[droning]
Look. What is that?
[Phil] Is that another hot spot right there?
-It's moving. It's moving. -[Heather gasps] Oh, my God.
[Josh] On this episode of Expedition X...
There's no doubt in my mind it was a wild animal.
Some type of primate creature.
[Josh] My team tracks a terrifying beast,
said to stalk Florida's Everglades.
[Phil] Do you guys mind going in there with us
and showing us what direction it went?
I'd rather not.
They're crazy.
[Josh] They'll battle the extreme wilderness...
There's a honeybee hive right here.
Let's get out of here.
Go, go, go!
[groans]
[Josh] ...chasing a horrifying monster in size...
[Heather] I think I've got a nest.
[Josh] ...and in stench.
Ugh.
Hoo.
[Josh] The dreaded Skunk Ape.
[Heather] I found something.
-[water splashing] -[screaming]
Oh, [bleep].
Over a decade ago, I investigated reports
of a monster in the swamps of Florida,
and the... the sights and the sounds and the smells
of that expedition have stayed with me ever since.
Wait a second. "Smells"?
-Yes. -You forgot your deodorant again.
Nope. It wasn't my smell.
It was the smell of the creature I was looking for,
known as the Skunk Ape.
And for good reason.
I've heard of this.
Kind of like, a hairy, smelly, Bigfoot-like beast
that lives in the swamps of Florida.
Like, a stinky swamp thing.
That's exactly right. And we found really compelling evidence that something
was living out in those swamps.
But it was ultimately inconclusive,
but I've kept tabs on the case in the years since.
And now, things are heating up.
There has been a huge uptick in sightings of the Skunk Ape,
and in fact, there have been hundreds of sightings of this creature
that date back hundreds of years.
Stories of the Skunk Ape, or Esti Capcaki,
go back centuries,
with the Seminole Tribe telling of a foul-smelling giant
stalking the murky wetlands of modern day Florida.
The first documented sighting comes in 1818,
when a man-sized monkey
reportedly pursues fishermen
along the edge of the Everglades.
The 20th century brings more disturbing incidents.
Reports of slaughtered livestock,
monstrous howls.
Even two police officers in 1974
confirming they sighted a seven-foot monster
and opened fire.
In the years since, hundreds of harrowing reports
have been corroborated by photos and videos.
Two things are common throughout all these reports.
The size, usually seven feet tall,
with an estimated weight of more than 400 pounds,
and the smell,
described as a revolting blend of skunk,
wet dog and rotten eggs.
This year has seen a record number of encounters.
Now, a construction worker has reached out to me,
reporting his own terrifying face-to-beast encounter.
Is the Florida Skunk Ape truly stinking up the Everglades?
So what do you think? Does the Skunk Ape pass the sniff test?
Well, listen.
Florida swamps and wetlands,
including Everglades National Park,
make up millions of acres of dangerous, difficult-to-explore terrain.
But a seven-foot tall primate?
I mean, sure, they could be seeing something real,
but it's... it's more likely a...
An escaped exotic pet,
a... a circus bear.
-Go on. -This is the usual Phil Torres poo-poo platter
of crypted counter arguments.
[Phil] You're finally learning my ways, Josh.
But here's the deal.
Scientists are still actually making some pretty remarkable discoveries
in the swamps of Florida,
including, just a few years ago,
-the Siren reticulata. -The what now?
You guys didn't hear about this?
It's a giant two-foot salamander
with these teeny tiny front legs.
It was once considered a myth.
But it's real.
So, maybe the Skunk Ape is real, too.
But, I doubt it.
Well, whether or not you're right, Torres,
it sure feels like there could be something out there.
And, Southern girl that I am,
I know the swamp has a ton of wildlife.
Snakes, panthers, gators.
-This could be fun. -Why not a Skunk Ape, too?
All right. The hunt is on.
Your mission is to get down to the swamps of Florida and investigate.
I want you to talk to this construction worker
who claims to have had a run-in with the Skunk Ape.
And I am arranging for a very special tracker to join you.
His name is Whiskey.
That is not a nickname.
His actual name is Whiskey.
