Original subtitles

That Canyon looks exceptionally dangerous.

[Josh] Something has been reported,

stalking the slopes of Mount St. Helens for a century.

The night of the attack, creatures are trying to be through their way in

and they started shooting.

[Josh] Could it be an undiscovered primate?

Something dug out the earth marking its territory.

[Josh] With ferocious strength.

Something had grabbed the fur and just kind of ripped it off.

[Josh] We recruit renowned cryptid hunters.

Let's see if we can hear something out back.

[vocalizing]

And reconnaissance vehicle with all the bells and whistles.

[man] We have turned up top with the thermal imaging system

with the equivalent of a military Blackhawk helicopter.

[Josh] To unearth the truth.

[Jessica] Something is there.

[Phil] Oh, yeah, yeah.

Oh, [bleep]. Okay.

[Josh] Hidden.

[man whispering] We're not alone.

[Josh] In the canyon of the Apes.

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.

Phil Torres is a scientist who hunts for rational explanations.

[Phil speaking]

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

Phil, you see that?

[whispers] I just saw something run across.

[Josh] Together we're searching for answers

[man] What is that?

[narrator] to the world's most extraordinary mysteries.

This isExpedition X.

Okay, so when you think of famous American monsters,

-what do you think of? -Madman.

-Harrier. -Ooh!

I'm guessing we're talking about Bigfoot.

We are. Come on get excited, Phil.

We're talking Bigfoot Sasquatch,

the king of the American cryptids.

And much of that fame is due to a single piece of film,

The Patterson Gimlin film, which was shot in 1967 in Northern California.

And even today, more than half a century later,

it's still reigned supreme

as one of the most compelling and controversial pieces of evidence out there.

But still for my money is a guy in a man costume.

It's never been fully debunked.

Okay, so whatever the truth is,

most people do think of that film as the thing that put Bigfoot

on the map of American folklore

but it is far from the first reported encounter

to make headline news.

Check this out, nearly 100 years ago,

on the slopes of Mount St. Helens

in Washington State something really, really bizarre happened.

These are actual headlines,

"trappers cabin bombarded at night by ape men, eight feet tall."

Ooh, I like mine,

"expedition ready to begin hunt for mountain devils."

How about, "strange beasts, attack miners."

Whatever, it was that happened to these miners happened a long time

before the term Bigfoot was ever coined.

And according to locals in Washington State,

these creatures may still be up there.

[narrator] 1924, gold prospectors

flocked to the slopes of Mount St Helens hoping to strike it rich,

but a few of them encounter something else

hidden in the volcanoes thick forest.

According to reports, five men find a promising spot along a treacherous slope,

where they build a cabin and establish a small gold mining operation.

But one day they claim to spot a frightening figure across the canyon,

standing at nearly seven feet tall with blackish brown hair.

The men shoot at the creature but it disappears into the woods.

The miners are so unnerved by what they see,

they agree to abandon the cabin at first light.

But in the dead of night, the cabin reportedly comes under siege,

bombarded by rocks.

The miners catch a glimpse of their attackers,

which appear to be large bipedal primates.

The miners shoot in defense,

but the assault rages on through the night.

At first light, the five men flee the cabin.

But Legend says, one of the creatures follows in pursuit.

It is said one minor gets off a shot,

sending it toppling to the ground.

Back in town, front page news

and to the remote gorge where the incident allegedly took place

becomes known as Ape Canyon.

Expeditions are soon launched into the wilderness

for evidence of the beasts but little is found.

However, in the ensuing century,

sightings in this region have not only continued but increased.

Blood curdling howls and large footprints

are consistently reported along the eight Canyon trail

that winds through old growth forest.

Locals regularly find mutilated deer in the area.

The skull has been crushed.

And hikers recently reported seeing three hulking primates

and claimed to capture them on video.

With modern sightings on the rise,

and an alleged cabin attack nearly a century,

believers contend that Ape Canyon is ground zero for the American sasquatch.

