"narrator:" "there are global phenomena that science cannot explain -- true stories that defy rational explanation." "in the american midwest, livestock is systematically mutilated." "schneider:" "his throat was cut completely all the way down to his groin area." "his tongue was cut out, and his eye was also out." "narrator:" "the culprit is as mysterious as the incisions themselves." "schneider: it was almost like a laser was used on them." "narrator: is it the hallmark of extraterrestrial visitors or a secret government operation racing to contain an urgent threat?" "in the remote foothills of the alps, a frozen corpse is uncovered after five millennia under ice." "[ camera shutter clicks ] one by one, people start to die." "a cruel coincidence or has an ancient curse been unwittingly unleashed?" "[ bow creaks ] new investigations question unexplained happenings and otherworldly events." "carter:" "what is th-- oh, man!" "it's hovering!" "i-it's not an aircraft!" "narrator: firsthand testimony and fresh evidence build new possibilities." "man: never seen anything like that in my life." "and it just disappeared into thin air." "it wasn't from this planet." "my arms were just on fire." "narrator: rethink everything you think you know. captions paid for by discovery communications sync  corrected by iscol" "[ cows mooing ] yeah, just hold them down for a little bit." "tom miller and his family have worked this sprawling colorado ranch for three generations." "there isn't much tom doesn't know about rearing cattle, yet there's one mystery a lifetime of ranching may never solve." "who or what is mutilating and killing his livestock?" "there's so many things that i don't understand about it, and no one seems to be able to explain it, either." "narrator: one day in 1999, tom wakes to find one of his cows has died." "on a cattle ranch, that's not unusual." "miller: first, i thought it just died naturally, and then i got closer to it, and i could see it wasn't natural." "the eyes were gone, the tongue was gone, the ears were gone." "the sex organs were cut out." "it was just kind of weird." "narrator:" "he notifies the local sheriff, who heads out to take a look." "but there's little he can do but file a report." "miller: i guess one of the strangest things is the laser cuts, why is there no blood, how come body parts aren't strung around." "narrator:" "in 50 years of farming, tom has never seen anything like this." "predators don't normally leave a carcass intact or drink nearly 11 gallons of blood." "and yet farmers all over the world are reporting similar mutilations." "author and researcher chris o'brien has spent 20 years researching these strange incidents." "cattle mutilations and livestock mutilations are a global phenomenon." "in england, you've had horses and sheep." "there were cases reported in australia in the '50s." "there's been approximately 2,500, 3,000 cases in south america since 2000." "there's been thousands of cases in the united states going all the way back to the '50s." "narrator:" "all these mutilations have a number of things in common -- the complete draining of the animal's blood, the removal of its eyes, ears, lips, and tongue, the loss of major internal organs with no point of entry," "the udders and genitals are cut out, and the anal passage is cored out, all carried out with surgical precision and the cuts apparently cauterized with intense heat." "many government authorities around the world view animal mutilations as the work of predators." "they often eat the soft tissue before anything else on a carcass." "local veterinarian truman smith has seen many mutilations in colorado." "smith: when birds pecked, i've seen it also with coyotes, and i can see why people think that, you know, there has to be something more than just predators." "but it's always amazed me how smooth a job they can do." "narrator:" "smith is convinced mutilations are made by animals." "but others disagree." "ex-deputy sheriff chuck zukowski has been investigating this gruesome phenomenon in colorado and elsewhere for over 25 years." "his police training has led him to conclude that something unusual is to blame." "no one's ever seen a predator do that damage to an animal, and you learn a lot from the ranchers." "these guys know how animals die naturally." "when they see an animal that's been killed and they don't recognize any symptoms to how it died, it alarms them." "this is their livelihood." "narrator:" "previously, tom miller has had three mutilations on his ranch." "two were full-grown cows." "the first thing a skeptic would say, quot;well, a mountain lion or a bear.quot;" "there are no mountain lions or bears anywhere near here, so there are no predators that could take down an animal in excess of 1,100 pounds." "tom reported each case to the authorities, but they could offer no help." "so when a fourth attack occurs, this time the first person tom calls is chuck." "zukowski: this is a classic sign of an animal mutilation." "but what's new about this one is these little guys right here are called hocks." "and for some reason, this one's been removed." "you can clearly see right here that it's actually been cut out." "scavengers don't do that." "predators don't do that." "narrator: but tom has noticed that other potential predators react strangely to the mutilated carcasses." "miller:" "the strange thing about these mutilation cases, the