05x05 - Watch Your Step

[bunniefuu]

Previously on Expedition Bigfoot...

Mireya, you see what I'm seeing, right?

This is Squatch-made, in my opinion.

We are back here in Northern
California because I believe Bigfoot

is using this area as a breeding ground.

It would lead me to
believe that you have a male

with multiple females in a group.

Look at this.

Check this out.

That's a really big-looking footprint.

Yeah.

Right there.

What the hell is that?

It's just like a blur of fur.

Did that look like something
walking down the hill?

Like two feet walking.

That's just crazy.

Look at that.

Look at that.

You're seeing that, right?

Deep in the remote back country

of Northern California,

survivalist Russell Acord

has detected a heat signature
on his thermal camera

moving along a nearby ridge, that
appears to be a bipedal creature.

Did it go over the hill?

What'd that look like to you? That looked
like something walking down the hill.

Like two feet walking.

This thing on two legs

bipedal, moving fast,

ran over the ledge, out of sight.

We got to go. Let's pack it up.

Let's go.

All this does is confirm

that we are on the right track.

- Let's go.
- All right.

You good?

My adrenaline's pumping and
I'm going to chase this thing down.

Watch your step there.

You okay?

This is treacherous. Be careful.

Holy crap.

These overturned trees,

a lot of this stuff is
rolled over from the wind

and all the successive rain.

I don't like the sounds of that.

I don't know what that was,
but that was close.

Dude, that was thunder,

or was a landslide.

That sound sounded like,
something like earth moving.

I didn't like the sound of that at all.

I mean, we're seeing the
trees that have fallen down.

That concerns me a lot

because, on this hillside, well, sh**t,

one of those things starts
falling and we're in the path,

we've got no way to get out
of the way quick enough.

This, like, thicket, drops down.

Holy crap.

Watch out.

Can you see that?

That drops straight down.

Holy crap.

Be careful.

See what that is?

That's all fresh. That's a landslide.

That tree came out... Look at this.

Right there. That basin.

Holy crap.

It's not time to be taking
unnecessary risks or chances.

- Are you ready?
- Yeah.

Okay. Watch your step.

When you're trying to study wild animals

in their natural habitat,

you basically have little control,

over things that can get in the way

of an expedition,

like the weather.

Back at base camp,

far to the southwest of Russell's position,

Dr. Mireya Mayor and Tobe Johnson

have been pounded by relentless rain

totaling eight inches
over the last several days.

It's frustrating because I've
been on so many expeditions

where the rain has
just about, made it impossible

for us to achieve
what we were out there to do,

and with Tobe here there's this

amazing opportunity, to record audio
and then have that analyzed,

you know, picking up on things
that we may otherwise have missed.

And due to the amount of rain tonight,

we're just gonna have to call it.

There's no way for us to
continue and try to record it.

It just isn't worth it.

I mean, it's... it's
a drain on you physically.

It's a drain on you psychologically.

It's just the luck of the draw.

You can't always win it
with Mother Nature.

However, evidence we found,
especially the track,

especially the sound
of... a Canadian goose

that did not match a Canadian
goose at all on sonogram.

You can see here, it's a
totally different signature.

Is there any explanation for
why it would sound like something

but not match visually?

Well, mimicking.

Strange.

I look forward to going back

and being able to review this

audio that I've captured out here.

Hey, Mireya.

Hey, Tobe.

As the storm continues to hinder

the audio surveillance investigation,

Tobe's limited time with the
expedition must come to an end.

Did you have a chance to
listen to some of the audio?

I did, I did.

I'm anxious to get back and look at it.

That's great. I'm excited to
hear that you feel confident

that we have audio that
you can go and, and analyze.

Well, given the type
of evidence that we've got

in proximity to trying to record stuff,

I think we might have something.

Let's keep our fingers crossed.

Sounds great. Thanks.

- Thanks, Tobe.
- Yeah. I'll be back.

Six miles away from Mireya's position,

Russell pursues the bipedal creature

he observed on his
thermal camera last night.

There's a little opening.

This rain isn't quitting, But
when there's adverse weather,

deer, elk, bear, any creature
that I've ever encountered,

they'll settle in and get a
comfortable spot and they'll stay still.

See how it's dry underneath it here?

