The UnXplained (2019) s01e03 Episode Script

They fly.
They creep.
They claw
at everything in sight.
And some even have a taste
for human flesh.
All over the world,
legions of cryptozoologists
insist that somewhere out there
are hundreds of weird,
bizarre, nightmarish creatures
that hide in the shadows
and terrorize small towns.
They give them names
like Mothman,
chupacabra,
the Jersey Devil and
the Goatman.
But can they be dismissed
as mere figments
of the public's
overactive imagination?
Or could they actually be
real?
Well
that is what
we'll try and find out.
Eyewitness descriptions
of cryptid creatures
are as varied as they are vivid.
Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
April 1967.
A boyfriend and I
decided to pull in
off the country road,
and I noticed off of my right
shoulder it was a creature.
And, uh, we sat there in awe
of what we were looking at.
It came right over
in front of the car,
and we looked up,
and I could make out the shape
of a winged man.
Cuero, Texas.
August 2007.
Something was sucking the blood
out of my chickens.
The first time I saw it,
-the color of it was different,
the physique of the animal
was different.
It has absolutely no hair on it,
and all of these different,
bizarre features on it.
What is it?
High Falls, New York.
October 2015.
My wife and I were staying
at this cabin.
There was a stream
behind the cabin
and a very steep ridge.
Middle of nowhere.
I was exploring the woods
behind the cabin.
And then I noticed
some movement.
Black, hairy figure,
at first I thought
was a black bear,
but this figure was much bigger.
Looked like
it was standing upright.
At this point in time,
I still don't know what it was.
Most people
generally have heard of Bigfoot,
the Yeti, the Loch Ness Monster,
but what they aren't aware of
is that there is a whole world
of really unusual creatures
out there, lesser-known things,
many of them
quite otherworldly and strange.
When it comes to animals
that are known as cryptids,
there's a huge number of them.
We actually find reports
and cases all around the world
of strange creatures.
For example,
one of them being Mothman,
which is this huge
humanoid-type figure
with bat-like wings
and fiery red eyes
that's perceived
as kind of like a grim reaper
that surfaces
when bad luck or disasters
are about to happen.
If you go to Africa, there are
reports there of creatures
that look just like something
out of Jurassic Park.
We're talking
about something very much akin
to a gigantic lizard
or a monitor lizard.
The phenomenon of what's
become known as the Dogman
in recent years
is a genuinely weird, odd one.
People talk about seeing
these huge, bipedal wolves
that seem to look like
the closest thing
you could imagine to a werewolf.
You have hellhounds,
or devil dogs,
that are thought
to be omens of death.
You have thunderbirds.
You have creatures
like the Van Meter Visitor.
You have creatures
like the skunk ape.
You have all these creatures
that defy what we know as
flesh-and-blood creatures
here on this planet.
Some of these creatures
seem to possess abilities that
are borderline supernatural,
and they have qualities
that can harm you.
Creatures like the Goatman
and the Mongolian death worm.
The wendigo is said
to possess people
and cause them to go mad
and often crave human flesh.
They terrorize people,
cause harm to other animals.
They prey on other animals.
They're essentially predators.
There have been countless
stories of cryptid creatures,
and they exist throughout
all different cultures,
all periods of time in history,
even right up
to the present day.
But there's a shocking lack of
actual evidence that they exist.
Skeptics would say
that the sightings
of all of these
cryptid creatures
are to be related
to some kind of hallucination
or psychological projection
or whatnot.
When you look
at folkloric tales of monsters,
sometimes they turn out to be
hoaxes or legends,
to the point where
we're just not able
to confirm what
they actually were.
Many people
simply make up stories.
You can't rule out
the possibility
that people, for example,
are creating some
of these colorful legends
simply to garner attention
or to propagate
their own motives.
As a scientist,
I don't discount
that there is some animal
or some creature
that's been sighted.
If there are organisms
that we haven't found yet,
it probably speaks to the fact
that the Earth is a vast place
with many types of habitats,
and it's possible
that we haven't explored
them all completely yet.
We tend to think
that everything in the world
we live in is pretty much known,
Every tree, every insect,
every species
has been photographed,
studied, cataloged.
But it isn't true.
According to
mainstream scientists,
there are still
literally thousands of species
that have yet to be discovered.
