NARRATOR: On this episode of "Destination Truth,"
Josh travels to Micronesia in the forgotten island of Pohnpei
where natives say these crumbling ruins
are haunted by ancestral spirits.
What do you think that you saw out there?
[ Speaks foreign language ]
He say that it's a ghost.
NARRATOR: Navigating choppy seas and hiking through dense jungles
to this mysterious former place of worship,
can Josh and his team witness for themselves
what has the locals living in fear?
GATES: You see that?
Oh, my gosh. Yeah. I just saw a shadow.
NARRATOR: Next, Josh leads his crew to North Africa,
where desert nomads fear a demonic succubus
is to blame for a rash of recent mutilations.
She's very dangerous. She can tear men apart.
NARRATOR: Team Truth soars across the mountains of Morocco
to investigate this legendary beast.
It sounded like it was coming from this room. [ Gasps ]
♪
Hold on!
- I'm Josh Gates. - [ Piglet squeals ]
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.
♪
Every week, we get dozens of e-mails from viewers
asking us to explore some terrifying location.
Sorry, Rick in Scottsdale, your mother in law's house
isn't the kind of place we're after.
But recently, a viewer e-mailed me
about mysterious ancient ruins called Nan Madol
on the Micronesian island of Pohnpei.
This "DT" fan passed by the ruins on a boat,
only to have terrified locals steer the ship away.
They told him that evil spirits of the long-dead rulers
of Nan Madol haunt this dangerous place
and believe that those who enter after sundown
risk serious illness or even death.
Our research revealed centuries of reports
of glowing orbs of light and unexplained sounds
emanating from these watery ruins.
Built more than 1,000 years ago,
the so-called Venice of the Pacific
is a collection of 93 tiny man-made islands
separated by a network of saltwater canals.
The majority of ghostly sightings
within the complex have taken place here
at the royal mortuary tomb of Nan Dowas,
where the ancient rules are believed to be buried.
And here, a large temple on the eastern part of the site
where, legend has it,
Governor Berg, a German explorer,
removed sacred bones, became violently ill and died.
To this day, the site is largely unexcavated,
and there is no explanation as to how this place was built.
Eager to follow up on our viewer's request,
we assembled our equipment
for another "Destination Truth" exclusive,
as we'd be the first team
to investigate the ghostly claims of Nan Madol.
♪
Our team flew west 6,100 miles
across the Pacific Ocean to Guam.
From there, it was just a short hop due south
to the island of Pohnpei.
Though it's the capital of Micronesia,
Pohnpei retains a relaxed island vibe,
a quality best showcased in our one-of-a-kind rental car.
Greatest car in "DT" history.
I mean, there's not much else to say.
For years, I've been saying it.
Take an old crappy truck and a tiki hut
and put them together,
and finally, they listened.
[ Trees rustle ] - Oh! [ Laughs ]
- We took out the papaya. - We took the papaya.
[ Laughs ]
You guys okay back there?
I lost my papaya!
GATES: Rebranding our show as "Destination Daiquiri,"
our tiki van got us into the island groove
as we drove across Pohnpei.
In need of supplies, we headed to the island's only real town,
where they take laid-back to a whole new level.
This town is exhausted. Look at them.
And I took a moment to check in on my investments.
A lot of, uh, a lot of people aren't aware of this,
but I run a small chain of markets here in Micronesia.
This is my second store, JG2.
I tried to haggle for some rare souvenirs.
Thank you. And how much are they?
40. I tell you what. I'll give you 10,
but you throw in Damon Wayans in "Major Payne."
Do we have a deal, sir?
All stocked up on supplies, we hit the road.
Bobby, get out of the tank. We're leaving.
Across town, we met with Father Fran Hezel,
a local priest who is an expert on the ancient ruins.
How do Pohnpeians today regard the site?
They regard it with religious awe.
I mean, I get the sense that people a lot of locals
are quite scared of it.
They certainly don't feel comfortable
going around the place at night.
And why do you think they're scared of it?
Places that are filled with power
are also filled with danger.
They avoid these things because there are spirits
around that can harm them,
and that's a good reason to stay away
because you just don't know what's going to happen.
GATES: I wanted to learn more about the story of Governor Berg,
who locals claim was made ill by spirits
after excavating bones from one of Nan Madol's many tombs.
I met with Pohnpei's cultural ambassador,
Edgar Santos, to learn more.
It was a German governor
who wanted to dig the...
the — the grave of a warrior.