There's something's
been bedding in here.

So the rain helps us more than hurts
us because of what I'm looking for,

that bipedal thing that I
saw walk over the ridge line,

is gonna stay still,
we can catch up to this thing.

It looks like... like a

like a feeding ground area here.

I mean, there's nothing left
but the bare bones.

It's spread all over this whole area.

A lot of times, animals
will feed on an animal

and most of the carcass is there.

But some of these large bones
covered a pretty big area of ground.

You know, 20, 30 feet away from
the original main part of the body.

What that tells me is that
something big pulled this thing apart.

The thing is what
I'm looking for right now

is any, like, bite marks

where something would have
chewed on the bone itself.

There's not, like, bite marks.

Like, a bear would chew on it
and gnaw on it.

Looking at these bones,

there was no bite marks on this thing.

They were clean.

Seeing that these things
weren't chewed on,

it would be like you and I would eat food

where we pull the flesh
from the bones and consume it.

And to me, that was interesting.

Sure reminds me of Washington.

We call it the k*ll Zone.

There's old bones and then
there's fairly fresh bones.

Something's bringing its kills
to this space here

to feed on it and eat it.

I want to treat this like a crime scene.

Some of the tendons and the flesh on it

were still together.

I thought it was older than that.

And the bones, they
were white from the sun

but there was still flesh on them,

so they hadn't been there that long.

This stuff is fresh.

So the old nest sites are here.

Back at base camp, six miles
away from Russell's position,

Mireya has decided to map out the
evidence that the team has collected

in order to see if any patterns emerge.

The first piece of evidence
that Bryce and I came across

is a print that we found here.

We also heard a sound
in this section right here.

Tobe thought that
he heard a sound here.

Tobe also heard what
sounded like branch break

and movement in this zone.

Which is really interesting
because if you look at it on a map,

you can see that all of the evidence

is actually traveling in this direction.

Based on all of the evidence
the team has collected so far,

it appears that one or more
creatures may be headed

to an area northeast of base camp.

So that is where I want to go.

At his command center just
outside of the target zone,

Bryce Johnson has received the


that Mireya and Tobe
discovered last night.

Holy crap!

Look at this thing.

Did you find something?

Check this out.

That's a really big looking footprint.

To me, it looks like a foot.

Let me just get a
different angle on this here.

Wow.

I can see the toe here,

and I can see sort of the mid-foot here,

a definite heel impression.

Look how those toes just
really clawed into that earth.

Looking at the location of
where they found this print,

it's only a quarter mile away
from where I originally found mine.

Tell me what you think of this.

Check that out.

I feel like I see a big toe, a little toe.

That's interesting.

You know, what I would love to
do is I would love to compare this

to that footprint that I found.

If I pull up a side by side...

Here we go.

So this is the track that I
came across on that first day.

What immediately catches my attention

is just these are very similar
in size and shape.

I mean, these are footprints.

You know, there's no mistaking it.

Wow. I wonder how big this thing is.

All right? So I'm just
gonna measure this here,

from toe to heel.

Which measures at about 17 inches.

Coming in width-wise,
we've got about 6.5.

This thing is huge.

Mine was about 23 inches,

and approximately
nine to ten inches across.

Based on the size differences of these,

there is no doubt in my mind

we have at least two Bigfoot
moving through this area.

And with these different sizes,

to me, this could be a male and its son,

a female and daughter, male-female.

I'm starting to wonder

if this could perhaps be a
male and a female counterpart

moving along this route,
which, if that's the case,

if this is a male and a
female, then that means family.

We still don't know for sure
how these creatures pair up,

whether in traditional groupings or not.

But this physical evidence,
it bolsters our theory

that families of Bigfoot are
moving through our target zone.

And that makes me think
that locals in this area

might be able to corroborate
that idea even further.

So my next move is to find
someone who had an encounter

with a family of these creatures.

This is the find we've been looking for

because now that we've plotted
where these two footprints were found,

we could potentially plot
where these things are headed.

And hopefully have our team
be there, ready to intercept.

Outside of the target zone,

Bryce contacts
former CIA agent Ben Smith

to find out if any eyewitnesses
could corroborate his theory

that a family of Bigfoot
are moving through the area.

