Original subtitles

A demon born in the dead of night.

An insatiable monster hiding in the ocean's depths.

And a violent swamp beast

terrorizing an entire town.

Since the dawn of humanity, tales of monstrous creatures

lurking in the shadows of our world

have sparked both fascination and fear.

Today, we often dismiss these accounts as the stuff

of myth and legend,

but are we overlooking a potentially terrifying reality?

With scientists discovering

as many as 18,000 new animal species every year...

isn't it conceivable that there could be real-life

flesh and blood monsters

living among us?

Well, that is what we'll try and find out.

In southern New Jersey, a vast sea of trees

stretches as far as the eye can see.

Below the dense canopy of these woods lies a primeval world

filled with ominous sights and sounds

that are shrouded by dark undergrowth.

This foreboding wilderness is known

as the Pine Barrens.

The Pine Barrens is basically a million acres of woodland

in the southern tip of New Jersey.

You can essentially get lost in the Pine Barrens

and never be seen again

because they are just so vast.

At nighttime, you can hear animals crunching all around.

But the problem is you can't see where these things are.

It's a terrifying place.

And it's very, very scary,

especially if you're lost there by yourself.

The Pine Barrens is home to over 500 animal species.

But according to locals, there is one creature

said to dwell here that has yet to be officially identified.

It's a grotesque, winged monster that is known

as the Jersey Devil.

The New Jersey Devil legend is ingrained

into the state of New Jersey so much.

It's something that every kid hears when they're growing up.

The Jersey Devil's gonna come and get you.

One of the most famous aspects of the Jersey Devil

is its horrific screech or roar.

If you hear something like that in the Pine Barrens,

you run.

The Jersey Devil looks like it should have come out

of Dr. Frankenstein's lab.

It's a hodgepodge of animal parts.

It has a horse's head with horns growing out of it,

a long dragon or kangaroo body,

ending in thin, long bird legs and hooves,

a forked tail on its back.

It has giant leather bat-like wings on its back.

If you were to describe something out of a nightmare,

the Jersey Devil would be that description.

Could a winged abomination

really lurk somewhere in the Pine Barrens?

Perhaps clues can be found by examining the origin story

of this fearsome monster that has been spoken of

in local lore for more than 250 years.

As the story goes, in 1735,

inside a small house in Leeds Point, New Jersey,

a woman gave birth to her unlucky 13th child.

And when it was born, it became a monster.

According to tradition, the Jersey Devil

is actually the 13th child

of a woman known as Mother Leeds.

And she is on record as having 12 children.

So, the story that we get is that, when Mother Leeds

was giving birth to this purported 13th child,

she apparently, legend says,

cried out, "The devil can take this one."

And she initially gave birth

to a healthy, happy baby boy,

who almost immediately transformed

into this demon-like creature.

Some stories say that Mother Leeds was killed

after the baby was born, by the baby.

Other stories just say he flew up the chimney

and into the Pine Barrens.

Skeptics are quick to dismiss the story of a devil

born of human flesh, but after this alleged event,

entirely new tales of the monster

started to surface in South Jersey.

In the early 1800s,

a military officer of great distinction

was said to have had a firsthand encounter

with the Jersey Devil.

The Jersey Devil has had run-ins with many

famous people over the years,

such as Commodore Stephen Decatur.

He was a famous naval war hero,

and he came across the Jersey Devil

flying overhead.

He fired a cannon at the Jersey Devil.

And, according to some eyewitnesses,

he shot a hole through one of its wings,

but it just flew away like nothing had happened.

Naval Commodore Stephen Decatur spoke openly about this.

So, when a prominent person comes forward to say,

"No, absolutely, I saw this, you know, strange horse-faced,

winged, dragon-like creature, and I shot a cannonball at it,"

that impresses itself upon us in a way that kind of says,

"Wait a minute, okay."

The pattern of belief here is so consistent.

By the turn of the 20th century, belief in the existence

of the Jersey Devil had long been part of local culture.

But then, during the week of January 16, 1909,

an unprecedented avalanche of Jersey Devil sightings

surfaced in the numerous communities

bordering the Pine Barrens.

And for the first time, this demonic creature terrified

not just the residents of New Jersey

but also newspaper readers across the United States.

1909 is really a key year

for the Jersey Devil story

because what we see happen

is really what amounts to

just an absolute panic.