When he finished digging, he came back home,
and he started to get really ill,
and it was said that he was screaming.
He was seeing people, and he died a very horrible
and painful death.
GATES: I wanted to hear from direct eyewitnesses,
but on our way to our next interview,
our investigation came to a sudden halt.
- Dude, we're being pulled over. [ Siren wailing ]
Hey, Josh. We're being pulled over.
The cops are behind us.
- Oh, man. - We're getting pulled over!
[ Siren continues wailing, horn honking ]
I am getting pulled over by the police.
Yeah, no. I'm sorry, I was in the left lane.
I have a, um, I have a tiki hut on the back of the car.
I was just worried about ripping it off.
I'm sorry. I'll try to stay in the right lane.
It's just because there's some low-hanging branches.
- Okay. - I'm staying over here.
- Thank you. - Thank you.
Thank you. Hey, thank you very much. Nice to meet you.
Have a good day, guys.
Whew. That was a close one.
That's one thing I don't want to see on this island, is jail.
♪
I love that you can get pulled over
and use the "there's a tiki hut on my roof" defense
and get away with it.
Not a lot of places in the world you can pull that move.
Back on the road, we track down some local fishermen
who said while visiting the main tomb of Nan Dowas,
they had a terrifying encounter.
I understand you had this experience
where you saw something strange.
Can you tell me exactly what it is that you saw?
[ Speaking foreign language ]
Him and his brother, they went fishing.
They saw, like, a flame.
- Like, a flame? - Yeah.
And what do you think it was?
What do you think that you saw out there?
[ Speaks foreign language ]
He thinks there are ghosts at Nan Madol.
GATES: This man claims to have heard
and seen strange things in the ruins as well.
He saw a woman sitting on the rock,
and when she looked at... the face is not like our face.
She looks like a skeleton.
GATES: The locals informed me that to enter Nan Madol,
I'd need to get permission from the tribal leader
who controls the site.
We trekked into their village
for an important audience with the Chief.
Without his blessing,
this entire investigation would go nowhere.
♪
I just want to say thank you for having us here.
We feel really honored to be allowed to come here.
We're here at your discretion and your permission,
and we thank you very much for having us.
It means a great deal to us.
The Chief then invited us to drink a potent concoction
known as Sakao.
Made from the extract of a local plant,
this less than appetizing beverage is sacred.
Wanting to stay on the Chief's good side,
we happily downed this intoxicating cocktail.
Thank you.
♪
After an internal discussion with his advisors,
the Chief gave us his blessing to enter Nan Madol.
Pohnpei is one of the wettest places on Earth,
receiving more than 300 inches of rainfall annually.
We began our soggy 6-mile hike north of the village,
crossing over rocky terrain,
pristine tropical landscapes, and thick jungle brush.
♪
We finally reached a remote beach
where the Chief's escorts would ferry us to the ruins.
All right. Get ready to sink to the bottom of the ocean.
Here we go.
We loaded the gear into the tribe's rustic canoes,
crossed our fingers, and set sail in the choppy waters.
♪
We fought through the waves, hoping to keep the equipment
and ourselves from tumbling overboard.
After some tough paddling,
we caught a little breeze from the south
and finally coasted into the canals of Nan Madol.
♪
Once on land, we immediately set up our base camp.
Fighting the heavy rain, Shawn set up a tent
that would provide some shelter from the elements.
We also set up four I.R. cameras
that would look out over the canals
and capture anything moving in the surrounding water.
Vanessa would monitor the cameras from base camp
and alert us to any activity.
Well, guys, we've got a lot of ground to cover tonight.
We got a lot of water to cover tonight.
You know, for literally thousands of years,
people have believe that this is a place of great energy.
We've been told that terrible things will happen
if you come out here.
This is a dangerous place to be.
So, guys, in terms of how we divide this up tonight,
let's all take a look at this map for a second.
To start off the night, I'm going to lead a team
and try to find Nan Dowas, the large temple.
And, Bobby, why don't you take a team out and see if
you can find the area where Governor Berg was excavating...
Mm-hmm. and where he removed those bones.
All right, guys. Let's get to it. Come on.
Bobby and Shawn would travel to the outer edges
of the ruins by kayak.
Ali, Mike and I would attempt
to wade through the marshy terrain
by foot to reach the temple.
♪
So, Ali, what do you think
the locals are afraid of out here?
You think they're having some sort of real experience?