-Ooh, whiskey is exactly what this adventure needs. -Cheers to that.
And while you're gone, I'm gonna go through our old Skunk Ape case files
and see if there's anything there that can help.
-Perfect. -Sounds good.
All right. Well, smell you later.
-Oh. -Oh, man.
[Josh] Couldn't help.
-Oh. -Terrible.
[Josh] The flight from New York to Orlando is about three hours.
Phil and Heather then drive 45 minutes east
to the edge of the Canaveral Marshes Conservation Area.
Here. I've arranged for them to meet their new investigation partner.
-[Heather] You are off the grid out here. -[Phil] Yeah.
[Heather] Is this a good time to mention
that I'm absolutely terrified of gators?
-What? Like... -Yes, I am.
Like, what kind of terrified are we talking about?
-On a scale of, like, one to ten? -Yeah.
[Heather] One hundred. They're living dinosaurs.
I mean, technically, birds are living dinosaurs,
so, like, you should be afraid of a pigeon.
-Ha! -Alligators, other whole thing.
[Heather] Alligators have a lot more teeth.
[Phil] I'll give you that.
[Heather] Okay.
This is where Josh dropped the pin.
[Phil] Didn't Josh say we were meeting with Whiskey?
[Heather] We are.
-[woman] Hi. -Hi.
I'm Tiffany. This is Whiskey.
[Phil] Whiskey.
You're a dog.
Whiskey. That is so sweet.
-Look at you. -[Heather] That is...
[Tiffany] He is a bloodhound search and rescue dog.
We're part of a volunteer team.
So if somebody comes up missing, we get called out
and find that person that's missing, so...
[Heather] Can you tell me a little bit about
what his search and rescue technique looks like?
Um, it's off his scent.
So we get the scent article from the person that's missing
and then he will find the trail that we're tracking
and takes off after it.
So, hypothetically, if we found a unique scent in the forest
that we wanted to track either where it came from
or where it went afterwards, could Whiskey help us?
[Tiffany] As long as you've got the scent article,
he... he will be able to help you.
Bloodhounds are bred for tracking,
and that's actually how they got their names.
They would hunt the blood scent of the game.
Wow.
[Phil] While most humans have around five million
scent receptors in their noses,
bloodhounds have 300 million.
More than any other breed of dog.
This allows them to track smells over 100 miles.
Even if that scent is over 10 days old.
What's the longest he's tracked?
[Tiffany] Miles and miles.
I would probably run out before he would.
As they get older, the better they get.
If we were to put Whiskey into action...
-Yes? -...what does that look like?
It's a lot of fun,
and you better be ready to run. [laughs]
You're heading with them, bud.
[Phil] Come on.
[grunts]
[Heather] Good boy.
[Phil] You ready, bud? Let's go.
[Phil] With our ace tracker Whiskey along for the ride,
we set out to meet two witnesses
who believe they've had a recent encounter with the Skunk Ape.
[Phil] Hey, Whiskey, what's the smelliest thing you've ever smelled?
You.
-Ha. -[Heather laughing]
So funny.
[Heather laughing]
[Heather] We're meeting with Frank Constantino
and his son-in-law, Chris Smith.
[Frank] Hi. Good to meet y'all.
[Heather] These two construction workers claim to have had a recent run-in
with a Skunk Ape-like creature while out fishing.
I heard you had an encounter somewhere around here?
Yeah, it's actually not too far away from here.
I could take you to the exact spot.
Are you going to take us on that?
Absolutely.
I hope you brought your mud boots with you.
-[Phil] We'll grab and meet you on the boat? -[Frank] Awesome.
[Heather] Frank takes us on his airboat up the St. John's River,
into the gator-infested waters of the Canaveral Marshes.
Our airboat begins to slow as we head deeper into the swamp.
Far from any signs of civilization.
[Frank] Okay, guys. This is the spot right here where we've seen it.
[Phil] Where?
[Frank] See right back in there
-where that mound is in the bushes? -[Phil] Mm-hmm.
He was right on top of that mound.
We were fishing,
and I shined up in there,
and I could see a set of red eyes.
I thought it was an alligator.