predators, they don't go and try and eat on them or anything, and this doesn't happen with a natural death." "they get to them right away." "narrator:" "can the other animals sense something is wrong with the carcass?" "this could rule out predators or even scavengers being responsible." "and if animals aren't behind the mutilations, who is?" "nearby, another incidence of mutilation has been reported." "this time something is different." "zukowski drives to the site three hours away." "two of rancher glenda schneider's horses have been horrifically cut up." "zukowski: the two horses that she lost are pets, so it's beyond sad." "it's just... it's morbid." "narrator:" "could there be a connection?" "buck -- his throat was cut completely." "he was cut all the way down to his groin area." "his penis and that was cut out, his anal was cored out, his tongue was cut out, and his eye was also out." "and he didn't have any blood around him, and princess -- they did the same thing, basically, to her." "the cuts were too clean." "it was almost like a laser was used on them." "narrator: could there be a logical explanation for the appalling mutilations?" "this is probably one of the largest animal-cruelty cold cases, if not in the u.s., in the whole world." "but no one's ever been caught, convicted, tried, taken to court." "nothing." "narrator: if it is humans, who would do it and why?" "or is there a more sinister explanation?" "schneider:" "i just don't have a clue." "what i do know is whatever it was came from above." "that's for sure." "narrator:" "colorado ranchers tom miller and glenda schneider have more in common than a lifetime of rearing cattle." "both have had animals horrifically mutilated with a surgical precision that it seems could not have been made by any predator." "ex-deputy sheriff chuck zukowski has investigated hundreds of cattle mutilations." "who is doing it and why?" "now chuck has uncovered evidence that could point to human involvement." "zukowski:" "one of the obvious things of this mutilation is the ribs right here are broken." "they're actually snapped." "now, generally, when a cow dies, it'll fall over." "but have you ever seen this type of damage before when a cow just falls over?" "miller:" "oh, no. no. unh-unh." "another thing we need to look at is maybe somebody was going by through here in their pickup truck and they hit the animal." "but you don't see any of that here, and we don't -- obviously, you didn't see... no, there were no tracks." "...no tracks at all out here." "narrator:" "this same strange absence was noted on the schneider ranch." "there was no tire tracks or anything going out to those horses." "it was dry, very dry." "narrator:" "many of the mutilations share similar bone fractures." "zukowski now thinks this can only be due to one thing." "the very first thing we look for is any type of evidence of the animal dying naturally." "you want to see dirt moved around." "you want to see scuff marks on the ground." "every one of the cases that are mutilation cases, there is absolutely no movement in the ground -- no scuffing, nothing." "and that tells you that that animal was placed there." "narrator: this strongly suggests that this is a case of animal abuse." "but if they didn't drive out here, how did they arrive?" "it just looks like it's been taken way up and dropped down." "what i'm seeing is the animal is picked up from one location, it's taken to a second location, the damage is being done at the second location, then the animal is being brought back." "narrator:" "who or what could pick up an animal weighing nearly a ton, cut it up, drain its blood, transport it, then drop it back to earth without being seen?" "miller: it seems to me like something with aliens or something like that." "if you say it's an alien doing it, some people think you're kind of goofy or something, anyway." "narrator:" "tom is not alone in his belief." "retired sheriff lou girodo of las animas county, colorado, is also convinced that ufos may be involved." "girodo: a few years back, one rancher called me and said that quot;you got to get out here, sheriff." "one of my steers was mutilated.quot;" "and then 15, 20 minutes later, a bright orange light came up, about the size of a beach ball." "he came up off the ground, then he split in two." "what got me was they were the same size after they split." "wow." "the one ball just went flying north." "he just took off." "he was gone in just a few seconds." "and i still think to this day, and it'd take a lot to convince me otherwise, it wasn't from this planet." "oh, man." "narrator: intrigued, zukowski plots the locations of cattle mutilations on a map of the u.s." "and then compares them to the locations of ufo sightings." "i started typing in the gps coordinates of all these different sightings across the united states, and i was amazed." "i couldn't believe what i saw." "i started seeing a pattern, and as it appears, they were falling on a 37-degree latitude." "well, as it turns out, the top-10 states that had the most ufo sightings reported fall on that 37-degree latitude." "we have nevada, colorado, kansas, missouri, kentucky." "and all of a sudden, i started to see this paranormal freeway shoot across the united states where all these things are starting to occur." "it's remarkable." "i know some people think you're crazy if you say it's ufos or something like that or aliens, but i don't know