In July 2008, the carcass of an animal washed up on the beach at Montauk Point Long Island. Local beachcombers are used to seeing dead animals. Seagulls, fish, crabs, even the occasional whale. But they had never seen anything like this. Animal experts were brought in to identify it. They were stumped. It looked like part dog, part reptile and part rodent - with the beak of a bird. This animal, whatever it was, became known as the Montauk Monster. But where did the Monster come from? There could be only one answer. Plum Island. Plum Island is just a few miles from where the monster was found. Locals had heard rumors that this was a top-secret government facility that created bioweapons, engineered animal hybrids and maybe even experimented on people. Sounds like a wild theory. But then another animal washed up on the beach. Again, it couldn't be identified. And then another animal. And then two more. In 2010, the *rumors* about Plum Island seemed to be true when something else was found on the beach. This time it wasn't a strange animal. It was a body. A human body. Well... it was almost human. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

The night after Christmas, 1980, was the last time Airman First Class John Burroughs would ever lead a normal life. He was on patrol at an American-operated Woodbridge Air Force base in southern England. Woodbridge and nearby Bentwaters - called the Twin Bases were rumored to possess nuclear materials. This was the middle of the Cold War, and tensions were high. The threat of nuclear attack, global escalation, and more, sat heavy on the shoulders of Burroughs and his fellow servicemen. But their job was simple: keep themselves, their nation, and their allies safe. So, Burroughs conducted his nightly rounds, checking the perimeter for anything that threatened the peace. Suddenly, a bright light descended from the sky. Then another. Burroughs watched as the lights fell into the forest surrounding the base. When he and his team arrived to inspect the crash site, they were worried it was a Soviet incursion. But, what they found was far more terrifying than anything the Soviets could think of. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

So, tell me... how do you like being a movie star? I can't imagine your life. You can't walk down the street without being mobbed by adoring fans. You attend power-lunches with your agent. You pose for pictures on the red carpet on your way to collect your third Academy Award. Your life sounds fun. Wait, what? You're not a movie star? That's not your life? Well, maybe not in *this* universe, but there is a universe out there where your life is exactly as I described. The "Many Worlds" or "Multiple Universes" theory says that anything that can possibly happen *does* happen. It just happens in a different reality that exists parallel to our own. There's a reality out there somewhere where you're a best-selling author. There's one where you're a Nobel Prize winning scientist who cured cancer. There's even a reality out there, where you're an evil dictator plotting to take over the world. And you enforce your will with an army of AI robots that you invented when you were a grad student at Stanford. Yes, some of these alternate realities are more far-fetched than others. But they *are* all out there. Scientists know how these realities are formed and people are working on technology to detect them. But even if we *could* detect alternate universes, there's no way to visit them. Or is there? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

Here’s the scene. You’re driving down a secluded road. The only lights come from your headlights. The only sounds you hear are crickets and the hum of the engine. Suddenly, a mysterious orb of light appears in the distance, floating a few feet above the ground. You get the sense that the light is aware of your presence. It darts around, beckoning you closer. It can’t be another car. There’s nothing around for miles. As you get closer to the light, it vanishes. Finally, you arrive at a small town and stop at a diner for a bite. You mention your experience to the waitress. She smiles and says, “You saw a ghost light”. She tells you the story of someone killed on that dark road many years ago. The light has been seen ever since. Ghost lights, or spook lights, are seen all over the world. In some places, they’re thought to be spirits of the dead. Other places say they’re portals to another dimension. And others say they’re signals from another world. Whatever they are, ghost lights are real. They’ve stumped scientists, skeptics... even governments for a long time. They’re seen by thousands of people every year. There are even cases where people have followed a ghost light into the darkness, never to be seen again. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

Your world is an illusion. Your choices are irrelevant. Your friends, your family, and everyone around you are just manifestations of your mind. You’re a trapped animal in a cage: a virtual reality created more than 250,000 years ago for a single purpose: to use you as food. Your emotions are food for those who created the cage. Feelings of happiness and joy are digestible. But those emotions are nowhere near as nourishing as sadness, malice, and especially anger. Pain on a small scale is good, but pain due to war, famine, and pandemics? That’s even better. You’re born, you grow, and you spend the first third of your life learning how to live in a society that barely knows you exist. Maybe you get married, have kids, maybe even grandkids. Then, you die - and the pain ends. But death is just the beginning. Because now, you get to do it all over again. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support