[narrator] Previously on Expedition Bigfoot...
There's no doubt we have at least
two Bigfoot moving through this area.
That means family.
That looked like something walking down the hill.
Like two feet walking.
We could potentially plot where these things are headed
and have our team ready to intercept.
[Mireya] Anything that moves through here,
I'll be able to see from up here.
That is blood.
Look at these bones.
This thing was literally torn apart.
It looks like a feeding ground area here.
It reached in and tried to touch me.
It scared me so bad.
I couldn't scream. I couldn't holler.
It paralyzed me.
Tell me what you think that looks like.
That looks like toes, man.
[bleep] What is that?
Look, look, look, look. It looks upright.
[creature growling]
Whoa.
What is that?
Something is moving right here.
[narrator] 3.5 miles northeast of base camp,
suspended 100 feet above the forest floor,
Dr. Mireya Mayor has been covertly observing an area
of high traffic for animals and has spotted a heat signature.
Where did it go? What's going?
[bleep]. I don't see it anymore.
I don't understand picking up on a heat signature
on the thermal camera and then having it just vanish
right before my eyes.
But I know that there's something out there.
I want to get off this thing right now and go see what that was.
Whatever was...
whatever I just picked up on that heat signature,
it was large and upright.
It was walking away from the river,
so let's just keep heading this way.
There's a sharp drop right here.
Well, see, now, this is something
a big animal could use,
especially if something was trying to hide or escape quickly.
[bleep]
All right. Let's keep going this way.
When I was at the ledge, I could hear a river in the distance.
And I am pretty sure that that is the direction
that the heat signature was heading.
All right, let's keep going.
While Mireya continues to search for the mysterious heat signature,
4.5 miles away to the northeast,
survivalist Russell Acord treks through the night en route
to retrieve casting materials from his truck.
I just got this print, and I got myself ready
to cast the print.
And of all things, I left my casting material in the truck.
Look at the size of that thing.
Tell me what you think that looks like.
One, two, three.
That looks like toes.
Now it's about 17 hours to get all the way back to the truck and back.
But right now it's imperative that I actually get this print
and get it cast and get that in definition
while it's still in the ground.
Hopefully, the rain will hold off long enough for me
to get all the way there and back.
I covered it and protected it the best I could.
The best I can do right now is cover it and hope that
nothing touches it...
and get back to the truck.
That should be good.
One of the biggest reasons we're trying to grab this track
is I've been in touch with Bryce and Mireya.
Now, these two have gotten tracks.
What I want to do is I take my track to them.
If they compare and it's the same thing,
maybe it's all the same creature.
But if it's not, it proves that there's more than one out here.
So right now, timing is everything.
It stopped raining for now, but that's not gonna hold off forever.
I gotta get moving.
[narrator] Just outside of the command center,
Bryce reconnects with Tobe Johnson to discuss
the audio anomalies he may have captured while
with Mireya during their sound array investigation
three days ago.
-Hey, Tobe. -Hey, Bryce.
So I did comb through all the audio.
And unfortunately, the rain kind of overshadowed
the Bigfoot sounds, if they were there at all.
Mm, copy that. Yeah, too bad.
What'd you make of that strange Canadian goose sound?
[squawking]
That didn't sound like anything that should be out here.
Did you ever get the feeling that these sounds could be used
for manipulation of a possible intruder?
Yeah.
There's something happening on a personal level
with why they're doing it.
-Mmm. -Possibly having young around them
or a nest or a feeding area.
You know, I really feel that this place here in Northern California
is a potential breeding ground which means I think
they would probably see it as a more protected space.
When you were out there, were you getting a feeling of
being observed, or did you feel like
these creatures were around you?
The only time that I felt like we were getting really close
was when there was a heat signature across the river.
I mean, you found a footprint there, first of all.
Look at this.
Check this out.
That's a really big-looking footprint.
You know, we got that scan back.
Get this, 16 to 17 inches long and around
seven and a half inches wide.
It was impressive.
Yeah, that's the right term for sure.
I think there's certainly enough evidence there
for us to consider that Bigfoot or more than one Bigfoot
is definitely in the area.
Uh, listen, Tobe, we really appreciate your expertise, man.
Thanks for coming out and lending your hand
on our investigation.
Much appreciated.
Hey, thanks for the opportunity, Bryce.
Okay.
I should be up on that landslide.
Pretty close to it, anyway.