The next thing you know, these red eyes just stood up.
Six feet tall.
-Six feet tall? -[Frank] Yeah.
-[Phil] That thing is... -Was big.
I did not want to get off the boat.
[Heather] And then what happened?
[Frank] It took off immediately.
It was like we spooked it.
[Heather] It was fast?
-Oh, yeah. -Oh, yes. Real fast.
And when it took off, did it go down on all fours when it ran away?
No, it more, like, leaped like this.
And then, after that, you couldn't see it no more.
It was like, gone off in the bushes.
[Frank] It was scary. I mean, it was almost demonic scary.
-This is just a mind-blower. -[Phil] Hmm.
You see it down low and you think alligator.
You see it stand up,
and the first thing you must think is, what? Bear?
It wasn't like a bear's build.
It was skinnier.
And there's no animals that illuminate red eyes,
other than an alligator.
And bears do not light up red.
Then what do you think it was?
The only thing I can think of is a Skunk Ape.
Is that something you thought could actually be out here?
I'm that guy that teases people when they tell me
-they see stuff like this. -[Chris] Yes.
I mean, I've been an avid woodsman since birth.
I've stepped on alligators.
And this freaked me out.
[Phil] Do you guys mind going in there with us
and showing us what direction it went?
I'd rather not.
I'll pick you up in the morning.
-[Chris] Good luck. -Okay.
Let's go, Whiskey.
They're crazy.
[Phil] With Frank and Chris's warning fresh in our minds,
we head into the thick brush of the remote island,
leaving behind our only ride out of here till morning.
We are in it now.
So we've gotta look out for everything from rattlesnakes to bears
to alligators.
Let's think about it. If this is a primate that we're going for,
let's look for recent trails,
look for recent branch breaks.
Some of the bigger apes, like orangutans,
are known to make nests that are made of branches and leaves.
They can be on the ground. They can be up in the trees.
And let's use our ears.
Let's listen for things moving next to us.
[Heather] And don't forget, they say it stinks like a skunk.
Let's see if we can find some scent article
we can get Whiskey on.
Um, it's off his scent.
don't get eaten by a gator.
Phil will take Whiskey to search the perimeter of the island,
while I head to the exact spot where Frank had his sighting.
[Phil] Let's use that nose. See what we can find.
[Heather] What?
I found something.
I'm over by the shore.
Look at this.
[Phil] Look at that.
I mean, look at the size of this.
So it's about five feet across,
I would say. So, sizeable something lying down here.
And, Phil, smell this.
-Ripe? -That's ripe!
I mean, it's... it's...
Skunk-ish?
-A little more musky? -Yeah.
-Not... Not enjoyable. -[Heather] No.
[Phil] And that was just where?
It was just sitting right there.
It almost looks like something hunkered down there for the night.
So I guess the question is, where did this thing go?
That's why we got Whiskey.
Whiskey's handler instructed us that if we found a scent article,
we should have Whiskey sniff it,
and then give the command...
Find!
If a matching scent is nearby,
Whiskey will jump into action and lead us to the source.
All right. We're moving.
[Whiskey barking]
[Heather] He is walking with purpose. He's sniffing.
[Phil] Oh, yeah.
-[Whiskey barking] -I think he's got something.
[Heather] Oh, my God.
-[Whiskey barking] -[Phil] Right here.
Heather...
What did we just find?
[Whiskey whining]
[Phil] That looks like a nest.
Good job, Whiskey.
-Good boy. -[Heather] Good boy.
Talking about nests.
Bald eagles.
Actually, Florida has one of the largest concentrations of nesting bald eagles.
Bald eagles make the biggest bird nest in the entire world.
Could be up to 10 feet.
Although they're usually way up higher in a tree.
Don't forget.
-The smell. -Yeah.
This does not smell like an eagle nest.
I think we gotta get up into that tree
and figure out who lives in this nest.
-Let's do it. -[Phil] Okay.
If Whiskey's right,
this nest matches the scent that Heather found.
I'll be looking for any traces of food, hairs, or scat
that could determine what creature we're looking at.
Show us your skills, Heather.