Hey, Bryce. How you doing?

I've been good. Hey, listen.

I... I managed to go ahead
and take a look

at those two prints that we collected,

and it would appear

that they came from different creatures.

The sizes are distinctly
different on these tracks,

which leads me to believe

that there are more than one
moving through this area,

possibly a group,
maybe even a family pod.

So this is where you could help.

Have you heard or talked to
anybody who's had an encounter

with more than one of these creatures?

Yeah, actually, I'm in contact
with a guy named Inker.

Really interesting guy, claims to have
had a run-in with a family of Bigfoot.

I had a meeting all set up.

But you know what?
Why don't you take this one?

Yeah, that would be
incredible. A family of Bigfoot.

That sounds like exactly
what I'm looking for.

Yeah, send me his information
and I'll reach out as soon as I can.

Yeah, no sweat. I'll send
it to you right after this.

Sounds good, Ben. Thanks.

Yep. Take care.

While Bryce chases down another lead,

back in the target zone,

Mireya has made her way
northeast of base camp.

Based on mapping out the
various pieces of evidence,

including audio data and the
locations of possible Bigfoot prints,

she predicts the unidentified creature

might be moving through this area.

I mean, already you can see,

from this higher elevation,

that the terrain is different, right?

The vegetation looks different.

And even the air feels colder.

When I was looking at this evidence,

I noticed that something

was clearly traveling in this direction.

And we've been working
in an area that was

very dense, but it was flat.

But in an environment
like this, it's a lot steeper.

I have to be careful of
slipping, sliding in our footing.

As I'm starting to work through here,

this reminds me of when I
first set off to Madagascar

to study one of the most
critically endangered primates

in the entire world.

During an expedition in 2000,

Dr. Mireya Mayor
and a team of researchers

were the first to successfully photograph

and catalog the elusive Silky Sifaka,

a primate found only in the dense,
mist-covered cloud forests of Madagascar.

By utilizing the incredibly tall trees,

the Silky Sifaka
is able to remain undetected

while spying on the forest
floor over 100 feet below.

As I'm looking around, I'm wondering
if our best chances of seeing anything

and maybe even tracking down
what was moving in this direction

might be to use the same
strategy as the Silky Sifaka,

and use elevation to my advantage

and put ourselves up high.

I have this vantage point where I
can look at a much wider distance.

Now, after what
Ben told me over the phone,

I've arranged to meet
with a man named Inker.

He's a prominent member
of the Hoopa tribe.

I believe he may have had
a first-hand encounter

with a family of Bigfoot.

- Well, Inker, I really appreciate you...
- -Yeah.

Taking the time to speak with me.

I want to welcome you
to our beautiful valley.

Welcome to... Valley.

Thank you, Inker.
I feel honored to be here.

What was your first experience with,

these creatures we call Bigfoot?

So the first experience I had
was, I was seven years old.

We used to live
at the very end of our road.

At the time, I looked up and I seen
this big arm reaching in the window.

But it was all hairy and, and gray.

And the hands were probably like

twice the size of mine, but all black.

It wasn't like a gorilla hand.

It was like, like a man's hand.

But twice as big.

I mean, it scared me so bad.

I couldn't scream. I couldn't holler.

I couldn't do nothing
because I was, like, in shock.

It paralyzed me.

And so it reached in,
and it tried to touch me.

And I fell back on the wall.

And then I finally let out a holler.

"Dad, Dad!" I hollered.

And he come running in there.

And he actually says,
"What's going on, son?"

I said, "It tried to grab me,
Daddy, it tried to touch me."

He goes, "What?" I said, "In the window."

Anyway, my father grabbed
his g*n and flashlight.

He ran out the back door and...

So he was seeing it, too?

He's seen it, too, yeah.

But he knew what it was.

And so I can remember him
coming back in the house, he said,

"It was that Bigfoot."

Back in the target zone,

Russell has been tracking

what he believes could be a Bigfoot

after spotting a bipedal creature

on his thermal camera the night before.

Seeing that deer laying right here,

it's good to know that

there's plenty of food source up here.

I've been tracking this bipedal
creature for a while now,

and I know there's so much
ground I've got to cover.

But I think if we keep pressing,

we're gonna get what we're after.

