♪ [ Birdsong ] NARRATOR: In 2012,
a hunter was trekking through the Boreal forest,
north of Fairbanks, Alaska, searching for moose. As he crossed a ridge,
something below drew his eye. ♪♪ He approached cautiously and found what appeared to be
a ravaged campsite with an oddly constructed
shelter. ♪♪ The hunter scanned
the scattered supplies and then spotted the blood. He heard a cry from the trees... [ Calling ] ...and caught a glimpse of what
he would later describe as a monkey-like beast. He fled the scene
and alerted authorities, but the missing camper
was never found. ♪♪ Inside the vast frontier
of Alaska is a mysterious triangle where, each year, 5 out of
every 1,000 people go missing. [ Animal growls ] [ Animal roars ] Three investigators look
for answers -- Jax, a former police officer... Ken, a specialist
in strange phenomena... and Tommy,
an expert on Alaskan legends. Together, they uncover
mysterious sightings and ancient legends, exploring the possibilities
of those who go... --<font color="#FFFF00"> Captions by VITAC --</font><font color="#00FFFF">
www.vitac.com</font> Captioning provided by
A+E Networks The team's investigation begins
north of Fairbanks, heading to the site of where
the camper went missing. MAN: This habitat is remarkable.
It's just teeming with life. This area is a rich environment,
with lots of water, plenty of trees, a perfect place
for animals to thrive. MAN: Obviously what I'm most
interested in is this hunter's account of
things moving through the trees and making primate-like sounds. That is really weird
and interesting. There's never been a single
confirmed sighting of a monkey in Alaska. Also, it's illegal to own
a primate here, and the zoos don't even
have them. So, I'm skeptical of
the hunter's claims about seeing a monkey. There's our water source, Ken. Yeah. Animals are drawn
to water, so this is a good place to see
what might be living out here. What is that on the other side? Ugh.
Those are feathers. Something definitely preys
on something here. And whatever it was sat up here,
plucking this seagull and just, yeah,
stripped it all down. Seagull feathers? Yeah. Right here in my hand, Ken. Shoulders and breastbone
right there. Holy [bleep]. Now, what kind of animal would
pluck a bird? The bald eagles will catch
a seagull right out of the air and land in a tree
and pluck it and eat it. I've seen that many times. And something with
opposable thumbs. It would be unusual
for a primate to eat something like a bird,
but not impossible. Do you give the hunter's story
any credit, Tommy? There's a legend, story that's
been around for centuries with the Athabascan people --
the Cet'aeni. It's a tailed creature. Like a monkey? Like a monkey. maybe 30, 40 pounds, 3, 3 1/2 feet tall,
living in trees and in caves
on the ground. NARRATOR: The Cet'aeni, literally translated as
"tailed ones," are described as
moderate-sized primates with powerful legs
and razor-sharp claws. These baboon-like beasts are said to be much smarter than
normal monkeys, capable of sophisticated
communication and coordinated attacks. The harsh environment of Alaska
and the lack of fossils suggest monkeys
have never lived here, but that doesn't mean
they couldn't. Something like that would
really have to adapt to its surroundings. And obviously it would have to
weather the cold, but, I mean, we know that
the Japanese macaques, the snow macaques --
they're very hardy. They can endure temperatures as
low as 20 degrees below zero, live in high altitudes and live
in the snow, so... That's pretty harsh. It's not that far a stretch
for me to imagine that some type of primate might
live in this environment. TOMMY: The Cet'aeni legend
really interests me because if there really are no
monkeys in Alaska, then what inspired the stories? NARRATOR: Most Alaskan legends
reflect real local animals. The amarok is a cross between
a wolf and a bear. The Kushtaka is a hybrid
of otter and man. So, how did the Cet'aeni legend
take root without real monkeys
to inspire it? How stable you think this is? Looks all right. NARRATOR: Jax moves to
a higher vantage point to scan the forest. But if monkeys are out there, Ken believes they won't be seen
until they want to be seen. Monkeys are very smart. There have been studies that
have been done in France on baboons, and they were able
to get these baboons to memorize 10,000 different images. So, we're talking about
something that's highly intelligent. I don't know, guys. Witnesses are describing
something like monkeys 'cause they're afraid. And whenever there's fear
involved or any kind of incident when your adrenaline's going up,
things always get exaggerated. I know I need to keep
an open mind, but right now I'm just not
buying this monkey business. I think we're probably dealing
with a crime that's been committed by a person,
and not an animal. NARRATOR: With several miles to
go to reach the site where the camper went missing,
the team gets back under way, knowing it will be dark soon. ♪♪ According to the GPS,
this is it, guys. This must be the remains
of the structure that the hunter was
talking about. This seems way big
for a one-man shelter. And you also notice that
nothing's been cut -- everything's been broken. Right.
