All language subtitles for The UnXplained S02E13 The Truth About Bigfoot 1080p HULU WEB-DL AAC2 0 H 264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

WILLIAM SHATNER:
It hides in the shadows.

A giant, hairy creature
that walks on two feet

and watches us
with glowing eyes.

Does Bigfoot really exist?

Part ape, part man?

As crazy as it seems,

there are many who believe
that not only

is such a creature real
but they've seen it,

tracked it,
even photographed it.

But then, if Bigfoot
does exist, what is it?

Where does it come from?
How many are there?

And perhaps more importantly...

(creature snarling)

...should we be afraid of it?

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

Bigfoot researcher
Matt Moneymaker and a colleague

are investigating
reported Bigfoot sightings

in a wooded area
near the town of Kent.

After spending years
pursuing Bigfoot

in hopes of seeing one himself,

Matt is eager to find out
whether there really is

a giant creature in these woods.

MATT MONEYMAKER:
We were staked out

along a road, the guy I was
with was about 60 feet away.

And at about 2:30 a. m.,

something comes walking
down the road.

I see something.

He sees it first
through night vision.

SHATNER:
Matt rushes over to investigate,

and is stopped dead in his
tracks by the sound of...

‐(growling)
‐...inhuman growling.

MONEYMAKER:
This thing steps out.

A very big, tall,
hair‐covered thing...

...standing out there
growling at me.

When you've got
something that big

that close to you, you could
see it well enough to know

that must be a Bigfoot.

So I just kind of backed up

and walked away.

I was pretty happy
at that point,

because I'm thinking,
"If this one's gonna do that,

"reliably, then this is a place

"that we're gonna get
some video footage of them

if we're coming here
with the right kind of gear."

SHATNER:
But when Matt returned

with camera equipment
to document the encounter,

the creature had vanished.

Although Matt was not
able to photograph

the large, hairy beast
that he witnessed,

he remains convinced that what
he saw was, in fact, Bigfoot.

It's one of those things
that sounds so over‐the‐top,

but after I had
a face‐to‐face encounter,

I knew it was exactly
the same thing

that all the witnesses
around there had described.

SHATNER:
The encounter inspired Matt

to found the Bigfoot Field
Researchers Organization,

or BFRO.

MONEYMAKER:
The roots of it are people
who were sharing information.

We were sharing
sighting reports, mainly,

from different parts
of the country.

And I came up
with the idea that,

"Why don't we put all these
into a website?"

You know, sort it
by county and state

so people can look up reports.

And when we did that,
it worked really well.

Lots of people started
submitting reports.

SHATNER:
According to the BFRO,

there have been more than
3,500 credible Bigfoot sightings

since 1960.

Although science has yet
to prove the existence

of the legendary man‐beast,
that hasn't stopped Bigfoot

from becoming
a full‐fledged phenomenon.

CHRISTOPHER BADER:
Bigfoot is literally everywhere.

There are Bigfoot stories
in Nevada.

There are
Bigfoot stories in Nebraska,

Florida, Texas.

Literally every part
of the country

has its own stories and legends
of Bigfoot.

It's likely, wherever you live
in this country,

you are within a hundred miles
of a place

that purportedly has a Bigfoot.

SHATNER:
If these sightings
are of a real creature,

then what exactly is Bigfoot?

And how did this
phenomenon begin?

TOK THOMPSON:
Bigfoot is generally
reported to be

a very large, very furry, uh,
hominid creature.

Something like a person,
uh, but not a person,

seen very often remotely
in the forest.

And with various stories
about sightings

or about footprints that
really are pretty widespread

in many, many communities in
the United States and in Canada.

Before 1958, people didn't
use the word "Bigfoot."

But it was in 1958
in Northern California,

guys building a road

found footprints
around their gear

when they would come
back in the morning.

And a guy named Jerry Crew
made plaster footprints

of these tracks and showed them
to a reporter in Eureka,

and they dubbed it "Bigfoot."

That was where the name
first originated

and got
into American vocabulary.

SHATNER:
Photos of Jerry Crew's cast

of giant footprints made
headlines across the country.

Many Americans came
to believe that a tall,

bipedal, apelike creature
roamed the forests

of the Pacific Northwest.

I grew up in Washington State,
where it's hard

to underestimate
Bigfoot's power.

Bigfoot is the mascot
of different companies.

