ENGLUND: Hidden away in news reports
from America's past are tales
so frightening that they must be true.
I'm Robert Englund.
Join me on a journey into the dark shadows
of our nation's history to uncover a trilogy of stories
as terrifying as they are real.
♪♪
A hellish beast terrifies settlers in the Old West...
It was ridden by the Devil!
[ Low growl ]Aah!
ENGLUND: ...an aging shaman...
...battles evil spirits...
♪♪
...and a family is stalked...
Ruby!
...by a mythic creature.
[ Roar ]
Brace yourself for "True Terror."
♪♪
Some events are so strange, so unnatural,
that history has cemented them in the realm of lore.
Now, this is true of the three haunting stories
I have for you now,
each one filled with seemingly impossible details,
yet, according to witnesses, they were all very real.
So let's begin our journey in the days of the Old West
where a monstrous evil was reportedly attacking people,
not an animal or some outlaw
but an otherworldly beast thirsty for blood.
♪♪
Wade Martin and his wife, Karen,
are among the countless settlers winning the American West.
Each sunup brings the same routine --
Karen and her sister, Sarah, manage the ranch house
while Wade ventures off to tend their sheep.
I'm off to the pasture.
Hey. You got enough water?
-Plenty. -Well, don't be late for supper.
I won't.
[ Chuckles ]
♪♪
[ Thunder rumbling ]
♪♪
I'm going to go grab the laundry.
♪♪
[ Hoofbeats ]
♪♪
Aah!
[ Growls ]
[ Screaming ]
♪♪
Karen!
Sarah, what happened? Where's Karen?
♪♪
Karen!
♪♪
Karen?
[ Breathing raggedly ]
♪♪
MURPHY: There are a lot of ways to die in the West,
but nothing like this has ever been seen before.
This is not the work of Apaches or a coyote.
Karen Martin has been virtually steamrollered.
The local paper reported that Wade found the woman trampled
and crushed as though a troop of cavalry had run over her.
♪♪
ENGLUND: Who or what killed Karen Martin?
[ Screams ]
These questions must be asked,
but can they be answered?
Water.
♪♪
What happened?
A beast...
A beast attacked her.
♪♪
It was red, very tall.
It was ridden by...
the Devil!
[ Sobbing ]
♪♪
It was ridden by the Devil!
♪♪
KUNTZ: Wade doesn't know what to make of his sister-in-law's
chilling description,
and the coroner's official report only deepens the mystery.
His verdict is "death in some manner unknown."
♪♪
ENGLUND: Whatever the creature is that killed his wife,
Wade refuses to rest until he exacts his revenge,
so he sets out with his best friend, Abel,
not knowing what they will find.
Whoa. Whoa.
These tracks are huge,
biggest tracks I've ever seen in my life.
Whatever it is, he's breaking that way.
Let's go.
Come on.
It doesn't take the men long before
they find a trail of blood leading away from Wade's house,
and they followed it to a mining cabin a few miles away.
♪♪
-He was here. -He may still be.
♪♪
[ Clank ]
♪♪
I seen him! I seen him!
Who?
The Devil.
I looked him straight in the face.
What a story.
He'd come out of nowhere.
He's all red and snarly, taller than two horses.
The fella riding it...
he was straight out of hell.
[ Thunder crashes ]
I followed it to the edge of the valley,
and it run full speed right up to the cliff,
and it never stopped.
It just kept on running through the air to the other side.
He didn't stop.
♪♪
He was there...
and then he wasn't.
ENGLUND: Is this old man mistaken,
perhaps a little crazy?
How could a monster not only exist
but then vanish into thin air?
That would mean Wade isn't just chasing a beast.
He's chasing something supernatural.
MURPHY: For the next few days, Wade and Abel continued
to search every corner of the territory,
and as they do, this phantom animal
and its ghostly rider continues to terrorize Arizona.
There are so many sightings that this thing becomes
well-known across the Old West as the Red Ghost.
While most people are trying to get away from this beast,
Wade's obsession with killing it only grows.
Excuse me, ma'am. Have you see anything peculiar?
Wherever they go, witnesses claim sightings.
You go that way. You'll find it.
Yes, ma'am.
But the stories often sound too incredible to believe.