Yeah, I'm seeing that, too. Snapped off or... Snapped there, yeah. Rotten ends or --
Nothing's clean-cut. The first thing that I noticed
about this structure -- it was really crudely built. If he had a knife,
then why didn't he use it? And if he didn't have one,
then why is he settling into such a remote spot
without the proper tools? Either way, we need to check
the surrounding areas for any clues about what
happened to him. I think we need to document what
we got here, and then I think we need
to split up. We'll cover more ground. Agreed. We need to get out there
and see what's here. If this camper was attacked by
the Cet'aeni, it is believed that they hunt in
packs and can skeletonize their prey
as fast as piranhas. Any group that large and active would almost definitely
leave signs. You head out to the east.
I'll head north. You'll go west? Yes. All right. NARRATOR: Searching Alaska for
killer monkeys might seem a bit farfetched, but new monkey species are being
discovered all the time, and all around the world. Last year,
in South America alone, five new species of saki monkeys
were discovered. In 2012, the lesula monkey was
discovered in the Congo. And in 2010, a new species of
snub-nosed monkey was found in Myanmar. Could Alaska, where animals grow to
immense sizes, be the home of an unknown
species of monkey that has grown large enough
and aggressive enough to be a threat to humans? ♪♪ That's interesting. I come across a downed
with roots that have been freshly gnawed. I don't know what kind of animal
would have done this. Tommy, you there? <i> Yeah, Jax.</i> Hey, head over to my location. I'm about
1,000 yards northwest. I'm gonna shine my light,
and hopefully you can see me. <i> All right,
I'm heading that way.</i> All right, I got you. Come check this out. What do you got? I walked right by this, actually
saw it when I turned around. The roots have been gnawed. I know the bears are just now
coming out of their dens. Usually they're out there
digging up tender roots or other grasses that are
starting to grow. This is pretty soft ground
around here. I don't see any sign of bear. There should be footprints if
a bear came through here. Yeah. Whoa.
What the heck? Jax or Tommy,
can you hear me? Go for both of us. You guys need to come
check this out. I found something interesting. <i> I'm about a quarter of a mile
east of you.</i> All right, make sure you shine
your light so we can see you. We'll be out of here
in a few seconds. <i> You got it.</i> ♪♪ -What you got?