So is it far-fetched to believe
that wild,
possibly hybrid creatures
could exist out there?
Strange so-called cryptids
that have been seen
by average people
but haven't yet
been officially recognized
as being real?
While mainstream scientists
might say yes,
cryptozoologists argue
that we've already found
such an animal
and even have the photographic
evidence to prove it.
One of the most compelling
cryptids that we investigate
is something known
as the Tasmanian tiger,
or the thylacine,
which were considered legendary
or mythological
until living specimens
were discovered
and documented by scientists.
This is definitely
a known animal.
The last verified specimen
died off in 1936.
However, since that time,
there has been
thousands of sightings of
Tasmanian tigers, or thylacines,
on both the island of Tasmania
and mainland Australia,
since its presumed extinction.
And there have been some
fairly compelling photographs
that have never been
fully explained.
The thylacine was
a very weird-looking animal.
It looks like a large dog,
like a German shepherd,
but it's actually a marsupial,
like a kangaroo.
In other words, it carries
its young in its pouch.
And it has these stripes
down its head and neck,
which give it sort of, like,
a tiger-type appearance.
And it could almost open its jaw
to about 180 degrees,
kind of like snakes.
If someone just saw it
running through the woods,
they would think
it was some sort of monster.
The peculiar qualities
of the thylacine,
or the Tasmanian tiger,
are a great example
of how evolution can provide
some amazing mutations
and hybridization.
Just having the thylacine
as a hybrid
increases the possibility
that there are other
of these hybrids out there
lurking in the shadows.
But what are the other cryptids?
The legions of strange,
hybrid creatures that fly, swim
and suck their victims dry
of blood?
Is there similar
photographic evidence out there
that can help prove their case?
There are those who believe
the answer is yes
and that better
than a photograph,
there's something
even more compelling
and harder to disprove:
actual samples
of a monster's DNA.
Cuero, Texas.
August 2007.
After purchasing
a brood of chickens
from a neighboring ranch,
Phylis Canion makes a series
of gruesome discoveries
inside her brand-new henhouse.
I brought the chickens home,
and I had them
for about two weeks.
And I went outside, and
one of the chickens was dead.
What makes it unusual
is the chicken
was still laying there.
And with the amount of predators
that we have
in the state of Texas,
any predator would have taken
the chicken and eaten it.
Over the next few weeks,
Phylis collected the remains
of 27 more of her chickens,
each one killed in the same
inexplicable fashion.
Every one of them
had been opened up
in the thorax area,
the feathers missing,
and what appeared to me
to be no blood on the ground.
So that told me then,
whatever it was
was not interested in the meat
but interested in the blood.
And when I was talking
to friends
and neighbors about it,
they all immediately said,
"Oh, my gosh, that's the
behavior of a chupacabra.
It's gonna kill the animal
and suck the blood."
Chupacabra.
To those who claim
to have encountered one,
it is a fearsome monster.
Chupacabra means "goat sucker."
And it's a really
creepy-looking creature.
Some people say
it looks like some kind
of strange, hybrid-like dog.
The continental
North American chupacabra,
uh, is a four-legged
or quadrupedal animal
about the size of a dog,
completely hairless,
with a bluish-gray elephant
hide-type of covering.
They also display a number
of abnormal characteristics--
oftentimes their limbs
are disproportionate lengths--
so they're very grotesque,
odd, weird-looking animals.
Certain that what was preying
on her chicken coop
was not a coyote,
or any other known canine,
Phylis began to consider
whether it might be
a chupacabra.
And then, one morning,
she got her answer.
One Saturday morning,
I got a very early call, 7:00.
My neighbor rancher called
and said, "Oh, my gosh.
The strangest animal
has been hit and killed
in front of the Canion ranch.
So I got in the truck,
drove over there,
and I brought it back,
and I took a 50-pound feed sack,
and I cut it in half
and laid it on the ground,
and I laid the animal on it
to give everybody
a perspective of the size
of the animal.
I have seen mangy coyotes
all of my life,
and this had no hair on it
and no indication at all
that the skin was infested
with any type
of skin disorder,
from mange or anything else.
It just did not have
any hair on it at all.
Phylis sent tissue samples
from the dead creature out
for analysis.
After waiting expectantly
for weeks,
she was surprised
by the results.
