All language subtitles for Tales.From.The.Explorers.Club.S01E05.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG

[Josh] The first man
to summit Mount Everest

is called back
to the Himalayas
by an ancient legend.

Yeti! Yeti!

[Josh] ...abandoned half
a world away in the Arctic,

a scientific mission
pushes men
to the brink of starvation.

Please.

[Josh] Desperate and freezing,
they'll turn to any food
source to survive.

And an obsessed filmmaker

in search of a terrifying
mythical creature...

Perhaps he knows
he's being hunted.

[Josh] ...goes off the map
to dig up the truth.

Are the monsters real?

These Explorers Club members
are about to find out.

Welcome to the world-famous
Explorers Club.

For over 100 years,

this has been
a gathering place

for trailblazers,

the people who dare to venture
higher, further, and faster.

As a member
of this exclusive club,

I'm bringing one-of-a-kind
access to its archives.

This is incredible.

...artifacts.

Oh, my word.

...and my fellow explorers.

This is actual lunar dust.

Unbelievable.

The expeditions planned here

have tested the boundaries
of human possibility.

Its flag has flown
on death-defying voyages

into the unknown that forever
changed our world.

These are the greatest
adventures of all time.

These are...

Tales from the Explorers Club.

In 1953,

legendary mountaineer
and honorary
Explorers Club president

Sir Edmund Hillary earned
his place in the highest
echelon of explorers

when he, along
with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay,

became the first to reach
the top of Mount Everest.

Explorers,
by their very nature,

go above and beyond
the edges of maps

where warnings caution,
"Here there be monsters."

In the case of Hillary's
follow-up expedition

into the heart
of the Himalayas,

finding a monster
was kind of the point.

In Asia's snow-capped
mountains,

Edmund Hillary found himself
in hot pursuit
of the legendary yeti.

[Yeti growls]

After conquering Everest,

Hillary sets his sights
on an even more ambitious
feat.

As if climbing
the world's tallest peak
wasn't dangerous enough,

his new goal is summiting
without the use
of supplemental oxygen.

For Hillary to even attempt
the climb without oxygen

will require
intensive and costly
scientific research.

To solicit investment
in his admittedly
dry research,

Hillary needs to engage
in some sly salesmanship,

much like famous showman
PT Barnum
and his traveling circus,

his solution taps
into humankind's fascination
with monsters,

a topic very familiar
to legendary
theme park designer

Joe Rohde.

So he has this idea that to...

to gain attention,
to gain funding, to get
eyeballs on this thing,

that he'll build the trip
with a hook, the yeti,
the abominable snowman.

There is all this mystery
around this

'cause there have been
some photographs
of footprints.

[Josh] So he's kind of got
like a side hustle going here.

Right? He's got the thing
he wants to do,

but he's sold it
as a yeti hunt.

Yes. And because
he does this

and because he's so famous
and he does this,

it just whips up
the mythology all the more.

-[Josh] Right.
-So he goes to the World Book
Encyclopedia.

He gets them
to write him a grant.

He gets like the equivalent
in our money today of like
a million bucks.

[Josh] With funding secured,

Hillary heads
to the Himalayas,

where his buzzy side hustle
is soon to take centerstage.

The specimen in front of me
is the stuff of pure lore.

Without a doubt, it's one
of the more bizarre artifacts

in the Explorers Club
research collection.

There are those who believed
Hillary obtained tangible
proof of the yeti

when he returned
with a purported scalp
from the legendary beast.

The story of how this relic
ends up here

is almost as epic
as the yeti itself.

When we picture the yeti,

we generally imagine
a hulking,
white-furred creature

lurking high up
in the snowy Himalayas.

Going as far back as 326 BCE,

incredible tales of the Yeti
spin their way
out of the shadows

of these holy mountains.

Alexander the Great
hears tales of a strange beast

during his foray
into the Indus Valley,

home to one of the world's
oldest civilizations.

In 1921,
British soldier and explorer

Charles Howard-Bury

reports sightings
of a dark creature...

[Yeti growls]

...and enormous footprints
on Everest.