-What do you got? Check this out. Claw marks? That's what it looks like. Evidently, something gouged
some very deep cuts in this particular tree. They're very high up the ground,
and these cuts are very fresh. And while two of the marks are
somewhat in line, one seems to be at
an opposing angle. Tommy, is that a bear? Hard to say. Generally, bear
scratch marks aren't at random angles. They're all together. NARRATOR: Scratch marks on trees
are a common way for bears to mark their territory. But these markings generally
mimic a footprint or leave parallel lines. What the team has found
doesn't fit the paradigm. Guys, I don't know what
that could be. Maybe they're different marks from a couple of
different animals. I think we need to go back
and consult some experts in these fields. Let's definitely document it, and then I say it's getting cold
and let's get out of here. We've come across a couple
things tonight that are worth a second opinion,
but as of right now, I can't explain what happened to
the missing camper. Maybe someone else will see
something in these clues that we don't. NARRATOR: The possibility of
monkeys in Alaska is no longer a question
for fisherman Philip Hoyle, who claims to have seen them
firsthand back in 2007. PHILLIP: I'll never forget --
it was this beautiful, sunny afternoon
and I was out and I was fishing and it was great. I caught my fair share of some
fish that day, and I figured it was time
to call it a day. As I'm starting to
wrap my stuff up, I hear this rustling going on
in the trees. [Rustling] All I could see were these
two red dots. They looked like
they could be eyes. I couldn't explain it. Then I realized that these were
some kind of an animal. Next thing you know, several
more appear, and I can tell that they're
getting closer. So, I decided, you know what? It's a good idea to get the hell
out of there. [ Monkeys chittering ] I ran back to my truck,
I locked the door, and as soon as I looked up... this creature was standing in
front of me... about four feet tall, furry, had like a dog-type face
and a simian/apelike body. I started my truck up, I revved
the engine, and it -- it must have scared the hell
out of the creature. It ran off -- I tell ya,
If I didn't run to my car when they
came out of those woods, I'm certain that they would have
had me for lunch, no doubt. NARRATOR: The legend of the
Cet'aeni, also known as the "tailed ones," claims that they dwell in trees
and in caves. The team found some irregular
scratches on a tree near where the camper
went missing. If there's a chance it could be
one of these killer monkeys, Ken wants to find out
more about them. He schedules a meeting with
his friend Nick Redfern. Nick is a fellow investigator
of strange creatures and has been in Alaska digging
deep into local lore. Right now I'm currently
investigating a case of a creature known as
the Cet'aeni. Yep. Mm-hmm. What do you know? They're sort of described by
the Native Americans as looking like a monkey --
not an ape, but a monkey, with a tail. Talk to me about
behavior patterns. Okay. Where could I find these things? Where do they live? They talk about these creatures
chiefly living underground. We're talking about tunnels,
caverns, subterranean areas. We're also told
they attack people, possibly even feed on people. Wow. These creatures are supposed to
be highly developed mentally. Reports of them, for example, like setting traps
to catch people. Really? Oh, yeah. Yeah. What kind of makes it different
to all other monkeys, though, is that it only has three toes. On my initial investigation, I actually found what appeared
to be a three-toed claw mark... Oh, wow. ...in the side of a tree. Huh. NARRATOR: The thought of
a three-toed monkey could explain the scratch marks
the team found on the tree. Ken can't be sure
that's what it was, but it opens the possibility
that the Cet'aeni are real. [ Wind howling ] NARRATOR: Each year,
new missing-persons cases in the Alaska Triangle
number in the thousands. Could the huge quantity of
unsolved cases be related to native legends
of strange beasts? And could one of these beasts, a three-toed species of
killer monkey, be responsible for a missing
camper, among others? Monkeys are not known to have
ever lived in Alaska, but stories of tailed beings
suggest it's possible. Ken joins Tommy to meet with
physical anthropologist David Yesner
at the local zoo. They want to ask him if such
a creature -- or any kind of monkey --
could be alive here in Alaska. Hey, Ken. Hey. I'm Tommy. Hey, Tommy. Good to meet you. As I told you on the phone,
the reason we're out here is we're investigating the case
of a missing hiker. And potentially it could be
linked to some type of unusual animal. All right, yeah. In a vast wilderness state
like Alaska, isn't is possible that there
could be some type of primate out here that maybe hasn't been
documented yet? Well, it's always possible that
you could encounter something that hasn't been documented. But what we have to base
scientific evidence on, of course,
is the fossil record. And Alaska is not the kind of
environment that would support most of the primates
that we're familiar with. What about
the Japanese snow monkey, the macaque
they have there? Ah, good point.
Japanese macaques were quite closely related to
some of the Old World monkeys that are found in Africa. NARRATOR:
According to the fossil record, early primates formed while
South America and Africa were joined together,
but once the continent split, the evolution into higher
primates, including humans, occurred only on
the African side. New World primates only migrated
as far as the southern part of
North America. Some Old World primates
made it further north in Asia, including the hardy snow monkey. But only humans are believed to
have crossed the Bering land bridge
into Alaska. Can I show you some of these
photographs? Sure, yeah, by all means. Just kind of get your opinion? Now, this is the thing that I
found that I thought was really bizarre. This is obviously, what I
interpreted to be claw marks. Certainly what it looks like. Right?