what else it could be." "i really don't." "narrator: chuck zukowski shares a disturbing theory to explain why extraterrestrials may be attracted to the livestock." "zukowski: ufo theorists believe that the cow blood is being used for hybrid fertilization -- alien hybrids." "it sounds like science fiction, but certainly today, you know, we're doing things like gene splicing, so the theory is that maybe somebody else far in advance of us is doing likewise." "narrator: chuck believes that this theory could explain the thousands of mutilated animals found all over the world drained of their blood." "[ zapping ] but not all paranormal investigators buy into this theory." "chris o'brien is one of them." "why would some nonhuman intelligence come light-years to the pastures of the planet to gather ingredients for lip and testicle stew?" "it just doesn't make sense to me." "narrator: but could the truth be even darker and more troubling than visits from outer space?" "man: it was a black helicopter with tinted windows." "schneider: i was scared." "narrator: is it possible that our own government is involved?" "o'brien:" "they have to be covert about it because of the political and societal ramifications of divulging that there is something that we should be very frightened of." "narrator: strange events have been happening at ranchlands across middle america." "livestock has been mutilated, and some look to the skies for explanation." "but eyewitness accounts suggest the threat may be coming from much closer to home." "could a top secret government operation be behind the slayings, and are they trying to contain a deadly outbreak?" "glenda schneider remembers hearing a strange noise just before her two horses were brutally killed." "i heard this whooshing sound, like whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh." "and i looked up, you know, looking to see if i could see a helicopter." "i didn't hear an engine." "all i heard was blades." "narrator: a few weeks later, the sound returns, and this time she catches a glimpse of what's making the noise." "a menacing blacked-out helicopter appeared over her farm." "and it just made a complete circle around the ranch then came back, made another circle, and i was scared." "these helicopters are only used by government agencies and military covert ops." "another local rancher, reluctant to reveal his identity, also had an encounter with one of these helicopters." "man:" "so, i was coming home from town, and i seen an helicopter coming from the other direction with a very bright light on it." "i stopped." "they shined their spotlight onto me, and i could not hear the helicopter as close as it was to me." "no sound." "it looked like a military helicopter." "i don't know for sure." "it was a black helicopter with tinted windows." "narrator: is it possible that the u.s. military is behind animal mutilations?" "if so, the big question is quot;why?" "quot;" "author and researcher chris o'brien has spent 20 years trying to figure it out." "o'brien: i have talked with local politicians, law enforcement, scientists, and one theory that's been proposed is that these unusual livestock deaths or cattle mutilations are actually a monitoring program by some unknown agency monitoring the food chain." "narrator:" "what could be so terrifying that it requires such clandestine operations?" "in 1996, cows began dying inexplicably in britain." "investigations revealed a syndrome called mad cow disease." "the disease was spreading like a chain letter, very widely, before the first cases were even identified." "narrator: the british government also revealed there was a possible link with the human form of the disease, c.j.d., a fatal illness which affects the central nervous system." "in britain, 6 million head of cattle were slaughtered in a desperate attempt to prevent the disease spreading." "the massive slaughter of cattle in britain was supposed to have eliminated mad cow disease." "but o'brien is not convinced." "he claims the infectious agents called prions that carry the disease are still with us." "when the british slaughtered and burned 6 million head of livestock, a lot of the prions were able to survive in all that bone ash." "and guess what happened to all the bone ash from all those millions of cattle." "it was packaged up as fertilizer and sent all over the planet." "70 countries got that bone ash." "that's scary." "narrator: for o'brien, this may explain why animal mutilations are a worldwide phenomena." "is it possible those countries reporting cases of mutilations, like the u.s., australia, and much of south america, have all imported this fertilizer?" "if so, o'brien believes we could be in danger of infecting cattle with mad cow disease." "o'brien:" "they have to be covert about it because of the political and societal ramifications of divulging that there is something in the food chain that we should be very frightened of." "narrator:" "but perhaps mad cow disease is not the prime reason behind the covert testing operations and mutilated animals." "perhaps there is another even more disturbing reason." "files have surfaced under the u.s. freedom of information act showing that back in 1947, the u.s. government was highly disturbed and worried by the possibility that hostile nations, and by default terrorists today, could infect the u.s. cattle herd with deadly viruses," "which would then pass on to the human