So, when they called me,
they said, "Well, it's coyote
"on the maternal side
and Mexican wolf
on the paternal."
The DNA tests indicating
that the the animal was a
was a hybrid, essentially,
between a Mexican wolf
and a coyote
is a little surprising
in the fact that those species
don't typically hybridize.
But it's not entirely
impossible.
We do know that the ranges
of those two species do overlap
in Arizona, Texas
and northern Mexico,
so it's at least physically
possible that they could
encounter each other
to form hybrids.
With such conclusive
DNA results,
many considered the case closed.
But, according to Phylis,
something was not quite
adding up.
The mystery of the whole thing
was the manner in which
every chicken was killed.
It would suck all
of the blood out.
So we know that it's
coyote and Mexican wolf.
But neither of those animals
suck blood.
So, even though this animal
has that DNA, what is it?
Why would it have
that behavior?
When the taxidermist
mounted it for me,
he had to get a coyote mold
and a wolf mold
and blend them together
to make the hide fit.
The tail is longer than
a wolf tail or a coyote tail.
The neck, the ears.
Everything was so extreme,
it took him forever
to get it mounted.
We had about
13 different specialists
from around the world
come and look at it,
and to date, they've all left
scratching their head
like the day they came in
because they just cannot
figure it out as well.
The only higher vertebrate
that has evolved
to suck blood
is the vampire bat.
And this particular process
of adaptation
has taken millions of years.
It involves highly specialized
characteristics.
For example, an anticoagulant
in their saliva
and a very, very distinct liver,
kidney digestive system.
So, to assume that an animal
would simply develop
a vampire-like predation pattern
would be really unexpected.
If they really exist,
are chupacabra merely the result
of natural selection gone wrong,
or could this grotesque monster
be the result of
not natural causes,
but man-made ones?
There are some who believe
the answer is a disturbing yes.
Through the course
of my research
on the Texas chupacabras,
I found a direct correlation
between sightings on Phylis
Canion's property and elsewhere,
and coal-burning power plants.
Coal-burning power plants,
in fact, emit huge amounts
of sulfur dioxide and other
hard metals, like lead,
into the atmosphere.
And in recent studies,
scientists have found that
sulfur dioxide is, in fact,
a mutagen.
It altered the cellular makeup,
or genetic makeup,
of laboratory mice.
So, in fact, this pollution
could be having a similar effect
on these Texas coyotes
or other canids.
Chemicals in the environment
can absolutely cause mutations
to animals in-in the wild.
We saw this in Minnesota
when a classroom,
out on a field trip,
discovered a pond
with frogs that had
extra legs or missing limbs
or body features
in the wrong position.
And these were most likely
caused by some type
of environmental contaminant.
There is a actually a type of
chupacabra that's been reported
from parts of Puerto Rico.
The Puerto Rican chupacabra
is described as about
three and a half
to five feet tall,
standing on two legs,
fangs, claws,
and strangely, a row of spikes
going down its back.
Why are there so many different
versions of the chupacabra,
and why are they so radically
different-looking
in terms of
the Puerto Rican version
versus the North American
version versus other versions?
So, in fact, pollution could be
having a similar effect
to create all types
of strange creatures.
I think it's possible that
there are mutations out there
that science has yet to discover
or to understand.
Not only what nature
is constructing,
but also what mankind
may be constructing, too.
Are creatures like chupacabra
merely freaks of nature,
a rare but nonetheless
disturbing consequence
of natural selection run amok?
Perhaps.
But there are those
who believe these monsters
are actually the products
of deliberate experimentation.
Experimentation
that has gone too far.
According to legend,
it hunts in the darkness.
A monster, seemingly drawn
from a nightmare.
It walks on two legs,
like a human,
but has the head of a beast.
It is a creature so horrifying,
it is rarely spoken about
above a whisper.
The Goatman.
The Goatman is terrifying.
It's something striking that
strikes fear in the witnesses,
and it's certainly something
you would not
want to meet in the dark.
From my understanding
of the Goatman,
it seemed to start up,
really, in 1971 in Maryland.
It looks like an upright,
human-like creature,
but has a goat-like head,
with glowing red eyes
and huge horns,
and looks like the devil
and is very frightening.
I think one of the most
intimidating things
about the Goatman is that
it reportedly resembles
the Christian devil.