There's the measurements. We're looking at about
four inches there. I know bears mark their
territory and usually going across, four marks,
but these marks are all in different directions,
unlike a bear, to me. Yeah. This kind of gives you
an indication of, like, how high off the ground
we're looking at there. Hard to say exactly what it
might have been. Bears come to mind when you look
at the claw marks, but you have to consider
other possibilities, too. Doctor, are you familiar with
the legend of the Cet'aeni? I have heard that it's some kind
of monkey-like or primate-like creature. Is that possible,
a three-toed primate? Ah, well, now we're reaching
back even further to even simpler primates. So, if we look at
the prosimians, who are the large group of
primates that preceded the evolution of monkeys, you have ones that have claws
on some, fingers and toes with nails
on the others. NARRATOR: Prosimians are a class
of animal that still exists today, which
includes lemurs and tarsiers. Like all primates
except spider monkeys, which have four fingers
on their hands, prosimians have five fingers
and toes. But prosimians are unique in having two different types
of claws. Some resemble human fingernails, while others are sharper
grooming claws. These could leave marks on trees that make the animal appear to
have fewer than five toes. How big would
these creatures have been? For the most part,
relatively small. There are some prosimians
that are larger, that are sort of cat-sized. I was looking for a viable
alternative to this three-toed-killer-monkey
theory. And the prosimian claws
sounded promising at first. But the small size of these
animals doesn't mesh with the sightings. At this point, the Cet'aeni
is still a possibility. ♪♪ As Ken and Tommy consider
Dr. Yesner's information, Jax is on a mission to hear
a firsthand account of a Cet'aeni attack. He meets with a local witness
who claims to have had an encounter with these
monkey-like animals just two weeks ago. Troy? How's it going? Hey. Good. I'm Jax.
Nice to meet you. Yeah. Likewise. Is this where everything
went down? This is where
I had my car parked, and this is
the trailhead, yes. All right. So, the trail's over here. So, if you want to follow me --
it's quite a ways in the woods. All right. Yeah, we can get down
there, and then we can chat. The fact that this guy's
sighting was so recent plays to our advantage. As a former police officer,
I know that a witness' memory of an event gets altered
as more time goes by. [Birds chirping] So, this is about the area
where it happened. So, what happened? I was coming back from
a long hike. I was heading back to my car. From behind me, I heard this
screeching noise. As I turned to look, I saw some kind of creature
leaping tree to tree. I just took off running. And then, from my left,
I saw it again. As I kept running, I heard
the noise on my right, and I felt like I was
being surrounded. But I was so far into the woods,
I didn't know where I was. So, I ran underneath
one of them, hopefully heading towards
my car. And the fear of getting eaten,
I didn't care. I just kept running. Can you describe what you saw,
what this creature looked like? This is gonna sound crazy, man,
but it was monkey-like. Monkey-like? Yeah. A long, curly tail. Whatever these things are,
they really scared him, and I take that seriously. Are we pretty close to the path
you were being chased on? Yes. It's right up here about
another 30 yards. Well, if you're up for it, I
want to keep heading that way. Okay. How many you think there were
around here? Three or four. I felt like
I was being surrounded. Hey, check this out. You were running straight
towards this thing. I just saw one of these
structures. This is much bigger and denser than the one we found
the other night. That path that we just took. Look how this wall
is blocking it. My friend, I think you were very
close to being run right into a dead end. NARRATOR: Jax has to consider
a new possibility. Maybe the camper
hadn't built a shelter. Maybe something else
built a trap. [ Crickets chirping ] I want you guys to see this. What you got? Here's the pictures. Oh, wow. NARRATOR: After Jax's meeting
with a witness, the team considers
a new theory. What if these stick structures
are corrals where something is trapping
prey -- including humans? That definitely looks like
the other one. See how it's a lot bigger? Yeah. It's a lot bigger,
a lot of work put into that. A lot more intricate?
