Original subtitles

That was under the house.

On this episode of "Expedition X"...

Oh, there it is!

...my team heads to the Caribbean island of Trinidad,

a beautiful place with a painful past...

...and a haunting present.

Bro!

Phil and Heather investigate

shocking reports of demonic encounters.

Can they survive the terrors of Trinidad?

- I can't breathe. - Phil.

All right guys, for this next case,

you're gonna need some sunscreen.

- Tell me it's the beach. - And some machetes.

- Tell me it's the jungle. - You're both right.

But don't celebrate just yet, because there is some

disturbing activity at play here.

I want you to watch this video.

Focus on the trees.

- Hey. - Let's see-- Oh!

Whoa!

Is that a shadow figure?

That is some fascinating evidence.

And what's even more disturbing, this was filmed

at the site of a former plantation,

and slaves were hanged near this spot 200 years ago.

That's absolutely horrific.

And this video is just one of dozens

of escalating paranormal claims, not just at the plantation,

but all over this Caribbean island.

We're talking terrifying encounters,

violent paranormal attacks,

even reports of demonic possession.

And what do the people there think?

Well, they think it may be tied

to this local religion called "Obeah."

Think of it as like Voodoo, right?

This is something that was once illegal in Trinidad,

but is now practiced out in the open,

and some say with terrifying consequences.

July 31st, 1498.

Christopher Columbus sights a Caribbean island

so breathtaking, he names it "Trinidad,"

in honor of the Holy Trinity.

He claims the island for Spain,

and with that, centuries of conflict begin.

Spain, France, Great Britain, and the Netherlands

all brutally battle over Trinidad

and its sister island, Tobago.

They fight to control its lucrative sugar

and cocoa plantations, causing centuries of suffering.

Indigenous peoples are enslaved, then ravaged by disease.

Meanwhile, Africans are dragged to the island in chains,

condemned to work under horrific conditions.

Though slavery is abolished in the British Empire in 1833,

the suffering on the island is far from over.

Indentured laborers from India and China are brought

to the island to toil in their place.

In this crucible of cruelty, the spiritual beliefs of all

those cultures collide, fused into a unique form

of magic, its name often whispered with dread.

"Obeah."

While some use Obeah for good, to heal and cleanse,

others are said to use it for evil,

to sicken, dominate, even kill.

In 1780, an enslaved Obeah practitioner is said to be

burned at the stake in nearby Jamaica,

but not before cursing his killers.

Days later, the island is devastated by a deadly

earthquake and tsunami.

By 1868, the leadership of Trinidad is so terrified

of Obeah that the practice is outlawed.

Those who dare to defy the edict are

flogged and imprisoned.

Obeah is forced into the shadows.

When the ban is officially lifted in the year 2000,

many swear there's an immediate uptick in frightening

paranormal activity, with reports of mass demonic

possessions alongside physical attacks by malevolent spirits.

Even more disturbing, at the plantation where this

video was taken, several people report horrific encounters

with demons unique to Trinidad.

The douen, faceless child spirits that mimic voices

to lure their victims into danger.

And the soucouyant, a vampire witch

who attacks her prey as a ball of fire.

Are evil curses and ancient monsters really plaguing

this tropical paradise?

What's really behind the terror?

So if these reports are real, then this could be

an extremely dangerous mission. - Absolutely.

A place swarming with spirits, possible demonic possessions,

and the living are caught in the middle of it all.

It could be some spiritual turf war.

Or it could all just come down to belief.

I mean, think about it.

We have multiple cultures swirled together,

a brutal history,

all under the shadow of a once-outlawed local religion.

I mean, maybe it is just fear spinning out of control.

Maybe. Maybe not.

And that's what the two of you need to find out.

Get to Trinidad and investigate these claims and determine

if fear is driving these encounters or if there are

sinister forces at work.

Good luck.

It's a five-hour flight from New York City to Port of Spain,

the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.

Phil and Heather land at night but find that this vibrant city

is far from asleep.

Oh-ho-ho!

What?

Oh, my God.

No!

What!

Ah!

All right, you won.

