The Why Files covers mysteries, myths and legends. We tell stories and seek the truth in a fun and lighthearted way. Our content is heavily researched; we don't release an episode unless we're sure we can bring something new to a topic.
World War 2 has countless stories of bravery, sacrifice, camaraderie, and heroism.
But the war also has a lot of mysteries. Many of them still unsolved.
Like the legend of the Phantom Fortress.
A B-17 bomber that returned from a mission with no crew aboard; and somehow landed itself.
Let's find out why.
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On Mel Waters' property in the Manastash Ridge, west of Ellensburg, Washington, there is a hole in the ground that looks like a well -- but it's not a well.
Like the owners of the property before him, Mel used the hole as a trash dump. His neighbors used it too. Garbage, broken appliances, old tires, everything went in the hole.
After a while, Mel started to wonder: why doesn't it fill up? Then he started to notice other strange things about the hole. His dogs wouldn't go near it. It caused his radio picked up strange signals. And it didn't seem to have a bottom.
Mel's curiosity became an obsession.
Let's see if we can get to the bottom of Mel's hole.
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The Dark Watchers: Silent Guardians of the Pines
The Santa Lucia mountain range runs from Monterey and down the coast of California.
For hundreds of years, stories have been told about entities that keep watch over the mountains. Sometimes seen out of the corner of the eye, always from a distance. Stare too long and they vanish.
If you're ever hiking the wilderness of Big Sur and feel like you're being watched?
It's because you are.
twpmaa3h
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On March 16, 1957, at 8 o'clock in the morning, a 300 ft long spacecraft landed in a field in Alexandria Virginia.
Two local police officers arrived on the scene. The door of the craft slowly opened. The officers drew their guns, not sure what to expect.
To their surprise, out walked a normal-looking guy. He smiled at the stunned officers and actually waved hello.
Before the policemen could say a word, the stranger said, in clear English: "I need to see the president."
Nine months after this event, NASA was founded.
This is the story of what happened in-between. This is the story of Valiant Thor.
If you don't know this one, hold on tight. We're going on a hell of a ride.
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In 12th century England, two children were found lost in a forest. They spoke only gibberish, wore strange clothing and had bright green skin. When the children finally learned to speak English, they described where they were from. And that's why, after almost 1,000 years, people still talk about The Green Children of Woolpit.
In 1828, a teenage boy was shuffling through a public square in Nuremburg. He seemed confused and disoriented. He had trouble walking and speaking. When police finally approached him, he was holding an envelope containing two letters. And those letters sparked the mystery of Kaspar Hauser.
In April 1922, in Brittany, France, 2-year-old Pauline Picard went missing. A massive search turned up nothing. The family was losing hope.
A month later, Pauline was found wandering around a village over 200 miles away. Though her parents were overjoyed to have her back, they soon realized something wasn't quite right with their daughter.
These are three unsolved cases of the most mysterious children in history.
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In the past year or so, three internet mysteries popped up that really got my attention. They may seem very different, but trust me, they're connected. The first one is about a girl who found a door in the basement of her AirBnB. She opened it and inside was an abandoned shopping mall.
The second story is about Javier aka Unico Sobreviviente, who woke up in a hospital in the year 2027, in an alternate universe. In his version of the future -- everyone on earth has vanished. He's the only one left, and he has video to prove it.
The third mystery is known as the Backdoors. A reality adjacent to ours that, if the conditions are just right, you can accidentally slip into. Then you find yourself lost in an endless maze of dingy carpet, fluorescent light, and yellow wallpaper.
And around every corner--
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The Moon is a Hollow Spaceship | Who Built it and Why?
Despite it being humanity's constant companion through all of recorded time, the moon is still a mystery.
Science hasn't been able to explain how the moon was formed, its unusual orbit, its distance from us, its density, its composition, its structure. These are all still questions.
There are theories about the moon that solve some of these puzzles, but not others.
There is only one theory that answers every scientific question about the moon. Just one.
That the moon is a hollow, artificial structure, brought here by -- someone else.
Let's find out why.
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Vatican City is an inspirational place. You don't need to be Catholic or even religious to appreciate the architecture, art, and the city's historical significance.
But there is a place within the Vatican that's rarely seen. Hidden beneath the city is an underground fortress. Inaccessible to the public and protected by armed guards and state-of-the-art security. The Secret Apostolic Archives.
