devin:E careful down those stairs, you guys.
Why don't you do some inside of Sadie's room? Okay.
Hey, Ben.
If lanisha is taking photos of Sadie's room, on the 11th photo or after that is when people get something.
This clip was shot in 2008 in long beach, California.
Carnell Thomas, a professional videographer, was filming a wedding when he captured a series of strange lights hovering over the water.
Thomas is convinced his footage depicts a rare daytime UFO sighting.
So, is it fact or faked? The answer coming up.
A videographer in long beach, California, caught these mysterious lights hovering over the water.
So, are these UFOs fact or faked? Faked.
The video was shot through glass.
The UFOs we're seeing are reflections from a ring of lights, like a chandelier, right behind the camera.
If lanisha is taking photos of Sadie's room, on the 11th photo or after that is when people get something.
I didn't see anything in the monitor.
Yeah.
It sounded like someone walking.
Did they go up the stairs? Hello? Is there somebody here? Whoa, whoa.
Stop, stop, stop.
Do you hear that? No, what did you hear? Like, almost right down the downstairs as I moved.
Then it stopped.
Oh, my God! Devin for Ben.
Are you guys anywhere near Sadie's room? We're above the stairs.
We thought we heard some floorboards creaking.
Um, something happened to the camera in her room.
It's been The light has been moved off of it or something.
It's a lot darker than it was a few seconds ago.
Let's find out what happened to that light.
Lookit.
Is this our light? Oh, wow.
Did you see it? When you get a chance, check on that camera.
It's completely off.
It almost looks like Look.
You can see.
It looks like it was ripped apart.
Do you see that? Devin, we're sitting here right in front of the light.
Where did you place that? Was it on the outside of the door, the inside? Where was it? It was placed securely by me personally on the inside of the door, so it should be in her room.
Are you serious? Confirming, Devin This was on the inside of the door, correct? Was there one outside in the hallway? No.
It's completely outside of the room.
Devin, we're starting an EVP session.
Sadie Jo, we're standing outside of your room.
If you care to make any noise, to move anything, feel free to do so.
Is there anybody with us? Do you hear that? Got it? No.
There's plexiglas.
You guys remember, we went to tombstone, Arizona, to look at some footage that came from the bird cage theater.
We decided to see if shining a light through something like a bottle could create the image on the wall.
But that didn't give us the result we were looking for.
So we decided to see if it could actually be a hoax.
Maybe somebody had taken some glow-in-the-dark paint that could only be seen by a U.
V.
light.
So we painted that up there on the wall, passed the light across it, but it really just was not distinct enough.
So, while we were working out the details on this, this is when Devin stumbled upon the coffee grinder that was sitting in front of the wall.
Nice.
Coffee grinder? Yeah.
Check this out.
- Hey, hey, hey.
- Wow! Look at the side-by-side.
Whoa! Wow! Now, that is exact.
Right? Yes.
Yeah.
So it wasn't fake, just confused.
The pareidolia effect is gone once you know what it is.
Right.
Even though we felt that we solved what was going on in the video, with so many reports of paranormal activity in the bird cage theater, we thought that a night investigation was mandatory.
Of course.
So, you guys, we had cameras all over this museum, especially in Sadie Jo's room, who was a high-priced lady of the night.
We put a full-spectrum cam and an audio recorder in her room.
I'm upstairs monitoring base camp, and then I noticed that the full-spectrum cam monitor went dark Oh, man.
Right in Sadie Jo's room.
So I walkie Ben and lanisha, and I let them know.
Now, we go downstairs, we get to Sadie Jo's room.
The light was outside in the hallway.
Now, keep in mind, the door is shut.
We didn't know how it could have gotten there.
Wow.
And then we started doing EVP sessions.
Then I asked, "is there anybody here right now?" And we got something really interesting.
Wait till you hear what was captured on that recorder.
Listen to this.
Are you still here? Ooh! Whoa! I heard "we were.
" That's what it sounded like to me.
That's creepy.
Oh, man.
That really is creepy.
Honestly, when that happened, I got goose bumps.
So, guys, the bird cage theater ghost fact or faked? I think we can say with confidence that the image in the video was misidentified.
Misidentified ghost.
Paranormal activity Fact.
Agreed.
You guys got a slam dunk in debunking the original video.
Nice job.
So, I want to hear what happened to you guys.
Well, as you know, we stayed here in Los Angeles to investigate the case of a UFO that was seen over the 134 freeway.
Narrator: Coming up on "fact or faked: Paranormal files" Welcome to the "fact or faked" highway.
Move beam, Austin.
Lift off.
Here we go.
Begin motion! We're in Los Angeles to investigate a really interesting UFO video that was shot right here on the westbound 134 freeway.
In October 2006, Russell McKenzie and three friends were returning home from Las Vegas when they noticed a glowing disk hovering over the hilltops right over there.
Luckily, he had the video camera that he had taken to Vegas in the backseat.
So Russell grabs the camera and starts filming the strange light.
To his surprise, this glowing disk starts moving across the horizon above the freeway.
And then, all of a sudden, it zips off to the right and completely disappears.
Let's go meet Russell McKenzie.
Let's see if we can learn something about the object he filmed that night.
Russell? Hey, how you doing? Hey.
Hi, I'm bill.
Hey.
Nice to meet you, bill.
Hi.
Nice to meet you.
Hey.
What's up? This is jael.
And this is Austin.
Hey.
Nice to meet you.
So, Russell, tell us, in your words, what you saw that night.
We were coming down back from Vegas on the 134.
And right around that 134 sign down there, I see a white light over by the Griffith park, you know, the radio towers.
And I thought it was kind of weird, so I grabbed my camera and I shot it.
And it went boom, bang, boom, and took off.
I knew it wasn't a shooting star, and I knew it wasn't a regular airplane or anything like that.
Do you think that what you saw that night may have been of extraterrestrial origin? I'm not gonna shut it out, you know? Can you say that you were not involved in hoaxing this in any way? I can definitely say that.
You can definitely say that? And I'd be willing to do a lie-detector test, you know? Is that the camera that you actually used to film it? Yes, it is.
Is it possible we can borrow this camera? We'd like to do our own test.
Knock yourself out.
Okay.
Thank you, Russell.
Thanks, Russell.
Thanks, Russell.
We have our work cut out for us.