The next morning, Heather and I set off

on an hour-long drive through winding jungle roads

to the Lopinot Plantation.

- Hi. - Hi.

Welcome to Lopinot.

Donna and her family have been

caretakers of Lopinot for generations.

Her and her son, Demar, grew up surrounded

by its disturbing history and legends.

And what can you tell us about

the history of this plantation?

And there was big bucks in cocoa.

Yes.

What do we know about Lopinot, the man who owned this?

It's no doubt due to the brutal history

of this plantation that there is unsettled energy.

- Yeah. - People are experiencing things.

You sent us a video of something strange moving

in the trees. - Yeah.

And where was this taken?

- OK. - And what about you?

- Have you ever experienced anything? - Yes.

And all of y'all saw this ball of fire?

So, like a vampire?

It chased her?

So the whole village is talking about it?

Yeah.

Why do you think these creatures are here?

Why now?

So, do you think the slaves would use Obeah to get revenge?

We'll let you know what we find.

- Thank you so much. - Thank you so much.

For tonight's investigation,

Phil is heading to the tree line

where the shadow figure was caught on camera,

while I start inside Lopinot's old house,

hoping to learn whether the cruel plantation master

still haunts his one-time home.

With a village nearby, I begin by sealing the place off

from any outside noise that could interfere

with my investigation.

Just want to take some pictures of this space,

because this is the original house of Lopinot.

And someone as evil as that,

can't imagine just going easy into the afterlife.

Is there anyone there? Can you make a noise?

Whoo-oo-oo.

What was that?

I just heard a knock on a shutter.

It sounded like something knocked

or made a noise on this, like that.

Are you trying to get my attention?

Bro!

That door just got pulled open.

There's not a lick of breeze in here, and I just shut that.

There is no one outside.

Did you just open that door?

Can you do it again?

Can you tell me your name?

Can you open a shutter?

Can you open a...

...door?

Oh, my God.

I just asked it to open the door or open a shutter,

and it just opened the shutter.

So let me just see from the outside.

I mean, you have to wedge your fingers under here to get...

each of them.

It feels like something is trying to get my attention

to draw me outside.

And that makes sense because a lot of the reports

we've heard, it's been activity outside on this land.

So I think I got to grab my gear and look around.

I'm making my way into the jungle behind the house,

where the plantation's enslaved people would pick the cocoa.

It's also where the shadow figure in the tree was recorded.

Wow, so these are the trees in that video.

I can't identify what was moving in that video.

I'm honestly a bit stumped.

Now, there are howler monkeys around here,

so there is life in these trees.

And based on the video, it seemed

like the movement was behind these trees.

So I'm gonna head down to the creek, take a look around.

Whoa! Light!

I'm actually seeing...

a glowing orange light.

Oh, that...

is a streetlight.

Basically, what I'm seeing looks exactly like

what Demar described.

He said they saw "a glowing orange ball of flame

near a river."

But could it have just been a streetlight?

Let's keep going.

As far as what people could be seeing that looks like a douen,

to me, it's got to be an animal.

And actually, this definitely looks like a game trail to me.

Let's see what we can find.

Oh, look, right here.

Whoa, look at that.

Are you seeing this?

Am I crazy? One, two, three, four, five.

That looks like a child's footprint.

It is pretty bizarre because it has to be fresh.

It rained three hours ago.

So within the last three, four hours, something

with a small foot walked through here.

We know there is a town not too far from here.

Maybe kids like to run around in the cacao grove.

Let's say this is the footprint of a douen.

How do they walk?

Reports say that they're faceless,

but their feet face backwards,

meaning instead of going that way,

this would be going that way.

Let's see what we find back there.

With the activity in Lopinot's home drawing me outside,

I head to the bridge where Donna's sister claims

she encountered a douen.

If these creatures really do lure people

into the wilderness, I want to make contact.

So my thought process is,

if douen are actually children that passed away,

they might want to play with a toy.

This is a motion-activated toy that will only move

if something touches it or waves their hand

right in front of it, like so.

If you touch right here...

it'll take off.

I set my audio recorder.

Let's see if we get any activity.

This is Heather.

