So Supernatural - ALIEN: USOs (Unidentified Submerged Objects)

Episode Date: March 20, 2026

When we think of alien life, we often look to the skies for answers. But some believe they are right here on our planet, living in the oceans below. USOs have been witnessed by military personnel and civilians alike and are becoming more common, with crafts reaching impossible speeds and making effortless maneuvers from sea to sky to space.For a full list of sources, please visit: sosupernaturalpodcast.com/alien-usosSo Supernatural is an Audiochuck and Crime House production. Find us on social!Instagram: @sosupernaturalpodTwitter: @_sosupernaturalFacebook: /sosupernaturalpod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Take a second to think about all the alien invasion movies you've seen. Start with Independence Day, World the World, A Rival, of course, Men in Black, and my all-time favorite Stephen Spielberg's movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I mean, in almost every one of these films, there's one iconic scene, some variation of this. A giant shadow is cast over an entire scene, people look up to the sky, their jaws drop on the floor, I mean, some of them drop their coffee

cups, and then lasers erupt from a massive spacecraft, blasting the pavement as everyone runs for their lives. Or the aliens come in close proximity offering to help us or save us. But regardless of how the scenes play out, most of these movies suggest our intergalactic enemies will come from above, that they'll descend from the heavens in their giant aircraft, sizzling us like ants under a magnifying glass

on a hot summer's day. Now, of course, I can't guarantee that won't happen one day, but Rasha and I recently learned an alien invasion might not unfold the way Hollywood tells us it will. There's a theory

that says ETs have actually been right here on Earth for centuries, not above us, but below us. Which is why today we want to talk about USOs, otherwise known as unidentified submerged objects. Because if the evidence is to be believed, the invasion might not emerge from the clouds, but instead from the watery depths of our planet. and we might be powerless to stop it. I'm Rasha Pecorero. I'm Yvette Jintili, and this is so supernatural. In the early 1800s, the shores of Japan were lined with tiny fishing villages.

At the time, lots of people lived in what was then called the Hatachi Province, and they relied on the ocean not just for food, but to make a living, until one event changed their entire understanding of the sea. Early one morning, in the year 1803, all of the local fishermen are loading their boats with nets, spears, buckets, pretty much everything they'll need for the day, until someone spots something bobbing up and down in the ocean. It looks like another boat. Now, all of the local fishermen usually start work at this same time, so it's probably not one of them. Instead, the villagers figure maybe someone just didn't tie their boat up very well the night before, so maybe it got loose and drifted out to sea, which is why they decide to head out there and tow it back to shore so the owner can reclaim it.

A few fishermen hop in a rowboat and begin paddling out there, except as they get closer, they realize. it's not a fishing boat. It's a vessel unlike anything they've ever seen before. According to accounts from the time, the boat looks a lot like a pot with a lid on it. It's completely sealed on every side, but there are glass windows on the top, and when the fishermen peer through them, they can see the vessel is hollow inside, which is why they dub it the Utsurobune, Japanese for hollow ship. The bottom of the Utsurobune seems to be made of metal, but they say the top of the ship, the part that's visible above the water, looks like it's made of rosewood. They know that nobody in their village has built this thing, but they decide to tow it back to shore so they can examine it

further. Once the vessel's back on the beach, everyone from the village gathers around to check it out. But all of a sudden, a hatch on top of the Utsudobune flies open. And to their astonishment, someone climbs out and onto the sand. As for who that person is, well, that's hard to say. Some say the figure isn't human. Others say it is a person, but clearly a foreigner from some distant land. They all agree, though, the boat's passenger resembles a woman. woman and she's absolutely breathtakingly beautiful. Her skin is pale and her hair is red with

white highlights. Some accounts say it actually looks more like fur than human hair. The passenger's clothes are very flattering but a bit strange. The locals can't identify the material her outfit is made of, but it's tight around the shoulders and neck and flares out around her ankles. Nobody in village has seen this kind of dress ever before. Another mysterious thing about this woman, she's carrying a wooden box, but she doesn't open it or set it down the entire time she's on the beach. If anyone gets too close, the woman pulls the box tighter towards her, like she really doesn't want anyone to take it from her. For the most part, the villagers respect her boundaries, but they do ask her questions like, what's your name? Where did you come from? Do you need

help? And no matter what, her response is always the same. A confused, blank look. It's clear this woman doesn't speak Japanese. So at one point, the villagers decide to look inside the Utsurobune to learn more about their unexpected visitor. They find these containers of ground meat, cake and water. I mean, clearly, this woman was prepared for a long voyage, but there are no maps and no identification papers. They can't find any clues about where she came from or where she was headed.

