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  • 7 weeks ago
River.Monsters.S06E05.Bone.Crusher
Transcript
00:01I'm Jeremy Wade.
00:03For 30 years I've been fishing for evidence
00:06to piece together the stories behind mysterious freshwater deaths.
00:12Tracking down the perpetrators
00:15wherever they're hiding.
00:18And there's one place that keeps calling me back.
00:23A place with more than its fair share of lethal beasts.
00:27The Amazon.
00:31Now, over the course of an entire year
00:33I'm delving deeper into this wilderness than ever before.
00:39As always, I'm looking out for an unusual tale.
00:42An unexplained attack that could lead me to a new monster.
00:48So when a corpse washes up,
00:50covered in extraordinary bruises,
00:53I start my search for an underwater killer.
00:58This could be the scariest river monster I've ever come up against.
01:02But the only way to confront this beast
01:05is in its own element.
01:10Look at the size of this!
01:11I've been exploring the Amazon for 20 years.
01:29It's a river that has mesmerized me with its split personality.
01:33One moment it can sustain you.
01:37Then, in the blink of an eye,
01:39it can transform into something deadly.
01:43I've seen injuries inflicted by many underwater assailants.
01:48And the bites or stab wounds left on victims
01:57can be like a grisly calling card.
02:04Giving me a definite ID.
02:07But I've just heard about a body
02:08that was found in the northeastern part of the Amazon
02:10that had very different injuries.
02:14Reports said the man's torso was covered with bruises,
02:19like nothing anybody had seen before.
02:22No one knows how he died,
02:24but they're blaming it on something in the river.
02:30These mysterious injuries could be the signature
02:33of a new freshwater killer.
02:36Something I've not yet encountered.
02:38I have to find out what's going on.
02:45The epicentre of this mystery is a place I've never been before.
02:51The town of Porto de Mois in Brazil.
02:59This isolated town was first established in the late 1800s
03:03during the Amazon's rubber boom.
03:05When this industry collapsed in the early 20th century,
03:09the place became a lawless outpost.
03:12It's now a hub for illegal loggers.
03:20I speak the local language, Brazilian Portuguese,
03:24which I hope will get me beneath the surface of this community.
03:26My first port of call is the fish market.
03:33Here, I can start getting an idea of what's under the water,
03:43and what I might be up against.
03:44These are Piraiba.
03:45Normally, you'll just see maybe one large one, if you're lucky.
03:50I've never seen this number of small ones.
03:54They say a large Piraiba can swallow a man.
04:05Big old mouth on there.
04:07But they're not on my suspect list.
04:10Their bite isn't strong enough to inflict the massive bruising
04:14that was reported on the corpse in question.
04:16This catfish demonstrates how vicious life is under the water here.
04:35It's become such an arms race down there
04:37that some fish have evolved armor plating.
04:41If you're a large creature under the water,
04:43the only way you're going to get through that
04:44is with big teeth and with a very serious bite force.
04:51It's clear the water here is a place where killer beasts thrive.
04:56Then, I see the remains of one of the most dangerous fish
05:01I've ever encountered.
05:03An arapaima.
05:04The gills would have been here, the head out here somewhere.
05:08I put at least 200 pounds on the weight of that entire live animal.
05:12Big fish.
05:15Arapaima this large have the potential to kill humans.
05:20I myself had a very close call
05:23when one of these living torpedoes launched itself at my chest.
05:28But the injury it inflicts is very localized,
05:30not the extensive bruising reportedly on the corpse I'm investigating.
05:40The fish market hasn't offered up any potential suspects.
05:45I need to find someone who actually saw the body,
05:49who can describe the injuries in more detail.
05:52A first-hand account could give me the lead I'm looking for.
05:59It seems no authorities were called in to examine the corpse.
06:04So I hit the streets to find a witness.
06:07And very quickly, the mystery deepens.
06:11I start to hear about other people who have vanished.
