Original subtitles

I saw something large, black just walking on the road.

[Josh] My team is heading deep into the wild forests of the Ozarks...

[Jessica Chobot] That's scaring me.

[Josh] ...where terrified witnesses are reporting seeing a monstrous creature

and hearing its horrific scream.

[animal howling]

Oh, my gosh.

-Well, I stood there with a shotgun. -Yeah.

[Josh] Some believe it's on a killing rampage.

Had a piece of it eaten out of its side.

Holy [beep]! There's a big chunk of meat over here.

[Phil Torres] That is so fresh.

[Josh] Phil and Jess hunt for evidence of this mysterious predator.

[Phil speaking]

[Jess] It's terrifying actually.

[Josh] Or are they the ones being hunted?

[Jess] I just saw something.

[Phil whispers] All right, let's get closer.

[Phll] Ooh! [beep]

[Josh reading]

My name is Josh Gates.

In my travels, I've experienced strange things

that defy logic and made me question everything.

Oh, my God.

Now, I've put together a team to investigate

the stranger side of the unknown.

Let's go.

[Josh] Phil Torres is a scientist who hunts for rational explanations.

[Phil speaking]

[Josh] Jessica Chobot's paranormal research has made her a true believer.

If you're here with us, knock again.

[Josh] Together we're searching for answers...

[Phil] What is happening here, Jess?

...to the world's most extraordinary mysteries.

This isExpedition X.

All right, guys, I wanna start today

by playing an audio recording for you.

Phil, as our resident biologist,

I'm very eager for your take on this.

Give a listen.

[animal howling]

[Phil] Oh, wow.

Sounds almost like a wolf, but not quite.

It's weird, right? One more time.

Listen.

[animal howling]

I mean, that's freaky.

It is freaky.

What is it?

That's a great question.

That's what people in the Ozarks wanna know,

which is where this was recorded,

and it's what they refer to as the Ozark Howler.

Okay, I have heard of this.

It's kind of like a hell hound sort of thing.

Yes. It's a hell hound. It's a mutant cat, bear, wolf.

No one knows what it is.

But people have been seeing and especially hearing it in the Ozarks

for 100s of years

And one of the alleged witnesses

is an iconic hero from American history.

[Josh] The Ozarks,

47,000 square miles of ancient mountains and plateau,

carved by time into a labyrinth of rugged cliffs.

Much of it is unexplored,

riddled with dangerous sink holes and over 300 caves.

And if the legends are to be believed,

there's a large and dangerous predator prowling these woods.

1810, as the story goes, one famous explorer had seen

pretty much every native animal on the American frontier.

But a run-in with the so-called Howler

made him flip his coonskin cap.

It is said that none other than Daniel Boone

wrote a letter to his sister-in-law about his encounter

with a creature that was quote "black and swarthy with horns a top his scalp.

I am told of the sound that it makes,

a terrible howling in the middle of the night.

Warnings of this for settlers should be passed along."

By the late 1800s, reports of violent

and sometimes fatal confrontations with the beast increase.

Survivor descriptions are similar.

A large, agile, dark, and horrifying creature with a blood curtailing cry.

Described as a cross between a wolf's howl and an elk's call.

In the last decade, claims of run-ins with the beast have exploded.

Farmers, hunters, hikers, all recount terrifying brushes

with this mysterious apex predator.

Some say that as more and more people build homes at the edge of the forest

perhaps these creatures are emerging to protect their territory.

Now, there's a sudden rise

in the number of livestock and pets that have gone missing.

Or even worse have been found chewed to pieces.

Some fear it's only a matter of time

before there's a deadly confrontation

between a human and the Ozark Howler.

So what do you think?

You know, Josh, when you mentioned the Ozarks,

I thought you were talking about the new season of the Jason Batemon show.

-Ooh! -A pop cultural reference

-from Phil. What? -I did it!

Did I do it right?

Yeah, but there's no way you watch Ozark.

[Phil] No, I watch some shows.

Yeah, bugs.