Are these stories just local folklore or something real?

To believers, this area marks the true origin

of the creature we now call Bigfoot.

-So, what do you think? -Just the history alone

of what the miners went through,

and their story to me is super compelling.

I just think it sounds like a perfect story to tell over a campfire.

Well, a couple of things to remember,

first of all, these five miners,

they didn't seem to profit office in any way. They came down,

they were ridiculed in the press.

And they stuck to their story.

And according to authorities, were genuinely terrified by whatever, they encountered.

And I think that's an excellent point.

Because why make up a story like this, for no reason?

I don't know the answer to that.

But what evidence do we really have that this even happen at all?

We don't. And that's where you come in. Right?

If this isn't made up, if this isn't a yarn,

this would be a really compelling and important mass sighting,

get a whole group of people here.

But the fact is, we don't even know if the cabin is real.

If you could find out where these men were,

find the remains of that cabin,

that would go a long way to at least putting some meat on the bone here.

And plus, we'll have had all that research reports, too.

Exactly.

So, I want you guys to dig in and see what you can make of all of this.

And to give you some help, I'm going to link you up with Matt MoneyMaker,

the lead investigator of the Finding Bigfootteam.

Nobody knows more about Bigfoot stories than him.

I love MoneyMaker. I've actually worked with them before in the past.

-Happy squatching. -Awesome.

Let's do this.

The team flies cross country from New York to Portland, Oregon,

just across the Washington border from Mount St. Helens.

And the gorge known as Ape Canyon.

[Jessica] Ooh, it's pretty out here.

[Phil] So amazing.

To me as a biologist, what I think is the coolest thing

about Mount St. Helens, is that it has been studied extensively.

It was so destroyed that scientists were able to measure

and observe how it came back to life.

In 1980, a magnitude 5.1 earthquake

triggered the most destructive volcanic eruption in US history.

The lateral blast from Mount St. Helens

scorched 230 square miles of forest

and spewed 900,000 tones of ash 12 miles high.

57 people lost their lives along with thousands of animals.

The devastation hit the northern slopes of the mountain hardest,

but much of the old growth forests to the south and east,

including Ape Canyon was spared.

So, in theory, if an undiscovered species

really has lived in that area for nearly a hundred years,

it's possible they survived the eruption

and even thrived in the remote wilderness ever since.

So, let me ask you as a biologist and a scientist,

is there anything out here that could explain these sightings?

[Phil] Bears, it matches the description so well.

Washington State is home to upwards of 30,000 American black bears.

Hikers often spot bears along trails in this area.

Sometimes even standing upright on their hind legs.

If I had to bet, many of the alleged Bigfoot sightings,

could just be Smokey, the Bear.

[Jessica] I know, you're sceptic,

but this is the perfect habitat for Bigfoot

'cause this stuff is thick, and vast.

I feel like we do have this conversation million times, Jess,

but there's one conversation I feel like we need to have.

What?

You're really sticking to that hat?

What are you talking about?

Are you trying to like, if a Bigfoot sees you

then it'll recognize you as one of its kind?

No, I just don't understand,

why I can't also be fashionable while finding a Bigfoot.

Phil, Jess and the furry hat

arrived at the North American Bigfoot Center.

It's not exactly the Museum of Natural History,

but it is one of the largest Sasquatch museums in the world.

-Hello. -Woah, look at this.

-[Phil] Wow. -[Jessica] This is cool.

[Josh] The exhibit houses an impressive collection

of mysterious primate footprint casts collected in the region.

There's even a life sized display of Bigfoot

that's anatomically accurate.

Well, supposedly.

And checked, it's got big feet.

That's what you checked, huh?

[Jessica] While Phil deals with his foot envy,

we meet up with my old friend Matt MoneyMaker.

-Hello. -Hello.

-How are you? -Good, how are you doing?

-Very good. It's been a while. -Yeah, I know.

