All language subtitles for The UnXplained s01e03_English

They fly.

They creep.

[screeching]

They claw
at everything in sight.

[snarling]

And some even have a taste

for human flesh.

-[screaming]
-[growling]

All over the world,
legions of cryptozoologists

insist that somewhere out there

are hundreds of weird,

bizarre, nightmarish creatures

that hide in the shadows
and terrorize small towns.

They give them names
like Mothman,

chupacabra,
the Jersey Devil and...

the Goatman.

But can they be dismissed
as mere figments

of the public's
overactive imagination?

Or could they actually be...

real?

Well...

that is what
we'll try and find out.

♪

♪

SHATNER:
Eyewitness descriptions
of cryptid creatures

are as varied as they are vivid.

Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

April 1967.

LINDA SIGMAN:
A boyfriend and I

decided to pull in
off the country road,

and I noticed off of my right
shoulder it was a creature.

And, uh, we sat there in awe
of what we were looking at.

It came right over
in front of the car,

and we looked up,
and I could make out the shape

of a winged man.

SHATNER:
Cuero, Texas.

August 2007.

Something was sucking the blood
out of my chickens.

The first time I saw it,

-[howling]
-the color of it was different,

the physique of the animal
was different.

It has absolutely no hair on it,

and all of these different,
bizarre features on it.

What is it?

SHATNER:
High Falls, New York.

October 2015.

My wife and I were staying
at this cabin.

There was a stream
behind the cabin

and a very steep ridge.

Middle of nowhere.

I was exploring the woods
behind the cabin.

And then I noticed
some movement.

Black, hairy figure,

at first I thought
was a black bear,

but this figure was much bigger.

Looked like
it was standing upright.

At this point in time,
I still don't know what it was.

Most people
generally have heard of Bigfoot,

the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster,

but what they aren't aware of
is that there is a whole world

of really unusual creatures
out there, lesser-known things,

many of them
quite otherworldly and strange.

When it comes to animals
that are known as cryptids,

there's a huge number of them.

We actually find reports
and cases all around the world

of strange creatures.

For example,
one of them being Mothman,

which is this huge
humanoid-type figure

with bat-like wings
and fiery red eyes

that's perceived
as kind of like a grim reaper

that surfaces
when bad luck or disasters

are about to happen.

If you go to Africa, there are
reports there of creatures

that look just like something
out of Jurassic Park.

We're talking
about something very much akin

to a gigantic lizard
or a monitor lizard.

The phenomenon of what's
become known as the Dogman

in recent years
is a genuinely weird, odd one.

People talk about seeing
these huge, bipedal wolves

that seem to look like
the closest thing

you could imagine to a werewolf.

You have hellhounds,
or devil dogs,

that are thought
to be omens of death.

You have thunderbirds.

You have creatures
like the Van Meter Visitor.

You have creatures
like the skunk ape.

You have all these creatures
that defy what we know as...

flesh-and-blood creatures
here on this planet.

J. NATHAN COUCH:
Some of these creatures

seem to possess abilities that
are borderline supernatural,

and they have qualities
that can harm you.

Creatures like the Goatman
and the Mongolian death worm.

The wendigo is said
to possess people

and cause them to go mad
and often crave human flesh.

They terrorize people,

cause harm to other animals.

They prey on other animals.

They're essentially predators.

There have been countless
stories of cryptid creatures,

and they exist throughout
all different cultures,

all periods of time in history,

even right up
to the present day.

But there's a shocking lack of
actual evidence that they exist.

Skeptics would say
that the sightings

of all of these
cryptid creatures

are to be related
to some kind of hallucination

or psychological projection
or whatnot.

When you look
at folkloric tales of monsters,

sometimes they turn out to be

hoaxes or legends,

to the point where
we're just not able

to confirm what
they actually were.

Many people
simply make up stories.

You can't rule out
the possibility

that people, for example,

are creating some
of these colorful legends

simply to garner attention

or to propagate
their own motives.

KIRSTEN FISHER:
As a scientist,

I don't discount
that there is some animal

or some creature
that's been sighted.

If there are organisms
that we haven't found yet,

it probably speaks to the fact
that the Earth is a vast place

with many types of habitats,
and it's possible

that we haven't explored
them all completely yet.

