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00:05Tonight on MonsterQuest, sometimes one wrong decision can change everything.
00:11I was totally challenging this thing.
00:15The thing was breathing, it wasn't leaving.
00:18My heart was pounding.
00:19These terrifying encounters aren't accidents.
00:22With the calls that I made, I feel like I'm the one that caused the camper attack.
00:26Within a month of moving into the house, they're seeing objects flying across the room.
00:31They're mistakes that turn the unknown into a nightmare.
00:35It felt like it was hunting us.
00:40For many centuries, people have reported strange and sometimes terrifying encounters with what they describe as monsters.
00:48Its eyes just lit up in the moon and we're like, that is nothing I've ever seen.
00:55If I try to run, I'd be dead.
00:58Now, for the first time, some are sharing their experiences.
01:03Is there a pattern to their encounters?
01:06It was just terrifying.
01:09And if so, what could it mean?
01:17Michigan City, Indiana.
01:19Founded in 1830 near Lake Michigan, it's one of many Midwestern towns shaped by the 19th century railroad boom.
01:27But the rails bring both prosperity and tragedy.
01:31Rail accidents are a major part of the town's history.
01:35Records show around 145 deaths related to accidents from trains.
01:38And that doesn't even count the injuries.
01:42One tragic accident happens on June 11th, 1966.
01:47Four kids and their dog are playing near a trestle when they suddenly hear a train bearing down on them.
01:54The children, they try to outrun the train, but unfortunately, they don't make it.
02:02The town's long history of fatal rail incidents leads residents to fear these tracks could be cursed, perhaps even haunted
02:10by a malevolent presence.
02:12Michigan City is hardly alone.
02:15Across the country, sites marked by sudden violent deaths often give rise to local legends.
02:20Like Kentucky's Pope Lick Trestle, the scene of repeated rail fatalities that is said to be haunted by a shadowy
02:27figure seen just before tragedy strikes.
02:31And North Carolina's Bostion Bridge, where a late 19th century locomotive disaster killing 22 people still inspires reports of ghostly
02:41lights and the sound of a phantom train.
02:45In the wake of such tragedies, many believe that something unexplainable can linger.
02:51That dark belief informs the story of two local teens who attend a party near the Michigan City tracks in
02:581997.
03:00So I was 17 at the time.
03:02I was a musician in a high school band, and we were the grunge scene of Michigan City, Indiana.
03:09I met Lance, who was totally kind of darker, goth musician.
03:14I remember Jason and I both, we were into the same things, same bands.
03:20I remember inviting him to a party.
03:22The party was in the woods, kind of down these tracks.
03:24He said, meet him there, and so I head down the tracks.
03:29At the time, Lance and Jason are unaware of the area's past.
03:38A lot of musicians were there, and they were all kind of jamming out.
03:42Somebody handed me a guitar, and I'm like, oh, cool, I'll play.
03:46But as I started to play this song, I had this really ominous feeling, like something was watching me.
03:56And then this train comes.
03:58And when that train went by, and I started to look.
04:05That's when I saw it.
04:08I see this seven-foot shadow person.
04:12It's like a black hole, but in the shape of a person.
04:16It's probably ten feet from me, walking from one tree, turns and looks from me, and goes behind the other
04:22tree.
04:25All my, just anxiety, just, it was like flooded into me at that moment, when I saw it.
04:31I wanted to leave.
04:33As I was walking out, I ended up running into Lance and his girlfriend at the time.
04:39I said, hey, I don't know, I'm getting a weird vibe from this place.
04:42I don't want to stay.
04:43Lance said, yeah, we had something weird happen.
04:48I remember we parked my car and headed down these tracks.
04:52And the sense that someone was creeping up on us.
04:56Like, I almost hear, like, footsteps behind us on the train tracks.
04:59Like, click, click, click, click.
05:00And then I'd stop, and I wouldn't hear him anymore.
05:03I remember seeing Jason there, and I was just like, man, it's kind of creepy out here.
05:09Jason and Lance leave the party, but feel as though something leaves with them.
05:14I went home that night, and I had a weird dream.