There starts to be report

after report after report

of people encountering the Jersey Devil,

shooting at it...

seeing its hoofprints on top of their chicken coops

and their farm buildings.

People are sheltering in place

because of the Jersey Devil.

One of the more dramatic sightings involved

a trolley car in Haddon Heights, New Jersey

that was allegedly dive-bombed by the creature.

When accounts of these Jersey Devil sightings

and attacks surfaced in local newspapers,

it actually caused mass hysteria.

Local businesses and schools were shut down.

The Philadelphia Zoo offered a reward of $10,000

for the creature's capture,

and vigilance committees and posses were formed

to hunt the creature.

I do think because of the sheer amounts of accounts

that happened in 1909,

of course some of them are not gonna be true. Absolutely.

But the fact that so many of them happened,

I really believe that there were some

actual Jersey Devil encounters during this time.

The panic of 1909

immortalized the Jersey Devil

in both national and local history.

But curiously, Native American lore suggests

that the origins of this Pine Barrens monster

may actually go back much further into the distant past.

In this part of the world, before the arrival of colonists,

the tribes that lived here were the Lenape,

and they referred to this part of the world... the Pine Barrens

of what is now New Jersey... As "the place of the dragon."

So, the presence of a creature

in this place of the dragon

has been recorded long into the past.

We really do see two different cultural understandings

of this place coming together

in the idea that there's a creature here

that maybe looks a little bit like a dragon.

Whether or not you believe

the Jersey Devil theories or legends,

he existed well before any of that stuff existed,

and it's a big part of the state's identity.

The Pine Barrens is such a huge, vast place

that, absolutely, a creature can live there

and not ever be seen by anyone

for the rest of their entire lives,

which kind of leads credence to the theory that

this creature does exist.

733.

This small town near the eastern border of Texas

appears similar to hundreds of other

rural communities in the region.

A single highway cuts through town,

which is surrounded by vast woods,

creeks,

and acres of mosquito-ridden swampland.

Fouke, Arkansas is thousands of acres

of very swampy area.

And within that,

there is plenty of places that creatures

could find seclusion and could easily survive.

The woods and the swampy bottoms

are just so thick that

they could travel through these woods

and not be seen, very much, if at all.

This rugged landscape is teeming with wildlife,

but according to locals,

there is a massive, monstrous creature

that stands out from all others,

because it bears an uncanny resemblance

to a human.

They call it the Fouke Monster.

By physical description,

the Fouke Monster...

It's very large... Seven to ten feet tall,

very thick, long, matted-down hair,

usually dark brown or a reddish tint.

It's a biped walking and running upright on its hind legs.

The creature is often known

to elicit a frightening howl.

It's often said

to have a very terrible, rank odor.

It's said to be similar to a Bigfoot,

yet more scraggly,

more rugged looking,

and witnesses often have a very

emotional reaction because of the fear of this creature.

It's estimated that there have been hundreds

of sightings of the Fouke Monster,

dating back to the 1800s.

And locals are convinced

that tangible evidence of the beast exists.

Over the years, people have made numerous plaster casts

of unusually large footprints

said to have been left by the massive creature.

Today, many of them are preserved

in a town museum known as the Monster Mart.

Are these strange footprints proof

that a giant, hairy beast roams the swamplands

of Southwest Arkansas?

Perhaps. But, of course,

many residents don't need convincing,

because they claim

to have actually seen the Fouke Monster

with their own eyes.

Back in the early '70s,

my friend Karen and I were riding

in the back of a pickup truck.

And all of a sudden,

we saw this thing step out from behind a big tree.

It was probably about three and a half feet

across the shoulders.

And it turned and took another step

and was gone into the plum thicket.

That's why we never went in the woods anymore after that,

'cause we... we knew how big it was,

and that thing could snap you like a twig.

About 2004, I'm in a little canoe,

and I hear splashes.

I could see the image,

the silhouette of something with two legs

standing up.

This thing was hairy. It's big legs, big trunk.

It was very impressive-looking.

After a while, he just turned around

and just walked off in the marsh,

and I didn't see him again.

Now, I, at that point, never believed in the monster,

or that there was something else out there.

But my mind started getting open

to the possibility at that point.

