1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:26,000 I'm off to meet a magician who doesn't believe in magic. 2 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:33,000 And in Russia, I learned that one controversial path to the afterlife is to use technology to live forever. 3 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:36,000 There are 59 people in these tanks? 4 00:00:36,000 --> 00:00:43,000 My quest then turns to Indonesia, where people believe ancient rituals can return us from the grave. 5 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:44,000 These are your parents? 6 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:46,000 Yes. 7 00:00:46,000 --> 00:00:53,000 And I'll venture deep into the Amazon to experience my own passing by consuming the vine of death. 8 00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,000 Iowaska is very powerful, it has killed people. I want to see what it does. 9 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:58,000 Ah! 10 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:07,000 Loose ball, loose ball. 11 00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:11,000 My name is Josh Gates. 12 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:20,000 I've traveled to more than 100 countries, exploring the world's greatest legends, and had a few close calls along the way. 13 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:22,000 It's collapsing! 14 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:29,000 In my travels, I've seen a world of beliefs about what happens to us when we die. 15 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:33,000 Now, I'm investigating the biggest mystery of all. 16 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:36,000 Life after death. 17 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,000 Join me on a global hunt for answers. 18 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,000 My God, there are bones everywhere! 19 00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:46,000 And an investigation to the other side. 20 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:52,000 This is Expedition Unknown. Search for the afterlife. 21 00:01:54,000 --> 00:01:57,000 What happens to us when we die? 22 00:01:57,000 --> 00:02:03,000 Heaven? Hell? Reincarnation? Or just nothing? 23 00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:14,000 To gather evidence of the other side, I spoke with a doctor who's proving that clinical death is not the end. 24 00:02:14,000 --> 00:02:20,000 The entity we call the human mind and consciousness does not become annihilated when a person's gone beyond the threshold of death. 25 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:21,000 Whoa! 26 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:27,000 I met a psychic who gave me a personal greeting from the great beyond. 27 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:31,000 M. Madeline. She's so proud of you. 28 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:42,000 Then went to India's holiest city, where I came face to face with the Hindu fires that break the cycle of death and reincarnation. 29 00:02:42,000 --> 00:02:47,000 Here, death is not something to be hidden away. It's something to be faced. 30 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:59,000 And finally, returned to the U.S. for exclusive access to witness a supposed incursion of the next world into ours in the form of a demonic exorcism. 31 00:02:59,000 --> 00:03:05,000 His behavior can be extremely violent, so you guys might have to hang on to it. 32 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:13,000 Now, in a suburban New York home, Reverend Bob Larson is attempting to free his subject, a man named Ruben, 33 00:03:13,000 --> 00:03:17,000 from the influence of what he believes to be an evil spirit. 34 00:03:17,000 --> 00:03:19,000 In your head, do you ever hear a name? 35 00:03:24,000 --> 00:03:31,000 Things begin quietly, but soon Ruben's calm demeanor gives way to something or someone else. 36 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:33,000 Who speaks for you? 37 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:40,000 And now it seems that all hell is about to break loose. 38 00:03:43,000 --> 00:03:46,000 If you could get your hands on me, what would you do? 39 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,000 Twist your neck. 40 00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:54,000 Make no mistake, Ruben is not an actor. This is happening. 41 00:03:55,000 --> 00:03:59,000 I take the sword of God's spirit and I strike it with judgment. 42 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:11,000 Look at me, spirit. Get on your feet. 43 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:16,000 I watch as Ruben and Reverend Larson struggle. I'm certain that what I'm seeing is real. 44 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:20,000 What I don't know is where it's coming from. 45 00:04:20,000 --> 00:04:22,000 You must leave. 46 00:04:22,000 --> 00:04:24,000 I don't want you to break my power. 47 00:04:27,000 --> 00:04:28,000 I can't hold it. 48 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:29,000 Out of it. Out of it. 49 00:04:32,000 --> 00:04:34,000 Out of it. Out of it. 50 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:36,000 Out of it. Come on. 51 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:39,000 Come on. Push it out of here. Push this thing out of here. 52 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:46,000 Come out, brother power of Christ. 53 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:56,000 Suddenly Ruben stops his struggle. It's over. 54 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:09,000 You did a great job, Ruben, fighting through this. 55 00:05:10,000 --> 00:05:12,000 How do you feel? 56 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:18,000 I feel lighter. I feel light. Like leaves, like stuff's been lifted, you know. 57 00:05:18,000 --> 00:05:20,000 It's gone. 58 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,000 Just because we got rid of your demons doesn't make life perfect. 59 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:30,000 You have to ask God where you need to heal. 60 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,000 The journey's not over. 61 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:36,000 But you've started the journey now. 62 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:38,000 Thank you, Ruben. 63 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:39,000 Thanks, everybody. 64 00:05:39,000 --> 00:05:40,000 Thank you. 65 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:42,000 It took all of us to get this job done. 66 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,000 So what happened here? Whatever it was, it scared me. 67 00:05:47,000 --> 00:05:49,000 I believe that Ruben was tormented. 68 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:54,000 But was the source of that torment evil spirits or just personal demons? 