05:18In the dream, I was back at the tracks.
05:21There's something, and it looks like the shadow figure I saw.
05:26I wasn't scared in the dream.
05:27I felt like something was calling me to it.
05:29I felt like something powerful that wanted me.
05:32And it was almost exciting.
05:35The summer passes, but Jason's dreams continue, now joined by a growing curiosity.
05:40So we hit the next school year, and eventually, some point at school, I told Lance, hey, you
05:50know those train tracks where I saw the weather?
05:51I want to go back out there.
05:53He was excited to go out there.
05:55He's like, let's go check it out.
05:57And so it's Friday night.
05:58It was me and him and my girlfriend at the time.
06:02So we start walking down the tracks.
06:04We get down to where the bridge is, and we see a train's coming.
06:09We step off the tracks.
06:11Train comes by, just like it did months before.
06:15And after the train goes, we notice the atmosphere changes.
06:20The bugs that we could hear before were gone.
06:24It was quiet.
06:26There was really no sound.
06:29It felt like something is really wrong here.
06:32And it was at that moment I saw that Jason was kind of getting away from us.
06:36He was further down the track.
06:37I feel this presence that's been in my dreams.
06:40I can feel it.
06:41It's like there's something with me.
06:44He just started walking out on that bridge.
06:46And I remember just being like, Jason, like, what are you doing?
06:50You know, what's going on with you?
06:52But he seemed to be drawn out there.
06:55He wasn't responding.
06:56He wasn't reacting to my screams, my calls.
07:00In my head, I keep thinking, you brought me out here.
07:03This is your time.
07:04Show yourself.
07:05Jason believes that demand proves to be a grave mistake.
07:10And then it was pitch black behind him.
07:12Just darkness.
07:14It's almost like a shadow formed.
07:16And I just hear Lance scream, no.
07:18He runs up, grabs my arm, and just starts dragging me down the tracks.
07:25I remember running over to him and kind of grabbing him, turning him around.
07:30And it just, it freaked me out.
07:35Lance and her, they just start going, oh, my God, oh, my God, what the hell was that?
07:39And they both, at the same time, are basically describing what they both saw.
07:42This big shadowy mass appear up behind me.
07:48Corey and Lance say they're done for the night.
07:50They just want to go home.
07:51So we left.
07:52I watched Corey's lights of her car disappear out of the driveway.
07:55And I stood there thinking, I still feel this.
07:58I didn't understand what was going on.
08:00And I couldn't shake the feeling of that presence.
08:03Afterwards, Jason's encounters with the shadow figure intensify.
08:08Almost every night, I'd go to sleep.
08:10And in my dreams, I could feel its presence.
08:13By January, it got really dark.
08:16I was very sleep deprived, very not myself.
08:19I had comments all the time, like, what's wrong?
08:22I was looking pretty haggard, but I didn't know what to do or who to turn to.
08:25So I had broken down to Lance.
08:28He was the only person I figured I could tell.
08:30I do remember him one day, it just was just like, I just feel like it's still with me.
08:35Like, I can't shake this darkness.
08:38At that point, he was losing weight, bags under his eyes.
08:41He's chain smoking.
08:43The relentless encounters pushed Jason to his breaking point.
08:48So it was not too long after that.
08:50I finally had enough.
08:51I wanted to sleep.
08:53And before I went to bed, I decided I'm going to talk out loud.
08:57I'm going to tell this thing.
08:58I said, come for me.
08:59Do it tonight.
09:00I dare you.
09:01Do it.
09:02I'm going to fight you.
09:09When I was laying in bed, and I see this thing, it's there, hovering over me, and this time, I
09:15can't move.
09:16It jumps on top of my chest, and I'm choking.
09:19I'm challenging.
09:20I challenged it before I laid down, and now I'm challenging it here.
09:22I'm going to fight you.
09:23You're not taking me.
09:24I was resisting it.
09:26I started to feel myself rise up.
09:28I feel the tips of my feet touch the ceiling fan, and then I get thrown back down.
09:34I feel myself shaking on the bed.
09:38I don't think I've ever been more frightened in my life.