[Jessica] I joined Matt several years ago,

searching for Sasquatch near shaver Lake, California.

He's a legend in the world of Bigfoot exploration

and founded the Bigfoot field Researchers organization.

And this is Marc Myrsell.

-He's the Ape Canyon expert for our area. -[Phil] Wow. Perfect

Awesome.

[Jessica] Marc Myrsell has spent decades, researching and writing

about unexplained historical events.

And his fascination began

after his extensive study of the 1924, Ape Canyon attack.

I've never heard of attacks that hardcore before.

So that's not normal.

[Matt] No, that's unusual.

Have people actually found the cabin

-that they claim they stayed in? -No.

'Cause my thing is like if we can't actually find the cabin,

or evidence of the cabin,

then how do we even know that this happened at all?

What we have is a basket full of clues.

Right after the attack,

two or three journalists actually went up to the cabin site.

One journalist was a guy named Jack Gregory,

he gave us in his articles,

sort of a narrative of how he travelled

enough to get us in the right location to at least start looking.

[Phil] On July 20th, 1924,

journalist Jack Gregory publishes an article about an expedition

to not only find the cabin, but also as he puts it, wild apes.

He details his journey down a sharp cliff face into a canyon

and claimed to find the cabin site

on a flat ledge about 700 feet down.

Well, we want to get to Ape Canyon.

We want to see if the cabin is there.

But what sounds like this cabin place,

if it exists at all, is going to be pretty high up a volcano.

But we've got a plan.

[Jessica] Phil and I have arranged a chopper to take us,

Matt and Mark along the steep slopes of Mount St. Helens

to attempt to identify the location of the fabled cabin site.

[Jessica] With recent Bigfoot sightings and Ape Canyon

if we can find proof of the cabin's existence,

the site would not only mark the first documented report of a Sasquatch,

but also helped prove that these creatures have inhabited the forests

around Mount St. Helens for nearly a century.

[Phil over radio] Wow, we are high up, right now.

[over radio] Yeah, yeah, we are. Yeah, yeah. Whoo!

[Jessica] That is if the high wind stop, banging us around.

-Oh! -Whoa! [bleeps].

Okay.

That's... That's some choppy air.

That's some choppy air.

[Phil] Get ready for a fun ride, Jess.

Oh, [bleep].

How's the condition looking?

Little bit shaky.

Yeah, you could say that.

Hey, Jess, if you're going to puke, puke out the window, please.

[Jessica] Oh, gosh!

All right. Ape Canyon on the left.

-[Phil] We got our canyon. -[Jessica] Where? Where?

[Phil] Wow!

That Canyon looks exceptionally dangerous.

[Phil] Ape Canyon is a steep walled gorge

that plunges two and a half miles down the southeast shoulder

of Mount St. Helens.

So, where do you think, the cabin would be?

On the left hand side of the deep canyon,

that's where we need to be looking for the cabin right now.

Ooh! Those sides are steep.

[Phil] According to one journalist

who claimed to visit the cabin site in 1924,

the cabin was located down the side of the canyon about 700 feet from the top.

But I can't exactly buy the miners were attacked by Sasquatches at their cabin

unless we find actual evidence that this place

even existed in the first place.

But, you know, that they did have access to dynamites.

They were used again, mainly to blast out the mine itself.

But they would have also used it

to blast out an area beside the hill

to have a flat face to be able to build the cabin.

Okay, so we should be looking for a flat area.

[Josh] At first glance, a cabin has no business

being hidden along this steep Canyon.

But this might have been strategic.

In 1891, German immigrants discovered extensive deposits of precious metals

on the slopes of Mount St. Helens, sparking a wave of gold fever.

Over the next several decades, thousands of miners poured into the area,

forcing many prospectors

to climb higher up the steep slopes of the mountain

to stake a claim of their own.

Are you seeing anything, yet?

[Marc] Nothing yet.

[Jessica] I don't see anything.