His Sherpas say
it'smetoh-kangmi
or man-bear snowman.

When a journalist
mistranslates this

and his headline reads

"Abominable Snowman,"
a modern legend is Born.

Then in 1951, during
the Mt. Everest
reconnaissance expedition

that would lay the groundwork
for Hillary and Norgay's
historic summit,

British mountaineer
Eric Shipton

captured photographs
of unusual footprints

west of Everest base camp
on the border
of Nepal and Tibet.

Shipton is Britain's
preeminent mountaineer.

At his side
is legendary sherpa

and world class climber
Tenzing Norgay

who will summit Everest
with Hillary
only two years later.

The credentials of these
two revered mountain men

means their words
carry weight.

So when Norgay says...

Yeti.

[Josh] ...the world
takes notice.

After Norway's endorsement
of the creature's existence,

efforts to track it
only accelerate more.

In 1959,

the US State Department issues
regulations governing mountain
climbing expeditions in Nepal

relating to the yeti
with Foreign Dispatch 75, AKA,

and I am not making this up.

The Yeti Memo.

To avoid
international incident,

it strictly forbids
killing a yeti...

I got to catch him alive?

[Josh] ...unless a matter
of life and death.

And if you find yourself
face to face with a yeti,

well, it probably already is.

By the time Hillary sets out
on the expedition
in September of 1960,

he's already had near brushes
with the beast.

Case in point,

he's a member
of the Expedition Party
in 1951

when Shipton snapped
his intriguing pictures.

And in 1952, Hillary examines
a strange scrap of skin

studded in blue black fur
on the slopes of Cho Oyu,

only 12 miles west of Everest.

Oh, and by the way,
both mountains are found

in the Malangnur Range,
Sanskrit for "great ape".

Believing the skin
belongs to a yeti,

sherpa porters toss it
aside in fear.

The following year,
Hillary and Norgay find
curious tracks

on the fateful
Everest expedition

that takes them
all the way to the top.

Fast-forward roughly
half a century,

I too answered the call
of that haunting howl.

-There we go.
-[man] Awesome.

[Josh] See that?

One, two, three,
four, five toes.

In 2007, I came
by my own hard-to-explain
evidence in Nepal.

In the shadow of Everest,
I discovered a huge print.

The cast is now
in the Yeti Museum

of the Expedition
Everest attraction
at Disney's Animal Kingdom.

Even though I was eluded
by the actual monster,

I'd give it another shot
in a heartbeat.

I mean, who doesn't want
to find a yeti?

Sir Edmund Hillary
wouldn't mind being the one
to do it.

His team sets out
from Katmandu.

Members include a glaciologist

and a space physiologist

to study the effects
of hiking at altitude
without supplemental oxygen.

On the yeti side,
he enlists Marlin Perkins,

director of Chicago's
Lincoln Park Zoo,

future TV host,
and fellow skeptic.

Meanwhile, a second team treks
to the Mingbo Valley

to construct base camp
at 19,000 feet.

Hillary's crew beelines
for the wild area

where Shipton took his photos.

The men camp
near Dudh Kunda...

holy stomping grounds
of the Hindu god Vishnu.

At this altitude,
the air might be thin,

but the atmosphere is thick
with sacred lore.

Hillary and Perkins
are diligent but doubtful.

Neither one knows it
yet, but the legend
of the hairy Himalayan hulk

is about to become
all too real.

Early in the expedition,

the typically fearless sherpas

encounter something
in the snow
that leaves them terrified.

Yeti! Yeti!

Yeti!

[distant growl]

Explorers Club member
and honorary president
Sir Edmund Hillary

was a legend
in his own right.

The first man to summit
Mount Everest was back
in the Himalayas.

The world famous climber
was looking for proof
of another legend, the yeti,

said to be shrouded
in the mist
of these deadly mountains.

Yeti!

Yeti! Yeti!

[Josh] Sherpas find a series
of strange footprints
on the Ripimu glacier.

A wave of excitement
crashes through camp.

