Fear the Woods (2017) s01e03 Episode Script

The vast
North American wilderness
is home to evil forces
thought only to exist
in nightmares.
But the terrible creatures
that roam here are all too real.
Deep in the woodlands lurks
a legendary beast
that terrorizes all
who venture into its domain.
It sounded like something
we didn't want to mess with.
We're going to die today.
I panicked.
I started to cry.
And I'm like, "Oh, my God.
It's real. They exist."
Forests like these
in Washington State
exist all over the world.
The promise of fresh air
and tranquility lures people in,
but these woods are not
as peaceful as they seem.
Lenn Payne
and his friend, Kevin,
are heading out into nature
as they often do,
but today they wander
into new territory.
This is just my story.
It's what happened to me,
and if you believe me, great.
If you don't,
I'm okay with that.
Because people
are going to believe
what they want to believe.
Well, me and Kevin
grew up together.
I've known him since, like,
the fourth grade.
Man, it's too bad Tyler
couldn't come, right?
Oh, I know, man.
He was actually the one
who taught me how to shoot.
- Oh, really?
- Yeah, man.
Yeah, we used to kick it
back home.
Yeah, right over here.
We were shooting pellet guns
out in the woods
and mostly at, you know,
pop cans or little birds
or whatever kind of crossed
our crosshairs,
you know, just having fun.
Anybody who goes out in a fairly
remote part of the woods
does have a chance to run into
a creature like this
because they are pretty much
all over the place.
Right over here, this
nice pocket of
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
We should probably
head down there.
- Yeah, yeah.
- So watch out.
- I used to come down here
- Really?
When I was a kid, yeah.
So you know the area?
To practice shooting.
- Perfect.
- I don't know it too well
- because it was a while ago, but
- Oh.
Here, you go set up,
and I'll, uh
Yeah, go over there.
We were setting them up and
just shooting target practice,
and we were probably out there
for a couple of hours.
Can you see right here?
Yep. Perfect.
Okay. Go for it.
One Don't hit me, though.
No, no, no.
All right. Watch out.
- Ah, dude. You suck.
- Let's see you do better.
- All right.
- Let's go.
All right.
Here, let me take that.
Oh!
- There we go.
- Nice!
- Let's set up another can then.
- Yeah, yeah.
- Try again.
- Try one more time.
So it's probably, like, 2:30,
3 o'clock in the afternoon,
and way off in the distance
is when we heard
that initial sound.
And didn't sound like anything,
you know,
that we had heard before.
- Did you hear that?
- What was that?
It sounded like a, what,
a coyote?
Nothing like I ever heard, man.
Dude, that sounded really close.
We should probably
get out of here.
No, man.
It can't be that bad.
You know,
you're a couple of kids,
and you don't really know
what to listen for.
I mean, I could have been an elk
or a mountain lion.
We're out in the middle
of the woods.
This place is really creepy.
No, man.
It's nothing.
I'll take one more shot, okay?
All right. One more.
I got to hit it.
One more.
All right.
Okay.
I got to hit this one
before we leave.
Nice!
- That was sick, dude!
- That's what I'm talking about, yeah!
Nice!
- You did it.
- Okay.
- Where did that come from? - I don't
know, man. - That was not a coyote.
- Okay, dude, now we're getting out
of here. - All right. All right.
We heard that scream again,
and it's a little closer.
It's a little louder.
We got to get out of here
right now.
All right. Pack up.
Let's go back to where
we came from, dude.
This not good, dude.
This is not good.
So we start kind of
walking back, and we're just,
you know, moseying along,
talking and stuff.
-Okay, man. I've never heard anything
like that in my life. -No. We got to
- We got to get out of here.
- Go, go.
The sound that this thing made
was really high-pitched,
shrieky kind of a scream
but raspy and kind of nasty,
enough to send shivers up your
spine and give you goose bumps.
Go, go!
Kevin. Let's go.
It sounded like something
we didn't want to mess with,
so we decided to hightail
it out of there.
It could have been anything,
really.
You know, all of this stuff's
going through your mind,
and your first instinct
is to just get the hell
out of there.