[Marc] Wait. Look right there.

[Phil] So, I see a little black area.

-A blackish area, do you see that, Jess? -[Jessica] Oh, yeah, I do.

[Phil] Maybe, it's this area, right here.

Anywhere, along the ridge. That's about 700 feet.

[Jessica] Well, obviously, there's no way

to put a chopper down on that ridge.

[Phil] The area we've identified matches the only description

of the cabin site ever documented.

It's hard to get a sense of how big that shelf is from the air,

but I'm determined to find out firsthand.

I want to get on the ground to see if we can find any evidence of the cabin,

'cause I've not seen anything up here.

Maybe me and Marc can Hike up and then you guys can tackle from down below.

[Jessica] Yeah, that works.

I like that plan.

[Phil] Back on the ground, we'll split up to maximize our efforts.

Jess and Matt will head into the valley of Ape Canyon

at a lower elevation to start hunting

for any evidence of Bigfoot in the area.

Meanwhile, Mark and I have a very long hike

4000 feet up the mountain

to reach the coordinates the potential cabin site we spotted from the air.

And the whole way, we need to keep an eye out for bears,

cougars and these guys.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, look at that. What have we got?

We've got two mount goats ahead of us.

Yeah, keep your distance.

Last year here in Washington just north of here,

a hiker was hiking.

The goat didn't want him there and the goat killed him.

Whoa, boy.

When we walk through here, we need to keep one eye on the trail

and one eye on those goats.

Okay.

[Phil] As we gain elevation,

we've hit a dense old growth forest filled with towering trees.

Many of these massive timbers are over 500 years old.

So, it's clear this thick forest was spared

from the catastrophic eruption in 1980.

Ooh! We are going higher and higher up here.

How much higher we got?

Probably, another 600 feet.

[Phil] After hiking for hours, we reach a dangerous dead end.

Whoa.

Check this out.

Whoa.

This is Ape Canyon, Phil. We've arrived.

-Wow. -We are in the clouds of here.

We're about 4000 foot elevation right now.

So, you think somewhere down there is where the cabin is.

-Hopefully, and that's why we're here. -All right.

[Phil] With darkness nearly upon us,

it's too dangerous to rappel down into the canyon tonight.

What do you say let's set up tents, maybe, we get a fire going.

[Phil] So, Mark and I will establish a base camp and contact Jess and Matt.

[Matt] Okay, so Ape Canyon is kind of a cross into the right.

[Jessica] After an hour of hiking,

Matt and I are finally in position

at the bottom of Ape Canyon after dark,

approximately 2500 feet directly below Phil and Mark's position.

And based on recent reports, this is the prime location to investigate.

Should we burst out the flare?

That might be a good idea.

[Jessica] So, I'm busting out the FLIR camera

to help identify any heat signatures moving in the brush.

Phil, your copy?

Yeah, we hear you.

Awesome. Okay, well, we're in position so we're ready to get started.

[Phil over walkie-talkie] Perfect. So, what you guys' plan?

We're going to kick off some howls here on our end.

And I want you to let us know if you hear anything in reply.

Copy that. All right. We'll be listening.

Sounds good. Here we go.

[Matt howls]

[Jessica] Matt is literally mimicking

what he believes is the sound of a Bigfoot howl.

He thinks these creatures communicate

with one another over great distances,

much like a coyote pack.

I'm keeping my eye on the FLIR to see if these calls draw anything in.

That sounded fantastic.

Yeah. We're going through good.

So, it's going to carry a long way around.

Phil, did you hear Matt howl up there?

-Well, we hear you. -[Matt] Okay, cool.

[howls]

[Jessica] Have you guys heard anything respond?

[whispers] You hearing anything?

No.

[Phil] Nothing, yet.

I think we should just give another shot.

Do you mind if I try? It's been a while.

Okay.

Okay, Phil, Jess is going to do one of her screams.

[Phil] Copy that. I'll be listening for it.