They quickly packed
cameras, measuring tape,
sketchbooks, tranquilizers,

and keeping in mind
the famous Yeti Memo,

they take a gun,
you know, just in case.

Suddenly Hillary's skepticism
is put to the test

because now he's tracking
a yeti.

At 18,000 feet,

Hillary and Perkins follow
a series of large tracks
left in the snow.

All right, Ed,
I'm gonna measure this.

Let's see what we've got.

[Josh] The individual prints
are roughly 30 inches apart,

suggesting a stride wider
than the average human.

Identifying the tracks
isn't easy,

even for an experienced
naturalist like
Marlin Perkins.

They follow the trail
for a mile,

noting the size and shape
of the prints
are inconsistent.

As the day draws on,
they come to realize

the true nature
of these mysterious prints.

No, Ed.

I think we can close the book
on this one.

It looks like they're together
only because
they melted together,

which would mean
it's a very small animal.

This may be evidence
of a fox or a wolf.

Maybe even a snow leopard.

It's no yeti.

[Josh] The sun's rays
are melting the snow.

As they do,
groups of smaller prints

left by a bounding animal

are combining to create
larger, amorphous shapes.

This is the most
rational conclusion

and explains the discrepancy
in form and size.

Hillary's skepticism
remains intact.

He's going to need
something more concrete.

Soon, he gets it.

The team finds no shortage
of tall tales
and bizarre artifacts.

With a keen eye,
Perkins debunks
all that crosses his path,

blue bear pelts,
goat skin, red panda fur,

and sure, a dried human hand
for good measure.

But in the village
of Khumjung,

the team is presented
with a perplexing
cultural relic,

purported to be the scalp
of a yeti.

An old woman in the village
claimed the scalp
was 240 years old.

That's when the villagers
are said

to have lured the yetis down
from the mountain

and a local monk managed
to scalp one of them.

[woman speaking
in foreign language]

She's saying this scalp
is 240 years old.

[Edmund]
And this is the scalp?

[man] Yes, this is yeti scalp.

The villagers led down yeti
from mountain and scalped him.

[Josh] In the wake of so many
easily debunked items,

Hillary's team
isn't convinced.

I suspect even though
this is a consecrated item,

it's just a local animal.

[Josh] But it's puzzling
enough that they want it
analyzed overseas.

She's saying bad luck
and disaster will befall
on the village

if scalp was taken.

[Josh] Hillary manages
to strike a deal.

He can take the scalp abroad
for one month,

but a village elder
must accompany the relic.

Hillary and the elders sign
their names to a contract.

Even after it's examined
by scientists,

Hillary is unsure
what to make of it.

[Edmund speaking]

[Josh]
In the following months,

experts from around the world,

including the Field Museum
of Natural History in Chicago,

are quick to rain
on the yeti parade.

They conclude
the scalp is likely fake,

constructed from the skin
of a serow,

a goat-like animal
found in the Himalayas.

But an analysis published
in an academic journal

affiliated
with the Sapienza University
of Rome

concludes that despite
similarities to the serow,
it's not an exact match.

An animal
of unknown origin

cannot be absolutely
ruled out.

The door of possibility
has been left ajar.

As promised,
the original scalp
is returned to Nepal

and to this day sits
guarded in a locked box
at the monastery in Khumjung.

So then what is this item in
the Explorers Club collection?

An incredible replica
commissioned by Marlin Perkins

and presented
to the Explorers Club in 1998

by Sir Edmund Hillary
and Dr. Carol Perkins,

Explorers Club member,
conservationist
and Marlin's widow.

It is a reminder
of the importance
of legend and folklore

in the world of exploration.

And I got to say,
it's a great match.

I should know,
during my 2019 expedition,

I was able to obtain
through no little amount
of haggling...

Look at that.

...a hair sample
from the original artifact.

And we have a sample.

The gold standard of proof
today is, of course, DNA.

But in 1960, DNA analysis
didn't exist.

This begs the question
is there a real yeti scalp
in Nepal?

Unfortunately, the hair sample
I obtained was compromised

by an unidentified
preservative

that couldn't be removed
without destroying the DNA.