06:16A shop owner tells me about a boat that was coming back to town after a logging trip.
06:21All seemed fine until it got into port, where they made an alarming discovery.
06:29One of the crew who'd been at the back of the boat had disappeared.
06:34The thing about this particular case is that his body to this day hasn't been found.
06:39The Amazon is well known to be a dangerous region, where people do sometimes go missing.
06:48But this wasn't an isolated case.
06:51A man named Enivaldo tells me about a father and son who went out in a canoe one day.
06:59After a couple of days, they hadn't come back.
07:10So they got people together, had a look.
07:14It turned out that they too had vanished.
07:23Everyone here is convinced that something in the water took these people.
07:27And the next story I hear makes me think they could indeed be right.
07:37This time, the victim was a swimmer who disappeared in front of dozens of witnesses.
07:44Somebody on the beach near here dived in the water.
07:50And then didn't resurface.
07:51People didn't see anything other than the fact that he never appeared until this day.
07:54His body hasn't been found.
07:55I'm always on the lookout for anomalies.
07:59For anything unusual that stands out from the background noise of everyday life.
08:10And on the face of it, there appears to be an unusual concentration of disappearances around Porto de Moj.
08:17Is it the work of a serial killer?
08:23This is becoming a much bigger mystery than the one I set out to solve.
08:28I have to find out if the bruised corpse and the disappearances are connected.
08:32At dusk, I head out of town to the location of the most recent incident.
08:40I need to get my line in the water and see what's down there.
08:47Locals avoid going on the river at night, fearing that something may attack them.
08:51This is when the big hunters come out.
08:56I find a good spot to tackle up.
08:57Small fish will be darting into the open water from the safety of the reeds.
09:01Attempting meal for a hungry predator.
09:09I find a good predator.
09:10I find a good spot to tackle up.
09:13Small fish will be darting into the open water from the safety of the reeds.
09:19Attempting meal for a hungry predator.
09:22Judging by the amount of time it took for the lead to hit the bottom,
09:41I'm guessing I've got about 15 foot, something like that.
09:43Not very far off the weeds here, so quite a respectable depth.
09:47With the clicker on, I'll just get my finger on the line as well.
09:50So if anything does pluck, I'll feel it.
09:55Then, in the very place where somebody went missing...
10:00What?
10:02...something strikes my bait.
10:07No, don't push, don't push.
10:10Ow!
10:21In the far northeast of the Amazon, I'm investigating the story of a corpse that washed up with mysterious bruises.
10:30And I've uncovered what sounds like Brazil's very own Bermuda Triangle.
10:35An area where several people have simply vanished.
10:39Locals are blaming something in the water.
10:42And I'm here to find out if they're right.
10:48I'll get it in the boat.
10:50I'll see if I can just pull it in.
10:55Well, this is a stingray.
10:57This is a species of stingray I've never seen before.
11:03It's a good two foot across and weighs around 20 pounds.
11:08Freshwater rays are dangerous thanks to the weaponry they pack.
11:14The venomous spike on the tail.
11:19Normally, they will stab your foot if you tread on them.
11:24That in itself isn't potentially fatal, but worst case scenario is that gets infected.
11:28It gets gangrene and you can die a very slow, painful, lingering death.
11:32Alternatively, if an artery is punctured, the unlucky victim could bleed to death.
11:40Though potentially lethal, stingrays are off my suspect list.
11:47They're simply not capable of producing extensive bruising.
11:56And stingrays don't cause people to disappear.
12:00It's true that in one case I investigated, a young bride was harpooned in her ankle by a stingray,
12:08which then dragged her to her death.
12:11But her body was eventually found.
12:18I want to release it, but these things have to be handled with care.
12:31Right.
12:33It's going over the side.
12:35Tail first.
12:37Got it.
12:38The next morning, I'm back in Porto de Mois.
12:51Word of my investigation has reached a port worker, Mr. Santos.
