All language subtitles for The UnXplained Special Presentation s01e15 Monster Mayhem.eng

WILLIAM SHATNER:
Eyewitness encounters

with the elusive creatures

who've evaded extinction.

Winged monstrosities
that terrorize

the countryside from the sky.

And giant, ape-like beasts

who've been spotted
all over the world.

All around us,
we share our planet

with vast array of creatures,
great and small.

But some people believe
they've encountered

monsters in our midst.

Everything from frightening
beasts who lurk in dense forests

to massive winged demons
perched high above us.

What are people seeing?

Could these so-called monsters
actually exist?

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

♪ ♪

Eyewitness descriptions
of cryptid creatures

are as varied as they are vivid.

A boyfriend and I decided
to pull in off the country road,

and I noticed off of my right
shoulder, it was a creature.

And, uh, we sat there in awe
of what we were looking at.

It came right over
in front of the car,

and we looked up,

and I could make out
the shape of a winged man.

Something was sucking the blood
out of my chickens.

The first time I saw it,

the color of it was different.

The physique
of the animal was different.

It has absolutely no hair on it

and all of these different
bizarre features on it.

What is it?

My wife and I were staying
at this cabin.

There was a stream
behind the cabin

and a very steep ridge.

Middle of nowhere.

I was exploring the woods
behind the cabin,

and then I noticed
some movement.

Black, hairy figure.

At first,
I thought was a black bear,

but this figure was much bigger.

Looked like
it was standing upright.

At this point in time,
I still don't know what it was.

Most people generally
have heard of Bigfoot,

the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster.

But what they aren't aware of
is that there is a whole world

of really unusual creatures
out there, lesser known things,

many of them quite
otherworldly and strange.

When it comes to animals
that are known as cryptids,

there's a huge number of them.

We can actually find
reports and cases

all around the world
of strange creatures.

For example,
one of them being Mothman,

which is this huge
humanoid-type figure

with bat-like wings
and fiery red eyes.

It's perceived as
kind of like a Grim Reaper

that surfaces when bad luck or
disasters are about to happen.

If you go to Africa,
there are reports there

of creatures that look just like
something out of Jurassic Park.

We're talking about something
very much akin

to a gigantic lizard
or a monitor lizard.

The phenomenon of what's
become known as the Dogman

in recent years
is a genuinely weird, odd one.

People talk about seeing
these huge, bipedal wolves

that seem to look like
the closest thing

you could imagine to a werewolf.

You have hellhounds
or devil dogs

that are thought to be
omens of death.

You have thunderbirds,

you have creatures
like the Van Meter Visitor.

You have creatures
like the skunk ape.

You have all these creatures
that defy what we know

as flesh and blood creatures
here on this planet.

Some of these creatures
seem to possess abilities

that are borderline
supernatural,

and they have qualities
that can harm you.

Creatures like the Goatman
and the Mongolian death worm.

The wendigo is said
to possess people

and cause them to go mad
and often crave human flesh.

They terrorize people,
cause harm to other animals.

They prey on other animals.
They're essentially predators.

There have been countless
stories of cryptid creatures,

and they exist throughout
all different cultures,

all periods of time in history,

even right up
to the present day.

But there's a shocking lack
of actual evidence

that they exist.

Skeptics would say
that the sightings

of all of these
cryptid creatures

are to be related
to some kind of hallucination

or psychological projection
or whatnot.

When you look at
folkloric tales of monsters,

sometimes they turn out
to be hoaxes or legends,

to the point where
we're just not able to confirm

what they actually were.

Many people simply
make up stories.

You can't rule out
the possibility

that people, for example,

are creating some of these
colorful legends,

something to garner attention

or to propagate
their own motives.

KIRSTEN FISHER:
As a scientist, I don't discount

that there are some animal
or some creature

that's been sighted.

If there are organisms
that we haven't found yet,

it probably speaks to the fact
that the Earth is a vast place

with many types of habitats,
and it's possible

that we haven't explored
them all completely yet.

