NARRATOR: On this episode of "Destination Truth,"
Josh and his team return to the United States
to investigate the infamous and frightening Jersey Devil.
Something came flying straight up out of the trees,
had a very large wingspan.
With new reports emerging from the vast
and uninhabited Pine Barrens,
Josh takes to the skies for the world's
first aerial investigation of this monstrous animal.
Next, Team Truth traverses 13 time zones to Central China
in search of a creature regarded as the cousin
to the U.S. Bigfoot.
Can Josh uncover evidence of this creature
deep in the uncharted forests of China?
What is that?
- Peter, Peter, Peter. - What is it?
Guys, I got it on the thermal.
Hold on!
I'm Josh Gates.
In my travels, I've seen some unexplainable things,
and I've done some things I can't quite explain.
Aah!
Now I've pulled together a team
armed with the latest technology
in the search for answers to the world's strangest mysteries.
I'm not sure what's out there waiting for me,
but I know what I'm looking for —
the truth.
You might guess that Bigfoot holds the record
as America's oldest legendary creature, but you'd be wrong.
Deep in the wilderness of New Jersey,
residents have been encountering something
much more terrifying for more than 300 years,
and, if these woods could talk,
they might tell you about a winged creature
known the world over as the Jersey Devil.
Legend has it this dark prince was the 13th child born
to a woman named Mother Leeds in the 1700s.
Though the origin story is clearly folkloric,
the fact remains that hundreds of people are still today
reporting frightening encounters with something very real.
New Jersey is at the heart of the sightings,
which occur almost exclusively in a massive area
of improbable wilderness called the Pine Barrens.
This forest makes up one-fifth of the entire state,
and all of Rhode Island could fit comfortably inside
the more than 1 million acres here.
We matched up the long lineage of consistent descriptions
and rendered a 3-D profile of this colonial creature.
Spotted in the skies above the Pine Barrens,
the Jersey Devil is a terrifying sight indeed.
This ungainly monster is reported
to make a ferocious noise
as he hunts along the ground.
His large frame is supported by leathery, bat-like wings,
which span to more than 10 feet across.
His name is derived from devilish features
which include powerful cloven hooves,
but what seems to make a lasting impression by witnesses
is the devil's horse-like head and his famed piercing red eyes,
which emerge from the darkness.
Dealing with what some believe is the devil incarnate,
we packed up our gear for a journey
deep into the Garden State.
From Los Angeles, we jetted across the nation
to Philadelphia
to kick off our hunt for this devilish creature.
Every country in the world, free luggage carts.
America, $4 for one luggage cart.
Ice cream used to cost a quarter,
but now a luggage cart is $4?
What are you, 60?
To get to the heart of this story, we exited the Interstate
and worked our way 75 miles east
into the endless forest of the Pine Barrens.
First of all, look at the sunglass lineup
in the back seat.
Mike and Bobby look like mafia guys
transporting Erin somewhere.
A couple, two, "tree," guys...
Yes, we have the package.
GATES: The drive took us away
from the East Coast urban centers
and into a perennial corner of historic America.
Here, remnants of the colonial era were all around us.
In the 300-year-old town of Smithville,
we found a local gift shop
that was cashing in on the area's evil resident.
I'm not even in the door, and I'm breaking things.
This is one of those stores that I'm way too big for.
Like, one false move, and I take out $1,000 worth of merchandise.
I don't know if there's $1,000 worth of merchandise in here.
Finally, we get to go antiquing.
I gave Ryder a present that she promptly regifted.
We sifted through endless Jersey Devil merchandise,
and I may have gotten a little out of control
with my purchases.
Ryder, let's get out of this town before we get arrested.
It was clear that the Jersey Devil was alive
and well in the commercial sector,
but plenty of folks claim they've had real-life run-ins
with this flying terror.
This large animal flew by and, like,
swept the top of my windshield
and scared me to death.
Do you think it's possible that what you saw
was a bird, was an owl of some kind maybe?
No, because I'm a scientific-minded person.
It did not look like anything that I had ever seen before.
We drove to the edge of town,
where we met up with another motorist
who claims to have had a brush with the creature.
Something came flying straight up out of the trees,
had a very large wingspan,
and it had these very large bat-like wings.
Do you think that whatever it is that you saw
is still out there? - Probably.
And do you think that I could borrow the Lotus to go
and check out the area,
try to relive the experience a little bit?