A lot fresher. I'm seeing a lot of greenery
in there. Here's on the map, and here's
the first corral, horseshoe, whatever we want to call it. Got it. And then over here is where
Troy led me to today. Obviously we don't know where
these things are, moving around during the day. But I think one thing's
for sure -- if they're not being seen very
often, they must have some type of hiding place. Sure. Somewhere they're calling home. To my mind, I think that a cave
would be the perfect answer to that question. What do you think about us
starting here? I actually did talk to some
local hunting guides, and they all mentioned that
there were some caves in that area. I agree with you that's the area
we need to be searching, but I think we need to start
our search at this new corral. Mm-hmm. It's fresh. It's obviously been
recently set up. Maybe there are signs of food,
animals, something being drug off a path, a pathway where
these things may travel. And if not,
I say we stake out the area and see if they come back. I've always heard that the
tailed ones were supposed to be smart and that they had
sophisticated communication and hunted as a team. But this kind of planning
and attack puts their intelligence
at a whole new level, and this is frightening. NARRATOR: Primates attacking
fellow primates is not unprecedented. Jane Goodall even noted a case
of chimp cannibalism, where a mother/daughter pair was killing and eating
other chimp infants. And humans are targets, too, as the famous case
in 2009 proved, when a pet chimp named Travis attacked a woman and severely
injured her face. Could monkey-like primates
now be targeting humans as food in the Alaska Triangle? Could this be part of why so
many people go missing here? In order to best prepare for
their stakeout, Tommy suggests a unique approach
to their weaponry. We're gonna make some blowguns
here and darts. Cool. Got some pipes,
one for each of us. These are pretty long.
Is this pretty standard? The longer, the -- the -- the
more accurate you're gonna be. Oh, okay. Hmm. Yeah. I mean, you could make a
short one for short range stuff, but we're looking to
get 'em up there. NARRATOR:
Tommy's idea to use blowguns allows the team
to hunt silently. And with darts laced with
tranquilizer, they could safely capture whatever is constructing
these traps. For our darts, I cut off
plastic PVC. We're just gonna make a cone
with it, make it a little funnel. And then you can test it
by dropping it in there. Mine fits. Perfect. People in the Amazon rainforest
have been doing this for centuries, maybe thousands
of years, so this is a proven method of hunting monkeys,
no doubt about that. You know, if we had a gun,
you fire one shot, you're scaring everything
in the vicinity away. A blowgun is a weird weapon
to me. But then again,
this is all weird. If some sort of murderous
monkey's gonna come at me, I'm pretty sure
my gun's gonna come out. But for right now, I'll play
along and see how it goes. These monkeys, if they exist, are probably lightning fast, so our aim is gonna have to
be dead on. I doubt I'll have any accuracy
at all if I actually have to use
this blowgun. Fortunately, Tommy's done it
before, so I'll follow his lead. Drop your dart in there. Hold it up and then --
and just launch it. [ Blows ] Oh!
That worked pretty good. What kind of range and velocity are we talking about
with these things? These things can go up to
400 feet per second, up to 50 yards away. Give it a go? Awesome! You got it, man. Good shot. I'm surprised the damage
and the -- and then the depth
it can get on it. Perfect. Excellent.