SHATNER:
We tend to think that everything in the world

we live in is pretty much known.

Every tree, every insect,

every species
has been photographed,

studied, catalogued.

But it isn't true.

According to
mainstream scientists,

there are still literally
thousands of species

that have yet to be discovered.

So, is it far-fetched
to believe that wild,

possibly hybrid creatures
could exist out there?

Strange, so-called cryptids

that have been seen
by average people,

but haven't yet been officially
recognized as being real?

While mainstream scientists
might say yes,

cryptozoologists argue

that we've already found
such an animal

and even have the photographic
evidence to prove it.

One of the most compelling
cryptids that we investigate

is something known
as the Tasmanian tiger,

or the thylacine,

which were considered legendary
or mythological until

living specimens were discovered
and documented by scientists.

This is definitely
a known animal.

The last verified specimen
died off in 1936.

However, since that time,

there has been
thousands of sightings

of Tasmanian tigers,
or thylacines,

on both the island of Tasmania
and mainland Australia

since its presumed extinction.

And there have been some
fairly compelling photographs

that have never been
fully explained.

The thylacine was
a very weird-looking animal.

It looks like a large dog,
like a German Shepherd,

but it's actually a marsupial,
like a kangaroo.

In other words, it carries
its young in its pouch,

and it has these stripes
down its head and neck,

which give it sort of like
a tiger-type appearance.

And it could almost open its jaw

to about 180 degrees,
kind of like snakes.

COUCH: If someone just saw it
running through the woods,

they would think it was
some sort of monster.

The peculiar qualities
of the thylacine,

or the Tasmanian tiger,
are a great example

of how evolution can provide

some amazing mutations
and hybridization.

Just having the thylacine
as a hybrid

increases the possibility
that there are other

of these hybrids out there
lurking in the shadows.

SHATNER:
But what of the other cryptids?

The legions of strange
hybrid creatures

that fly, swim and suck
their victims dry of blood?

Is there similar
photographic evidence

out there that can help
prove their case?

Well, a recent discovery
in China

left locals believing that

there be dragons in our midst.

SHATNER:
In a rural community 120 miles from Beijing,

residents make
an extraordinary discovery

in a local field.

They find a 60-foot-long
set of bones

belonging to a highly
unusual animal.

DOMINIC STEAVU:
The remains unearthed in Zhangjiakou had antlers.

It had prominent claws.
It had a long, serpentine body.

So, this created a huge buzz
and a lot of fascination.

SHATNER:
A video of the strange bones went viral on the internet,

and researchers were baffled
as they attempted

to identify
the bizarre creature.

But many local villagers

insisted that the bones
were the remains of a dragon.

Dragons are a huge part
of-of a lot of Asian culture,

particularly Chinese culture.

They are a tremendously
important symbol

for many, many people.

STEAVU:
Dragons are perhaps one of the most defining elements

of Chinese cultural lore,

and they have been
for thousands of years.

Dragons symbolize knowledge,

wisdom, uh,
otherworldly power, even.

A lot of
the early imperial families

drew their authority

from associating themselves
with dragon blood

or portraying themselves
as descendants of dragons.

So dragons are a very,
um, present creature

in the Chinese
cultural imagination.

SHATNER:
Mainstream scientists

remain skeptical
as to whether or not

the skeleton
that was discovered in 2017

belonged to a real dragon.

But the media frenzy
sparked by its discovery

suggested that many people,
not only in China

but throughout the world,

believe in
the existence of dragons.

TINA BOYER:
We have dragons everywhere

in time
and in different cultures.

And it is fascinating

because some of these cultures
never met.

They never had contact
within history.

So the pervasiveness
of dragon myths in cultures

across many folkloric contexts
is probably no accident.

Dragons are one of
the more fantastic creatures

to study in mythology
and folklore and legends,

because they're so widespread.

They're a big part of
our western culture.

Satan is described as a dragon
in some passages in the Bible.

They're one of
the most powerful animal gods

in aboriginal mythology.