Having left his heavy pack behind,
Russell has hiked more than 10 hours overnight
to reach his truck, which he was forced
to abandon due to a landslide.
I need to get back and get that thing cast
before these conditions change,
because we're looking at rain coming on us pretty quick.
Ah, good deal.
We're here.
Got a landslide here.
This tree wouldn't be a problem.
There's no way I can drive past this stuff.
I lost a lot of time hiking back here
to get this casting material.
And that's my own fault.
I covered the print as best I could to preserve it.
But there's a storm coming in, and I need to devise a plan
to get back there fast.
All right.
Check this out.
This box in the front of my truck
is all my casting materials.
Doesn't do me any good sitting in the truck.
And I'm looking at this landslide. I think I can get through it.
There's a lot of large rocks and smaller rocks
in the roadway.
But if I can push those out far enough and just wide enough
to get my truck through it,
I can drive along these logging roads back to that print
and save myself hours of hiking.
The first thing I'm going to do is move these rocks.
And then I'm going to cut this tree.
Here we go.
All right, tree's out of the way.
We got past the tree.
Next obstacle is that big, ugly rock.
Let's see how this goes.
Let me see where we are.
[vehicle chimes]
Well, that'll go up underneath of it.
This'll push this.
At that angle, if I'm lucky, it'll shove it that way.
Let's see how this goes.
I think we'll be able to push it if the weight of the truck will do that.
[grunts]
I'm done playing this game.
This should do it.
So far, so good.
But I've still got a long ways to go on these roads.
We've got weather coming.
You ready? Let's do it.
The objective now is to get back to
the footprint as quick as I can.
[narrator] While Russell races along old logging roads back
to the print he discovered, five miles away,
Mireya searches for possible signs of the bipedal creature
she saw during last night's stakeout.
I say we continue on that way and see if we can find
any tracks or any signs of life.
Last night, I saw a heat signature.
Look, look, look, look.
It looks upright.
I have to figure out exactly where this thing went.
So I want to scour this entire area.
That looks interesting.
One thing that became very evident during
the daylight hours is that I start to notice that
there are many of these large hollowed out tree stumps.
[narrator] Found primarily along the coast of Northern California,
redwoods are the tallest trees on Earth,
capable of growing to a height of over 300 feet.
Because of their long lifespan,
occasionally living in excess of 2,000 years,
these giant trees are susceptible to various forms of decay,
such as fungi, insects, and fires.
While the redwood's inner bark may rot or burn,
the miraculously strong outer bark is fireproof
and resistant to disease, often resulting in
cavernous hollow spaces inside the base of the tree.
This particular tree hollow, you can see
it's all been burnt out.
Uh, it's rather cavernous, right?
So it protects anything that would come in here
from the elements,
a rainstorm, and actually just help an animal stay hidden.
And also, if you look out, these kind of exits,
you can see out there, but you can remain really hidden in here.
If whatever I saw last night was using these old,
hollowed-out tree stumps for cover,
that could explain how it was able to disappear
from the thermal so quickly.
I mean, this is sort of interesting here.
It smells like something's been coming through here.
Oof.
That is strong. Like, it just was here.
Well, it's kind of interesting.
It's all these fresh leaf pilings.
There's a nice bedding area here.
Is that a hair right there?
Oh, [bleep].
That looks like a hair there.
Is that a hair right there?
Oh, [bleep].
That looks like a hair there.
Before disturbing any of this, I just want to make sure that
there aren't any, like, say, hairs on the surface
or anything that an animal might have left behind here.
Based on the strong smell and the long hair
that I just found, I am confident that an animal
just came through here recently.
I don't know what kind of animal it was,
but it's possible that it was what I saw on the thermal last night.
I did not see any prints in and around the area,
but animals, as they move, they basically leave DNA everywhere.
And based on the strong smell in here,
an animal might have marked the inside of this tree,
which would definitely leave DNA behind.
And that's interesting to me because nocturnal primates
use scent markings to communicate.
[narrator] Some primates use a technique known as scent marking
to communicate with other members of their species.
Primates typically mark areas with their scent by secreting liquids
from specialized glands or with sweat and urine.
While humans communicate primarily through
sight and sound, primates are able to use scent
in order to convey complex messages such as
establishing territory, identifying familiar individuals
within a group, or by searching for mating partners
during breeding season.
[Mireya] So I want to collect a sample that we can use
for eDNA sampling.
I want to analyze these findings later,
but right now I want to call Bryce and let him know
just how active this area is.