12:55He says he saw the body with the mysterious injuries.
13:01Could he, perhaps, have the vital information I need to solve this case?
13:06How was the story?
13:08He tells me the victim's name was Lesio, and that he'd gone out hunting with a friend.
13:22They went off in separate directions.
13:26Then, Lesio's friend heard screams as though somebody was being attacked.
13:45He went in the direction of the shouts to investigate.
13:48Lesio!
13:50But Lesio and his boat had vanished.
14:01Search parties were sent out, and the corpse was eventually found.
14:11Mr. Santos confirms that the body was covered in bruises.
14:15I didn't hear any sign.
14:20And that there weren't any distinctive bite marks from Cayman,
14:25or the Amazon's most feared killer, Jurana.
14:32Both of these would have left distinctive and recognisable marks behind.
14:37Whatever attacked and killed Lesio must have been something else.
14:41The body had this look as if part of it had been crushed, particularly the upper body.
14:52Along with the bruising on his neck and torso, bones were also broken.
14:58There was this look of some pretty severe physical damage.
15:12These broken bones are unlike any injuries I've heard of before.
15:16But what in these waters could have crushed a man to death?
15:21I'm guessing that whatever did it must be large...
15:25...and extremely powerful.
15:28I want to get my line in the water at the place where the corpse was found.
15:42But finding someone willing to take me there is proving difficult.
15:47My perseverance eventually pays off.
15:56I find a man who agrees to take me into the kill zone.
16:02I'm going to fish in the margins, where big predators often hunt for their prey.
16:07Bit of tactics. We're moored at the stern of the boat.
16:17The idea being that if anything takes that tries to get into these sunken trees here.
16:25It's very snaggy here on the margin.
16:27We can quickly get the boat out and pull anything away from the snags.
16:32I still don't know what I'm hunting.
16:41But I found that fresh bait is always a good bet for tempting killers onto my line.
16:46It feels powerful.
17:02But is it a fish capable of killing a man?
17:05Which Amazon fish has the biggest bite force of any animal?
17:16The answer right after this.
17:22Pound for pound, the black piranha has the biggest bite force of any animal.
17:27More than a great white shark or even a T-Rex.
17:36I might be closing in.
17:39I've found someone who actually saw the body of a man who was crushed to death by an unknown underwater assailant.
17:48And I have a hunch that the beast behind this is also responsible for a cluster of disappearances around the town of Port-au-de-Moges.
17:56Fishing for suspects.
18:01I've got something on the end of my line.
18:06It's a red-tailed catfish.
18:09That noise is just air being pumped over the gills instead of water.
18:17This one is around 20 pounds, but they can grow much larger.
18:23Four feet long and five times as heavy.
18:26But red-tailed catfish don't grow big enough to engulf an adult human.
18:30And their abrasive teeth would leave broken skin.
18:33There's no way this is actually going to break somebody's bones.
18:37It's not going to crush to that extent.
18:39Although it's an impressive animal, we can rule it off the suspect's list.
18:43People here live in isolated riverside.
18:44The birds would be so big enough to engulf an adult human.
18:46And their abrasive teeth would leave broken skin.
18:50There's no way this is actually going to break somebody's bones.
18:53It's not going to crush to that extent.
18:57Although it's an impressive animal, we can rule it off the suspect's list.
19:00People here live in isolated riverside dwellings, right above whatever beast is down there.
19:21It's now the wet season, and water levels are at their highest.
19:25Livestock have little or no escape from whatever is lurking beneath the surface.
19:34He's saying that there's lots of dangerous creatures in the water here.
19:39And he says there's something that will take a full-grown pig.
19:43That is a big animal. It's bigger than I am.
19:46I wouldn't fancy my chances in a fight with it.
19:48I don't think I'd be able to take it down, but there's something in the water here that can.
19:51And that's actually quite a terrifying thought.
