NARRATOR: Previously, on "Expedition Bigfoot."
Oh my god.
What the [bleep] is that?
It looks like a Bigfoot crossing the road right there.
Look at this.
This might be something significant here.
Something bent this and then locked it in here.
It's pointing.
It's telling us to go this way, so I want to follow this.
Oh wait, look at that.
Something with a lot of weight pressed right there.
Woo!
Uh, guys, what is that?
(WHISPERING) Mireya, come in.
There's something there.
(WHISPERING) Mireya?
There's something there and it's reflecting off the water.
(WHISPERING) Mireya's not responding.
Seriously, what is that?
(WHISPERING) Mireya, come in for Ronny.
What the [bleep] is that?
(WHISPERING) Mireya, come in for Ronny.
Seriously, what is that?
(WHISPERING) Mireya's not responding.
It looks like a body.
NARRATOR: Deep in the mountain forests of the Olympic
Peninsula, investigator Ronny LeBlanc and primatologist Dr.
Mireya Mayor are staking out a potential Bigfoot
feeding ground.
(WHISPERING) What is that?
NARRATOR: And Mireya has just spotted something
massive on the thermal camera.
(WHISPERING) Hey, Mireya.
(WHISPERING) Ronny, I've got a huge red signature.
It's right across the river from me.
(WHISPERING) What do you think it is?
(WHISPERING) It looks like a large, red heat
signature hiding behind a tree.
This is honestly the strangest thing I've ever seen.
So it's hiding behind the tree?
(WHISPERING) This is getting stranger by the minute.
All right, please tell me that you are regarding that figure.
What's happening now?
(WHISPERING) Ronny, the thermal's glitching
and it won't record.
The camera is not recording.
Not [bleep].
(WHISPERING) Wait, it stopped glitching,
but the camera's still not recording.
We'll have to get it off the cameraman's video.
(WHISPERING) I want to try something.
Just keep it on the target.
I'm going to do a call in 30 seconds.
(WHISPERING) I've got it in my sights.
[bigfoot call]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
It's moving.
The tree is not going to move like that.
That is an animal.
(WHISPERING) Did the target move?
(WHISPERING) It is definitely not hiding behind a tree.
It's moving a lot.
(WHISPERING) Does it look like it's on all fours,
or standing upright?
(WHISPERING) It's all vertical,
and there's little white dots about this heat signature,
and it's moving around everywhere.
(WHISPERING) That is so strange.
There have been reports of people
seeing a Bigfoot creature with small orbs
flying around its head.
OK, what the [bleep]?
- Whoa. - Shh, shh.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: What was that?
Did you hear that?
(WHISPERING) I'm hearing the whistling again.
[whistle]
That just gave me the chills.
(WHISPERING) I'm looking for any shape, any animal,
eye shine, anything--
nothing.
It might be on the other side of that.
Ronny, I just turned my flashlight on
to see if I could see what it was,
and I don't see it with my flashlight.
But this heat signature is so big that it's
coming through a huge shrub.
(WHISPERING) How big does it look?
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Is it a--
it's getting smaller.
(WHISPERING) It's getting smaller.
and the bottom part is looking more
and more faint and transparent.
(WHISPERING) So it's literally changing
shape before your eyes?
(WHISPERING) It's changing shape.
It's getting smaller and starting to disappear.
Hold on.
[gasps] No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
The bottom half is gone, and now it's
just a small, white circle.
(WHISPERING) Are you saying that that thing
turned into an orb?
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: I repeat, whatever it was turned
into a small, white circle.
Oh my god.
It's gone.
I know that this animal was standing behind the bush,
because when I turned on my flashlight
and flashed it across the river, there was nothing there.
I still had the heat signature on the thermal,
but there was nothing standing there.
The fact that something can appear on my screen
and then suddenly disappear, or that we see lights that
are inexplicable, is really hard for me
to consolidate when I'm out here,
because I am hearing and seeing things that I can't explain.
Hey.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Hey.
So strangeness, huh [inaudible]??
I'm, I'm sort of speechless right now,
because you did the calls--
Uh-huh.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: --right?
And I started scanning, and all of a sudden I
had this heat signature.
And then there were these white dots on top of it,
and then eventually it just turned into a white circle,
and then it disappeared.