Despite this setback,
I pressed on.

To investigate further,
I met with Jim Dines,

the then collections manager
of mammalogy

at the Natural History Museum
of LA County.

So we sent you
a lot of photos.

And were you able to make
anything of them?

Actually, yes.

Take a look at this.

We have
a three-dimensional model

that's been stitched together

from all of these
different photographs.

And as you can see,
as this model is turning,

it gives us a fantastic view

of what the object looks like
in three dimensions.

This is definitely
from a mammal,

so they look like fibers.

But those are actually
mammal hairs.

They have texture to them.
They have length.
They have color.

We can definitely say this is
from some sort of mammal.

[Josh] So final analysis,

are we able to close the books
on this?

The final analysis, no,
we're not able to close
the books on this one.

[Josh] So it goes
for the mystery of the yeti,

a legend that refuses to die.

While those who braved
the Himalayas
in search of the yeti

are concerned with the monster
in the mountain,

the explorers
on the 19th century
Lady Franklin Bay Expedition

in the Arctic were faced
with something
even more terrifying,

the monster within.

The man in this portrait

is Explorers Club member
Adolphus Greely.

And this is his horror story.

The year is 1881.

It's Christmas
near the North Pole.

At a remote
Arctic research outpost
at 81 degrees north latitude,

farther north than
any scientific station
on Earth,

25 men gather around a table,

overflowing
with food and drink.

[man] Thank you, sir.

[Josh] After arduous months
spent collecting data
for the US government,

they reward themselves
with a banquet fit for kings.

Merry Christmas to you all.

-Merry Christmas.
-Merry Christmas.

[Josh]
Despite the brutal cold,

isolation,
and hardships,

morale is high
and bellies are full.

Whoever cooked this ham
is a kitchen witch
of only good fortune.

[Josh] But winter
is closing in.

[man] A little brisk outside,
isn't it?

I hadn't noticed myself.

The gift that keeps on giving.

[Josh] Little to these polar
pioneers suspect

their grossly underfunded
mission's next feast
might not come for years.

And the items on the menu
might include each other.

On July 7th, 1881,
as part of the first
International Polar Year,

a global scientific effort
to study the North
and South Poles,

the eager American crew
of the Lady Franklin Bay
Expedition

departed St John's,
Newfoundland,

bound for the Arctic north
of Greenland.

Led by their lieutenant
meteorologist
Adolphus Greely,

their two-year objective
is to gather comprehensive
data on the Arctic climate.

It was smooth sailing aboard
the SS Proteus,

a small steam powered
Arctic vessel.

Deceived by unusually
warm weather
and fueled by enthusiasm,

these young men had no idea
what they'd signed up for.

As if the mission
isn't challenging enough,

the expedition
is grossly underfunded,

and the men, most of whom
are recruited from a branch
of the US Army

that manages communication
and information systems,

aren't exactly
tough-as-nails soldiers.

They are well unprepared

for one of the world's most
inhospitable environments.

On August 11th,

Proteus delivered
the 25-man team to the eastern
shore of Ellesmere Island.

Though they expected
to be resupplied
the following summer,

it would be years
before these men
saw another ship.

Best get back to work.

We'll be losing daylight
soon enough.

Aye, sir.

[Josh] The crew settles
into building
their research base,

Fort Conger.

Compared to a prison by some,

their home away from home
is a single-story
three-room hut,

about 60 feet long,
16 feet wide,
and 10 feet high.

Outside are lean-tos,
well stocked for now.

Hunting in September
and October adds
6,000 pounds of meat,

including musk oxen, seal,
duck and hare.

Explorers Club fellow
Dr. Sarah Parcak

uses advanced
satellite technology

to find long lost
archeological sites.

Little did Greely
and his men know,

they're about to become
long lost themselves.

Did things go sideways
for them right away?

No, they're able
to do their work.

They're able to do
their science.

And on top of that,
they're able to have fun.

They're playing chess.

That's check, my friend.

They're going outside.
They're having a good time.