SHATNER:
We tend to think

that everything in the world
we live in is pretty much known,

Every tree, every insect,

every species
has been photographed,

studied, cataloged.

But it isn't true.

According to
mainstream scientists,

there are still
literally thousands of species

that have yet to be discovered.

So is it far-fetched to believe

that wild,
possibly hybrid creatures

could exist out there?

Strange so-called cryptids

that have been seen
by average people

but haven't yet
been officially recognized

as being real?

While mainstream scientists
might say yes,

cryptozoologists argue
that we've already found

such an animal

and even have the photographic
evidence to prove it.

One of the most compelling
cryptids that we investigate

is something known
as the Tasmanian tiger,

or the thylacine,

which were considered legendary
or mythological

until living specimens
were discovered

and documented by scientists.

This is definitely
a known animal.

The last verified specimen
died off in 1936.

However, since that time,
there has been

thousands of sightings of
Tasmanian tigers, or thylacines,

on both the island of Tasmania
and mainland Australia,

since its presumed extinction.

And there have been some
fairly compelling photographs

that have never been
fully explained.

The thylacine was
a very weird-looking animal.

It looks like a large dog,

like a German shepherd,
but it's actually a marsupial,

like a kangaroo.

In other words, it carries
its young in its pouch.

And it has these stripes
down its head and neck,

which give it sort of, like,
a tiger-type appearance.

And it could almost open its jaw

to about 180 degrees,

kind of like snakes.

COUCH: If someone just saw it
running through the woods,

they would think
it was some sort of monster.

The peculiar qualities
of the thylacine,

or the Tasmanian tiger,
are a great example

of how evolution can provide

some amazing mutations
and hybridization.

Just having the thylacine
as a hybrid

increases the possibility

that there are other
of these hybrids out there

lurking in the shadows.

SHATNER:
But what are the other cryptids?

The legions of strange,
hybrid creatures that fly, swim

and suck their victims dry
of blood?

[man speaking excitedly]

Is there similar
photographic evidence out there

that can help prove their case?

There are those who believe
the answer is yes...

[women speaking excitedly]

...and that better
than a photograph,

there's something
even more compelling

and harder to disprove:

actual samples
of a monster's DNA.

[snarls]

SHATNER:
Cuero, Texas.

August 2007.

After purchasing
a brood of chickens

from a neighboring ranch,

Phylis Canion makes a series
of gruesome discoveries

inside her brand-new henhouse.

I brought the chickens home,
and I had them

for about two weeks.

And I went outside, and...

one of the chickens was dead.

[chickens squawking, clucking]

What makes it unusual

is the chicken
was still laying there.

And with the amount of predators

that we have
in the state of Texas,

any predator would have taken
the chicken and eaten it.

SHATNER:
Over the next few weeks,

Phylis collected the remains

of 27 more of her chickens,

each one killed in the same
inexplicable fashion.

Every one of them
had been opened up

in the thorax area,
the feathers missing,

and what appeared to me
to be no blood on the ground.

So that told me then,
whatever it was

was not interested in the meat

but interested in the blood.

And when I was talking
to friends

and neighbors about it,
they all immediately said,

"Oh, my gosh, that's the
behavior of a chupacabra.

It's gonna kill the animal
and suck the blood."

SHATNER:
Chupacabra.

To those who claim
to have encountered one,

it is a fearsome monster.

Chupacabra means "goat sucker."

And it's a really
creepy-looking creature.

Some people say
it looks like some kind

of strange, hybrid-like dog.

The continental
North American chupacabra,

uh, is a four-legged
or quadrupedal animal

about the size of a dog,
completely hairless,

with a bluish-gray elephant
hide-type of covering.

They also display a number
of abnormal characteristics--

oftentimes their limbs
are disproportionate lengths--

so they're very grotesque,
odd, weird-looking animals.

SHATNER:
Certain that what was preying

on her chicken coop
was not a coyote,

or any other known canine,
Phylis began to consider

whether it might be
a chupacabra.

And then, one morning,
she got her answer.

One Saturday morning,
I got a very early call, 7:00.