I'm on the bridge where a douen has been sighted.

Is there anyone here with me?

I'll take it as a yes if you touch this car.

Did you open the shutters in the home?

OK, so that's a yes.

Were you trying to scare me?

That was not me.

What are you trying to scare me for?

Use my energy...

as power?

Are you a douen?

Are you a soucouyant?

I was looking for a douen, but this moved

when I asked if it was a soucouyant.

And that could be very bad news.

OK.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Footsteps.

There is something running back there, but it just stopped.

That did not sound like scurrying.

That sounded like something big.

Get the FLIR out.

Come on, show yourself.

Whoa, got something.

There's something hovering right up there.

Not even flying.

Oh, my God, what is it?

I have no idea what that is.

Just disappeared from the FLIR.

Right up that edge there.

I think I just got to go for it.

What is back here?

Whoa!

It's possible what I was seeing wasn't actually floating

in the air, but maybe it was...

Let's make our way up.

Oh, my God!

I think I just found a cave entrance.

Must be one of the ones that Donna told us about,

where slaves used to hide out,

and Obeah rituals would have taken place.

But maybe that is where that floating whatever-it-was

that showed up on the FLIR came from.

Ooh, look at that.

There are bats flying in and out of this place.

This cave is full of activity, but nothing that quite explains

that hit I got on the FLIR, just that floating ball of heat.

I don't think that could be a bat.

Look at the way these things are flying.

They do not hover in one place.

Oh, my God. Look at this.

Wow!

Look at this bottle.

That looks old.

Look at that seam right there.

That tells you that this is a bottle from the 1800s.

There is a very high chance that this was left here

by the enslaved people to perhaps even practice

their Obeah religion.

I think I got to tell Heather.

Heather, you copy?

Yeah, I copy. What's going on?

I found a cave...

You are gonna want to see what I found inside.

You should get over here.

I'll send you the coordinates, OK?

Copy that. I'll head your way.

- Phil. - Over here.

All right. Let me show you what I found.

OK.

- Look at that. - Wow!

This is a bottle from the early 1800s,

and it confirms when this cave was used.

If you were an enslaved person,

this cave could have been refuge.

Yeah.

This one you treat with respect.

OK-- we need to leave it where we found it,

but this seems like a good place to do

a call-and-response session

OK.

This is Heather and Phil.

Is there anyone here with us?

You can make a noise. I'll take it as a yes.

Phil found a bottle that seemed to match the time period

of when people who were enslaved could have found refuge

in this cave.

Do you know if any rituals were done in this cave?

If anyone practiced Obeah in this cave?

That was pretty loud. I don't know what that was.

I don't know either.

Do you see anything?

I don't see anything moving, except all these bats.

Phil and I continue asking questions,

but experience no new activity.

Still, there's reason to believe I was communicating

with something earlier tonight.

Are you a soucouyant?

And that Obeah may be at the heart of it.

The next morning, we split up to follow new leads.

Phil is meeting a former Coast Guard officer

who claims a nearby abandoned island

is the site of intense paranormal activity.

Meanwhile, I head to Trinidad's Carnival Museum to learn more

about the many frightening creatures that are central

to the country's traditions.

Wow, look at all these carnival costumes!

- Aren't they amazing? - Yes.

I'm speaking with Neigeme Glasgow-Maeda,

a local folklorist who hopefully can shed light

on the strange activity I experienced last night.

We experienced a lot of activity last night.

All of that activity seemed to lead me out onto the land

like a douen. - Mmm.

But then it seemed to imply...

that it was a soucouyant.

Ah.

Yes.

- To lure me in? - Yeah.

While Heather explores Trinidad's monsters and myths,

I head to the marina to meet a witness Josh found who claims

some of the country's most disturbing activity is

happening just offshore, on Chacachacare Island.

- Hi, are you Ian? - Hey.

Ian Cross is a former lieutenant commander

of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, who says even

his toughest men were no match for the island's horrors.

So, I understand you were in the Coast Guard

and Chacachacare was under your purview. - Yeah.

Serious like what?

Choking them?

I mean, that sounds exactly

like what the Coast Guard men were reporting.