69 00:05:55,000 --> 00:05:58,000 Well, that depends entirely on what you believe. 70 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:05,000 There are those, however, who contend that all belief, whether in evil spirits or angels, 71 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:11,000 is a figment of mankind's imagination and that the afterlife is merely a lie that we tell ourselves. 72 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:15,000 It's called atheism and it's growing faster than ever. 73 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:20,000 To find out why, I fly to Sin City, Las Vegas, Nevada. 74 00:06:29,000 --> 00:06:35,000 Despite the city's reputation as a den of iniquity, everybody here seems to be praying for a miracle. 75 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:37,000 Except one. 76 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:40,000 I'm here to see one of the busiest guys in town. 77 00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:45,000 He also happens to be a staunch atheist who thinks that religion is just an illusion. 78 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:47,000 Well, after all, he should know. 79 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:55,000 As the talkative half of the world-famous Penn and Teller magic team, 80 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:58,000 Penn Gillette fakes miracles for a living. 81 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:03,000 But perhaps his greatest trick may be his steadfast and outspoken belief in nothing. 82 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:07,000 Atheism is on the rise. 83 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:08,000 Yeah? 84 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:09,000 Why do you think? 85 00:07:09,000 --> 00:07:10,000 It's just knowledge. 86 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:11,000 Yeah. 87 00:07:11,000 --> 00:07:17,000 General wisdom is the numbers show you people dropping off fast in terms of church. 88 00:07:17,000 --> 00:07:21,000 And I don't think that has to do with people losing their religion. 89 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:26,000 I think it has to do with people admitting they aren't religious. 90 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:31,000 Only 3% of Americans publicly identify as atheists, 91 00:07:31,000 --> 00:07:35,000 but worldwide the numbers exceed 500 million people. 92 00:07:35,000 --> 00:07:38,000 In fact, there's a sort of movement underway, 93 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:43,000 as scientists like Stephen Hawking and Richard Dawkins and celebrities like Bill Maher 94 00:07:43,000 --> 00:07:46,000 have become outspoken advocates for non-belief. 95 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:49,000 And for Penn, the reason is simple. 96 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:54,000 The problem to me is the very idea of celebrating faith. 97 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:56,000 Faith is belief without evidence. 98 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:02,000 Get rid of the word faith and we can really talk about what's true. 99 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:05,000 While I'm not a devout atheist like Penn, 100 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,000 I've certainly struggled with my own faith over the years. 101 00:08:08,000 --> 00:08:11,000 The thinking that for me is always a challenge. 102 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:13,000 As someone who has studied archaeology, 103 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:16,000 as someone who travels all over the world, 104 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:20,000 is, you know, we don't believe in Zeus. 105 00:08:20,000 --> 00:08:23,000 We don't believe in these animistic gods anymore. 106 00:08:23,000 --> 00:08:26,000 We don't believe in the deities of the Maya. 107 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:34,000 This idea that everything that's come before was wrong, 108 00:08:34,000 --> 00:08:35,000 but this is right. 109 00:08:35,000 --> 00:08:38,000 The fact that it is geographically formed, you know, 110 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:43,000 you don't have pockets of belief in physics 111 00:08:44,000 --> 00:08:49,000 or chemistry that happened to be while I was born in the Middle East. 112 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:51,000 So this is how hydrogen works. 113 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:52,000 Yeah, this is how hydrogen works. 114 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:53,000 But you do have that. 115 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:57,000 I mean, almost anything that's geographically based 116 00:08:57,000 --> 00:08:59,000 is bound to be wrong. 117 00:08:59,000 --> 00:09:04,000 So what happens when you die? 118 00:09:04,000 --> 00:09:07,000 I believe it's the same thing as before you were born. 119 00:09:07,000 --> 00:09:11,000 I think we have no evidence that anything happens 120 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:15,000 other than the system that's known as you shuts down 121 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:19,000 and that you are remembered and loved by those who remember 122 00:09:19,000 --> 00:09:23,000 and love you and that parts of you electronically 123 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:26,000 and in literature live on 124 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:30,000 and part of you in your DNA 125 00:09:30,000 --> 00:09:33,000 and all you've accomplished goes on with the human race. 126 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:35,000 But for me. 127 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,000 For you, I think there's nothing. 128 00:09:37,000 --> 00:09:43,000 I think that the year after you die will be precisely for you like 1910. 129 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:46,000 Meaning nothing is. 130 00:09:46,000 --> 00:09:47,000 That's it. 131 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:53,000 So do you think that religion is a distraction or you think it's dangerous? 132 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:58,000 The danger is worrying so much about the afterlife 133 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,000 that you might miss a little bit of the present life. 134 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:02,000 Yeah. 135 00:10:02,000 --> 00:10:05,000 But Penn's atheism hasn't necessarily been easy. 136 00:10:05,000 --> 00:10:09,000 It's been challenged both by believers and by life. 137 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:11,000 And people would say to me, 138 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:13,000 so you don't have any faith and I'd say no. 139 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:17,000 And they'd say, well, your mom and dad are alive. 