09:42I can't fight it.
09:44I can't stop this thing.
09:46What can you do when you're being attacked by evil?
09:49You turn to the only other thing.
09:50If evil exists, God has to exist.
09:53The next time this thing lifts me up, I feel my nose touch, like there's a stucco on my ceiling.
09:59I just full-on, I'm like panicking inside.
10:01I can't move, but I can just make my mouth move.
10:05And I just remember going, God help me, like that.
10:09As soon as I was able to vocalize it, this bright light swept.
10:14It's like somebody took a spotlight and put it in front of my window and shined it in.
10:19The moment that happened, I felt this warmth, this beautiful warmth around me, a new presence.
10:30The shadow, I heard it scream like it was in pain, and then just gone.
10:37It just disappears in that light.
10:40Jason never encounters the shadow figure again.
10:44His sleep and mental health immediately improve.
10:47When you challenge something like this, I definitely invited this scene in.
10:52It was the biggest mistake I ever made.
10:59Harrisville, Rhode Island.
11:01Nestled in the northwest corner of America's smallest state,
11:04this rural town offers its 2,000 residents a simple and peaceful place to live.
11:11But that serenity is shattered when Roger and Carolyn Perrone,
11:16along with their five daughters, move into a 200-year-old farmhouse,
11:21gravely unaware of its dark history.
11:24It all began when the Perrone family starts experiencing
11:28strange and frightening disturbances in their home.
11:31Eventually, the story sparks national interest.
11:34And inspires the film that would bring the case to the world, The Conjuring.
11:39Years later, their eldest daughter, Andrea,
11:42writes a series of books about what happened.
11:45According to Andrea Perrone, the trouble begins almost immediately
11:49after the family moves into their new home in 1971.
11:55Carolyn says that she notices small but strange things happening inside the house.
12:01She says that her broom keeps disappearing and someone sweeps up small piles of dirt
12:07and it isn't her or her daughters.
12:11Then, one night when Roger is away, Carolyn recounts being in the living room
12:16and feeling this sharp pang in her leg.
12:19It's like a jab.
12:20And she looks down and there is blood trickling down her leg and a small wound.
12:24She later describes this as feeling as though she had been stabbed by something like a large needle.
12:30But there was no such implement anywhere nearby.
12:34But as scary as that is, it's about to get a whole lot worse.
12:41Carolyn's unexplainable injury sets off a period of true terror.
12:46Within a month of moving into the house,
12:48the family claims that they're seeing objects flying across the room
12:51and occasionally also hearing strange snarling sounds from the shadows.
12:56In her book, Andrea Perrone writes that her mother Carolyn becomes convinced their house is haunted.
13:04Desperate francers, she begins researching the property's history.
13:08She learns that a family called the Arnolds once lived there.
13:12According to her research, one of the Arnold children drowned in a nearby creek.
13:17Another family member hanged themselves in the attic while another was murdered.
13:24The family discusses moving out around the same time,
13:28but it's reported that they had already spent all their money when they purchased the property.
13:32It's at this point, Carolyn reaches out to various paranormal investigators for help.
13:38In 1973, she finds a couple willing to offer their services.
13:43Ed and Lorraine Warren are American paranormal investigators and authors.
13:47They run the New England Society for Psychic Research.
13:50Edward is a self-taught, self-professed demonologist, author, and lecturer.
13:57Lorraine, his wife, professes to be a clairvoyant or a medium,
14:02someone who can connect and communicate with spirits.
14:04Together, the Warrens have been associated with many prominent cases of alleged hauntings.
14:10After visiting the house, the Warrens propose holding a seance at the property to help draw out the spirits.
14:19Carolyn agrees, but Roger is dead set against it.
14:23He fears that whatever happens at the seance could make things worse rather than better.
14:29According to family interviews, Carolyn convinces him that it's her last resort
14:34and tells him that she can't live like this anymore.
14:36So he reluctantly allows the Warrens to hold the seance.
14:44The Perrons send their children from the home, unsure of what might happen.
14:57As the seance begins, Andrea describes seeing her mom fall into what appears to be a deep trance.