With one exception, the ship's interior is covered in writing. Texts that stretches from wall to wall, but no one can decipher what it says. none of the villagers have ever seen this language before. For some reason, they think it could either be English or Bengali, which nobody in the community speaks. However, today we know their guesses are wrong,

because linguists have since studied the transcriptions from the boat, and to this day, nobody has been able to identify it as any known language. This entire thing is incredibly mysterious, and the villagers have no clue about what they're supposed to do next. After all, they don't know if this woman is an ally or an enemy. They have no idea what she wants. And of course, while they're super curious about it, it would be quite dangerous to take her in. See, at the time, the Japanese government has some very strict policies, laws that may be. make it illegal for Japanese people to have any contact with the outside world. Citizens aren't

allowed to leave the country, and if most foreigners come to Japan, they can get in serious trouble. In the past, international travelers have been falsely accused of espionage and thrown into Japanese prison. The woman from the Utsurobune clearly isn't Japanese, but with all these laws, the villagers are too scared to offer her a place to stay. So they all agree, the best idea is for her to get back into her ship and sail away. For her safety and for theirs. They signal to the woman to get back into her boat and they tow her back out to sea. Until finally, a current carries the ship out of sight. And that's it. Nobody ever sees or hears from the mysterious woman again. When I was doing my research on this particular case, that time period is called the Sakuko period,

where the Japanese couldn't leave and foreigners could not come into Japan. So to them, like, that's probably the right thing they did, right? Just send her back off to sea. But what's even stranger, if you look at the newspapers from the rest of the world in 1803, there's no mention of any ships being lost at sea. nothing about them getting blown off course near Japan shores. Meaning to this day, there's no way to determine where the woman in the Utsurobune came from, what language she spoke, or what was in that box.

But yes, there are plenty of theories, including one explanation that's gotten pretty popular over the years. Like the idea that this visitor wasn't from another country, but in the same. Instead, from another world entirely. In 1803, a strange hollow ship was towed into a small Japanese village. The locals didn't recognize the vessel, its passenger, or the mysterious language that was written inside the boat. But many of the villagers documented the story.

They drew their own renderings of the ship. They even drafted portraits of the woman, and some even transformed. described what was supposedly written on the inside. But over time, the story of the Utsurobune is basically forgotten. Folklorist and historians see the records and assume that they're just, you know, legends or myths. However, that all changes in 1995 when a Gifu University professor in Gifu City, Japan, stumbles across the reports. His name is Kazuo Tanaka, and he usually teaches applied optics, which focuses on the way lights can be used for practical purposes. Think lasers in surgery

or converting solar rays into electricity. But in 1995, Kazuo, like a lot of Japanese people, is also really interested in the paranormal. When he's giving lectures, he and his students often discuss whether mysterious lights in the sky could be connected to UFOs. So he decides to lead an entire class on the science behind conspiracy theories and the supernatural, my kind of guy. As he's putting together his lesson plans, Kazuo finds one of the old historical accounts about the Utsuro Bunei, and this story really sticks with him for one big reason. He thinks this account is strikingly similar to the flying saucer sightings

he's been reading. There are lots of stories of people finding down spaceships with strange writing on them. Often it's in a language nobody's ever seen before. We have heard accounts like that with the Cape Girardo incident,

which, of course, we covered in a previous episode of So Supernatural, so make sure to check that out. And we've heard of it at Roswell, too. But the real kicker comes when Kazuo looks at old drawings of the hollow boat. It looks identical to a flying saucer.