Stop it. Don't even tease me, sir.
Have you ever seen this show? I will leave in this car.
Just across town at her family's farm,
Aimee Day saw the devil near a chicken coop.
I looked back into the woods behind that fence over there,
behind that house, and I saw two red, glowing eyes.
Were the eyes reflecting red
the way an animal's eyes reflect?
It was actually glowing from the inside.
What did it sound like exactly?
Like it was taking off.
- Like a whooping sound? - Right.
And definitely couldn't have been the sound
of one of the birds out here?
No. It was too big.
And how many chickens do you have here?
I think 11 or 12.
And what is that?
- That's a Turken. - I'm sorry.
What is it? - It's a Yurken.
And what is a Turken?
It's just a chicken.
These are...
Silkies. They're chickens.
Why does it have a fur hat on?
This is the fanciest chicken I've ever seen.
It's cute.
How have I lived 32 years and never seen one of these before?
Having talked with eyewitnesses,
Kris and I visited an entire museum
devoted to the Jersey Devil,
complete with relics, historical documents
and, most importantly, data on sighting locations.
The museum's curator pointed us
to the undisputed hot spot of activity.
If I were looking for the Jersey Devil,
and I actually wanted to see the Jersey Devil,
I would go to Wharton State Forest.
We have a lot of sightings there,
so it's hard for people to imagine it,
but it is a very dense forest.
It's very much a separate country unto itself.
The museum is also in possession
of purportedly biological remains from a dead Jersey Devil
collected at the turn of the century.
And have you ever actually tested any of these materials
to see if they have any sort of viable DNA?
No. I have not.
We would love, if possible,
to take some sort of a tissue sample from these
and try to see if there's any viable DNA in there.
Oh, well, I would absolutely like
to have you take a look at it.
- You'd allow that? - Yes.
That would be great.
We bagged a tissue sample to test the DNA for ourselves
and pressed on deeper into the barrens.
The Jersey Devil is, above all, a colonial-era story,
so who better to speak to than colonial era experts?
Kathy directed us to a remote location
deep in Wharton Forest to meet
with a group of historical enthusiasts
who've had modern-day encounters with the Devil.
We were quickly drawn to the sound of music
and the sight of a crackling fire.
♪♪
♪ There the Jersey Devil was born ♪
♪ Once upon a time ♪
- Woo! - Yeah!
GATES: These men didn't just know
the Jersey Devil through song but from their own experiences.
Now, as a kid, did you grow up actually fearing it?
We were very convinced
that if we went out in the woods alone
that we would not make it back alive.
In many people's minds,
the legend still lives on today.
And, as they prepared us dinner,
it turned out that Ryder fit right in with this motley crew.
RYDER: A little something
for you to share with our guests.
Ryder, I love that you're just rolling around with booze.
Do you guys drink wine?
- We drink whatever you got. - All right.
Sir, you're not driving a horse and buggy later, are you?
GATES: And what would any night of drinking
with Civil War soldiers be
without a little gunpowder in the mix?
Here we go.
I got to get one of these.
Well armed, we put our fears of the Devil aside for the night
and made merry by the fire.
♪ Going down south ♪
[ Singing indistinctly ]
♪♪
I don't know about you, but I'm fitting right in.
GATES: By the light of a new day
and with the benefit of extensive local knowledge,
we headed deeper into Wharton State Forest
to continue our search.
Our first stop was to split up
to conduct a daytime sweep both for the monster
and for an ideal investigation site.
So let's have part of the team go out
and check out these waterways.
Bobby, we'll take those dirt bikes,
and we'll start checking out some of these service roads
and these old trails in here.
Wharton State Forest lies at the center of sightings reports
and is a sprawling maze of trails, rivers and forest.
Bobby and I scoped out old service roads
while Ryder led the rest of the team along the river,
where we'd heard the Jersey Devil comes to drink.
♪♪
All right, guys.
Keep your eyes open.
We searched for hours on the water
and over land on the bikes and by late afternoon,
had found a promising location
at the center of the sightings.
Josh for Ryder. Come in, Ryder.
Go for Ryder.
Ryder, we've got what we think
is a pretty good investigation site.
We'll basically rendezvous back at Batsto Village,
and let's meet there, get in the Jeeps and head in the interior.
I think we got a good spot here.