Okay.

[Jessica howls]

[howling in the distance]

Heard it. Heard it. Heard it.

That was crazy.

What did we just hear?

[Marc] I don't know, perhaps coyotes.

You think this high up.

-That's a good point. -I don't know.

I don't know.

I just saw something move.

[Matt whispers] We're not alone.

I just saw something move.

-[Matt] What did you see? -I don't know,

it just moved from right to left

it just kind of like went across was right,

coming through here.

Oh, look, look, look.

Oh, where did it go?

Damn it.

[Josh] Phil and Marc are near what could be the location of the cabin,

where the first alleged Bigfoot sighting was reported in 1924.

Jess and Matt are 2500 feet below them

in the valley of Ape Canyon,

a hotbed for recent Sasquatch sightings.

[Phil] There's [indistinct]

Well...

Let's just see what it was.

Hey, uh...

Look at that.

Oh, yeah, that's fresh scat.

Look at this.

Almost like something like dug out the earth.

Seems like something was marking its territory, with his scat.

What's your guess, is it herbivore?

It's pellety like [indistinct]

It's... It is a little pellety.

Look, we got real pellet scatter right here.

-Yeah. -This is something different.

This one seems more omnivore.

Hey, guys, we got something up here.

-Whoa. - Very, very fresh scat

with some like scratch markings right below.

Of course, Phil had found the poop.

[Matt chuckles]

[Phil] We have a sample that we could send back to analyze

and just at least, see what it is.

Whatever, left this scat behind could still be in the area.

So, after collecting our sample

Marc and I continue searching for anything out of the ordinary.

-[Phil] All right. Let's keep going. -All right.

[Phil] After another hour of investigating, the forest has gone quiet.

[Jessica] I am not seeing anything.

Before calling it a night, I set up a few trap cameras.

Maybe, whatever I picked up on thermal,

will come back and we'll get a better shot of it.

[Phil] As the sun rises on the next day,

Marc and I set off to investigate a flat area

along the sheer Ape Canyon Cliff that we discovered from there.

Oh, wow.

[Phil] We're searching for any physical evidence of a cabin

that was supposedly abandoned by a group of miners

who claim they were attacked by sasquatches.

I know Jess is already believer,

but if I can find proof the cabin was down there,

it would help convince me that this whole story isn't just another tall tale.

-That is steep down there. -Yeah.

-All right, let's get to it. -Let's go.

[Phil] With Marc acting as my safety from above,

I'm starting my descent into Ape Canyon to search for the last cabin.

It might not look like an ideal place for a gold mining venture,

but throughout history men have put their lives on the line,

blasting tunnels and trails into sheer mountain sides

with hopes of finding a potential fortune hidden in the earth.

[Phil] This is a crazy story about miners

being in here being attacked by Sasquatch,

but I think the craziest part is this damn descent

into this canyon.

I mean, what were these people thinking?

The cabin better be here.

Okay, feeling good.

Just got like 200 more feet to go.

[exhales]

[grunts]

That's what I get to climb down all fancy.

At the bottom of my 700 foot descent,

there appears to be a small flat area

hidden by a cluster of heavily leaved trees,

which explains why we couldn't see it from the helicopter.

Okay. Well, I got to admit, this place doesn't look like much

but it is at least flat,

especially flat for Ape Canyon.

So, if these miners would to have a place to work to build a cabin,

I mean I feel like this got to be it.

According to news articles,

the cabin was located on such a steep cliff

that you needed a rope to get to it.

This location definitely lines up with that description.

We also know that it was a small basic cabin made with logs,

some wood planks and building paper.

There's been countless snowstorms and wind storms, rain storms,

but maybe there's something left behind that we could find.

That will be a bit of evidence to say

at least some of that Ape Canyon story is true.

So, let's get started.

Wood planks from the cabin are most certainly rotten away

from the cold and damp climate here,

but there would have been nails

or other metal hardware from the cabin.