He likely came across other reports too that show UFOs aren't just seen in the skies. They're also seen in water, which is how they acquired a different yet similar term over the years, U.S.Os or unidentified submerged objects. The sightings of U.S.Os are becoming so common that even the U.S. government has changed the way they approach the subject. In 2021, the Department of Defense formally opened an investigation into what they were now calling UAPs, or unidentified anomalous phenomena, to encompass both U.S.Os and UFOs. Even more interesting, a lot of those mysterious objects can do both, meaning they can descend from space and dive into the depths of the ocean in a matter of seconds.

The term given to these crafts is called trans and medium phenomena, and the phrase became more mainstream after the New York Times released their report on UAPs and the secret government program back in 2018. And since then, more experienced and trusted military personnel have come forward to say they've seen UAPs go from space to water in a matter of seconds with their very own eyes. But this isn't anything new. Reports date back at least a few decades. I mean, just take the Shag Harbor incident from 1967. On the night of October 4, 1967, four, nine, six seven. strange lights appeared in the sky over the coastal Canadian town of Shag Harbor, Nova Scotia, in the southeastern corner of Canada.

Multiple witnesses saw them, including three police officers. They watched as the lights raced eastward toward the beach, then plunged into the harbor. At first, everybody thought they'd just seen an airplane crash, so they contacted the local airports to notify them of the down plane. Then they mobilized for what they thought would be a massive rescue operation. Except they quickly learned every aircraft scheduled to fly that night had already been accounted for. Still, that didn't stop them from the recovery mission. They knew something had crashed into the harbor,

and they wanted to make sure any passengers on board were safe and okay. When the first responders arrived on the banks that night, they saw the ship right away. because it hadn't sunk into the harbor, it was floating on top of it. And the lights on the outside of it were now shifting, morphing, almost as if the craft was changing its entire shape. The witnesses all said they had never seen anything like it before. But everyone was still focused on recovering possible survivors. So the Coast Guard and some locals raced out to the wreck.

And it was late at night and the harbor was. still very dark, so nobody could see the crash vessel very well, aside from the four lights seemingly attached to it. But before anyone could approach the craft, all of the lights just disappeared. When the rescue boats got to the area, they didn't see anything, aside from some yellow foam. There was no sign of the actual craft itself. Many assumed the vessel had just disappeared below the surface. For the next four hours, Coast Guard ships crisscrossed through the harbor, continuing to search for survivors, but they found nothing. As soon as the sun rose the next morning, Canadian naval divers scoured the ocean floor in and around the harbor looking for the wreck,

and they were just as unsuccessful. Finally, a few days later, on October 9th, they called off the rescue mission. But the rumor mill was churning, especially once witnesses came forward saying whatever crashed was not an ordinary airplane. A commercial pilot named Ralph Lowinger was co-piloting on the night of the crash, not too far from Shag Harbor, when he noticed something in the sky with him. It had a line of bluish-white lights arranged diagonally, I mean, sort of like a backslash. The object appeared to be heading in front of his aircraft. He and his captain prepared to make a very abrupt turn to avoid hitting it. But as Ralph passed the ship, he noticed something. The ship wasn't moving.

It was just hovering mid-air. And he wasn't the only one with a story about the mysterious craft. Rumors suggested the United States military joined the Canadian Navy to search Shag Harbor post-crash. Now, it's unclear why the U.S. would get involved in a rescue operation in another country, unless there was something of interest there. Like, say maybe, I don't know, alien technology. Roughly 50 years after the Shag Harbor incident in 2018, UFO researchers Chris Stiles and Graham Sims decide to publish a book on the subject. They and some colleagues reach out to the surviving witnesses

to get a thorough account of what happened during the crash, and the search and rescue operations that followed it. Multiple divers told them the same thing. The Canadian Navy actually did find the wreckage, but for whatever reason, they didn't want anyone to know. So they lied and claimed they never located the wreck. The witnesses also said when the Canadian Navy discovered the vessel, it wasn't resting at the bottom of Shag Harbor. Somehow, it had traveled 25 miles further into the ocean

and was sitting on the sea floor. And the vessel had apparently used some kind of landing gear to ground itself on the ocean floor. Divers found dinner plate-sized impressions on the ground in the initial crash area. They hadn't been filled over, Meaning, something was preventing sand, seaweed, and ocean animals from collecting there. I mean, that is wild, y'all. Agreed. But something else happened when they went out to collect the wreckage. Supposedly, the Navy had a few ships floating directly above the wreck so they could monitor it while they put together a retrieval team.

