I just got the most uneasy feeling.
Previously on Expedition Bigfoot...
When you stumble into a territory where Bigfoot does not want you, he is gonna let you know.
What the hell?
I mean, that's amazing, and, like, something like a heavy, hard sound.
Me too. I feel like we're being followed.
I'm placing trackers along the trails.
These things will attach themselves to anything passing by that has hair.
The chase is on.
Is that the water right there?
Hey.
Did you see what was making that noise?
No, nothing. But it just felt like a presence.
On the secluded island of Prince of Wales in southeastern Alaska,
Mireya and Ronny have been using military-grade night vision technology
to investigate an area on the northern face of Green Mountain,
which is believed to be a bigfoot hotspot.
They've just heard sounds of a large animal moving nearby, but are unable to locate it.
So, you didn't catch what was behind you?
Really strange, but I didn't see anything.
And I could see incredibly clearly.
I'm still, I'm not sure if the right word is "unnerved."
But confused by the sounds I'd heard.
I mean, it was so strange.
And then all of a sudden came this really, like,
super loud, like, bang, like, like a super heavy hit.
Hmm.
- So, really, really strange. - Weird.
Wow, okay.
Hey, Russ.
Hey, guys.
Let me tell you what I've come up against.
I put out the trackers.
And I've been chasing something that has taken me
on an incredible path...
Wow.
...and brought me all the way down to the coast line.
Wow.
The problem is once it hit the coastline, it vanished.
What?
So, what are you planning to do?
Tomorrow, I'd like to have you guys help me come back out to this location.
I think we'd have better luck with three of us working at it than just me,
but this is the hottest trail I've had since I've been here in Alaska.
Okay.
Keep us updated, man.
Yup, I'll see you in a couple hours.
- Hey. - Hey, Russ.
- How's it going? - Good.
Mireya and Ronny have made their way eight miles to Russell's position.
It is three miles outside their target zone.
So, what's going on with you?
Well, you know the trackers we used last year?
- Mmm-hmm. - I put those out through a couple mile radius and I have a tracker that moved.
And late last night, it got to the coast line and I, it just lost it.
Signal lost.
Whoa.
Just blanked out.
I think it went in the water.
- Really? - I actually, yeah.
These trackers should be watertight.
But I've never tested whether they will actually transmit when they're submerged.
Water may interfere with the signal.
Well, what makes you think the animal that the tracker is on went in the water?
Well, that's the craziest part.
Where I lost this tracker, is the shortest distance between this island and the mainland.
- That's interesting. - Now, yeah.
Because that, you know, all the different reports out here.
The sasquatch views the water, they've been seen swimming.
So, that fits the behavior out here.
It would be really smart to get to the area where it's the shortest point
- to get across. - Absolutely.
I mean, there's a lot of wildlife that will travel
immense distances, I mean, miles across water...
- Across water. - ...to get to food or wherever it is... - Yeah. - ...that they need to get to.
- So, it's not out of the realm of possibility. - -Right.
This could be exactly what we're looking for.
But if it's out of range, we won't know unless we head over there.
What I'd like to do is follow this thing's path to the mainland shore.
That's where I wanna begin.
We should hopefully with a little luck pick it up.
There's still a chance that the tracker will be functioning once it reaches the shore.
But we'll have to move quick.
There's probably only 12 hours of battery left on it.
The fact that it cross-worked it is intriguing.
To me, there's no question. This is the best lead
- we've had the entire time we've been here. - -Yeah.
- Yeah. - We need to get to that spot in the mainland.
Couldn't agree more.
Uh, I don't want you to lose momentum, but I'm not ready to leave this section yet.
We've had some interesting activity.
I agree with Mireya that she should join Russ,
because I feel like that could be a very strong lead.
But I'm convinced that there is a lot of unfinished business here.
We keep on seeing recurring evidence that we're dealing with more than one bigfoot,
potentially a large family group.
I think there are more bigfoot here on this island.
I think maybe you go with Russ.
I can hang here for another day or so, 'cause there's a few more things I wanna check out.
And then I can follow up with you guys.
- That way, we're... - Yeah.
- ...kinda covering both.
- Let's do it. - Cool.
- All right. - All right, man, be safe.
Careful out there. All right.