On top of that, the miners would have been using metal sitting pans hammers

and other mining equipment here.

So, I'm going to use a metal detector

to see if anything like that may have been left behind.

That's not something there.

[metal detector beeps]

Oh!

Okay, got something here.

What the hell?

[Josh] Phil is in Ape Canyon on the eastern slopes of Mount St. Helens.

[metal detector beeps]

Oh!

Okay, got something here.

[Josh] Searching for evidence and investigating

the 100-year-old legend of the first reported, Bigfoot attack.

Oh!

That's a rock.

That's another rock.

Hold up!

Oh, my God, look at that.

That is 100% man made,

that you can see there'd be nails going in this side,

there probably be nails go into this side.

This is a bracket that would hold pieces of wood together

pieces of wood like you would use to build a cabin.

And it is old.

Look at all that corrosion that we're getting here.

This thing is easily 50 to 100 years old.

[Phil] The condition of this bracket makes it hard to date.

But the one attached nail offers a clue.

Because the material and the shapes of nails have changed over time,

archaeologists often will use a technique called nail chronology

to date historical structures.

So there's a chance I'll be able to see just how old this really is.

And after finding the bracket, the floodgates open.

Wow.

I find several more pieces of metal all very weathered and old.

I'll send all the samples out for analysis

to see if they date back to the same time

as the alleged Bigfoot attack in 1924.

There is no way that it is just a coincidence

that all of these really, really old pieces of metal

ended up in this flat spot where purportedly there was a cabin.

Now, I'm not saying that means Bigfoot is real

and that they were attacked by Bigfoot.

But something might have happened to them,

and we are in the right spot to figure out what it was.

Let me see what else I can find before I have to climb back up that cliff

to then hike back down this volcano.

[Jessica] Phil's discovered potential evidence

that there could have been a cabin in Ape Canyon,

which in my mind only corroborates the story

of the sasquatch attack in 1924.

Last night, we heard strange howls in the same canyon.

And I managed to capture something on thermal

in the valley of Ape Canyon,

the same area where locals have reported large bipedal creatures.

We need to hit that location again even harder tonight.

But in such dense forest,

we'll need even more surveillance tech

and vehicles to navigate that terrain.

So, we're hoping Josh can hook us up with the gear

we need to finally get video evidence of these animals to prove

that they've been living in Ape Canyon

since they were first reported a century ago.

Hey guys, how are you? How goes it in the land of the ape man?

-It's going awesome. -It's going great.

-What did you find? -Well, we went up Mount St. Helen's,

propelled down to the purported cabin site.

Sure enough, we found some really, old pieces of metal.

So, it seems like something might have happened 100 years ago.

Okay, so, Phil, are you becoming a believer?

Well, you know, I still am thinking

that the most likely scenario back then was a bear.

Jess, you don't look impressed by that theory.

I'm not terribly impressed by that theory.

I mean, I was out there with MoneyMaker,

we actually started calling for it

to see if we would get a response.

And sure enough, we ended up hearing a response.

And at one point I actually picked something up on the thermal.

So, we possibly have some confirmation there.

Yeah, I mean, that being said

the only other weird thing that happened to us, Josh,

you're going to love this, I got some scat heading your way.

Phil, why are you always mailing me [bleep]?

You know if I find some mystery scat,

I got to throw it in a bag, Josh.

Share the smell of the adventure, a little bit.

Okay. Well, we'll send it to the lab

and we'll see if we can ID it.

[Jessica] I mean the bottom line

is that we need to get back out to that spot

with some upgraded tech as soon as possible.

That way we can get a clean photo of whatever we saw and heard

while it's still in the area.

Yeah, we could use all the backup we could get.

There's a guy up there I would love for you to link up with.

His name is Joe Bongiovanni.

Not Jon Bon Jovi, very easy to confuse.

This guy is like the Mount St. Helens Bigfoot authority.

He has been up there for years.

He knows all the back country up there.