- It's getting closer.
- Let's go.
Let's go.
Let's go. Let's get out of here!
We could hear its footsteps
crunching through the twigs.
We knew it was coming after us
because it was getting louder.
It was getting closer,
and at that point,
it was just sheer panic.
The teens have disturbed
a creature of legend
and unleashed its wrath.
It wants you to leave.
It's trying to intimidate you
to make you run.
As we were coming out
of the woods, like,
literally we thought
we were out of the woods.
Heading into the clearing,
this was, like,
the home stretch
to Kevin's house.
There was maybe an acre or two
of cow pasture
and a barbed-wire fence
to get through.
We came through the clearing
and dove
through that barbed-wire fence.
We looked back at where we came,
and that's when this thing
burst out of the trees,
just both hands in the air,
hair flying.
Like, ultimate panic at that
point, like, scared to death.
When I looked up at it,
I didn't really know
what I was looking at,
so it's, like,
it took a second for my brain
to just process this.
But it was such
a scary moment in time
that time almost stood still,
but then as soon as it caught up
with me, I was out of there.
This thing was massive
and pissed off.
This thing's whole purpose
was to get us.
It was mad at us for some reason
and was chasing us down
no matter what was in the way.
It probably knows that humans
aren't used to seeing them,
and it takes that
as its advantage to try
and make you
leave its territory.
Frightening thing to see
in person.
There have been reports of
violent acts by these creatures.
Hunters gone missing, of hunters
found brutally killed,
and there's a lot
of big barefoot-type
footprints in the area.
Their rifle has been
wrapped around a tree.
Lenn and Kevin headed into
an unfamiliar part of the woods
for a bit of fun
and now they're being chased
by a terrifying beast.
That was probably the most
scared I have ever been.
I mean, this was, like,
"We're going to die today"
kind of scared.
So as we're getting closer
to Kevin's house
at just a full-on sprint,
I could tell this thing
was getting closer behind it.
I could hear it breathing.
I could hear it moving
through the grass,
and the smell preceded it.
It just smelled like a dead
animal and wet garbage.
Kevin's door was open, luckily,
and it was the backdoor
of the house,
and it was a big, thick door
with no windows in it.
And Kevin got to the door first.
I got in second.
Slammed the door behind us.
We were kind of making our way
through the house,
still scared, didn't know
if this thing was going to
come breaking through the door.
Where is it?
We heard it hit the door,
and it hit so hard,
it shook the house.
Me and Kevin were just, like,
"What are we going to do,
you know,
if this thing gets inside?'
That thing broke out
the kitchen window,
the trashcans hitting the door.
And it probably
thrashed around back there
for a good 5 to 8 minutes.
And then all of the sounds
stopped.
Once the banging
and the crashing
and the glass breaking stopped,
it felt like
It's hard to explain, like,
"Is it over,
or did it make it inside?"
I can just remember that I am
out of breath,
physically shaking.
Kevin is physically shaking.
We're hiding some boxes
or a dresser
or something for probably
a good 20, 30 minutes
until we heard
Kevin's dad come in.
Hey!
Kevin, are you home?!
Dad?
Are you there?
Then we knew it was
probably safe to come down.
We came downstairs and
Cautiously at first,
and there's
broken glass everywhere.
There's some trash that made it
in through the broken window.
We went outside, and that
metal door had dents in it.
Two of these big galvanized
metal trash cans
looked like flat beer cans.
The beast is gone, but a piece
of it remains behind.
We went out and looked
at that barb-wire fence,
and there was a string of hair
probably 10,
maybe 12 inches long,
like a dreadlock, almost.
Kevin got in contact
with someone
at the University of Washington,
and they did some DNA analysis.
It came back as
an unknown primate.
When I spoke with Lenn,
the tone in his voice,
the fear came back it seems,
and he was very afraid.
His voice was shaking.
The first thing that
piqued my interest
is the fact that he says
he was chased through the woods
by something big,
and the fact that he actually
saw this creature.
This creature was real.
John is certain he
knows what chased Lenn and Kevin
through the woods.