It took a few days to plan their mission. But before anyone could dive into the water, the Navy ships, picked up a second submerged vessel on their sonar equipment. They watched as the U.S.O. stopped right next to the wreck and sat there for a while. Afterwards, both objects began moving. Almost like the new vessel had come to repair the other craft. The Navy continued tracking them on their sonar while trying to keep up with the crafts, except these vessels were shockingly fast.

they put more and more distance between themselves and the Navy ships, until finally they burst out of the water and flew up into the sky, never to be seen again. Okay, I just have to say all of which should have been impossible. According to high-ranking members of the Air Force, there isn't a single airplane that can fly and navigate the depths of the ocean. and I have said this many times before. We simply don't have the technology to make that happen yet, nor does any other country. And yet, there are lots of stories just like the Shag Harbor account,

where witnesses see transmedia phenomena effortlessly shift from swimming to flying and back again, including in one recent encounter that was actually captured on. camera. As far back as 1803, there have been countless stories of unidentified craft floating, swimming, or even parking at the bottom of the ocean. This includes the Shag Harbor incident in 1967 when a flying vessel allegedly crashed into the water, navigated 25 miles out to sea, then took off into the air again a week later. Unfortunately, it's hard to say how true this story is, because there's no photo or video evidence from it, and none of the witnesses will comment on the record.

But a similar incident on August 25, 2013, was documented. Right around sunset that day, an American Border Patrol plane takes off from Aguadilla Puerto Rico for a routine flight. The moment their wheels leave the ground, the pilot and their crew see something strange. in the sky. They describe it as a pink or red light in the distance. It's headed inland from the ocean and it's on a collision course with their plane. The crew isn't sure what they're looking at, and when they call ground control to ask what's going on, the airport staff doesn't know what

they're talking about. Their radar equipment doesn't show anything except for them. So the crew turns on the plane's thermal cameras to try and record this unidentified object. And I've seen this footage online, and it's still there today for you to look up, and it's truly bizarre. Yeah, this clip shows a round object with no visible wings, engines, or fusel lodge. It looks a bit like a big metal ball. The object turns before it's in danger of colliding with the other plane, and then it makes

a loop around the airport, like it's inspecting the facility or something, before, Finally, it heads back out towards the water. For a while, it just races a few feet above the waves, although it's tricky to gauge its distance in the footage, and then without warning, the object disappears out of sight. It's hard to make out much detail, but it looks like the craft dives into the water. It only stays submerged for a second or two before reappearing on the screen,

and a few seconds after that, the ball breaks apart. Now there are two flying metal orbs racing alongside one another. They dart away before the crew can make any sense of what just happened. I mean, there is not a single plane helicopter or known vehicle that can dip in and out of the ocean, let alone break into two and continue flying, which is why a lot of people think this footage shows an alien craft,

one that can both fly and swim. But leave it to the skeptics to come up with an explanation. Because they say this wasn't a spaceship, but a lantern. Apparently, there's a high-end hotel not too far from the Aguadilla Airport, and when people get married there, it's tradition for the staff to release lit lanterns over the ocean to celebrate. And these lanterns are a similar shape to that particular ball in the video. So, the skeptics theory is that two lit wedding lanterns got tangled up together, then they were caught in the breeze near the airport.

And since the lanterns were spinning around, the thermal cameras on the plane only detected the heat from their flames when the lit side was facing the lens. At one point, the lantern spun around so the camera couldn't detect, them anymore. And in the footage, it just looked like they'd vanished under the waves. Seconds later, when the lantern spun back around, the cameras detected them, making it appear as if they'd just popped back out of the water. When they finally came apart, the cameras saw two objects, which then got swept away by the wind. Except I am not sure how much I buy that

explanation, like at all, especially because that orb was traveling close to 120 miles per hour, something that is pretty hard to do for an object with no engine. I mean, Yvette, you and I have both lit lanterns like that before for my wedding, baby shower, and you and I both know that lanterns do not fly that fast, right? Yeah, I mean, they float. Do not fly 120 miles per hour. No, it's not possible. Let's just be clear.