140 00:10:17,000 --> 00:10:21,000 I'd say, yeah, they'd say, well, you wait till they die. 141 00:10:21,000 --> 00:10:27,000 It was almost this greasy, unpleasant challenge. 142 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:29,000 But I will tell you that I have now been tested. 143 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,000 My mother, my father, my sister are all dead. 144 00:10:32,000 --> 00:10:38,000 And my mother died slowly and painfully. 145 00:10:38,000 --> 00:10:42,000 And I remember sitting there holding her hand. 146 00:10:42,000 --> 00:10:50,000 I remember thinking very clearly, if I believed in God, this would be unbearable. 147 00:10:50,000 --> 00:10:56,000 The idea that there could be an all knowing force in the universe 148 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:59,000 that allowed my mother to suffer in that way 149 00:10:59,000 --> 00:11:07,000 would fill me with rage and despair that I could not contend with. 150 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:11,000 And being an atheist and saying, this is random chance 151 00:11:11,000 --> 00:11:15,000 and all I'll have left of my mom is her memory. 152 00:11:15,000 --> 00:11:18,000 And that's enough. 153 00:11:18,000 --> 00:11:22,000 My memories of my mom are so great, so wonderful. 154 00:11:22,000 --> 00:11:28,000 There's a great deal of solace in atheism. 155 00:11:28,000 --> 00:11:29,000 Thanks, buddy. 156 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:30,000 Thanks, bitch. 157 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:31,000 Yeah, I appreciate it. 158 00:11:31,000 --> 00:11:37,000 Penn is part of a growing chorus of people who are convinced that there is no afterlife. 159 00:11:37,000 --> 00:11:43,000 It's a position that has caused some scientists to try to make sure that this life doesn't end at all. 160 00:11:53,000 --> 00:12:04,000 In my search for the afterlife, I just met with a magician who believes this one life is all we get. 161 00:12:04,000 --> 00:12:10,000 So I'm leaving Las Vegas to meet some people who are working hard to make sure that one life never ends. 162 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:16,000 It's a trip that has me flying to colder climates and a shot at immortality. 163 00:12:23,000 --> 00:12:29,000 Moscow, from the onion domes of St. Basil's Cathedral to the gates of the Kremlin, 164 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:34,000 Russian history was written here in iconic red square. 165 00:12:34,000 --> 00:12:40,000 But if you think Moscow is stuck in the past, that's just fake news. 166 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:46,000 Russia has always had its gaze set firmly on the next frontier. 167 00:12:46,000 --> 00:12:53,000 Behind me is the monument to the conquerors of space, built in 1964 to celebrate the Russian cosmonauts. 168 00:12:53,000 --> 00:12:58,000 Today, this Cold War icon has become a symbol of the so-called transhumanist movement, 169 00:12:58,000 --> 00:13:02,000 whose converts believe in something even bolder than going to the moon. 170 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:03,000 Their final frontier? 171 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:07,000 Immortality through technology. 172 00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:14,000 Transhumanists imagine a future where incredible advances in science mean that life can be extended indefinitely. 173 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:19,000 I'm meeting a leading transhumanist activist and founder of the Longevity Party, 174 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:24,000 an international political group that lobbies for science that extends the human lifespan. 175 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:29,000 I look around for the guy living in the next century and find Alexei Turchin. 176 00:13:29,000 --> 00:13:31,000 Alexei, how are you? 177 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:32,000 Hi, Josh. 178 00:13:32,000 --> 00:13:33,000 Nice to meet you. 179 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:34,000 Nice to meet you. 180 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:35,000 What is this? 181 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:36,000 Is that a camera? 182 00:13:36,000 --> 00:13:37,000 Is it recording? 183 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:38,000 Why? 184 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:40,000 I'm constantly recording everything. 185 00:13:40,000 --> 00:13:42,000 Why are you constantly recording? 186 00:13:42,000 --> 00:13:50,000 Because I want to collect a lot of data, so future AI will be able to create a perfect model of my personality 187 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:53,000 to extend my life based on my recorded behavior. 188 00:13:53,000 --> 00:13:57,000 So it's like Westworld, but without the horses and all the gunfights. 189 00:13:57,000 --> 00:14:02,000 Sure, it sounds like the stuff of science fiction, but neuroscientists are already racing 190 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:09,000 to map the electrical activity of the human brain, which could not only help treat things like schizophrenia and autism, 191 00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:15,000 but may one day allow us to upload the entire contents of our brain into a computer. 192 00:14:15,000 --> 00:14:19,000 And is this transhumanist movement the next space race? 193 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:20,000 I think so. 194 00:14:20,000 --> 00:14:25,000 We should stop spending money on war and start spending money on real enemy. 195 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:26,000 Death. 196 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:31,000 So do you think that if I were to wear a camera everywhere and record enough of my life, 197 00:14:31,000 --> 00:14:33,000 I can come back as Josh 2.0? 198 00:14:33,000 --> 00:14:36,000 Because you are a TV host, you already uploaded a lot. 199 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:37,000 Right. 200 00:14:37,000 --> 00:14:38,000 Okay, yes. 201 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:39,000 So do you want to try it? 202 00:14:39,000 --> 00:14:40,000 Yeah, I don't want to die. 203 00:14:40,000 --> 00:14:41,000 Let's do this. 204 00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:42,000 Let's do this. 205 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:43,000 Let's go. 206 00:14:43,000 --> 00:14:44,000 Come on, what do we do? 207 00:14:44,000 --> 00:14:45,000 First, I'm giving you a camera. 208 00:14:45,000 --> 00:14:46,000 Okay. 209 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:50,000 So I'm taking the camera to log my point of view. 210 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:53,000 And don't people think that you're weird when you walk around with this? 211 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:57,000 They don't notice it, but they will notice this. 212 00:14:57,000 --> 00:14:58,000 Okay. 213 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:04,000 What in the Sam Hill is this thing? 