I mean, the 134 is one of the busiest freeways in California.
How are we gonna replicate this? That's true.
Look down there.
There are so many cars.
There's no way we can do our experiments down there.
Why don't we just build our own freeway? Guys, I have a location in California city.
A friend of mine up there said we could use it as a testing site.
It's definitely safe.
I think it'd be perfect to run our experiments.
As long as we have enough space, we'll make it happen, guys.
Okay.
Yeah.
Ready? Let's do it.
All right.
Let's get to work.
All right, guys.
Here we are.
California city airport.
What do you guys think of this as a testing-site location? This is great.
We certainly have enough runway to turn into a freeway.
Check it out, you guys.
I got everything we need right here.
We can build power lines.
We can build lights.
We can build our own freeway sign.
I got a crane that can lift it up.
And then once we get everything in place, we can drive our test course.
We'll film along the whole way well, first thing's first.
We got to establish a position for the sign to start with.
So let's go take a look at this freeway and Start measuring some distances out? Now, if you look at Russell's video, it took him seven seconds from the beginning of the clip to pass under the sign and then another five seconds before the object then zipped across the screen.
Right.
Right.
It was traveling about 50 Miles an hour.
That would make it 512 feet before he reaches the sign, then another 360 feet before the end of the clip.
Right.
So, how about you get the s.
U.
V.
? I'll use a range finder.
I'll let you know when you're at that start point and when you're at the end point, based on our sign position.
Right there where you are, Austin.
All right, guys, end point is secure, and our route is officially mapped out.
Austin, why don't you come on back and let's build this freeway? So, we've got all the parts that we need here to build a sign.
We're building ours out of 2x4s and plywood.
And then, once that's all built, we'll actually secure it down to an aluminum truss with screws and then mount it to the forks of the crane, raise it about 20 feet, which is standard height for your freeway sign.
Let's get to work.
All right, guys.
I think we got enough wood.
I'm gonna start setting the lights up.
Okay.
Good? Yep.
We're good here.
Once I get this lamp hooked up to this speed rail, I'm gonna raise it about 20 feet, which is the same height as your average freeway light.
It's gonna look exactly like the original video.
We've plotted our course, we're building our sign, and once it gets dark, we'll be ready to go.
Go a little higher, Austin.
Perfect! Come on.
Take a look.
What do you think, huh? Austin, we've got our very own L.
A.
freeway.
And you know what the best part is? What? It's got no traffic.
That's right.
Guys, it looks great.
Here's how it works.
We've got our sign built.
We got the lights turned on.
All right.
So let's get in the vehicle and let's get in position.
Let's see how this works.
All right.
All right.
A popular online theory is that the UFO that we're seeing in Russell's video is simply a laser pointer shining off the windshield.
Well, I like this laser idea.
I mean, what if it was a prankster that was out along the highway and was just pointing the laser out at the cars? That makes sense, 'cause think about it.
When we were at the location where the video was actually shot, there were a bunch of hills, apartment complexes.
I say, to test this theory, I can just go outside, use a lift to go up to the right elevation, and you guys can guide me where to actually point the laser.
Let's get you in an elevated position past the sign.
That way, as we drive towards you, the sign will block your laser light And then reappear, just like we're seeing in the original video.
But we'll have to use a blue laser.
You know they don't make white ones.
But the blue laser should come off as white in my viewfinder, and it should match the object in the original footage.
I'll radio you guys when I get there.
Tell me how high to be and where to point the laser.
Good luck.
All right.
So, I just grabbed our high-powered laser.
I'm about to take myself 40 feet up into the air in this lift.
Once I'm there, I'm gonna have jael and bill actually guide me to a fixed location for our starting point, for where to shine the laser.
I'm then gonna wait for their countdown.
Once that happens, I'm gonna try to re-create the same flight path we see from the object in the original footage.
Let's see how it looks.
Guys, I am in position.
Laser is hot.
Waiting for your countdown.
Stand by.
We're gonna put on our goggles.
Austin, go ahead and flash your laser in our direction for a test.
Bill, I see the laser.
I'm all framed up and ready to go.
We're getting ready to start right now.
You ready? I'm ready to go.
Here we go.
We're approaching the sign, Austin.
Got it framed? Yeah.
I got it framed.
Here we go.
Five Four Three, two, one.
Move beam, Austin! Guys, I am in position.
Laser is hot.
Waiting for your countdown.
Here we go.
Five Four Three, two One.
Move beam, Austin! Wow! That was a really bright flash of light.
Got it? Yeah.
All right! Austin for team How'd that look, guys? Why don't you come down from the bucket, and let's do a side-by-side? Copy that.
I'll see you guys in a sec.
Now, the first thing I notice is that our laser point in the beginning It's very small.
It's a lot smaller than the UFO in the original footage.
And, then, the second-most obvious thing is that once we pass under the sign and you move it across, look at that.
You can see that there's a beam going across.
You know what it is.
It's like a flare in the windshield.
Exactly.
It's like the windshield is refracting the laser.
You don't have that at all in the original video.
I think we've made a good case for ruling out the laser theory.
Absolutely.
We need to scale up our experiment.
You know what I noticed when we were interviewing Russell? What? When we were looking over the 134 freeway, I saw power lines draped across.
What if it's just, like, the lights from the traffic is creating a glint across the power cables? These power lines have a reflective nature.
It's possible that it would catch the light.
I mean, if we put up our own power line and put a high-powered beam to it, it's possible that the reflective line would actually catch it and then create something that looks like the UFO in the video.
I'll start getting the power line set up.
Okay.
Sounds great.
Okay.
We just ran our laser test, and that obviously wasn't the answer.
So now we're gonna scale things up a bit.
We're gonna take 100 feet of galvanized heavy-gauge steel cable, attach it to our two lifts, and raise it up to create our own power line.
We're then gonna use a high-powered spotlight to actually act as headlights of oncoming traffic.
We're gonna see if the reflection off that cable could be the answer for what the object we're seeing in the video is.
Right there! Guys, this looks great! It's perfect.
Come check it out.
Let's see.
Yeah.
- Voilà .
You know what? - We got a power line.
Between the power line, the streetlights, and the freeway sign, it looks pretty much like the 134.
I'd say welcome to the "fact or faked" highway.
There you go.
You got the spotlight? I do.