For the residents of Fouke, Arkansas,

the possibility that an unidentified creature

could dwell in their midst is simply part of living

in this rural community.

And many believe that the monster is

not only real, but also quite dangerous.

The most infamous incident

that cemented the Fouke Monster's

menacing reputation occurred on May 2, 1971,

when it reportedly attacked a local man named Bobby Ford.

One of the most sensational

and well-known encounters with the Fouke Monster

originates at what's known as the Ford house.

On a Saturday night, the Ford family started

to hear something creeping around on the porch.

And all of a sudden,

this big, hairy hand came in through the window.

Bobby Ford went outside and shot at it.

All of a sudden, something ran out

from beside the house and attacked him.

He barely managed to escape,

and whatever had happened shook him up so bad

that they ended up having to transport him

to the Texarkana Hospital,

where he was treated for shock and injuries

as a result of this attack.

The Fords found a strange footprint

which looked large and somewhat human-like,

yet had three toes.

And so, something very scary

and something very unexplainable happened.

The attack on Bobby Ford made headlines

around the country,

due to the sensational nature of the story,

and because shortly after it took place,

physical evidence was recovered

which seemed to corroborate the Ford family's claims.

Following the publicity around the Ford incident,

a farmer found a track line of footprints

that went across a soybean field,

and these tracks were roughly human-shaped,

yet had three toes.

And this was investigated

by the Miller County Sheriff's Office,

the game warden, wildlife officials,

and none of them could really explain

what the heck these footprints were.

So, that built credibility to what the Fords were saying.

Perhaps what's even more remarkable

than the fact that inexplicable, three-toed tracks were found

shortly after the Ford incident is that a plaster cast

of those footprints can still be seen today

in the Monster Mart.

While the outside world may be skeptical,

many people in Fouke, Arkansas remain utterly convinced

that their town is home to a monster

that is not the stuff of myth and legend,

but rather flesh and blood.

But there's another legendary monster

that inspires nothing but terror,

because it's said to be so evil

that it can drive ordinary people

to commit... unspeakable acts.

- A - group of psychiatrists

from the University of Miami School of Medicine publish

an intriguing and unsettling study.

Their report documents a rare mental illness

that is known as Windigo Psychosis.

Windigo psychosis is a kind of controversial condition

in which a person is believed to have

intense cravings for human flesh.

This could result from isolation,

lack of food, in which a person ends up

getting a condition of high anxiety

that just sort of comes out

in this bizarre cannibalistic craving.

While Windigo Psychosis continues to be studied

by medical professionals...

the name of this disturbing condition

actually has its origins in Native American lore.

For centuries, when native people heard

the word "windigo," they understood it to be

not a form of mental illness

but rather a terrifying monster.

The windigo is a creature

that comes to us from Algonquin tradition.

So the Ojibwe People,

the Cree People right around the Great Lakes area,

in both the U.S. and in Canada.

This is an area of the world...

The Great Lakes region... Where winters are harsh.

And starvation... that was a common thing.

The key theme to the windigo story is

that this is a creature that eats human beings.

"Windigo" is a word from the Algonquin language,

which translates into "evil spirit that devours mankind."

Descriptions of the creature vary from tribe to tribe,

but in general, the windigo is a very tall giant

with glowing red eyes,

rows of sharp teeth, and an extremely long tongue.

Many cultures believe that the windigo is

the most fearsome and deadly creature

ever to set foot in North America.

It has an insatiable hunger for human flesh.

The more it eats, the bigger it becomes.

A skeletal monster that becomes bigger and stronger

with each human it devours?

It's undoubtedly terrifying, to say the least.

But could the legend of the windigo actually be true?

Well, according to Native American tradition,

it is.

And perhaps the most haunting part

of the legend is that these hideous creatures were once

human beings.

According to the Native American stories,

the process for somebody becoming a windigo is either

an evil spirit possesses the person

and then becomes the windigo

or the person simply

transforms into the monster.

If you dreamed of the windigo,

that would welcome the windigo to come and attack you.

So, there were multiple ways

that you could be possessed by the windigo.

While Native American legends

of windigo transformations might be easily dismissed

as parables rather than real events,

that may not be the case.

Perhaps the most compelling argument

that windigo possession is in fact real can be found

by examining the horrific story

of a 19th century Cree trapper named Swift Runner.