I don't know what it is, but something is
definitely moving through here.
[cell phone ringing]
-Hey, Bryce. -Hey, Mireya.
What's going on?
Hey, so last night, I was on the porta ledge,
and I saw something on the thermal.
And Bryce, it looked like it was upright and walking.
Are you serious?
Yeah, I started to track it, and it led me to an area
near the river filled with hollowed out trees.
Any signs of the thing that you saw last night?
Yeah, while I was looking at one of
the hollowed-out trees and immediately got struck
by what I can only describe as this really strong, pungent,
musky smell.
So something has definitely been moving around here recently.
You know what?
Maybe we can use this to our advantage.
In the past, we've used primate pheromones
to lure these creatures out, right?
We've got the drone in the air.
It's releasing those pheromones.
What if we deploy some pheromones near that tree stump
that you discovered?
If there's something around here using scent
and we spray a new pheromone, that is certainly going
to get its attention, right?
It's worth a shot.
[Bryce] Perfect. Send me your coordinates.
I'll be there as quickly as I can.
All right, you got it.
Oh, these are tiny roads.
As Bryce heads to meet Mireya, four miles away,
Russell has traveled along old logging roads,
backtracking to the vicinity where he discovered
a possible Bigfoot print.
It's been 12 hours since Russell attempted
to prevent the rain from destroying
this critical piece of evidence before he's able to cast it.
I left my backpack at that site,
hopefully to protect it from the rain.
But right now, I don't know if my plan worked.
I might look under my bag and find absolutely nothing.
And this whole thing might have been
a total waste of time.
I want to get this thing poured before that rain comes back.
Let's get it going.
Even in the dark, I can see that this footprint
has clearly defined toes.
It might even be better than the one we found in Washington.
No way.
Oh, my... Look at this.
Holy [bleep].
That is a footprint.
This could be the type of find that people spend
their entire lives looking for.
Oh, wait a minute.
How far was I right on that waterway?
Let me think for a second. I had the water.
Looking at the track.
Had the water on the left side of me when I came out
the back side of it.
I realized that where I stopped that truck
was a place that I hadn't actually been on the map.
My approach was different, and I sure didn't want to lose sight
of where that footprint was.
I had to use my map and reassess the landscape
and find that track.
Okay, wait a minute.
This side.
All right, we're good.
There's something been moving through here.
You see all the undergrowth pushed up.
Even down below this tree right here.
Look at this trail.
Look at that.
There's something's been bedding in here.
See how it's dry underneath it here?
It's been pushed down and it's bone dry
right through the center of it.
There's no tracks, no hair, nothing.
Which surprises me.
That's being used by something.
That track is just above us.
There it is.
Wow, I can't believe this.
All I'm thinking right now is please be intact.
Please be intact.
Holy crap.
Man, this thing looks amazing.
About 16 inches from the tip of the toe,
widest part of the foot.
I believe last night it was about eight.
Okay.
This print wasn't a bear or an elk or deer,
because you can see separation of toes on the front end
of that print.
That only leaves one possible creature,
and that would be a Bigfoot.
I'm going to do this slow and not disturb anything.
There we go.
I can't believe how big this print is.
Holy cow.
With the casting materials in it.
I mean, you can see all this detail.
Cast has been successfully poured.
We'll give it a couple hours to cure.
I definitely want to pull it up before it gets dark.
[dramatic music playing]
Bryce!
Hey!
I'm just going to keep working this area.
[narrator] 4.5 miles from Russell's position,
Mireya and Bryce execute a new plan designed
to lure out the creature that Mireya has been tracking.
Seeing as how I feel that Bigfoot is using this area
as a breeding ground, it only makes sense to use
primate pheromone as a tactic to elicit a response.
[narrator] Bryce is armed with a unique mixture of
primate urine and pheromones, which are powerful
organic chemicals that trigger specific behavioral responses
in animals.
Spraying the liquid matter will allow the pungent scent
to spread through the area effectively.
This is a good spot here.
Bryce!
I found the spot.
Yeah, that's perfect.
[narrator] Tonight, Mireya will observe Bryce using a thermal camera
from a vantage point overlooking the area where
she discovered physical evidence of
a creature using scent markings in
hollowed-out tree stumps.
Meanwhile, Bryce will remain in the area
where the pheromones have been deployed,
armed with a recording of a Bigfoot vocalization.
Utilizing a combination of these two tactics
should theoretically increase the team's chances
of drawing out a Bigfoot.