Looks like an old homestead out here.

Built in the early 1900s, that's for sure.

It still looks fairly intact.

The roof line still looks good.

So it's not all caved in.

Need to be careful
coming into a spot like this.

Coming through this... this countryside,

it doesn't surprise you to come across

either an old homestead,
an old building, an old shack.

I wanted to see if there was anything

that would show animals
had been in and out of it.

Because the doors were open,

it's protection from the elements.

So anything could get in there.

So if something wanted
to seek shelter from

just the major elements,

this would work.

It could keep you dry.

Let's see what the
other side of it looks like.

Holy.

Look at this.

That's blood.

That is blood.

Holy.

That is blood.

I mean, when blood first hits the ground,

it's going to be that bright red.

As it dries, it starts to get
darker and darker.

And you can see it wasn't black.

It hadn't decayed.

This couldn't have been that long ago.

Look, see these nails?

If you look directly above my head,

all these nails that come
through the ceiling...

See these?

And I had to keep my head down
from hitting these.

It would just take a simple misstep

to cut yourself on that

and start leaving a trail.

I'm thinking whatever it was,

hit these nails

and he started bleeding.

And he made his way to the exit.

Right away, I knew
that something got hurt.

The idea wasn't to stay there
and take care of itself.

The idea was to flee that building.

So if you follow the trail to
see if there's anything else,

there's a couple of spots right there.

This is covered up with a
lot of dirt, but there you are.

More spots, right there, there and there.

And now it's just a matter of finding out

what that blood came from.

Another spot here, here,

inside and around.

I know that from the thermal heat trace,

to the bones, to the blood
I just found in this building.

It's very important to get
whatever kind of evidence I can.

So I've got a pretty good
blood sample right here.

I'm gonna take this sample.

That's perfect.

We're gonna grab
two DNA samples out of this.

It could have been a person.

It could have been an animal.

But if there's more to this

than a human or
a known animal species,

then we've got a great starting point.

We actually have DNA in a blood sample.

All right, let's go.

Something that we are going
to have to pay close attention to

is how the weather goes today.

Four miles away from Russell's position,

north of base camp,

surrounded by towering redwoods,

Mireya will employ a new
strategy that capitalizes

on the unique terrain of the region.

Because of the challenging terrain,

there are channels that animals
are being forced to move through,

and so the idea for me is to

go up high and have a vantage point.

The advantage of being
that high up in the trees is that

at that height, animals
that are moving through here

aren't really gonna notice me.

You know, generally
on these expeditions,

we are always walking by foot,

trying to stay quiet and unseen.

But the truth is that

because animals have such an
acute sense of vision and smell,

animals can smell and see you, and so,

by going up a 100 feet above the ground,

not only am I eliminating
my visual presence,

but they're also not going to
be able to detect me by scent.

I'm gonna be using a portal edge,

which is literally a portable ledge.

It's a mountaineering tool.

And because I'm gonna be up this tree

a 100 feet above ground, for hours,

I want a platform that I
can actually work off of.

These trees are so tall and
the branches are so high up,

that I'm actually gonna
have to use a specialty tool

where I'm actually gonna sling the rope

up over those branches.

And from there, I can actually
ascend and build the portal edge.

So now I need to climb the rope line

to get up to the portal edge.

The way these ascenders
work is, that they actually

grip onto the rope line
so that I can't fall down.

But I'm able to steadily move up the tree

so that I can get up to that portal edge.

Outside of the target zone,

Bryce continues to speak with Inker,

a witness who had multiple
encounters with Bigfoot

over the course of his life.

Have you seen one or encountered one

since you had your experience

- when you were younger?
- Yes.

There's a place above my house.

A place where my mom
told me not to go.

There's caverns back there, she said,

"I don't want you to go back there."

So there's areas that...
basically told not to go

because these creatures
inhabit that area.

Yeah. As I get older,

curiosity always kills the cat, right?

Yeah.

So one day I put on
my camouflage clothes

and I hiked up this ridge

to where my mother said not to go.

And I hit this trail.

I got this...

Have you ever been in a place

where your hair raised
in the back of your neck?

Yes.

I had this feeling like kind
of like something that...

- Danger is present.
- Yeah.

I looked across the canyon,

and seeing a mother and a baby.