214 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:09,000 This is a 32 channel brainwave recorder. 215 00:15:09,000 --> 00:15:14,000 Companies like Google and Tesla are already designing neural links so that we can literally 216 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:17,000 plug our brains into computers and cars. 217 00:15:17,000 --> 00:15:21,000 And brain hackers like Alexei, aimed to bring that tech to the masses. 218 00:15:21,000 --> 00:15:26,000 He uses electrodes to measure electrical activity in the brain, which he hopes will allow a 219 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:30,000 future computer to reconstruct someone's personality. 220 00:15:30,000 --> 00:15:32,000 It looks very sharp. 221 00:15:32,000 --> 00:15:33,000 Do I just put this on? 222 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:34,000 Yeah. 223 00:15:36,000 --> 00:15:38,000 Oh, it's so comfortable. 224 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:39,000 It's really nice. 225 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:43,000 This is the thing that Doc Brown wore when he invented the flux capacitor, sir. 226 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:46,000 That's what makes time travel possible. 227 00:15:46,000 --> 00:15:49,000 So we now will connect it to the computer. 228 00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:50,000 Okay. 229 00:15:50,000 --> 00:15:51,000 Ah! 230 00:15:51,000 --> 00:15:52,000 No, I'm just kidding. 231 00:15:52,000 --> 00:15:53,000 No, it's not. 232 00:15:53,000 --> 00:15:54,000 It's an electric kidney. 233 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:58,000 It's just reading electric signals, not sensing anything. 234 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:02,000 Now it's recording and the data is starting to download. 235 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:04,000 Do I have to carry the computer around? 236 00:16:04,000 --> 00:16:08,000 No, I will close it and you will carry it in your bag. 237 00:16:08,000 --> 00:16:09,000 Okay. 238 00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:13,000 So how long do I have to wear this for? 239 00:16:13,000 --> 00:16:17,000 I suggest to walk the whole day around Moscow collecting data. 240 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:20,000 You should do interesting things which stimulate you. 241 00:16:20,000 --> 00:16:21,000 Okay. 242 00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:22,000 Alright, brain, let's see Moscow. 243 00:16:22,000 --> 00:16:23,000 Let's see. 244 00:16:23,000 --> 00:16:24,000 Thank you, Alexei. 245 00:16:24,000 --> 00:16:25,000 I'm off to get arrested. 246 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:32,000 To create my digital personality profile with Alexei's brain-alizer, I head out into the 247 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:35,000 heart of Moscow. 248 00:16:35,000 --> 00:16:43,000 Since I'm a bit underdressed for the Bolshoi Ballet, I decided to check out Old Arbat, 249 00:16:43,000 --> 00:16:45,000 Moscow's arts district. 250 00:16:55,000 --> 00:17:02,000 Nothing embarrassing about this at all. 251 00:17:02,000 --> 00:17:05,000 This is totally normal. 252 00:17:05,000 --> 00:17:15,000 Oh, brain freeze. 253 00:17:15,000 --> 00:17:36,000 I indulge in some stimulating activities to get my brainwaves jumping. 254 00:17:36,000 --> 00:17:38,000 Oh my God. 255 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,000 Mam, you're a genius. 256 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:46,000 You did take a few liberties. 257 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:48,000 Thank you for the Putin treatment here. 258 00:17:48,000 --> 00:17:49,000 Thank you. 259 00:17:49,000 --> 00:17:50,000 It's amazing. 260 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:57,000 After hours of recording vital data and utterly humiliating myself, my brain recordings can 261 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:02,000 be linked up to my video recording and merged into a file that Alexei hopes will one day 262 00:18:02,000 --> 00:18:06,000 help future scientists recreate my personality. 263 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:07,000 Good luck, guys. 264 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:08,000 It's a mess in there. 265 00:18:08,000 --> 00:18:09,000 Stop. 266 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:15,000 To transhumanists, it's all part of an inevitable march to the singularity, the moment when 267 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:21,000 artificial intelligence and technology merge with humanity to create a new, immortal species. 268 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:22,000 Don't laugh. 269 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:27,000 Already, we have computers that can beat us in chess, artificial limbs that we can control 270 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:32,000 with our brains, and even Sophia, an android designed by a Hong Kong robotics firm that's 271 00:18:32,000 --> 00:18:35,000 so lifelike she's been granted citizenship. 272 00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:40,000 But what about those of us who die before we can be digitized? 273 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:43,000 Transhumanists are working on that problem too. 274 00:18:43,000 --> 00:18:47,000 Alexei brings me to a gated facility at the outskirts of the city. 275 00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:52,000 Hi. 276 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:53,000 My name is Igor. 277 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:54,000 Nice to meet you. 278 00:18:54,000 --> 00:18:55,000 Nice to meet you too. 279 00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:56,000 Come in, please. 280 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:57,000 Okay. 281 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,000 Wow, look at this place. 282 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:04,000 Igor and Alexei lead me toward a towering structure in the middle of this otherwise suburban 283 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:08,000 neighborhood, and I'm not at all prepared for what's inside. 284 00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:10,000 Oh, my word. 285 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:13,000 What is this? 286 00:19:13,000 --> 00:19:17,000 This is cryo-rus, the only European cryo-rus facility. 287 00:19:20,000 --> 00:19:25,000 The inside of cryo-rus is like a combination between a dairy farm and a mad scientist's 288 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:26,000 lab. 289 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:31,000 But it's actually a state-of-the-art cryo-rus facility, the only place like it in Europe. 290 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:37,000 In fact, each of the flags on display here represents the country of one of their clients. 