My neighbor rancher called

and said, "Oh, my gosh.
The strangest animal

has been hit and killed
in front of the Canion ranch.

So I got in the truck,
drove over there,

and I brought it back,

and I took a 50-pound feed sack,

and I cut it in half
and laid it on the ground,

and I laid the animal on it
to give everybody

a perspective of the size
of the animal.

I have seen mangy coyotes
all of my life,

and this had no hair on it
and no indication at all

that the skin was infested
with any type

of skin disorder,
from mange or anything else.

It just did not have
any hair on it at all.

SHATNER:
Phylis sent tissue samples

from the dead creature out
for analysis.

After waiting expectantly
for weeks,

she was surprised
by the results.

So, when they called me,
they said, "Well, it's coyote

"on the maternal side

and Mexican wolf
on the paternal."

The DNA tests indicating
that the... the animal was a...

was a hybrid, essentially,

between a Mexican wolf
and a coyote

is a little surprising
in the fact that those species

don't typically hybridize.

But it's not entirely
impossible.

We do know that the ranges
of those two species do overlap

in Arizona, Texas
and northern Mexico,

so it's at least physically
possible that they could

encounter each other
to form hybrids.

SHATNER:
With such conclusive
DNA results,

many considered the case closed.

But, according to Phylis,

something was not quite
adding up.

The mystery of the whole thing
was the manner in which

every chicken was killed.

It would suck all
of the blood out.

So we know that it's
coyote and Mexican wolf.

But neither of those animals
suck blood.

So, even though this animal
has that DNA, what is it?

Why would it have
that behavior?

When the taxidermist
mounted it for me,

he had to get a coyote mold
and a wolf mold

and blend them together
to make the hide fit.

The tail is longer than
a wolf tail or a coyote tail.

The neck, the ears.

Everything was so extreme,

it took him forever
to get it mounted.

We had about
13 different specialists

from around the world
come and look at it,

and to date, they've all left
scratching their head

like the day they came in

because they just cannot
figure it out as well.

The only higher vertebrate
that has evolved

to suck blood
is the vampire bat.

And this particular process
of adaptation

has taken millions of years.

It involves highly specialized
characteristics.

For example, an anticoagulant
in their saliva

and a very, very distinct liver,
kidney digestive system.

So, to assume that an animal
would simply develop

a vampire-like predation pattern
would be really unexpected.

SHATNER:
If they really exist,

are chupacabra merely the result
of natural selection gone wrong,

or could this grotesque monster
be the result of

not natural causes,
but man-made ones?

There are some who believe
the answer is a disturbing yes.

Through the course
of my research

on the Texas chupacabras,
I found a direct correlation

between sightings on Phylis
Canion's property and elsewhere,

and coal-burning power plants.

Coal-burning power plants,
in fact, emit huge amounts

of sulfur dioxide and other
hard metals, like lead,

into the atmosphere.

And in recent studies,
scientists have found that

sulfur dioxide is, in fact,
a mutagen.

It altered the cellular makeup,
or genetic makeup,

of laboratory mice.

So, in fact, this pollution
could be having a similar effect

on these Texas coyotes
or other canids.

Chemicals in the environment
can absolutely cause mutations

to animals in-in the wild.

We saw this in Minnesota
when a classroom,

out on a field trip,
discovered a pond

with frogs that had
extra legs or missing limbs

or body features
in the wrong position.

And these were most likely
caused by some type

of environmental contaminant.

There is a actually a type of
chupacabra that's been reported

from parts of Puerto Rico.

The Puerto Rican chupacabra
is described as about

three and a half
to five feet tall,

standing on two legs,
fangs, claws,

and strangely, a row of spikes
going down its back.

Why are there so many different
versions of the chupacabra,

and why are they so radically
different-looking

in terms of
the Puerto Rican version

versus the North American
version versus other versions?

So, in fact, pollution could be
having a similar effect

to create all types
of strange creatures.

I think it's possible that
there are mutations out there

that science has yet to discover
or to understand.

Not only what nature
is constructing,

but also what mankind
may be constructing, too.

SHATNER:
Are creatures like chupacabra
merely freaks of nature,

a rare but nonetheless
disturbing consequence

of natural selection run amok?