Yeah, the 24-hour Bug News Network.

-Is that real? -[Josh] No.

-'Cause I would watch that. -I know you would!

Listen, with the Ozark Howler, I kind of love the story

because there's clearly a lot of eyewitnesses,

and we have this recording.

So if we figure out what known animal made that noise,

we solve the case.

And in this area, there are black bears, there's mountain lions.

A lot of large predators.

And any big animal's gonna leave behind some biological evidence.

So I wanna get out there, look for DNA, for hairs, for scat.

I mean, my only issue with this

is that none of the descriptions match anything that's out there.

But if you run across a black bear in the middle of the night,

that's enough to scare the scat out of anyone.

That's pretty good.

However, black bears don't have horns.

Yeah, and they don't howl.

I'll admit I'm a little baffled,

but that's why I think we should try to get our own recording

and try to find some physical evidence out there.

So that's your mission?

I've connected with the witnesses

that recorded this audio.

I want you to go meat them.

Go to the place where they heard this.

See if you can hear the same thing.

See if you can find that elusive physical evidence.

Is this a mis-identified animal?

Or is this Ozark mystery beast?

-Mystery beast. -Mis-identification.

Oh, boy. Good luck, guys.

[Josh] Phil and Jess fly just over a 1,000 miles

from New York City to Springfield, Missouri

and then drive straight into the heart of Ozark country.

Wow, that's pretty.

[Josh] The cliffs, rivers, and remote forests of this land lost in time

hide rare and unusual wildlife,

like a giant nocturnal salamander,

known as the Ozark hell bender,

and a blind subterranean fish that lives deep in caves and dines on bat guano.

It's enough to make you wonder

what else could be hiding out here.

Wonder why they call Missouri the Show-Me state.

No idea, but I hope it shows me the Ozark Howler.

[chuckles] That's such a stupid joke.

-[Jess laughs] -It's what I'm here for, Jess.

Stupid jokes.

But they also it the Cave State.

Well, they know that's where the Ozark Howler is hiding.

[Josh] I've arranged for Phil and Jess to meet

with the witnesses who recorded those eerie howls.

They say they captured more strange sounds just a few nights ago.

[Sharon Robinson] Welcome to the hot Ozarks.

[Josh] Steve Robinson is a former Navy SEAL,

and his wife Sharon was a professional animal trainer.

They have lived at the edge of the Ozark forest for over 20 years.

We gotta hear this thing. What recording do you have?

[Steve Robinson] Got him in a rainstorm.

Let me see here.

[animal howling]

[Phil] You can hear it over the rain?

-[Jess] Yeah. -That tells you that must've been loud.

Let me try the other one.

[animal howling]

Oh, my gosh.

This went on for 45 minutes.

That's scary sounding.

-Yeah, he was-- Yeah. -Well, I stood there with a shotgun.

-[Jess] Yeah! -That does not sound like a happy animal.

[Sharon] He was not.

So I have to ask. You guys live near the woods.

You must hear all sorts of wild animals calling.

-[Steve] Oh, yeah, yeah. -[Sharon] And that's the thing.

You hear coyote packs running

-and [imitating a coyote] and running or howling. -[Phil] Sure.

-You hear of the neighborhood dogs and foxes. -[Jess] Yeah.

So odd sounds.

-[Sharon] So all of those things... -Oh, yeah.

-...that are natural we hear over and over again. -[Jess] Yeah.

-You know, nighttime, daytime. Nothing. -[Steve] And this does not.

-[Steve] It's not something we can identify. -[Sharon] Yeah.

[Phil] You know, I can't either.

[Jess] Steve gives us a copy of his audio files

so we can have the sounds analyzed.

-Awesome! I'll take care of this. -Yep.

[Jess] Then they share a suggestion for where to look next.

Prey animals need water.

If this thing is hunting prey animals,

it's gonna be near water.

-Okay. -Perfect.

[Phil] I like your logic.

[Jess] Steve and Sharon claim the howling happens only after dark.