15:06She says her mother begins to speak in a language that is not her own and she doesn't know.
15:13Carolyn's body contorts and Andrea claims her chair begins to levitate
15:18and she's thrown across the room where she lands unconscious.
15:25Andrea recalls seeing her father rushing to her mom's side, terrified.
15:31After checking on Carolyn, Roger then directs his fury at the Warrens, throwing them out of the house.
15:37But things only get worse from there.
15:40After the seance, Carolyn says that she's exhausted and she climbs into bed.
15:44She's just about to doze off when she says she feels a tightness in her throat
15:49and pressure around her neck, as if an invisible hand is gripping her.
15:53She says she tries to cry out, but no sound comes.
15:57She can't speak or scream.
16:00Carolyn says the grip continues to tighten as she feels her airway constricting.
16:04She says that she panics and thrashes her legs, but the squeezing continues.
16:10And after several moments of sheer terror, the pressure around her neck eases.
16:19She gasps for air and says she can finally breathe again,
16:24but is convinced that the entity is trying to kill her.
16:28The dark episode marks a turning point.
16:32After the seance, the activity in the house spikes and becomes increasingly violent.
16:39Carolyn claims she gets the worst of it and says that she's frequently physically attacked.
16:44She says that she is slapped, pushed, and even stabbed by these unseen spirits.
16:50The attacks become too much for the family to endure.
16:55Under these conditions, Andrea writes that their family begins to crack,
17:00with Carolyn and Roger arguing incessantly.
17:05Finally, in 1980, nearly a decade after they first moved in,
17:10Carolyn says she tells Roger that she won't survive another winter there.
17:15The family puts the farmhouse up for sale.
17:18They scrape together whatever money they can and move to Georgia to start over.
17:23But they all agree that their time in the house leaves a lasting emotional and psychological impact,
17:29especially on Carolyn and Andrea.
17:31Roger Perrone believes the decision to communicate with the unknown was a fatal one.
17:36According to Andrea, Roger goes to his grave regretting ever letting the Warrens into his house
17:42and agreeing to the seance.
17:47In Wyoming is the Wind River Mountains, a rugged range that form part of the Rockies
17:52and may also be home to the mysterious creature known far and wide as Bigfoot.
18:01The Wind River Mountains are extremely isolated, with peaks rising over 13,000 feet.
18:07It's really this untouched wilderness that is a perfect habitat for big game like elk, bear, moose.
18:17It's in these mountains, in the summer of 1972, that 25 people report seeing this large, hairy primate
18:25with giant hands and feet lurking around their properties.
18:29Despite so many similar reports, skeptics continue to doubt the creature's existence,
18:34and the official scientific agencies, which could investigate the claims, refused to do so.
18:41That is, until wildlife biologist John Mianchinski takes a job with the U.S. Forest Service there
18:47and claims he makes a mistake that puts him in direct contact with a creature that defies everything he studied
18:54about the natural world.
18:58I first came to Wyoming in 64, when I graduated high school, and then moved here in 67.
19:05My job with the Forest Service was to live with a band of bighorn sheep and study them.
19:11I had been intensively trained by specialists, and my specialty was food habits.
19:18Part of my job was to document where they were, but also why they were there.
19:23In the summer of 1972, John is in the town of Lander, Wyoming, preparing for another study in the mountains,
19:29when he says he heads to the Forest Service and gets an unfortunate surprise.
19:34The tent I wanted wasn't there, but I had to take the only tent that was left.
19:38But the assistant ranger said I shouldn't take.
19:41He'd spilled a bunch of hot bacon grease on the side of it accidentally, and it smelled like bacon.
19:49He said, don't take that tent, you'll be bear bait up there.
19:53The bears are all over the Wind River Mountains.
19:56But I had no choice, it was the only tent left, so I took that tent.
20:01It's dark when John arrives at camp.
20:04He decides to wait until morning to wash the bacon grease off of his tent, a decision he will come
20:11to regret.
20:11So I set my bacon-stained tent up in a little flat spot that had a lot of pine duff
20:17on the ground.