Yeah, this is good.
I'll be good and nestled here so that if anything
does want to move into that area,
I'm far enough away that I'm not scaring it off.
This pheromone, if it works like I think it should,
it's going to draw Bigfoot right out.
And if these creatures are raising their family here,
then maybe we can track them back to their nesting site.
Stuff dries pretty quick.
[narrator] In the northeast section of the target zone,
three hours after pouring a cast of a possible Bigfoot print,
the plaster is set, and Russell is ready to begin
the delicate process of extracting it from the ground
in one piece.
Pull the soil away from it carefully.
I would imagine it's fairly stable,
but I'm still going to see how that whole thing moves in one piece.
There we go.
I'm still going to handle it.
Yeah, it's not very thick.
Get some of this excess off of here.
Seeing the length and the size from the toes to the heel,
this is a really great footprint.
See this?
Right here, clearly a big toe. This is exciting.
This is really exciting.
This is a flat-footed foot cast,
which is indicative of what I've been looking for.
An animal's size determines a lot about their feet.
And based on decades of research,
Bigfoot would have massive flat feet
just due to the weight of their bodies.
Wonder if it'll fit.
And looking at this large, flat cast tells me
I could be looking at a legitimate Bigfoot track.
It's going to be close.
I can't seal it, but at least it'll be
with the information I need.
Now that I've pulled this cast up,
I need to find what made this track.
Last night, I heard something across the way,
and it sounded like it crossed water to get there.
It's not far from here.
I'm going to stay on the trail.
[whispers] That sounds like something walking through water.
So tonight, I'm going to keep chasing this trail.
I know that there's more ahead.
All right, man.
You ready?
Let's go.
Do me a favor. Just give me a wave.
-All right, we're good. -All right, let's go.
[narrator] 4.5 miles away from Russell, Mireya and Bryce are in position,
and the primate pheromones that Bryce sprayed earlier
have dispersed through the area,
ready to draw out any nearby creatures.
[Bryce] When we're doing these investigations at night,
it's easy to think that we've got the advantage, you know,
we've got the best tech, but we have no idea
just what these creatures are and what they're capable of.
[Mireya] Hey, Bryce, are you getting anything?
No. You?
[Mireya] Nothing.
Let's get going then.
[Bryce] Hey, Mireya, you read me?
Copy that.
I'm thinking about breaking out this Fox Pro.
All right, go ahead. I'm still recording.
[Bryce] We've had a lot of success using primate pheromones
in the past, but we're going to add
another layer to this strategy.
Not only are we going to deploy pheromones,
but we're also going to blast a purported
Bigfoot mating call.
Now, if there are any Bigfoot in the area nearby,
this will definitely get their attention.
[mating call playing on speaker]
[bleep]
Hey, Mireya, I just saw some trees moving,
some branches moving.
About 50 yards up, Mireya. Do you see anything?
I'm scanning the area as you play the vocalization,
and I'm not seeing anything.
See if you can see where I'm aiming my flashlight.
I saw some tree branches move as if something
was moving around up there.
[Mireya] What the [bleep] is that?
Just saw a shadow go from tree to tree.
Did you see anything?
I'm picking something up on the thermal behind you
to the left about 150 feet.
Don't move.
Okay, well, that's unnerving because I'm hearing sounds coming off here.
You're picking up something behind me?
I'm seeing something on the thermal to the left of you,
about 150 feet to your left.
Do you see that?
Mireya, I'm not seeing [bleep].
Hey, Mireya, I just got a real uneasy feeling.
I mean, like, real uneasy.
Bryce, you're out of my line of sight now.
Great.
I've just picked you up.
And if that's not you, I've just picked something up.
Okay, I'm... I'm on one knee. I'm gonna stand up.
Three, two, one.
That was not you.
I'm picking something up on the thermal.
Guys, there's something behind the tree, and it's moving.
Do you have any visual confirmation?
Can you see anything?
No, I can't see [bleep]. Let me look on the psionics.
[Mireya] It keeps, like, poking around a tree,
and it's definitely moving.
Oh.
The heat signature's gone now, Bryce.
[bleep].
What do you mean it's gone?
Should I keep making my way?
It's gone, but keep going up in the direction that I saw it.
Bryce, keep heading upriver.
[Bryce] Mireya, I'm not seeing anything.
[Mireya] I'm not seeing anything on the thermal either.
Stay right there, Bryce. I'm coming to your position.
Copy that.