I mean, it's half man,
it's half goat.
For decades, tales of
this grotesque creature
have been told wherever
cryptozoologists gather.
Particularly in and around
suburban Maryland.
It all started
following a shocking incident
that took place
in the small town of Bowie
in October of 1971.
A young teenage girl
was having a sleepover
with some of her friends.
-What was that?
-I don't know.
They looked out the window,
and to their horror,
they saw this strange,
hairy creature
skulking around outside.
It scurried into the woods.
A few days later,
their new puppy went missing.
Eventually, it was discovered
along the railroad tracks.
It had been decapitated
and ripped apart.
Skeptics claim it was just
run over by a train.
Others believed
it was killed by the Goatman.
Usually, these kinds
of stories of creatures
have some starting point.
For the Goatman, in 1971,
everybody got hysterical
and started reporting it.
This case really spawned terror
in the entire community.
The fever reached a pitch
when some teenagers
thought they had
the Goatman trapped.
People were so scared
of the Goatman
during those initial sightings
that a posse
of teenagers had actually
closed off an entire road,
claiming that they had captured
the animal.
And when police arrived, though,
whatever it was that they
had cornered had escaped.
When you hear people's accounts
of a goat-like,
man-sized creature, you have to
stop and think for one minute,
you know, is it possible
for a creature like this
to even exist?
It defies understanding.
However, people have been seeing
this creature for decades.
Some cryptozoologists
suggested that possibly
it was the creation
of some sort of secret lab,
and that some experiments
had been going on,
and the creature had escaped
from that same secret lab.
And as far-fetched
as that may seem,
in 1959,
Soviet scientists were able
to transplant the head
and forelimbs of a small dog
onto the body of a large dog.
The Russian scientist
Vladimir Demikhov was actually,
uh, something of a pioneer
of organ transplant.
In the 1950s, he decided
he wanted to attempt
to attach two dogs.
He and his team actually went
through a series of surgeries
to try to accomplish this.
He took the, uh the head
and front torso of a small dog,
um, removed it and attached it
to the body
of a much larger dog,
so it was basically able
to be supported
off of the heart
and-and vessels of the big dog.
We tend to believe
that we figured out everything
with modern science
and technology,
but being that the Goatman
combines both goat and man
makes you think,
was it some sort
of Frankenstein experiment
gone wrong?
Or was it purposely constructed
and built
and almost born this way?
It's interesting to note
that there's important research
going on to produce
something called a "chimera,"
which is a combination
of two different types of DNA.
The way this is performed is
to introduce human genetic
material into pig embryos.
And what they found when they
analyze the DNA of these embryos
is that they're actually
1/100,000 human.
So this is kind of the basis
for how to create different
creatures or mix and match,
uh, the DNA
from two different species.
A chimera?
A creature comprised of the DNA
from two
entirely different species?
Could such a frightening notion
help to explain a beast
as bizarre and disturbing
as the Goatman?
With the recent advances
in DNA science,
it's not completely implausible
that some of these creatures
are the result
of these types of experiments.
If the Goatman does exist,
could it be the product of some
unholy scientific experiment?
There are those who believe
that not only is
such a disturbing notion true,
but that mankind has opened
a virtual Pandora's box--
one that may now be too late
for us to close.
And the monster they cite
as proof of their theory
is the one that doesn't
only walk on two legs
but flies on two wings.
The Mothman.
Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
April 1967.
Linda Sigman and her boyfriend
head out
for a quiet nighttime drive.
Far beyond the city lights,
they pull over
to do some amateur stargazing.
After a few minutes,
they realize
they're not alone.
We got out,
and we sat on the car,
and we're sitting there talking
for a little bit,
and I noticed a bright star
over to my right.
And all of a sudden,
it started to get bigger.
And it turned bright red,
and it started to glow,
and, like,
it burst through the clouds.
And it came right over
in front of the car,
and we looked up,
and the object was so big
that we couldn't see the night
sky or the stars or anything.
My boyfriend tried to start
the car, and it wouldn't start.
Finally got the car started,
and we started to pull forward,
and I saw him.
And he appeared to be
a large flying man with wings.
It was the creature
that I perceive to be Mothman.
His wings were back,
and he was anywhere
between eight
and nine feet tall,
and as we were going
around a turn,
the Mothman flew
and flew into the trees.