20:18There was a thicket of dog hair pine trees where I'd have some protection from the weather.
20:24So I set my tent up, and then I went to bed.
20:29John says he's asleep until around 1130, when suddenly he's awoken to a strange sound outside his tent.
20:40I heard the breathing very distinctly, and it was inhaling and exhaling, and sounding like somebody snoring.
20:48It kind of threw me off because I wasn't used to hearing that with animals.
20:52And it went straight to the bacon stain on the side of the tent and started licking it.
20:59This was right by my right shoulder, so I was absolutely sure it was a bear because it went right
21:05to the bacon stain, and that's typical bear behavior.
21:09That got my adrenaline going.
21:12I had a .357 Magnum with me, a pretty powerful handgun, so that's what I carried for bear protection.
21:22But my intent was to scare it off, so I hit it in the nose.
21:28I assume it was the nose, and it ran behind that thicket of dog hair pints.
21:36This was about 25 feet behind my tent, so now my eyes were looking at escape routes, but then it
21:44came back.
21:46John hits the animal a second time, forcing it to back off once again, but he can hear that it
21:52doesn't go far.
21:54So this was now concerning because it meant it was probably going to try to come back a third time,
22:01and then you're in deep trouble.
22:06When a bear keeps returning to where humans are, it can mean that that bear is no longer afraid of
22:11them, and this can lead to unpredictable and even deadly conflict.
22:17I know all of these stories, but I had never had a bad encounter with a bear, and I've always
22:22managed to scare him off with not much effort.
22:26So I unzipped my sleeping bag.
22:29I had my hand on the gun, and that's when it came back a third time.
22:40Wildlife biologist John Mianshinsky has just scared off what he believes to be a bear outside his tent, when suddenly
22:47the animal returns.
22:52I had my 357 Magnum on my belly and my hand on it, and I actually cocked it.
23:01It was in my hand and ready, and all of a sudden I could see that it was standing up
23:06on two legs.
23:09I could see the hair on the legs move as it walked by.
23:13I could see that its shadow was over the top of the tent.
23:17That meant it was taller than my tent.
23:20It had to be over six feet tall.
23:23John once again hits the bulge on the side of his tent.
23:27But this time, the creature doesn't run.
23:31This animal spun around.
23:33I could see the arm come over the top of the tent, and it put its hand down on top
23:39of the tent.
23:40And I say that because it was not a paw of a bear.
23:44It had an opposed thumb.
23:48It looked exactly like a human hand, but about twice the size of my hand.
23:54At that point, I knew I was dealing with something I didn't know anything about.
23:59I couldn't react because I didn't know where to go.
24:04That's when we collapsed the top of the tent, and it fell down on top of me.
24:12It was big.
24:13I felt it on my legs.
24:15It was heavy.
24:17My heart was pounding.
24:22I was anticipating it attacking me.
24:28It got up and ran off behind the trees again.
24:31As soon as it got off my legs, I knew I needed to get out of that tent and be
24:36in a position where I could defend myself.
24:38So I crawled out of the tent and just looked in the direction of where I heard the breathing.
24:46Just kind of waited.
24:49John says he stands his ground, frozen in place, unsure if at any moment the animal might come charging back
24:56out of the woods.
24:57It was middle of the night, probably 1 o'clock, 1.30 in the morning.
25:02I decided I would just build the fire back up.
25:06I sat there with my sleeping bag and my gun in my lap.
25:10I'd been on a high adrenaline surge for almost two hours, but the adrenaline was wearing down, and I just
25:19dozed off.
25:19So I fell asleep with my gun in my hand.
25:25By the time daylight came, I didn't feel afraid anymore.
25:29I walked all around looking for evidence of it.
25:33Didn't see anything.
25:34There were no tracks because the pine duff was eight inches deep, and animals don't leave tracks in that kind
25:40of surface.
25:42I just couldn't find any physical evidence.
25:45John returns from the mountains and is met with news he never expected.
25:50I wanted to tell my boss about the encounter, but when I started to tell the story, he got up
25:58and closed the door.
25:59And what he had to say changed everything for me.