19:57The farmer believes that whatever's been picking off his livestock is also responsible for yet another human corpse that was recovered near here last year.
20:06And it sounds like the body had similar crushing injuries to those sustained by Lesio.
20:15I'm told that a man named Zakel saw the body, and that he can be found in a nearby village.
20:21I set out to track him down.
20:25Zakel tells me the victim was his cousin, Nilton.
20:42He had only been gone for 15 minutes when someone discovered his empty canoe.
21:01There was no sign of any disturbance.
21:03Nilton had vanished.
21:09Search parties went out looking for him.
21:12And it wasn't until the next day, the next evening, nearly 36 hours later, that they found him.
21:17It was actually Zakel who found the body.
21:23The corpse had extensive bruising, just like Lesio.
21:27But this account has some crucial extra details.
21:37The neck was dislocated.
21:45And also had visible bite marks.
21:50This could be the crucial clue I've been searching for.
22:00I've already eliminated everything I can think of, including stingrays, arapaima, and catfish.
22:11Nothing I've dealt with before could have done this.
22:14I want to know if Zakel recognized the bite marks on Nilton, and can give me an ID on the culprit.
22:24Do you know what animal may have done this?
22:28Sucuri.
22:31This is a name I know, and to hear it is truly terrifying.
22:36I've found a crucial witness, who has finally shed light on a brutal killing.
22:55He's seen a second body, with the same bruising injuries that I'm investigating.
23:01But this body also had bite marks, which he says identifies the culprit.
23:13Do you know what animal may have done this?
23:16Sucuri.
23:18Anaconda.
23:19Anacondas killing humans is unprecedented.
23:30There have never been any confirmed cases.
23:35If these human deaths really are the work of anacondas, that's a huge revelation.
23:42But the extensive bruising and broken bones that I've heard about are entirely consistent with the anaconda's MO for killing prey.
23:55Squeezing the life out of it.
23:58The anaconda is a water-dwelling monster with which I've had little experience.
24:07But is this animal also the cause of the disappearances around here?
24:13I need to have a close look at this highly secretive predator.
24:20Zakel then tells me his theory about how Nilton was ambushed.
24:24In the head.
24:25In the head.
24:26She got it like that.
24:28He thinks that it probably grabbed him straight away in the head.
24:32And literally, one moment he's there in the boat.
24:39The next minute something grabs him and he's in the water.
24:44So he was literally plucked out.
24:46The position of the bite marks reveals something else truly terrifying.
24:54From the puncture wounds on Nilton's neck, the anaconda appears to have worked its mouth around his entire head.
25:01What Zakel says rings true.
25:09Snakes are well known for consuming their prey head first.
25:14They're easier to swallow that way.
25:17This new evidence opens up the very real possibility that big anacondas can crush people to death.
25:24And then swallow them whole.
25:27And I'm beginning to think that this might explain why people have vanished from around Port-au-de-Morge.
25:34Because when an anaconda feeds, it leaves virtually no trace of its victim.
25:40Its stomach acid is so strong that it dissolves even bone.
25:44That night, back on my boat, I take stock of the situation.
25:57I'm used to tracking down large killer fish.
26:01But a reptilian river monster is completely outside my comfort zone.
26:06In all my time here, I've only ever seen a big anaconda once.
26:10In Guyana, on the northern fringe of South America.
26:14That one was about 17 feet long, and I was terrified to get too close.
26:20But if I'm to solve this mystery, I'll have to face my fear head on.
26:25Anacondas spend most of their life in water.
26:29They are the heaviest snake in the world.
26:33A big one weighs in at more than 300 pounds.
26:37They're also said to reach lengths in excess of 25 feet, and have a bigger girth than any other snake.
26:50Ambush predators, they launch lightning-fast strikes from the water at prey standing on the shore.
26:56Favourite victims are animals like capybaras, and sometimes even caiman.
27:06Now, I'm putting myself in the coils of danger to see if they really are big enough to put humans on the menu.