291 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:41,000 In these tanks, there are currently 59 people. 292 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,000 Wait, there are 59 people in these tanks? 293 00:19:44,000 --> 00:19:49,000 Some of them are full-body, others are head-only or even brain-only. 294 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:53,000 And in fact, my mother's brain is already here. 295 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:54,000 Incredible. 296 00:19:54,000 --> 00:20:00,000 Cryonics is the nascent science of preserving human beings in extremely cold temperatures, 297 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:02,000 and the hopes of reviving them later. 298 00:20:02,000 --> 00:20:07,000 So to recap, I am in a lab devoted to the idea of reviving the dead that is being run by 299 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,000 a guy named Igor. 300 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:17,000 Cryo-rus may be the only facility in Europe doing this, but it isn't the only one in the 301 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:18,000 world. 302 00:20:18,000 --> 00:20:23,000 Alcor in the United States has thousands of members with a reserved space in a tank. 303 00:20:23,000 --> 00:20:28,000 But though cryonics is hot right now as a trend, the science is anything but. 304 00:20:28,000 --> 00:20:30,000 And what's the temperature inside this tank? 305 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:34,000 It's negative 320 degrees Fahrenheit. 306 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:35,000 Very cold. 307 00:20:35,000 --> 00:20:39,000 It's important that tanks are kept full with liquid nitrogen. 308 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,000 Do you want to check the temperature? 309 00:20:41,000 --> 00:20:42,000 Do I want to check it? 310 00:20:42,000 --> 00:20:43,000 Sure. 311 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:49,000 Igor needs to periodically take the temperature inside the tanks to make sure the nitrogen 312 00:20:49,000 --> 00:20:52,000 is still cold enough to keep the people inside viable. 313 00:20:53,000 --> 00:20:58,000 We climb to the top of the cryo tanks and prepare to peer into immortality. 314 00:20:58,000 --> 00:20:59,000 Okay, here we go. 315 00:20:59,000 --> 00:21:01,000 One, two, three. 316 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:22,000 I'm at Cryo-rus on the outskirts of Moscow, where a group of activists is working to 317 00:21:22,000 --> 00:21:28,000 make death obsolete by cryo-preserving the brain for later storage as a kind of digital 318 00:21:28,000 --> 00:21:29,000 soul. 319 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:33,000 This tank is full of ice cold bodies and body parts. 320 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,000 We're opening it up to make sure they're still properly frozen. 321 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:37,000 Okay, here we go. 322 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,000 One, two, three. 323 00:21:48,000 --> 00:21:50,000 Oh my God. 324 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:57,000 To protect the patient's privacy and cryo-rus's trade secrets, we aren't allowed to film 325 00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:58,000 inside the tanks. 326 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:04,000 I know we can't show this, but there's various containers and boxes and those are heads and 327 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:05,000 brains. 328 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:06,000 Yeah, they contain heads and brains. 329 00:22:06,000 --> 00:22:09,000 And the larger wrapped objects there are people. 330 00:22:09,000 --> 00:22:10,000 Yes. 331 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:11,000 Unbelievable. 332 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:13,000 Okay, let me get a temperature reading. 333 00:22:13,000 --> 00:22:14,000 You got this? 334 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:15,000 Yeah. 335 00:22:15,000 --> 00:22:16,000 Okay, here we go. 336 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:17,000 I use this. 337 00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:18,000 Probe's going in. 338 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:22,000 Negative 150. 339 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,000 Negative 233. 340 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:25,000 246. 341 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:26,000 It's dropping. 342 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:27,000 Negative 310. 343 00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:28,000 Negative 320. 344 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:31,000 My hand is literally freezing off. 345 00:22:31,000 --> 00:22:32,000 That's good. 346 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,000 Okay, let's close it up. 347 00:22:35,000 --> 00:22:38,000 Let's let everybody get back to rest. 348 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:46,000 Are you convinced that these people will live again? 349 00:22:46,000 --> 00:22:48,000 I hope. 350 00:22:48,000 --> 00:22:50,000 The technology is still very young. 351 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:56,000 So for now, the patients here are just chilling out, waiting for science to conquer death. 352 00:22:56,000 --> 00:23:00,000 You believe the afterlife really is a second life? 353 00:23:00,000 --> 00:23:03,000 No, I think it is better than second life. 354 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:06,000 A lot of new possibilities in the great future. 355 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:07,000 Right. 356 00:23:07,000 --> 00:23:11,000 Staving off the afterlife by living forever in a robot body. 357 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:14,000 It's a future that never seems to work out in science fiction. 358 00:23:14,000 --> 00:23:17,000 Spoiler, the robots always take over. 359 00:23:18,000 --> 00:23:22,000 These transhumanists though are hardly the first people to try to preserve the body 360 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,000 in the hopes of preserving the soul. 361 00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:28,000 And in fact, there's one remote culture in Indonesia 362 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,000 that's still doing it the way their ancient ancestors did. 363 00:23:31,000 --> 00:23:34,000 To see the afterlife of the tribe time forgot, 364 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:37,000 I'm flying to the island of Sulawesi. 365 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:48,000 In a setting this isolated, the rental car desk doesn't have a lot of options. 366 00:23:48,000 --> 00:23:50,000 Okay, so let's go out of this thing. 367 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:56,000 First is useless, second is first, third is okay, and fourth sticks. 