I don't know what else
it could have been.
The Mothman?
A large, red-eyed,
human-sized creature that flies?
But if such a creature exists,
where could it have come from?
Mothman is one of the most
enigmatic creatures
in the annals
of the unexplained.
And it first gained
public notoriety
in November of 1966,
and within a matter
of days and weeks,
there were dozens or perhaps
hundreds of sightings
of this creature around
the Point Pleasant area,
causing a mass hysteria
situation.
Skeptics have attributed
the Mothman sightings
to a misidentification
of giant owls, or even a crane
that is local to the area.
There's all kinds
of other explanations
that have been given,
but when you interview
the people that actually saw
and experienced this,
they're not talking
about anything
that is conventionally known.
West Virginia people
are outdoorsy people.
They know all the animals
in the woods.
Most are avid outdoorsmen,
hunters, fishermen.
They know the difference
between an owl
and a Mothman-type creature.
We have to consider
that the Mothman's behavior,
which involved chasing cars
at over a hundred miles an hour,
taking straight up off
the ground like a helicopter,
none of those would indicate any
type of flesh-and-blood animal.
Chasing cars at over
a hundred miles an hour?
If true, then this thing
is no owl,
at least not a normal one.
There's no animals anywhere on
this planet that even resemble
a giant man-sized creature
with ten-foot wings anywhere.
And to me,
that would lead to the fact
that it's definitely not
of this world.
Not of this world?
According to a growing number
of mainstream scientists,
such a profound notion
is, in fact, possible.
In 2018, a fascinating study
was published
on the DNA of the octopus.
The octopus is a really unusual
creature here on earth.
They can rewrite their own DNA,
they can camouflage themselves,
and they are considered
the most intelligent
of all invertebrates.
What these researchers concluded
was that the DNA of the octopus
had traveled here on a comet.
In other words, this DNA
didn't start off on Earth.
It came from somewhere else.
There are many instances
of organisms,
particularly extremophiles,
that can occur
in extremely
inhospitable conditions.
And there are even cases
of organisms like these
being able to survive
exposure to-to space.
So, it's not completely out
of the question that something
like a microorganism might
be able to survive spaceflight
on a comet that was coming
to Earth, for example.
One of the most intriguing
theories for Mothman
is that possibly,
it could have reached the Earth
via an asteroid, and the DNA
developed on our planet
to the point now
we're actually seeing creatures
that ultimately became Mothman.
Could the Mothman's DNA
have hitched a ride to Earth
on an interstellar comet?
For the residents of
Point Pleasant, West Virginia,
the more pressing question
is whether the Mothman
is a friend or a foe.
It's been seen a lot of times
right before tragedies happen.
That's the only common thing
we know.
It seems to show up
at tragedies.
On December 15, 1967,
the Silver Bridge, which spanned
from Point Pleasant
over to Kanauga, Ohio,
collapsed at about 5:00
on a Friday evening.
Uh, it was the worst
bridge disaster in U.S. history.
46 people died.
I was six when the bridge fell.
And I remember, at that time,
there were people that claimed
that they'd seen a large bird
flying back and forth,
you know, across the-the river
before the bridge fell.
The official story is that
it was just wear and tear,
and the 46 people
who were killed
just didn't really stand
a chance.
There are rumors
that the Mothman was seen
around the time
that the bridge collapsed,
so there was inevitably talk
around town
that somehow the Mothman
had either caused the tragedy
or, in a strange way,
was kind of like
a grim reaper for many people.
To this day, residents
of Point Pleasant
draw a connection
between the Mothman
and this bridge collapse,
perhaps perceiving
the Mothman's appearance
as some type of premonition
or omen of the tragedy.
I would say, probably,
in Point Pleasant it's 50/50.
50% of the people
believe that Mothman
caused the
Silver Bridge tragedy,
and the other 50%
believe that he may have
been here as a warning
to get everyone on guard
that something terrible
may happen.
Mothman, a force for good?
A protector from harm?
Is it possible that
some crypto-creatures,
like the Mothman, are just
misunderstood?
It's an interesting
and even comforting notion.
But if such creatures exist,
they would be just as likely
to attack us
as we would be to attack them.
For we appear as strange
and menacing to them
as they do to us.