26:04He said, well, we have to have a discussion because while you were gone, there have been people coming into
26:11this office reporting a large, hairy primate running around your part of the mountain.
26:18And some of them had made the local newspapers.
26:21People are talking about Bigfoot.
26:23And he said, we've had 25 people report sightings and nobody's checking on it.
26:29How would you like to take this on as a study?
26:36And that became my job for the rest of that winter.
26:39I was starting to believe that it was a primate and worthy of a biological exploration in a big way.
26:46I talked to people who I believed were very credible.
26:49John says that during his study, he collects multiple pieces of physical evidence, including hair samples he has analyzed by
26:56a forensic anthropologist.
26:58He took the sample and called back and said, I've looked at the sample and here's what I could tell
27:04you.
27:04It is definitely a primate hair and it does not match with any known primate.
27:09End of conversation.
27:11That's the reason I'm still interested in this subject.
27:16John's near fatal mistake has not deterred his investigation into the creature he encountered in the Wind River Mountains that
27:24night.
27:24I mean, I'm a wildlife biologist.
27:26I love my work.
27:27I think this is the most interesting wildlife research project that could possibly happen.
27:33We've got too many stories that are similar for it not to be a primate running around in the wild.
27:40It just doesn't have to be known yet.
27:46Florida's Ocala National Forest.
27:49600 square miles of swamps, woods, caves, and waterways where gators, bears, and birds of prey thrive.
27:57But some locals believe something else lives here too.
28:01A legendary creature they call the skunk ape.
28:06The skunk ape is a creature that's basically said to be Florida's version of Sasquatch.
28:11It's large, hairy, it's bipedal, and it's also said to stink like a skunk or like rotten meat.
28:18Although there have been hundreds of alleged sightings in Florida over the years, the animal is still not recognized by
28:24science.
28:26As far back as the early 1800s, Florida's Seminole tribe make mention in their oral traditions of S.D. Kupchaki,
28:36the furry tall man.
28:38Modern sightings of the monster begin spiking in the state in the 1970s after increased media awareness and even mentions
28:47from local politicians.
28:50Law enforcement is inundated with phone calls, and the story even gets coverage in major papers like the Orlando Sentinel.
28:57A nearby county sheriff is quoted as saying, there's definitely a problem here, and people are scared to death.
29:04In the summer of 1976, Leetriana Brown knows nothing of this.
29:09She's eight years old, a girl who loves exploring the outdoors.
29:13As a child, I spent a lot of time outside. I really liked wild animals.
29:19My dad was a herpetologist, and every summer, he worked with Ross Allen Silver Spring Institute in Silver Springs, Florida.
29:27This was an animal research facility.
29:29When dad would go out for field studies, we would all go together.
29:33But this particular situation was a lot more than I could have ever bargained for.
29:39That summer, Leetriana's father has the family camp out on the Institute's grounds, in a clearing next to thick patches
29:47of forested swampland.
29:49My dad took one of the walkie-talkies that we kept at the camper, and he went to the compound
29:56while my mom and I were setting up the camper.
29:59Our camper in Station Michael was parked near a swamp area at the compound that was known to have wild
30:06animals.
30:08After my mom and I had dinner, I went out on the dock that went over into the swamp, and
30:14I was just standing there.
30:15I wanted to practice animal calls.
30:19My dad lectured about the languages that animals have, specifically alligators, and that was what we were studying this summer.
30:29An alligator, they use their throat to make a call.
30:32The baby in distress call is, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah.
30:38Because I'm female and I was youth, I could make the sound of the baby alligators, and I believe that's
30:45what got me in trouble.
30:47My mom called me back to the camper, took a shower, put on my nightgown, and I rolled the windows
30:52out so I would have the breeze to go through, and I was laying in my bed, just scratching the
30:57screen.
31:02And then when the breeze came through and the smell hit me, it was almost unbearable.
31:09All of a sudden, this little hand popped up.
31:16The fingernails were so dirty, I could see hair on the back of the hand that was pretty long, and
31:24it was black, as black as my hair.