We convened the team and got ready for nightfall.
We decided to do something unprecedented.
No expedition has ever actually searched
for the Jersey Devil in the air.
I made arrangements for a helicopter
to be put on standby to try to catch a glimpse
of the Devil in flight.
Meanwhile, we began setting up camp.
We activated four infrared cameras
to help detect anything moving in the darkness.
Beyond these IR cams,
we placed four digital trap cameras baited with raw meat.
These machines would begin firing photos
if anything moved in front of them.
Lastly, we erected a virtual perimeter
around all of our equipment with linked motion detectors
that transmit a signal and set off an alarm at base camp
if anything crosses their path.
Vanessa would monitor all the equipment throughout the night.
We've really honed in to what we think
is the epicenter of this story.
This is the spot.
There are a lot of people who live in the Pine Barrens
who think there's something out here.
I think our job here tonight is to try to figure out,
what are these people seeing?
Is there an unknown creature out here?
And, if there's not, what are possible alternate
explanations for what these folks are running into out here?
Let's get to it, guys. Here we go.
Let's do it.
Our best chance of seeing this nocturnal animal
would be to catch it in flight,
meaning we all needed to get to a higher altitude.
We initiated our plan to begin the first-ever
aerial investigation for the Jersey Devil.
Kris, Evan and I took our 4x4
through the woods to a remote helipad
while Ryder, Gabe and Rex navigated through the forest
to an abandoned fire tower that appears on local maps.
We were anxious to get off the ground
and continue the hunt from the air.
Hey, Josh, what's the status of you in that helicopter?
We are cutting through one of the old service roads
in the middle of the Pine Barrens.
I'll keep in touch along the way.
Whoa! [ Horn honking ]
There was a deer.
At first, I thought it was a Devil!
That scared me to death,
and that could be what people are seeing
when they think of the Jersey Devil.
♪♪
Oh, wow.
Ryder for Josh,
we just made our way up to the fire tower.
It's intact, just doesn't look like it
has been used in a really long time.
Copy that.
Try to go to the top of that thing if you can,
and we'll coordinate our search once we're in the air.
Let's see how these steps hold up, huh?
Ladies first.
How'd I know you were gonna say that?
I just feel it wobbling underneath me.
♪♪
Oh, this thing goes on forever.
Careful coming up.
♪♪
Kris, you see anything back there?
KRIS: Nothing yet.
♪♪
RYDER: Go for Ryder.
Copy that. Rex is on it right now.
Let us know when you see this.
♪♪
Hey, we got you guys. I see your lights.
Copy that. Sounds good.
We'll let you know if we see anything.
Whoa. Whoa. Whoa! Guys, right here!
Something just moved in the canopy right here.
I just saw something right here.
It went from left to right.
Ryder for Josh.
You need to make your way back towards us.
Rex just saw something in the tree line
just north of where the tower is.
It was a dark figure. It looked like a huge bird,
and it just went from tree to tree.
Right there.
Right over that group of trees right there.
Okay, Josh, Rex has a light right on it.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Guys, right here.
Something just moved in the canopy right here.
It was a dark figure.
It looked like a huge bird,
and it just went from tree to tree.
Right there.
Right over that group of trees right there.
Okay, Josh, Rex has a light right on it.
Copy that. Get home safe.
GATES: We circled back across the Barrens
scanning hundreds of square miles in total.
At the helipad, Kris, Evan and I hustled back toward camp
to meet up with Ryder's team,
who made their way to the GPS coordinates
we marked from the air.
[ Gasps ]
Ryder for base camp. - Go for base camp.
And we just saw a branch fall straight from the trees.
I'm not seeing anything on the IR cams here,
but I am hearing some crazy noises as well.
Let me know if you see anything
or hear anything else.
Copy that.
So, Kris, what do you think of the Jersey Devil story so far?
I just have a hard time believing something
I haven't seen myself.
Kris, look at this.
Bones of some kind, maybe some sort of mammal.
Trying to see if they have been bitten at all or gnawed into.
But the carcass is definitely gone.
These bones have been stripped clean,
so whatever it is was killed and then dragged out of here.
I'd like to just take at least one of these bones as a sample.
Obviously, folks are saying there's some sort of
unknown creature
living out here in the Pine Barrens.
I want to make sure we know what animal this is.
It's something for us to collect and take back and look at later.
Okay.