Did they notice you?

Yes, they noticed me.

- Really?
- Yeah.

The baby was actually shivering...

Like

like... like it was scared.

Did they perceive you
as a threat, do you think?

I don't know.

The mother stepped out

and she had to be like 7-foot something.

She looked at me like that
and turned back away from me.

And then they actually
started to communicate with

with the child,

like, almost speaking to it some way.

Did it sound like a language,
or was it more guttural?

No, it sounded like a language.

- Really?
- Yes.

Like a language I never heard before.

Kind of like, it did have

- a little grunt to it...
- Yeah.

But it had

like

I could talk to it.

That's incredible. These creatures
were using intelligent communication.

- Yes.
- That, to me, says,

- extreme intelligence.
- Yes.

I actually said, you know,

I'm not here to harm you.

And then I went on my way.

Do you think that this valley that we're in

holds a special place for Bigfoot?

I... I truly believe so.

It comes here for a reason,

cause they used to dance with us,

our people a long time ago,

cause all the tribes that you will talk to,

will tell you about...

They-they would speak their language

to all these different tribes,

because we all have
interrelationships with Bigfoot.

That's incredible.

We used to intermingle

with Tin Tai.

Tin Tai.

Is actually how we say Bigfoot.

The old man of the forest.

As I get older,

I always make sure that I take care
of myself when I'm in the mountains,

because there's actually
people that go missing here,

men and women,
that we have never found,

that are tribal members

that went into the mountains

and their trucks were there,
but they've never found them.

They're leading you to some place off.

They don't want you there.

After following a trail of evidence,

Mireya is searching for a creature

she believed could be
moving through this area.

I'm about a 100 feet
above the forest grounds,

I'm still under the canopy.

Day is just now turning into night.

So it's that perfect time
where you're getting

actually two different kinds of animals,

the diurnal animals that
move around during the day

who are just now getting in
those last final moves

before they settle in for the night

or the nocturnal animals
which are just getting going.

So this isn't a huge amount of area,

but it's just enough that I can work.

I can have my backpack,
pull out my equipment

and basically spend the next few hours

trying to observe anything
that moves through this forest.

Mireya has brought two
pieces of equipment with her

in order to see in the dark.

Her standard thermal camera,

as well as a pair of
night vision binoculars

capable of viewing
over 600 meters away.

Anything that moves through here,

I'll be able to see from up here.

While Mireya begins to
observe the forest floor,

at the command center
outside of the target zone,

Bryce reviews the mountain of evidence

the team has collected.

You know, initially, we came here

because we captured
something amazing

on our surveillance camera footage.

But it seems like every day,
we're getting new evidence

inside of our target zone,

which just tells me

we are in the right place at the right time.

So right now, Mireya is just
north of base camp

because all the evidence is telling us

that one or more of these creatures

is moving in a north-eastern direction.

But I really wanted to plot
some of the evidence

that Russell has come across,

because, you know,
I've been out in the field,

and I really haven't had time to
assess some of these findings.

So Russell really has been working
out of this northeastern quadrant.

We sent Russell around to this area

because on Pete's LIDAR,

we thought we found a cluster
of nests right over here.

Now, unfortunately,
we didn't find any nests,

but Russell was able

to capture an audio recording right here

where he thinks it might
have been two Bigfoot

communicating with one another.

Holy.

It sounded like a couple of grunts.

Like a...

That's weird.

From there, he tracked
something through a cave system

where he got something on thermal,

something upright on thermal, right here.

That thing is bipedal. What
did that look like to you?

That looked like something
walking down the hill.

Like two feet walking.

That's just crazy.

And it wasn't long after that

that he found a k*ll site right about here.

This thing was literally torn apart.

It looks like... Like the
feeding ground area here.

And some blood spatter,
not too far from the k*ll site.

Right about here.

Look at this.

That is blood.

You know, that's pretty interesting

if you start to plot

and just connect these dots

where Russell found that thing

out of the cave, saw the thermal,

and then here's that k*ll site
with the blood spatter.

All this activity, he's discovering

is moving from the northeast
to the southwest.

You know, looking at all this evidence

that Mireya has been discovering,

it moves from the southwest
to the northeast.