I'm gonna stand at a 45-degree angle.
I'm gonna hit the cable with the spotlight, zoom it across the side, see if we can replicate the same movement in the video.
All right, jael, let's get in the car, and let's start this test.
Perfect.
I'll get in position.
I'm framed up and ready to go.
Austin, jael is ready.
Are you ready with the spotlight? Bill, I am in position, standing by, waiting for your cue.
Beginning this test run right now.
Recording.
Austin, get ready On five Four Three Two, one.
Hit that wire, Austin! Boom.
There it is.
I saw it.
Okay.
Austin, we're pulling up to do a side-by-side comparison.
Why don't you join us on the side of the road? Copy that.
What'd it look like on the camera? Let me show you.
So, we're driving by.
We're going toward the sign.
Just pass it.
There's the light.
See? It already looks Watch.
Watch.
Look at that.
See how it streaks across? That actually looked pretty good.
Notice the shape? Yeah.
That was now elongated as opposed to it being a point of light like from a laser.
It was.
Right.
You're absolutely right about that.
But the problem is, it's way more elongated.
It's huge compared to this pinpoint that we see in the original footage.
Even though it made the shape better, the movement was a lot better, when it illuminated the wire, I could see the wire.
I think we're gonna have to explore other options.
All right.
Well, we're getting warm.
Let's get to work.
All right.
All right.
Up until now, we've been using things that we've been manipulating, but I think we're gonna have to experiment with something that can move under its own power.
Guys, anyone who's spent time in Los Angeles knows that police and news helicopters are a constant presence in the sky.
I think it's very plausible that this UFO in the video could be a helicopter with a searchlight attached to it.
I can certainly see how the object in the original video could be mistaken for a helicopter navigating at night.
I mean, helicopters certainly can hover and then suddenly accelerate.
I've got an r44 helicopter.
I'm gonna jump in the cockpit with the pilot.
We'll stay in contact via walkie.
That way, we can make any immediate adjustments to the flight path that are needed.
Perfect.
And then once we signal you, you can tell the pilot to shoot across the horizon the way that the UFO does.
So, you'll work from the sky, you operate the camera, and I'll navigate the test course.
Let's see how this looks.
All right.
Be safe.
You know I will.
Okay.
Now that our helicopter is set up, we're gonna see if a copter with a mounted searchlight can replicate the UFO that we see in the original video.
Austin, you're clear for takeoff.
Copy that.
Lift off! There they go.
Guys, we are airborne.
I repeat, we have liftoff.
The helicopter is in the air.
Austin, let us know when you're in position.
Copy that.
We're heading to our starting point now.
I've got visual of them on the camera.
I'm in a Robinson r44 helicopter with a spotlight attached to the bottom of it.
We're about to find out when we take this flight trajectory if this is the possible explanation for the object we're seeing in the video.
Austin, we're moving into place.
Are you ready? Copy that, guys.
We are in position and waiting for your cue.
Approaching the sign.
I'll count down as soon as we hit it.
Stand by.
There it goes.
Here we go.
On five Four Three Two One.
Begin motion! We're gonna see if a copter with a mounted searchlight can replicate the UFO that we see in the original video.
Three Two One.
Begin motion! So, the chopper held a stationary position.
Once bill gave us the countdown, the chopper tried to re-create the exact same flight path and speed as the object in the original video.
Check out how it turned out.
- All right.
- Sweet.
- Wow! - There you go! They're going pretty fast.
What this did prove is that it's very possible that what we're seeing in Russell's video is, in fact, a helicopter.
But our chopper test does not re-create the sudden acceleration that you see at the end of Russell's video.
But when we sped up the end of our video with some editing aftereffects, we got some pretty interesting results.
Whoa! Wow! Oh, wow! That's an exact match, guys.
That looked great.
It really is.
So it got us thinking, maybe in the interview, Russell wasn't revealing everything that he knew.
So we applied l.
V.
A.
To the interview recording.
Most of Russell's answers showed no deception whatsoever.
This is what he said after we asked him what happened that night.
I see a white light over by the Griffith park, you know, the radio towers.
So I grabbed my camera and I shot it.
And it went boom, bang, boom, and took off.
No deception whatsoever.
Based on that, I think it's pretty safe to say that Russell did see something in the sky that night.
So, we did ask Russell, was there any hoaxing at all involved with his video? We got this response.
Can you say that you were not involved in hoaxing this in any way? I can definitely say that.
I'd be willing to do a lie-detector test, you know? - Deception indicated.
- Yeah.
So the l.
V.
A.
Indicates deception.
And based on our experiments, more than likely, the object we're seeing in the original video is just a helicopter sped up to give a dramatic exit.
But layered voice analysis will indicate deception if it detects stress, so it's possible that Russell was simply being stressed by the question.
If he did not ramp up the end of this video, we have a genuine UFO here.
Did you address the fact that you couldn't see either way if it was speeding up or any of the cars? He did kind of pan up at the end when he was focusing on the object, so then you're losing sight of the speed of the cars.
So the freeway flyer, guys Fact or faked? Considering that there were several witnesses that night that saw this UFO, I think there was definitely something up in the sky.
The object in the video is certainly fact, but the video could have been faked.
My personal opinion, you guys, I'm gonna go with faked on this one.
I think it was doctored.
I'm with Devin.
I totally think it's fake.
I think there was a real object in the sky, but all in all, the video fake.
The layered voice analysis is a great tool, and take into account of everything else, I think it is indicating he's not being completely truthful here.
I'm thinking he may have done something with the video after.
But either way, you did an excellent job.
- Oh! Woah! - Did you see it? - Whoa! - Wow! Oh, my gosh, that's creepy.
There were 26 murders in the theater, and there's a ghost for each one.
Listen to this.
- Whoa! - That's creepy.
We're moving into place.
Are you ready? Copy that, guys.
We are in position.
Begin motion! If you care to make any noise, to move anything? Oh, my goodness! There's a flying saucer.
I'm getting a series of lights right there.
So, you're seeing what I've seen? What the heck is happening? Hey, Ben.
- Hey.
How's it going? - Hey.
All right.
Well Why don't we start off with you, Devin? Okay.
Guys, I brought you a video from my home state of Arizona.
In 2008, an amateur paranormal team was investigating the bird cage theater in old tombstone.
- This place is famous for hauntings.
- Ooh.