Are you saying they were separate white dots, like,
floating above it, or on the heat signature itself?
No, like, above it.
Yeah, I mean, we got to look at that.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Yeah, no, for sure.
Holy crap.
Orbs go hand in hand with Bigfoot,
and some Native Americans believe
that they can actually transform into these orbs
and go in between worlds.
Whatever Mireya was seeing above this figure,
it sounds a lot like orbs.
And if it's anything like last year,
then we're definitely into some strange territory.
(WHISPERING) What is that?
NARRATOR: This isn't the first time
the team has had an experience with strange lights.
Last year, they spotted unexplained orbs in a clearing.
And just weeks ago in Kentucky, Russell spotted several lights
of unknown origin.
Whatever it was was behind it.
I couldn't see what it was.
This is crazy.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: And once we get situated at base camp,
we all got to look at that.
I think we should call Russ and have him join
us and come look at it, too.
Yeah.
NARRATOR: Since landing in Washington,
the team has been making their way to a base camp location
Bryce spotted from the air.
But it's still several hours away,
so the team has decided to spend one more night in this area.
I know that Ronny is super excited by what
I described to him.
And I'm excited by it, too, but I'm troubled by it,
because I can't explain it.
What does this?
What can appear, show a heat signature
invisible to the naked eye, that you couldn't see it once you
put a flashlight on it?
It appears without making a sound,
it has strange lights floating above it.
It then turns into a ball of light, and then it disappears.
I'm trying to make sense of it.
I'm trying to explain away what would be
creating that heat signature.
There are big animals in this force.
There are elk, there are bears, it could be a human.
But with this one, I'm completely stumped.
So there's a heat signature.
There should be something there when
she puts that flashlight on it.
There was nothing there.
We're going to be heading to our base camp.
We have an anomaly that was captured on film
that we can review tomorrow morning.
Once we have access to the cameraman's footage,
we can get that dumped onto our laptops so we can review that.
So I can not wait to see this thermal video
that Mireya had caught.
Until then.
It's one of those things that's going to keep me up all
night thinking about it.
What was that?
It's important to talk to locals around here.
It's not only going to save us time,
but it's going to be invaluable.
NARRATOR: 40 miles West, near the Pacific coast,
Bryce Johnson is heading to the tribal lands of the Makah,
a Native American tribe that has occupied this area
for thousands of years.
On the Olympic Peninsula, there
are several tribes who have never been displaced
or left their sacred lands.
Part of the oral history is that Bigfoot has always been
intertwined with us humans.
I've been granted an incredible opportunity
to speak with a Makah tribal member, who not only can tell
me about the rich oral history of Bigfoot,
but this guy also had an encounter himself.
Hey, man.
Hi, Bryce.
BRYCE JOHNSON: I just want to say,
first off, I appreciate you extending trust,
and I'm really excited to speak with you today.
Well, I'm glad to have you down here on Third Beach.
I know your tribe has a deep and rich
oral history of Bigfoot.
Can you tell me a little bit about what that is?
I have a story that was told to me by my dad,
and it was told to him by his grandfather, from his grandpa.
Oh, wow, so we're talking about a couple
of hundred years ago and passed down.
Oh, easily, easily.
Well, we have things called a "potlatch."
It's a ceremonial party, and it's an expression
of being prosperous.
So a long time ago, our tribe would invite the wild man,
or Bigfoot, down from the hills to participate
in these potlatches.
It was a great time, because we all spoke the same language.
So when Sasquatch would come down and come
to these ceremonial parties, all the young men
and all the warriors would get together with the Sasquatches
to wrestle for fun.
Wrestle with these creatures?
It was a show of strength.
It was like wrestling a bear.
But this is when it became tragic, when a Sasquatch
accidentally killed a man.
And that was when Sasquatch realized
what murder was, because animals do not feel that.
That's a man concept.
It was a very tragic moment.
And from that moment on, any potlatch that we invited them
to, they would never show up, until we couldn't speak
the same language anymore.
Really?
So even the language stopped at that point?
Yes.
Every time we see a Sasquatch, we
get to realize how we lost that bond,
and how important that bond was.