27:14To prove anacondas are capable of swallowing somebody whole, I have to confront one face to face, to see with my own eyes if they really reach man-eating proportions.
27:27Unlike my normal quarry, it won't be caught by rod and line.
27:31It's forcing me into new territory.
27:39Anacondas are rarely seen, and normally live deep in the jungle.
27:44But with urban sprawl encroaching on their habitat, they've started to appear in towns.
27:49I've just been contacted by the regional fire department, who are regularly brought in to remove anacondas from people's backyards.
28:01And they're allowing me to ride shotgun on an emergency call-out.
28:04An anaconda was found during a soccer match.
28:18Somebody kicked the ball out of play, they went after it into the long grass.
28:23And there was this snake just sitting there.
28:28This 12-foot anaconda is capable of squeezing a child to death, and could swallow prey the size of a dog.
28:59Although the head looks small, an anaconda can separate the two sides of its lower jaw, enabling it to engulf animals with a much greater girth than itself.
29:16A 20-foot anaconda could swallow a man.
29:20But confronting one at any size is something I'd normally avoid.
29:25The snake has to be caught and relocated, and I've talked the fire department, and myself, into an impromptu training exercise.
29:38I'm hoping that by getting hands-on, I can ease myself into the challenge of facing something that could be nearly twice as long as this one.
29:54Just looking at it up close now, it's in the process of molting its skin, the scales are falling off.
30:02Even the layer over its eyes is peeling off, rendering it temporarily blind.
30:07It makes up for this vulnerability, with added aggression.
30:13Yep, that's a little bit of a strike.
30:16To catch this anaconda, I have to grab it behind the head.
30:20A moment's hesitation, and it could turn and nail me.
30:27I'm in the Amazon, wondering if anacondas really can grow to man-eating proportions.
30:46And could they be responsible for a clutch of mystery disappearances?
30:50I've got a 12-foot anaconda cornered on a soccer field, and I'm trying to catch it with my bare hands.
30:59Right, I've got it. I possibly need to grab it a little bit closer to the head.
31:07And what I want to avoid it doing is getting its body around my arm.
31:13Because if that happens, what can happen? It can actually restrict the blood flow.
31:19And my hand will eventually go numb and then let go.
31:24I can see the teeth on the mouth.
31:26They're like the barbs unofficial. They're pointing backwards.
31:29Basically, if that bites you, it's going to be very hard to get that off.
31:34It keeps trying to throw a coil around my body.
31:37Its instinctive follow-up to this is squeezing the victim to death.
31:41Its a struggle to stop it from wrapping around me.
31:46I can feel my arms start to weaken.
31:49So before the anaconda gets the better of me, I drop it in a transport container.
31:53It will be taken far away from here and released into the jungle.
32:10This emergency call-out has given me valuable experience.
32:18I'm getting to know my prime suspect.
32:21But as anacondas go, that was just a small one.
32:24And this investigation won't be complete until I encounter an anaconda big enough not just to kill me, but also to swallow me whole.
32:33I'm now going after a giant anaconda in its own territory.
32:44The place where it hunts and hides.
32:46The biggest anacondas spend most of their time submerged because the water supports their massive bulk.
32:55For any other river monster, I'd use a rod and line to bring one in.
33:00But anacondas are totally different.
33:02Given their appetite for such a large prey, a bait on a line is out of the question.
33:09So I'm going to look for it under water.
33:13But which one of us is the hunter?
33:17Most rivers here are murky, but I've heard of one said to contain giant anacondas that also has a degree of visibility.
33:26The Formoso River in southern Brazil is where I'm looking for an anaconda big enough to swallow a man.
33:41My plan is to leave the shore and go beneath the surface.
33:46I'll be out of my element and more likely to stumble into something at very close range.
33:52So I'm carrying a knife.
33:53The important thing about this is the point.