Yeah.
They captured a ghostly apparition on the wall.
Check this footage out.
You have an amateur paranormal team, and they're there.
They're all sitting at the table, and this kid is looking on the wall, and they flash a flashlight, and this is what they see.
- Oh! - Whoa! - Did you see it? - Yeah.
What is that? - Wow.
- Wait.
So they're saying that's not, like, a mannequin or something in the wall? There's nothing on the wall.
It almost looks like a person in a coffin.
for people like Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday.
There were all kinds of gunfights going on here.
And reportedly, there were and there's a ghost for each one at the theater.
That's crazy.
It's got a lot of history.
Yeah.
Well, I think, considering the history and the fact that there's a lot of paranormal activity there, I think it's worth investigating.
Iconic cowboys, 26 deaths, - Why wouldn't we do it? - I agree.
But let's see what else we have in the pipeline first.
Okay, guys, well, I've brought us a photograph that came from Burwick, Louisiana.
A hunter had a trail camera on her property, and she was tracking the movement of deer.
She found a photograph of what many people call a zombie.
Let's take a look at it.
Yeah.
Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Oh, my gosh! That's creepy.
Look how those eyes are just so piercing.
- Yeah.
- That's really eerie.
I can see why they're calling it a zombie.
It's very humanoid.
I mean, it's got legs and arms and a really creepy mouth that's like Well, when you zoom into the image, you can see the pixelation of a digital overlay.
Now, to me, that means that the picture's been modified.
I'm not convinced.
I agree with lanisha.
I think this is Photoshopped.
And we're not gonna know until we see the equipment, look at the original photo, and say, "okay, this couldn't have been hoaxed," or, "you know what? There was an opportunity for someone to Photoshop this.
" Right.
Well, I think it's an eerie photo.
I'm still really leaning towards the fact that this was Photoshopped, but let's revisit it if we find out more information.
- Okay.
- All right.
Okay.
Who's next? I have a great case that I think totally warrants our attention, and it happened right here in Southern California.
It was October 2006, and Russell McKenzie was driving home on the 134 freeway when he noticed something very strange in the night sky.
Take a look at this video.
Ooh! So, it's on the upper-left top of the screen.
Ohh.
It's holding still.
He sees the light.
Whoa! That's amazing.
Whoa.
It was going fast.
Are you kidding me? After he realized what he had recorded on video, he posted it online.
Then he started getting replies from people that said they had seen the same UFO the very night that he did.
Well, I like the fact that many people saw it, and I'm hard-pressed to believe that that was a man-made vehicle because you saw how fast it sped off.
I don't see any proof that it's man-made.
You guys, I can already think of so many experiments we could create surrounding this video.
I like it a lot.
But it'd be a challenge because, I mean, this is a heavily populated area.
That's true.
The fact that we're all debating it and we have these ideas of what we can do with it, I think it's a great contender.
Agreed.
Well, let me tell you what I've got for you.
Now, it was February 2010, and will Oxley He's a Londoner Was vacationing in the French alps.
Now, he comes upon this really big triangle that's in the snow.
It's a design that fits into the category of snow circles.
They're like crop circles.
Many people think, you know, that they're some type of communication with extraterrestrials.
So, take a look at this.
Wow! Whoa.
Look at the size of that.
Geez, look at how many triangles there are inside of that thing.
Giant.
People have taken a look at this and found out that this is what's called a fractal.
Now, a fractal's a geometric shape, where you can cut it into equilateral parts.
Every time you cut it, it's a carbon copy of the larger geometric shape.
Right.
Now, this type of fractal is known as a Sierpinski triangle.
And researchers believe that if aliens were gonna contact us, they would do it through the universal language of mathematics.
Makes sense.
It looks like there's a road up there off to the side.
What if this was man-made? People could have just went down there, came off the road, made the design, covered up their tracks, and walked back off the road.
With the road so close and what looks like tracks walking through it I think we need a cleaner example before we would pursue the snow-circle phenomenon.
Let's look for a better one, but I would like to do a crop-circle or snow-circle design.
Okay.
Yeah, I would like to, as well.
- Let's vote on it.
- As a photographer, I'm really drawn to the bird cage case.
I would love to dig deeper into that coffin image.
Tombstone for me, you guys.
Slam dunk.
Tombstone is awesome.
I say freeway flyer.
I mean, think about it.
We finally have a UFO with actual witnesses that are documented in a metropolitan area.
It's great footage, and on top of that, we could do some big experiments to try to figure out what that is.
Yeah.
I'm with you, Austin.
I'd like to find out what Russell saw that night.
With the freeway-flyer case being just a couple of Miles from here, it's just too inviting.
I don't want to pass up on that.
Because you brought us the freeway flyer, bill, why don't you take Austin and jael? And I will go with lanisha and Devin.
We'll saddle up and go to tombstone.
Yes.
Giddy up.
Okay.
All right.
Okay.
Let's get started.
Tombstone, Arizona Home of the notorious shootout at the o.
K.
Corral.
some people capture on video what appears to be the figure of a man in a coffin.
I did some research, and the bird cage theater was opened on December 25, 1881.
It was known as a rowdy den of sin.
Supposedly, you can even hear the sounds of laughing and yelling and music at night, almost as if the theater's still alive with the old west.
Well, there it is right there, guys.
All right.
Perfect.
Wow! Hey, how you doing? Ben Hansen.
Nice to meet you.
Bill.
How you doing, bill? What are some of the most famous murders that took place here? They're all documented.
One of the most common ones is when gold dollar kills Margarita.
Wow.
Wow.
Those are cool names.
Bird cage is known for its cribs upstairs.
These were where the ladies plied their trade to their men customers from $25 a night upstairs.
Well, I love it.
Can we get started? Give us a tour, and take us around? Sure.
Yeah.
Yeah.
This is the original bar.
Is that a bullet hole right there? - Yeah.
That's a .
45.
- Oh, wow.
And the slug still remains in there today.
It's actually bigger than it looks outside.
This is the casino floor.
Out of the 106 saloons that were on Allen street, the bird cage was the elite of the red light district.
Because you're here pretty much every day, do you experience anything? Yeah.
Stale cigar smoke.
Boots walking When you don't You turn around, there's nobody there.
One of the most interesting things about this crib right here, in the mirror, every once in a while, you get a photograph of a lady's face.