Okay, let's go.
♪♪
There's somebody skulking around
right in front of us right there.
Josh for Ryder, come in. - Go for Ryder.
I'm pretty far from camp.
We're south and east at this point.
We've wandered for a while,
and I'm seeing what looks like a light or an eye in the woods.
Is that you that I'm seeing out there?
We saw what I thought was an eye,
and then I thought maybe it was a light,
but now it's not there anymore.
No, Josh. That's not us.
We're north of camp.
We are right around the GPS coordinates you gave us,
and we are hearing and seeing
some crazy stuff right now.
Ryder, I'm gonna have Mike use the parabolic dish
to isolate and record whatever we're hearing.
Copy that.
[ Animal howls ]
What was that?
[ Animal barks ]
♪♪
Here, take my cans. Listen to this.
[ Animal howls ] Whoa, whoa, whoa.
That was straight ahead.
MIKE: Yeah.
I definitely got clean audio that we can analyze later.
Great, okay. Let's keep moving on.
Josh for base camp. Come in, base camp.
VANESSA: Go for base camp.
Guys, just to give you an update, we've tracked
to a couple of the GPS coordinates
that we tagged from the chopper.
We saw something that we couldn't identify off
in the distance.
We've heard a couple of noises.
We definitely heard some strange animal sounds.
Whatever we saw above the canopy
I don't think we've had any close calls with tonight.
We're gonna fire up the GPS
and start pointing ourselves back toward base camp.
We should be there pretty soon.
Copy that.
Let me know if you see anything
or hear anything else.
We'll see you pretty soon. We're gonna head back now.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is that?
♪♪
Whoa, whoa, whoa! What is that?
Right there.
VANESSA: That's moving.
It's going behind the trees.
Base camp for Ryder or Bobby.
- Echo from Bobby. - We saw something.
Whatever it was, was showing up
on infrared camera number four
by the clearing,
and it was heading north just above the tree line.
BOBBY: We'll run over there as quick as we can
and check that out.
♪♪
Hey, Rex. We're down here at the clearing.
You want to run down here and show us
exactly where and what you saw?
If you see something, make sure you radio it in
as soon as possible, okay? - Okay.
♪♪
Hey, guys.
Okay, whatever it was that we picked up on the infrared camera
started off in this direction,
and it just cruised along the tree line.
Whatever was in it is on the move.
♪♪
I don't hear anything, guys,
and I don't see anything, either, up here.
I think we should head back.
♪♪
MIKE: Those crazy sounds we heard died out.
Yeah, for sure.
Not hearing any further noises and with dawn approaching,
we fell back to base camp to call it a night.
With numerous recordings and physical evidence,
I was hopeful that we could pinpoint
what people were attributing to the Jersey Devil,
so we flew back to our West Coast offices in Los Angeles
to analyze our evidence.
First, Mike and I processed the audio recordings
of the strange sounds we heard in the Pine Barrens.
[ Animals howling ]
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
GATES: Our computers identified them as a pack of coyotes.
We then headed to the DNA diagnostics lab in Timpson,
Texas, where we brought the tissue sample
we collected from the Jersey Devil museum.
There, we sat down with forensic geneticist Dr. Melba Ketchum.
It was an interesting type of sample.
It's very degraded.
Looks like it's been in solution for a really long time,
and it's had its effect on it.
Could you identify a species just based on the appearance?
I think that it's probably a fish bone
or some type of a creature from the ocean
because their bones tend to be a little softer.
And did the sample yield up any DNA?
It yielded human DNA.
Human DNA?
So do you think it's a human bone?
No. I don't think it's a human bone at all.
I'd be very surprised if it was.
I think somebody probably handled it at some point.
So we can't prove this is a Jersey Devil,
but we can't prove it's not.
No, it doesn't disprove it or prove it.
And, finally, we hit the L.A. Museum of Natural History
to have Jim Dines go over our skeletal findings.
- Jim, how have you been? - Good. How have you been?
I've been very well. Thanks.
I see that you're still running your house of horrors here.
We try.
So a couple of samples that we collected
we'd love to have you take a look at.
What do you make of these? - What I'm seeing here
is part of the pelvis from a hooved animal,
and it actually is the same hooved animal
that this comes from,
so this is the pelvic bone or part of the pelvis,
and this is the humerus.
Jim, there's nothing funny about this.