33:56If you actually get that into the inside of a coil, that will stop it exerting that lethal pressure.
34:06My boat driver is Zuka. He knows the river well.
34:11We arrive at a good spot for me to get in the water.
34:23I'm now in the anaconda's domain and immediately I feel vulnerable.
34:36All I have to do now is find a monster.
34:39If I run into trouble down here, my only connection to the surface is the radio link in my mask.
34:56Recent rains have stirred up the water. Visibility is down to just a couple of yards and the current has become dangerously fast.
35:09Well, the only way I'm managing to hold position at the moment is actually hanging onto this rock here.
35:15And if I wanted to go upstream, there's just no way I'd make any headway without pulling myself along.
35:21If I come across an anaconda in these conditions, as things are, I'm probably going to blunder into it.
35:35In this murk, my heart is racing.
35:42Down here, there's nowhere for me to hide.
35:47I could be grabbed from any direction at any moment.
35:58I can't see it.
36:00It's possible it might see me, though.
36:02Suddenly, I see something appear out of the gloom.
36:09It's him!
36:20I'm totally out of my comfort zone, looking for a giant snake.
36:25I'm investigating whether anacondas really can grow big enough, not just to squeeze people to death, but also to swallow them whole.
36:37Ten feet down in a powerful current, there's something coming towards me.
36:41It's here. It's coming down. It's coming out.
36:48With just a few feet of visibility, the only camera that picks it up is the one fixed to my tank.
36:53I'm right next to it. I'm right next to it. I'm with it. I'm with the snake.
37:06Fighting against the current, I'm only able to stay with it for a few seconds. Then, it simply vanishes.
37:16I might have lost it. I think we've lost it.
37:26It can just vanish in a matter of seconds.
37:29So, it was just a very short, intense experience. I've seen an anaconda now in its own environment.
37:39Very, very creepy feeling, encountering a snake underwater.
37:44That anaconda was about the same length as the one I caught on the soccer field.
37:54A 12-footer is a good start, but I know there are giants here.
38:00I've got to head even deeper into the anaconda's territory.
38:04This river is my one chance for seeing with my own eyes an anaconda of man-eating proportions,
38:10and establishing whether anacondas could have been responsible for the bruised corpses
38:15and mysterious disappearances around Porto de Mores.
38:22I get back in the water, in a place where Zucca recently spotted something huge.
38:40I scan both banks for anything that resembles an anaconda.
38:51The last thing I want to do is startle one and provoke an attack.
38:57Rounding a bend, there's a cloud of silt.
39:18And everything I'd hoped for, and feared, is suddenly there, right in front of me.
39:25Look at the size of this!
39:28I've stumbled into a potential man-eater.
39:32It's got to be a good 20-foot long, three times the length of me.
39:36And weighing at least 200 pounds.
39:39It's a monstrous piece.
39:41With a frightening girth.
39:44It is huge, it is absolutely huge.
39:46A bruiser like this can go without eating for six months,
39:53by which time it's worked up a man-sized appetite.
39:58And what they do is they lurk underwater in ambush.
40:01It's terrifying being this close to an anaconda that could seize me in a flash and then crush me to death.
40:11But only by getting up close can I grasp the true scale of this beast.
40:21And I can all too easily imagine those jaws working their way around my head.
40:33While those massive coils dislocate my shoulders so the rest of me will slip down.
40:39I'm looking it in the eye.
40:43And actually one of these eyes could swallow that old human.
40:52After seeing this giant, I'm in no doubt that people are potentially on the menu.
40:58And that as well as causing the two grisly deaths, anacondas could also have been responsible for the mysterious disappearances around Port-au-de-Mange.
41:12This has to be one of the most incredible encounters of my life.
41:17Anacondas are lurking beneath the surface all over the Amazon, waiting to strike.
41:22And I believe they could be responsible for other unsolved disappearances right across this region.
41:32But by destroying the evidence, this river monster is covering its tracks.