It's getting close to sunset,

so we head out to a remote area along the water.

[Jess] All right, you ready?

[Phil] Yeah, let's get out there.

[Phil] This will take us deeper, more remote

[Jess] I mean, there's just nothing around here.

Trees as far as the eye can see.

[Phil] I'm not sure what animal made those sounds Steve and Sharon recorded,

but I still think that most eye witnesses in a moment of intense fear

simply mis-identified a black bear in the distance.

Before it gets dark,

I want to look for hair, prints, scat,

anything that backs up my theory.

[Jess] See any tracks or anything like that?

[Phil] I'm gonna check this out, Jess.

That's a cave!

Many animals, including bears and mountain lions,

will seek shelter from the elements

or a place to hide their young from predators or humans.

Any animal living here would leave some physical evidence behind,

like hair, paw prints, or bones from its prey.

And of course, Jess is hoping to find some Howler DNA in here.

Look at that.

Oh, yeah, you could see

where it's, like, the water starting to eat away at it.

[Phil] Oh, yeah.

Well, I'm not seeing any signs right now that this thing is inhabited.

What's that smell though?

-[Phil] You smell it? -I mean, it just stinks.

I don't know what I'm smelling.

[Phil] Smells kind of like urine.

There are different types of animal pee.

Some is just to, you know, process urine,

but others is more musky that would mark its territory, maybe mark this cave.

-Yeah. -[whispers] Here, come feel.

[Jess] For decades, witnesses have reported

seeing and hearing the Howler at night.

So our senses are now on high alert.

[Phil] Check this out, Jess.

These are the native black cap raspberries here,

also known as bear food.

[Phil] Bears are omnivores,

meaning that they eat meat, and also plants, roots, and fruit.

Bears do have a sweet tooth.

So where there are berries, good chance there are bears.

[Phil] Holy [beep]!

[Phil] Oh, my God.

Holy [beep]!

I see a big pad there.

-[Jess] Oh, what is that? -[Phil] It's hard to tell.

[Phil] This is not a bear track.

they have five toes, not four.

And they have strong nails at the tip of each toe,

useful for fighting or foraging.

So we might see claw marks here if it was a bear.

If it was a wolf track, we'd also see claw in prints.

But I'm not making out any here.

I don't see claw marks there.

So there's a chance [whispers] that could be a big cat print.

Retractable claws are a trait that is almost exclusive to felines.

While bobcats are known to roam these forests, mountain lions seldom do.

Once plentiful here, they were pushed out by humans

and now are just rare visitors.

And I'm not aware of any breeding populations here.

-So I'm gonna try to get the 3D scan of them. -Okay.

[Phil] I'll need a better view in order to identify what animal left this print.

I'll make an impression of it with LiDAR scan.

LiDAR means light detection and ranging.

Okay.

A pulse laser scans a surface and creates a detailed 3D rendering.

[Jess] Oh, that's pretty good.

[Phil] I can compare those images to known prints from different species.

That's really cool.

[Phil] Let's keep going.

The track seemed to head in this direction.

[Jess] All right, let's put the camera traps up.

Okay.

I'll hit the far end of the spring.

-You run and go closer to along creek bed. -Okay.

[Jess] We spread out over a half-mile wide area

and set up the motion activated cameras.

[Phil] Oh, boy.

[Jess] Or at least, I do.

Phil's easily distracted.

That's a big spider.

And for scale, that thing is big.

Whoo.

I love these woods.

Let's set up the camera trap.

Pointing right at that game trail.

See that right up there.

Anything would cross right here actually.

Let me check if there's any hair on this.

Holy [beep].

Look at that.

We got hair.

And it even has the root of the hair on it,

which means good chance we can get DNA out of it.

Two of these.

Okay, we got hair.

Looking at that, it definitely doesn't look like deer.

Way too thick, way too dark.

Oh, man, this could be a bear.

Or it could be the Howler.

It's probably bear.

Amazing.

I won't have a definitive answer

until I have it analyzed at a lab.