The story of Swift Runner is one of the most gruesome

and heartbreaking tales of a person becoming a windigo.

During the winter of 1878 and '79,

Swift Runner took off with his family

to their winter hunting grounds.

But then the game disappeared.

Times were tough and food was scarce.

During this particularly brutal winter,

he actually killed and ate his wife and his children.

And according to the story,

Swift Runner been possessed by the spirit of the windigo.

Swift Runner said

an evil presence overcame him.

When authorities took him back to the grounds,

they discovered something out of a horror movie.

Bones thrown all about, skulls everywhere.

He was eventually arrested and sent to Edmonton,

and was hanged for being a windigo.

Did Swift Runner commit shocking crimes

because he was possessed by the windigo,

as some people believed at the time?

Or was he simply afflicted with an extreme form of psychosis,

as the modern medical community now claims?

Just like many tales regarding monsters of myth and legend,

the truth remains elusive.

The key defining feature of the windigo

is about cannibalism.

We can see that as a supernatural creature

or we can see it as a medical condition.

But as far as anyone can tell, the windigo psychosis

is pretty specific to that cultural area.

And there are things known as culture-bound conditions

that only happen to people from a given cultural background.

The fact that we have science

referring to the windigo...

It doesn't prove that the windigo exists,

but it just underscores the fact that the windigo

has transformed from Native American tales

to something we're talking about in modern times.

Is the windigo a real creature made of flesh and blood

or a menace that dwells within the human mind?

Or a menace that dwells within the human mind?

In either case, it embodies pure terror.

Not unlike a massive, winged beast

that, in 1909, incited such widespread panic

that a $100,000 reward was offered

to anyone who could slay it.

The hideous monster was known as...

the snallygaster.

The residents of this quaint

rural community are shocked to read an unsettling report

in a local newspaper named the Middletown Valley Register.

An eyewitness claims

to have seen a gigantic flying monster soaring in the sky.

The creature appeared to have bronze wings,

an enormous horned head and a 20-foot-long tail.

This hideous beast was referred to as the "snallygaster."

The first documented reports

of the snallygaster started in 1909.

And then it just kept getting printed again,

different sightings throughout the area,

mischief that it was causing.

It was described as this dragon-like creature

with a beak and tentacles and razor-sharp claws

and all kinds of terrifying things.

And then it escalated from,

"I saw it flying over the mountain" to

"It killed my chickens and destroyed part of my barn."

So it definitely escalated into a frenzy where people

were truly afraid.

In 1909, people of Frederick County

were seeing the snallygaster everywhere.

It was out in farm fields, it was crossing roads,

people were taking shots at it.

They would say that their bullets would bounce off

of its skin as though it had a scale-like armor.

Newspaper coverage about the snallygaster

terrorized people throughout Frederick County.

But the panic escalated

when a report surfaced that the winged freak

had actually killed

a human being.

There is one death blamed on the snallygaster.

It was a Middletown man named Bill Gifferson.

People found the body,

had no idea how this happened,

and eyewitnesses said that it was

a snallygaster that got hold of him in the night.

Allegedly, the gentleman was scooped up,

his jugular vein bitten by the creature,

drained of his blood,

and his body was discarded on a hillside.

Bill Gifferson's death actually led

to more horrifying kind of media coverage,

telling people to stay inside and to be afraid

and watch out for it.

And especially once it got dark.

As reports of the snallygaster circulated,

the monster famously drew the attention

of a very powerful person who loved to hunt big game.

The 26th president of the United States:

Theodore Roosevelt.

Teddy Roosevelt

was ready to pick up his gun and go down and shoot it.

He was ready to cancel trips he already had planned

to take on this creature.

Now, in the end, Teddy Roosevelt said,

"I don't need to march to Maryland

and kill this thing myself anymore."

But it was a big deal when it happened.

It's easy to assume

that the frenzy surrounding the snallygaster

in 1909 was simply the result of mass hysteria.

But the history of this part of Maryland suggests

that the truth may be far more intriguing.

Because, during the 1700s,

German colonists living in this area

also reported a fearsome winged creature.

Although, back then,

the snallygaster had a slightly different name.

The idea of the snallygaster originated

with the German immigrants who made their way

to the Maryland area in the 1700s.

They had called this thing the Schneller Geist,

a fast spirit or quick ghost, as they called it.