- Good luck. - I'll talk to you soon, okay?
- All right, let's do this. - All right.
I think it's right up here.
Russell and Mireya have chartered a boat
to attempt to follow the path of the creature with Russell's tracker.
I don't know if we're gonna pick up a signal from that tracker.
This is the best lead I've gotten and we're gonna have to take that chance.
Oh, man.
Whoa.
Ronny has chosen to remain on Prince of Wales Island.
His plan is to explore the coast, near where Russell lost the signal from the tracker.
I firmly believe that Russell had a tracker on a bigfoot and it left this island for some reason.
I'm not sure what that reason is.
But it is possible if there are bigfoot still here, they're gonna leave for the very same reason
and if they do, they're gonna come right through here and I'm gonna be waiting for them.
No matter what we find though, this place just has a really different energy to it.
I've felt it since we stepped foot on this island.
And one of the interesting things that we're dealing with in Alaska
that we haven't had in any other expeditions is the Alaska Triangle.
The Alaska Triangle is an area of land stretching 325,000 square miles,
connecting Anchorage to Juneau to Utqiagvik, formerly known as Barrow.
Interest in the Alaska Triangle began in 1972
when U.S. House Majority leader, Hale Boggs,
and Alaska congressman, Nick Begich, went missing while flying over this area.
This lead to what was the nation's largest ever search and rescue mission.
After 39 days, the search was called off with no sign of wreckage or survivors.
Since that time, more than 16,000 people including airplane passengers, hikers, and locals,
have gone missing in the Alaska Triangle without a trace.
You have the Bermuda Triangle, Alaska Triangle.
All these places that have high strangeness.
Planes have disappeared, people have disappeared.
But they also have bigfoot that's associated with those spots.
And the big thing around here is Kushtaka, which is a bigfoot-like creature
that has abilities to basically make you go crazy.
If you're
weak-minded or if you're fearful, they will take that fear and use it against you.
So, there's a, psychological thing that starts to happen.
So, you have to make sure you're in the right frame of mind and if you start feeling
almost nauseous, sick, it's almost a warning that you're getting into an area
that maybe has some negative energies and entities there.
So, once we get closer, you're gonna turn the tracker on and see
- if you can pick it back up? - Yeah.
We have to be within a certain range to pick it up.
I hope we're right on this.
Russell and Mireya's plan is to begin scanning for a signal
along the mainland coast, across the channel from where it was lost.
But they only have six hours of battery life left.
I mean, an animal would need to be fleeing from something in a hurry...
- Right. - ...or it's got a purpose to need to get over.
- Right. - 'Cause that is a pretty risky thing to do actually.
Right.
Well, we know that an animal like a moose will swim for miles,
to reach a side that has more food, this is very unusual behavior in primates.
Not many of them are super comfortable in the water.
But if what we're after is more human-like, we know that humans are excellent swimmers.
So, the only thing we can hope for is that we'll be able to pick up on that tracker.
Get a little shelter from the rain for a little while.
Oh.
00:00:00.000
Deer skull, small deer.
There's some bones in a little pile here.
There's a rock.
And it looks like it's been used to break up
some fish.
So, that's using a tool to maybe tear something up.
Any time we find evidence of a kill site within bigfoot territory, that sets off alarm bells.
And I don't want to jump to conclusions, because there are heavy populations
of wolves and bear on this island, but these animals, they don't use rocks to break up bones.
My money is on a bigfoot.
Homo sapien, homo sapien, homo sapien.
Yeah, I don't see a lot on here. Damn.
So, I'm just looking over the, uh, DNA results
from the obsidian shards that Russell found in the abandoned mine.
What the hell is this?
Holy.
And unfortunately, it really only shows human DNA
and other animals that are local to this habitat.
Which is a little disappointing, because DNA is so valuable in what we do
and it's gonna be an integral piece to solving the bigfoot puzzle.
That being said, some good news did come out of it,
because it sent me down this rabbit hole of just why
something like obsidian would be found in an abandoned mine like that.
It turns out that this isn't the first time someone has found obsidian in a subterranean habitat.
As a matter of fact, in 1996, in a cave right here on Prince of Wales Island,
known as On Your Knees Cave, archeologists discovered human remains
that they dated to be over 10,000 years old.