Yes, let's just be clear. And the objects in the video were often moving against the wind, not being blown away by it. Okay. Well, let's assume, for the sake of an argument, some or all of these accounts can be explained away as tricks of the light, flying lanterns or not, or even drones of some kind. the Navy still takes U.S.Os very seriously. The U.S. Naval Institute even posted on their website that unidentified submerged objects are a major threat. It's very dangerous for ships, boats, and submarines

to navigate the oceans when they don't know what's in the water with them. And the Navy isn't the only government agency that's interested in this topic. Earlier, we mentioned that the Department of Defense or the DOD started formally investigating UAPs in 2021. And since then, they have received a ton of reports of USOs and transmedia phenomena. From late 2022 to August of 2025, people reported around 9,000 unidentified craft in over or within 10 miles of the U.S. coastline. Those sightings account for nearly a third of all the UAP reports

the DoD has received in the past three years. And naturally, the Department of Defense wants to know who's piloting all of these vessels, what they want and where they're headed. But so far, nobody knows the exact answer. Still, lots of people assume these U.S.Os and transmedia, phenomenon are signs that aliens are right here on Earth, walking amongst us, possibly studying human beings. Some even believe extraterrestrials have permanent bases on the ocean floor. I know, I know, that might sound like a wild claim to make, but according to the documentary USO, unidentified submerged objects, oceanographers have detected. strange objects deep under the sea.

And apparently, they're large enough to hold an entire city. I just have to say that sounds like the series on Hulu called Paradise. Makes you wonder, is this really possible? Oh my gosh, I love that show so much. So do I, and I'm just saying. Unfortunately, our sources are unclear about how many of them there are, where they're located, or even what they look like. However, rumors say one or more of these bases

has been detected off the coast of Puerto Rico, specifically just outside of Aguadilla, where the flying ball was captured. And I just have to say, there have been a lot of sightings off a Catalina, off a Long Beach, Laguna, I mean, I could go on and on, let me just say. Well, some say there's also one right off of the coast of Malibu, California, one of our favorite places ever.

It's been called Sycamore Noll, and it's been detected about six miles from shore. Apparently, it was discovered back in 2014 and lies about 2,000 feet below the water's surface. The area has been a hotspot for UFO reports for years, and while some say the area is, is nothing more than a naturally formed geological feature. There are conspiracy theorists who point to one big red flag. You used to be able to make out the underwater shape on Google Earth if you've typed in its coordinates. But as of April 2025, the image was mysteriously blurred out,

sparking rumors of a government cover-up. I mean, the government never covers up anything, right? Do they? Well, the problem is these alleged underwater facilities are either too deep or too remote for anyone to get a closer look at them to confirm what they're seeing. So we don't know if they're actually man-made, alien-made, or just natural formations. We also don't actually know what purposes these bases could serve. They could be the equivalent to scientific research stations for aliens who want to study us. Or maybe they're more like military bases or visitors from outer space are gearing up for some kind of invasion.

The good news is more information could be coming because the Department of Defense has been funding research into UAPs since 2021. And while they haven't revealed all of their findings, congressional hearings on the subject continue to take place. The most recent was in September of 2025, and I'm sure there's more on the horizon. It seems like we're entering a new era of disclosure, with more government officials and decorated members of the military coming forward. So hopefully it's only a matter of time before we truly.

truly learned the truth. Because when high-ranking government officials tell us they've seen stuff with their very own eyes, we need to believe them. And when they tell us there's nothing like this technology on planet Earth, what they mean is we didn't make it ourselves. But the blueprints might be hiding

just beneath the surface. And our future may very well, well depend on it. This is So Supernatural, an audio Chuck original produced by Crimehouse. You can connect with us on Instagram at So Supernatural Pod and visit our website at So Supernaturalpodcast.com. Join Yvette and me next Friday for an all new episode. I think Chuck would approve.