This is serious business.
Yes, you're right.
Okay, so this is the humerus from a hooved animal.
Yes.
I understand the Jersey Devil
is supposed to be a hooved animal,
but unfortunately, this is not from the Jersey Devil.
This is actually from a hooved animal
called the white-tailed deer.
White-tailed deer populations have been strong
in the Pine Barrens for hundreds of years.
Indeed, we almost ran one down during our visit.
Whoa!
It is entirely likely that a great number
of the ground-based Jersey Devil sightings
can be dismissed as fast-moving deer.
Even descriptive elements such as color, hooves
and a horse-like head bear notable resemblances.
But how do we explain a flying suspect?
Whatever we saw both from above
and from below appeared to be massive and airborne.
Our own experiences add one more footnote
to more than 300 years of legend.
The Jersey Devil is a campfire institution
as old as the colonies themselves,
and it has survived through both sighting and superstition.
For now, it seems that the identity of this flying beast
is destined to be shrouded in mystery,
but if you should find yourself in the Garden State
and happen to make a wrong turn into the Pine Barrens,
be sure to look up.
You might just catch sight of America's original monster.
The hunt for cryptozoological creatures
is rarely supported by mainstream scientists,
let alone the government.
Half a world away, though, China has done just that
and established the world's only government-sanctioned search
for the creature which they call the Yeren.
The Yeren, or wild man, is a mysterious primate
said to inhabit the mountains of Central China.
After centuries of locals reporting run-ins,
the Chinese Academy of Sciences
ordained the committee
for the search of rare and strange creatures
in hopes of finding the Yeren.
So far, they've turned up unidentifiable hairs
and massive footprints
but, as of yet, no photographic proof.
Most of the sightings take place in China's remote Hubei Province
in Shennongjia National Park.
More than half of this 1,200-square-mile preserve
is closed to foreign tourists,
making the sightings in these rain-soaked forests
extremely difficult to investigate.
We collated similar descriptions from Chinese news sources
and rendered a 3-D image of China's version of Bigfoot.
Witnesses have caught sight of the Yeren
in the most remote corners of this sprawling natural preserve.
Covered from head to toe in reddish-brown hair,
it stands upright on two feet
and ranges from 6 to a colossal 8 feet tall.
It has a strong jaw, low brow and deep-set eyes.
Its limbs are prolonged, each with four fingers
and an opposable thumb.
It has been theorized that it may be Gigantopithecus,
an ancestor of modern man that once inhabited this region.
Locals warn that it is aggressive
and prone to attacking humans.
That the Chinese government has dedicated enormous resources
toward finding this creature
certainly lends credibility to its potential existence.
However, much of their findings remain highly classified.
In an effort to blow the doors wide open on this case,
my team and I packed up our gear bound for China
to conduct our very own investigation
to find evidence of the mysterious Yeren.
We flew 6,000 miles from Los Angeles to Beijing
and then on to Yichang, China.
After a 15-hour flight,
we arrived in the central provinces.
With a complex story like the Yeren,
I knew I'd need some assistance,
so I brought in my old team member, Jael,
to help us out.
Great researcher, bad baggage handler.
[ Crash ]
- What happened? - Jael...
Come on!
This is not your first rodeo, Jael.
Like a bull in a China shop.
Where is Ryder?
All right. Here we go.
After a long flight in cramped seats,
our first priority was getting a little medical attention
for our camera operator's aching back.
Fortunately, we found a state-of-the-art hospital
right here in rural China.
[ Gong sounds ]
—There's bars on the window. That's normal.
That's totally normal. Don't worry about it.
Just come right this way.
Is this man actually a doctor?
He's putting a dirty lab coat on over an overcoat,
and they're cleaning garbage.
What kind of hospital is this?
Ouch.
Wait, what the...
What's on this?
♪♪
Ow. - Is it pain?
- Yeah. - Okay.
That hurt.
This is cutting-edge acupuncture.
What is the electrocution thing?
They just run a little bit of current
through the needles to soothe the muscles.
[ Electricity crackles ]
Oh, ow!
- They're out. - It was great.
All right. Gabe, I got about a 50-pound camera
for you to carry. Let's go.
- Okay, cool. - Come on.
GATES: With Gabe on the mend, we headed over
to meet with paleoanthropologist Yuan Zhenxin
from the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
He was part of the government-sponsored expedition
charged with finding the creature
and possibly held a key
to what the Chinese government wasn't telling us.