So for now, Jess and I have something planned

that may bring whatever animal left this hair

running back toward us along this trail.

[Jess] I set up my camera trap right down there,

closer to the prints.

Why don't we set up around here

and do our calls from here and see what we can get.

-[Phil] Okay. -Maybe we can lure something in.

[Jess] No one can identify the creature making the eerie howls

that witnesses have heard and recorded.

Maybe if we amplify its unique cry out into the forest...

...the howls will attract more of its kind.

Whatever that is.

We can use this limestone to our advantage too.

Just blast sounds out this way.

-Mmm-hmm. -And it'll echo off here

and just really resonate through this part of the forest

and will also help us basically retrieve any sounds back

-if anything calls back to us. -Okay.

[Phil] Many large animals like wolves, coyotes, and even some big cats

communicate with each other over long distances by howling or roaring.

Animals do this to identify their location

for their pack or pride,

to find a mate,

or as a warning to others to stay out of their territory.

Let's hope the message we're about to send out is friendly.

I'm gonna play the Howler noise.

Got it ready.

[Jess] I break out the FLIR to detect any heat signatures.

Now, we have eyes and ears ready for any responses.

[Phil] Now, the noise.

Shh.

I thought I heard something,

but I think it might just be the water from the spring.

Okay, the Howler noise.

-Okay, ready? -Yeah, I'm ready.

[animal howling over recorder]

It is dead silent out there.

[Jess] I'm not getting anything.

Zero.

Well, hey, he sent you two files, right?

So why don't we just play the second one

-and see if we get lucky. -Okay.

[animal howling over recorder]

Was that an echo? I thought I heard it immediately--

-[animal growls] -[gasps]

Right there, right there.

I did hear it. It was over here to the left.

[Phil] Why don't we use the parabolic mic.

If we can isolate that audio

-and compare it to this... -Mmm-hmm.

...we'll see if it's a match.

-Okay, go grab the mic. -Yeah.

[Phil] Parabolic microphones have a reflector

that concentrates soundwaves.

-Look at that guy. -Yeah.

[Phil] The device amplifies distant noises

and helps us track their direction.

[Jess] Okay.

I can play it one more time.

[animal howling over recorder]

We had it.

We absolutely had something call back to us.

Maybe the 360 might got it

'cause it is running right now.

Better have.

-But I gotta say-- -Shh.

[Phil] Something's moving toward us.

[Jess] Play it one more time just to see

if it's coming over here. Maybe it's getting closer.

I'm gonna play a clip and then pause it immediately after.

-[Jess] Okay. -Ready?

[Jess] Yeah.

[howl recording plays]

[howl recording plays]

[Jess] I'm not hearing it anymore.

[Phil] Maybe it caught our scent?

If that is what people call the Howler here,

we got it on tape.

Oh, yeah.

[Phil] I still can't identify what animal it is from the howls we captured.

So, the next morning, we connect with Josh to figure out our next steps.

-Hi. -Hey, Josh.

Hey, how are you? Have you found the, uh, Ozark Howler?

Daniel Boone and I are dying to know.

[Jess] Well, we definitely found something.

We played Howler noises out into the woods last night

and we actually got a real-time response.

Yeah, Josh, take a listen to this.

I'm gonna play you what Steve gave us

that he's been hearing around his property.

[howling on recording]

And this is what we heard back.

[howling on recording]

That is insane.

You got that as a response?

Yeah, it happened immediately after we played out Steve's recording.

Wow. Play it again?

[howling on recording]

[Jess] That is not the sound of a bear.

No, it is not.

Phil, what do you think it is?

It's a Howler.

I'll be honest, I'm starting to lean a little bit more away from this bear theory.

I'm just not sure where I'm leaning towards.

We did find some large animal tracks last night

that we were able to scan.

And I collected a hair sample.

[Josh] Send all of it my way, we will get it analyzed.

In the meantime,

word of your investigation is traveling fast in the Ozarks.