31:27My mom came in, and she saw that hand, and she flipped out.
31:36She started rolling in all the windows.
31:39She had me by the back of the hair, pulling me away from the screen and was holding me, and
31:45the hand started scratching on the glass.
31:49And then, it got violent.
31:53He moved from the window to the outside of the camper, and he was shoving it.
31:59So he would bump the whole camper, and we would scream, go away, go away.
32:06I was terrified.
32:08I honestly thought we were going to die.
32:11Then, we hear another creature approach.
32:16It sounded bigger, and we heard this horrible scream.
32:25The little creature was screaming back and forth with the bigger one.
32:30The little one was hitting up against the camper.
32:33I could hear that he was being hit, and then I'd feel the jolt.
32:38Then, the doorknob started to turn, and mom said, oh, my God, Lee, we're going to die.
32:49We were sitting in the floor, holding each other, and I heard the bigger one scream at the little one,
32:54and I heard this horrible slap, and then I heard him cry.
33:01We felt something dragging along the side of the camper.
33:05And then, it was quiet, and they were gone.
33:16And my mom grabbed the walkie-talkie and called for my dad, and I went out.
33:22It smelled like swamp water, and that's when I saw the blood in the hair on the license plate.
33:28I couldn't believe it.
33:33Lee Triana alleges that after the attack, the Institute scientists collect and log samples to determine the creature's identity.
33:43They never share their findings, but Lee Triana says they did reveal one tantalizing detail.
33:50One of the scientists came by and told us that there had been a sighting of a skunk ape.
33:56The researchers at the Institute were torn between whether or not the skunk ape actually existed.
34:02They only had tails and where they had been, but no real evidence.
34:07So, everybody was torn about the skunk ape sightings in our area.
34:11But my mom and I almost died.
34:14And I think about the pain that she went through, feeling like she let me down, putting us in a
34:19dangerous situation,
34:20when clearly I feel like I'm the one that caused it.
34:23With the calls that I made, I really feel that I shouldn't have done that.
34:31September 1st, 2002.
34:34A massive fire erupts in the San Gabriel Mountains, just north of Los Angeles,
34:39engulfing more than 20,000 acres in a matter of hours.
34:46At first, the cause is thought to be a lightning strike,
34:50but investigators uncover something far more sinister.
34:55Ritual candles surrounding the remains of a sacrificed animal.
35:02This disaster is known as the Curve Fire,
35:05and forestry officials actually say that it's not uncommon for pagan rituals to be performed in the forest.
35:12Officers frequently find dead animals that have candles and even scraps of clothing around them throughout the area.
35:24In the weeks after the fire,
35:26belief begins to spread among area locals
35:29that the ritual evidence found at the fire's origin
35:32may have awakened a dark entity in the San Gabriels.
35:39Witnesses would describe a tall, shadowed figure with jet black skin
35:44and glowing red eyes lurking among the burnt trees,
35:49a creature they would say felt not of this world.
35:55And five years later,
35:58one teenager from nearby Wrightwood
36:00believes she would cross paths with that same entity
36:03after accidentally summoning it herself.
36:09As a kid, I don't want to brag, but I was very responsible.
36:12I, like, went to school, I got good grades,
36:14I wanted to go to college,
36:15and my dad totally trusted me implicitly,
36:19and so did my mom.
36:21That all changes when Taylor attends a friend's birthday party
36:25in October 2007.
36:27The party starts out ordinary,
36:29but then she and her friends make a fateful decision.
36:35I was about 14 or 15 at that time,
36:39and we had done a Ouija board that night.
36:43Someone suggested it,
36:44and they're like, you could talk to ghosts,
36:46and I was like, oh, hell yeah, like, I want to do that.
36:49I was a Beatles fan,
36:50so I was like, I want to talk to John Lennon.
36:53I've never done them before or after,
36:55so I don't know if this is common,
36:56but it was very aggressively moving.
37:01This went on for probably, like, an hour and a half,
37:04and after, I felt really, like, ugh, like, gross.
37:07Like, I shouldn't have done that.
37:09Three months pass.