You have to take up to 11 before she'll start appearing.
So, bill, why is this place so haunted? The people that lost their lives here, the fun that they had here.
I think that there were people here that just, you know, did not want to leave.
And we're about to meet with Dan Ackley.
He shot the footage in 2008.
He's going to show us exactly where in the theater he was and tell us what happened that night.
Dan, I'm Ben.
So, tell us about the video you shot.
Describe us the layout.
I can show you.
The tripod was right here.
The angle would be directly at the top of the stairs.
The investigators at this end of the table towards the hearse noticed something in the dark moving over the stairs.
They see movement.
And one of the investigators asked for somebody to take a flashlight and shine it up there because they When you listen to the audio, it's like, "it's still there.
Somebody get a flashlight on it.
" What do you think it is? I have no idea.
Um, to me, it looks like someone in a coffin.
So the flashlight is coming from that direction.
Correct.
And the person in frame is just sitting there.
Right.
And when the flashlight goes across, he looks up.
Okay.
Did you ever try to debunk this yourself and investigate? I did.
And what did you come up with? I couldn't re-create it.
Well, Dan, thanks for meeting us here.
We're gonna take a look at your camera, your setup, try some things, see if we can find an explanation.
I wish you luck.
Take care.
So, let's get started with our experiments.
You guys, looking at the original video, the apparition looks a lot like a man inside of a coffin.
This could be a case of pareidolia effect, and that's where the mind tries to make sense of ambiguous objects and shapes and sounds.
It tries to assign them something familiar.
We do this all the time when we recognize a face in the clouds.
And psychologists use this when they do inkblot tests.
We did see a lot of different objects on the table, so what we might be looking at is a prism effect, maybe a silhouette.
We're gonna experiment with some things on the table to try and project some type of image up on the wall.
In the spirit of tombstone We have a lantern.
- Nice.
- All right.
All right? We have an apothecary bottle.
Cool.
And then I don't know what this is.
But it'll bend light.
All right.
These objects were on the table, and the flashlight passed in front of it and possibly created a silhouette on the wall.
Let's try to get the light to go through them and get a prism or some type of silhouette effect on the wall.
All right.
It is possible.
For sure.
Let's kill the lights.
Let's go green.
All right.
All right, lanisha.
Are you ready? Yep.
I'm all framed up.
- Devin? - Yep.
Okay, let's start with this hair-tonic bottle.
Here comes the light in three Two One.
We're about to see if we can re-create the ghostlike image captured on Dan's footage.
What we might be looking at is a prism effect, maybe a silhouette.
We're gonna experiment with some things on the table to try and project some type of image up on the wall.
Okay, let's start with this hair-tonic bottle.
Here comes the light in three Two One.
Okay.
We're gonna try our mystery root bottle.
Last one that we have left This is our lantern.
Okay.
How'd that look? From where I was sitting, it looked like it had some good form, but I'm really concerned with how the camera sees it, so I don't know.
All right, well Let's take a look at it side-by-side.
Let's do lights up.
All right.
Okay.
This is our hair-tonic bottle.
We're not getting enough detail.
You have shoulder-y kind of corners.
But you still can see through it, and you don't have shadowy lines in the middle.
This is the mysterious root In the liquid.
Boom.
Right there.
There it is.
Nice.
I was hoping that the cap would create kind of like a head shape, but even that was kind of dark.
Here's our lantern.
All right.
Boom.
Wow.
The shadows we're creating here are much darker than the original video.
Maybe we should take a look at the possibility this could be a hoax.
Dan came back and tried to debunk this himself and couldn't figure out what it was, so maybe he was hoaxed.
We're gonna need to do something that changes things up.
Maybe we change the flashlight out for a different kind of bulb, like a black light.
It's possible.
Maybe there was some type of substance that was on the wall and it only reflects when the black light sweeps by it.
Why don't we try black-light paint? It's clear.
You can't see it until you shine the light on it.
Maybe that's exactly what it was.
Okay.
And we'll put up our own plexi to protect the museum.
But we'll put it right in place.
All right.
Perfect.
We need to make sure that the image on the plexi is exactly what we saw on the video for this hoax to work.
So, our image is gonna be in this big circle here.
The head is gonna be right here.
And the suspenders I think they look like suspenders Or the hair, like you say, Ben, is gonna be here.
When we put it up there in the black-light paint, it'll glow.
The white right there.
- See how clear that is? - Yeah.
If the investigators were here, they wouldn't see this.
Nice work, Devin.
Right up here on this ledge.
It looks good.
I can't even tell the difference between the two layers there.
All right.
Let's run this test.
Investigator, sir, take your chair.
We ready? I am framed up, Ben.
Okay.
Let's kill the lights.
Okay, now, here comes the black light In three Two One.
Did you see anything? I'm just seeing the light.
All right.
Let's just check out a side-by-side of it.
Ready? Let's check it out.
Yep.
You see the shape, the face.
Even still, the image doesn't pop out.
I was actually really surprised that the U.
V.
light even showed up.
This was really creative, but it's not it.
You know, you guys, I want to try something.
Let me take down the plexi, and let me show you something.
I've been staring at this image.
You know, I've painted it.
And I'm looking at it over and over, and I'm looking at the vantage point.
What if we were onto something with all of those items on the table? All right? What if it's just Wow! Let's kill the lights.
Let's run it.
And let's do it.
I want to see this.
You actually stay in that place this time.
- Okay.
- Okay.
You get to your vantage point.
All right.
I'll play the part of the investigator.
And let's run it.
Okay.
We're all set up.
And video's playing back.
And cue the light.
Three Two One.
Devin, wow! That's amazing! The shadow has ellipsed.
It's kind of turned into a giant oval, which looks like a coffin.
Let's see the side-by-side.
Yes.
All right.
It's really amazing that we were looking through the wheel of a coffee grinder, and we thought we saw a person.
I mean, it's so perfect, spot-on.
There's no question in my mind that that wheel is what we're seeing on the wall.
This is "case solved" for the apparition on the wall.
Just because we solved this case, it doesn't mean the bird cage theater isn't haunted.
There's been hundreds of accounts of paranormal activity here in the bird cage theater.
We're gonna stay and do a night investigation.
Lanisha and I will start with a sweep, okay? Pretty much through the whole theater.
I've got an emf meter.