You know, this is not a group
of people who are struggling.

Does anybody else
fancy a game?

If we put a ration of rum
on it, we'll see what happens.

But the sun is about
to go down for 137 days.

[Josh] The high point
was their first Christmas
in 1881.

In spite
of the constant darkness,

the men managed
to find holiday light
and five-star cuisine.

This from
the Explorers Club's archives

is the actual handwritten menu
from that day.

It includes classics like
mock turtle soup, salmon,

crab salad,
spiced musk ox tongue.

And to our merry stay here.

Here you go.

Those are exquisite.

[Josh] Plum pudding
with wine sauce.

Several kinds of ice cream,
of course.

And to top it all off, eggnog,
rum, cigars and candies

from the finest confectioner
in New York City.

Empty.

Gentlemen, to Lady Franklin
and her bay.

And her bay!

[laughter]

Let's cheers to that.

Cheers, fellas.

[Josh] None of the men eating
this lavish feast had any idea

that by the end
of their mission,

they'd be reduced
to eating scraps.

Too weak to move,
nor could they have
ever predicted

they might soon find
themselves added to the menu.

Scientific progress continues.

The soldiers record
tidal conditions
and aurora observations

and gather lists of animal
and mineral specimens.

What they're about to note
is that their first summer
was an anomaly.

As days return,
the ocean remains
an icy expanse.

In his personal journal from
the Explorers Club Archive,

Sergeant William Cross
observed the conditions

by quoting famed poet
Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

The ice was here,
the ice was there,
the ice was all around.

In July of 1882, the crew
awaits a resupply vessel.

They need provisions.

They've prepared scientific
papers to send back.

They hope to exchange letters
with loved ones

and receive news from home.

They don't even know
that President Garfield
has been assassinated.

However, not one,
but two Julys come
and go without a word.

No ships, no reinforcements,
no communication.

It's not for lack of trying,
one ship is turned back by ice

and is only able to leave
a small cache

farther to the south.

Another attempt by the Proteus

is thwarted when its hull
is crushed by pack ice
and its cargo lost.

The men only know this much,
they're on their own.

An emergency plan calls
for Greely

to move his men 250 miles
south to Cape Sabine,

where provisions
should be awaiting them.

But Greely continues to wait,

fearing that the trek through
the Arctic wilderness may be
a suicide mission.

It is now August 9th, 1883.

All right, time passes,

and these expected resupplies
don't show up.

So what do they do?

Well, Greely decides
to take a huge risk.

He abandons
the safety of Fort Conger...

-[Josh] Uh-huh.
-...and decides
to go south, right?

[Josh] And this
is a big risk, right?

Because it's not like down
the road there's some other,

you know, place
they can post up at.

I mean, they're up there
kind of in the middle
of nowhere.

Right, you're in the middle
of the Arctic.

They're desperate, right?
They think, by leaving,
at least they have a chance.

Well, when they leave,
their boats get caught
in an ice floe for 51 days.

-[Josh] Yikes.
-Which is obviously
a big problem.

Finally managed to break free

and they make it
to Cape Sabine.

And things are going
from bad to worse.

[Josh] With winter again
upon them,

they erect a makeshift camp
using rocks and an overturned
whale boat.

Greely rations food,
hoping it will last
till spring.

But things do not look good.

Soon, the men are down
to eating dog biscuits.

On January 18th, 1884,

Sergeant William Cross
succumbed to scurvy
and malnutrition.

He was the first to die.

Three months later,
the casualties began
to pile up.

One by one, Greely's men
fall to the elements
and starvation.

Circumstances
are beyond dire.

Come on! Get up!

[Josh] Men eat tiny
quarter inch shrimp.

Anything to give them
sustenance.

One man died trying
to harpoon a seal.

At one point, a bear appeared,

but they couldn't muster
the energy to kill it.

They were too weak
to bury their own dead

or even to sit up and eat.

They resorted
to consuming candle wax,

boot soles,
and bird droppings.

The men noticed, quote,
"mental derangement"

in more than a few
of their crewmates.