So completely independently, she had the exact same

experience at night.

I mean, at that point, you got to start thinking maybe

there's something to this.

We're heading out to Chacachacare Island.

What can you tell me about what we might encounter

on the island?

If jumbees can't cross water, then potentially all

of the spirits on that island are trapped.

Do you think this could be dangerous?

With that stern warning from Neigeme,

I meet back up with Phil,

and we set sail towards the sinister shores

of Chacachacare Island.

My expert said that jumbees are trapped by water.

And if you live such a horrific and painful existence

as the lepers did, and then you die on that island,

who's to say you don't become a jumbee yourself

and you're trapped?

That is what we have to find out.

Is it a creature like the douen, or is it a jumbee?

But if they're getting physically attacked,

it could be a soucouyant, especially if they feel

like it's a female entity.

OK, so this should be interesting.

You thought this was your dream haunted island?

Yeah.

Well, turns out there's also an unusual concentration

of poisonous, deadly trees and venomous scorpions.

We both have something to look forward to.

Oh, there it is!

Wow, look at this place.

That's not creepy at all.

Oh, my gosh.

What secrets are hidden out here?

Wow, look at this place.

I think the term "hauntingly beautiful" was defined by this.

Think you're right.

Wait, wait.

This is the manchineel tree.

The death tree.

- This is the death tree? - Yes.

Everything about this thing is toxic.

If you eat that fruit, you die.

If you burn its wood, the smoke will blind you.

Even if it rains tonight and water hits those leaves,

then hits your skin,

you get agonizing blisters. - Great.

And here it is to welcome us to the island.

- What a welcome. - Yeah.

Let's stay low. Don't even step on the fruit.

You don't want that on your boots.

OK.

I've never been afraid of a tree before, but here I am.

Along with the natural threats, there are also

the supposed "supernatural" ones.

Soucouyants, douen, and especially jumbees,

restless spirits rumored to hitch rides on passing boats.

Set it up maybe from the window in here?

- Yeah, right here. - Perfect.

We set up an IR camera pointed at the jetty, ready to catch

any strange activity--

boat-rocking jumbee spirits included.

It should pick up any movement.

OK, and if that movement coincides with any activity

we get, we know we're gonna be on to something.

Great.

Then we set out for the dormitory,

where the Coast Guard men reported feeling choked

while they slept.

- Look! Bunk bed frames. - Yeah.

This has got to be the convent

that was used as a dormitory when the Coast Guard was here.

Let's get in there and see what we can find.

OK.

Wow, these stairs have totally collapsed.

Oh, thanks.

Oh, my God.

- I do not like this, Heather. - I don't either.

Is that another level?

There's stairs.

Very broken stairs.

- Whoa. - What?

There's something up there.

OK, so far so good.

Whoa! Shh-shh.

- Is there movement up there? - Yeah.

- You heard that? - Yeah.

Isn't that weird that that's cut out like a human figure?

Yeah, like a small human figure.

Some would even say douen-sized.

- Oh, that is weird. - Yeah.

There's one here, one there.

Every single one of these rooms.

Good Lord.

I do not like it here.

I'm telling you, there was something moving up here.

I heard it clear as day.

Shh, shh.

Something just wrestled down there.

There's definitely something back there.

What--

When famed British explorer Sir Walter Raleigh hacked

his way through Trinidad's jungle in 1595,

his guides warned him of a frightening, inky black lake

said to be punishment from the gods.

The guide spoke of an ancient people who killed and ate

hummingbirds, sacred creatures believed to carry

the souls of ancestors.

Angered, their deities opened the earth,

swallowing their village whole and spitting it out

as a black lake.

Despite the ominous story, Raleigh forged ahead

and found it.

Known as the La Brea Lake, it's actually the world's

largest natural deposit of asphalt.

10 million tons of it.

Higher quality than anything humans can make.

The asphalt has since spread across the globe, literally.

It's used on airport runways, the Lincoln Tunnel,

even in front of Buckingham Palace.

You could say all roads lead to Trinidad.

What was that?

- Oh, you know what that is? - What?

- I think that was a chachalaca. - A chaca-what?