One of the oldest remains ever found in the Americas.
But what's even more interesting to me, is that they also found obsidian right next to him.
Suggesting that he was using it as a cutting tool.
And that sort of popped out in my mind because so many people have speculated
that bigfoot may just be a type of early, primitive, human species
using rudimentary tools to survive.
Is that what Russell encountered?
I don't know, but it's a good question and one that we should be asking.
Here we go.
See if it picks anything up.
As Russell and Mireya head north along the channel between Prince of Wales and the mainland,
they have instructed the captain of the boat to maneuver close to the shoreline
so that Russell can attempt to pick up the signal from his tracker.
Searching.
We must still be out of range.
All right, let's try it again in a couple minutes.
We've been cruising up this coastline, hoping to catch a signal on that tracker.
If we get off at the wrong position, we really don't have a definitive place to start.
Which could cost us days and days on this mainland.
So, our best bet right now is to look for that tracking signal
until we get something that pinpoints where we begin.
Yeah, nothing. I wonder if we go down a little further.
We need to get that signal.
I've been thinking about why an animal would risk leaving the island.
We're in Alaska nearing summer.
And that means that soon the sun will barely set.
It'll disappear below the horizon for an hour or two and then pop right back up.
If you're a nocturnal hunter, which researchers believe bigfoot is,
then this time of year, you're gonna wanna head south, where the sun sets for much longer
and you're gonna have more time to hunt.
Which theoretically would mean that we don't have much time
before this creature heads south for the summer.
All right, we're pretty far north.
It's searching right now.
Hold on.
It's checking.
There we go.
Did that just ping?
Looks like it.
That says, that's the coastline.
Amazing.
Oh, wait, wait.
Look, signal lost.
That's incredible that you're picking anything up.
Yeah, oh, here we go, oh, wait.
There's some... It picked up something right over this way before I lost the signal.
Well, if you're picking up a signal, no matter how weak it is,
that means that whatever it is that you were tracking is right over there.
This seems to be at least where we're getting even that weakest signal.
- But it's still a signal. - Yeah.
You ready to hit the ground running?
Yeah, let's head to land and maybe we'll pick up the signal there.
Yeah.
The team's plan is to go ashore and continue to chase the creature.
The tracker, which is now 800 yards away, has less than two hours of battery left.
Look at this.
Do you still have a signal?
Yeah, look.
It's out this way.
And it looks like it's moving upward in elevation.
I was really nervous when that tracker went into the water.
I didn't know if it was gonna come off this other side
or if it just swam off and I'd never find it again.
Now that we have a signal on this mainland, we know where to start.
This is our beginning point from the best lead we've gotten so far.
Here we go.
Great, let's keep moving. 00:00:00.000.
So, creating a bit of a tripwire here.
So, if anything's coming down this trail, or coming through this other side, I will know.
Ronny has positioned himself inside the tree line near the shore where Russell believes
a bigfoot crossed the water to the mainland.
We are in the right spot.
Ronny thinks other bigfoot may also attempt to leave the island,
and has decided to stake out an area near a possible kill site he discovered earlier in the day.
Being solo, I don't have Mireya to watch my back.
So, I wanna know if something's coming into camp or nearby.
Some people believe that bigfoot can actually sense electromagnetic frequencies
that are given off by high-tech equipment.
And that might be the reason why we're still sitting here empty-handed.
So, tonight I wanna try something a little less cutting edge.
If I do have some issues with tech,
batteries draining, not working, I have another line of defense.
As their named, bear bells are used by outdoorsmen to let them know when there are bear around.
And I can't rule out that this is bear activity.
There are a lot on this island.
But I'm gonna hang them in such a way that they'll work for sasquatch too.
I'll position it, so about three feet.
So, nothing's gonna necessarily walk underneath it.
And it won't be easy to step over either.
And I wanna connect all these together so if one gets tripped
it should create enough motion that will set off the other ones as well.
All right, perimeters set.
Got bear bells on each of the lines here.
And I'll set up some trail cams so that way we can capture what might be coming in.
And I'm gonna have my camp fire here.
The fact that I'll have a fire...
All the animals should stay away, but a bigfoot might be curious out here.
Ronny has also strung up a series of bear bell lines
that span the tree line adjacent to where Russell lost the tracker's signal.