And I'll snap off a couple stills as we go along.
We have got a camera in the poker room.
We have an I.
R.
Cam in the stairwell.
Okay.
And, then, we have another camera backstage.
And, then, we have another camera where the audience would be in the bird cage theater.
You placed one of the digital audio recorders in Sadie Jo's room, right? Yes, it's right on the edge of her bed, and it's already recording.
'Cause I know people have taken photographs in here, and they've got reflections or something in the mirror.
I've seen photos with her face appearing.
Yes.
Everyone gets a walkie.
Thank you.
Let's hit record, and let's go green, okay? All right, let's go.
Okay.
Gonna walk around, doing a mass sweep.
We're in the main hall.
Okay, I'm recording the flare.
We've got our audio and emf meter running.
And we want to go around the perimeter here.
Devin:E careful down those stairs, you guys.
Why don't you do some inside of Sadie's room? Okay.
Hey, Ben.
If lanisha is taking photos of Sadie's room, on the 11th photo or after that is when people get something.
This clip was shot in 2008 in long beach, California.
Carnell Thomas, a professional videographer, was filming a wedding when he captured a series of strange lights hovering over the water.
Thomas is convinced his footage depicts a rare daytime UFO sighting.
So, is it fact or faked? The answer coming up.
A videographer in long beach, California, caught these mysterious lights hovering over the water.
So, are these UFOs fact or faked? Faked.
The video was shot through glass.
The UFOs we're seeing are reflections from a ring of lights, like a chandelier, right behind the camera.
If lanisha is taking photos of Sadie's room, on the 11th photo or after that is when people get something.
I didn't see anything in the monitor.
Yeah.
It sounded like someone walking.
Did they go up the stairs? Hello? Is there somebody here? Whoa, whoa.
Stop, stop, stop.
Do you hear that? No, what did you hear? Like, almost right down the downstairs as I moved.
Then it stopped.
Oh, my God! Devin for Ben.
Are you guys anywhere near Sadie's room? We're above the stairs.
We thought we heard some floorboards creaking.
Um, something happened to the camera in her room.
It's been The light has been moved off of it or something.
It's a lot darker than it was a few seconds ago.
Let's find out what happened to that light.
Lookit.
Is this our light? Oh, wow.
Did you see it? When you get a chance, check on that camera.
It's completely off.
It almost looks like Look.
You can see.
It looks like it was ripped apart.
Do you see that? Devin, we're sitting here right in front of the light.
Where did you place that? Was it on the outside of the door, the inside? Where was it? It was placed securely by me personally on the inside of the door, so it should be in her room.
Are you serious? Confirming, Devin This was on the inside of the door, correct? Was there one outside in the hallway? No.
It's completely outside of the room.
Devin, we're starting an EVP session.
Sadie Jo, we're standing outside of your room.
If you care to make any noise, to move anything, feel free to do so.
Is there anybody with us? Do you hear that? Got it? No.
There's plexiglas.
You guys remember, we went to tombstone, Arizona, to look at some footage that came from the bird cage theater.
We decided to see if shining a light through something like a bottle could create the image on the wall.
But that didn't give us the result we were looking for.
So we decided to see if it could actually be a hoax.
Maybe somebody had taken some glow-in-the-dark paint that could only be seen by a U.
V.
light.
So we painted that up there on the wall, passed the light across it, but it really just was not distinct enough.
So, while we were working out the details on this, this is when Devin stumbled upon the coffee grinder that was sitting in front of the wall.
Nice.
Coffee grinder? Yeah.
Check this out.
- Hey, hey, hey.
- Wow! Look at the side-by-side.
Whoa! Wow! Now, that is exact.
Right? Yes.
Yeah.
So it wasn't fake, just confused.
The pareidolia effect is gone once you know what it is.
Right.
Even though we felt that we solved what was going on in the video, with so many reports of paranormal activity in the bird cage theater, we thought that a night investigation was mandatory.
Of course.
So, you guys, we had cameras all over this museum, especially in Sadie Jo's room, who was a high-priced lady of the night.
We put a full-spectrum cam and an audio recorder in her room.
I'm upstairs monitoring base camp, and then I noticed that the full-spectrum cam monitor went dark Oh, man.
Right in Sadie Jo's room.
So I walkie Ben and lanisha, and I let them know.
Now, we go downstairs, we get to Sadie Jo's room.
The light was outside in the hallway.
Now, keep in mind, the door is shut.
We didn't know how it could have gotten there.
Wow.
And then we started doing EVP sessions.
Then I asked, "is there anybody here right now?" And we got something really interesting.
Wait till you hear what was captured on that recorder.
Listen to this.
Are you still here? Ooh! Whoa! I heard "we were.
" That's what it sounded like to me.
That's creepy.
Oh, man.
That really is creepy.
Honestly, when that happened, I got goose bumps.
So, guys, the bird cage theater ghost fact or faked? I think we can say with confidence that the image in the video was misidentified.
Misidentified ghost.
Paranormal activity Fact.
Agreed.
You guys got a slam dunk in debunking the original video.
Nice job.
So, I want to hear what happened to you guys.
Well, as you know, we stayed here in Los Angeles to investigate the case of a UFO that was seen over the 134 freeway.
Narrator: Coming up on "fact or faked: Paranormal files" Welcome to the "fact or faked" highway.
Move beam, Austin.
Lift off.
Here we go.
Begin motion! We're in Los Angeles to investigate a really interesting UFO video that was shot right here on the westbound 134 freeway.
In October 2006, Russell McKenzie and three friends were returning home from Las Vegas when they noticed a glowing disk hovering over the hilltops right over there.
Luckily, he had the video camera that he had taken to Vegas in the backseat.
So Russell grabs the camera and starts filming the strange light.
To his surprise, this glowing disk starts moving across the horizon above the freeway.
And then, all of a sudden, it zips off to the right and completely disappears.
Let's go meet Russell McKenzie.
Let's see if we can learn something about the object he filmed that night.
Russell? Hey, how you doing? Hey.
Hi, I'm bill.
Hey.
Nice to meet you, bill.
Hi.
Nice to meet you.
Hey.
What's up? This is jael.
And this is Austin.
Hey.
Nice to meet you.
So, Russell, tell us, in your words, what you saw that night.
We were coming down back from Vegas on the 134.