Things go from worse
to way worse.

Private
Charles B Henry pilfers

from what little remains
of the pitiful provisions.

Greely decrees
that the next time
someone steals food,

they will be shot.

On June 6, 1884, Henry
is again caught red handed.

But will Greely follow through
with the death sentence

and take the life
of one of his own men?

Lieutenant, don't kill me.

[Josh] Responsible
for what lives remain

of the doomed
Lady Franklin Bay Expedition,

first Lieutenant
Adolphus Greely

has to decide
whether to follow through
on his threat

to execute any man
caught stealing

from their rapidly
depleting rations.

Private Charles Henry
is caught with his hand

in the mess pot
for the last time.

Please, lieutenant,
don't kill me.

It won't happen again.

I swear on my life!
I swear!

Sergeant, you may raise
your sidearm.

[Josh] With starvation
dominating their harsh
reality,

theft cannot be tolerated.

God!

[Josh] Henry is executed.

Fire.

[gun fires]

[Josh] In a sad twist of fate,

help will finally arrive
in just two weeks' time.

The men have been stationed
at the world's northernmost
scientific site

for three years, alone.

With popular outcry
at home and abroad,

the government amps up
rescue efforts.

On June 22nd, 1884,

Greely and fellow survivors
hear the faint sound
of ship bells in the distance.

Not one, but four ships
pull up to the desolate camp
at Cape Sabine.

This is an actual bell
from the cutter USS Bear,

one of the ships
that rescued the party.

Extraordinary.
Can you imagine?

Three years go by,
and you have no clue

if you'll ever be rescued.

These men faced true
and utter hopelessness.

And then this.

[bell rings]

Must have been music
to their ears.

Oh. Sorry.

Overseen by Commander
Winfield Scott Schley,

the Greely Relief Expedition
discovers only 7 men alive

from the original group
of 25.

On the way home,

Joseph Ellison dies
from complications
from amputations.

Only six men
make it back.

David Brainard,
Henry Biederbick,
Maurice Connell,

Julius Frederick,
Francis Long,
and Adolphus Greely.

They arrive
at Portsmouth Harbor
in New England

on August 1, 1884,
and are greeted as heroes.

Only six men return home.

They're given a parade.
They're promoted in rank.

But then these rumors start.

-Right?
-Right.

-[Josh] Rumors of cannibalism.
-Right.

Which Greely denies
until his death.

When one of the officers
was exhumed

and they looked carefully
at the cut marks
on one of his bones,

it's pretty likely that
there was cannibalism.

[Josh] There's obviously
this stigma,

once they're back in society,
they don't want
to talk about this.

But on the other hand,
you think about
the desperation of survival.

-People are gonna do
what they have to do.
-[Sarah] Right.

[Josh] Which has happened
in many other cases.

Right. Who knows what
any of us would be driven to
in that situation.

[Josh] This haunting painting
in the Explorers Club Library

depicts the moment
of Greely's rescue.

Despite his team's
unthinkable hardships,

the expedition
amassed significant
scientific research,

much of it recovered
by club member
Robert Perry in 1899.

Only one in five men survived,

but the data they collected
is still being referenced
by climate scientists today.

They risked
and lost their lives

in the pursuit of knowledge,
true explorers to the end.

Despite the terrors
they endured,

multiple members
of the Lady Franklin
Bay mission

go on to join
the Explorers Club.

Greely even serves
as the Club's first president.

He was 91 years old.

Some explorers are defined
by their quest to survive
against all odds.

Others have to do battle
with their own obsessions,

especially when investigating
tales of undiscovered
creatures.

But not every legendary beast
is the product of folklore

or a good campfire story.

Some turn out
to be all too real.

It's the Roaring Twenties.

Belgian filmmaker
and Explorers Club member
Armand Denis

makes a small fortune
in radio.

He moves to Hollywood.

And over the next few decades,

he builds on his love
of travel and film

to innovate the field
of wildlife television.

By the 1950s and '60s,
he's a household name.