Well, I got to say that before we got here,
I felt like a lot of it was storytelling,
but now that we're here, I mean, I don't know.
There is a creepy feel here.
Something in the air is just making me
feel like we're not alone, you know?
♪
I'll tell you one thing about Micronesia —
plenty of humidity.
You're hot? Stop it. Let me check my watch.
It's... oh, yeah. 1,000 degrees.
Yeah, the air is very heavy.
♪
According to the map,
Governor Berg's tomb is right around here.
There's got to be a way in, or at least a spot
where the wall is pretty low that we can cross.
Let's, uh, let's keep moving.
Is that an opening over there?
♪
Man...
♪
[ Loud rustling ]
[ Whispers ] Whoa. Did you hear that?
Shh. Yeah.
♪
You see that?
♪
You see that?
Guys, I'm seeing an orb coming in and out of the trees.
Come here. Look at this.
Look, look. Oh, it just popped through here.
Look, look. You see that?
- See that? - Oh, yeah.
- You see that? - Mm-hmm.
Dude, it's gone. Where'd it go?
And the other team is all the way
on the other side of this site.
There's no way it was them, especially not up in the trees.
It was literally an orb peeking through in between leaves.
Not seeing it anymore, are you?
DAN: No, I'm not seeing anything, bro.
It's not on camera.
All right. Well, let's head in the direction that it was at.
- Okay. - All right.
All right. Let's shed a little light on this situation here.
- Here you go. - Thanks.
♪
Whoa, whoa. Whoa, whoa. See that?
- Wow. - Over there. You see it?
Yeah, I do.
I think that's the big temple, guys.
Nan Dowas? Yeah. I think that's Nan Dowas.
I just don't see a land bridge that takes us over there.
Let's see if we can get across in the water.
Here we go.
It's huge.
Look at the size of those walls.
I'm about knee-deep over here. Be careful.
There's a staircase over here, guys.
What is in this water?
Look at this place. It's huge.
This is, like, an outer defense wall.
That's why it's so tall.
There should be a couple of inner courtyards
with some passages that lead to some tombs.
This is definitely a hot spot for us.
We have to figure out how to get inside here
and get inside the inner wall as well.
Huge corner here.
The locals certainly think this place is extremely haunted.
Looks like the path continues back here.
Oh, I've got an opening here.
Looks like a tunnel.
It goes into some sort of interior.
You can see some plants growing up in there.
♪
See anything yet?
No. It's just dark.
- I'm out. - What's over there?
I'm in some sort of courtyard. Torch went out.
Come on up.
Guys, I just heard something in here.
As you guys were crawling through, from this corner,
I heard what sounded like whispering.
But it's so echoey in here with these walls,
maybe it was just sound bouncing around.
But it sounded like I heard a voice in here
for a split second.
Why don't we split up? I'll go this way.
You guys go that way.
- Okay, sounds good. - Yeah?
We'll try to cover as much of it as we can.
Okay. Let me know if you hear anything.
All right.
It's like a maze almost, you know?
Oh, wow.
What is strong enough to knock down all those huge logs?
[ Loud rustling ]
Holy...
Dude, there's some serious rustling going on over here
like somebody's moving, like, almost like footsteps.
- Oh, my gosh. - What?
Dude, I just saw a shadow. No joke.
Right over here to my right.
- No way. - Yeah.
- I just got the chills, too. - Here comes Gates.
- Josh? - What's up, guys?
Dude, we just saw a shadow right there against that wall.
Turn your FLIR on it. See if you can catch anything.
I came around this corner,
and the shadow went up the side of the wall.
We heard a bunch of noises in here, like, around these trees.
- Back in here? - Yeah.
There's just, like, a flurry of activity.
All right. Well, let's go to wherever these noises
were coming from back in here, yeah?
- Yeah. - Yeah.
- Come on. Let's check it out. - All right.
♪
Whatever you heard was coming from back here, yeah?
Yeah, this area.
I don't see any fruit in these trees,
That's not what was dropping.
- Well, I — - Oh, look at this. Look at this.
This must be the main tomb.
We're in the center of the site now.
This drops down. This is definitely the main tomb.
This is royal. Let's get down inside this main tomb
and knock out an EVP session, yeah?
♪
Yep.
All right, guys. Let's go.
See if we can get through here to the inside.
♪
This is the most sacred place.
Let's break out the digital recorder. Okay.
Here's the digital recorder.
Power it up here. Okay.
- You ready, Mike? - Yeah.