368 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,000 So, you know, I got one good gear. 369 00:23:59,000 --> 00:24:02,000 Come on girl, come on girl. 370 00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:08,000 Fortunately, one gear is all I need to drive into the back country. 371 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:17,000 Sulawesi is a big place, actually the 11th largest island in the world. 372 00:24:17,000 --> 00:24:20,000 And on its face, Indonesia is an Islamic country. 373 00:24:20,000 --> 00:24:26,000 In fact, it has the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, more than 225 million. 374 00:24:26,000 --> 00:24:30,000 But as you drive around here, you notice this really interesting blend. 375 00:24:30,000 --> 00:24:34,000 You see mosques, you see churches, but as you get further inland, 376 00:24:34,000 --> 00:24:38,000 you start to see that those religions are blended with much older beliefs. 377 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:43,000 The island has four peninsulas and at its center, a really rugged mountain range. 378 00:24:43,000 --> 00:24:48,000 That's where I'm headed, because the indigenous people there developed in isolation, 379 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,000 both from each other and from the rest of the world. 380 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:55,000 And as a result, their customs and their rituals have remained unchanged. 381 00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:59,000 And when it comes to the afterlife, there's one group whose beliefs are unique 382 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:02,000 to the world over, the Tarajans. 383 00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:05,000 The Tarajans were a remote Indonesian tribe, 384 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:10,000 who up until the early 20th century had only limited contact with the outside world. 385 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:20,000 I drive for hours and eventually the cities and towns are replaced by a seemingly endless expanse of rice paddies. 386 00:25:22,000 --> 00:25:25,000 Finally, I arrive in the Tarajan homeland 387 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:29,000 and continue on foot to a sacred site known as the Landa Caves. 388 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:36,000 Unbelievable! Look at this! 389 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,000 To the Taraja people, the ground is sacred. 390 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:45,000 It is the source of life, and so they don't want to pollute it with buried bodies. 391 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:47,000 So they've come up with a novel solution, 392 00:25:47,000 --> 00:25:50,000 hanging coffins and cliffside crypts. 393 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,000 It's beautiful, but eerie. 394 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:58,000 And I can't quite shake the feeling that I'm being watched. 395 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,000 These are known as tautaus. 396 00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,000 They are carved wooden effigies of the dead. 397 00:26:05,000 --> 00:26:10,000 Each one of the people sitting in this gallery is somebody buried in one of these coffins. 398 00:26:10,000 --> 00:26:16,000 And these are these perfect representations of them looking out over the world of the living. 399 00:26:17,000 --> 00:26:23,000 For more than 500 years, tautaus like these have stood guard over these cliffside crypts. 400 00:26:23,000 --> 00:26:29,000 Inside the hill is a labyrinth of caves that thankfully I've been granted permission to enter. 401 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:36,000 I pull a lantern out of the renter wreck and venture inside the mountain. 402 00:26:46,000 --> 00:26:49,000 My God, there are bones everywhere! 403 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:06,000 I'm on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, 404 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:12,000 investigating the afterlife beliefs of the Tarajan people deep inside one of their burial caves. 405 00:27:12,000 --> 00:27:15,000 My God, there are bones everywhere! 406 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:22,000 Look at the piles of coffins. 407 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:26,000 There are coffin stacks all the way up to the top of the cave. 408 00:27:26,000 --> 00:27:28,000 It just keeps going back. 409 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:38,000 And look, skulls and bones tucked into every nook and cranny everywhere you look, human remains. 410 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:45,000 The bodies are interred in elaborately carved coffins filled with clothing and objects 411 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,000 meant to accompany the deceased into the afterlife. 412 00:27:48,000 --> 00:27:53,000 At first glance, you might think this cave is full of trash, but in fact, these are all offerings. 413 00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:56,000 These are coins that have been offered to the dead. 414 00:27:56,000 --> 00:28:01,000 And if you look up here, you can see cigarettes, even bottles of water. 415 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:06,000 All of these are active offerings being made by the Tarajan people. 416 00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:12,000 I retreat through the maze of chambers, stunned by what I've seen. 417 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:17,000 But in many cases, these bodies weren't placed here until long after these people passed. 418 00:28:17,000 --> 00:28:23,000 That's because Tarajans believe that when you first die, you can still be very much alive. 419 00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:32,000 To learn how, I continue on to the nearby Taraja village of Kedikesu, 420 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,000 where I meet with my local contact named Aru. 421 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:36,000 Aru, Josh. 422 00:28:36,000 --> 00:28:38,000 Josh, Aru, nice to meet you. 423 00:28:38,000 --> 00:28:39,000 Nice to meet you too. 424 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:40,000 This is incredible. 425 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:42,000 This is traditional Taraja architecture. 426 00:28:42,000 --> 00:28:44,000 Yeah, this is called Tunkkonen House. 427 00:28:44,000 --> 00:28:49,000 The distinctive Tunkkonen Houses are built this way for a very specific reason. 428 00:28:49,000 --> 00:28:53,000 It's all about how the locals view life and the afterlife. 429 00:28:53,000 --> 00:28:56,000 The shape of the house in both shape because like cosmos, 430 00:28:56,000 --> 00:29:02,000 north part symbol of life, south part symbolizes death. 431 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,000 So it's like the passage of life. 432 00:29:05,000 --> 00:29:07,000 Yeah, passage of life. 433 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:10,000 It's how the Tarajans view that passage that makes them unique. 