population." "and so, for that reason, stealthy checks were undertaken on the cattle herd back then." "narrator:" "so are animal mutilations a secret method for the government to test deliberate infection of the food chain without alarming the population?" "it would make a great deal of sense to stealthily monitor the cattle herd and possibly even spread rumors that it's done by extraterrestrials to actually keep people away from what is arguably an even darker truth." "narrator: when we contacted the u.s. government, they refused to comment." "chuck zukowski, who has been investigating animal mutilations for over 25 years, remains baffled." "i've never seen -- or matter of fact, any investigator has ever seen any evidence that points to human activity." "then again, too, we've never found evidence that points to nonhuman activity, meaning alien." "so who's doing this?" "this is a complete unknown." "narrator:" "whether they are predators... definitely it was no predator." "narrator:" "...or military black ops, or even alien experiments... o'brien:" "i think the alien answer is probably the least likely explanation." "narrator:" "after years of research, eyewitness accounts, and government silence, the mystery continues to burn as brightly as it did on the morning tom miller discovered his first cow had died." "across our planet, extraordinary happenings tease the boundary of what we believe to be possible." "over 5,000 miles away, an ancient mummy launches a modern-day curse." "are the deaths random accidents linked together by overeager journalists?" "witting:" "people say that they are not afraid of the curse, and all of a sudden, they die." "maybe there is something about it." "narrator:" "or could each victim's fate be connected by their disrespect for the unburied dead?" "[ man grunts ]" "erika simon has hiked these beautiful alpine mountains for years, a passion she shared with her husband, helmut." "the trail along the austrian-italian border is one they had taken many times before." "but it was a leisurely trek on september 19, 1991, that would thrust them into world headlines." "translator:" "my husband was ahead, and suddenly he stops and says to me, quot;" "look what's lying there.quot;" "[ wind howling ] and i looked over, and i said, quot;but that's a person.quot;" "i was shocked because i had never seen a corpse before." "it wasn't a skeleton." "it was a real corpse." "it had skin." "and then my husband said to me, quot;you know what?" "i'll take a picture.quot;" "and i said, quot;no, you shouldn't photograph the dead.quot;" "quot;yes, i'll take a picture." "quot;i'll take a picture because maybe they won't believe us that there's a corpse up there.quot;" "so he took a picture." "[ camera shutter clicks ] narrator: this single photograph would ignite a series of events so terrifying, an unsettling question has been raised." "did helmut simon unleash a deadly curse that day, a curse that continues to claim victims over two decades later?" "narrator:" "in 1991, tourist helmut simon discovers a frozen corpse while out hiking." "he decides to photograph it." "the picture he snaps leads to one of the greatest archaeological finds of the 20th century." "scientists discover the body is 5,300 years old, the oldest frozen corpse ever found." "the mummy is given a name -- oetzi." "after the headlines fade and the mummy is taken away, helmut simon quietly goes back to his favorite hobby, hiking." "13 years later, on october 7, 2004, the healthy 67-year-old heads out for another brisk walk in the foothills near salzburg, austria." "he tells wife erika to expect him back in a few hours." "translator: he didn't even take his wallet with him because he knew he'd be back for coffee." "it was a small hike, almost 6,000 feet, but that was nothing for him." "narrator:" "helmut knows these trails well." "but when he doesn't return by nightfall, erika begins to fear the worst." "translator: the innkeeper said he'd leave the door open and the lights on, hoping he would turn up." "but when it started snowing, i thought he won't return." "narrator:" "helmut's disappearance triggers a full-scale search-and-rescue operation." "[ dog barks ] eight days later, with the operation about to be called off, a hunter stumbles across helmut's frozen body." "like oetzi, helmut simon's own corpse is discovered face down in a stream," "covered with a layer of snow." "he is in exactly the same position as oetzi." "journalists have a field day with the similarities." "translator:" "because of the way he died and the way he was found, parallels were made to the death of oetzi." "it led many people and the media to declare it as a curse." "narrator: erika simon believes there is nothing supernatural about her husband's death." "translator: i don't believe in the oetzi curse." "it was simply destiny." "narrator:" "but journalists marco witting and matthias christler are intrigued." "could there be other unexplained deaths associated with the ancient iceman?" "translator:" "we started to look at what happened to other people who had something to do with oetzi." "narrator: they are shocked with what they soon discover." "translator:" "it all started just 10 months after the discovery of oetzi." "narrator:" "rainer henn was the forensic examiner charged with removing oetzi's corpse from the mountain." "he was one of the first to touch the body, not an easy task after being frozen