[both exclaiming]
This thing's rolling?
Yep. We're rolling.
[Phil] Okay.
I've never climbed in snake boots before. There's a first.
[Heather] Better snake boots than snake bite.
[Phil] True.
As the sun gets lower in the sky,
Heather will spot for me
as I climb to the nest and take a look around.
-[Phil exhaling] -[Heather] What are you seeing?
[Phil] Oh, my God.
-[Heather] What is it? -[Phil laughs]
[Phil] There's a bunch of fronds laid flat,
and right in the middle...
we got fish scales, some bones, some wings.
All these fronds laid perfectly sideways here.
[Heather] So, laid with design.
[Phil] Absolutely. Something laid these up here.
Wow.
I've never seen anything like this.
So these are gar fish.
The fish look completely eaten.
Bird looks completely eaten.
You see any hairs? Any evidence of anyone that lives there?
[Phil] I'm looking close.
I just don't see any right now.
This clearly gets used by something,
and I think that something... is probably big
and it smells.
So, this is our area.
I think this should be the center of our investigation tonight.
[Heather] Skunk Ape or not, it's clear something powerful constructed this tree nest.
And with night falling,
that something could be returning home from a day of hunting
and heading right towards us.
Not wanting to miss any movement in the woods,
we set up motion-activated trail cameras.
Now it's ready.
We have one facing inward.
Now we need to set up a perimeter that faces outward.
I want these game cams to overlap by at least 10 yards.
I don't want anything to slip through.
Okay. I'll cover, starting over there,
working counterclockwise. You start over there.
Sounds good.
Phil and I split up to place several more trail cams
facing away from the nest.
Positioning them 10 yards apart from each other
will create an overlapping field of view.
This will ensure anything moving into the perimeter we've established
will be caught on camera.
Oh, okay.
Let's go walk through a swamp at night.
-[water splashing] -[Heather screaming]
Oh, [bleep].
You good?
There's a huge splash over here.
[Phil] Right, heading that way.
-You just hear a big splash? -[Heather] Yeah.
-Like, this huge-- -[Phil] Did you see anything?
[Heather] I didn't see anything. But I heard it.
It was huge.
[Phil] Well, there's only a few options
of what could be big out here at night.
There's gators, there's bears,
or whatever Frank saw.
You have the FLIR?
I have the FLIR, yeah.
[device beeping]
[twigs breaking]
I heard some, like, chuffing out there.
Did you hear that? It was like... [mimics chuffing]
Yeah.
-[twigs breaking] -[Heather gasps]
More branches are breaking.
It's right that direction.
[twigs breaking]
I think we should get closer.
See for eye shine, okay?
[Heather] Eye shine.
-[Phil] Right back there. Look, look, look. -[Heather] What?
Right there. See that?
It's an area of flattened grass.
[Heather] It looks like some leftover heat signature there.
[Phil] You see how those are folded down?
-[Heather] Yeah. -[Phil] Folded down right there.
I'm gonna jump ahead and see...
[Heather] Okay.
...if there's any hairs or anything.
Show yourself.
-[twig breaks] -Oh, my God!
[Heather gasps] What the [bleep]?
[Phil] That was close.
It's really thick back here. I can't see very far.
They must move quick.
I feel like we're pushing it farther away
just by being out here.
The game cams are set up.
Let's let them do their job and let's get out of here.
Okay.
[Heather] As the sun comes up,
we meet up with our witnesses Frank and Chris,
who take us back to safer ground and wifi access
where we update Josh on what we found so far.
Hey, Gates.
-Hey, Josh. -Hey.
Sending you a shot of whiskey.
A shot of whiskey. Oh, Whiskey!
Phil, you made it funny.
You know what's not a joke?
-The Skunk Ape. -Really?
Was Whiskey able to track something down?
Yeah. He picked up his scent.
We followed this trail,
and we ended up at a giant tree,
where I think we found a nest.
A nest? Like, giant enough for a Skunk Ape?
Listen, my first impression was
this has to be the nest
of one of the larger bird species around here.
But when I climbed up in it,
there was no bird poop to be seen.