Perhaps.

But there are those
who believe these monsters

are actually the products
of deliberate experimentation.

Experimentation
that has gone too far.

[thunder cracks]

SHATNER:
According to legend,
it hunts in the darkness.

A monster, seemingly drawn
from a nightmare.

[thunder crashes]

It walks on two legs,
like a human,

but has the head of a beast.

It is a creature so horrifying,
it is rarely spoken about

above a whisper.

[whispers]:
The Goatman.

LEWIS:
The Goatman is terrifying.

It's something striking that
strikes fear in the witnesses,

and it's certainly something
you would not

want to meet in the dark.

LOREN COLEMAN:
From my understanding
of the Goatman,

it seemed to start up,
really, in 1971 in Maryland.

It looks like an upright,
human-like creature,

but has a goat-like head,
with glowing red eyes

and huge horns,
and looks like the devil

and is very frightening.

I think one of the most
intimidating things

about the Goatman is that
it reportedly resembles

the Christian devil.

I mean, it's half man,
it's half goat.

SHATNER:
For decades, tales of
this grotesque creature

have been told wherever
cryptozoologists gather.

Particularly in and around
suburban Maryland.

It all started
following a shocking incident

that took place
in the small town of Bowie

in October of 1971.

[crickets chirping]

[laughter, indistinct chatter]

COUCH:
A young teenage girl
was having a sleepover

with some of her friends.

[loud snap]

-What was that?
-I don't know.

COUCH:
They looked out the window,

and to their horror,
they saw this strange,

hairy creature
skulking around outside.

LEWIS:
It scurried into the woods.

A few days later,
their new puppy went missing.

Eventually, it was discovered
along the railroad tracks.

It had been decapitated
and ripped apart.

Skeptics claim it was just
run over by a train.

Others believed
it was killed by the Goatman.

[snarling]

Usually, these kinds
of stories of creatures

have some starting point.

For the Goatman, in 1971,

everybody got hysterical
and started reporting it.

LEWIS:
This case really spawned terror

in the entire community.

The fever reached a pitch
when some teenagers

thought they had
the Goatman trapped.

COUCH:
People were so scared
of the Goatman

during those initial sightings

that a posse
of teenagers had actually

closed off an entire road,

claiming that they had captured
the animal.

And when police arrived, though,

whatever it was that they
had cornered had escaped.

When you hear people's accounts
of a goat-like,

man-sized creature, you have to
stop and think for one minute,

you know, is it possible

for a creature like this
to even exist?

It defies understanding.

However, people have been seeing
this creature for decades.

REDFERN:
Some cryptozoologists

suggested that possibly
it was the creation

of some sort of secret lab,

and that some experiments
had been going on,

and the creature had escaped

from that same secret lab.

[soft growling]

RIHERD: And as far-fetched
as that may seem,

in 1959,
Soviet scientists were able

to transplant the head

and forelimbs of a small dog
onto the body of a large dog.

The Russian scientist
Vladimir Demikhov was actually,

uh, something of a pioneer
of organ transplant.

In the 1950s, he decided

he wanted to attempt
to attach two dogs.

He and his team actually went
through a series of surgeries

to try to accomplish this.

He took the, uh... the head
and front torso of a small dog,

um, removed it and attached it

to the body
of a much larger dog,

so it was basically able
to be supported

off of the heart
and-and vessels of the big dog.

We tend to believe
that we figured out everything

with modern science
and technology,

but being that the Goatman
combines both goat and man

makes you think,
was it some sort

of Frankenstein experiment
gone wrong?

Or was it purposely constructed

and built
and almost born this way?

RIHERD:
It's interesting to note

that there's important research
going on to produce

something called a "chimera,"
which is a combination

of two different types of DNA.

The way this is performed is

to introduce human genetic
material into pig embryos.

And what they found when they
analyze the DNA of these embryos

is that they're actually
1/100,000 human.

So this is kind of the basis

for how to create different
creatures or mix and match,

uh, the DNA
from two different species.

SHATNER:
A chimera?

A creature comprised of the DNA

from two
entirely different species?

Could such a frightening notion
help to explain a beast

as bizarre and disturbing

as the Goatman?