And right around that 134 sign down there, I see a white light over by the Griffith park, you know, the radio towers.
And I thought it was kind of weird, so I grabbed my camera and I shot it.
And it went boom, bang, boom, and took off.
I knew it wasn't a shooting star, and I knew it wasn't a regular airplane or anything like that.
Do you think that what you saw that night may have been of extraterrestrial origin? I'm not gonna shut it out, you know? Can you say that you were not involved in hoaxing this in any way? I can definitely say that.
You can definitely say that? And I'd be willing to do a lie-detector test, you know? Is that the camera that you actually used to film it? Yes, it is.
Is it possible we can borrow this camera? We'd like to do our own test.
Knock yourself out.
Okay.
Thank you, Russell.
Thanks, Russell.
Thanks, Russell.
We have our work cut out for us.
I mean, the 134 is one of the busiest freeways in California.
How are we gonna replicate this? That's true.
Look down there.
There are so many cars.
There's no way we can do our experiments down there.
Why don't we just build our own freeway? Guys, I have a location in California city.
A friend of mine up there said we could use it as a testing site.
It's definitely safe.
I think it'd be perfect to run our experiments.
As long as we have enough space, we'll make it happen, guys.
Okay.
Yeah.
Ready? Let's do it.
All right.
Let's get to work.
All right, guys.
Here we are.
California city airport.
What do you guys think of this as a testing-site location? This is great.
We certainly have enough runway to turn into a freeway.
Check it out, you guys.
I got everything we need right here.
We can build power lines.
We can build lights.
We can build our own freeway sign.
I got a crane that can lift it up.
And then once we get everything in place, we can drive our test course.
We'll film along the whole way well, first thing's first.
We got to establish a position for the sign to start with.
So let's go take a look at this freeway and Start measuring some distances out? Now, if you look at Russell's video, it took him seven seconds from the beginning of the clip to pass under the sign and then another five seconds before the object then zipped across the screen.
Right.
Right.
It was traveling about 50 Miles an hour.
That would make it 512 feet before he reaches the sign, then another 360 feet before the end of the clip.
Right.
So, how about you get the s.
U.
V.
? I'll use a range finder.
I'll let you know when you're at that start point and when you're at the end point, based on our sign position.
Right there where you are, Austin.
All right, guys, end point is secure, and our route is officially mapped out.
Austin, why don't you come on back and let's build this freeway? So, we've got all the parts that we need here to build a sign.
We're building ours out of 2x4s and plywood.
And then, once that's all built, we'll actually secure it down to an aluminum truss with screws and then mount it to the forks of the crane, raise it about 20 feet, which is standard height for your freeway sign.
Let's get to work.
All right, guys.
I think we got enough wood.
I'm gonna start setting the lights up.
Okay.
Good? Yep.
We're good here.
Once I get this lamp hooked up to this speed rail, I'm gonna raise it about 20 feet, which is the same height as your average freeway light.
It's gonna look exactly like the original video.
We've plotted our course, we're building our sign, and once it gets dark, we'll be ready to go.
Go a little higher, Austin.
Perfect! Come on.
Take a look.
What do you think, huh? Austin, we've got our very own L.
A.
freeway.
And you know what the best part is? What? It's got no traffic.
That's right.
Guys, it looks great.
Here's how it works.
We've got our sign built.
We got the lights turned on.
All right.
So let's get in the vehicle and let's get in position.
Let's see how this works.
All right.
All right.
A popular online theory is that the UFO that we're seeing in Russell's video is simply a laser pointer shining off the windshield.
Well, I like this laser idea.
I mean, what if it was a prankster that was out along the highway and was just pointing the laser out at the cars? That makes sense, 'cause think about it.
When we were at the location where the video was actually shot, there were a bunch of hills, apartment complexes.
I say, to test this theory, I can just go outside, use a lift to go up to the right elevation, and you guys can guide me where to actually point the laser.
Let's get you in an elevated position past the sign.
That way, as we drive towards you, the sign will block your laser light And then reappear, just like we're seeing in the original video.
But we'll have to use a blue laser.
You know they don't make white ones.
But the blue laser should come off as white in my viewfinder, and it should match the object in the original footage.
I'll radio you guys when I get there.
Tell me how high to be and where to point the laser.
Good luck.
All right.
So, I just grabbed our high-powered laser.
I'm about to take myself 40 feet up into the air in this lift.
Once I'm there, I'm gonna have jael and bill actually guide me to a fixed location for our starting point, for where to shine the laser.
I'm then gonna wait for their countdown.
Once that happens, I'm gonna try to re-create the same flight path we see from the object in the original footage.
Let's see how it looks.
Guys, I am in position.
Laser is hot.
Waiting for your countdown.
Stand by.
We're gonna put on our goggles.
Austin, go ahead and flash your laser in our direction for a test.
Bill, I see the laser.
I'm all framed up and ready to go.
We're getting ready to start right now.
You ready? I'm ready to go.
Here we go.
We're approaching the sign, Austin.
Got it framed? Yeah.
I got it framed.
Here we go.
Five Four Three, two, one.
Move beam, Austin! Guys, I am in position.
Laser is hot.
Waiting for your countdown.
Here we go.
Five Four Three, two One.
Move beam, Austin! Wow! That was a really bright flash of light.
Got it? Yeah.
All right! Austin for team How'd that look, guys? Why don't you come down from the bucket, and let's do a side-by-side? Copy that.
I'll see you guys in a sec.
Now, the first thing I notice is that our laser point in the beginning It's very small.
It's a lot smaller than the UFO in the original footage.
And, then, the second-most obvious thing is that once we pass under the sign and you move it across, look at that.
You can see that there's a beam going across.
You know what it is.
It's like a flare in the windshield.
Exactly.
It's like the windshield is refracting the laser.
You don't have that at all in the original video.
I think we've made a good case for ruling out the laser theory.
Absolutely.
We need to scale up our experiment.
You know what I noticed when we were interviewing Russell? What? When we were looking over the 134 freeway, I saw power lines draped across.
What if it's just, like, the lights from the traffic is creating a glint across the power cables? These power lines have a reflective nature.
It's possible that it would catch the light.
I mean, if we put up our own power line and put a high-powered beam to it, it's possible that the reflective line would actually catch it and then create something that looks like the UFO in the video.
I'll start getting the power line set up.