And the way that the fronds were laid out
seemed like a very intentional design, so.
Honestly, I don't know what could've made it.
Okay, wow.
Well, while you've been on the hunt,
I went back through my old case files
from when I investigated this story.
and I reconnected with someone that I interviewed back then.
A guy named Dave Shealy.
And since that time,
he says that he has had many more sightings of the Skunk Ape
and says that he captured this video.
Check it out.
[Heather] He's moving fast.
[Phil] Hmm.
I mean, it kind of looks like a guy in a suit.
Dave is convinced that that is a Skunk Ape.
And what's more, he says he can prove it.
You've gotta meet this guy.
Well, Heather, why don't you meet with him?
I wanna try to track down a primatologist
and get an expert opinion on the evidence
that we've gathered so far,
including this video.
Sounds like a plan.
I'll see you later, alligators.
-[Heather] Dave. -[David] Heather.
[Heather] David Shealy and his family have been gladesmen.
Essentially the taxis of the Everglades
for four generations.
What a cool boat.
It's called a pole boat.
Some good transportation.
[Heather] He's dedicated much of his life
to trying to prove skunk apes are a very real part
of Florida's ecosystem.
I saw a really compelling video.
Was that video taken here on the property?
Yeah, I took the video about two miles out back here on the marsh.
A lot of people discount it, but...
And when you get out there and see the conditions, uh,
there's no doubt in my mind it was a wild animal,
-some type of primate creature. -Oh, no way.
I'd love to take you out there and show you that area
so you can see it for yourself.
[Heather] I would love to go.
[David] Let's do that. I, I welcome that.
[Phil] With witness descriptions of the Skunk Ape
suggesting it's some sort of large primate,
I need to know if an animal that big
could even survive in the Everglades.
[Phil] Hey, Andrew.
Hey, Phil. Nice to meet you, man.
[Phil] I'm meeting with Dr. Andrew Zamora,
a biological anthropologist specializing in primatology
at the Naples Zoo.
Someone recently saw what they can only describe as a Skunk Ape.
-So, I went to investigate it. -Okay?
And what we found up in a tree
was something I'm still trying to figure out.
When I climbed up there, right in the middle,
there was a gar.
-[Andrew chuckles] Oh, nice. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. -And...
-some wings from a dead bird. -[Andrew] Mmm-hmm.
Does that look like something an ape would do?
Uh, that does look like something a great ape could do.
It's a decent size nest.
They'll lay a cross hatch
of branches and leaves on the ground.
They build a rim around that
and then they'll start filling it with leaves and twigs,
softer materials that's nice and easy for them to sleep on.
But the fact that you're finding a gar in there,
feathers and, and bird remains...
Meat tends to not really be a popular fare for primates,
especially your great apes.
That being said,
chimpanzees are pretty famous for doing active hunting
from time to time.
Long tailed macaques that actually forage in the water.
So, it's definitely not impossible.
One other thing that stood out about this
-is that the base of the tree smelled pretty awful. -Mmm-hmm.
When it comes to primates,
do any of them use scent markings for their, their nests,
their home turf, their territory?
Yeah, well, I mean, you have a great example right here.
These are our three red ruffed lemur boys.
They rely on scent based communication quite a lot
to demarcate territories, to communicate,
their age, or reproductive status.
[Phil] Cool.
So, we've been collecting some evidence.
Some of this is from, uh, previous eyewitnesses.
If you see something like this,
what's your gut say?
[Andrew] It's quite difficult to tell.
But that arm motion seems, like,
really exaggerated to me.
That definitely strikes me as a bit curious.
So, you're a little suspicious?
Great apes,
when you see them walking bipedally,
which they will do from time to time,
one, they have this kind of bent knee gaits
and their knees are also more out.
As a result, when they walk,
-they almost shuffle a bit from side to side. -[Phil] Mmm.
This animal or whatever it is,
you can definitely tell it's walking with kind of that human-like gait, right?
It's upright
and using its arms as, as balances
much like we do.
It's definitely a little fishy to me.
Don't grab this grass,
-because this is called sawgrass. -[Heather] Okay.