Do you think the government knows more about the Yeren
than they tell people?
[ Speaking Chinese ]
The institute, the university
and the government, they're in the same line.
So there's no secrets that are being kept from me.
No.
Sir, wink twice if you know where the Yeren is.
Oh! You saw that.
He winked.
I know you were a part
of one or a number of these expeditions
that went looking for the Yeren.
What did this expedition turn up?
[ Speaking Chinese ]
This is actual hair samples.
These are the actual hairs?
I know you were a part of one
or a number of these expeditions
that went looking for the Yeren.
What did this expedition turn up?
[ Speaking Chinese ]
Huan: This is actual hair samples.
These are the actual hairs?
There's no way that these are from any other
known primate living in Shennongjia?
Because I know there are monkeys there.
[ Speaking Chinese ]
They compared the hair samples.
They can definitely say this is something new.
GATES: We knew we weren't going to find a Yeren in the city,
so we made our way toward Shennongjia.
The roads to the national park are notoriously unreliable,
so we decided to bypass them
by sailing up the mighty Yangtze River.
All right, guys. Here we go.
Yangtze River, cleanest water in China.
Our plan was to steam more than 60 miles, bypassing steep,
muddy trails and disembarking at Badong,
where we would drive an additional 5 hours
on winding roads to Shennongjia National Park.
The Yangtze is the third longest river in the world
and is the lifeblood of China,
allowing shipping between the inland provinces and the coast.
It is also a place where Evan and I
share our love for badly dubbed movies.
Like an old kung fu movie. I love it.
We are on the Yangtze River.
This is a beautiful area known as the Three Gorges.
EVAN: Right now, we're gonna go to the ancient forest
where the Yeren lives.
Oh, my God.
All right, guys.
We got about 4 hours on this thing, so let's get comfy.
We spent the afternoon coursing
between thousand-foot valley walls
and letting our boat carry us deep into Central China.
Eventually, we arrived at the banks of Badong.
From there, we drove north 150 miles
to the heart of Shennongjia National Reserve.
At an altitude of nearly 10,000 feet,
the steep climb seems never-ending.
Mike, remind me again why we're out in the middle of China
in the freezing cold and the rain.
Because fortune and glory.
We want the fame, the money and the women.
You think if I find a Yeren, I'll get more girls?
Nobody's better at almost finding monsters than us.
That is true.
Once we finally arrive in the park,
I looked out over the misty mountains and massive forests
and realized just how challenging this location
was going to be.
At the impressive Taoist shrine
that stands guard over the preserve,
I did my best to talk with the mountain locals.
We're trying to find the Yeren.
You guys know the area. Don't chew with your mouth open.
Seriously, it's rude. These goats are no help.
They don't speak English. Anybody speak Goat Chinese?
- I do. - Perfect, Evan.
[ Bleating ]
Hello.
Sir, what are you selling up here
alone at the top of this mountain?
If you had a Twix bar in here,
I would pay you a million dollars.
And the man is selling a Yeren statue.
Look at Mike's face.
Uh-oh, slingshot.
Bobby!
♪♪
- Aah! - Sorry.
I will definitely take this.
GATES: We finally met up with Yuan Uyue Hao,
who has been a forest ranger in the national park
for over 30 years.
He's not only an expert on the Shennongjia area.
He's also had his own encounter with the Yeren.
Have you yourself seen the Yeren?
[ Speaks Chinese ]
Where do you think the Yeren lives?
Where should I look for the Yeren?
[ Speaks Chinese ]
He thinks the Stone Forest area?
GATES: With night upon us, we drove into the small town
inside Shennongjia National Park.
There, I arranged to meet with a local guide,
who described for me his run-in with the Yeren.
And it was walking on two legs?
It had been a long day, but as we walk towards our hotel,
I realized I still had one more thing left to do.
I would like to buy an enormous container of fireworks.
[ Speaks Chinese ]
Oh, good, sweet heaven above.
Yes, that's the one.
I can barely lift it!
Where can I light it?
Right in the middle of the street.
In the middle of...
- [ Speaks Chinese ] - Oh, China, I love you.
Who's got a lighter? Mike, not in here.
- What? - What is wrong with this crew?
Exploding Chinese fireworks factory, that's all we need.
Okay, here we go.