He has a huge array of investigation equipment.

I think meeting up with him could be invaluable for the next investigation.

-[Jessica] Yeah, for sure. -Okay, I'm going to text you his info.

Good luck and stay safe out there. All right?

-We will. -We got it.

Happy hunting.

[Josh] With the team heading back to the valley of Ape Canyon

where they already encountered something the other night,

I'm calling in some backup

that have designed state of the art tech

specifically designed to search for Bigfoot.

-Well, hello there. -Welcome.

Jon Bongiovanni,

founder of the Cascade Sasquatch research organization

has been hunting Bigfoot

since he claimed to have encountered one,

near Mount St. Helens in the year 2000.

And along with his colleague, Jim Snodgrass,

built a custom Humvee equipped with over a 1,20,000 dollars worth of state of the art,

military grade search and reconnaissance gear.

It's the perfect vehicle for tracking at night

when the majority of sightings take place.

When I'm looking at this and I'm seeing a lot of things

that do not look like a typical modifications on a Humvee.

What do you set up here?

So, one of the things that we've been doing looking for Bigfoot

is to try and make us as not noticeable as possible.

And the best way to do that is to not use any light.

We have a turned up top with a thermal imaging system,

the equivalent of a military Blackhawk helicopter.

And then there's an IR illumination system on it.

We use this to look 360 degrees.

The idea is, is that if we see something on thermal,

the operator can turn on an IR spotlight and light that target.

Most of the time we use that to eliminate the variables

and say this wasn't the Bigfoot, this was something...

-That's great -...more common alive.

And then I drive using night vision equipment, or IR illumination.

[Jessica] So, here's the plan for tonight.

We're targeting the area where I captured the large heat signature

in the valley of Ape Canyon.

I'll be on patrol in the tricked out Humvee to stay mobile

in case we need to move fast.

[Phil] If they manage to scare something up in the Humvee,

I might be able to see it from my position.

I'll be surveilling the area from 100 feet

over the forest floor in a tree standing...

...in the middle of our search zone.

This is pretty high.

Any big animal that's down below,

when they're looking for any threat or any prey,

they're going to be looking to the left and to the right,

they're not necessarily going to be looking up.

That's where I'll be... if I can get there.

I'll also be equipped with a thermal camera

to help me see anything that might be lurking below in the dark.

All right, Jess, I'm up.

Really good view up here.

If anything's broken down below here,

I think I'm for sure going to get on the thermal.

[Jessica] With our eye in the sky in place,

and the Humvee in stealth mode...

...we start our patrol.

You can see that road real good I hope.

I can see it perfectly.

[Jessica] And along with the Humvee's mounted thermal camera,

we have multiple handheld thermal and IR cameras

to help us spot anything hiding in the forest.

All right, Phil, how you doing up there?

All right, I'm, uh, settled in.

It's dark, it is [indistinct], but I got the FLIR going.

We have all of our equipment running.

So, we're going to see what we can pick up.

All right, good luck.

Thanks. You, too.

Let's see what we have got?

This is, uh, trickier than it seems

because I can't actually see where the edge of this platform is.

Because it's completely dark out here.

This is the only light I have so,

here's to not falling off the edge.

I'm hoping, we spot a big animal.

Did you guys get any on your side?

I don't see anything ahead in the night vision.

Nothing yet here.

How about you Matt? Are you getting anything on your end?

Nothing over there.

Wait, hang on. I think I saw something over there.

Stop.

[Jessica] Whatever Jim saw, we can't get a visual on it.

So, we're going to send out some calls and hopefully, draw it out of hiding.

Okay, let's see if we can hear something howl back at us.

You ready, Jim?

And Joe?

[howls]

Oh, lots of echoes.

[howling in the distance]

Do you hear that?

-Something's up in the canyon. -Yeah.

Yeah.

Something, right there.