Some people claim that the Red Ghost is 30 feet tall.
Others say it has wings,
and one witness swears he saw it kill and devour a grizzly bear.
MURPHY: No one can be sure if these reports are true,
exaggerated, or outright lies, but the effect is the Red Ghost
becomes a legend throughout America's Southwest.
♪♪
[ Distant repeated banging ]
♪♪
Do you hear that?
Yeah. I don't know what it was, though.
ENGLUND: Take this as a friendly reminder from me to you.
When it comes to chasing the supernatural,
you must be careful, because chances are,
it's going to find you first.
♪♪
[ Footstep ]
♪♪
-Where is it coming from? -I don't know.
[ Distant growl, branches snapping ]
♪♪
[ Low growl ]Aah!
♪♪
ENGLUND: A mysterious phantom called the Red Ghost
is tormenting settlers all across southern Arizona.
♪♪
And after it killed his wife, sheepherder Wade Martin
is out for revenge.
With his friend, Abel Thomas at his side,
Wade's battle suddenly turns into one for survival...
♪♪
[ Distant growl, branches snapping ]
...as the creature is also out for blood.
♪♪
[ Low growl ]
[ Both scream ]
This encounter would scare most people off,
but it only made them angrier and more determined.
♪♪
KUNTZ: After that brush with the beast,
Wade and Abel somehow muster the courage
to follow the tracks left behind,
which takes them deep into the Arizona wilderness.
ENGLUND: Wade Martin has never walked away from a fight,
and he's not about to start now.
♪♪
Wade, there's no shame in going home.
♪♪
But if the Red Ghost is truly something paranormal,
is it impossible to kill?
[ Distant growl ]
♪♪
There's our ghost.
♪♪
There he goes.
♪♪
[ Animal shrieks ]
♪♪
Oof.
[ Scoffs ] Oh, my God.
MURPHY: The beast they have killed...
is a camel.
♪♪
How'd a camel get to the middle of Arizona?
Camels are an intriguing part of America's Southwest history.
In 1856, the Army imported them from Egypt
to haul supplies between desert outposts.
The idea was that camels were the ultimate pack animal,
better suited to the desert than horses.
KUNTZ: The experiment was abandoned in 1866
when railroads made Army pack animals obsolete,
but an unintended result of that failed project
meant that there was dozens of feral camels
roaming around the Southwest for decades to come.
Oh, disgusting.
ENGLUND: Ah, but a dead camel doesn't fully explain
the supernatural existence of the Red Ghost.
That's where the corpse strapped to his back comes in.
♪♪
KUNTZ: The corpse that was lashed to the camel's back
remains a mystery to this day.
Some believe that he was the victim of sadistic bandits
that tied him to the camel
and set him loose in the desert to die of thirst.
MURPHY: The camel that became known as the Red Ghost
was probably in constant pain.
These straps that held the body on had to be tied
so agonizingly tight.
The theory is that this animal was driven to madness,
attacking people because of its pain.
ENGLUND: Despite any rational explanations,
Wade Martin spends the rest of his life haunted by doubt.
How could a camel ridden by a corpse explain
all the baffling eyewitness reports --
that it was 30 feet tall,
flew across canyons, and could vanish into thin air?
As long as these questions remain,
how can anyone be certain that the Red Ghost was of this world
and not from beyond?
Our next story is equally puzzling.
It's about a Native American medicine man who is said
to possess the ability to see invisible spirits,
evil spirits out to kill.
♪♪
Tribal elder Jack Fiddler is a respected spiritual leader
within his band of Cree Indians, but he has committed acts
that have shocked and outraged white civilization.
In the eyes of the Canadian authorities,
Jack Fiddler is a monster,
and in 1907, they arrest him.
The press condemns him for committing atrocities.
They said, quote, "That for cruelty and horror
outrank the grim tales of the Inquisition."
ENGLUND: Such a frail and gentle old man.
What evil deed could he have possibly done?
♪♪
KUNTZ: The events leading to Fiddler's arrest begin in 1906.
Fiddler is about to perform one of his most important duties
as a shaman.
It's going to be a life-and-death battle
between good and evil.