Bigfoot is all over billboards.

As a young boy
in Washington State,

I fully believed
in Bigfoot's existence.

SHATNER:
In 1967, interest
in Bigfoot surged

when an investigator
named Roger Patterson

captured incredible footage
of a creature

that matched
the description of Bigfoot

near Bluff Creek
in Northern California.

Patterson's film became
an instant sensation,

but skeptics claimed
that it had to be a man

in a monkey suit.

One of the issues when it comes
to people believing

in Bigfoot existing

is, let's face it,
mainstream sciences

shun away from this topic.

However, amateur researchers
are trying to pick up the slack,

bridge that gap

between amateur
and mainstream science.

SHATNER:
Bigfoot researchers claim
that the vast majority

of Bigfoot sightings
are sincere,

and that hoaxes represent only
a small fraction of reports.

They also point out that stories
of Bigfoot‐like animals

are not merely a recent fad.

Believe it or not,
more than 3,000 years ago,

the ancient Babylonians
told stories of a creature

that sounds an awful lot
like Bigfoot.

Except they called it Enkidu.

SARA BURDORFF:
Enkidu is a...

hairy, wild man creature
with super strength,

and he's fearsome,
he's ready and willing

to defend this wild territory
that he inhabits.

The king, Gilgamesh,
becomes his soulmate, basically.

Best friends.

So, this king becomes
this amazing hero

through his relationship
with this wild man

that has shown him

how to negotiate the boundaries
between humanity and wildness.

SHATNER:
Since that time, descriptions
of so‐called "wild men,"

half‐human, half‐ape beasts,

have popped up throughout
history, all over the world.

JONATHAN YOUNG:
In the Caucasus,

there was something
called the alma

that was a big monster,
a nature creature.

In Australia,
there's the Aboriginal version

which is called a yowie.

There is the Yeti
in the Himalayas.

So there are local variations,

but the story
is more or less the same.

Very big, seemingly animallike,

or is it human
or is it some hybrid?

There's the point.

SHATNER:
In North America,

there are Native American
legends that go back centuries,

long before the discoveries
made by Jerry Crew

or Roger Patterson.

LYNNE McNEILL:
We know that Sasquatch,

the preeminent Bigfoot creature
that we have

in the United States, located
in the Pacific Northwest,

that very word, "Sasquatch,"
comes from a Salish tribal word

that means "wild man"
or "hairy man."

YOUNG:
The natives of the Northwest say
that there are creatures

that walk upright
and only at night.

And can speak in their language.

NEISS:
I found, in speaking
with indigenous peoples,

that they don't describe them
as an animal at all.

They call them the First Ones,
or the Old Ones.

"These were the tribe that was
here before we got here."

SHATNER:
An ancient tribe
that predates humanity?

It's a fascinating notion,

one that Bigfoot researchers
are eager to investigate.

And there are some who will risk
going into the deepest

and darkest forests to try
and capture the huge creature,

even though it may not
want to be found.

(low growl)

SHATNER: Future U. S. President
Teddy Roosevelt

publishes The Wilderness Hunter,

a book about
his youthful adventures

in the Dakota Territory.

His memoir contains a story
that was told to him

by an old mountain man,
who, years before,

had encountered an apelike
creature deep in the woods.

There were some trappers
and they kept having

encounters kind of in the dark

with what they thought
were these huge creatures

that were leaving
huge manlike footprints.

One of the guys decided
to go off and check traps,

and the other one
would hide back at camp

and see what was
coming in every time

that they would leave camp.

When the guy came back
from checking traps,

he found his friend dead,

his body broken over a log,

and it looked like
it had just been pummeled.

And they attributed it to

an eight‐foot‐tall,
600‐pound ape.

SHATNER:
The disturbing encounter
recorded by Roosevelt

is one of the earliest accounts
of American pioneers

coming face‐to‐face

with what many
Native Americans called...

Sasquatch.

If the story is true,

it seems like Sasquatch wasn't
very friendly

towards humans who
encroached on its territory.

(low growling)

There are vastly different ideas
within the Bigfoot subculture

about Bigfoot's disposition.

Some believe that Bigfoot is
an angry, homicidal predator.

And if you come into its domain,

it will try to kill you
if it can.

Others believe that Bigfoot
is merely an animal.

And just like a grizzly bear
might become aggressive

under the right circumstances,
it could.