With the recent advances
in DNA science,

it's not completely implausible

that some of these creatures
are the result

of these types of experiments.

If the Goatman does exist,

could it be the product of some
unholy scientific experiment?

There are those who believe

that not only is
such a disturbing notion true,

but that mankind has opened
a virtual Pandora's box--

one that may now be too late
for us to close.

And the monster they cite
as proof of their theory

is the one that doesn't
only walk on two legs

but flies on two wings.

The Mothman.

SHATNER:
Point Pleasant, West Virginia.

April 1967.

Linda Sigman and her boyfriend

head out
for a quiet nighttime drive.

Far beyond the city lights,
they pull over

to do some amateur stargazing.

After a few minutes,
they realize

they're not alone.

We got out,
and we sat on the car,

and we're sitting there talking
for a little bit,

and I noticed a bright star
over to my right.

And all of a sudden,
it started to get bigger.

And it turned bright red,
and it started to glow,

and, like,
it burst through the clouds.

And it came right over
in front of the car,

and we looked up,
and the object was so big

that we couldn't see the night
sky or the stars or anything.

My boyfriend tried to start
the car, and it wouldn't start.

Finally got the car started,
and we started to pull forward,

and I saw him.

And he appeared to be
a large flying man with wings.

It was the creature
that I perceive to be Mothman.

His wings were back,
and he was anywhere

between eight
and nine feet tall,

and as we were going
around a turn,

the Mothman flew
and flew into the trees.

I don't know what else
it could have been.

SHATNER:
The Mothman?

A large, red-eyed,
human-sized creature that flies?

But if such a creature exists,
where could it have come from?

GERHARD:
Mothman is one of the most
enigmatic creatures

in the annals
of the unexplained.

And it first gained
public notoriety

in November of 1966,

and within a matter
of days and weeks,

there were dozens or perhaps
hundreds of sightings

of this creature around
the Point Pleasant area,

causing a mass hysteria
situation.

Skeptics have attributed
the Mothman sightings

to a misidentification

of giant owls, or even a crane
that is local to the area.

There's all kinds
of other explanations

that have been given,
but when you interview

the people that actually saw
and experienced this,

they're not talking
about anything

that is conventionally known.

SPINKS:
West Virginia people
are outdoorsy people.

They know all the animals
in the woods.

Most are avid outdoorsmen,
hunters, fishermen.

They know the difference
between an owl

and a Mothman-type creature.

GERHARD:
We have to consider
that the Mothman's behavior,

which involved chasing cars
at over a hundred miles an hour,

taking straight up off
the ground like a helicopter,

none of those would indicate any
type of flesh-and-blood animal.

SHATNER:
Chasing cars at over
a hundred miles an hour?

If true, then this thing
is no owl,

at least not a normal one.

There's no animals anywhere on
this planet that even resemble

a giant man-sized creature
with ten-foot wings anywhere.

And to me,
that would lead to the fact

that it's definitely not
of this world.

SHATNER:
Not of this world?

According to a growing number
of mainstream scientists,

such a profound notion
is, in fact, possible.

In 2018, a fascinating study

was published
on the DNA of the octopus.

The octopus is a really unusual
creature here on earth.

They can rewrite their own DNA,
they can camouflage themselves,

and they are considered
the most intelligent

of all invertebrates.

What these researchers concluded
was that the DNA of the octopus

had traveled here on a comet.

In other words, this DNA
didn't start off on Earth.

It came from somewhere else.

FISHER:
There are many instances
of organisms,

particularly extremophiles,
that can occur

in extremely
inhospitable conditions.

And there are even cases
of organisms like these

being able to survive
exposure to-to space.

So, it's not completely out
of the question that something

like a microorganism might
be able to survive spaceflight

on a comet that was coming
to Earth, for example.

One of the most intriguing
theories for Mothman

is that possibly,
it could have reached the Earth

via an asteroid, and the DNA
developed on our planet

to the point now
we're actually seeing creatures

that ultimately became Mothman.

SHATNER:
Could the Mothman's DNA
have hitched a ride to Earth

on an interstellar comet?