At this time of year, we only have a few hours of full nighttime.
And we know that they like to move during the dark.
So, there's a very small window for them to get to the shore.
I feel like my chances of actually seeing one are much higher right now.
We'll get this all tightened up and ready for tonight.
It's a little old school, but this should work.
We need to keep pushing up there.
Couldn't agree more.
Let's do it.
In Alaska, the environment and weather are constantly changing,
especially the further up this mountain we get.
This makes it very difficult to track, but that also explains why a creature such as a Bigfoot
would use a location like this.
Also, what makes this more difficult is that our tracker stopped responding about an hour ago.
Russ, look over here.
This is a fresh break.
And look at this, here.
Something just moved through here.
Yeah, it did.
Right here.
Look. We've got some leaves overturned.
See how all these are dark up?
This had been turned over, so the light side facing downward means
that something's pushed it down on the way through.
Yeah.
Look here.
Something's definitely moved through here.
Oh, yeah.
- Right here. - Yep.
Hey, I'll tell you what.
Let's drop some of our gear, just kind of pare it down, just take what we need for the night,
maybe thermal imaging, some lights.
I think that's a great idea, because it's so cold, there's all this snow...
- Yeah. - ...that something will just pop on the thermal.
- It'll be easy to get a read out here. - -Yeah.
- You're exactly right. - -If there's something out here, we should be able to pick up on it.
All right. Let's go find a spot.
Tonight, I'm returning to the local bar to speak with a guy named Josh
who told me he had some scary encounters that he's never shared with anyone before.
Well, Josh, man, I appreciate you speaking with me.
Yeah. No problem.
I understand you have a Bigfoot story you'd be willing to share with me.
Yeah.
Like, 11:00 at night... Mmm-hmm.
...something just told me to go up the mountain, just out of nowhere.
Really?
Yeah, and I hiked all the way to the top, and before I got to the top, I ended up blacking out,
and I woke up on the back side of the mountain.
I started hearing stuff rustling in bushes.
What the?
Hello?
Do you think something happened up there - on top of that mountain? - Absolutely.
Do you think it was beckoning you up there and wanted to lure you into the woods?
Yeah.
Turned around, and there was probably this nine foot creature, and he was gray,
and then I realized it was Kushtaka.
How close were you?
Uh, he was, like, this close to me.
Face to face.
Did it do anything, or... No, he just went like this, and started hissing at me.
And what did you do?
I turned around, and took off running.
Wow.
The cops found me, and after he put the cuffs on me, I was like, "What's the problem?"
I was like, "I didn't do anything wrong."
He said that there was no color in my eyes, whatsoever.
- Wow. - And he dropped his flashlight, pulled his gun out,
and he was shaking like a leaf.
Ever since that day, I haven't felt the same.
What the hell?
What is going on?
Do you think these creatures have the ability to affect our mind, or... Yeah. Absolutely.
...get inside of our heads a bit?
Yeah.
Absolutely.
They are capable of just about anything.
What the hell? 00:00:00.000.
Hey, is your camera on?
All right, now I'm getting a little twisted up here.
Who's out here?
Right here. Come on.
When you are exposed like I am, you start to let your mind wander.
You start to get paranoid.
What the hell is happening?
I'm starting to question my own mind, because I'm hearing the bear bells.
I'm not seeing them move, and I'm not seeing any evidence, but I'm hearing what sounds like
something is encroaching in my camp.
I'm kind of losing it.
The trail cams are up.
If something comes through,
animal or otherwise, I should have something on these.
All right. I think it's the bed.
Go to sleep.
You're fricking fine.
This looks like a pretty good spot.
I think I'll nestle in with these things to my back.
On the mainland, Russell and Mireya have decided to split up
while chasing an unknown creature east along a small river.
Got eyes on this clearing out here in front of me,
and it gives me a chance to just really, slowly, methodically go through that whole area.
Russell is staking out the south side of a marshy clearing near a river
where they spotted animal activity earlier, while Mireya investigates
the east side of the surrounding wood line.
Typical
is how everything just gets deadly quiet.
It's 3:30 a.m., and the sun is already starting to come up.
Now, as far as this thing has traveled, it's got to be getting hungry.