SHATNER:
Over the past century, more

of the American wilderness
has been settled,

with the construction
of new housing, industry,

and infrastructure.

But if we have been encroaching
on Bigfoot's habitat

for so long,
then how come no one has ever

recovered the body of one?

It's been estimated perhaps
2,000 of these things exist

throughout
the Pacific Northwest.

Sounds like a lot,
but it really isn't.

Considering two
of the major ranges,

the Cascade Range
and the Coast Range,

make up 68,000 square miles,
mostly uninhabited.

When you distribute
2,000 of anything

in 68,000 square miles...

you'd be lucky to run
across one in your life.

BADER:
People who believe
that Bigfoot is

a biological creature
will simply

talk about how stealthy it is,

that it's very good at moving

through the woods
without making any noise

and therefore
can slip away at will.

SHATNER:
Is Bigfoot simply
too elusive to be captured?

Perhaps.

But that hasn't stopped an army

of so‐called "Bigfoot hunters"

from trying to track it down.

JEFF MELDRUM:
The role of citizen scientists

is potentially
a very significant one.

It may well be
that major discoveries

will be made
not by scientists in this arena,

but by citizen scientists.

BADER:
Modern Bigfoot hunters

use techniques
such as wood knocking...

(whoops)

...playing purported Bigfoot
screams while in the woods.

These are things that many
modern Bigfoot investigators

believe will draw
any nearby Sasquatch to you.

MONEYMAKER:
I think the future
of Bigfoot research,

in a lot of ways, rests with new
optics with thermal imagers.

And especially with drones,

thermal imagers
attached to drones.

I really do see a future
where the next

big, profound piece of footage

is gonna be gotten by a drone.

BADER:
Many Bigfoot hunters

are very much devoted
to the idea

that the creature
that they're looking for

is an undiscovered animal.

They believe
that if they try hard enough,

they could capture
sufficient evidence

to prove the issue
once and for all.

SHATNER:
Bigfoot hunters have set
their sights

on catching the beast itself.

But the most compelling pieces
of evidence

that we have right now
are the huge footprints

that have been found
for decades.

And according to anthropologist
Dr. Jeff Meldrum,

these impressions in the ground

prove that there really is

an enormous primate
roaming the forest.

MELDRUM:
My research expertise
centers around

the adaptations
of the human body

for bipedalism‐‐ the habit
of walking on two legs.

So that put me
in a very apropos position

to address what is probably

the most prolific and,
in my opinion,

by far the most compelling
body of evidence

for the existence of Sasquatch,

namely the footprints.

SHATNER:
Dr. Meldrum's interest in
Bigfoot footprints started

in 1996 when he
and a colleague came across

a remarkable line of footprints

in Southeastern Washington.

As we walk out there,
here's this unmistakable line

of footprints in the mud,

these 15‐inch footprints,

and the hair stood up
on the back of my neck

as I realized
a Sasquatch actually

walked by here last night.

The evidence was really
unmistakable to my eye

with my background and training.

SHATNER:
Dr. Meldrum immediately made

several casts
of the intriguing footprints.

The first of many such casts

that he has made
throughout his career.

Based off his research,

he has concluded that by
analyzing a variety of factors,

such as how the foot imprints
irregularities into the ground

or the spacing
of the toes in the dirt,

it is possible to determine
when footprints have been faked

and when they were really made
by a 15‐inch foot.

So here we are
over 20 years later, and

in addition
to the seven footprint

casts that I made
on that afternoon,

there are over 300 casts
to keep them company here

in the specimen drawers
in my laboratory.

It's just been an amazing road

that has yielded, due to this
extraordinary sample,

the emergence
of a model of a foot

that is not simply
an enlarged facsimile

of a human footprint
but rather shows

all the distinctions
of a foot adapted

to transport
a 800‐to‐1,200‐pound

bipedal primate

through the rough,
irregular, incline terrain

of the mountainous forests

they are said to inhabit.

SHATNER:
If Bigfoot is making

giant footprints in the forest,

then is it a creature
that can be explained

by conventional science?

Bigfoot researchers believe
the answer is yes.

And they claim
that Bigfoot is an animal...

that has already been found.

SHATNER:
Explorer Robert von Beringe
is leading an expedition

up Mount Sabyinyo

when he comes upon
a troop of gorillas.

Which is extraordinary,
because according

to mainstream scientists
at the time, gorillas aren't

supposed to live
in the mountains.