For the residents of
Point Pleasant, West Virginia,

the more pressing question
is whether the Mothman

is a friend or a foe.

It's been seen a lot of times
right before tragedies happen.

That's the only common thing
we know.

It seems to show up
at tragedies.

JEFF WAMSLEY:
On December 15, 1967,

the Silver Bridge, which spanned
from Point Pleasant

over to Kanauga, Ohio,

collapsed at about 5:00
on a Friday evening.

Uh, it was the worst
bridge disaster in U.S. history.

46 people died.

I was six when the bridge fell.

And I remember, at that time,
there were people that claimed

that they'd seen a large bird
flying back and forth,

you know, across the-the river
before the bridge fell.

REDFERN:
The official story is that
it was just wear and tear,

and the 46 people
who were killed

just didn't really stand
a chance.

There are rumors
that the Mothman was seen

around the time
that the bridge collapse

so there was inevitably talk
around town

that somehow the Mothman
had either caused the tragedy

or, in a strange way,

was kind of like
a grim reaper for many people.

GERHARD:
To this day, residents
of Point Pleasant

draw a connection
between the Mothman

and this bridge collapse,

perhaps perceiving
the Mothman's appearance

as some type of premonition
or omen of the tragedy.

HIPES:
I would say, probably,
in Point Pleasant it's 50/50.

50% of the people
believe that Mothman

caused the
Silver Bridge tragedy,

and the other 50%
believe that he may have

been here as a warning
to get everyone on guard

that something terrible
may happen.

SHATNER:
Mothman, a force for good?

A protector from harm?

Is it possible that
some crypto-creatures,

like the Mothman, are just...

misunderstood?

It's an interesting
and even comforting notion.

But if such creatures exist,

they would be just as likely
to attack us

as we would be to attack them.

For we appear as strange
and menacing to them

as they do to us.

SHATNER:
Lake Shelbyville, Illinois.

July 1977.

While on a fishing trip
with his son,

construction worker
"Texas" John Huffer captures

incredible footage of two
giant creatures taking flight.

LEWIS:
In Huffer's film,
we see what appears to be

two large birds
perched on a tree

and then flying off
into the sky.

He actually honked his boat horn
to get their attention,

and that seemed to startle them,

and they flew off out of his
sight before he ran out of film.

A lot of people
in the field still talk

about Huffer's footage
because it's so remarkable.

The birds are large.

COUCH: They appear to be
a very unique-looking animal,

particularly in that
their tail feathers seem larger

than any type of raptor that
I am, uh, personally aware of.

LEWIS:
These creatures were gigantic

compared to your normal
turkey vulture.

Whatever they are, they're
actually there, and they're big.

SHATNER:
Gigantic flying birds?

Larger than turkey vultures?

But if so,
what kind of bird is it?

And why haven't we noticed
anything like it before?

One of my specialties within
the field of cryptozoology

is investigating accounts of
what are known as thunderbirds.

Thunderbirds are creatures
from Native American mythology,

and they are essentially
giant raptor types of birds,

similar to an eagle
with a hooked beak,

enormous wingspans

ranging anywhere
from 15 to 20 feet across,

basically the size
of a small airplane.

We consider them very sacred

because they do have the power
to take a life.

And they also have power
to give life.

And we see them all over,

all over the skies,

so you'll get many descriptions
of the thunderbird.

In the beginning, they're
the ones that protected us,

and in the future, they said
they will protect us again.

That's power.

These things were said
to be able to swoop down

out of the sky
and carry off grown adults.

LEWIS:
In fact, many claim

that when these gigantic birds
flap their wings, it sounds

like thunder in the sky,
hence the name "thunderbirds."

Oftentimes, the old legends tell

of great wars in the Midwest

between the thunderbirds
and other creatures.

[shrieking]

[bird screeches]

SHATNER:
Thunderbirds.

Giant flying creatures
from Native American folklore.

Could such supernatural beings
actually exist?

Or could they be something
that has, until now,

been considered extinct?

They could be a teratorn,

which is a giant
condor-like beast

that existed during
the last ice age.

We know that they existed
at the same time as humans

because there are burials
of humans and teratorns.

SHATNER:
According to paleontologists,

teratorns had wing spans which
measured up to 12 feet wide.