to the mountain for five millennia." "as henn ripped oetzi free from his burial site... translator:" "it wasn't particularly humane." "but at that time, it was not clear how important this mummy was." "people were just using their ice picks to hack away at the ice and then pulling the body out." "the whole thing was filmed." "it all came across as a bit rough." "narrator:" "10 months after rainer henn had ripped oetzi's body from the mountain, he's driving to a lecture." "translator:" "that was interesting because he was on his way to give a lecture about oetzi." "narrator:" "suddenly, a car traveling in the opposite direction swerves into his path." "[ tires screech ] there's a head-on collision." "his wife suffers only minor injuries, but henn is pronounced dead at the scene." "the journalists ask themselves, quot;could there be a mysterious connection between these two tragic deaths?" "quot;" "they dig deeper." "translator:" "then more and more cases were discovered." "the next one was kurt fritz." "narrator:" "kurt fritz was a seasoned guide working the area when oetzi was removed from the ice." "he, too, was criticized for being disrespectful after it was discovered that he had posed for this photograph holding the mummy's head." "in 1993, two years later, fritz is leading a tour group through the mountains." "it's high summer, but freak weather rolls in, reducing visibility to zero." "fritz trips and falls, triggering an avalanche." "translator: the circumstances were mysterious." "he was the only one in his group to die." "narrator: now, there are three unusual deaths, all with links to oetzi." "marco and matthias pore through regional obituaries, and the list grows." "rainer hoelz was a news reporter who'd filmed rainer henn manhandling the corpse out of the ice." "hoelz dies suddenly of a brain tumor in 2004." "just like helmut simon, his death comes an unlucky 13 years after his first encounter with oetzi." "helmut simon, rainer henn, kurt fritz, rainer hoelz." "four men who'd had direct contact with the ice mummy." "[ tires screech ] all dead." "for marco and matthias, the discovery of each death makes the case for a curse stronger." "others dismiss the notion as a strange coincidence." "four deaths in 13 years is not statistically impossible among the large group involved with the world-famous ice mummy." "among the detractors is professor konrad spindler." "the head of prehistory at the university of innsbruck, spindler was the first archaeologist to examine the mummy's body following its discovery." "spindler wrote a best-selling book, quot;the man in the ice,quot;" "and knew more about the mummy than anyone else." "translator: people called him the oetzi father because he dedicated his whole life to him." "narrator: in october 2004, spindler is asked by reporters for his opinion on oetzi's curse." "translator:" "konrad spindler did not take the curse seriously." "he laughed it off, saying, quot;maybe i'm the next.quot;" "narrator:" "spindler dies six months later of a rare condition disabling muscle function called motor neuron disease." "more and more people begin to wonder, quot;has the iceman just claimed another victim?" "quot;" "witting:" "people say that they are not afraid of the curse, and all of a sudden, they die, so maybe there is something about it." "narrator: five men linked with the ancient ice mummy oetzi are now dead from violent or unusual causes." "translator:" "i'm convinced that as much as you believe in science and think analytically, somehow the thought arises that it must be something, there must be a connection." "[ tires screech ] narrator:" "the dramatic and sudden ways these men died and their involvement with oetzi sparks the idea that this 5,300-year-old corpse is cursed." "oetzi is hardly the first mummy to raise the specter of a curse." "king tut's discovery in 1922 is the most famous example." "but more recent ones add fuel to the fire." "in 1993, an ancient burial site uncovered in siberia attracts attention." "as the team pries their way into the tomb, a sense of foreboding comes over them." "smoot: there was a real sense of the sacred, as if the place sort of is dictating whether you're supposed to be there or not." "narrator:" "as they force the coffin open, they reveal the mummified body of a young woman dating from 500 years b.c., making her about 2,500 years old." "she becomes known as the ice maiden." "the tattoos on the lady were really striking." "i mean, they were stunning, kind of fantastic creatures, and they were sort of rotated on themselves as if they were caught in mid-leap." "narrator:" "as beautiful as jeanne smoot finds the ice maiden, she remains uneasy about its treatment after the discovery." "smoot: i wish there were ways to have made sure that she was better preserved as she was taken away." "that's a real shame." "narrator: a few weeks after the ice maiden's hasty removal, a series of earthquakes shake the entire area." "many die." "for the local people who venerate these graves, the deaths are no accident." "translator:" "our ancestors knew exactly where the burial should be, and for some reason, they've chosen that certain burial place for this young lady." "she should be returned." "she should be returned to her place, and that's it." "nothing else is needed." "narrator: could the fatalities surrounding the discovery and examination of oetzi be tied to the way his body was