Okay.
Sounds great.
Okay.
We just ran our laser test, and that obviously wasn't the answer.
So now we're gonna scale things up a bit.
We're gonna take 100 feet of galvanized heavy-gauge steel cable, attach it to our two lifts, and raise it up to create our own power line.
We're then gonna use a high-powered spotlight to actually act as headlights of oncoming traffic.
We're gonna see if the reflection off that cable could be the answer for what the object we're seeing in the video is.
Right there! Guys, this looks great! It's perfect.
Come check it out.
Let's see.
Yeah.
- Voilà .
You know what? - We got a power line.
Between the power line, the streetlights, and the freeway sign, it looks pretty much like the 134.
I'd say welcome to the "fact or faked" highway.
There you go.
You got the spotlight? I do.
I'm gonna stand at a 45-degree angle.
I'm gonna hit the cable with the spotlight, zoom it across the side, see if we can replicate the same movement in the video.
All right, jael, let's get in the car, and let's start this test.
Perfect.
I'll get in position.
I'm framed up and ready to go.
Austin, jael is ready.
Are you ready with the spotlight? Bill, I am in position, standing by, waiting for your cue.
Beginning this test run right now.
Recording.
Austin, get ready On five Four Three Two, one.
Hit that wire, Austin! Boom.
There it is.
I saw it.
Okay.
Austin, we're pulling up to do a side-by-side comparison.
Why don't you join us on the side of the road? Copy that.
What'd it look like on the camera? Let me show you.
So, we're driving by.
We're going toward the sign.
Just pass it.
There's the light.
See? It already looks Watch.
Watch.
Look at that.
See how it streaks across? That actually looked pretty good.
Notice the shape? Yeah.
That was now elongated as opposed to it being a point of light like from a laser.
It was.
Right.
You're absolutely right about that.
But the problem is, it's way more elongated.
It's huge compared to this pinpoint that we see in the original footage.
Even though it made the shape better, the movement was a lot better, when it illuminated the wire, I could see the wire.
I think we're gonna have to explore other options.
All right.
Well, we're getting warm.
Let's get to work.
All right.
All right.
Up until now, we've been using things that we've been manipulating, but I think we're gonna have to experiment with something that can move under its own power.
Guys, anyone who's spent time in Los Angeles knows that police and news helicopters are a constant presence in the sky.
I think it's very plausible that this UFO in the video could be a helicopter with a searchlight attached to it.
I can certainly see how the object in the original video could be mistaken for a helicopter navigating at night.
I mean, helicopters certainly can hover and then suddenly accelerate.
I've got an r44 helicopter.
I'm gonna jump in the cockpit with the pilot.
We'll stay in contact via walkie.
That way, we can make any immediate adjustments to the flight path that are needed.
Perfect.
And then once we signal you, you can tell the pilot to shoot across the horizon the way that the UFO does.
So, you'll work from the sky, you operate the camera, and I'll navigate the test course.
Let's see how this looks.
All right.
Be safe.
You know I will.
Okay.
Now that our helicopter is set up, we're gonna see if a copter with a mounted searchlight can replicate the UFO that we see in the original video.
Austin, you're clear for takeoff.
Copy that.
Lift off! There they go.
Guys, we are airborne.
I repeat, we have liftoff.
The helicopter is in the air.
Austin, let us know when you're in position.
Copy that.
We're heading to our starting point now.
I've got visual of them on the camera.
I'm in a Robinson r44 helicopter with a spotlight attached to the bottom of it.
We're about to find out when we take this flight trajectory if this is the possible explanation for the object we're seeing in the video.
Austin, we're moving into place.
Are you ready? Copy that, guys.
We are in position and waiting for your cue.
Approaching the sign.
I'll count down as soon as we hit it.
Stand by.
There it goes.
Here we go.
On five Four Three Two One.
Begin motion! We're gonna see if a copter with a mounted searchlight can replicate the UFO that we see in the original video.
Three Two One.
Begin motion! So, the chopper held a stationary position.
Once bill gave us the countdown, the chopper tried to re-create the exact same flight path and speed as the object in the original video.
Check out how it turned out.
- All right.
- Sweet.
- Wow! - There you go! They're going pretty fast.
What this did prove is that it's very possible that what we're seeing in Russell's video is, in fact, a helicopter.
But our chopper test does not re-create the sudden acceleration that you see at the end of Russell's video.
But when we sped up the end of our video with some editing aftereffects, we got some pretty interesting results.
Whoa! Wow! Oh, wow! That's an exact match, guys.
That looked great.
It really is.
So it got us thinking, maybe in the interview, Russell wasn't revealing everything that he knew.
So we applied l.
V.
A.
To the interview recording.
Most of Russell's answers showed no deception whatsoever.
This is what he said after we asked him what happened that night.
I see a white light over by the Griffith park, you know, the radio towers.
So I grabbed my camera and I shot it.
And it went boom, bang, boom, and took off.
No deception whatsoever.
Based on that, I think it's pretty safe to say that Russell did see something in the sky that night.
So, we did ask Russell, was there any hoaxing at all involved with his video? We got this response.
Can you say that you were not involved in hoaxing this in any way? I can definitely say that.
I'd be willing to do a lie-detector test, you know? - Deception indicated.
- Yeah.
So the l.
V.
A.
Indicates deception.
And based on our experiments, more than likely, the object we're seeing in the original video is just a helicopter sped up to give a dramatic exit.
But layered voice analysis will indicate deception if it detects stress, so it's possible that Russell was simply being stressed by the question.
If he did not ramp up the end of this video, we have a genuine UFO here.
Did you address the fact that you couldn't see either way if it was speeding up or any of the cars? He did kind of pan up at the end when he was focusing on the object, so then you're losing sight of the speed of the cars.
So the freeway flyer, guys Fact or faked? Considering that there were several witnesses that night that saw this UFO, I think there was definitely something up in the sky.
The object in the video is certainly fact, but the video could have been faked.
My personal opinion, you guys, I'm gonna go with faked on this one.
I think it was doctored.
I'm with Devin.
I totally think it's fake.
I think there was a real object in the sky, but all in all, the video fake.
The layered voice analysis is a great tool, and take into account of everything else, I think it is indicating he's not being completely truthful here.
I'm thinking he may have done something with the video after.
But either way, you did an excellent job.