BADER:
For years, when reports came out

about mountain gorillas,
people said,

"They're lying,
they're hoaxers,"

until we finally had specimens.

(gorilla hooting)

And now
the mountain gorilla are part

of the public
and historical record.

MELDRUM:
The discovery of the gorilla

is actually a very good example

of the manner in which

the existence
of an unknown primate species

was eventually recognized
by Western science.

And science requires
a type specimen

in order to justify

the recognition
of a novel species.

SHATNER:
For Bigfoot researchers,
the discovery

of the mountain gorilla
is an example

of how the assumptions
of mainstream scientists

are not always correct.

And they argue that if the
mountain gorilla survived

in the African mountains,
unrecognized by science

until 1902,
that it's possible that Bigfoot

is alive in the vast forests
of North America.

It just hasn't
been verified yet.

But is Bigfoot really
an unknown creature?

Or is it simply
another name for a creature

we've known about for decades?

There's various theories as to
what this type of primate is.

But it most likely is
related to this line of apes

out of Southeast Asia, the most
famous of which was called

Gigantopithecus, the largest
apes that ever lived.

MELDRUM:
Gigantopithecus was
a species that existed

during the late Pleistocene,
perhaps until as recently as

200,000 to 300,000 years ago,

according to the fossil record.

It was a giant primate of
literally King Kong proportions

that could have stood ten feet
tall and weighed in excess

of a thousand, 1,200 pounds.

SHATNER:
The theory that what
we call "Bigfoot" is actually

Gigantopithecus has
profound implications.

If true, it would mean
that the existence of Bigfoot

has already been
scientifically verified.

There's just one problem.

According to paleontologists,
Gigantopithecus became extinct

a long time ago.

MELDRUM:
Gigantopithecus has
often been characterized

as a creature that fed
exclusively on bamboo

and, hence, went extinct
when those bamboo forests

also expired.

But much more
insightful analyses

of the fossilized teeth
of Gigantopithecus

suggests that it had a diet
that was quite diverse.

Which is quite interesting,
to have an animal that size

that still had a very diverse,
omnivorous diet.

SHATNER:
But even if Gigantopithecus

has somehow survived into
the present, questions remain.

Such as, how did
such a large creature migrate

from the bamboo forests
of Southeast Asia

all the way to North America?

If Bigfoots are descendants
of Gigantopithecus,

or a line of apes like it,

they probably came over
the land bridge

the same way
that Native Americans did,

back when Siberia and Alaska
were connected

and all sorts of animals
were able to cross over

the Bering Strait.

SHATNER:
Bigfoot researchers
are steadfast

in their support
of the Gigantopithecus theory.

But most experts reject the idea
due to lack of evidence.

But what if the evidence
does exist,

and scientists simply
aren't looking for it

in the right places?

Naturalist John Mionczynski
is spending the summer

working for the U. S.
Forest Service.

I was employed
by the U. S. Forest Service

and the Wyoming Game
and Fish Department

on a cooperative study.

The project was set up so that
I would live in the wild.

‐(owl hooting)
‐SHATNER: Late one night,

John feels what he thinks
is a large bear

pressing against
the outside of his tent.

I was approached by something
that cast a shadow.

The Moon was just coming up,
it was almost a full moon.

I clearly saw a hand
with four fingers

and an opposed thumb,
like a human hand.

And it was large.

It was twice the size
of my hand.

It was getting aggressive
with its movements

on the side of the tent.

I hit it
with the back of my hand.

(growling)

Whatever it was had backed off.

It ran back behind some trees.

So I was totally perplexed.

I have to say that,
the thought of Sasquatch

never occurred to me
at that moment.

SHATNER:
When John reported the encounter
to the Forest Service,

he learned that there had been
a rash of similar reports.

His boss, afraid the sightings

might be the work
of a prankster,

asked him to investigate
and interview the witnesses.

MIONCZYNSKI:
I eventually interviewed

about 25 people.

The most interesting one
was a young man

in a little cabin
up against the mountains.

(creature growls)

He had reported

seeing one of these
behaving aggressively

in front of his cabin.

And he shot it.

And he'd thought he'd killed it,

but it got up immediately
and ran off.

SHATNER:
John visited the cabin
and, incredibly,

found that there were hair
samples left near the house.