It seems to me like all this action

is converging into one place
at the center of our hot zone.

Right here.

Right here into the center
of our target zone.

So that is either a pretty big coincidence

or there is something right here.

We just need to find out what that is.

I say we kind of go in this general area,

have a look around,
see what we can find.

Ten miles away from Bryce

and four miles away
from where he spotted

the bipedal creature
he believes could be Bigfoot,

Russell continues to follow
a trail of evidence.

What the hell is that?

Listen.

Is your mic picking that up?

That sounds like something
walking through water.

I want to get closer.

I think we gotta go stealth.

I want to be able to move quietly

and keep that element of surprise.

So I'm gonna ditch the big backpack

and break out the night vision goggles.

If there's anything out here,

at least it's not gonna see me coming.

All right, let's get into this.

Be careful.

Look how steep this stuff is.

We're definitely near the stream.

I know something came through here.

But it's gone.

Now we've got a long night ahead of us,

so I've decided I'm going to go back

and continue the same
direction I've been tracking.

See this? That's been smashed down.

Something's been right through here.

Look at that. Look at that.

Holy crap! Look at this.

Look how big that thing is.

Look at the size of that thing.

I'm looking.

Watch where you step.

Holy. Dude.

Tell me what you think that looks like.

One, two, three.

That looks like toes.

That looks like toes, man.

Something that most people don't realize

is really a crucial part of an expedition,

especially when you're trying to look for

a rare and an elusive animal

are the local stories.

I cannot tell you
how many times I have walked,

sometimes ten hours a day
for months on end,

and not seen or found the
animal that I'm looking for.

And then I walk into a village

and I talk to the village elder

and the locals

who then share their eyewitness reports

and lead me to the very place
where I then find

and able to document that animal.

And we're super grateful to people who

basically have more to lose than to gain

by sharing their stories
and their insights with us.

Because it really helps further along

our investigations.

My God.

No.

A bear would have a distinctive pad,

and in front of that,

the claws would have laid down
and pushed into the soil.

There's nothing.

I'm shaken.

I'm blown... I'm just blown away.

I've been tracking this bipedal
creature for a while now,

and it seems like the evidence I'm getting

keeps getting stronger and stronger.

I told you all day there was
something trying to keep out of our way.

You know, I might lose
some ground on this,

but I've never seen a print this good.

From the point of the toe,

that's almost 16 inches.

I can't believe how big that thing is.

I got to pour a cast on this.

This could actually prove
that what I saw in the thermal

is a Bigfoot.

I have to cast this print.

Let's go get that other pack.

You ready?

- Watch where you step. This way.
- Okay.

Everything is about gathering
that evidence while it's still intact.

This is like, timing is everything.

I'm gonna go find my backpack...

Back down there.

Get my casting materials,

mix it up, let's get this thing poured.

No way.

I don't have casting material.

What a rookie mistake.

The weather changes
so fast around here,

it's been raining on and off all day long.

I'm terrified I'm gonna
lose detail out of this thing.

The longer I wait to get this thing poured,

I'm losing evidence.

I got to cover that track and protect it.

The best I can do right now,

is cover it,

protect it,

and hope that nothing touches it

and get back to the truck.

That should be good.

Okay.

I bet it's going to take us
ten-twelve hours, maybe?

Let's get as far as we can tonight.

High above the forest floor,

Mireya silently peers
through the darkness,

searching for any signs
of activity below her.

It's so dark, that I can't even see my legs

right in front of me.

It's incredible.

The clarity on this is really remarkable.

I brought night vision
binoculars and a thermal camera,

which should allow me to see
anything that moves through the area.

This light is so bright, that I can see
all the way down to the forest floor.

But because what it gives off
is infrared light,

nothing below should be able to
detect any light source up here.

We've got some

some deer, so already

we know we're at an active site.

For the last several hours,

I've been using
the night vision binoculars

and scanning this entire area,

but it's very rainy
and it's going to be getting

more and more difficult to use them

under the poor visibility
conditions that we're in.

I'm scanning.

Wait, wait, wait, wait.

I'm getting something on the thermal.

Okay. Something...

Something is definitely
giving off a heat signature.

What is that?

My... look at this.

Look, look, look, look.

It looks upright.

Holy. What is that?