I thought China was full of rules.
Turns out you can do whatever you want.
I'm gonna light this. - Okay.
And the three of us are gonna run like hell.
- Okay. - Does he get it?
- [ Speaks Chinese ] - [ Speaks Chinese ]
Okay.
Run like hell!
♪♪
I blew up fireworks in China.
After waking up the entire town and possibly the Yeren,
we headed off to bed.
Early the next morning, we began our investigation.
With special permission from the government,
we ascended the perilous, muddy roads into the area
that is otherwise restricted to foreigners.
Okay, guys. We're on foot.
Get all the gear out.
♪♪
After a long and arduous hike up slippery terrain
and over rocky ledges,
we eventually arrived in the Stone Forest,
the very heart of the reported sightings.
Okay, guys.
We got some good shelter here with these rocks and trees.
Come on. There we go.
As day turned to night, we began setting up base camp.
First, we cabled four stationary infrared cameras
hundreds of feet from camp in different directions.
Beyond those, we positioned several trap cameras
to surprise anything skulking through the woods.
Finally, we constructed an invisible perimeter fence
about a half mile around our camp.
Laser-sighted sensors would transmit a signal
and trip an alarm if anything crossed inside.
Vanessa would monitor the cameras and perimeter
throughout the night.
We've obviously traveled a long way to get here.
We've talked to a lot of people who believe this thing exists.
We have heard that it could be aggressive.
We've heard that it's dangerous.
I'm gonna lead an initial sweep
with Jael and Evan and Mike.
We're gonna head up this river.
We've seen kind of a rough path through here.
We're gonna see where that goes.
I'm gonna lead a team downstream,
see if we can cross the river
and then get up into the foothills.
We've heard that this creature may live in caves,
and we know that there may be some in this area,
so if we do find some,
we should definitely head in there,
try and find some evidence.
And get eaten by a bear.
And possibly get eaten by a bear.
Sounds like a plan. Let's do it.
Come on, guys. - All right.
Let's do it.
♪♪
Jael, what do you think? You think the Yeren is real?
Everybody around here seems to believe in him.
It's possible.
Looks like something tore right through here.
See this big rock missing?
Looks like something just...
Rock just came loose, I guess, and went down the hill.
JAEL: Yeah, that's possible.
The grass got torn off right there at the top, too.
All right.
Well, let's keep going uphill and see what's up there.
All right.
Hopefully this gets us above the waterfall.
Very careful.
I got a cave over here, man.
Check this out. - Let me see.
Wow.
They say the Yeren lives in caves.
We got a big cave out here.
I think we're going down.
Kind of hazy down here.
All right.
♪♪
MAN: Pretty big and pretty powerful
to mat everything down like this.
Right there, right there.
- Right there, right there. - It's moving.
♪♪
It's too steep.
We can't get up there.
♪♪
GATES: Oh, big cave. Look at this.
JAEL: Wow.
It must be warmer down there.
It's glowing red-hot on the thermal imager.
This is massive.
Some dripping water over to the left.
A lot of mud down here.
Definitely keep an eye out for footprints.
Got some broken branches here.
Look like something has come through here
and stepped on this.
These branches look like they've just been trampled by something.
Let's keep going and see where this passage goes.
It's just going deeper and deeper,
and I can hear running water.
Wow.
Jael, hang there for a minute.
I'm just gonna go see how far this cavern goes.
Can you make it down further?
No sign of the Yeren.
Could be anything hiding in this place.
Josh!
Josh, Josh!
Jael, you okay?
I thought I heard a noise up here.
♪♪
You okay?
Josh, I don't think we're alone in here.
It sounds like rocks falling.
Hold on one second.
There's something moving over there.
It's right above us. Let's get out of this area.
Come on.
See all these loose rocks down here?
Yeah.
I think this stuff is just coming in off the ceiling.
I think that's all it is.
It did sound like something moving,
but I think it's just these rocks and water, Jael.
Let's check the whole cave on the way back out
the way we came in.
If we don't see anything by the time we reach the entrance,
I think we can chalk it up to loose rocks.
Let's get back to the surface where it's nice and freezing.
Rex for Vanessa.
VANESSA: Go ahead, Rex.
Our team has just made our way up the mountain.
We're hearing some strange noises.
Whatever it was sounded really big,
and it sounds like it's heading down towards you.