BRYCE JOHNSON: I was kind of blown away at the idea
that there was a point in time where we were connected.
But once that Bigfoot experienced murder,
there was a disconnect and that bond was broken.
Are these just part of your mythology,
or are we talking about real creatures here?
Well, there's enough stories told
that are common amongst the natives
of the Pacific Northwest, I feel like it's not a myth.
I feel like it's real.
And I know you already told me, I mean,
Bigfoot jumped from mythology right
to reality in front of your eyes.
What was that like?
Well, we were here on this beach.
Me and my friend, we were cutting firewood
and we actually had what we thought
were surfers in the tree line throwing pieces of wood
at us and, and rocks.
How big were these chunks of wood?
Easily as big as your leg.
Wow.
When I asked my friend to go back and look,
he said that "men can't throw stuff like that.
I'm not going back there."
So when I went back there, I was shocked
to see what I thought was a giant man in a ghillie suit.
I mean, a ghillie suit is a, is
a camouflaged outfit usually worn
by special forces or hunters.
Yeah.
How tall was this creature you saw?
Easily eight feet tall.
BRYCE JOHNSON: We came to Washington on a tip
that the military is aware of Bigfoot's existence.
How do you know it wasn't just a man in a ghillie suit?
Because when I was able to get close to it,
I was able to see its actual mass.
And shockingly enough, it stuck its hands over its face
and crouched down--
I was shocked to see what I thought was
a giant man in a ghillie suit.
It stuck his hands over its face and crouched down--
So you're saying that this creature vanished right
in front of your very eyes?
Yes.
That's incredible.
NARRATOR: Just 30 miles from their target zone,
Bryce is speaking with a member of the Makah tribe
who believes he had a unique Bigfoot
encounter on these very shores.
You know, it's one thing to hear your tribal elders say
this creature is real, but it's another thing
altogether to actually see it for yourself.
He saw this creature put its hands over its face
and then disappear.
And frankly, I can't tell you how many times I've
heard or read about Native American legends
that are pretty similar.
NARRATOR: For centuries, indigenous lore
has claimed Bigfoot possesses the power of cloaking.
Just 90 miles away, the Twana of Puget Sound
believed Seatco, their word for Bigfoot,
was a forest giant that was usually invisible.
What you saw is not the first time I've heard that,
or read a report about that.
Do you think it somehow interfered with your perception
of it, or your consciousness, or does it actually
have the capability to dematerialize?
I think that as humans we see what we want to see.
We see images that we want to see.
I think that's why people don't see Sasquatch.
And the monster that people feel is the monster in themselves,
and not being able to recognize their bond
and how separate they are from nature.
Yeah.
Do you feel like this creature wanted to be seen by you?
Yes.
It felt like my grandparents, they
weren't just saying stories.
It felt like there was proof to my history.
BRYCE JOHNSON: Wow.
It was absolutely amazing.
RONNY LEBLANC: OK, we're almost there.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: There's base camp.
RONNY LEBLANC: Base camp.
NARRATOR: Back in the target zone,
the team has finally reached the designated
base camp location, where Bryce recently
made an equipment drop.
They now have access to supplies to last
them the remainder of the expedition,
as well as important technology.
RONNY LEBLANC: I wonder what goodies Bryce has left us.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Once Bryce scouted this area,
he was able to drop off all the necessary gear
that we're going to need out here.
The visibility at night is incredibly difficult,
and there's only so much you can see with the naked eye.
This tech gives us a real edge.
RONNY LEBLANC: We got IR floodlights, it looks like.
We got all of our trail cams--
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Great.
RONNY LEBLANC: --a speaker system.
This is great.
We've got everything.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Yeah, it's a good thing
he left us a new camera, because the one last night is busted.
Right.
When it comes to Bigfoot research, a lot of people
believe that Bigfoot can mess with the tech,
and that's what Mireya was experiencing last night.
Her camera was not recording.
The cameraman had to film it from the monitor,
because there was no other way for us
to record this thermal imagery.
But based on what Mireya has been telling me, I cannot
wait to get my eyes on this.
It was right after I talked to you.
Look at that.
Whoa, shoulders.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: And then it's really vertical.
Hey guys. DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Hey, Russ.
RONNY LEBLANC: Hey, perfect timing, man.