♪♪
[ Both panting ]
[ Roar ]
[ Gasps ]
CLARKE: There is nothing these young men fear more
than that thing cornered in the tepee.
[ Growl ]
It's called a wendigo, which is basically a demonic presence
that feasts on human flesh.
[ Chanting in native language ]
For the Cree, the only person powerful enough
to kill a wendigo is their shaman, Jack Fiddler.
♪♪
[ Growling and gasping ]
♪♪
Here is the really freaky thing about wendigos.
They actually take over the human body of their victim,
and only the shaman can see through their disguise.
ENGLUND: Jack Fiddler's job is to protect his people.
This means taking on all cannibalistic spirits
and stopping them in their tracks.
[ Roars ]
♪♪
ENGLUND: In 1906, Jack Fiddler,
an old shaman of the Cree Indians,
is saving his tribe from wendigos,
a flesh-eating spirit
that inhabits the bodies of his people.
[ Roars ]
[ Gasps ]
[ Growling and grunting ]
♪♪
[ Noises stop ]
[ Gasps ]
♪♪
ENGLUND: With another wendigo dead,
the legend of Cree medicine man Jack Fiddler
grows among his people.
Many indigenous tribes of North America
believed in the existence of the wendigo.
Descriptions vary, but generally they're considered evil spirits
or demonic entities that can possess people
and even transform into human beings themselves.
They're characterized by an insatiable hunger
for human flesh,
so any human possessed by a wendigo
is able to slip in and out of this state of savagery.
ENGLUND: Although a wendigo masquerades as human,
its true appearance seems drawn from our darkest nightmares.
KUNTZ: A wendigo looks like it's always baring its teeth,
but it's not.
It looks that way because it's so ravenous
it eats its own lips.
[ Growls ]
No matter how much this hideous monster devours,
it's always starving.
It sounds crazy to us, but there are stories
of many Cree tribesmen that turn cannibal.
One named Swift Runner was found guilty in a Canadian court
for eating his wife, his mother, his brother, and six children.
♪♪
ENGLUND: To Fiddler's tribe, there is no doubt
wendigos exist, and they are a mortal threat.
♪♪
KUNTZ: Because they can take human form,
it's not always easy spotting a wendigo, but as a shaman,
Fiddler has this very rare talent
for being able to detect them and destroy them.
♪♪
CLARKE: By 1906, Fiddler claims to have killed
as many as 14 wendigos.
He's always on the lookout for these things,
and they're hard to find
because, according to Cree tradition,
wendigos are masters of deception.
ENGLUND: Despite his old age,
Fiddler never shrinks from his duty.
Evil, like fear, can be sensed.
It lingers where something unholy has happened,
like an echo after a scream.
Jack Fiddler's search leads him to a campsite
deep into the Ontario wilderness...
or at least what's left of it.
♪♪
[ Branches snap ]
♪♪
He has every reason to believe
that this is the work of a wendigo.
♪♪
The evil spirit has left behind a fragment of his murder weapon,
the tip of a hunting knife.
♪♪
Fiddler follows what he thinks is the wendigo's trail.
♪♪
It takes him to a remote trading post.
♪♪
ENGLUND: The wendigo is here.
Fiddler knows it.
But he has no idea which of these men is his target.
The Cree shaman must smoke it out.
♪♪
[ Speaking native language ]
♪♪
CLARKE: Fiddler demands to inspect each of the trappers' knives.
Whoever's knife has a missing tip is the wendigo.
♪♪
KUNTZ: At this point, Fiddler realizes the wendigo
is not one of the men sitting around the table.
Suddenly, a new threat exists in that room,
and Fiddler knows exactly who it is.
♪♪
[ Neck cracks ]
♪♪
[ Snarls ]
♪♪
[ Speaks native language ]
ENGLUND: Jack Fiddler, the Cree shaman,
has cornered a demonic wendigo in a remote Canadian outpost.
To protect his people, he must take on the cannibalistic spirit
and destroy it.
[ Snarls ]
♪♪
A week later, Fiddler returns to his tribal camp,
hoping there are no more wendigos to kill.
He wants to spend his final days in peace.
[ Man grunting ]
ENGLUND: But since when has fate cared about man's plans?
KUNTZ: A wendigo has invaded the body of one of Fiddler's nephews.