He collected the hairs
and brought them

to Walter Birkby, a well‐known
forensic anthropologist

and leading expert
on hair analysis.

The analysis came back
a few days later

and Walter Birkby said,
and this is a quote,

"This is my first stumper.
These hairs are primate."

And he was certain about that.

The result was controversial
because a hairy primate

is not of an animal
native to Wyoming.

That kind of suggested
the idea of Bigfoot.

SHATNER:
Solid, physical evidence
of a primate in Wyoming?

You might think
that the scientific community

would be thrilled
by such a discovery.

But John quickly realized
the perils

of making that assumption.

MIONCZYNSKI:
The head
of the research division

actually chewed us out.

Pointing his finger at us
and saying,

"If your names
are ever associated

"with this word Bigfoot again,

I will personally see to it
that you're fired."

(low growl)

If hard evidence of Bigfoot
really exists,

then why are scientists
so eager to dismiss it?

Maybe it's safer to think

that it's all just a delusion
or a hoax.

Or perhaps Bigfoot doesn't fit
into their preconceived notions

of the world.

In any case,
some evidence is difficult,

if not downright impossible,
to ignore,

as you shall see.

SHATNER:
Researcher Robert Collier

is leading a Bigfoot expedition

in a remote part
of the wilderness.

COLLIER:
It was about dusk,
getting a little bit darker.

And all of a sudden we hear
these horrendous footsteps.

As we looked in front of us,
what we saw had two legs.

And it looked like
the conical shaped head,

the broad shoulders.

And it's sitting right there.
I'm looking at it.

SHATNER:
Robert and his companions
were astonished

by the two‐legged creature
moving near them.

But what happened next
was even more extraordinary.

COLLIER:
Soon as that happened,

it was like somebody had
parked their car down there

and turned on headlights.

Lit up the whole area.

And I remember looking at that

and the lights stayed on,
one, two,

three, off.

Then it just went silent.

But we were in such shock
and pure amazement

from that, from that sighting.

SHATNER:
A sudden, brilliant illumination
deep in the forest?

Just before the mysterious
creature Robert saw

seemingly disappeared?

While it may sound
like a fantastical story,

this wasn't the last time
Robert observed

such a strange occurrence.

COLLIER:
This last expedition,

I experienced more lights.

We had some activity one night
and I remember,

at one point,
Bigfoot turned its body

and it looked back at me.

And then this blue light‐‐

it was a blue streak
through the forest‐‐

and it shot off to the right.

I still can't wrap
my head around it.

But still other people
experience that

and they're seeing
the same things.

People are starting to see
these white orbs.

The blue lights, the streaks.

So, there's the common
denominator in there.

SHATNER:
Robert and others who have seen
these inexplicable lights

may not have all the answers.

However, the phenomenon

suggests
an intriguing possibility.

You see, most researchers
speculate that Bigfoot could be

some form of ape and man

or a mix of both.

But what if those theories
are missing the target?

If Bigfoot is real,

could it be totally different

from any kind of creature
that we're familiar with?

Perhaps the answer
can be found by examining

one of the most notorious
Bigfoot encounters in history.

Gold prospector Fred Beck
and some miners are working

on a claim not far
from Mount St. Helens,

when they hear a bizarre noise.

BADER:
Fred and one of his friends

heard strange whistling sounds

and all of a sudden
saw a hairy creature

peek its head
out from behind a tree.

The men instantly
pulled out their guns

and started shooting
at the creature...

...which howled and screamed
as it ran away.

And this attack on the creature
seemed to provoke it,

because that evening

Fred and his friends
in their cabin were assaulted

by what seemed to be a group
of Sasquatch, or Bigfeet.

They heard pounding on the roof.

Fred described the creatures
as tall and hairy,

having apelike faces and being
entirely hair‐covered,

and between six
to eight feet tall,

running around on two legs.

SHATNER:
The men soon realized
that the cabin

would not necessarily protect
them from their attackers,

because the creatures
bombarded the cabin

with huge rocks
from the cliffs above

and then tried to get inside.

BADER:
In one especially terrifying
part of the story,

a creature reached its hand
through the cabin

and tried to grab an ax,
but Fred grabbed

the head of the ax and turned it

so the creature
couldn't pull it through.

The next morning,
as it neared daylight,

the attacks finally stopped.

And Fred and his friends
decided to make their escape.

And this story made
its way into the papers.