Is there anybody here with us?
If you are in our presence, please make a sound.
Does it feel colder to you guys?
Yeah. It just got really cold in here.
- Mm-hmm. - The temperature dropped.
I'm sweating bullets, and then suddenly,
it feels like I'm in a meat locker now.
Mm-hmm.
It feels like there's cold air bleeding in out of the walls.
Are you making it colder here?
♪
I need to get out of here, guys.
I'm sorry. I'm so sick right now.
Dizzy and nauseous, you know?
[ Exhales deeply ]
Hey, Josh for Shawn, come in.
Send up for Shawn, Josh.
Something's wrong with me. I don't know what it is.
I'm feeling terrible.
I'm going to start hiking back towards camp.
Why don't you meet me there and take a look at it?
All right, Josh. I'll meet you back there.
- I'm not going to make it. - ALI: Josh!
♪
Hey, Josh for Shawn, come in.
Something's wrong with me. I don't know what it is.
I'm feeling terrible.
I'm going to start hiking back towards camp.
Why don't you meet me there and take a look at it?
All right, Josh. I'll meet you back there.
- I'm not going to make it. - ALI: Josh!
[ Grunts ]
[ Vomits ]
GATES: I struggled back to base camp, getting sicker by the minute.
Delirious and weak, I was happy to meet up with Shawn,
who immediately administered an I.V.
[ Groans, exhales sharply ]
Put it up.
All right.
[ Gags, coughs ]
♪
GATES: With the sun nearly above the horizon,
my brutal night had mercifully come to an end.
The team reassembled at base camp
to carry the gear, and me, out of the jungle.
I was sick an additional 18 times,
making the flight back to the States
interesting for the guy in seat 11B.
Back in the States,
we retraced our investigation frame-by-frame,
looking and listening for paranormal evidence.
We began by reviewing our visual evidence.
Dan actually sees an orb,
and then he's able to capture it on camera.
- Huh. - Check it out.
DAN: I'm seeing an orb coming in and out of the trees.
Come here. Look at this.
Oh, it just popped through here.
Look, look. You see that? See that?
What's strange about it to me is almost that it's pulsing.
You notice that?
To me, the pulsing almost feels electrical,
which leads me to believe that maybe
it's something either mechanical
or it's something naturally occurring,
like the light of an insect or something.
But it's an interesting piece of evidence
because it does line up with the eyewitness testimonials.
They do claim to see orbs and lights.
I just wish we had a little bit more of it
that we could analyze.
It's like, we see it for just a split second,
and then it ducks behind these leaves.
We just don't see enough of it. Yeah.
So this recording is from an EVP session we did inside the ruins.
Man: Are you making it colder here?
[ Speaks indistinctly ]
- Right there. - Whoa.
You can definitely hear some kind of speech,
whether it's human or not, it's hard to tell
because it's buried behind so much ambient noise.
♪
It sounds like "Yes," but it sounds demonic.
It sounds like "Yes."
It's a clear answer to our question.
I mean, it's spooky, but he's saying, "Yes."
I think that's great.
Okay, what else do we have?
At one point during an EVP, it actually got colder.
We all sort of felt it.
Let's take a look at this clip.
It just got really cold in here.
The temperature dropped.
I am sweating bullets, and then suddenly, it feels like
I'm in a meat locker now.
You're buried behind thick stones.
All of a sudden, it gets colder.
I didn't know where that air was coming from.
Look, a lot of people say that changes in temperature
can be a sign of the paranormal.
And another important note to make
is that you got sick immediately after this.
Sorry. I'm so sick right now.
I feel dizzy and nauseous, yeah.
[ Vomits, spits ]
Ohh.
I'd like to apologize for all of the vomiting
that I did that night, guys.
I'm sure in the earphones, it didn't sound very good.
It just penetrated my brain.
I was getting sick by proxy, you know?
Just listening to it, I wanted to puke.
It just felt like I was suddenly overwhelmed with nausea.
I don't know that we can definitively call it paranormal,
but it certainly aligns
to eyewitness testimony and experiences.
- That's for sure. You know? - Mm-hmm.
Our fan-fueled expedition to the shores of Micronesia
brought us in contact with Polynesian customs
and a powerful island king.
In the untouched wilderness of this Pacific paradise,
we set sail and followed the trade winds
to the watery ruins of a forgotten wonder.
We cast light on claims of paranormal activity,
and I found out the hard way
that the history of upheaval here
is more than just a myth.