Every culture on every continent
seems to have a legend
or whatever you want to call it
of something we would associate
as being a Bigfoot.
In Asia, it's called the Yeti.
We have the Orang Pendek.
You have the Yowie in Australia.
Here in the Pacific Northwest,
we go by Bigfoot.
John understands how terrifying
an encounter like this can be.
I could tell that this story
deeply affected Lenn.
It's not something
he's going to forget.
I've never seen anything
or heard
anything like it
personally myself, so
But, yeah, I do believe
it's out there.
So we got chased by Bigfoot.
This mythical beast is
thought to be hiding in forests
all around the world,
as Anna and Cindy
are about to find out.
We were in its territory.
We were not wanted up there.
Deep in the woods
of Washington State,
Lenn and Kevin venture
into Bigfoot's territory
without knowing it.
And now, in a different part
of the state,
Anna and Cindy
are about to do the same.
The tale Anna has to tell
terrifies her so much,
she doesn't want
to be identified.
When you tell people the story,
my friends, they would laugh,
but I get nervous
just talking about it.
I'm shivering, and I'm still
bothered by it.
It's still scary.
Anna and Cindy decided
this is the perfect day
to go grab some fresh air.
Cindy had called me
that afternoon
and told me to get ready.
"Let's go on a hike."
It was a beautiful day.
I said, "Sure, why not?"
It's looking a little dark out.
Yeah. It should be okay.
Cindy and I realized
we were starting the hike
a little bit later
than your typical hiker.
Should we still go?
Yeah.
Yeah, it will be fine.
We were the last ones
on the mountain.
That's what kind of spooked us.
There was no one else on there.
I'm not worried.
There's only one way in and
one way out of that mountain.
It's getting
a little bit steeper.
Yes.
Harder than I expected.
Hey, do you think we can get
up the mountain and back
before the sun sets?
- Yeah, I think so.
- Yeah?
- If we hurry. Come on.
- All right.
We were a little bit embarrassed
because we should know better.
We know that with the mountains
and the way the sun comes down,
it gets dark pretty quick.
No one wants to be
trapped on a mountain
after darkness falls,
miles away from civilization,
especially without cell phones.
Anna and Cindy hike deeper
into the forest,
and that's when they discover
something bizarre
and unsettling.
We noticed a hut,
so that was kind of peculiar.
Hey, what's that?
I don't know. Uh
It was, like, a tree trunk
that had been covered
with branches like a roof.
It was really odd,
and there was fresh branches,
and it was very difficult for
any typical person to get to.
Cindy is more of
an adventurous personality.
She wanted to check it out.
It was so steep and a little
bit dangerous to get to,
but it was strange,
and I was curious.
I don't even know
to call it a hut.
That is just the strangest thing
I've ever seen.
The women get the strong sense
they're somewhere
they shouldn't be,
but they can't help themselves.
We were nervous
because at first, we thought,
"Oh, my God. What if there's
some creepy guy living in it?"
I said, "It smells in here."
It smelled like a wet dog
times 10.
Oh!
It was really bad.
Ah, jeez.
Oh, jeez.
Oh, my God.
Look at this.
The pair find the remains
of old clothes
and devoured animals.
It just started to get
more eerie and scary.
Wha
Are those bones?
These.
The inside of the tree
was scraped,
and that being
a little bit spooky.
It seemed like there was
somebody there.
It really did feel like
we were being watched.
- Cindy?
- What?
I don't think we're alone.
Cindy, she doesn't scare easily,
but she was like,
"Come on. Let's go."
You know what? Let's
Let's get out of here.
And she started climbing up,
so I just started to follow her
to get out of there
as quick as we could.
It was getting to a point of
where it started to get dark.
The way the sun sets on that
mountain, we had to get off.
They finally determine
they are safe enough to stop
and catch their breath.
Hey, slow down.
I have to pee.
Just make it quick.
And she went behind some brush
and leaned up against a tree.
I was just standing there.
Hey.
Jeez. Don't sneak up
on me like that.
What are you doing
throwing rocks at me?