Eventually, that became corrupted

into the "snallygaster."

It was thought to be a deadly monster.

And people feared it for a hundred and some years

before it was ever mentioned in any known written account.

It's fascinating to trace the history

of the Schneller Geist in colonial times

to the snallygaster in 1909.

However, you might think that as the 20th century progressed,

modern people would stop panicking

over this alleged monster.

But, in fact, it was just the opposite,

because in 1932,

it appears that the snallygaster returned

to terrorize this community.

In 1932, the sightings began again.

We had a lot more people going out and hunting

for the snallygaster.

News coverage made its way even further,

even down to Washington, D.C.

This was not a small, localized story.

This was a story that went big.

The Smithsonian offered $100,000

for proof of this creature's existence.

The Smithsonian Institute,

who, if they don't grant gravitas to a story,

I don't know who does.

What are we to make of the numerous occasions

in which the snallygaster has incited widespread panic?

Ultimately, it's hard to say whether sightings

of the monster were genuine encounters

or simply the product of mass hysteria.

But one thing is certain:

the snallygaster continues to loom large

in the history of Frederick County, Maryland.

When I moved to Maryland,

I started researching local folk legends,

and the snallygaster really caught my eye

because it was such a big part of history.

So I go to local businesses and paranormal conventions

and things like that, to just speak

about the folk history of Maryland

and how it ties into the snallygaster.

And even in modern times,

there are people that live out there

that hear and see strange things

that could be considered the snallygaster.

So, the fact that this legend has persisted throughout time

definitely means that it could still be around to this day.

Whether or not the snallygaster actually exists,

it remains fascinating from an historical perspective.

But halfway around the world, off the coast of Australia,

some believe that a giant sea monster lurks

in the depths of the ocean.

And remarkably, there may be scientific proof

of this formidable predator.

The deep waters of the Pacific Ocean just

off the eastern coast of the land down under

are world famous for deep sea fishing.

Here, fisherman regularly catch a variety of marine life,

including marlin, swordfish,

and even sharks.

But in March of 2019, an unusual incident took place

when a local fisherman hooked

a 550-pound Mako shark on his line.

As he hauled it into his boat, the only thing left...

was a severed head.

The rest of the massive shark's body

had apparently been devoured by an even larger...

And unidentified... Ocean predator.

Pictures went viral of this mako shark

just absolutely decimated from the head down.

There was so much mystery surrounding this

because looking at this picture of this mako...

This thing looks humongous.

It seriously did cause some speculation

as to what kind of mega predator could have caused

a bite this big

on such a huge shark.

What animal could be so large and so ferocious

that it literally ripped a shark to shreds?

As news outlets around the world reported

on the story, an extraordinary theory emerged.

Is it possible that this violent encounter

was the work of a real-life sea monster?

It may sound like an outlandish notion

but the surprising truth is

that this is not the first inexplicable attack

that has been recorded off the coast of Australia.

In fact, scientists have been actively searching

for an elusive and monstrous predator

in these waters since 2003.

In 2003, I was involved with Australia's

premier scientific organization, the CSIRO.

They had started a satellite tagging program to better

understand the movement patterns of great white sharks.

We tagged four or five great white sharks,

and one of them in particular,

Shark Alpha, was around nine, ten feet in length.

No small animal by any stretch of the imagination.

About two months later, the tag showed

this shark had been chased down

the continental shelf edge,

down to a depth of around 2,000 feet,

where it appeared to have been devoured by something.

And that something had an internal temperature of

around 72 degrees Fahrenheit.

And that temperature, regardless of where the tag went then,

the depth, that temperature stayed relatively constant.

It was a bubble of temperature showing

it was inside the stomach of something.

What that could be, we don't know.

But the proportions it would have to have

to eat a great white is colossal.

It would have to be massive.

You're really starting to stray

into the realm of the unbelievable.

So that leaves the kind of

uncomfortable notion of: what is it?

It's alarming to think that there could be a giant

sea monster lurking in the deep

that can swallow a great white shark whole.

Nevertheless, some scientists claim that

even more evidence of a fearsome sea creature

lies in the strange behavior of marine life

off the coast of Australia.

In 2023, a number of pilot whales

beached themselves on the shores of Western Australia.

These whales were huddled in an unusual way.