With the cover of darkness quickly fading, this thing is gonna be needing to hunt,
and this marsh is the perfect hunting ground.
Something's been moving here.
Look at this.
You've got all the moss coming out to just here, but right where this pretty heavily worn trail
is actually, this is completely stripped.
I mean, something's definitely been moving through here.
Mireya to Russell.
Go ahead, Mireya.
Are you seeing anything?
I just set up the thermals.
I've been scanning a little bit, but so far, no, I have not seen anything.
How are you doing on your side?
It's pretty quiet over here, although I did find a trail that had quite a lot
of movement on it, so I'm following that.
Um, I'm just gonna sit tight for a little bit longer.
I just have a gut feeling about this clearing.
It's, um... It covers a pretty broad span, and it does look like it gives me a chance
to see upriver quite a ways.
All right, copy that. Let me know.
Take a look at this.
Oh, those are some... Two pretty deep impressions right here.
And it's almost as if
something was standing like this,
something with two very big feet, and it was heavy.
That's what my eye is seeing there.
Did you hear that sound?
Okay, it's coming from over there.
I'm taking out the full color night vision.
I keep hearing something really lightly walking.
There is something definitely moving out here.
I'm hearing it again.
I wasn't picking anything up with the night vision, so I'm gonna try the thermal,
'cause there's definitely something moving out here.
Wait.
There.
See that?
It's moving. 00:00:00.000.
This place is crazy.
I mean, it may be strikingly beautiful in the daytime, but after dark,
it takes on a whole, new feeling.
Back on Prince of Wales Island, Bryce Johnson has received a new lead
that could prove extremely valuable.
I was contacted by a witness named Maria who told me that she had an encounter with a Bigfoot,
and that there's something she wants me to see.
Apparently, her experience left behind some physical evidence, which is pretty rare.
Normally, for a lead, we'll go off stories or locations, but if you have something tangible,
that can make all the difference in the world.
Maria, thank you for taking the time to speak with me this evening.
You're welcome.
So, I understand you have a Bigfoot encounter you're willing to share with me.
Did something happen?
Yeah.
I was picking berries five miles from here.
Okay.
And you were gonna be staying in your car?
- Is that right? - Yeah, I camp out in the car.
I've been here for 30 years.
I've always camped in my car. I've never had a problem.
Can you tell me what you saw?
Yeah.
I'm already shaking.
And there was some noise in the brush that was going on.
I just figured it was a bear headed up the trail.
Mmm-hmm.
And I smelled something, so I turned around and I looked.
I thought it was a bear.
And it bounced my head right here, off of the steering wheel.
Did something hit you?
Something in the rearview mirror caught my eye.
I saw big old eyes.
Big eyes in the back end of the car.
Its hand came up, and it jolted the whole car,
so I pushed my foot on the brake again.
The brake lights came back on, and you could see its face back there.
You could see his nose. You could see his eyes.
You could see his mouth, and nostrils, and it was looking at me.
What did the face look like?
The face was all silver.
He had white, pupils, just like a human, black eyes, and the hands were just
silver-looking, greyish-silver, just like a gorilla.
Interesting.
And it had a big, huge nose, kind of like a gorilla's, a little bit flattened out,
but it still stuck out like a human.
Hmm.
How tall do you think it was?
About eight to nine feet tall.
Oh, wow.
Three steps, and he was gone.
Would you still go camping after that incident?
Not by myself no more.
Not after that did that to my car.
That was giving me nightmares.
Hmm.
Maria's been providing for herself in the Alaskan wilderness for over 30 years.
So she's aware of the dangers.
To see her shook up like this really makes me believe that she had this encounter,
and if the immense size of this creature is actually as big as Maria was describing,
then that tells me we're talking about a Bigfoot here.
- So you said this creature put its hand on your car... - -Yeah.
...and that you got a picture of a handprint?
Is that right?
Yeah. You can see where the fingers are.
Oh, wow. Yeah. Look at that.
And then, if you come down here, you could tell where the thumb is coming down.
Wow.
The image is very hard to make out, but I can see what looks to be like a large handprint.
A human cannot do that.
No scratch marks at all.
- Bears don't have a thumb that sticks out. - -Yeah.
How do you know it wasn't a bear?