434 00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:17,000 Unlike almost every other religion, the Tarajans believe that death is not the end for the physical body. 435 00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:20,000 In Tarajan culture, what do you believe happens when you die? 436 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:24,000 We believe that when we die, there's a lot of life. 437 00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:28,000 But when we die, the spirit doesn't leave. 438 00:29:28,000 --> 00:29:29,000 The spirit doesn't leave. 439 00:29:29,000 --> 00:29:30,000 It stays in the body. 440 00:29:30,000 --> 00:29:31,000 It stays in the body. 441 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:33,000 And so where does the body go? 442 00:29:33,000 --> 00:29:35,000 The bodies go to the house. 443 00:29:35,000 --> 00:29:39,000 So people will actually keep dead bodies in their home? 444 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:41,000 Yeah. 445 00:29:41,000 --> 00:29:45,000 Aru isn't describing some obscure outdated practice. 446 00:29:45,000 --> 00:29:52,000 Hundreds of houses in this area may be cohabited by dead people. 447 00:29:52,000 --> 00:29:55,000 It brings me to one such home, that of his friend David. 448 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,000 Hi David, how are you? Nice to meet you. How are you? 449 00:29:58,000 --> 00:29:59,000 Fine, thank you. 450 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:01,000 And so David, this is your home? 451 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:02,000 Yeah. 452 00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:05,000 And is it possible for me to meet your family? 453 00:30:05,000 --> 00:30:07,000 Yeah, please. 454 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:08,000 Please. 455 00:30:14,000 --> 00:30:20,000 David leads me up into the house where I'm greeted not by an aura of death, but emphatic life. 456 00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:26,000 Look at all these cute kids. Hi baby. 457 00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,000 You have a big family, David. 458 00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:32,000 Nice to meet everybody. Bye bye. 459 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:40,000 After I meet most of David's family, he brings me into the back hall to meet his mom and dad. 460 00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:42,000 Oh my. 461 00:30:42,000 --> 00:30:44,000 And these are your parents? 462 00:30:44,000 --> 00:30:46,000 Yes. 463 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:53,000 This is my mother and then this is my father. 464 00:30:53,000 --> 00:31:00,000 These two people have been dead for more than a year and have been effectively mummified using age-old techniques, 465 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:04,000 along with some modern chemicals for preserving the body. 466 00:31:04,000 --> 00:31:09,000 But it isn't just a way to honor them. They're still active members of the family. 467 00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:13,000 Do you... do you talk to them? 468 00:31:13,000 --> 00:31:19,000 Yes, when I speak with them and when my children speak with them, we're speaking with their spirit. 469 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:22,000 I believe their spirit can hear us. 470 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:26,000 Aru has instructed me to pay my respects as though these are living people. 471 00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:29,000 Can you introduce me to your parents? 472 00:31:29,000 --> 00:31:37,000 This is my mother and this is my father. 473 00:31:37,000 --> 00:31:42,000 It's an honor to meet you both. Thank you for letting me into your home. 474 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:52,000 For David and others who have grown up with mummies in the house, this is a normal interaction. 475 00:31:52,000 --> 00:31:59,000 They talk to, wash and even bring offerings of food to their dearly departed. 476 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:04,000 David's folks even get some quality time with their grandchildren. 477 00:32:04,000 --> 00:32:06,000 Saying hi to their grandparents? 478 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:08,000 Yes. 479 00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:16,000 I have to admit as an outsider this isn't the easiest thing to process, let alone look at. 480 00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:24,000 But there is a feeling of warmth and love here and the family connection is clearly alive and well. 481 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:28,000 Well, thank you very much, David, for letting me into your home. I appreciate it. 482 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:33,000 And thank you both very much. It was very nice to meet both of you. 483 00:32:33,000 --> 00:32:36,000 The Tarajans don't live with their dead forever though. 484 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:40,000 Eventually their spirits must pass on. 485 00:32:40,000 --> 00:32:47,000 And to do that, they need to send off in the form of a one-of-a-kind funeral known as a Rambo solo. 486 00:32:55,000 --> 00:33:02,000 There's one taking place in the village this morning and Aru has arranged rare permission for me to participate. 487 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,000 So Aru, who is this man? When did he die? 488 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:12,000 He died one year ago. He was the important person like a ritual king in this village. 489 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:18,000 Relatives have gathered from far and wide and the village has been transformed into a grand reception area. 490 00:33:18,000 --> 00:33:24,000 It's like an Irish wake, a wedding and a family reunion rolled into one and it's already getting rowdy. 491 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:35,000 The casket is modeled after a Tonkonen house and accompanied by a carved wooden Tautau statue of the deceased, complete with sunglasses. 492 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:42,000 The entire structure weighs nearly a thousand pounds and has to be carried through the entire village to a ceremony site. 493 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:49,000 This is definitely going to take more than six pallbearers and lucky for me, big guys are encouraged to help. 494 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:55,000 I don traditional Tarajan garb, grab a pole and get ready for a full contact funeral. 495 00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:08,000 We heaved the casket down a muddy winding road that isn't wide enough to handle the mob. 496 00:34:11,000 --> 00:34:18,000 The chanting and the beating of drums drive us forward at a speed which could and sometimes does crush unfortunate stragglers. 