Look at that. I've hunted mysterious creatures
all over the world. And the prospect of actually
capturing a live specimen -- that's the Holy Grail
of my profession. Maybe we'll have a chance
to do that tonight. Excellent. Look at that. Nice. I think we've got
the hang of it. Let's collect the stuff
and get out of here. Let's do it. Honestly, this blowgun seems
like a cumbersome and inefficient weapon,
but the guys are hell-bent on capturing whatever this is
alive, so we'll see if it works. NARRATOR: If the Cet'aeni
creatures are real, a swift response is critical,
according to Evan Monroe, who believes he and his brother were attacked by one
back in 2010. It was the first week of August,
and my brother and I went on our annual
summer camping trip. It was the first of three nights
at our favorite spot. While I was setting up
the sleeping bags, my brother -- he just put out the fire, and he
was going to the trees to dump the water from the pots
and pans. All of a sudden, I heard him
scream bloody murder. [ Snarling ] Aah! This monkey-like creature
jumped down onto his back from the tree. And as I ran over to help, he's whacking at the monkey
with the pans. He must have clocked it pretty
good 'cause the monkey bailed, took off into the woods. My brother --
his shirt was ripped open, and I saw three nasty scratches
right down his back. I had to rush him
to the hospital. He ended up needing
a bunch of stitches to seal up those wounds. Let's do this. So, now we're making our bait
for the Cet'aeni. The evidence and reports suggest
that these beings may be targeting humans as food. We're going to set out an
alternate meat that might tempt them and draw them in --
pork. Well, if those doesn't work out,
guys, I could be a butcher, right? This should drive them nuts. You guys ready to go? Yeah. We're always taught
to be prepared when we go into the forest
here in Alaska. So we're bringing our blowguns
and plenty of darts. JAX: Personally, I don't know if
we'll find a killer monkey or a regular monkey
or something else entirely. But whatever's out there,
I'm ready to solve this mystery. NARRATOR: Alaska -- the abundant
wildlife here makes it a Mecca for hunters. But is something
hunting humans? Could a troop of
killer monkeys be setting traps and picking people off, adding to the number of missing
in the Alaska Triangle? Marks that the team found
on a tree suggest a three-toed creature. The most famous
three-toed tree dweller is the sloth, a sedentary animal
in Central and South America. While not related to monkeys,
it features many common traits in a phenomenon known as
convergent evolution. Perhaps the plentiful,
fast-moving prey of Alaska forced a similar animal to
evolve speed and hunting skills. The team prepares for
a stakeout, wielding blowguns that could
help them validate the existence of
these tailed ones. ♪ How far was this other trap? I think it's roughly a mile. Being in potential Cet'aeni
territory at night is kind of frightening. Legends say that these creatures can jump up to 20 feet
with lightning speed, but nighttime provides
better cover for us. If we get our traps set
and hunker down, hopefully we'll see them
before they see us. This looks a whole lot different
at night. Absolutely does. Very eerie.
Everything's steaming. It's really important that we
remember what happened to the eyewitness, as far as
them coming up behind him. Yeah. So, watch our backs, and I
also suggest we stay silent. As much as possible. Let's keep moving. ♪ [ Birds calling ] Wow. You can see none of it was
done with tools. It's all broken branches. They're all snapped off. The first time I saw one of
these structures, I assumed a human built it. But some animals are skilled at
construction, too. Birds build nests.
Beavers build dams. So, I have to consider this
primate theory as a possibility. All right,
let's go set these up, guys. NARRATOR: Using the corral
as their center point, the team will spread out three
bait stations with cameras, covering multiple angles
of approach. This is a good spot, guys. Let me put the trail cam
on here. Uh-huh. NARRATOR: Baiting with pork
is a calculated risk. Pig meat has been most closely
compared to human meat. And if these monkeys have
developed a taste for humans, it might be habit-forming. A famous case of this phenomenon
occurred in Kenya in 1898. The lions of Tsavo were two
lions that attacked and ate dozens of railroad workers and had to be hunted down
and killed to end their rampage. Let's go back down that way. Yeah. The risk is, if the pork doesn't
work, we're the real thing, and we'll be sitting nearby. I think we're good, guys. Let's go get a higher
vantage point. Jax uses a heat scanner
to search for warm bodies hidden in the dark. Meanwhile, Ken fires up
a call blaster to mimic animal sounds that
might lure in their target. <i> [ Monkey chattering ]</i> He starts with the Japanese macaque,
or snow monkey, since its call might be similar
to any local monkey-like beasts. [ Branches snapping ] What's that? To our left, about 30 feet
up in the tree. What is it, a monkey? I see it.