[narrator] Four miles to the northeast of Mireya and Bryce.
Russell has crossed to the other side of the river
where he was last tracking the bipedal thermal creature
he spotted a few days ago.
Russell believes this might be the same creature
that left the print he cast earlier today.
[growling]
[Russell] I'm just about a half mile from where I just cast
that large footprint up on the hill.
I'm looking for other prints or any other clues
that could actually be the same thing that made that
15 inch print in the soil.
I smell the deer.
I think we pushed them up out of their beds.
Wow, this is treacherous, be careful.
I can smell deer. They have their own smell.
I can...
People that hunt deer, elk, bear, they know the difference
between the smells.
An elk has a very pungent,
almost a urine-type smell to it.
Deer smells different, so does bear.
But I can smell deer.
[indistinct noise]
That was out that way. Did you pick that up on your mic?
Without the rain, there's that calm quiet
that settles in around you.
And every little tiny sound, you can hear it.
And you're really curious as to,
did I hear a raindrop or did I hear a footstep?
It's just a different vibe because of the silence
that just kind of wraps itself around you.
That sounded like something in the water.
[breathing heavily]
Hey, Mireya, I think I see your light up ahead.
Is that you?
[Mireya] Bryce!
I thought I lost you.
[narrator] 3.5 miles away from Russell, Mireya and Bryce track
the heat signature that was lured out
during the pheromone experiment.
All right, let's keep heading that way.
[Bryce] I don't see any wildlife, nothing.
[Mireya] Exploring at night is completely different,
and humans like to think of themselves as top of the food chain.
But realistically, and especially here at night,
we are the weakest thing out here.
[Bryce whispers] I definitely feel something.
[Mireya] What the [bleep] is that?
Whoa. What the hell is that?
[Bryce] The pursuit of proof requires evidence, and lots of it.
And in the study of Bigfoot, the largest database
that we have is footprints.
Researchers have been collecting casts
and studying trackways since the '50s.
And until recently, the evidence was always collected
by making plaster casts of the footprints.
[camera shutter clicking]
But a new technology is emerging,
and it's changing the way that we collect evidence in the field.
The 3D scanner creates a three-dimensional model
of a footprint, allowing pinpoint accuracy
of its length, width, depth, even showing changes
in the curvature of the foot.
These 3D models can be permanently archived for
cross-referencing by future researchers.
Now, this hasn't replaced plaster casting as
the gold standard, but it is moving us towards
seeing the bigger picture of what's actually going on
out there in the woods.
[Mireya] What the [bleep] is that?
Hey, Bryce.
Hey. Whoa.
What the hell is that?
[narrator] After pursuing the heat signature that
they observed during the pheromone experiment,
Mireya and Bryce have discovered
a large structure made out of tree limbs.
[Mireya] It seems a little bit odd. It just doesn't look natural.
It reminds me of what Tobe pointed out.
-You see what I'm seeing, right? -Mm-hmm.
Bundles of sticks laying in a specific direction.
This is squash made, in my opinion.
[Bryce] This looks to me like signaling a marking
of some sort.
You think this is natural?
[Mireya] There's no obvious cut marks, anyway.
We're in the woods.
It's not odd to find a pile of sticks.
But this had organization to it in a way that
you don't see out here.
Just like natural breaks.
[Bryce] This, look at this spider web.
I mean, this has been here for a while.
Something put this here.
What we know of the animals here, I have no explanation.
To me, it looks like an arrow pointing right that way.
I want to go with my gut, because this thing
is screaming at me to go this way.
All right.
[narrator] Two miles to the northeast, Russell continues to pursue
strange noises along a river.
[Russell] In the darkness, I'm only limited to being able
to see what my flashlight will allow me to see.
I can track in the dark.
I can follow a trail at night because the ground
still tells me what I need it to.
There's something moving right down here.
Holy crap.
What is that?
Bryce.
See that? Strange.
I mean, this really looks like something placed it here.
This was a little bit shocking to me to find again.
Yeah.
This one was smaller than the first one we just found.
It's more delicate.
Um, like, there would be more intentional placing,
something that natural tree fall normally wouldn't do.
We are in the territory of these creatures.
-I mean, this isn't... -I don't know. I don't know.
Go ahead in the direction that you think it's pointing to.
Holy [bleep].
Bryce?
[Bryce] Holy [bleep].
The [bleep].
Whoa.
-Okay, so now that's weird. -[Bryce] Yeah.
Holy [bleep].
I just got the chills.