Because our experiences held a mirror
to that of centuries of other reports,
we can only conclude that something powerful
is lurking in the ruins of Nan Madol.
It's safe to say most guys have gone a little crazy
in their pursuit of a woman.
For me, it was the summer I grew a soul patch
to impress my high school star cheerleader, Stacy Miller.
Call me, Stacy.
But in Morocco, men are chasing one woman to their deaths,
a beautiful creature called Aisha Kandisha.
She appears in the night, and those unfortunate enough
to catch a glimpse of Aisha are so spellbound by her beauty
that they follow her into the desert,
never to be seen again.
Far-fetched though it may sound,
after a spate of recent eyewitness sightings
and very real disappearances,
some believe this centuries-old vixen is back on the prowl.
We combined years of reported accounts
and recent eyewitness sightings
to create a 3-D animation of this deadly temptress.
Equally renowned for her beauty and her malevolent powers,
Aisha Kandisha is said to prowl
the desolate wilderness of Northern Morocco,
seducing passers-by into insanity.
The she-devil is said to have hooved goat-like legs
as well as large leathery wings adorned with razor-sharp talons.
Though Aisha may be part animal, her allure is all woman.
She is said to be a stunning enchantress
with piercing black eyes and long flowing hair.
Anyone unlucky enough to cross her path
is instantly driven to madness or worse, killed outright.
I wanted to find out if this Moroccan bombshell
was a supernatural cougar or just an old wives' tale.
So we packed up our gear and headed to North Africa
to investigate.
We flew almost 6,000 miles from Los Angeles,
landing in Morocco's largest and most famous city,
Casablanca.
With a rich history dating back more than a millennium,
this port city is a place of extraordinary custom,
boasting immense houses of worship
and the world's largest minaret.
It is perhaps most famous, though,
for its cinematic legacy.
And as we passed by the world's famous Rick's Cafe,
I just couldn't help myself.
Black and white, please. [ Dramatic music playing ]
Plane leaves and you're not on it, you'll regret it,
maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow
but soon and for the rest of your life.
But what about us? We'll always have Paris.
Here's looking at you, kid.
[ Record needle scratches ] Okay. We can leave Casablanca.
Having crossed item number 59 off my bucket list,
we got back on the road.
From Casablanca, we headed 140 miles south
to the fabled city of Marrakesh
where we'd meet one of the foremost experts
on Aisha Kandisha.
This city is an exotic sensory overload
with labyrinthine street
housing the most famous markets on Earth.
The merchants of Marrakesh are famous
for driving a hard bargain,
but I found them to be both friendly and trustworthy.
- Are you happy here? - I'm very happy.
- The first time? - My first time in Morocco.
I hope not the last.
You are the nicest guy in Morocco.
- Thank you very much. - Where's my wallet?
- Wallet? For what? - No, I'm just kidding.
[ Both laugh ]
Seriously, where's my wallet?
The market featured an array of wildlife,
from the menacing
to the adorably menacing.
Aw! Welcome to Marrakesh.
You've got Ebola. Ow!
This necklace gives me all my power.
Do not touch my necklace.
The endless stalls contain glittering, golden treasures...
This is it right here,
the accessory I never knew I needed.
and an array of accessories.
It looks good on me?
Yeah, sure. That's fantastically good.
Sir, I look like Huckleberry Finn in this thing.
Where you come from?
I'm from the Deep South, I'm from the Mississippi.
Wait a second.
Gabe, how long you been wearing that hat?
Dude, I've been wearing this the whole season.
I don't remember that hat.
All the bartering had left me parched, and I took a drink
from one of Marrakesh's mobile water fountains.
♪
[ Bell dings ]
Ooh. Why does that taste fermented?
[ Bell dings ] [ Clears throat ]
- Very, very good water. - [ Speaks foreign language ]
Mmm. All done.
Emerging from the market, we strolled over
to the nearby university
to meet a professor who is an expert on the Aisha story.
- Is she a spirit... - Mm-mmm.
or is she biological?
[ Speaking French ]
If I'm looking for Aisha Kandisha, where would I go?
[ Speaking French ]
GATES: We followed the professor's lead
and headed south toward the Atlas Mountains.
After passing through the deserts beyond Marrakesh,
we climbed precipitous passes along treacherous winding roads
before finally reaching the city of Ouarzazate.
Dubbed "The door of the desert," this remote city
was once a modest African trading post
that has blossomed into a provincial capital.