Wasn't me.
Then who was it?
Okay. Don't be ridiculous.
It's getting dark.
We got to go.
Okay?
I looked at her,
and I said, "What?"
She honestly believed it was me.
She didn't believe me
when I told her,
"No, that was not me."
Damn it.
What?
Now I got to go.
That's when I saw one rock
come right at me at a direction
from where Cindy
was not standing.
And then another,
close to my head,
within inches
from the top of my head.
It hit the tree
that I was leaning against.
I panicked.
Oh, my God. No
- There's something out there.
- Okay. Let's go. Come on.
I was in a bit of panic mode
because I thought,
"There's some guy,
somebody up there watching us,"
and that, especially
as two females,
two young females
up on the mountain,
you don't know if it's a guy,
or you don't what it is.
Once again,
they are off and running.
But escape may be impossible.
That fear of not knowing
who or what that was,
the scariest part.
Actually I get nervous
just talking about the story.
I just get the shakes.
Anna and Cindy went
for a hike on the mountain
and ventured deeper into the
woods than they should have.
Now, after investigating
a mysterious dwelling
Run!
They're suddenly under attack
by the creature
known as Bigfoot.
Whoever or whatever it was
throwing rocks at us,
we were the last ones
on the mountain.
It was scary.
That did elevate the fear,
and it was as if that person
or thing
was right in front of me,
but I couldn't see it.
I grab Cindy, and I whisper,
and I say,
"Shh, I think
there's someone nearby."
As we're walking, it feels like
there's someone there,
like someone's watching us.
We started to walk fast,
and that's when we can
hear branches snapping.
And that's when Cindy
actually started to cry.
And when I saw her crying
and the look of panic
on her face, that scared me.
They can't see
what's chasing them,
but they know it's angry.
We race down that trail.
No!
I knew that I'd have fear
telling this story
because of, you know,
how intense it was,
how scary it was to be followed
by something,
you know, that you can't see,
but you can feel.
The uncontrollable fear
that takes over you,
and you cry, and you
can't stop and the shaking.
I just remember shaking a lot.
I grabbed Cindy, and I said,
"Come on," and I grabbed her,
and I threw her on the ground,
and we both hid behind a tree.
And we're laying there.
It got quiet.
We're both just whispering,
shaking and crying.
To think that,
"Okay, maybe we lost it,"
or, "Let's just
stop and listen."
Whatever it was,
it was very obvious
that it didn't want us up there.
A rock threw right at us,
right above our heads.
We just booked it down
that mountain.
- Let's go! Let's just go!
- Run, come on!
When we got to the parking lot,
we were crying,
jumped in the car.
Locking the doors
was the first thing we did.
It takes a while for Anna
to realize what they saw.
It wasn't until we were
actually on Highway 2
that we started talking
and gaining composure
and trying to figure out,
"What was that?"
That's when I told Cindy,
"That was Bigfoot."
Expert John Ray agrees.
There are common themes
to the reports.
We find stick structures
that we can't explain.
We've had these vocalizations
that we hear
that we can't explain.
The witnesses says they
experience a nasty smell.
Oh! It smells so bad.
We've had reports
of rock throwing,
where witness had rocks coming
out of the woods at them.
It wants you to leave
its territory.
Anna has learned her lesson.
Years after that incident,
I carried my gun to go hiking.
Experiences like this can
turn skeptics into believers.
Dr. Matthew Johnson
dismisses the legend
until he takes
his family on a hike
right into Bigfoot's territory.
Within a matter of minutes,
we're surrounded.
I was scared to death.
I was terrified.
The legend of Sasquatch,
or Bigfoot
goes back for centuries.
I do believe that Sasquatch
had been around for hundreds,
if not thousands, of years.
All the tribes of
Native Americans
have some sort of legend
and believe
in some sort of creature
that we would call Bigfoot
or Sasquatch.
Why are these things
so allusive?
Why can't we find them
with our technology?
No amount of survival skills
that you have can ever
prepare you
for being in the presence
of something huge
in the middle of the woods
at night that could
rip your lungs out.