It's kind of like a jungle turkey.

They must be roosting in the trees over here.

Yeah.

What is weird is I hear it move,

I cannot see it.

- Oh, Phil. - What?

Look at the ground.

I do not trust these floorboards.

My witness said we have to pay attention

to everything on this island.

Whatever that noise is literally took you

to very dangerous ground.

Seriously.

Yeah. All right, let me move quick.

- Ready? - Yeah.

That is my weakness.

When I'm in the jungle and I hear something,

I got to figure out what it is.

I know, but we can't trust anything out here.

Even the animals could be another way for these folklore

creatures to manifest.

What, you think it's trying to get me?

Look at where it led you.

Yeah, I shouldn't have walked over there.

No.

Look, I don't trust whatever it is that's out there.

Let's go back downstairs.

OK, yeah, I think you're right.

Oh, look at that, Coast Guard, gotta be in the right place.

Yeah, and look at the bunk beds.

This would have been the dormitory.

They would have been sleeping at night.

Probably the beds lined up against the wall.

And right here in the middle,

is where my witness said he found them

sitting back to back, guns in hand.

I mean, can you imagine that? These are trained soldiers.

Yeah, I can't imagine being so terrified

that you're back to back.

- Something must have gotten to them. - Yeah.

But I'm still not convinced that there is an entity.

I think it was fear built

on this crazy environment out here.

They would be sleeping on the bunks, and they would

wake up feeling choked.

So, I'd be happy to tempt fate.

What if I lay down?

- Yeah. - Try to go to sleep?

Let me just get an audio recorder.

But I got my UV light.

Before I lay down in this place,

I'm checking for scorpions.

Because there are a lot of them here, and I do not want

to lay down on one.

This is Heather.

Phil has offered to use himself as bait.

By all means, if anyone's here,

turn Phil into a believer.

OK.

You lay down, and I'm gonna take some pictures.

See if something's staring over you.

Try to put yourself in a relaxed state.

Even if you don't go to sleep,

any images that pop up in your head,

any thoughts that seem relevant to this space,

those can all be clues to what was actually here.

There's a spirit in here,

a douen,

a jumbee,

a soucouyant.

Make a noise...

...show up in these pictures...

send Phil an image.

It's...

It's random, but I keep getting this image of a square

hole in the wall. - A wall?

Yeah, a wall, a hole.

I don't know why that keeps popping in my head.

I'm hearing footsteps. Can you hear that?

I'm hearing footsteps.

- I don't know. - I'm not moving.

Crew's not moving.

I've got to say, it doesn't sound like an animal scurrying.

It definitely sounds like footsteps.

That-- that was not an animal.

Is there anyone here with us?

That was under the house. That was underneath me.

- You felt that? - Yes!

What the hell was that?

Shh, listen, listen.

There's something moving right underneath me

in the floorboards. We gotta get down there.

Where would I have been?

- Right under this. - Yeah.

- You see anything? - Nothing yet.

There are literally cracks in every single piece

of foundation in here.

But I just feel like I have to see if there's some kind

of explanation for what I just felt.

OK.

No footprints.

This dust...

leaves marks pretty easily.

I'm not seeing anything fresh.

Jeez. Look at this foundation.

- See this? - Yeah.

Oh, my God. It's literally crumbling.

Yeah.

- Phil? - What?

Again, a noise drew you somewhere.

You know where you're at?

How dangerous that is?

What, do you think something's trying to, what, kill me here?

You are literally underneath a crumbling building.

I mean, you're not wrong.

- I think you need to get out. - All right, I'm moving.

You good? You need some water?

Here. You OK?

- I can't breathe. - Oh, my God.

Next time on "Expedition X,"

my team continues their shocking investigation,

exploring the light and dark sides

of Trinidad's secretive Obeah.

In seconds?

Reports of a mass demonic possession

at a high school in a remote village...

...leads Phil and Heather to the abandoned home of one

of Obeah's most infamous figures.

Multiple people have died on her property?

Yeah.

As they come face to face

with the terrors of Trinidad.

Shh-- whoa!

- What is that? - Oh, my God!