And ever since then, this area
has been known as Ape Canyon.

SHATNER:
For some, the so‐called
Ape Canyon Incident

proves that Bigfoot
possesses intelligence

that exceeds that of any known
animal and rivals our own.

But to others,
the incident suggests something

much more incredible.

BADER:
If you actually look back

to Fred Beck's own works,
he did not think these creatures

were actually
undiscovered animals.

He thought they were
spiritual entities

from another plane of existence.

He claimed they would
find a footprint track

that would suddenly end
in the middle of a sandbar,

suggesting that a creature
had just simply disappeared

as it was walking.

So, from his perspective, this
was not an undiscovered ape.

It was a mystical creature
from another dimension.

SHATNER:
A mystical creature
from another dimension?

But how is such
a thing possible?

And doesn't that theory
contradict

mainstream Bigfoot research?

BADER:
The idea that Bigfoot
might be able to disappear

into another dimension,
that is very threatening

to that view that it's
simply an undiscovered animal.

And, in fact, people oftentimes
make fun of Bigfoot hunters

and say, "You're just like
ghost hunters,

you're just like people
who see fairies and demons."

And when you add paranormal
elements to a Bigfoot story,

you open them up
for that very criticism

that bothers them so much.

THOMPSON: Most of
the contemporary traditions

assign Bigfoot or Sasquatch

to the natural world.

In other words, it's not
a supernatural character.

Most of the native traditions

would be more of
the spiritual world

or more of
the supernatural world.

That this figure is
more than simply

a large hominid
living out there.

They've ascribed, uh,
some powers to them,

spiritual powers.

They can change into
different things at times,

which aids in their ability
to seem to vanish on location.

Uh, shapeshifters,
if you will.

And so they have

a whole different respect
for them, spiritually.

Does Bigfoot really have
mystical powers?

And could this
fantastical notion

help to explain things
about Bigfoot

that have, up till now,
stumped researchers?

There are those who believe
that the answer is yes‐‐

and that one big reason

why Bigfoot has
otherworldly abilities

is because he really is
from another world.

SHATNER:
Bigfoot researcher Joe Fex
visits a rural Appalachian farm

owned by a woman who claims

that she has encountered Bigfoot

not once, not twice,
but many times

over a period of years.

FEX:
Janice Carter Coy claimed

Bigfoot would come
down the mountain,

visit this barn
that was about two miles away,

and that they would come visit
her grandfather's farm.

SHATNER:
Eager to find out

whether Janice's incredible
story could be true,

Joe decided to do a nighttime
stakeout on her farm.

That night, Joe and Janice
were sitting around a firepit

when Joe noticed
something... strange.

FEX:
As we're talking,

I see between
these barn structures

two very bright, very vivid
lime green lights.

And they're floating
across this open area

between these structures.

I thought,

"Wow, Tennessee has got
some pretty extremely large

lightning bugs out here."

SHATNER:
But the green lights

started to come closer to him

and Joe realized that what
he thought were fireflies...

were actually glowing eyes.

FEX:
I could see

the structure of a very large,

long‐haired, shaggy‐‐

what looked like
a very muscular ape.

And I looked over at Janice

and she's just looking
at me with this grin.

And she says,

"He wants to know if you're
going to go back to Colorado

and tell people
you saw fireflies."

How Janice would even know that

that thought
even entered my head,

brief as that thought was,

I really have no idea.

SHATNER
Joe was astonished to see

that Janice seemed to be able

to mentally communicate
with the creature...

which was somehow
reading his mind, too.

Janice said, "He wants you to
come back to the ditch line.

He wants to see you.
He wants you to see him."

And I thought,
"Oh, this is insane."

But she gives me
this big flashlight.

So I started
walking over there

and back out
behind the house,

and I pointed
the light forward.

And here, in this open area,

stood this guy that had to be

about eight or nine feet tall.

I've never heard or seen
anything like it

in my entire life.

SHATNER:
You'd think that after standing
toe to toe with Bigfoot,

Joe would remember everything
about such an encounter.

But as it turns out,
Joe's memory is a little fuzzy.

I don't know what happened
at the tail end of that.

I just remember standing

back at the camp,
talking with Janice.

I don't remember walking away.

I don't remember...
how did that end?

Which is, to me‐‐ even now,
all these years later‐‐

is really bizarre.