We have dragons
in Ethiopian iconography.

And one of
the fascinating things

is the representations

of what a dragon is supposed
to look like

remains remarkably consistent
over time.

GERHARD:
What's really remarkable is that

if we consider all of
these different influences

that may have contributed
to the dragon legends,

they're all typically portrayed
as being reptilian in nature,

having scales and claws,

often wings
that are very bat-like

or membranous in nature,

a long reptilian tail
with a strange structure,

or a spike,
or a stinger on the end,

very sharp teeth,
the ability to breathe fire.

And so we have to consider
the possibility

that at least
some of these dragon legends

could be based on
some type of extraordinary

and perhaps unknown animal.

SHATNER:
Is it possible

that the many dragons
described in legends

throughout the world
weren't just fictional

but were actually real?

Perhaps the answer lies
in examining

some of the historical accounts

in which people have claimed
to have had encounters

with actual dragons.

In bygone centuries,
encounters with dragons

were not considered to be fables
or tall tales.

They were written down and
documented as historical fact.

They were told
as real stories of encounters

with mysterious
flesh-and-blood animals.

In the eighth century,
there's an example recorded

by, uh, Saint John of Damascus,

where the Roman army is
immensely surprised

when a large creature--

described as a dragon--
rises up behind them.

They fight and ultimately
slay the creature,

and they skin it,
and they send the skin

back to Rome.

BOYER:
People took this extremely seriously

up to the early modern period.

A city in Germany called Worms
is famous

for its dragon fighter.

In the 16th,
17th and 18th century,

they hung up dragon bones

all across the city

to prove that dragons are real.

SHATNER:
Do the many historical reports of dragons prove

that these legendary beasts
were, in fact, real?

Perhaps.

But if so, then it naturally
begs the question,

could giant winged serpents
still exist today?

According to some researchers,
the answer is yes.

And as evidence,
they point to numerous sightings

in the early 20th century
of a flying creature

that was known as
the Van Meter Visitor.

In the early 1900s,
a town in Iowa,

the small town
of Van Meter, Iowa,

was plagued by a giant
eight-foot, bat-like creature...

(camera shutter clicking)

...with huge, leather,
bat-like wings,

and it had a horn on its head
that could project light,

and for five nights,
it terrorized the small town.

And on the fifth night,
during thunderstorms,

it appeared with
a smaller version of itself--

perhaps the female gender
or the offspring--

before descending
back into the coal mine

and disappearing, never to be
seen in Van Meter again.

SHATNER:
What was the mysterious dragon-like creature

that terrorized the residents
of Van Meter, Iowa?

Some researchers believe
a clue can be found

in the fossil record.

Beginning
in the Triassic Period,

220 million years ago,

there was an animal out there

that actually
looked like a dragon.

So-called "pterosaurs,"
which were these winged reptiles

that endured
for 150 million years

and ruled the skies
of our planet

and then went extinct
at the end of the Cretaceous.

But isn't it interesting
that we have modern accounts

and sightings of something
that looks like a living dragon?

A reptilian creature
with a long tail,

presumably scales,
leathery wings, sharp teeth.

As improbable as it seems,

if, in fact,
pterosaurs had managed to endure

throughout history
up until modern times,

their existence would most
certainly explain

the dragon legends of the world.

SHATNER:
It's thrilling to think that legends of dragons could be

based on real-life experiences

-with these awesome creatures.
-(roaring)

And if this massive,
winged species

was able to survive
for thousands of years,

could it explain the existence
of a frightening flying monster

known as
the Tombstone Pterodactyl?

SHATNER:
The spirit of the Wild West is alive and well

in this small town,

where saloon doors
still swing open

and horses pull stagecoaches
along Main street.

Founded in the late 1800s,
Tombstone embraces its history,

when outlaws, gunslingers
and violent shootouts

were all too common.

(wind whistles)

♪ ♪

SHATNER:
The gunfight at the O.K. Corral

is the most well-known tale
from this Wild West boomtown.