Not everyone,
much less a trained psychologist
like Dr. Matthew Johnson,
believes these stories
until they have to.
I remember in sixth grade,
I checked out a book
from the elementary
school library
that had a picture of Bigfoot
and the Loch Ness monster
and a UFO and ghosts on it,
and I read through that book
and ate it up.
Did I believe it?
Meh, maybe, maybe not,
and it wasn't on my radar.
I'm very familiar
with the outdoors,
very familiar with wildlife.
Got chased by a grizzly bear
along the Russian River
in Alaska, south of Anchorage,
while I was fishing
with a buddy.
My family just moved down
from the state of Alaska.
We wanted to get the kids
out on a hike in Oregon.
The nice thing about this hike
was that there wasn't going
to be any grizzly bear.
So no stress, no anxiety,
no need to carry a handgun.
Hey, guys.
But you're going to
want to be careful.
See this right here?
These are called brambles.
They got thorns in them,
so you want to avoid them.
Okay, buddy?
We're almost at the clearing.
We cross the path
where we could smell
this horrific stench coming
downwind down the mountains.
Oh. Oh, jeez.
What is that?
It smelled as strong as a skunk,
but it wasn't a skunk.
It was a mix of
I don't know, garbage,
wet dog, fecal matter.
It was I can't describe it
other than it was just horrific.
Do you see that?
At that point, we knew we were
being imparalleled,
so we knew we were being
watched and followed,
but we couldn't
figure out what it was.
- What is that?
- I don't know.
Run. Come on.
It was making a deep bass
guttural mammal,
"Wha, wha, wha."
We're talking big lungs.
I've never heard anything
like that in my life
in 20 years of hiking and
camping and fishing in Alaska.
It's going to be okay.
Stay. Stay here.
What?
It's okay, buddy.
Daddy's coming back.
And that's when I saw Bigfoot,
out of the left corner
of my eye,
walk off the pages of myth
and legend into reality.
It was about 9 to 10 feet tall,
hair all over its body,
3, 4, 5 inches long, and it had
a protruding brow ridge.
Its nose was flat,
and the hair came up to the face
but not all the way,
and the skin was black,
eyes were dark,
and then it was behind a tree
watching my family
over on the trail.
Everything I knew about
the great outdoors
came crashing down
inside my head.
I literally could feel
that cognitive schema
just crash.
What the heck was I looking at?
You know, and I'm like,
"Oh, my God.
It's real. They exist."
Then I felt my brain reboot.
And then these real strong
protective instincts kicked in.
I started making my way down
to the trail through the brush
and the trees,
made a left up to my family
and was, like, moving them
along, "Let's go."
- Let's get out of here.
- What's wrong?
Move, move.
"Go, let's go. Let's move now."
Keep running. Keep running.
Keep running.
Go, go, go. Come on.
You okay, Buddy? You okay?
And they knew something
wasn't right
because I don't act that way.
I'm going to follow 50,
75 feet behind,
so if anything comes up
the slope,
it's going to run into me first,
and if that happens,
you take the kids
and you run.
You run,
and you don't look back.
Although I am almost 7 feet tall
and weigh 300 pounds,
what I saw on the mountain
that day was 9 to 10 feet tall,
close to 1,000 pounds
and could have crumbled me up
and thrown me away.
I had never been so scared
in my life than that day.
When I encountered the Bigfoot
on July 1st of 2000,
I had no idea at the moment
in time
how it was going to
profoundly change my life.
This won't be
the doctor's last meeting
with the mythical beast.
In fact, his journey
is just beginning.
- Oh, my God.
- What is that?
- What?
- On your arm?
Please don't hurt my family.
Although hundreds
of people have seen
Bigfoot over the years,
many don't believe
he actually exists.
Dr. Matthew Johnson is a trained
psychologist who was a skeptic
until he sees the legendary
creature for himself.
After spending years
up in the mountains,
it's very clear to me
that they exist.
Every since then,
Matthew has been determined
to find Bigfoot again.
It's a passion he shares
with his second wife, Cynthia.