I just got an email from a woman and her son

who say they actually have a photo of the Howler

that they want to show you in person.

[Jess] Oh, wow. I can't wait to see that.

Perfect. Yeah, text us the address and we'll head there now.

Good luck, you guys. Stay safe.

-Awesome, bye. -You got it.

[Jess] A photograph is huge.

People in the Ozarks have reported seeing

an unknown beast for more than a century.

But this could be the first photographic evidence of it.

Phil and I drive half an hour to Highlandville Missouri,

a small town nestled in the Ozarks

with a population of only about 1,000 people.

Josh has connected us with Stephanie Wigger,

and her son, Kendall Nakato.

You have pigs back here?

[Wigger] Just these four guys.

Stephanie has lived in the area for over 25 years.

and raises livestock on her farm.

So you guys have a lot of property out here?

[Wigger] 55 acers.

[Jess] Her son Kendall is a college student

pursuing a degree related to wildlife and agriculture.

Well, just right around where we're standing I've seen

wild boars and coyotes as well as other wildlife.

So we're interested in that "other wildlife."

[Jess] So you believe you've seen the Ozark Howler?

Yeah. The first time I saw it was just about five months ago.

When you come up the driveway, it was in that tree.

-[Phil] Really? -[Wigger] Yeah.

When I turned around and looked back,

I saw it come down the tree and go around the side of the barn.

[Phil] An animal in a tree is a big clue.

Canines are lousy tree climbers,

so whatever Stephanie saw wouldn't have been a coyote or a wolf.

[Kendall] I didn't believe her at first.

and had just thought she must have seen, you know,

the normal black bear or something in the tree.

Until I was driving to the gym less than a quarter mile from here.

And I saw something large, black, with brown rings.

And it was very skinny like it was emaciated, almost.

[Phil] How big are we talking about?

150 pounds.

[Jess] Oh, my gosh.

I'm just wondering why it wouldn't come after one of your hogs out here.

We have had livestock go up missing and had some of them--

-[Phil] Like what? -[Kendall] There was a time

when our sheep was actually attacked.

My sheep was on the ground, screaming.

And it had a piece of it eaten out of its side

-while it was alive. -[Jess] Oh, my gosh.

And it was sitting in the middle of the pen.

Something had jumped in there and pinned it down and eaten it

and jumped out of the pen when it heard me run out the door.

[Jess] Stephanie shows us the photo of the predator captured on a game camera.

[Wigger] That's from one of the driveway cams.

[Jess] That does look really suspicious.

I mean, the body looks like a big cat,

but I can't see the head.

So, that doesn't rule out the Howler.

The only big cat that should be out here

would be a cougar or a mountain lion.

And I've never heard of a black mountain lion or one with ring markings.

[Josh] There are no black big cats native to the United States.

But what about escaped exotic pets?

It is estimated that there are

as many as 10,000 privately owned big cats in the US.

More tigers are kept in private collections

then there are in accredited zoos or in the wild.

Ownership of these animals is a serious issue.

Brought into the spotlight by media attention

on a controversial breeder of tigers and other big cats.

...real name is Joseph Maldonado-Passage

and everybody knows me as Joe Exotic.

We are a zoo open to the public

that takes unwanted animals.

It's a circus, let me tell ya.

[Josh] There's also a booming black market.

And since it's off the radar,

no one is monitoring the safety of the situation.

Every year, some big cats escape captivity,

making headlines across the nation.

And those are just the ones that are reported.

What about sounds? Have you guys noticed

any strange sounds coming from this thing? Or at night?

-[Wigger] Yeah. -[Kendall] Definitely.

Howls, screams, guttural sounds.

A little after dusk and stuff.

You know, like, it makes the hair on my arms stand up.

Okay, well, crazy.

I feel like we are in ground zero for something

very big and wild out there.

Would you mind if we try to kinda take on your property tonight?

-Maybe we could set up some trail cams-- -Yeah.

...and things like that to try to document what you guys have been seeing?

-Sure, go ahead. -[Kendall] Yeah.