SHATNER:
To many observers,

Joe's description of Bigfoot
sounds less like a primate

and more like
something... paranormal.

BADER:
Joe Fex's story actually

sounds a lot like
a UFO abduction account to me.

When you claim that
there's some period of time

that you simply
cannot account for...

In alien abduction lore,
this is called "missing time,"

and it's believed that the
aliens will erase your memory

for a certain period
of the encounter.

There are other stories
within the Bigfoot realm

where people claim to have had
encounters with UFOs

or even had an abduction.

SHATNER:
Could Bigfoot actually be
an extraterrestrial?

Some Bigfoot researchers
would argue the answer is yes,

and that the strongest evidence
lies not in what happened

during Joe's Bigfoot encounter

but what happened after.

FEX:
Two weeks later, at maybe 10:30,
11:00 in the morning.

I go into the shower

and I come back
out of the shower,

uh, dry off real quick,

relax for a minute.

I have a cup of coffee.

I unconsciously reached
back here

and I could feel something.

I realized there was
a relatively deep hole

that I could fit my pinky into.

It didn't feel like a wound.

It felt perfectly fine.

It didn't hurt at all.
There was no sensation.

SHATNER:
An inexplicable hole
in your head

isn't something
that's easy to understand.

But after considering
every possibility,

Joe recognized that what
happened to him was bizarre

but not exactly unheard of.

All of these things
are extremely familiar

in the field of UFOs

and the subfield
of UFO abductions.

They have similarities
in their patterns of behavior,

similarities in the environment
and the circumstances,

similarities in
the side effects.

I don't know
if these things are related,

but there is a correlation.

SHATNER:
Joe Fex may not have
any definitive answers

about Bigfoot
or about his experience.

But what he does have

are some intriguing
possibilities to consider,

thanks to the information
that he has exchanged

with other Bigfoot researchers.

And there are some who believe
that this kind of cooperation

will finally prove
that Bigfoot is real.

SHATNER: The Oregon Coast
Mountain Range.

Here, not far from the shore
of the Pacific Ocean,

lies a densely wooded area
that, once a year,

is the site of
an invitation‐only conference

attended by international
experts in their field.

It's called...

Beachfoot.

NEISS:
It was in 2003

that I had this thought,

"You know, what would happen
if you could get

"all of these
well‐known researchers

locked in the same room
at the same time?"

The amount of brain trust
there would be amazing.

MIONCZYNSKI:
The Beachfoot gatherings,

where scientists get
to discuss openly

their research and findings

concerning Bigfoot...

I think it's
a very important step

which will open up the subject

to other scientists
who are interested

in studying
this kind of phenomenon.

MELDRUM: One of my most
enjoyable activities

at such an event is, sometimes

I teach a workshop
on "Tracking 101."

Those are opportunities
where non‐academics,

non‐PhDs, can strive to emulate
the scientific method

in their own search

for the evidence
they presume to find.

SHATNER:
Gatherings like Beachfoot

prove that the legend of Bigfoot
is alive and well.

But how is that possible

when no conclusive evidence
of Bigfoot has ever been found?

What drives our interest
in this enduring mystery?

The reason I believe

that the Sasquatch subject
has such staying power

is that there's
so many witnesses out there.

There's many parts
of the country where, if you go

and ask people
if they've ever seen one,

so often you'll hear,

"No, I haven't,
but I know somebody who has."

So, there's many people
out there

who at least know
someone they trust

who has told them
that they've seen these things.

And that has had
the effect of changing

people's opinion
about the subject

of what would otherwise be just
total skepticism everywhere.

BURDORFF:
Bigfoot matters because

it would be tangible proof
of a solved mystery.

Finding a real Bigfoot,

a real creature,

would be like discovering

another piece of the world.

And it's... it's us reaching
for another piece

of that unknown

that's always
just beyond our reach.

So, now, what do you think? Huh?

Is Bigfoot real,

or is it all just part
of an elaborate hoax?

I guess that depends on what
kind of a person you are.

If you're the open‐minded type

who believes that the world
is filled with wonder,

then you probably believe
it's real.

If you are the hard‐nosed,
cynical type,

then you're convinced
it's all nonsense.

But then there is a third type.

The type who has
actually seen Bigfoot

in the fur‐covered flesh.

For you, Bigfoot is real,

and your experience
has convinced you

that there is much
about this mysterious creature

that, for now,
remains unexplained.

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