treated?" "for journalists marco and matthias, the actions of the dead speak for themselves." "despite his wife's warning, helmut simon photographs oetzi." "rainer henn damages him." "rainer hoelz films him." "kurt fritz manhandled him." "and konrad spindler and his team operated on him." "and the list of victims doesn't stop there." "professor friedrich tiefenbrunner was a microbiologist and a key member of the original research team." "his goal was to develop a method to protect the mummy from bacterial decay." "translator:" "tiefenbrunner had to assault oetzi's body for samples." "to be honest, who would like to assault his body?" "in 2005, tiefenbrunner undergoes heart surgery." "he passes away on the operating table." "he is the sixth person to succumb after touching oetzi." "with the death toll still rising, archaeologists uncover a surprise of their own." "could the first victim of the curse be oetzi himself?" "[ bow creaks ] you have to entertain the possibility that he could've been sacrificed." "narrator: six fatalities linked to a rediscovered prehistoric corpse have led to speculation that an ancient curse has been unleashed." "but even if one is willing to accept that wild claim, a key question remains." "why?" "and could the mummy's own death offer clues?" "in 2001, archaeologists announce updated autopsy reports on the 5,300-year-old man." "they suggest that his demise was no accident." "forensic pathologist eduard egarter vigl carried out a series of x-rays on the mummy." "[ speaking german ] translator:" "a shadow was discovered on these x-rays." "we drew a number of conclusions which led to the diagnosis -- injury from an arrowhead." "[ bow creaks ] narrator:" "the arrow severed an artery, causing oetzi to bleed to death." "it appears that he was brutally murdered, and whoever killed him left nothing to chance." "translator: the bridge between the top edge of the eye socket and the jawbone is broken." "the attacker or attackers hit him with a stone or weapon." "narrator:" "experts initially surmise that oetzi must've been killed trying to escape." "but this theory is challenged by the discovery of an ancient stone carving." "reinhard: you have to entertain the possibility that he could've been sacrificed." "narrator: for archaeologist dr. johan reinhard, this stone carving is the nearest you get to a neolithic crime-scene photo." "it shows exactly a depiction of a man being shot in the back by a man holding a bow with an arrow." "narrator: to reinhard, the carving suggests that being shot in the back with an arrow was an ancient method of sacrificial killing." "reinhard: in a lot of societies, human sacrifice is seen as an honoring of the victim." "they weren't sacrificed for bloodthirsty reasons." "they become, in essence, deified, and in essence, become gods themselves." "narrator:" "believers in the curse now think they've solved the riddle." "could the key to the unexplained deaths be that oetzi was sacrificed and then removed from his resting place?" "the theory itself is not novel." "archaeologists believe the ice maiden was also sacrificed." "once jeanne smoot and her colleagues ripped the ice maiden from the permafrost, she started to deteriorate, so they were forced to move her to a museum 100 miles away." "we're all of us growing more and more anxious." "people said things like, quot;maybe she didn't want to leave.quot;" "narrator:" "both oetzi and the ice maiden appear to have been killed in a sacred ritual." "both were moved from their places of death." "neither have yet been returned, and many believe, until they are, these curses will continue." "and in oetzi's case, the unexplained deaths continue." "in october 2005, molecular scientist tom loy discovered traces of blood on oetzi's weapons and clothing." "two years later, tom loy died." "while his death after handling the corpse can hardly be called sudden, the manner in which he died is curious." "translator:" "loy was an archaeologist who researched the objects with oetzi." "he found blood on them, and again, ironically, he died of a blood disease." "narrator: as recently as 2011, the story takes yet another tragic twist." "alois pirpamer was the mountain guide given responsibility for getting the mummy off the mountain." "pirpamer died suddenly of a stroke on the 19th of september, the 20th anniversary of oetzi's discovery." "and how does that make the man now in charge of oetzi research feel?" "woman: so, you're not afraid of the curse?" "[ speaking german ] [ chuckles ] translator:" "well, i wouldn't say that because i'm a very sensitive person." "you just have such thoughts, but i'd like to suppress these thoughts as quickly as possible." "narrator:" "so what's the real truth?" "is this simply a great story to sell newspapers?" "translator: as a journalist, i have been engaged with the story very intensely for about four to five years." "and even today, people are still captivated and interested in this story." "[ tires screech ] narrator: or merely a series of strange coincidences?" "translator: i don't believe in the oetzi curse." "it was simply destiny." "narrator: or could it really be something much darker?" "witting: people say that they are not afraid of the curse, and all of a sudden, they die, so maybe there is something about it." "narrator:" "for now, whatever really is behind these deaths is destined to remain as remote and silent as oetzi himself."