[Jess] Perfect. Thanks guys.

Whoo-hoo.

We head out into the forest on Stephanie's property

just before nightfall.

[Phil] Big cats are mostly nocturnal hunters.

We're going to set up cameras

designed to capture full color images in low light

so there will be no question what creature we're seeing.

I definitely think we should set up some game traps along here.

'Cause not only does that give us a chance

of getting a photograph of whatever she's talking about,

but also what it's eating out here.

Let's go a little bit deeper.

[Jess] Yeah, I would agree.

Phil wonders if people are seeing either a wildcat or an escaped big cat,

but I don't believe 200 years of Ozark Howler sightings

can be written off as mere misidentifications.

-This seems like a good location, right? -[Phil] Yeah.

We're looking for game trials.

If what Stephanie saw running off in this direction was a large cat,

this trail would lead it to water, shelter,

and the food source that is, unfortunately, their barn.

-Looks like the path goes that way. -[Jess] Yeah.

[Phil] Goes that way.

And that way.

So, why don't we set it up right there?

[Jess] Yeah.

Okay.

[Jess] Wait, I thought I just saw something.

I thought I just saw eyeshine over there.

Oh, I just saw it too.

-[Jess] Right? Yeah? -I just saw it too.

Definitely eyeshine. It was right...

All right, let's get close.

-Oh, [bleep]. -[Jess] What is it?

[Phil] Oh, [bleep].

What was that?

Do we have bear spray?

-[Phil] Oh, [bleep]. -[Jess] What is it?

[Phil] Oh, [bleep].

What was that?

Do we have bear spray?

Yeah, I've got it.

[Jess] When the biologist asks for bear spray,

it's really time to worry.

[Phil] Holy [bleep].

Shh, shh, shh, shh.

[Phil] We're at a serious disadvantage in these woods.

There are plenty of large and dangerous animals out here,

including bears and maybe mountain lions,

which have much better night vision than we humans do.

Bears tend to attack head on,

but large cats are ambush predators,

striking from behind or above.

Victims seldom know what hits them until it's too late

and the large animal Stephanie spotted, it was up in a tree.

So while we scan the forest floor for prints, scat, or other evidence,

we need to remember to look up as well.

[distant howl]

Wait, shh.

[distant howl]

That sounds like the howl.

[Jess] Let's set up that camera trap.

[Phil] Yeah.

So, check out what I got.

Did you bring pot out to the woods?

-[laughing] It's not pot. -What's you bring?

Oh, is that...

Did you bring catnip?

-[Phil] I brought catnip. -[Jess] No way.

[Phil] Catnip is an herb in the mint family.

Cats role around in it, releasing the oil from the leaves.

As they inhale it, they essentially get a high.

You got a cat at home,

what happens when you put out catnip?

They get all rub-y and weird and real squirrely and...

-Right? -Yeah.

The same thing happens with big cats.

-Really? -And the rub-y part,

that's what we can take advantage of.

We got some tape.

So, what we're gonna do is put the sticky side out--

-Uh-huh. -...and wrap it around this tree.

With the hopes that if a cat does come by,

we'll get a photo of it and it'll leave us behind

some of its hairs so we can analyze the DNA

and figure out who this thing is.

That is a great "trap", per se.

[Phil] Gotta give it a good little spread.

And now, what we need is some tape.

So, I think if we use the FOXPRO

and sent out some animal-in-distress sound,

maybe there's a chance it'll get curious enough

to come take a look.

[Jess] The FOXPRO can mimic the cries of animals

and it features some selections we suspect

are on the Howler's dinner menu.

I'll have my FLIR cam ready to detect any incoming creatures.

-We got some options here. -[Jess] Uh-huh.

One option is "lost sheep."

Oh.

It bit a giant chunk out of one of their sheep.

Mmm-hmm. Totally do it.

-[Phil] Ready? -[Jess] Uh-huh.

[sheep bleating]

I'm not picking anything up on the FLIR.