It is also home to several witnesses who believe
they had an encounter with Aisha Kandisha.
How do I know if Aisha Kandisha is present?
How do I know if she's nearby?
[ Speaking foreign language ]
And do you think that Aisha Kandisha is very dangerous?
[ Speaks foreign language ]
GATES: Next, we spoke with another witness
who had a sighting just days earlier.
Where have you seen her?
[ Speaking foreign language ]
And do you think this was Aisha Kandisha?
[ Speak foreign language ]
And if I'm looking for Aisha Kandisha,
where should I look?
[ Speaks foreign language ]
There?
GATES: The abandoned casbahs where Aisha was rumored to live
were scattered deep in the vast deserts in the Atlas range.
With the roads further into the mountains
in notoriously bad condition,
we waited until the light of a new day
and set to work on assembling a mode of transportation
that we could fire up
to give us a bird's-eye view of the endless sands.
♪
Nothing about this feels safe, right?
Should I just not worry about that huge tear
in the balloon right there? I'm sure that's fine.
What happens if, like, one of these cables snap?
- Shut up, Mike. - But I...
Enjoy the view.
Everybody, keep your eyes open for a dangerous female monster.
[ Laughs ]
GATES: At an altitude of 1,000 feet,
we were able to drift over huge tracks of desert
and carefully scan for the ruined buildings
where Aisha had most recently been encountered.
Okay, guys, the Atlas Mountains are right there.
You can see the whole range. Keep your eyes peeled.
We should be coming up on those abandoned settlements.
Right there! Right there!
A group of structures, dead ahead!
♪
Keep your eyes peeled.
We should be coming up on those abandoned settlements.
Right there! Right there!
A group of structures, dead ahead!
I can see some walls. It looks like a settlement.
GATES: After locating a cluster
of abandoned casbahs in the distance,
we marked them on GPS and began our descent back to terra firma.
These ruins were on the outer fringes of rocky desert trails
more than 20 miles from our touchdown location.
Since making the journey by foot wasn't overly appealing,
we called in a specialized set of wheels.
♪
This is what I call a car!
With no paved roads in sight,
our dune buggies made quick work of tearing up the desert trails
and getting us to our destination.
Somebody should really pave this.
It wasn't long before Vanessa's need for speed
caught up with her.
You're driving like a lunatic. Now, look what you've done.
After a few requisite "I told you sos,"
we patched up Vanessa's flat...
One, two, three.
rattled over a few more dusty miles,
and reached our investigation site where we set up base camp.
We activated four I.R. cameras
along the perimeter of the Casbahs.
Vanessa would monitor the cameras from base camp
and alert us to any unusual activity.
I would lead a team with Bobby, Dan, and Mike
to explore one set of ruined buildings,
while Ali, Shawn, and Gabe would investigate
another set of structures seen from the air.
So what do you think of Aisha Kandisha?
I think she's very elusive.
I mean, some of the eyewitness accounts are so varied,
it almost sounds like it could be a couple different things
that people are seeing. - Yeah.
I mean, some of the descriptions sound really outlandish,
and some of the other ones sound like,
you know, something biological that people are seeing.
It's hard to believe that anything really lives out here,
let alone a topless woman with goat legs.
They say that she's very beautiful,
buxom,
seduces men.
Sounds like my kind of creature.
[ Chuckles ]
I've got a small structure on the thermal.
It looks like a really small standalone building
over there in that palm grove.
What's the temperature you're getting on that thing?
Air temperature looks like we're still in the high 60s,
but building is a little bit hotter.
The clay and mud have probably absorbed
a lot of the heat from the day.
It looks like one large room, no roof left,
side wall is missing on this side.
It looks like nobody's been living here
for a very long time.
Amazing this construction lasts.
It's just literally mud.
- Hey, guys? - Yeah?
- Got a couple things over here. - Oh, yeah.
A small little, like, a bird's nest here.
Yeah, it is a little bird's nest.
Got a pretty sizable dropping here.
It looks exactly like a veggie burger on my camera.
- It really does. Come look. - No, it doesn't.
It looks exactly like a veggie burger.
Like a patty.
What is wrong with you two?
If you put a bun on that thing... You could —
on a café on Sunset, that looks just delicious. A little mustard.
All right, Mike. I'm gonna need you to bag a sample of that,
bring it back as evidence.
Oh, no, no, no. That's what you do.
You do the evidence stuff. I do the audio stuff.