But his most intriguing tale
of adventure comes
from a 1934 trip

to what is now
the Democratic Republic
of the Congo...

an Explorers Club
supported expedition.

What you're seeing now
is actual archival footage
captured by Denis.

During the endeavor,
Denis visits a camp

on the edge
of the Ituri Rainforest

in the northeast
of the vast African region

of what was
then still the Belgian Congo,

a dark chapter
in world history.

Its epilog is still being
written today.

Over dinner
with Denis' boisterous friend

and fellow
Explorers Club member,

anthropologist Patrick Putnam.

The conversation turns
to trophy hunting.

Putnam describes
a fantastical bull elephant
known as the King.

How's the trophy hunting?

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Careful what you're saying.

The Elephant King
might hear you.

And the King,
he don't take kindly
to hunters.

The Elephant King?

[Josh] Legend holds
that the King is an old

but very dangerous elephant.

Its appearance
is unmistakable,

thanks to its not two
but four massive tusks.

A bull elephant
with four tusks is unheard of.

None of the guests believe it.

Even Denis doubts it.

But his interest is piqued
the next day

when Mabuti villagers
expand on the legend,

they believe the King sees
and knows all.

He spoils hunts
and even kills villagers.

Their spears have no effect
on the great elephant

with four tusks.

And yes, they've seen him
many times.

That night,
Denis dreams of the beast.

He decides that,
whatever the cost,

he has to capture
the King on film.

The Explorers Club
emphasizes conservation
over trophy taking,

and no member better
exemplifies that end
than Carl Akeley,

explorer, artist,
conservationist,

and Chicago Field Museum's
first chief taxidermist.

Oh, and he invented this,
the Akeley pancake camera,

1 of only 400 ever made.

Though it's just
slightly less mobile
than a GoPro or an iPhone,

this camera revolutionized
the ability to capture
the natural world

in ways impossible
for the existing
technology of the time.

Relatively easy to transport,

it can be reloaded rapidly
and can film in low light.

Its focus is clean
and its movement smooth.

It was used
for aerial reconnaissance
during the First World War

and, naturally,
by Hollywood after that.

And it is the tool of choice
to document Denis's search
for the King.

The villagers point
Denis toward a low-lying
area of swamp,

roughly 80 miles from camp.

He recruits a few willing
local Mbuti guides

and sets off
into the deadly wild.

Compelled by the heart
of an explorer,

Denis needs to know
if there's truth

behind the legend
of the four-tusked elephant.

Thanks to a grant
from Discovery,

Dr. Seheno Andriantsaralaza

has embarked
on an Explorers Club
expedition in Madagascar.

She's studying
a species of tree there

that is shrouded in myth.

The baobab is said
to have magical powers.

Legend holds
that if you stare at it,

the tree can invoke memories
of your past lives.

Seheno's interest in the tree,
however,
is strictly scientific,

as she's trying to determine
how animals disperse its seeds

to help perpetuate
the species.

The baobab
is a marvel of nature,

native to the arid
African Savannah,

it can store nearly
1,200 gallons of water
in its trunk.

Little wonder it's known
as the Tree of Life,

but it's also known
as the upside-down tree,

thanks to the root
like appearance
of its tangled branches.

One legend holds that
God gave hyenas the job
of planting the trees,

and not being terribly bright,
they buried the seeds
upside down.

Armand Denis,
fearless documentarian

and member
of the Explorers Club,

is deep in the Congolese
back country

in search of a mythical
four-tusked elephant.

Days pass with no sign
of the beast.

Club Vice President
for Research and Education,

Trevor Wallace, has pursued
pachyderms in Africa

and knows firsthand
Denis had a bigger challenge
ahead of him

than you might expect.

I heard down at the bar,
you know
how to track elephants.

You've learned this.

So as someone who doesn't know
much about this, is this easy?

Is this hard? It seems
like it should be easy.

-They're huge.
-Yeah. How do you find
an elephant?

It's harder to find
the largest living land
creature than you'd think.

Wow.

In Kenya, you have the benefit
of this fine red dust,

so you can find the tracks.