With no reaction to the prey animal,

we queue up the sound that did seem to stir something up last night.

The Howler recording.

[howling on recording]

[low distant growl]

Shh. You hear that? You hear that?

Was that Coyotes?

[Phil] I don't know.

Hear the movement?

[Jess] That sound was coming from over there.

Let's head that way.

-Ready? -[Phil] Yeah.

[Jess loudly] Holy [bleep]. Check this out.

I mean, that [bleep] fresh, too.

[Phil] That is so fresh.

You can see it's dislocated right out of there.

This is something big.

Like a deer or a hog.

[Jess] Or a sheep.

-[Phil] Also, look at the... Look at where the flies are. -[Jess] Yeah.

[Phil] Spread all over so this is really fresh.

I want us to also look up in the trees right now

because lots of times when big cats hunt prey,

they will drag them up.

So this could have even fallen from a tree branch.

-Looking at this side... -[Jess] Mmm-hmm?

[Phil] There's some scratch marks that could be from teeth

which could have saliva which could have DNA.

-Right. -[Phil] Cool, swab here.

Oh, yeah. Those are definitely teeth marks.

I mean, here's a thought though, would a bear have killed this?

[Phil] Well, a bear I could see coming back for the rest of its food.

A big cat, too. Lots of times they drag piece by piece.

[Jess] I think we should go

because I'm not feeling terribly safe right here.

I got the bear spray.

So we'll leave the camera traps up tonight?

[Phil] Oh, yeah.

Between the catnip, fresh berries,

and that giant chunk of meat,

there's gonna be some activity.

[Jess] Okay.

[Phil] Based on the pawprint,

the descriptions from eyewitnesses,

and the sounds we captured,

I'm thinking what people are calling the "Howler"

is some kind of big cat.

I've contacted Stephanie Schuttler, a fellow biologist

who's doing research on big cat populations in the eastern US.

Who is this?

-[Jess] Hi puppy. -This is Train.

-[Phil] Train? -He is our detector dog.

-He's trained, like his name says, "Train..." [laughs] -[Jess] Perfect.

[Schuttler] ...to look for mountain lion scats.

-Well, that's perfect-- -Yeah.

[Phil] ...because we are after...

We don't really know what we're after. Should we...

Well, I'm after the Ozark Howler.

I don't know who you're after, but...

-[Phil] Let's just show her what we got. -[Jess] All right.

We play the howls Steve recorded.

[howling on recording]

Have you heard a noise like that before out here?

No, I haven't.

My expertise is not in vocalizations,

but this doesn't sound as screechy to me as a fox, but...

I've heard coyotes, but, but not like that.

[Phil] Okay. That's interesting.

There's something else, though, a photo from a witness.

This is the best image that they have.

What do you think of this one?

[Schuttler] I mean, it's definitely a cat.

It's pretty long which is usually indicative of larger cats.

[Phil] It can't be a black mountain lion.

There has never been a documented case

of melanistic mountain lions.

It is caused by a gene.

It's when the coat becomes all black.

So that's what a black panther is.

And if you see it in good light,

you'll actually see the spots underneath.

But, it's just, it's legs are way too short.

It's just too low to the ground.

If it's what we call a black panther which is a melanistic jaguar,

it just, its shoulders would be much higher.

So, that's the thing.

If there were a melanistic big cat out here,

it would have to either be a jaguar or a leopard,

which has definitely never lived here.

Yeah. It there were, it would definitely be an escapee.

So, why would you use a dog like this to try and find scat?

Dogs obviously have a good sense of smell

and they're able to, to smell it out.

That's critical data to have those scat samples, right?

Yeah, absolutely. And...

[Jess] Like what it's eating, what its...

Who its interacting with.

[Schuttler] Yeah, and the genetics so we can tell if individuals are

related to each other, where they come from.

-[Train barks] -[Schuttler] I think he's ready to go.

Let's see what you can do, Train.

[Schuttler] Okay, Train. Go find it.

[Phil] Oh, and he's off.