Yeah.
We just started watching the video from last night.
And I know that you've got tons of experience
on thermals, so I'd love for you to give
us your thoughts on this.
OK, cool.
Check this out.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Ronny had just made a call.
I had already scanned the area all in front of me.
As soon as I lift the camera and I see this.
Oh, that's just strange.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: At first I thought it was something hiding
behind a tree, because look.
It's almost like something is stand--
holy crap, what is that?
Wow.
That almost looks like something crouched down.
You can see what looks like a head.
Yeah, no kidding.
And look it, that's red hot.
That is really hot.
Oh, that's a great signature.
That's huge.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: I aimed my flashlight right
at what I was looking at--
OK.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: --and there was nothing there.
That's insane.
It was incredible to look at the footage.
Because you could see when Mireya took out her flashlight
and scanned the area, where she was seeing that heat signature,
there was nothing in front of her.
But as soon as that flashlight went down
and the thermal went back up, there it was.
That was a message to us that we're not alone.
It wanted us to know that it was watching us.
What's this above it?
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: See, these little white circles,
almost like circles of light, started
popping up over its head.
Sometimes three, sometimes five.
Then they would disappear, and then they would come back.
Look, it's right there.
Oh yeah, yeah.
There's more, see?
Holy [bleep].
What the hell is that?
I mean, the only other thing that could give off a heat
signature like this is a human.
Agreed.
But humans don't do this.
Unbelievable.
RONNY LEBLANC: So then tell him what happens at the end.
The heat signature turns into one of those white balls,
and then disappears.
I mean, it wasn't there, and now it shows up.
Then you get these strange balls of heat above it
that look like orbs.
There have been reports of people seeing a Bigfoot
with, like, white balls of light over its head,
and that's what I thought of when she mentioned that to me.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: This thermal has really raised more
questions for me than answers.
The strangeness of these white light-like appearances hovering
over this creature's head is apparently
indicative of Bigfoot sightings.
I've heard it from Ronny, I've heard it from Russ,
and I've heard it from other eyewitnesses,
but it's not something that as a scientist I truly understand.
RUSSELL ACORD: That is mind blowing.
This is part of the whole mystery.
What is doing this?
What is this?
How the hell did it come in and out
and just disappear without making a sound?
I felt like I was seeing something that maybe
science couldn't explain.
Right.
We should go ahead and send this video to Bryce.
I don't understand exactly what it is.
When I first looked at it, my mind
started thinking we're looking at eight feet tall,
something solid in mass.
But this is really unnatural.
It just disappeared.
It made no sense to me.
It defies all logic.
I can't put a thumb on it and tell you what it is,
and I don't like that.
It's just creepy.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Yeah, that's how I'm feeling about it, too.
I don't like that I can't explain
what it is by eliminating what it could
be that I know that is here.
Where was that?
I mean, how-- is this--
So that's just a half a day's walk from here.
We should go ahead and check it out.
Let's do it.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Sure, let's go.
RUSSELL ACORD: You guys want to do it?
RONNY LEBLANC: Yeah, we still got some daylight.
RUSSELL ACORD: Excellent. Let's do it.
NARRATOR: Coming up.
Sounds they heard was just way outside anything
that they'd heard before.
[bigfoot call]
[distant whistling]
I heard something over there.
RONNY LEBLANC: Black military helicopters show up.
That's no coincidence.
There's something moving right across from us.
We're being stalked.
Holy [bleep],, this thing is moving towards us.
BRYCE JOHNSON: I got a phone call
this morning about that thermal video that we captured.
Ronny and Mireya saw it sort of cloaked.
It was completely unexplainable.
It was large, and it's hard to square that away.
It's just crazy when you hear somebody who's kind
of repeating the same thing.
You know, the idea that these Bigfoot creatures
have the capability to camouflage themselves
is a little unnerving.
Although this is a scientific expedition,
we can't discount some of the stranger things
our team has been experiencing.
So that's why I want to speak with Ron
Morehead, who's a legend in the Bigfoot research community.
Hey, Ron.
How are you? BRYCE JOHNSON: Good.
How are you doing, man?
I'm doing great, thanks.