But Tombstone's past
is also riddled

with bizarre,
supernatural stories,

including tales
of strange creatures

roaming the frontier

that spread like wildfire
in the 19th century.

There are a lot of legends
that have come out of Tombstone,

but there's one
very curious one.

In 1890,

The Tombstone Epitaph
reported a story

about two ranchers
who saw a giant flying creature

in the sky above them.

LEWIS:
They not only were afraid of it,

but apparently
they tracked it down

and killed this creature

and tried to take a photograph
of it sprawled out.

SHATNER:
According to local lore, a photo of the strange creature

was indeed taken
and even published

in The Tombstone Epitaph,

but locating
the supposed picture

has proven to be... difficult.

In terms of the photograph,
there are legions of people

who remember seeing this picture
even into the 1930s and '40s,

yet no one has ever
been able to locate it.

And in fact,
the edition of The Epitaph

that the story ran in

didn't have
any photographs at all.

SHATNER:
Although the alleged newspaper photo has never been found,

over the years,
a number of bizarre pictures

featuring cowboys
and a massive winged creature

have surfaced and can be seen
on the internet.

One photograph depicts
a group of men

with a giant winged beast.

The creature is winged,
but it's not really a bird.

It looks more
like a pterodactyl,

something prehistoric,
with large, leathery wings

and a large head with
two feet hanging down below.

It adds to the mystery
of the creature

and makes us wonder

what exactly is flying around
in the southern deserts.

SHATNER:
While the images of the winged creature are compelling,

historians have questioned
their authenticity

and claim that
they may have been fabricated

as a result of
the fascination people have

with this strange tale
from the Old West.

Although most variations
of the photo seem to be hoaxes,

I think it's weird
when you combine

all of the things
of the newspaper encounter,

people swearing
that they personally

saw the photograph,

and now it's gone.

It only adds more history
and wonder to the story,

and I think, in some regard,

it makes it even bigger
than it would have been.

SHATNER:
Is the story of the Tombstone pterodactyl

just a tall tale,
or is it possible

that there really was a species
of giant flying creatures

that roamed
the deserts of the Old West?

Perhaps the answer
can be found by examining

accounts from
Native American folklore

of a creature
known as the thunderbird.

THOMPSON:
The thunderbird is one of the most widespread

powerful creatures and symbols
in Native American mythology.

There's a gigantic bird,
some kind of raptor,

sometimes with
somewhat human qualities,

but it's connected with
thunder and with lightning.

Very often, it's flapping its
wings is what creates thunder,

and it shoots lightning
out of its eyes.

MARSHALL TRIMBLE:
The thunderbird is common

in Native American tribes
all over the West.

You'll find them on
petroglyphs on the rocks,

or you'll find them
in totem poles.

It's a special bird,
a special spiritual power

of protection
and support and strength.

That's what
the thunderbird represents.

WEATHERLY:
By some accounts, thunderbirds were strictly spiritual beings.

They lived in another world,

and they were frightening,

but could also sometimes

lend their power to the people.

On other occasions, they were
purportedly real creatures

that could swoop
down at any time

and snatch up humans
if they so choose.

SHATNER:
Is it possible that there is a connection between

the thunderbird
and the winged creature

that was reportedly seen near
Tombstone, Arizona in 1890?

For now, the answer is unclear.

But people remain fascinated by

the idea that
massive winged birds

really did soar over
the American frontier.

THOMPSON:
It's important to remember that this is

taking place in the Wild West.

It's taking place when people
are looking out for marvels

and becoming aware of
Native American explanations,

Native American mythology
at the same time.

So people were aware
that the thunderbird

was held to be out there,
which leads us back to

the question,
you know, the thunderbird,

is it a cryptid,
like it's out there somewhere?

Is it simply a deity

that's sort of cobbled together

from abstract notions of
what the divine is?

Or is it sort of resulting from

people finding pterodactyl
skeletons and saying,

"Wow, there must have been
a great big bird here

at some point."