Within the stone and steel reinforced walls are vaults, climate controlled rooms and over 50 miles of shelves. And on those shelves are countless texts, relics and artificacts collected by the church for over a thousand years.
One of the most intriguing objects hidden in the archive is called the Chronovisor. A device that can view events anywhere and any time in history.
For years, its existence was just a rumor. No proof of the Chronovisor was ever found.
But a book released by a Vatican priest would change all that.
Let's find out why.
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THE BLACK KNIGHT SATELLITE
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1. It was the first satellite in Earth's orbit. Or was it?
For over a hundred years, an object has been seen, heard and *photographed* by people all around the world. This object became known as the Black Knight Satellite.
The signals coming from the Black Knight Satellite have been decoded.
And if the translation is correct, it's been watching us for 13,000 years.
The existence of the Black Knight Satellite has been confirmed by astronauts, but covered up by governments. It's been filmed by astronomers, but the film erased. Supporters of the Black Knight Satellite have been shunned and ridiculed, but now they're speaking up.
Let's find out why.
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Imagine you wake up one morning and notice everything around you is just a tiny bit different.
Maybe you're in the same house, but furniture is slightly out of place. Your favorite coffee mug is there, but it has a crack you don't remember. You could have sworn your coffee maker was black, but this one is chrome.
Just as you think you're going crazy, you feel a strange tingling sensation; and hear a buzzing in your ears. A flash of light; the buzzing stops, and you feel dizzy.
As you regain your balance, you look around. Everything seems back to normal. The coffee maker *is* black, your mug is *not* cracked.
What was that? A dream, your imagination? It seemed so real. Are you just overtired? Are you going crazy? Or maybe, you somehow slipped through the multiverse. For a brief moment, you switched lives with yourself in an alternate reality.
There are documented cases of this happening to people all over the world. Usually, the differences between realities are small. But every once in a while, the changes are so different, that you're another person entirely.
This happened to a man traveling through a Tokyo airport. When he presented his passport, the authorities were baffled.
The passport was genuine, the only problem was, the country that issued it? It didn't exist.
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OPERATION: HIGHJUMP
Operation Highjump commenced in August 1946. It was the largest, most heavily armed naval task force ever sent to Antarctica. Leading the mission was Admiral Richard E Byrd, one of the most famous naval officers in history.
The official purpose for the expedition was scientific research and military training. But that was just a cover story. Operation Highjump had other goals.
One was to extend American sovereignty over Antarctica. Something that was denied many times by the US government. Another was to locate and destroy a secret Nazi base.
AND, capture the nazi's new secret weapon: the flying saucer. UFOs were seen all over the area; suspected to be Nazi test flights. Admiral Byrd was sent to find out.
When he finally arrived to Antarctica, he found a lot more than that.
Let's find out why.
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MYSTERY OF THE CIRCLEVILLE LETTERS
We all keep secrets.
For most of us, these are nothing more than minor embarrassing details about ourselves. But some of us have dark secrets which, if discovered, could destroy lives.
For years, the residents of Circleville, Ohio, received bizarre, threatening letters; from someone who somehow knew every salacious detail of their personal lives.
The letters cost people their jobs, their marriages, their freedom, and sometimes, their lives.
Over a thousand letters were sent over *20 years*.
Yet somehow, whoever wrote them got away with it. Or did they?
Officially this case is closed. But for decades, many people felt that the real culprit is still at large.
Let's find out why.
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PROOF THAT EVERYTHING - INCLUDING GOD - IS A SIMULATION
Is this reality? Well, we're experiencing ... something right now so maybe the better question is: *what* is reality?
Could everything we see, everything we experience, everything that exists in our entire universe -- be artificial?
Supporters of Simulation Theory believe that not only is it *possible* that we're living in a simulation; it's likely. And the more we look for evidence, the more we find.
Philip K Dick believed deja vu was the simulation adjusting to new code. Many people experience The Mandela Effect, a or "false memory" shared by a large number of people.
But the biggest clues of Simulation Theory come from science. Specifically: quantum mechanics. The only way the Double-Slit Experiment makes sense is if we live in a program. Quantum Entanglement also defies logic. Only our program would have the ability to defy the laws of physics - and the concept of time.