37:11With Christmas around the corner,
37:13Taylor's mom recruits her and her friends
37:15to help deliver a secret Santa present,
37:18leaving an anonymous gift
37:19on a neighboring child's doorstep.
37:22And the whole concept was that the kid
37:25would be the one answering the door
37:26and have that magical feeling of, like, what's this?
37:29And this year, I chose the kid,
37:31but he lived in, like, deep in the pocket in the mountains.
37:34The friends that we did the Ouija board with
37:36had gum with me.
37:39My mom was driving.
37:42Taylor's mom parks out of sight
37:43at the bottom of a hill
37:44and waits while the kids sneak up to the house.
37:50We get out of the car.
37:53I remember the moon was, like, just massive.
38:00We kind of go around the bend,
38:03and then all of a sudden,
38:04I had a weird, immediate, like,
38:06the strongest feeling of dread I've ever felt in my life,
38:09and it just completely, like, hit me like a wall.
38:12I stopped, and then I heard what sounded like
38:16something was clawing at the side of a mountain,
38:18crawling up, but very fast.
38:22I looked to my left to see if anyone else
38:25is kind of noticing what I'm noticing,
38:27and I look back up, and as I look back up,
38:29I saw a hand, arm, shoulder fly up and over and come up.
38:37I've never seen anything like this in my life.
38:39It had searing red eyes.
38:42It came up from that embankment at us.
38:45It was crawling on its hands and its feet,
38:47and then it just pushed up and just stood up
38:50right off the side of this embankment.
38:55The creature was at least 8 1⁄2 foot tall.
38:58Its fingers were incredibly long.
39:02Its shoulder blades were sticking totally out of its back.
39:07It felt pure evil.
39:09It felt demonic.
39:10And then took a step like a person.
39:14That's when the real panic started to set in of, like,
39:17I'm going to die.
39:19We all turned and ran at the same time.
39:22I remember the bottoms of my feet
39:24were hitting the ground so hard
39:25that I thought my feet were actually going to break.
39:27I felt it gaining on me the second I turned.
39:30I knew it was following me fast.
39:32I mean, like...
39:43We finally got back,
39:44and when I swung open the door,
39:45my mom was surprised.
39:47She said that I was pure terror.
39:51The minute we got in the car,
39:52I was screaming drive,
39:54and my mom got mad and said,
39:56I'm not going to go unless you tell me what you saw.
39:58And that's when I said it was a demon thing.
40:01We saw a demon thing.
40:02And I was like, just go.
40:03So then she threw it in the drive.
40:06The teens run into Taylor's house.
40:09The commotion wakes up her dad.
40:11My mom wouldn't believe me.
40:13She was trying to get us to go back to the kid's house.
40:17My dad comes downstairs,
40:19and so I tell him what happened.
40:21He goes, well,
40:22if that's what they're saying they saw,
40:25I don't want them to go out there,
40:26and I'm not going to make them go out there.
40:31Taylor's family asks her
40:33to never speak about the encounter again.
40:36But years later,
40:37she posts her story on social media,
40:40seeking corroboration.
40:42I went on Facebook to talk about my experience
40:44when I was young.
40:45It got bombarded with people from Brightwood.
40:49I'm so glad you finally put that thing on the map
40:51with the glowing eyes.
40:53I've seen it before.
40:54It's all black, right?
40:56Stuff like that.
40:57I was so relieved
40:59when I heard that other people had also seen it.
41:02Why would the creature attack Taylor and her friends?
41:06She believes they unwittingly conjured it
41:08with the spirit board months before.
41:10I think that it was a mistake
41:12that I did the Ouija board.
41:13It was really dangerous.
41:15I think there's a possibility
41:16that maybe we alerted it to our existence.
41:21This haunts me every day of my life.
41:23I don't know what I saw.
41:25I don't know what it was.
41:26But it will never leave my mind
41:28until the day I die.
41:31When it comes to the unknown,
41:33it's understandable to want answers.
41:36But curiosity can lead to choices
41:38with frightening consequences.
41:40For when we reach into the dark,
41:42we can't ever control
41:44what reaches back.
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