No, you're on and on about how it looks like a veggie burger.
You're obviously super into it.
Why don't you go over there and pick it up?
Why don't you collect the evidence, Mike?
I'm going to go investigate the other part of this...
- Yeah. - ... building over here.
Great. I'll collect the poop.
- Yeah. - And you do that.
Always. I'm the guy at the end who has to pick up the poo,
put it in my pocket, take it back for analysis.
[ Sighs ] Here we go.
♪
We are in the middle of the desert.
Besides these Casbahs, it's just flatland.
Oh, hey, Ali, check this out.
It's a footprint.
That's definitely a footprint.
It looks like a human footprint, doesn't it? Yeah.
♪
Oh, this casbah is huge.
Yeah, let's make our way inside, guys.
Let's go "Rock the Casbah."
ALI: Oh, there it is.
I was wondering how long it would take.
♪
This casbah is like a maze.
[ Screech ]
- You hear that? - Yeah.
- [ Screech ] - Whoa.
Oh, it's an owl.
♪
Full moon tonight.
[ Rustling ] [ Whispers ] Do you hear that outside?
I don't know. I just heard some dirt scuffle.
[ Branches snap ] [ Gasps ]
You definitely heard that.
That sounded like it was coming from this room. [ Gasps ]
♪
[ Whispers ] Did you hear that outside?
I don't know. I just heard some dirt scuffle.
[ Branches snap ] [ Gasps ]
You definitely heard that.
That sounded like it was coming from this room. [ Gasps ]
Oh, there goes another one.
All right. We got a lot of casbah to cover.
♪
This is like doing an investigation on the moon.
There's absolutely nothing here. I know.
Except for this giant building.
Look at that thing.
Huge casbah.
Okay. Let's see if Aisha is inside.
♪
Look at this whole wall. It's made of smashed pots.
- Oh, yeah. - You're right.
- Look at that. - Yeah.
This whole wall is made out of old pottery.
Look at this tower. It's still in pretty good shape.
Wow. Look at this place.
All right, guys. This place is pretty big.
Let's spread out and take a look around.
♪
[ Whispers ] Hey, guys! Come here!
- Where? - Teeth.
It doesn't look human, but I'm not sure exactly what it is.
It doesn't look like they were form something
that was butchered.
They're just sort of hanging out here.
Okay. Let's bag these up.
I don't know what these are from, but take them back
and find out what kind of animal has been living in here.
♪
Guys, look around for any other signs
that something is living in here.
♪
This place is huge.
It's just room after room of ruin.
I mean, it's like walls, ceilings,
floors just crumbled away.
Place is amazing.
This whole wall has been knocked out.
We got a nice open view of the dry riverbed over there.
Why don't we do a parabolic session, Mike?
Yeah. That's a nice, wide-open clearing.
♪
It's pretty quiet out there, a lot of crickets.
I hear some barking dogs.
Wait, wait, wait, wait. Wait, wait. I hear something.
- What do you hear? - It sounds like a chain.
Let me hear it.
Take a listen.
♪
It does. It sounds like a chain.
- Yeah. - But it sound mechanical.
- Mm-hmm. - Doesn't it?
Maybe like a chain motor,
like, it sounds almost like an engine, though.
Hmm.
Whatever it is, it sounds mechanical.
It sounds like maybe a generator or an engine or something.
Yeah. It's whirring like a motor.
It's a familiar sound, but I haven't seen anything out here.
Well, they say it sounds like chains.
- That's the sound of chains. - Yeah, definitely.
You know, maybe they hear something in the distance
from another village. They don't know what it is.
They associate it with the legend
because she's supposed to make this kind of metallic sound. [ Dog barking ]
- Could be what they're hearing. - Mm-hmm.
Okay. Let's keep scanning and get across that riverbed,
and see if we can find some more buildings.
Let's do it.
♪
I just saw something white flash
through that hole in the wall over there.
Let's go check it out.
♪
- There's nothing out here. - Nothing at all.
- [ Screech ] - You hear that?
What the hell is that?
I don't see anything on this camera.
It went away, but I just heard about four footsteps behind me.
♪
- Vanessa for Shawn. - Go ahead, V.
Shawn, I just saw something.
It was right by base camp.
I just turned my head, and it was looking at me.
I don't know what it was.
I just saw it out of the corner of my eye.
It just took off running towards you.
All right, V. Ali just heard footsteps.
We're going to go ahead and come back towards that way.