People got some of these whales back out to the water,

but they came right back in and beached themselves again.

What the reason was remains a mystery.

One of the theories is that this pod of whales

was escaping something, was running away from something.

Now, if it was a great white coming towards a pod of whales,

there's power in numbers.

They wouldn't beach themselves over that.

So it couldn't have been just a regular great white shark.

There's no way.

But if it was something

about 65 feet long... maybe.

Is there something else that's in the food chain

that is literally frightening them to shore?

Is it possible that there is something

out here that we literally haven't seen before?

That's the question.

With so many anomalous incidents happening

in the waters off Australia, it naturally begs the question,

are they all connected?

Is there a giant sea monster that can bite

a mako shark in half,

swallow a great white whole,

and send a horde of whales fleeing for their lives?

The truth is that, for the moment, scientists

are at a loss for answers.

And for many, the possibility that there are

monstrous, undiscovered creatures in the unexplored

depths of the ocean should not be dismissed.

When you take into consideration that we literally

don't know very much about the ocean,

we only have mapped something like 20% of it,

and we've only seen something like one or two percent of it,

there could be things hiding out here

that we've never seen before.

If there is a nightmarish monster that inhabits

the ocean's depths, we can take comfort that it hasn't yet

claimed any human victims, at least as far as we know.

But there's another creature that is said to inhabit

the remote deserts of California,

the remote deserts of California,

which is even more frightening

because it has reportedly attacked

unsuspecting people.

This rustic town, located in the Mojave Desert,

is adjacent to Joshua Tree National Park.

Each year, millions of people visit Joshua Tree

to hike through its twisting expanse of boulders

and oddly shaped trees.

But unfortunately many adventure seekers

who trek into this wilderness never return.

On occasion, human remains have been found

out in the area of the Joshua Tree National Park,

and these are presumably hikers

who have gone missing over the years.

So, while it's a beautiful, striking-looking place,

it's also very secluded and very dangerous.

It's easy to see how tourists hiking in Joshua Tree

could get lost and fall victim to the scorching

temperatures of this desert environment.

However, some locals believe that mysterious

deaths in the park are the work of

a frightening monster, who is referred to

as the Yucca Man.

The Yucca Man is seen in the southern regions

of the California area.

Sightings of the Yucca Man date back to at least the 1960s.

It's described as being very tall,

covered in hair over its entire body.

The Yucca Man is what you might call a desert-based Bigfoot.

People go missing in the Yucca Valley

and its various campgrounds.

Part of the evolving lore of this creature is, perhaps it is

preying on humans when it finds people who are vulnerable.

The idea that a giant monster roams this remote area

and preys upon unsuspecting hikers is chilling.

But according to local lore, another fearsome encounter

involving the Yucca Man

allegedly took place at a nearby U.S. Marine Corps Base.

One of the more famous Yucca Man encounters occurred

in 1971 at the Twentynine Palms Marine Base.

A marine was on night duty

and encountered this eight-foot-tall

blond Sasquatch creature.

He then became unconscious, and when he was found,

his rifle was bent in half with no explanation.

He was unharmed, but it's pretty scary to think of a Marine being

knocked unconscious and a rifle being bent in half.

While it's impossible to verify the Yucca Man's

alleged run-ins with military personnel,

many locals are convinced that this dangerous creature

actually lives in the Mojave Desert.

And like other monsters that have been

widely reported by eyewitnesses

but not officially recognized by science,

the possibility of its existence

both tantalizes and terrifies.

We love believing in these creatures

and monsters because we love getting scared.

But we also love the unknown.

Not knowing if we've

discovered every species on the planet.

The mystery is the best part of it all.

We are often inclined to see belief in

fantastical creatures as somewhat irrational,

maybe fantastical.

Something that isn't scientific.

And yet there's news reports of people

interacting with creatures that maybe we can't identify.

That keeps it alive. It is not fundamentally proven false.

And that kind of monster is what we are continuing

to be obsessed with.

From frightening encounters with the Fouke Monster

to supernatural stories about the Jersey Devil

and panicked reports of the snallygaster,

it can seem like our world is literally teeming with monsters.

And while physical proof is hard to come by, the sheer number of

eyewitness accounts suggests that we share our planet with

dreadful creatures that remain unidentified

and... unexplained.

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