BRYCE JOHNSON: In his 50 years of Bigfoot research,
not only has Ron experienced some of the same things
as our team, but he's also studied the possible science
behind it as well.
So I'm hoping he can actually shed some light as to just
what he thinks is going on.
Ron, I wanted to come talk to you because you're
famous for capturing what's known as "The Sierra Sounds,"
arguably the first Bigfoot vocalizations on tape.
What originally brought you up to that part
of the Sierra Nevadas?
I was friends with these guys who
were hunting up there, eight miles in the wilderness, very
imposing trail.
The sounds they heard was just way outside what anything
that had been heard before.
So I went up there and I started hearing the sounds, too.
Me and my buddy, we were fixing our dinner
and you could hear rocks clopping.
[rocks clopping]
And then you started hearing whoops.
[whoops]
All of a sudden they started chattering--
very rapid chatter, by the way.
[rapid chatter and snarls]
So we got a scientist to look at it unbiasedly,
and found that they were genuine.
We didn't realize the significance of what it was we
were dealing with at the time.
Whatever they are, they're here.
They left huge footprints around our camp there.
And--
BRYCE JOHNSON: So you saw footprints as well?
Oh yeah.
Not just the vocalizations, and we don't know how they did
some of the things they did.
Definitely.
I mean, and we've encountered that on our expedition.
We experienced some things that we couldn't really explain.
You know, Dr. Mayor, she caught what she thought
was this creature on her thermal video,
and then she shined her flashlight
right out in front of her, but she couldn't see anything.
RON MOREHEAD: Uh-huh.
BRYCE JOHNSON: What do you know about these creatures'
ability to cloak themselves?
Right, [chuckles] how do you explain that?
Through energy-- that's what we all are made of,
including these beings we call Bigfoot.
I think they can manipulate energy and manipulate
vibrational frequencies.
So really I've come to thinking that maybe you
don't know what you're seeing.
There's been too many reports I've
heard over the years that say they saw them disappear--
from credible people.
I can only speculate, because some of the things that went on
are just not explainable with classical science.
You got to get into quantum physics
to try to put a handle on this.
And how they do that, and how they manipulate energy
is a mystery to me.
Yeah.
But I think quantum physics can answer that, it just
has to be delved into more.
It would be easy to say that Ron's theories are way
out in left field, but we've been talking
about this creature for hundreds of years
and we still haven't proven its existence.
So maybe there is something going on scientifically that we
just don't understand yet.
So it sounds like they have some unique capabilities
to maybe alter our perception.
Absolutely.
These things have abilities that we don't understand.
And is the government encouraging that?
We don't know, but I suspect there could be knowledge there.
BRYCE JOHNSON: Do you think that the government may, in fact,
know about these creatures?
And if they do, why aren't they letting us know?
I do think they know.
I don't think they want us to know,
because I think the military will do a study on it.
Yeah.
Also, it's going to throw a kink into evolution,
it's gonna throw a big kink in the religions.
People don't want to believe what's
outside of their paradigm.
Ron raises a good point.
After all, we came out here on the Intel
that the government knows about Bigfoot in Washington state.
If that's true, then studying these creatures
and their strange abilities would be extremely valuable.
What type of advice would you offer me and my team
for being able to capture as much evidence as possible?
I say get out of your mindset.
Get an open mind, understand that there's
issues that you won't understand, but you can try.
That's what this is all about, is
trying to expose people to something
outside of their maybe fixed paradigm.
Don't have a fixed paradigm.
Yeah, good advice.
RONNY LEBLANC: I still don't understand
how this thing appeared without a sound
and disappeared the same way.
RUSSELL ACORD: Yeah, that doesn't make sense.
NARRATOR: The team has returned to the location where Mireya
recorded the mysterious thermal signature,
to determine exactly what type of animal was across the river.
RONNY LEBLANC: I'm super stoked that we have the whole gang
together for us to go and look at where
this heat signature was.
Because Russ, he has a lot of familiarity
with thermal imagery, so we want to get his expertise,
and I want to get my eyes on this position
so we can find out what exactly Mireya captured.
So, I was standing right here, looking at that bush
right there.
The first time I opened up the thermal,
I just, I panned this entire area,
and there was absolutely nothing.
And then it was only after the vocalization
that Ronny made that it turned up.