Look at him go.

He's got a scent trail.

Did he just find something?

It is said that famous frontiersman Daniel Boone

wrote a letter to his sister-in-law

in which he claimed to have encountered a, quote,

"black and swarthy creature."

But did he really see a Howler?

Here to help us unpack this story,

is historian John Mack Faragher.

It's not beyond speculation

he saw whatever was out there.

What is beyond speculation

is whether he wrote about it or not.

And why is that? What makes the letter suspect?

[Faragher] The letter, it proports to end

with the phrase, "your umble sarvant."

Well, Boone used that phrase in his business correspondence.

We have, in fact, only one existing personal letter that Boone wrote

and that was to his sister-in-law

and it ends, "farewell, dear sister."

So, no good evidence that he wrote about the Howler?

If there was such a letter, we would know about it.

So there you have it, no real proof that this letter exists.

Which is too bad because it would have been

a real "Boone" to the Howler legend.

[Phil] Did he just find something?

-[Train barks] -[Schuttler] Show me.

[Jess] It looks like there's something right here.

[Phil] Oh, we got scat.

[Schuttler] There it is.

[Phil] Oh, wow.

What do you think just looking at it?

[Schuttler] It's a carnivore of some kind.

I mean, this is definitely carnivore scat.

This definitely ate another animal.

'Cause we are seeing fur in there, bones in there.

It's evidence we know something is

wandering around here, eating people's farm animals.

-Mmm-hmm. -So, we got our specimen.

We should be able to get some DNA from it.

[Phil] Yeah, we'll send it to the lab for a DNA test.

[Schuttler] Awesome. Well done.

[Josh] If we're to believe the various witnesses over the centuries,

a mystery beast is prowling and howling

deep in the forests of the Ozarks.

So, when we analyze the volume of evidence that Phil and Jess gathered,

is there enough to positively ID the so-called Ozark Howler?

The game cam photo is compelling.

But with the animal's head obscured and nothing to indicate scale,

it's impossible to determine whether it's something large,

like an escaped jaguar,

or as small as a common house cat.

DNA testing on the single hair that Phil gathered

from a log on the game trail

came back as a bear.

However, there's the partial print Phil captured with the 3D scanner.

Closer inspection confirms

there are no claw marks around the paw pads.

Retractive claws are a trait that is almost exclusively feline.

There are only two types of wild cats

that are known to prowl the Ozarks,

mountain lions, which are extremely rare,

and definitely not black,

and the bobcat.

Bobcats can be melanistic, meaning,

on extremely rare occasions, they do have black fur.

There have been fewer than 20 documented sightings

of a melanistic bobcat.

One was captured on video recently in Vermont.

Is it possible the witnesses have been seeing and hearing

not a mysterious hellhound beast,

but a bobcat?

[hisses]

[Phil] Get a little swab here.

[Josh] We analyzed the DNA from the saliva sample

from the partially consumed deer.

The culprit? Bobcat.

[Schuttler] Show me.

[Josh] And the scat sample found by an elite canine?

DNA analysis reveals that it is bobcat.

And Phil had several colleagues listen

to the recordings he and Jess captured.

[howling in distance]

[Josh] As well as the ones recorded by our witnesses.

[howling on recording]

[Josh] While the identity of the animal is uncertain,

most said that if they had to take a guess, bobcat.

If you're still not convinced,

remember the catnip lure

the team placed on our witness's property?

While the sticky tape traps my team deployed

didn't collect any fur samples,

take a close look at the photo the camera snapped.

It may be difficult to see

because of its signature spotted coat,

but it appears to be a bobcat.

Though they might seem a bit smaller than the huge beast

that supposedly is the Ozark Howler,

amazingly, bobcats can jump as high as 12 feet

and take down prey as big as an adult deer.

Coming across this large, agile cat in the shadows

of the dark woods would startle anyone.

And it might even seem almost like a monster from the old folk tales.

A nightmare come to life.

For more information on Expedition X,

head to discovery.com/expeditionx.