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00:00Rather than UFOs, USOs are unidentified submerged objects.
00:05The U.S. Navy has hundreds of reported USOs on file,
00:09most of which are witnessed in some of the deepest parts of the sea.
00:12Because more than 80% of the ocean is still unmapped,
00:15there's plenty of places for an underwater alien to hide.
00:20But is that really what USOs are?
00:24Even to modern minds, the ocean represents an uncharted abyss.
00:28By some measures, we know far more about space and the universe
00:32away from Earth than we do about the waters of home.
00:35We've extensively mapped the surface of Mars,
00:37but we're only just beginning to similarly map the ocean floor.
00:41We've landed rovers on far-off moons and asteroids,
00:44but we're only now starting to steer comparable machines through the sea.
00:48Yes, the likes of Jacques Cousteau, the pioneering oceanographer,
00:52the pioneering oceanographer of the 20th century,
00:55have managed to chisel their names into the annals of history.
00:58But Cousteau is an outlier, an exception.
01:01And while our astronauts have been understandably lauded in the past,
01:05our aquanauts have generally gone unnoticed.
01:08It's perhaps not immediately clear exactly why that would be,
01:11but what is clear is that the hazy history of ocean exploration,
01:15the rareness of reliable accounts about what life is like below the waves,
01:19has led to the growth of a whole subsection of conspiracy theory.
01:23Here, we're diving right into the best of them,
01:26from the mildly mysterious to the downright bizarre.
01:29First up, and probably the most infamous alternate theory about
01:33what might be happening at the bottom of the sea,
01:35there are multiple claims of hidden civilizations lost to the deep.
01:39In general, it's said that hiding beneath the waves,
01:42there's proof of ancient, until now unconfirmed, societies.
01:46Some theorists propose that advanced groups once thrived in the deep sea itself,
01:50leaving behind submerged cities and structures,
01:53the evidence of which is now deliberately concealed by governments and powerful organizations.
01:58Elsewhere, others claim that early civilizations that were once on land
02:03became submerged by the sea following some kind of huge natural disaster.
02:08Of course, the most well-known example of this is Atlantis,
02:11a legend dating back to at least the writings of the Greek philosopher Plato,
02:15in which it's said that the overproud Atlanteans were punished by the gods for their arrogance,
02:20that punishment being that their city was lost forever to a one-off, monster wave.
02:24In general, supporters of the lost civilizations theory point to seeming anomalies discovered on
02:30the ocean floor, such as geometric rock formations and peculiar-looking structures.
02:34In the case of Atlantis, it's widely held that if it did exist, which is a pretty big if,
02:40then it's most likely tied to the Mediterranean island of Santorini,
02:44and the fall of the Minoan Empire… although the Minoans actually disappeared
02:48thousands of years after the earliest claims of Atlantis date back to.
02:53Elsewhere, however, and sites such as the Yanaguni Monument,
02:56lying between southern Japan and eastern Taiwan, have piqued interest.
03:00There are many such places even across the small percentage of the ocean that we have explored,
03:05filled with sharp, seemingly artificial rock features that some have interpreted as the
03:10remainder of once-thriving cities. However, scientists counter most claims by explaining
03:15that these are more likely natural formations, and the result of long-standing geological processes,
03:21no matter how human-made they may appear to be.
03:24Next, and if there aren't or weren't people down there, then surely there are monsters.
03:30The deep sea has long been a setting for all manner of ghost stories and tales of inexplicably
03:35terrible creatures. Here, most theories are rooted in ancient maritime legends, wherein
03:41intrepid sailors apparently come face to face with colossal, undiscovered beasts.
03:46The highest profile of these unknown animals is the Kraken, an octopus-like creature reported
03:52multiple times over the last few hundred years, in Scandinavia and along the coast of Norway
03:57in particular. Elsewhere, and other mythologies, give us the Leviathan, a huge, sprawling,
04:03and deadly sea serpent, often explained as a visualization of the Christian sin of envy.
04:08In Old Norse, there's Jormungandr, another serpent, this time larger than even the Earth itself.