Once you find the tracks,
the toe marks,

the scuff marks in the front
can show you the direction

-that the elephant's going.
-Right.

But where these guys
are in the Congo,

it's thickly vegetated.
It's full-on dense forest.

So finding those tracks
is going to be
a lot more difficult.

[Josh] My only point
of reference for this

is having been on safari,

there are times where
like the jeep will stop

and someone says
there's an elephant
and you kind of go, "Where?"

And then you realize,
"Oh, look, it's right there."

They do kind of just
blend in sometimes, right?

Yeah. They're graceful.

As big as they are,

they move through
the environment
with such ease.

I mean, they're incredible
creatures for that.

And sometimes you can actually
stumble upon an elephant.

[Josh] For three days,
Denis struggles to keep up
with his Mbuti guides.

But on the fourth day,
the thick forest opens up.

The men spot elephant dung
and large footprints.

Six hours later, the Mbuti
suddenly duck into the bush.

Just ahead, nine elephants
are ripping leafy branches
from the lush canopy.

Peering through binoculars,

Denis sees that one of them
is a massive bull.

It turns staring straight
at him.

But this elephant
has just two tusks.

The guides aren't nearly
as disappointed as Denis.

Two tusks.

There is no such thing
as a king.

Perhaps he knows
he's being hunted.

[Josh] A few hours later,
in the town of Butembo,

a trader complains to Denis
of paying an elephant tax.

The government made me pay
for two elephants

when all four tusks came
from one big bull.

[Josh] Denis can't believe
his ears.

Could this be
the elephant King?

Well, there's just
one problem.

The tusks are being held
in customs,

so he can't get his eyes
on them.

But he decides
to take a chance

and buys the tusks
sight unseen.

And they ultimately end up
where else?

Look at this. Oh, my word.
They exist. They're real.

They absolutely do exist.

[Josh] All right.
Denis made a good call.

[Lacey] He made
an awesome call.

Each of these tusks
is about 8 feet tall

-and weighs about 50 pounds.
-[Josh] Wow.

Okay, so these
are extraordinary,

but we only have the tusks,
right?

Absolutely.

[Josh] So how does Denis know

that these aren't just
from two different elephants?

He doesn't.

He becomes obsessed
with finding the matching
skull.

[Josh] Denis needs the skull
the tusks were attached to.

Starting with the trader,
Denis connects the dots.

A young man is said
to have buried the skull
out of respect

after removing the tusks
from an elephant dead
many days.

Soon Denis is digging
like a man possessed.

This is the stuff legends
are made of.

If the skull he's seeking
is real, this is the spot.

Sure enough, he finds
a decaying, pungent
elephant skull.

Incredibly, it has not two
but four tusk holes.

Denis sets off for home,
determined to prove
its authenticity.

So Denis has the skull.

-What does he do with it?
-So he's got the skull.

He brings it to the American
Museum of Natural History
right here in New York.

And essentially, he gives it
to the director
of preparations.

And that's
Dr. James Lippert Clark.

Ultimately,
Clark takes the skull.

He takes the tusks.
They slot right in.

It's a perfect match.

-Done deal.
-Done deal.

[Josh] We got four tusks.
We got one skull.

-Done.
-So Hindu deity?

Ancient creature?

None of the above.

Ultimately,
Clark determines that

although it's this really
fearsome looking specimen,

it is just the result
of a rare genetic mutation

of what would have otherwise
been a totally
normal elephant.

[Josh] This is such a
fantastic story though, right?

We have this thing.
Nobody believed it existed.

Denis goes out and finds it.

And we have this awesome
example of science

finding the truth behind
this fantastic legend.

Exploration of our world
is a permanent mission.

The Explorers Club offers us
inspirational models

of pioneers to emulate,

those who have investigated
the unknown

at the top of the world,

those who have faced
unimaginable hardship,

and those who believed
when others doubted.

In my own travels,
I've come to learn
that legends and lore,

no matter how outlandish,

are often shadows
of real mysteries
waiting to be solved.

I can't wait to see
what's next.

And I'm keeping my mind
wide open.