When the Ape Canyon story made headlines back in 1924,

newspapers called the mysterious creature ape men, beasts,

and even mountain devils,

because, well, the iconic name Bigfoot

wouldn't be coined for another three decades.

In 1958 Jerry crew, a bulldozer operator

for a logging company made a shocking discovery in Northern California,

unusually large human like footprints in the mud.

The Humble Times picked up the story

and ran it on October, 5th 1958.

But it was the first time the name of Bigfoot was officially put in print,

and so began a worldwide phenomenon.

Sure, it was revealed in 2002 that hoaxers made those prints by walking around

in oversized feet carved out of wood,

but, hey, one fake event doesn't diminish a genius bit of branding.

So sorry, mountain devils. You got the boot.

Bigfoot is here to stay.

[Jessica] What the [bleep] is this?

There's something right, there.

[Josh] My team is searching for the truth

behind sightings of Bigfoot in the shadow of Mount St. Helens,

and the hunt is heating up.

Right there.

-Oh, yeah. -Yeah.

There's two. There's two. There's two.

There's that one that's big, and there's one over here.

[man] Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

[Jessica] Yeah?

Can't see it at all, now.

I think it took off. It's not there anymore.

[Jessica] The two anomalous heat signatures are nowhere to be found.

It's like they were watching us.

And once they realized we had eyes on them, they disappeared.

The question is, where did they go?

[whispering] Nothing, so far.

Oh, [bleep].

I think we've got something.

Is it moving, though, is the question.

Yeah, I think it's moving.

Holy [bleep]. We've got something.

What is that?

[Jessica howling in the distance]

Okay, I just heard Jess and MoneyMaker call at the distance

I want to see if this thing reacts.

Oh, it's changing directions.

This is definitely an animal.

[bleep], let's go behind this branch.

Hey, you.

Let me try to... Let me stand on this thing.

Oh, come on. What the [bleep]!

Okay.

Okay.

I think we'll stand low...

from here on out.

But I got it.

[bleep].

Where is it?

Damn it.

Come on. Come on.

That slip may have cost me a chance to get a full picture

of what's lurking around Ape Canyon.

I don't know where this thing went.

Damn, I think I've lost it.

[Howls]

[Jessica] If there were sasquatches in the area,

I think after they got to look at us, they moved on.

[whispering] That's so frustrating.

[Jessica] We send out calls and continue to patrol the area

into the early morning, but with no luck.

Whatever was out here is long gone.

You having fun, Phil?

Not really.

You guys, the tree platform.

-That's a serious thing right there. -Yes, it is.

[Jessica] After a long exhausting night,

we call it quits.

So, we reconnect with Phil and head back to civilization.

How do I have it in front of me,

and yet it still manages to get away?

It's so frustrating.

-Welcome to Bigfoot. -Right.

[Josh] For many people of the Pacific Northwest,

the legend of Bigfoot is all too real.

But is Ape Canyon along the slopes of Mount St. Helens

truly ground zero for the origin story

of the elusive creature known as sasquatch.

Holy [bleep], we've got something here. What is that?

[Josh] The team did capture multiple unidentified heat signatures on thermal cameras,

but are they truly legendary beasts or just unknown species?

After lab analysis,

the scat sample that Phil recovered turned out to be from a bear.

However, after wildlife experts analyzed

the strange sounds recorded in Ape Canyon,

they could not be identified as a bear, wolf or Coyote.

In addition, the nail and metal fragments Phil discovered

at the alleged cabin site

all date back to late turn of the century between 1900 and 1930.

That is 100% man-made.

[Josh] This suggests the cabin did exist,

and miners were likely in this area

at the time of the reported attack.

This adds credibility to their story,

but it doesn't close the case.

However, the trap cameras Jess set up are still rolling right now.

With all of the strange activity

the team experienced in the area,

something unknown could be out there.

So, if a strange animal does inhabit Ape Canyon,

we may be just one snap away from proving it.

For more information on Expedition X

head to discovery.com/expeditionx.