-Yeah. -[David] It'll cut your hands.
Well, this is it.
This is the exact spot?
This is the spot where I took the video.
It crossed from the hammock over here
and ran across
and went into this hammock over here.
[Heather] I'd love to do an experiment myself
-and see if I can run the exact same path. -[David] Okay.
We'll just compare the two videos.
All right, let's do it.
[Heather] The supposed creature in the video
had its arms held up,
like it was trying to avoid getting cut
by the swamp's sharp sawgrass.
I'll aim to copy it exactly.
The marsh's muddy waters are exhausting to run in,
and I barely complete three quarters of the path seen in the original video
before I'm unable to continue.
[breathing heavily]
And just keep in mind.
When it happened, the water out here was even higher.
And today, it's still, you know, difficult.
[Heather] We compare the two videos
and the results are not even close.
The figure covered the entire distance in 26 seconds.
I've always been a pretty good athlete,
but could only complete three quarters
of the same distance
in one minute and 23 seconds.
There's no way a human being can run that far,
that fast in this terrain.
In my mind, all questions are put to bed.
If we wanted to find the Skunk Ape,
what areas should we look in?
What should we be looking for?
This time of year,
skunk apes tend to get back into swamps.
The water levels are falling,
uh, the pond apples are, are starting to produce,
which is a major food source.
These would be the areas I would be looking.
[Heather] David gives me a set of coordinates
he believes offers our best chance
at finding a Skunk Ape.
A remote patch of land deep in the Florida marsh,
surrounded by water and thick brush.
David believes it provides the perfect ecosystem for this potential creature.
It will be tough terrain to get to.
So, I pick up Phil in a vehicle built for the task.
[Phil] What is this thing?
[Heather] This is a swamp buggy.
They've been around for 100 years.
They were specifically made for the Everglades
as a way to transport people,
and obviously to stay away from gators.
[Phil] It's hauling.
What is that?
-[Phil] On that tree? -[Heather] Yeah.
[Phil] Whoa, okay.
What happened to this tree?
This is completely torn up by something.
[buzzing]
Oh, [bleep].
Oh, geez, I just realized why.
What?
[grunts] I was just thinking.
This looks like a tree that a bear tore up to get to honeybees.
There's the honeybee hive right here.
I'm gonna try to document it before I get stung.
[Heather] Yeah, you better hustle, Phil.
Get ready, set.
-[camera shutter clicks] -[Phil] Got it.
-Okay. Let's get outta here. -All right.
[Phil] Whoo!
Ooh, they're on to me.
Oh, [bleep].
Let's get it going. Get it going.
Go, go, go, go, go, go, go!
[engine sputtering]
Go, go, go! Ah!
-Go, go, go! -[engine revs]
[Phil] Go, go!
Whoo! [sighs]
Keep going, keep going, keep going.
They're onto us, they're onto us.
[sighs] I hear one buzzing.
Is it in my hair?
-Yes. Yes. -Okay.
-I got hit once. -[buzzing]
[Heather] Oof.
Even while getting stung by a bee,
you still got the shot.
[Phil] Anything for science, you know?
We pushed deeper into the marsh,
eventually reaching the coordinates
David Shealy gave us.
We park the swamp buggy and continue on foot
to avoid alerting any creatures.
-[Phil] After you. -[Heather] Thank you, sir.
[Phil] As the sun sets,
we throw on our waders, grab our gear
and continue on foot.
[crickets chirping]
[Heather] Gosh, that is a bright, full moon.
[Phil] You know what they say about skunk apes on a full moon?
[Heather] What?
-[Phil] That's when they're at their stinkiest. -Oh, Lord.
[Phil] Wait till you get a sniff of what I got.
-You ready for this? -[Heather] I'm not sure.
[Phil] So...
Can you hold my jars?
-I have... -[Heather] It's leaking. What is this?
We have skunk,
we have boar glands,
and we have bear scent marks.
Are you trying to out skunk the Skunk Ape though?
100% that's what I'm trying to do.
So, my plan involves this.
It is a laser guided slingshot.
[Heather] Laser guided?
[Phil] It was the only one they had in the store.