The second I panned up, it was right there.
RONNY LEBLANC: So it was directly across from you,
just instantly? - Directly across from me.
RONNY LEBLANC: What do you make of that, man,
now that you're seeing this?
RUSSELL ACORD: Look at the far bank over here.
We've got depressions in the mud.
RONNY LEBLANC: Uh-huh. DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Yeah.
Something made its way up the bank there.
RONNY LEBLANC: Yeah.
RUSSELL ACORD: I do want to have a look at that.
But this is the bush you were looking at directly?
RONNY LEBLANC: Uh-huh. - Yeah.
OK can you pinpoint exactly where
you were standing I was standing right here I had my bag here.
RUSSELL ACORD: OK.
So for height reference, I want to do something here.
I'm going to put a tripod and see if we can see where
your head level would have been over on the other side,
just for a reference point.
OK.
This would be exactly at your eye level right here.
- Yeah. - OK.
OK.
I'd actually like to go across and check
for prints and anything else.
So you guys want to have a look?
Let's do it.
Yeah, let's go over there.
I need to really scour the area and see
if I can see any sort of physical evidence-- hair
samples, footprints, anything that would give us
an indication as to what could possibly put
off such a huge heat signature.
RUSSELL ACORD: I can see the tripod on the other side.
So whatever it was, it would have had to be here.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: This would be the bush.
And there's nothing solid behind this
that would give off heat.
But look at this, you guys, something's been bedding here.
RONNY LEBLANC: Oh my god.
Whoa.
It was definitely trampled down.
That definitely is something was here.
Greenery right down on the ground right there--
I was just looking at that.
RUSSELL ACORD: --everything's broken down.
I can see the tripod on the other side, so whatever it was,
it would have had to be here.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: This would be the bush.
And there's nothing solid behind this
that would give off heat.
But look at this, you guys.
Something's been bedding here.
RONNY LEBLANC: Oh my god.
Whoa.
It was definitely trampled down.
That definitely is something was here.
RUSSELL ACORD: It was pushed down.
Greenery right down on the ground right there--
I was just looking at that.
RUSSELL ACORD: --everything's broken down.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Yeah.
NARRATOR: The team has just discovered signs
that a large creature may have been present on the riverbank
last night.
Gorillas will often eat, sort of like tubers,
and break off the stems, chew on them and then throw them down.
This here is all broken, and it goes all the way back.
When I search for large primates like gorillas,
one of the best indicators of knowing where they've been
is looking at the vegetation around us,
because the vegetation is the evidence of their movement.
I don't see any prints or hair, but something
definitely went through here.
Look at this. These here--
RUSSELL ACORD: Yes.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: --that's a fresh break.
RUSSELL ACORD: Whatever it is, this thing is breaking
these things off from above.
It's creating a large path for itself
to get through in all these spaces.
A deer won't make this much damage, neither with a bear.
RONNY LEBLANC: So we're talking about the width here, right?
We're
RUSSELL ACORD: Talking about something with a lot of size.
RONNY LEBLANC: Right, that's moving through.
Absolutely. RONNY LEBLANC: Yeah.
RUSSELL ACORD: This is a heavily traveled
area by something very large.
It's crazy.
Hey, guys, I say tonight we come back
and we set up the thermal.
Russ, since you're the tallest one of us,
you stand behind here and let's see what kind of heat signature
I get from that.
Excellent. Great idea.
RONNY LEBLANC: Yeah.
BRYCE JOHNSON: The team has experienced
some strange things that just do not
fit inside a neat little box.
It doesn't make sense.
So I'm on my way to speak with Dr. Michael Dennin.
He's a professor of physics.
I really want to see what a physicist has
to say about these Bigfoot creatures
being able to cloak themselves, or use
some form of invisibility.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Dr. Michael Dennin is a Princeton educated
physics and astronomy professor that specializes
in experimental physics and the complex dynamics
of biological systems.
Hello?
MICHAEL DENNIN: Yeah?
- Hey, Dr. Dennin. - Hey, Bryce.
- How are you? - Great to see you.
Yeah, nice to meet you.
I'm doing well.
Well, thank you for taking the time to meet with me today.
Yeah.
So what are some of the things you guys have been seeing?