Similar to Matt, when I was
in elementary school
and junior high,
I read the books
that were available
that told
the Native American stories.
I pretty much had made up
my own mind
that if there was
that kind of creature,
human development had probably
forced it into being extinct.
But when Matt told me his story,
I believed it.
While some experts
believe Bigfoot has lived
alongside humans
for millennia
Matthew disagrees.
I found the truth.
I know who they are.
I know where they're from,
and I know why they're here.
His obsession for answers
fills his days
And his nights.
This looks good, guys.
- Yeah?
- Yeah. I think right here.
- Okay.
- Set up.
All right.
So we would go out there
around midnight
in the middle of the woods
and set up a night sit area,
turn our flashlights off
and sit there in the dark
and wait for them to come to us.
The couple invites
a close companion to join them.
Howie's a friend of ours
because he was
a Bigfoot fanatic.
Maybe a little bit
more this way.
- This way?
- Yeah.
I'll set up here, and then
I'll be able to see
right in between you guys.
Okay.
We set up three chairs.
We were kind of in a semicircle,
and the idea behind
setting up our chairs
that way was that we would
have a 360-degree view.
I'm sitting in this chair,
and Cynthia is sitting here,
and Howie is sitting here,
and all of a sudden,
Cynthia and I are looking over
at Howie,
and we see this dim light.
- Oh, my God.
- What is that?
There's this glowing light
right by his right elbow.
All of a sudden, this ball
of light moves up
his right arm up to his hand
and then back down to his elbow
and then up to his
right shoulder.
- What?
- On your arm.
- What? What, what, what?
- On your arm!
- What is that?
- What is it?
- Did you see it?
- I don't know.
Okay.
And then it zips up into the sky
about 20, 30 feet above us,
and then it zips off
out of the woods.
It's really hard to describe.
I was just really left
with my jaw hanging open.
And we're sitting there
in the dark,
and all of a sudden, we
I don't know, within a matter
of minutes, we're surrounded.
You guys hear that?
What is it?
It sounds like footsteps.
Sounds like
they're coming closer.
- Is it them?
- Yeah.
Really?
Sounds like there's
more than one, yeah.
Is it dangerous?
There was light coming
through what was left
of the leaves on the trees.
So I start speaking up
in my calm psychologist voice,
and I say
Look, we mean you no harm.
We don't have any weapons.
We're not armed.
And Howie is going, "Doc,
Doc, he's coming right at you."
And all of a sudden,
he disappeared,
but you could still hear
the footsteps coming.
You could see the brush moving.
You could see the ferns
where his feet were,
you know,
kicking the brush were moving,
and he was coming
closer and closer.
- Watch out!
- What?
He bumps my left side
and spins me around
like I'm a little kid.
He continued to walk past me
and into the brush
and trees behind me.
The encounter changes
both Matthew's idea of Bigfoot
and his life.
During my first encounter
with the Bigfoot,
I was scared to death.
I was terrified.
Why? Well, because I didn't know
then what I know now.
That's why.
Between his claim
of Bigfoot's ability
to manipulate light
and its capacity
to appear and disappear,
Matthew now believes
that the Sasquatch
are a race of beings
with special powers,
perhaps not even of this earth.
You're not dealing
with an animal.
You're dealing with
an intelligent sentient being,
and their ultimate goal is
to connect with the human race.
Whether
extraterrestrial in origin
or indigenous to our planet
expert John Ray still warns
everyone to stay out
of their territory,
as Anna and Cindy
and Lenn and Kevin
found out the hard way.
If they felt threatened,
these creatures are known
to be very territorial.
It's its kingdom. It's going
to want to protect it.
It's not going to want humans
or anything else
messing around with it.
It's weird because
I'm shivering.
I'm surprised that
I'm still bothered by it.
We never went out to that part
of the woods
I don't think ever again.
We avoided that place
like the plague.
If a Sasquatch wanted to kill
a human, it would be very easy.
They could throw
a fairly big rock at us
and hit us in the head,
and it would be all over.
It could kill us easily
in many different ways,
the same way it kills its prey.
We're not any different
than the prey.