Each of these wooden balls in here?
-[Heather] Yeah? -I've been soaking it for about 48 hours.
I'm using the slingshot
to launch animal scented objects in multiple directions.
Different reactions can be triggered in primates
by presenting them with different scents,
particularly if the scent arrives suddenly,
like the slingshot will ensure.
I wanna see what's coming towards us.
-So, let me get my FLIR out. -[Phil] Okay.
[Heather] You got that for me? Thank you.
We are recording.
[Phil] Okay.
Time to get out these stinky wooden balls.
I'm gonna start with bear.
-Yeah, up close. Come on. -Ugh.
[clears throat]
It is not pleasant.
I'm guessing bear scent will trigger
an aggressive behavior in apes.
Let's see what response we get here.
Looks like we got some good distance right there.
Bear scent. Ready to launch.
Okay, there's one.
Now we got skunk.
[Heather] Oof.
[Phil] If what we're tracking
marks its territory with a scent similar to skunk,
I'm hoping launching this skunk smell
will trigger a territorial response.
Stink bomb away.
[Heather] Nice.
[Phil softly] Okay.
And finally, wild boar.
Uh-oh.
The idea here is four could serve two purposes.
One, could be prey item,
and two, boar eat about everything.
So, definitely, it could be some competition.
I'm gonna shoot this in a slightly different direction.
-[Heather] Okay. -[Phil] Keep each one at space.
[whispering] Okay, let's hunker down and just see what comes.
[Heather] Nothing on the camera yet.
[Phil speaking softly] Let's give it a second.
[twig snaps]
[Phil] Ooh.
That was a big branch falling down.
[whispers] You shot a ball in that direction.
[thwack]
[whispers]
Oh, my God.
[thwack]
[Phil whispering]
Can you see it? Up in the trees, up there?
Lower, a little bit lower.
[thwack]
-[gasps] -There, again. That sounds like a knock.
Like, it's just,
someone just banging a stick against something.
[Heather] Oh, my gosh.
[Phil speaking]
I can't see anything past 40 feet on this.
'Cause it's so thick and heavy, this brush.
[Phil] Yeah.
I think you need to put the thermal drone up in the air.
-Okay. I'll get it out. -Okay.
[beeping]
Right, you hold that.
Looks like we have a little break in the canopy right here.
-So, you wanna stand underneath that. -Yeah.
-[Phil] You ready? -[Heather] Yeah.
In three, two, one.
[drone whirrs]
-At least we know that we're lighting up. -[Heather] Yeah.
We're definitely showing up on there.
[Phil] I'm gonna push to the direction
of what we just heard.
That just looks like treetops.
[Heather] I don't see anything.
[Phil] Swing back around a little bit.
Let's keep pushing.
[Heather] Look. What is that?
[Phil] It's another hot spot right there.
-It's moving. It's moving. -[Heather gasps]
Oh, my God.
Heather and Phil's search for the Skunk Ape was almost illegal.
It all starts in 1974,
when Palm Beach County deputies report shooting
at a monstrous, ape-like creature that gets away.
It seems this story then opened some very swampy floodgates.
The police were suddenly inundated
with claims of a giant, red furred ape
breaking into homes, feeding on livestock,
and even stalking people.
Locals became so enraged,
that posses formed to start stalking
this so called monster back.
Concern for the Skunk Ape
ultimately reached such a peak,
that in 1977,
Florida State representative Hugh Paul Nuckolls
proposed a bill to make it illegal to possess, harm or molest
any humanoid animal
popularly known as the Skunk Ape.
The bill never became law,
but if there are any skunk apes out there,
you clearly had a friend in representative Nuckolls.
[Phil] Let's follow it.
Maybe we can get signs of whatever it is.
Okay.
[Phil] It's going quick.
[Heather] I'm right behind you.
[Phil] It's still going. It's still going.
[Heather] It's moving fast.
[Phil] Keep going, keep going, keep going.
Okay, we're getting close. We're getting close.
I'm gonna keep the drone following.
[whispering] Stop right here. Stop right here.
Hang on.
I'm not seeing it right now.
It was right over here.