BRYCE JOHNSON: A lot of strange sort of happenings.
So one of our team members in the field, Dr. Mayor,
thought she captured one of these creatures on thermal.
But when she went to shine her flashlight,
there was nothing there.
MICHAEL DENNIN: Interesting.
BRYCE JOHNSON: It's long been reported by witnesses
and mythological lore that Bigfoot's had the ability
to materialize and dematerialize actually
in front of witnesses' eyes.
You know, this is the stuff I'm very interested in,
and how realistic are those ideas?
Well, first of all, it turns out invisibility
we actually know how to do, right?
The invisibility cloak, we know pretty much how to make
them from material science.
NARRATOR: Once thought of as science fiction,
invisibility has now become science fact.
By bending light waves using special materials,
researchers have been able to make
solid objects appear invisible.
MICHAEL DENNIN: Now, if we can figure out
how to make it in the lab, it's not
unreasonable to assume that biology could have figured
it out through evolution.
Bigfoot or Sasquatch, they're always described as hairy.
Uh-huh.
So if a Sasquatch or Bigfoot could actually
control the position of its hairs,
it could change from being a coat that just
reflects light like normal--
Yeah.
--which is how you see things, to one
that then bends it around and it effectively becomes invisible.
God, that's wild.
Yeah.
BRYCE JOHNSON: I thought it was incredible that he said, look,
there's the very real possibility
that these creatures could be cloaking
themselves using their own fur.
I know that sounds science fiction-y and sounds crazy,
but it's not completely out of the realm of possibility.
The challenge with invisibility,
as we've developed it, is it tends
to be very wavelength specific.
Uh-huh.
It tends to be in certain wavelength spectrum.
In other words, if I see, like, a stealth fighter,
it's invisible to radar--
But not to you.
--but it's not invisible to my eye.
Exactly.
It's hard to be sort of invisible in multiple
wavelengths at the same time.
BRYCE JOHNSON: And speaking of that, invisibility
is definitely something the military would
have a strong interest in.
Right.
Let's face it, these aren't the type
of things you might expect.
As a physicist, I really can't say much, but it's possible.
BRYCE JOHNSON: Dr. Dennin had a real explanation
for how these creatures could be cloaking themselves--
possibly using their own fur.
Well, thank you so much, Dr. Dennin.
You're welcome.
BRYCE JOHNSON: I really appreciate it.
Great to chat.
BRYCE JOHNSON: If these creatures
do have that capability, it might
explain why the government would be keeping them a secret.
Having the ability to cloak would
be a truly powerful weapon.
One thing seems certain--
if and when we do find this creature,
it's going to change the way we look at the world forever.
(WHISPERING) Last night this forest was dead quiet.
[owls hooting]
Those owls are quite crazy tonight.
Gonna have a lot of active animals.
NARRATOR: Under cover of darkness,
the team returns to the river to film
a size comparison between last night's
thermal image and Russell.
(WHISPERING) Are you close to where you were before?
(WHISPERING) I'm exactly where I was before.
There's the bush that I was looking at-- no heat
signature, nothing.
There was definitely something there.
OK, I'm headed over.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: By having Russell go out there and stand
in the very spot where I was getting this heat signature,
we're going to get a better idea of just how big this creature
was, and it'll be a good way to assess
the possible shape and size.
(WHISPERING) I see him.
(WHISPERING) I bet I come up as a pretty
hot thermal right now, right?
Yeah, you're coming up red hot right now.
RUSSELL ACORD: I'm going to step behind this bush
that we've been looking at all day
and see if you can see me through that, all right?
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Oh, I can see you perfectly.
Keep walking a little bit further in.
And now you're completely gone.
RUSSELL ACORD: OK, stand by just for one second.
I'm gonna try a test.
I'm going to bring my hands up over my head,
see if you can see them.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Yep, I see your hands.
You're moving them.
You look really small next to that bush.
I'm actually not even getting as hot a red signature on you.
Russ, step back out so I can see you again?
Where you're standing right now is a hot, red signature.
When you were behind the bush, it was much more faint.
I'm actually right on the water's edge.
I'm pretty close to you right now at this point.
Ah, clear as day.