[ Grunting ]
KUNTZ: So now he faces one of the toughest decisions
of his life, to kill one of his own family members.
♪♪
CLARKE: Fiddler would give anything not to do this again...
♪♪
...but it's his duty.
[ Grunting loudly ]
♪♪
[ Snarls ]
♪♪
ENGLUND: For decades, Fiddler's exploits as a wendigo slayer
have been unknown by white civilization.
In 1907, word reaches the Canadian authorities.
What the Cree consider tribal self-defense,
the government views as murder.
Fiddler is placed under arrest.
The press has a field day.
The newspapers portray Fiddler as a bloodthirsty lunatic.
One report says that "the crime was the outcome
of an old savage custom and was particularly inhuman."
The trial of Jack Fiddler is said
to begin in the fall of 1907, but an unexpected event derails
the Canadian authorities' plans for justice.
♪♪
Not long after he's taken into custody,
this unassuming old medicine man
slips away from a neglectful guard...
♪♪
...and takes his own life.
♪♪
ENGLUND: "The wild old ruffian finished his bloodthirsty career
by strangling himself."
♪♪
Fiddler's death is anything
but the clear-cut case of suicide it appears to be.
Jack Fiddler dedicated his life to protecting his people
by killing every wendigo he encountered.
In his final minutes,
one should believe his commitment never wavered.
♪♪
[ Snarls ]
♪♪
[ Snarls ]
There are many people who still believe wendigos walk among us.
Something to keep in mind if you bump into a stranger
who seems to be studying you with...
hungry eyes.
Ah, but don't think wendigos are the only thing you should fear.
Let me tell you about another curiously human beast,
one perhaps even more terrifying,
a creature that entered American lore in the 1860s
and never left.
♪♪
The best hunters can always sense when their prey is near.
Young Sol Collins is among them.
♪♪
Collins is known around the Ozarks as "Blue Sol"
because of his sour disposition.
And in 1865, he sets out following
the biggest set of bear tracks he's ever seen.
♪♪
[ Owl hooting ]
Sol Collins knows every inch of these woods
because he's been hunting here for years,
but on this day, he's not exactly sure
what kind of creature he's tracking.
♪♪
[ Bird cawing ]
♪♪
[ Growl ]
♪♪
ENGLUND: There are those who say seeing is believing.
[ Growling ]
But what is one to think when they come across a bloodthirsty
monster no one has ever encountered before?
[ Creature roars ]
♪♪
[ Creature growls ]
ENGLUND: In 1865, a monster appeared in the Ozark Mountains,
and the first to confront it was a young hunter, Sol Collins.
MURPHY: He had seen an object unmistakably human,
though strongly resembling a vicious animal,
hurling huge boulders at him down the steep hillside.
"Blue" Sol Collins is the first person on record
to see the creature, but he isn't the last.
[ Roars ]
ENGLUND: "On the steep hillside above him stood
a gigantic figure, an enormous man,
stark naked except a breechcloth of animal skin.
The huge body was covered with long hair,
almost black in color
and as thick as that of any wild animal."
♪♪
Between 1865 and 1905,
there are at least a dozen sightings of this creature.
CLARKE: The creature becomes known as the Blue Man.
Now, some people believe this is because of the bluish coat.
Truth of the matter is it's because the first person
to encourage it was Blue Sol Collins.
♪♪
[ Roars ]
♪♪
ENGLUND: Even the things we fear most can fade from memory
if they're absent long enough.
A farmer named Jay Taber has heard whispers
of the Ozarks bogeyman for years,
but his greatest concern is life's daily grind.
MURPHY: That fall, two of Taber's lambs go missing.
Now, with a family that's trying to keep a farm going,
this was a huge setback.
I will say, we did lose two sheep.
How?
I don't know.
Whatever it is, if we don't stop it,
not going to be able to make it through winter.
[ Bleating ]
MURPHY: The next day, Taber goes out looking for his lost sheep.
He's not hopeful, but he'll give it a try.
♪♪
ENGLUND: We all do what we must to protect what's ours,
but venturing into the unknown can come with great risk.
♪♪
CLARKE: The discovery of two slaughtered lambs
horrifies Taber.