Get the tranquilizers. [ Leaves rustling ] [ Blowguns firing ] Where'd it go?
Do you see it? ♪ To our left, about 30 feet
up in the tree. What is it, a monkey? I see it.
Get the tranquilizers. [ Leaves rustling ] [ Blowguns firing ] Where'd it go?
Do you see it? Let's go. Go. Go! Is the branches broke off? Broken branches up here. All right, guys,
I found a dart over here. Is this a dart? How many did we shoot? Just one for me. I shot two. That's three. NARRATOR: With two of the three
darts found, it's likely the third
is in the brush somewhere. But if there's a chance they hit
their target, the team needs to
track it down. We might have injured it. Think about it. Where is an injured animal
gonna go? It's gonna go home. Exactly. NARRATOR: According to legend, the Cet'aeni's preferred home
is well-known. They talk about these creatures
chiefly living underground, caverns, subterranean areas. We got to go to the cave. Let's get moving. Okay. Just listen. Hear anything? No. What if it doesn't
go back to the cave? Then we're on a goose chase,
big time. Tommy, what's this? Three toes? Does that look like the claw
we had up on the tree the other day that Ken found? Ken. Ken. What's up? Does this look like what you saw
up on the tree the other day? Yeah, I suppose that could be
interpreted as a three-toed track. It is a track.
No question about it. It's headed this direction. Before we take off, let's get
a photo of this, guys. Tracks get messed up out here
all the time, so you never know if it might be
an eagle or something else that stepped there and its
prints got compromised. If it's on the ground,
it's probably wounded. We need to be real careful as
we're approaching this, guys. Look, there's another footprint. We're definitely going in
the right direction. It's coming to
a narrowing up here. Check the GPS. We're headed right towards
that crevice in the rocks. All right, we may be stepping
into the hornet's nest. So uneasy, man.
This is kind of scary. Let's get moving. [ Grunts ] Go past me. This is the opening, guys.
Look. I think I need to get in there. [ Sighs ]
Are you sure, man? Yeah. We'll mount me up with
the GoPro. You can monitor it
from out here. All right.
You got a walkie, right? Yeah. Careful, buddy. [ Grunts ] Looking good down there, Jax.
How's it going, man? I got something. <i> What do you see, Jax?</i> <i> Some scat or feces.</i> <i> It possibly has some berries
in it,</i> maybe some fur.
I can't tell. Yeah, that looks fresh. <i>I'm gonna try to take a sample.</i> I don't know what the scat
sample will ultimately reveal, but it does prove that something
alive has been in this cave, and somewhat recently. All right, guys,
I got our sample. I'm gonna move further into
the cave. Be careful, buddy. [ Grunting ] [ Breathing heavily ] Oh, man, it's rancid in here. Ugh! Guys, we have bones in here.
It's rancid. Copy that.
I'm seeing them. Those almost look human, man. You guys, I'm gonna stop here
and bag this up. <i> I just packaged up the bones.</i> Copy that. <i> I don't know, man.
I-I think you should pull out.</i> I think we got enough. <i> We've come this far, man.
I'm keeping moving.</i> [ Grunts ] Oh, [bleep] me! What is that? Oh, [bleep] me! What is that? I can't tell exactly. It's a rib cage
and a spinal section. This is fresh. [ Branches snapping ] Whoa, that was back in
the tree line there. Sounds like something's
moving around up there. Jax, we're hearing something. You need to get
out of there now. [ Leaves rustling ] <i> Coming out, guys.</i> Roger that. [ Grunting ] Whew! We got to move. Something's moving around
up here in the canopy. The noise we heard to me sounded
like more than one animal. I don't know if a troop
of Cet'aeni was closing in, but whatever it was, they pulled
back after we heard them. This way.
I heard it right up here. It was right up here
in these trees. Where? Right up here. You heard it, too,
right, Tommy? I heard a crashing. Yeah, there was something. It was like a crash, like
a branch broke or something. You see any broken branches? I'm not seeing any. There's something out here. Where'd it go? Spread out
and look around, guys. Holy cow, guys! Come over here.