04:14In Greek myth, there's Charybdis, a grotesque, dinosaurish something that was said to conjure
04:21deadly whirlpools. Advocates for the real-life existence of sea monsters often point to
04:26mysterious deep-sea sounds picked up by hydrophones, as well as unexplained disappearances of ships and
04:32submarines. Could these kinds of mysteries serve as proof of the beasts below? Perhaps,
04:37but while these phenomena can be puzzling, most marine biologists and oceanographers argue
04:43that many of the purported hints towards there being genuine monsters out there
04:47can more simply be explained as misinterpretations of known marine animals, including of the fabled
04:53giant squid. Or else, the stories can be put down to the vivid, and often over-exhausted,
04:59imaginations of sailors in the past. Finally, however, and it's not too great a jump from
05:04monsters to aliens and underwater UFO bases. It's around a quarter of the way through the
05:1021st century, and UFOs are big news nowadays… although the US Navy has before indicated that
05:16what they're more concerned by are actually USOs – Unidentified Submerged Objects.
05:23Now, in many cases, USOs are most likely to be things like whales or other large animals,
05:28or even unusual tidal surges… that can then cause problems for ships trying to navigate.
05:34But, in some cases, USOs are seemingly wholly unexplained, and some conspiracies abound that
05:41that's because they're otherworldly. In general, proponents argue that the deep sea provides the
05:46perfect hiding place for alien visitors, far away from prying eyes. And, given again how little we've
05:52explored down there, it's not as though it would be difficult to go unnoticed. Once more, most
05:57claims are grounded in seeming peculiarities, such as unexplained sonar anomalies. In some
06:03cases, however, there are reported first-hand accounts of underwater alien encounters.
06:08The most famous actually took place not in the sea, but in the world's deepest lake,
06:13Lake Baikal, in 1982, when it's said that seven Soviet divers encountered six underwater aliens.
06:20In the skirmish that followed, it's even claimed that three of the divers lost their lives.
06:25Elsewhere, and another seeming hotspot for USO activity, is the Solomon Islands in the
06:30southwestern Pacific, and especially on the island of Guadalcanal. In history, Guadalcanal was the
06:36site of a major battle in World War Two, and is therefore surrounded by known and suspected
06:41shipwrecks and remnants of the conflict. However, in more recent times, it has also come to be known
06:46for UFO sightings, with most of the claimed orb-like somethings that are spotted reportedly
06:52rising out of the ocean amidst bright lights, and a sudden spike in temperature for anyone who
06:57gets too close. What's weird, though, is that it's not as though the Guadalcanal orbs are out
07:02on their own. We've seen more and more reports of UFOs in and around the ocean in recent times.
07:08In 2014, news broke of a reported alien base discovered off the coast of Malibu, California,
07:14complete with a massive, overhanging roof and several supporting columns. In May 2021,
07:20headlines were made when the prominent ufologist Jeremy Corbell published reportedly leaked US Navy
07:26footage of another unknown orb, this time dropping into the sea after a period hovering above the
07:32waves. In July 2020, the Guardian newspaper ran a story about a small group of UFO spotters in
07:38Mexico who wholeheartedly believed that their local towns were being protected from storm surges
07:43off the ocean by an interdimensional, extraterrestrial presence on an isolated island a
07:49short distance from the coast. These types of stories crop up time and time again all over the
07:54world map, and while many are quick to downplay their significance, the USO story has simply
07:59grown and grown and grown in modern times. But what do you think about USOs, but also about
08:07supposedly ancient civilizations lost to the sea, and apparently monstrous creatures that could be
08:12hiding in the depths at this very moment? As is often the case, it's important to approach such
08:18speculative claims and theories with a healthy dose of skepticism. In all cases, these ideas
08:25still lack empirical, undeniable proof. But nevertheless, those are some of the most bizarre,
08:31incredible, and compelling conspiracy theories about the deep sea.
08:36What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments,
08:40check out these other clips from Unveiled, and make sure you subscribe and ring the bell for our latest content.