Or maybe all three.

So, this is still
a great mystery.

Could the Tombstone pterodactyl
have been a thunderbird

from Native American folklore?

Or was it
an actual descendant of

a flying dinosaur soaring across
the skies of the Old West?

Both are
intriguing possibilities.

Halfway around the world,

there's another creature that

also draws a lot of interest

and a large dose of fear.

For hundreds of years,

Australians have been
frightened by

a lumbering, ape-like monster

they call the Yowie.

SHATNER:
27-year-old Dean Harrison is

out for a late night jog

in a wooded area
near the town of Ormeau.

Suddenly, he sees
a large creature

moving in the forest.

HARRISON:
I got these chills

that I could not explain

that went from
my head to my toes

and then back up again.

My hair went on end
because I could hear it

walking through the swamp.

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Pulling up the foliage
out of the ground

and throwing it through
the rest of the forest.

I moved my eyes to see
this huge silhouette

standing there in the bush line

right behind me.

We're talking about
eight feet, roughly.

There was something
about this that just...

alarm bells went off in my head,

and I ran as fast as I could.

SHATNER:
Although Dean's nighttime encounter with

the enormous creature was brief,

further research
led him to believe that

he had encountered
an elusive species

that is commonly
referred to as the Yowie.

LYLE BLACKBURN:
The Yowie is

a hair-covered,
man-like creature

that's said to live on
the Australian mainland.

There's been
thousands of sightings of

this creature over the years,
and stories of it

even date back
to Aboriginal legends.

HARRISON:
The Aboriginals had a lot of names for this creature.

It was Yahoo

or Yuree, Yaree, Youree,

depending on which dialect
and which area you came from,

which-- how you pronounce it.

The first sightings
were written in the papers

in Australia since the 1800s.

Most people describe them
like a big human.

The head sits on the shoulders

and a little bit protruded.

Massive shoulders,
like cannonballs.

Very, very muscular.
Deep, muscular chest.

Very long arms,
compared to a human.

Shorter legs,

deep-set eyes
and heavy eye ridges.

A protruding jaw,

quite a flat, splayed nose.

You can get them
anywhere up to about nine,

even ten feet tall,
some people say.

And there's no shortage of them

because the sightings
are growing.

SHATNER:
Dean's encounter inspired him to form a group known as

Australian Yowie Research,
or AYR.

HARRISON:
We have basically created a group where people can

turn to and look for the answers

once they have an encounter
with one of these creatures.

On our expeditions,

we've had a lot of
sightings and encounters

over the course of
the last 25 years,

along the great dividing range,

from the bottom end of Victoria,

all the way to
the top end of Australia.

SHATNER:
Could a species of giant, ape-like humans

really be hiding
throughout Australia?

It may sound
far-fetched to some,

but the truth is

that the numerous
sightings of the Yowie

aren't the only evidence
that a large cousin of man

may still be living in the wild.

Because there are reports
of similar creatures

all over the world.

The general idea of
an undiscovered

large, ape-like creature
living in the woods

is very common around the globe.

Whether we're talking about
the Himalayas for the Yeti,

the U.S. for Bigfoot,

or whether we're talking
about Australia,

New Zealand for the Yowie,

this is something that appears
to be a worldwide creature.

Evolutionary biologist
Jane Goodall at one point

said it was possible that
such a creature could exist.

And when you have someone
with that sort of

a scientific reputation
that will say there is

a possibility that
this creature exists,

that's very compelling evidence.

BLACKBURN:
If we look back at early man,

there's evidence of
similar types of hominids.

If they developed
in some shadowy place

and continued
to survive and evolve,

these early humans
could have become

what we know as Bigfoot,
Yowie or the Yeti.

And if we were
to actually find undeniable

photo or video evidence
of these creatures,

it would completely
change the way

we've thought about everything,

including our own evolution.

These creatures could
be closely related to us.

This could be a branch
of our own ancestral tree.