All right. I'll let them know.
[ Alarm beeping ]
Rex, the perimeter alarm has just been tripped.
Whatever it is has just tripped the perimeter alarm.
Vanessa to Josh.
Go for Josh.
Josh, Rex and Bobby and Gabe
have been chasing something down,
something big that they said is headed towards base camp.
The perimeter alarm has just been tripped.
Copy that, V. We're headed back right now.
We'll be down there as soon as we can.
Come on. Go, go.
If something set off the perimeter alarm,
then it's probably close to camp.
- Rex? - Yeah.
- Hey, guys. What's up? - Josh.
V said that you were chasing something big.
What is it? - We don't know.
We should basically cover the ground between us
and where that alarm was tripped.
- Yeah. - There's a lot of ground.
We can go both sides of the river.
I don't think it's headed upstream.
And, if it is, you're going to see it on those cameras.
Let's get back out there.
JAEL: All right. Let's do it.
Steep walls here, too.
Okay. Here we go.
♪♪
Okay. I'm still dry somehow.
♪♪
Yeah, I'm keeping an eye out.
I'm trying to see if I find any tracks, any scat.
Shh, shh, shh.
♪♪
Behind you, behind you, behind you!
Rex for Josh, we got something moving along the ridge
just in front of us.
It sounds like it's headed down towards
the waterline towards you.
We got our eyes on it down here.
I have the thermal imager up and running.
If it's coming down through the trees, I'm gonna see it.
There was a shadow.
Gabe, it was right behind you, dude.
Shoot.
Rex, we're looking for it here, man.
I'm looking for it on the thermal
and with the night-vision scope.
We do not see it coming down through the trees yet.
Let's go, Bobby. Come on.
♪♪
Looks like something might have come at this tree.
I don't see anything in here, though.
I'm looking for fur, blood,
just looking for anything left behind.
I do hear it. I do hear that.
Right there?
Guys, I got it on thermal.
GATES: I do hear it. I do hear that.
Right there?
Guys, I got it on thermal.
Bobby, look at this. Come here.
I just saw something on this path.
Definite heat signature further up the path.
It was moving.
It was right on the side of the path.
Stand by. Stand by.
I don't have anything now.
Bobby, look at this. Come here. Come here. Come here.
Something was standing right here.
See? - Yeah.
I got a hot spot there,
and I just have one fading right there.
I don't see it.
♪♪
Guys, over here, over here! Over here.
What? What you got?
I got animal scat right here.
Look at that.
Whatever we saw move off the path might have left this.
It looks fresh. - It does.
I'm gonna bag this up.
It's the only scat I've seen all night.
It might have been from whatever we saw.
Oh, Lord.
That is a monster deuce, man.
Let's take this back.
Maybe a little DNA analysis will figure out what we saw tonight.
- All right, man. - Let's keep moving, guys.
Got a little stream over here.
Whatever it was might have come along this small stream,
so keep your eyes peeled.
Bobby, I'll go down here. Why don't you check up there?
It's just so slick up here. Careful, guys.
♪♪
Whoa! - Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Whoa! - Ow!
Hold on. Don't move your leg.
It's sore as hell, but it's not broken.
Guys, I did hurt my leg a bit here,
so it's just a layer of ice over all this stuff at this point.
Let's just start heading back.
One dangerous fall after another was enough
to make me bring this investigation to an end.
With the entire mountaintop frozen,
we limped back to base camp
to warm up before one of us got seriously injured.
After dawn, we began the journey back to Yichang
and caught a flight bound for Los Angeles
and our West Coast offices,
where we would analyze our findings.
Our computers enhanced our thermal evidence,
but without any supporting video footage,
we were unable to identify the species we saw in the darkness.
And unfortunately, the fecal sample we sent for DNA
testing did not provide any results
since bacteria had degraded it.
The Yeren is a story as old as China itself.
Since the Chinese have meticulously
preserved their heritage,
it is possible that the creature is an ancestral artifact,
a legend passed down through the centuries
based on the massive Gigantopithecus apes
that may have coexisted here with early Homo sapiens,
or perhaps there is a yet-to-be-catalogued species
still hiding here.
As China's vast woodlands continue to be explored,
the truth about the Yeren's identity may come to light.
But with so much of the national park
mysteriously closed to tourists,
there's no shortage of unexplored caves
or virgin forests in which to hide.