Try to meet us halfway, and we'll see if we can
intercept this thing.
All right. I'll come meet you.
All right. Hey, guys, let's roll.
♪
Guys, I got a passageway over here.
Look at this thing.
This building looks like it's about to fall down on itself.
Come on, you don't actually want to go down into that, do you?
What if it just collapses on itself, and we just get buried?
Well, come on.
It's been standing for a couple hundred years.
What are the odds it's going to go today?
Here goes nothing.
Okay, guys, really careful.
These walls are literally just crumbling apart.
♪
Guys, it keeps going.
♪
[ Rocks crumble ]
♪
GATES: Okay, guys, really careful.
These walls are literally just crumbling apart.
[ Rocks crumble ]
Watch out! The wall just collapsed!
Get out from underneath that thing.
- It's coming down. - Dude.
This whole piece of wall just came down right here.
- Look at it. - Oh, my god.
Dude, I told you this was a bad idea.
That thing came down like a foot from my face.
Just try and get through here as quick as we can.
♪
Hey, V. Did you see anything?
We took off as soon as you called us,
and you would think that between us and you,
we would've ran into something.
Yeah. But we saw nothing.
Yeah, we definitely heard something, though.
We heard it, like, behind us. It was, like, a shuffling.
It was definitely steps.
Like, footsteps, like human footsteps?
Or was it, like, four legs?
It could've been either. I mean, I didn't see anything.
It was on the other side of the casbah.
Oh, you guys. I just found a bone.
That right there is a hinge joint.
Even if Aisha Kandisha doesn't exist,
this could help us understand what creatures
are lurking out here, you know?
It's worth bagging up.
It could be whatever they're seeing.
All right, guys. Let's head back to base camp.
♪
[ Whispers ] Oh!
Guys, shh, shh.
You hear that?
Nice and slow. If it's an animal, I don't want to scare it.
What was that? Did you hear that? Definitely.
Oh! Don't move. Don't move. Don't move.
I just saw it on the thermal.
Whatever it was ducked right behind that wall right there.
Right there.
Keep your eyes right on that corner
'cause it's right in there, I think.
All right, guys.
It sounds like we might have found our culprits. [ Barking ]
It sounds like some angry dogs.
I got three on the thermal.
How are they surviving out here?
Probably by eating dudes like us.
I continue to scan the area using the FLIR thermal imager
but didn't spot anything else moving around in the darkness.
With the sun approaching the Atlas Mountains,
we headed back to base camp
and gathered our gear for the long trip home.
♪
In Los Angeles, we reviewed our audio findings,
and though we did hear some strange sounds,
it hardly qualified as definitive proof
of an unknown creature.
The physical remains we collected
were brought to Jim Dines
from the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History
for identification.
Well, Jim, we recovered a number of pieces of physical evidence
from our trip to Morocco.
I'd love to have you weigh in
and let me know if you can identify all these.
Absolutely. So in this bag here, we have some fragments
of a tooth, definitely mammalian tooth.
It looks to me though that it's tooth fragments from a cow,
and from what I know of the legend,
this creature would have a humanlike upper body,
including human teeth.
So this would not be consistent with Aisha Kandisha.
And our largest piece of evidence...
Okay.
What I'm seeing here is part of the lower leg bone
from some sort of animal.
Well, the real question is,
is this the leg bone from Aisha Kandisha?
It could be the leg bone from Aisha Kandisha.
My understanding is that the lower body of this creature
is either camel or cow.
I've got something right here that matches up exactly.
Exact same shape, exact same size,
and this happens to be the lower leg bone from a cow.
There's no way I could rule out that this
is actually just a cow.
I would like to see the rest of the skeleton.
You know, I'm a scientist. I'm very skeptical.
Yeah, you remain a skeptic. That's why you're working here.
That's right.
GATES: Aisha Kandisha is a demonic fixture
in North African lore.
From the cinematic streets of Casablanca
to those meandering markets of Marrakesh,
her story is universally known.
We searched for her from high above the Atlas Mountains
and journeyed deep into the desert to reach her home.
Chains? We may have heard them.
- That sounds like a chain. - Yeah.
GATES: Mysterious animals? Sure.
Shawn, I just saw something. It was right by base camp.
GATES: But nothing to substantiate a monster.
Though eyewitnesses claim to have seen her,
their evidence is circumstantial at best.
Aisha may be a temptress, even a succubus,
but she is also something else —
the stuff of legend.
[ Screeches ]