It's one of our darts. Don't touch it.
Don't touch it. You got an evidence bag? I do. I got some gloves in my pocket. Dude, are you sure that didn't
fall out of one of our pockets? I don't know. Hopefully we might
have some DNA on it. This could be
the smoking gun. There are only two possibilities
for how this dart got out here. Either we dropped it ourselves,
which seems unlikely since I don't think we walked
through this area, or else it fell out of whatever
animal we hit with our blowgun. This could be the break that
we've been looking for. I mean, we got valuable
evidence here. We could get lab work done.
Let's get out of here. Let's head down the hill. NARRATOR: The team submits their
findings to a forensics lab for analysis. When the results are sent back,
they reconvene to see if the evidence points
toward the Cet'aeni or something else. I got the e-mails
a little while ago. All right, man,
stop with the suspense. We've been waiting. The scat -- apparently, it is very difficult to derive conclusive DNA results
off of scat for a number of reason.
There's -- It's just telling you
what's in it, right? Exactly. It definitely looked
like it was a predator. I mean, they found hair fibers
and stuff like that. There's wolf in the area, and bears do trek through
there occasionally. There are. So, unfortunately,
that was kind of a nonstarter. So, what did they say about
the bones? Yeah, that's what
I'm curious about. All right, well, it kind of
confirmed our suspicion that it was a large animal, and in
this case, a large known animal, which is a reindeer. Mm-hmm. I'm just glad they
weren't human. I mean... Yeah, that was a kind of scary
there for a moment. Thought we might have found
our missing hiker there for a moment. Right. Yeah. So, how did the bones
get in the cave? That's the question. It could have been
our killer monkeys, right? Something could have
dragged it in there. Why not? Could have been wolves. Could have been a bear.
I mean, anything could have dragged that in there. Now, as interesting as it is to
speculate that these monkeys are real,
we have to be careful not to jump to conclusions
too quickly. I'm just not convinced that
the evidence supports that yet. How about the dart?
What you got? Um, the DNA test result on
the dart come back as 99% human. Human? 99% human with a 1% variation
that is unidentified. What does that mean, 1%? Where do we go with that? It just opens up a whole 'nother
can of worms because chimpanzees obviously possess 99% of
the DNA code of a human. They're essentially our
closest relatives. I think somehow we contaminated
this, and this is our DNA. Contamination by humans
is very common. Yeah, very common,
and it's so simple for it to be contaminated. We handled them while launching
them and retrieving them. Yeah. We can't rule it out. I mean, I'm with you. So, here's the one that
I'm having trouble wrapping my head around --
three-toed tracks. I mean, we know there are lots
of tree-toed mammals -- sloths, different types of
odd-toed ungulates, some marsupials, you know,
but nothing that we know of that's native to Alaska that
would have had three long claws and, you know, three digits
that are that prominent. Right. So, based on our photographs, they weren't able to make any
type of conclusive determination as to what those tracks
belong to. No theories at all, huh?
Just completely inconclusive? Unfortunately, we weren't able
to get anything there, either. Let's suppose for a moment
that we did hit something with that dart,
but it didn't go down. It's like it was impervious
to that tranquilizer. Can we be dealing with something
that is somehow bio-resistant to our tranquilizer, some type
of super ape, super monkey? There are people that believe
that the government, the military are engineering
some type of super primate. You know, and Stalin was doing
a very similar thing back in the 1920s. He actually had a program
in the Soviet Union where he was trying to
crossbreed humans and apes to create super soldiers. I mean, we could be dealing with
something here that was designed for combat, that's bio-resistant
to things like tranquilizers. It's a stretch, but if the
military is doing some kind of weird experimentation like that,
why not here in Alaska, where they have lots of space
and privacy? NARRATOR: The hunt will have to
continue another day for what could be the most
dangerous hunter in the Alaska Triangle, a creature that might be more
human than we realize, that relies on
strength in numbers and a killer conscience to make people go...
Missing in Alaska.