497 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:30,000 We're not even halfway through the course and this is moving way too fast. We're barely clearing the electrical wires. 498 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:37,000 The road is literally moving beneath our feet. It's getting more and more possible that someone could get seriously hurt. 499 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,000 Someone like me. 500 00:34:50,000 --> 00:34:59,000 You might think the Indonesian burial caves were creepy but for me, they're just another day at the office. 501 00:34:59,000 --> 00:35:03,000 Here are more of my close encounters with the world of the dead. 502 00:35:04,000 --> 00:35:07,000 I got a bone down here. Part of a vertebrae. 503 00:35:07,000 --> 00:35:10,000 That is a bone. I mean that looks like a human bone to me. 504 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:13,000 It might be time to call the police department. 505 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:15,000 Oh, what is that? 506 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:20,000 There's gotta be a skull there. I'm gonna lift this vessel up. There it is right there. 507 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:26,000 Wow, Josh. The first time someone has ever seen this since, that today it was put in there. Oh my God. 508 00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:34,000 Unbelievable. Another skull. 509 00:35:46,000 --> 00:36:00,000 I'm on the remote island of Sulawesi in Indonesia where the Chirajan people help the souls of their dead move into the afterlife with a huge funeral festival known as a Rambusolo. 510 00:36:00,000 --> 00:36:06,000 I'm on pallbearer duty for a casket that's as big as a car but doesn't corner like one. 511 00:36:11,000 --> 00:36:13,000 I recover. 512 00:36:15,000 --> 00:36:20,000 And continue on until we reach the funeral grounds. 513 00:36:24,000 --> 00:36:26,000 What the hell is a funeral? 514 00:36:27,000 --> 00:36:29,000 That's one way to get to the afterlife. 515 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:32,000 I'm rewarded for my hard work. 516 00:36:33,000 --> 00:36:37,000 I didn't realize you got beer with this. It's the best funeral there have been do. 517 00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:41,000 FYI, it's nine o'clock in the morning. 518 00:36:42,000 --> 00:36:44,000 Oh, that just changed my life. 519 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:51,000 The body is positioned overlooking a huge arena that has been built from scratch just for this funeral. 520 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:57,000 Aru and I take our seats in a set of risers where we can overlook the proceedings. 521 00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:58,000 So what will happen now? 522 00:36:58,000 --> 00:37:00,000 Now it's bullfighting. 523 00:37:00,000 --> 00:37:01,000 Bullfighting? 524 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:11,000 The bulls in this case are buffalo who the Chirajans believe will escort the deceased soul into the afterlife. 525 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:17,000 Families spend thousands of dollars on these expensive animals who fight and are then sacrificed. 526 00:37:17,000 --> 00:37:26,000 The proceedings are brutal, hard to watch, and utterly sacred to the Chirajans. 527 00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:30,000 Loose bull, loose bull. 528 00:37:32,000 --> 00:37:35,000 Pick up Dave, these seats are not safe. 529 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:40,000 The bulls will fight back. They know what's up. 530 00:37:46,000 --> 00:37:51,000 The bullfighting, eulogies, and feasting will continue on for an entire week. 531 00:37:51,000 --> 00:37:56,000 Here, death is a joyful process and a publicly shared event. 532 00:37:56,000 --> 00:38:00,000 The bodies I've seen certainly don't exhibit any outer signs of life. 533 00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:06,000 But to the living, they offer the promise that none of us are ever truly gone. 534 00:38:06,000 --> 00:38:11,000 Thanks for having me here. Safe travels, sir. Thank you, Aru. 535 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:12,000 You're welcome. 536 00:38:21,000 --> 00:38:28,000 The veil between life and death is one that cultures around the world have tried to pierce for thousands of years. 537 00:38:28,000 --> 00:38:32,000 But the only way to truly know what's on the other side is to die. 538 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:35,000 Or is it? 539 00:38:35,000 --> 00:38:39,000 What if one could visit the afterlife temporarily? 540 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:47,000 To meet death for myself, I grab a flight halfway around the world to Peru and the jungles of the Amazon. 541 00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:10,000 You know, long before Europeans came to the Americas, these continents were home to countless thousands of tribes and vast civilizations. 542 00:39:10,000 --> 00:39:17,000 And one of the things they all had in common were complex religions that combined nature and spirits, 543 00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:24,000 and believed that through rituals and the use of psychotropic plants, one could reach out and connect with the other side. 544 00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:29,000 And that's why I've come here, to the Amazon, to experience the effects of drinking ayahuasca. 545 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:36,000 It's a Ketchu word that translates either as the vine of the soul or the vine of death. 546 00:39:40,000 --> 00:39:46,000 I want to be clear about something really clear. This is not an endorsement of drugs. I don't do drugs. 547 00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:51,000 Ayahuasca is very powerful and it can't be dangerous. It has killed people. 548 00:39:51,000 --> 00:39:58,000 But the people of the Amazon, this isn't a drug. This is a medicine that awakens the soul. 549 00:40:00,000 --> 00:40:01,000 I want to see what it does. 550 00:40:05,000 --> 00:40:12,000 The river is carrying me toward the unknown. When I get off this boat, I could experience a pure vision of the afterlife, 551 00:40:12,000 --> 00:40:15,000 or gaze into the abyss of madness. 552 00:40:22,000 --> 00:40:29,000 My journey down the Amazon becomes a journey to the edge of the afterlife. 553 00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:30,000 Oh man. 554 00:40:33,000 --> 00:40:40,000 Then, alongside America's most famous paranormal investigators, I explore one of the country's most haunted locations. 555 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:44,000 That is literally saying help. 556 00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:51,000 And to capture evidence of the afterlife, we embark on a ghost hunt that's never been attempted before. 557 00:40:56,000 --> 00:41:02,000 It's time for a final answer to the eternal question, is there life after death?