(WHISPERING) Ronny, what's really
blowing my mind is that whatever was behind the bush
was emitting so much heat that I could see through the bush.
I think it was a lot bigger.
I wasn't really sure what was going
to come out of this experiment.
I wondered if what I was actually seeing last night
was there, given that every time I flashed
a light nothing turned up.
But once Russ got into position and I got his heat signature,
I realized that whatever was there before was
much bigger than Russell.
Russell, Ronny's going to try his call.
[bigfoot call]
[owls hooting]
[distant whistle]
I heard something over there.
Did you?
(WHISPERING) I thought I heard something faint.
[distant whistle]
RUSSELL ACORD: Hey, Mireya?
Yeah?
Pass those thermals back and forth on this back side
where we just came into.
There's something moving back here.
[distant whistle]
(WHISPERING) Hey, I just thought that whistle again.
(WHISPERING) I heard that.
RONNY LEBLANC: (WHISPERING) Was it a very faint [whistle]??
Did you guys whistle?
Negative.
We did not whistle.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: It came from the side
that you're on, and possibly behind you.
[distant whistle]
(WHISPERING) There it is again.
There's something moving back here.
It's moving in a stealth mode.
It's not moving like blundering through the forest.
It's stealth.
Is it moving towards you or away from you?
RUSSELL ACORD: Unable to determine at this time,
but keep an eye in behind us.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: I've got eyes locked in on you.
RUSSELL ACORD: Holy [bleep],, this thing
is moving towards us.
This thing is moving towards us.
It's moving in a mountain lion type fashion, doing the creep.
We need to get out of here right now.
Let's go.
That is not comfortable.
Every hair on my body is standing straight up.
Let's get out of here.
NARRATOR: After hearing what he believes to be a massive animal
in the brush, Russell escapes to the opposite side of the river.
RUSSELL ACORD: That [bleep] is no joke.
There was something coming towards us.
My cameraman Zach and I actually had our backs to the water.
From a military standpoint, it felt like we were cornered.
You know that you're vulnerable.
You've got no tools to defend yourself against anything,
or any threat.
In another country, I know what's coming at me,
and I'm well aware of how to handle that situation.
In the woods in the dark, I was the prey,
and something was hunting me.
We were being stalked.
After you did your second call, something
moved exactly like you would if you were stalking prey.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: I could see you perfectly,
but I couldn't see anything else.
RUSSELL ACORD: There is something
interesting in us out there.
There's no question about that.
I was scared for them, because there are
some very large predators here.
There are bears, there are mountain lions.
It was frustrating, because I was so close to them.
I had the technology that should have
enabled me to see what it was, and there
was nothing that I could do.
RUSSELL ACORD: Do you hear that?
Listen.
(WHISPERING) It's coming from there and there.
RUSSELL ACORD: Guys--
RONNY LEBLANC: Everyone stop for one second.
RUSSELL ACORD: Everyone absolutely freeze.
Here.
Can you hear that?
RONNY LEBLANC: (WHISPERING) What the hell?
Helicopters.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: This is really [bleep] weird.
RONNY LEBLANC: We have not seen anything with helicopters
or planes over our target area.
But after Russell had that encounter,
black military helicopters show up.
That's no coincidence.
RONNY LEBLANC: My question is--
No one move.
I'm getting the whistle, and there's something
moving right across from us.
I have my headphones on with the parabolic mic,
and I'm picking up footsteps heading
towards us at our position, from something
that sounds like it's bipedal.
(WHISPERING) Whatever it is, it's big, stealthy, but coming
closer to us, which gives me the indication
that we're being stalked.
[grunt]
Holy [bleep].
It just grunted.
NARRATOR: Next time, on "Expedition Bigfoot."
I can tell you for an absolute fact the government
is interested in this.
There's something moving around behind me.
There's something going through the leaves there.
Hey, right there, right there.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Something tells me
we're not the only ones here.
RUSSELL ACORD: I am hearing some sounds.
DR. MIREYA MAYOR: Wait, wait, wait,
there's something down there.
What the hell?
(WHISPERING) What is that?
RUSSELL ACORD: I don't know, but that tree is red hot.
(WHISPERING) I don't like this, Russ.
[branches breaking]
Whoa!
Ah!
Zach!