SHATNER:
Is it possible that the Yowie, Bigfoot

and the Yeti are real?

As the countless sightings
around the world suggest,

it's a distinct possibility.

And finding proof of this
terrifying creature has become

the dedication,
even an obsession,

for many people
who are on the hunt

for the elusive ape-man.

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 ape-like
creature deep in the woods.

MONEYMAKER:
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, man-like footprints.

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

while 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 told to 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.

(roars)

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.

(growling)

And, just like a grizzly bear,
might become aggressive

under the right circumstances.

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 invading
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'll 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,
it 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.

BADER:
Modern Bigfoot hunters

use techniques
such as wood knocking...

(Bigfoot scream)

...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.

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
doctor Jeff Meldrum,

these impressions
in the ground prove

that there really is
an enormous primate

roaming the forest.

JEFF 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,
inclined terrain

of the mountainous forests
they are said to inhabit.

SHATNER: Late one night,
16-year-old James West

heads out to the snowy woods

behind his property
to hunt coyotes.

He settles in beside
a mound of gravel to wait,

when he sees something

terrifying.

I turned the light on,
and approximately ten feet away

is this thing on all fours,
sniffing the ground.

My first reaction was, man,
that is the biggest coyote

I have ever seen in my life.

I mean, huge massive head
and long body.

And then it looked up at me.

And it lifted itself up
onto its hind quarters.

It was between
seven foot, ten inches tall

and eight foot.

Snout was,

I would say, a good
six to eight inches long,

but also massive upper arms,

huge pectorals, like a werewolf.

It took one step towards me,

and I shot it in the chest.

It let out a yelping sound
and took off.

And at that point, I just said,
"I'm out of here."

It's been approximately 20 years
since I had my encounter.

I still have flashbacks,
even though it's been 20 years.

It made me more aware that

there are things out there
that we don't understand yet.

SHATNER:
James West is just one of hundreds

of people who have reported
seeing the monster

that has come to be known
as the Dogman.

THOMPSON:
Dogman, or dogmen,

they're a little bit different
than a werewolf.

Usually, the idea of the
werewolf is that they transform,

um, maybe it's a full moon,
between human form

and, uh, the wolf form,

at which point they become
wild and dangerous

and aggressive.

But dogmen, they're dogmen
their entire lives.

Uh, so this is just
who they are.

GERHARD:
Dogman really burst onto the scene

in the late 1980s, early 1990s,

when a creature from Wisconsin
was seen feasting on roadkill

and chasing cars
on a lonely country road.

Since that time,
the Dogman phenomenon

has blown up around the world.

SHATNER:
Is it really possible there's a half-man,

half-dog monster roaming
the wilds of North America?

Many researchers
say the answer is yes.

And as evidence, they point to
the fact that similar monsters

have been reported all over
the world for centuries.

THOMPSON:
We have many reports of Dogman going back to European folklore.

The really important thing
to understand about why people

believe in monsters, um,
is that people see them.

And I have talked to many,
many people who have affirmed

that they have seen the Dogman.

SHATNER:
So far, there's been no indisputable evidence found

that proves
the Dogman's existence,

which is also the case
with many other

monsters of myth and legend.

But for people who claim
to have witnessed

one of these
creatures firsthand,

seeing is believing.

THOMPSON:
People have experiences

that can be very, very powerful

and can completely change
their own belief systems.

This brings to the front

a really important fact
about folklore.

Saying something is a legend
does not mean it's not true.

What it means is
it hasn't been accepted

by scientific discourse.

So, saying something
is a monster

doesn't mean it's not real.

It seems that cultures
all across the world

are encountering monsters
that defy explanation.

Could the Tasmanian tiger
have survived

long after it was thought
to be extinct?

Or perhaps an ancestor
of a great winged dinosaur

still glides ominously
in the sky.

In any case, you may want
to look over your shoulder

if you see unusual footprints
in the ground

or hear a disturbing growl
from beyond the trees,

because the answer to just
exactly what's out there

remains... unexplained.

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