They're also believed
to have been extinct

for at least 10,000 years.

But given the incredible size
of the creatures

in John Huffer's footage,

is it possible the teratorns
survived extinction?

According to cryptozoologists,
the answer's yes,

and for evidence, they point
to the rediscovery of a creature

that was thought to be extinct,
not just for thousands of years,

but for millions.

South Africa. 1938.

A group of fishermen
returning home notice something

much larger than normal
in their daily catch.

It measures five feet long,
weighs 200 pounds,

and is covered with strange,
silver markings.

After careful examination,

the creature
is finally identified

as a coelacanth,
a large saltwater fish

that was thought to be extinct

for the past 65 million years.

It was supposed to have died out

with the mass extinction
of the dinosaurs,

and it became
a fantastic discovery.

It's essentially
a living fossil.

LEWIS:
What strikes me is that
this creature

wasn't a small insect or a bug
that was thought to be extinct.

It's five feet long, 200 pounds.

It looks prehistoric.

When you see this creature,

if you were to catch it
on your fishing pole,

you would immediately know that
it was a relic from the past.

SHATNER:
But if this coelacanth,
recently caught and killed

in a fisherman's net,
could survive 65 million years

of presumed extinction
and evolution,

why not the teratorns?

It seems very naive to believe
that the coelacanth

was the only survivor out there.

If we discovered
one of these creatures

thought to be in the realm
of folklore,

it would change
our complete understanding

of evolution, science

and the field
of what's known and unknown.

SHATNER:
Just because physical evidence
of certain strange creatures

has not yet been recovered,

why do we assume
that eyewitness accounts,

and even filmed footage,
is not enough to convince us

that they can and do exist?

And not only exist,

but are out there hiding,
not only in the skies

above our heads,

but deep in the ground
beneath our feet.

[roars]

SHATNER:
Mongolia, the Gobi Desert,

an arid wasteland,

almost completely devoid
of life-- almost--

because there are those
that believe the area

is home to a creature so deadly

that just catching an accidental
glimpse of it can kill.

This creature's name
in Mongolian

actually means
"large intestine worm."

It appears as if
it's lacking a head

and maneuvers by traveling
under the sand,

and it's often referred to
as the Mongolian death worm

'cause it can kill its victims
in a number of ways.

Mongolian death worm
is a hideous-looking creature,

one to two feet long.

People talked about it
for generations.

It can shoot out electricity
for miles on end

that can be felt by anyone
traveling through the desert.

It's even more terrifying

because you can't see it
till it's too late.

-[roars]
-It is said to pop up

and shoot venom on its victims

where the tiniest bit will cause
the victim to drop dead.

RIHERD: Biologists know
of large species of worms,

and they know of species
of animals that can spit venom

or that can electrocute
their prey,

but to find
all of these features

in one species of animal
is highly unusual.

COUCH:
People who live near
the Gobi Desert in Mongolia

are deathly afraid
of this creature,

and, actually, uh,
there are descriptions

given by the prime minister
of Mongolia

saying that this is what
the creature looks like

and that it's out there
in the Gobi Desert.

COLEMAN:
There's many
science-fiction movies

that has copied the real stories
of the Mongolian death worm.

Some people say they're scared
to death when they see it.

[roars]

People were seeing something.

I don't think it's a simple case
of it being an allegory

or a cautionary tale
of avoiding things

that can kill you in the desert.

I think they were
actually seeing something

that terrified them.
They witnessed it

killing their friends
and loved ones,

and they wanted to avoid it
at all costs.

[shrieks]

SHATNER:
A creature so lethal
that a drop of its venom

can cause instant death?

And if you somehow managed
to avoid its venom,

it could still electrocute you?

[shrieking]

[sighs]

Remind me to think twice before
planning that trip to Mongolia.

So, what do you think?

Are creatures like
the chupacabra, Goatman

and the Mothman real?

Or are they figments

of overactive imaginations?

Perhaps mankind is so good
at creating its own demons

that they become real.

And we say we want to find them,
capture them, study them,

but perhaps all we really
should do is leave them alone.

Let them stay in the shadow.

Let them remain The UnXplained.

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