I don't get it, it just disappeared.
[Heather] Yeah, it's gone.
That thing was moving.
[Phil whispers] I think it was moving.
I cannot find it.
We don't know where it is, but we know where it's been.
We can backtrack along this path,
the exact same way that it came
and we can try to find evidence of it.
Should we spread out a little bit?
I think that's our best chance.
Why don't you start on that side of it's trail,
move slowly,
and I'm gonna find a place to land this drone.
But let's stay within shouting distance.
It's gonna be tough to find any traces of it.
I'm getting this feeling where he could be right above us
at any moment.
[Heather] What is that?
Look at those ferns lying on the ground like that.
Phil, come here.
You got something?
[Heather] I think I've got a nest.
[Phil] Up in a tree?
[Heather] No, on the ground.
-This? -[Heather] Yeah.
[Phil] Whoa!
Okay. Okay.
I mean, look at this indent right here.
Something has spent a lot of time on the ground.
Well, my first instinct is I gotta wonder.
Could this just be a hunter's blind?
They would be really well camouflaged.
I almost walked right by this thing.
[Heather] I mean, in the path we took,
we are in the middle of nowhere.
Think about what we did to get out here.
Wait, wait, wait. [sniffs]
Ugh.
Oh!
-[Heather] That is awful. -That is ripe.
But that just came on all of a sudden.
What does that mean?
[Phil whispers] I don't know what that means.
That was not a nice smell.
I'm gonna get some photos of this thing.
-Oh, Heather. -[Heather] What do you have?
-[Phil] I found hairs. -[Heather gasps] No.
[Phil] Yes.
Look at this right-- Oh.
Holy [bleep].
It's like that damn thing is booby trapped.
It really did just fall right when you picked that up.
[Phil] Okay.
But at least we got the hairs.
Okay, I'm gonna bag these.
Actually, can you come here? Can you help me?
-[Heather] Yeah. -[Phil] Hold this.
[Heather softly] Okay.
[Phil] Okay. Got a bag right here.
That is so weird.
Okay.
Well...
Figure out what this was,
whether it was a person, or something else.
[Josh] My team braved the Florida Everglades,
investigating the potent legend of the Skunk Ape.
We sent the hairs Phil gathered for DNA analysis.
And while it wasn't an ideal sample,
they said it was most likely a match for human.
Phil counts that as a win.
But Heather argues that
this doesn't necessarily rule out the Skunk Ape.
Because human and ape DNA match by a staggering 98.8%.
-This wasn't the only intriguing evidence... -[Whiskey barks]
[Josh] ...my team uncovered.
[Phil] I think he's got something.
[Josh] Images of these so called nests
discovered by our four-legged friend Whiskey,
were analyzed by wildlife experts.
[man] This is crazy.
[Josh] They confirmed it was not constructed by a large bird.
And just like our expert from the Naples Zoo indicated,
fascinatingly, it does appear similar
to nests constructed by large primates.
That does look like something a great ape could do.
[Josh] However, analysis of the video
of the supposed cryptid crossing the swamp
alongside Heather's expert reenactment
was inconclusive.
Although the figure moves much faster than Heather,
under detailed analysis,
its gait does appear distinctly human.
Far from this being a super speeding cryptid,
this really could just be a person in a suit.
And Heather may simply need to work on her cardio.
[Heather] I'm exhausted.
[Josh] It's our final video evidence that is the most remarkable.
The heat seeking drone clearly shows Phil and Heather
on the trail of a very fast bipedal figure.
[Heather] It's moving fast.
[Phil] Keep going, keep going.
[Josh] We estimated they tracked it for about 400 meters.
After analyzing the exact route and speed of this figure,
we determined it cleared 400 meters
in around 40 seconds.
The fastest track athletes
can travel 400 meters in about 43 seconds.
But crucially, that is on flat ground.
Not sodden swamp.
Which begs the question.
If this fast bipedal figure is not likely human,
what is it?
While we certainly haven't found definitive proof,
it does seem there's enough evidence
to ensure the Skunk Ape will be a part of Florida lore
for years to come,
casting a long shadow and an even longer stench.