He knows there's a story associated
with the slaughter of livestock,
and it's the story of the Blue Man.
♪♪
In a manner of days,
nearly a third of Taber's livestock is destroyed.
[ Bleating ]
All the attacks are absolutely gruesome in nature.
♪♪
ENGLUND: Is there a commonplace explanation for the killings,
or has a legendary menace returned to terrorize the Ozarks
once more?
[ Roar, woman screaming ]
♪♪
Ruby!
[ Bleating ]
-Ruby! -Ruby!
Ruby!
Jay!
[ Panting ]
-Ruby. -I don't know what it was.
He was giant, and it looked like a man,
but it was covered in hair.
Ruby's sighting of the creature verifies that the Blue Man
is living in the woods near the Taber farm.
We have to do something before it kills all of us.
ENGLUND: Desperation can take us down many paths.
Some offer hope, while others, a dead end.
[ Knock on door ]
♪♪
Understand you have an animal problem.
CLARKE: The unexpected visitor is none other
than the legendary trapper Blue Sol Collins.
COLLINS: You both deserve to know what you're dealing with.
50 years ago, when I was a young trapper,
I was out looking for a bear.
I found his tracks, and I thought,
"I've never seen anything like this.
I don't know what it is, but I'm going to find it."
MURPHY: Blue Collins describes, in great detail,
his encounter with this hideous beast.
[ Roars ]
♪♪
And then he offers his help in killing it.
♪♪
In 1915, Collins and Taber set out to slay
the legendary Blue Man of the Ozarks.
ENGLUND: How do you kill something that's rarely seen
and has never been captured?
More importantly, how do you prevent it from killing you?
♪♪
[ Blue Man growls ]
♪♪
ENGLUND: In 1915, the legendary Blue Man
prowled the Ozark Mountains,
threatening Missouri's earlier settlers
and leaving hundreds of dead animals in its wake.
A farm named Jay Taber is determined to kill it
with the help of veteran hunter "Old Blue" Sol Collins.
They scour the hills.
The days are long and the nights filled with dread.
And, finally, on day three, they make a daunting discovery.
♪♪
It's fresh. Look how big it is.
♪♪
[ Blue Man growls ]
♪♪
CLARKE: Collins has fashioned these huge traps
with massive jaws
and an iron chain attached to a tree
to prevent whatever he catches from escaping.
♪♪
[ Bird cawing ]
Taber, keep an eye on the trap.
Six miles into the woods,
they uncover the den of the beast.
♪♪
Home sweet home.
He has clearly lived there for some time,
and there are disturbingly humanlike touches.
[ Trap snaps ]
[ Blue man roars ]
There it is.
♪♪
[ Moaning ]
♪♪
ENGLUND: The two hunters discover
that even mythical beasts
are not immune to the ravages of old age.
"His blue-gray coat of hair now is iron-y gray,
and his limbs are not well-muscled as formerly.
Nevertheless, it may be safely wagered
that there it not a man among the sturdy Ozark mountaineers
who would like to risk combat
single-handed
with the fearsome creature."
♪♪
Your animals are what that thing killed.
You do the deed.
♪♪
MURPHY: As Taber looks closely at the wounded Blue Man,
suddenly all he can see is the humanlike qualities --
its hands, the expression on its face, its tears.
[ Moaning ]
MURPHY: And he can't bring himself to fire at it.
It's crying.
COLLINS: It's a demon sent to Earth.
Take your shot.
♪♪
Take the shot.
MURPHY: He doesn't see a monster.
He sees the humanity inside this creature
because it looks like a man.
♪♪
[ Gunshot ]
What the hell did you do?
♪♪
Aah! Aah!
[ Screaming ]
♪♪
CLARKE: Blue Sol Collins dies that day,
but the beast allows Taber to escape,
possibly because of Taber's act of mercy.
[ Blue Man roars ]
♪♪
The Blue Man of the Ozarks was never captured.
His legacy reminds us that there's a fine line
between man and beast.
As for these three icons of American lore,
whether they were too hungry, too human, or too horrifying,
they will forever remain the stuff
that nightmares are made of.
Now, try and get some rest if you can,
but, uh, do come back for our next descent into true terror.
♪♪
[ Wind whistling ]