It wasn't a bear.
- Not with that face. - Mmm-hmm.
What do you think this thing was trying to do?
I don't think he wanted me there.
I think he wanted me to move.
Are there a lot of these creatures on this island?
I think there's more than we know.
- Yeah. - -That's the scary part.
They're twice your size.
- Hmm. - They can do anything to you.
Okay.
I've still got it.
We're gonna go as fast as we can, but as quietly as we can, not to scare it off, whatever it is.
There's something moving out there.
What is that?
Can you see this?
It's on the other side of those trees, on that other bank, that far bank.
Watch this area.
See that little spot right there?
Oh, look.
It's a beaver, I think.
It's doing something on the other side of the marsh.
Mireya for Russell.
Go ahead, Mireya.
Hey, Russell, I've got a heat signature on the thermal, and it's moving towards the clearing.
Copy that.
I'm just seeing some wildlife, but keep tracking that signature.
Copy that.
Holy!
There's something right behind the trees, right there.
What the hell is that?
That looks like it's something standing up.
Whoa.
It's right behind the beaver.
Holy!
Maria, I've got a heat signature.
You have a heat signature?
Yeah.
It looks like a figure standing behind a tree on the other side of the bank.
I'm on the same side, above you,
and I've still got the heat signature right ahead, towards the clearing that I left you at.
If you still have yours, I don't think they're the same thing.
I think we're talking two different entities here.
Oh, my God.
Hold on.
It's moving.
Oh, wait a minute.
Holy!
It's hunting. 00:00:00.000.
Oh.
This thing is moving.
Whoa, look!
There goes the beaver.
It's running from it.
This is really strange.
Whatever I saw across the way there, literally just vanished.
It was hunting.
Oh, my gosh.
Where did it go?
Lost it.
Russell for Mireya.
Go ahead, Russ.
Mine took off.
It just vanished. It's gone.
I lost my thermal, too.
I'm heading in your direction.
Ten-four, I'll let you know if I see anything.
- Hey. - Oh, man.
See where this thing is pointed?
Straight out on the other side of that clearing, I saw something that was behind the trees,
and it kind of leaned a little bit.
It kind of showed itself to me.
It was tall, upright like you and I.
I think it was hunting.
- And then... - Wow.
Do you got it on video?
I have it on video.
- Well... - And I watched that for awhile, and then, it literally just vanished,
on the other side of the clearing.
Whatever I saw in the forest, before I lost it, the heat signature was moving
in the direction of the clearing.
If they moved away from the clearing, they're headed towards the river.
We're talking two at the same time.
Yeah.
Well, either way... - They were moving... - ...they were going in that direction.
- So let's just go. - You got that right. Let's do it.
The sun will be up soon.
We'll have a better chance to find evidence of what that was with some light.
We're definitely getting higher, aren't we?
Yeah. Look at all this snow.
Yeah!
The team is following a small creek that feeds the marshy clearing, where just hours ago,
they spotted two mysterious thermals.
Looks like there's some tracks on the other side.
Something definitely moving through here.
No question about that.
Something big.
We're hoping that whatever we saw in that marsh is still here.
It makes sense that they would stick close to this creek, because we know that most animals
like to stick to the waterways.
This little creek meets the marsh right where I saw my thermal.
Hey, Russ.
- Yeah. - There's a lot of dead fish on this side.
Pink salmon.
Really?
Something's definitely been feeding here.
You find anything over there?
There seems to be a good trail that heads off in that direction.
I think we should start following that up.
Okay.
- There's something moving over there. - Yeah.
That was loud.
Let's just keep going towards it.
That was definitely in the water, wasn't it?
Do you see anything?
I'm seeing some deer tracks, but just some small stuff right now.
Hey, Russ.
What do we got?
Look at this, here.
Was that a bear, maybe?
That looks pretty big.
That's a hand.
Look.
Holy.
Look at the size of that.
- It's huge, right? That area? - Yeah.
- That is monstrous.
If it is a hand, it's not a perfect print.
How can we confirm?
I've got the scanner.
- Yeah? - So I can start setting that up.
Great.
If this is a handprint, this scanner will show us what our eyes can't see.
Okay, I'm starting to see something.
Yeah.
Well, I think we have our answer.
What do we got?