Let's find out why.
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SOUNDS FROM THE HOLE TO HELL
In 1989, Dr. Dimitry Azacov and a group of scientists were working on a borehole drilling project in Siberia. When the drill reached 14.4 kilometers, or 9 miles deep, the drill bit started rotating wildly. It had somehow broken through solid rock and into a hollow area under the earth's crust. This cavity wasn't supposed to be there.
When the drill returned to the surface, it was literally glowing red hot. This, also, was unexpected. The temperatures at these depths should be about 100 degrees. 150 degrees at most. Instruments were reading temperatures of over 1,100 degrees. Dr. Azacov said, "It seems like an inferno in the center of the Earth".
The next discovery, according to Dr. Azacov, was the most shocking; and caused some people to leave the project. At the surface, they heard strange sounds coming from the hole. At first, the engineers thought it was their equipment. So they shut down all the machinery, but the sound was still there.
Part of the research done at the site was recording the sound of the movement of the earth using specialized microphones.
So they lowered one of these microphones into the hole. Even though it was designed to operate at high temperatures, it overheated in just a few seconds. But a few seconds was enough to prove the sound was definitely coming from the Earth's interior. He said the sound was unsettling.
9 miles below the surface, in a superheated cavern, they heard humans voice screaming in pain.
Let's find out why.
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THE BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES
On February 25, 1942, at about 2:30 in the morning, the people of Los Angeles were jolted awake by the sound of air-raid sirens.
The city was ordered to blackout and prepare for an attack.
Searchlights sprang to life, frantically scanning the sky above the city for enemy aircraft. Finally, the lights converged on a single object. As frightened citizens stepped on to their porches and lawns to get a glimpse of the target, the sky erupted with hundreds of explosions of fire, smoke and steel.
The Battle of Los Angeles had begun.
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CHASING THE IMMORTAL COUNT
The Count of Saint Germain has been called a prophet, a sorcerer, and an immortal. He's been spotted all over the world for a thousand years. And every time he's seen, he looks exactly the same age.
The Count of Saint Germain advised Kings, Queens and Emperors. He was present at every significant event in European history. And even was an important contributor to America's struggle for Independence.
He spoke a dozen languages fluently. He played piano and violin like a virtuoso. He was an expert in art, science, politics, philosophy and history.
Some say he walked the earth during the time of Christ.
Some say he walks the earth still.
This is his story.
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MYSTERIES OF MOUNT SHASTA
There is no other place on earth steeped in more mystery than Mount Shasta.
Aliens, ghosts, underground bases and interdimensional portals. Check.
Lost cities, strange disappearances, bigfoot, gods and demons. Check.
Atlantis, Lemuria, reptilian humanoids and giants.
Mount Shasta has it all.
Let's find out why.
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Here's a philosophical question for you. If a color doesn't have a name, can we still see it?
Many years ago, the human eye evolved to give us the ability to see about a million colors.
That's a lot.
Then how come, until very recently, nobody saw or even heard of the color blue?
Well, it's because blue just -- didn't exist yet.
Let's find out why.
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What do Ponce De Leon, Alexander The Great and Jason Giambi all have in common?
Superstitions.
What are superstitions? Why do we believe them?
Although there are a lot of weird superstitions out there, there may be psychological benefits to believing them.
Let's find out why.
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WE'RE DUE FOR ANOTHER CARRINGTON EVENT
On September 1, 1859, astronomer Richard Carrington was observing a huge sunspot. Suddenly, a flash of intense white light burst from the sun's surface. He had become the first eye-witness of a major Coronal Mass Ejection or CME. And it was headed straight for earth. Seventeen hours later, the night sky in North America lit up like the day. Aurora Borealis, typically only seen near the north pole, were visible as far south as Colombia. In the southern hemisphere, Aurora Australis were visible North of Brisbane.
A few hours later, on September 2, the most powerful solar storm ever recorded crashed into the Earth's atmosphere. Our magnetic field was immediately overpowered and created chaos around the world.
Nobody had ever seen anything like this before. This became known as the Carrington Event.
At the time, scientists thought this was a unique phenomenon.
It wasn't.
It's happened before, it's happened since and it will happen again.
And when it does, it could be the worst natural disaster in human history.
Let's find out why.
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