Lake Shelbyville, Illinois.
July 1977.
While on a fishing trip
with his son,
construction worker
"Texas" John Huffer captures
incredible footage of two
giant creatures taking flight.
In Huffer's film,
we see what appears to be
two large birds
perched on a tree
and then flying off
into the sky.
He actually honked his boat horn
to get their attention,
and that seemed to startle them,
and they flew off out of his
sight before he ran out of film.
A lot of people
in the field still talk
about Huffer's footage
because it's so remarkable.
The birds are large.
They appear to be
a very unique-looking animal,
particularly in that
their tail feathers seem larger
than any type of raptor that
I am, uh, personally aware of.
These creatures were gigantic
compared to your normal
turkey vulture.
Whatever they are, they're
actually there, and they're big.
Gigantic flying birds?
Larger than turkey vultures?
But if so,
what kind of bird is it?
And why haven't we noticed
anything like it before?
One of my specialties within
the field of cryptozoology
is investigating accounts of
what are known as thunderbirds.
Thunderbirds are creatures
from Native American mythology,
and they are essentially
giant raptor types of birds,
similar to an eagle
with a hooked beak,
enormous wingspans
ranging anywhere
from 15 to 20 feet across,
basically the size
of a small airplane.
We consider them very sacred
because they do have the power
to take a life.
And they also have power
to give life.
And we see them all over,
all over the skies,
so you'll get many descriptions
of the thunderbird.
In the beginning, they're
the ones that protected us,
and in the future, they said
they will protect us again.
That's power.
These things were said
to be able to swoop down
out of the sky
and carry off grown adults.
In fact, many claim
that when these gigantic birds
flap their wings, it sounds
like thunder in the sky,
hence the name "thunderbirds."
Oftentimes, the old legends tell
of great wars in the Midwest
between the thunderbirds
and other creatures.
Thunderbirds.
Giant flying creatures
from Native American folklore.
Could such supernatural beings
actually exist?
Or could they be something
that has, until now,
been considered extinct?
They could be a teratorn,
which is a giant
condor-like beast
that existed during
the last ice age.
We know that they existed
at the same time as humans
because there are burials
of humans and teratorns.
According to paleontologists,
teratorns had wing spans which
measured up to 12 feet wide.
They're also believed
to have been extinct
for at least 10,000 years.
But given the incredible size
of the creatures
in John Huffer's footage,
is it possible the teratorns
survived extinction?
According to cryptozoologists,
the answer's yes,
and for evidence, they point
to the rediscovery of a creature
that was thought to be extinct,
not just for thousands of years,
but for millions.
South Africa. 1938.
A group of fishermen
returning home notice something
much larger than normal
in their daily catch.
It measures five feet long,
weighs 200 pounds,
and is covered with strange,
silver markings.
After careful examination,
the creature
is finally identified
as a coelacanth,
a large saltwater fish
that was thought to be extinct
for the past 65 million years.
It was supposed to have died out
with the mass extinction
of the dinosaurs,
and it became
a fantastic discovery.
It's essentially
a living fossil.
What strikes me is that
this creature
wasn't a small insect or a bug
that was thought to be extinct.
It's five feet long, 200 pounds.
It looks prehistoric.
When you see this creature,
if you were to catch it
on your fishing pole,
you would immediately know that
it was a relic from the past.
But if this coelacanth,
recently caught and killed
in a fisherman's net,
could survive 65 million years
of presumed extinction
and evolution,
why not the teratorns?
It seems very naive to believe
that the coelacanth
was the only survivor out there.
If we discovered
one of these creatures
thought to be in the realm
of folklore,
it would change
our complete understanding
of evolution, science
and the field
of what's known and unknown.
Just because physical evidence
of certain strange creatures
has not yet been recovered,
why do we assume
that eyewitness accounts,
and even filmed footage,
is not enough to convince us
that they can and do exist?
And not only exist,
but are out there hiding,
not only in the skies
above our heads,
but deep in the ground
beneath our feet.
Mongolia, the Gobi Desert,
an arid wasteland,
almost completely devoid
of life-- almost--
because there are those
that believe the area
is home to a creature so deadly
that just catching an accidental
glimpse of it can kill.
This creature's name
in Mongolian
actually means
"large intestine worm."
It appears as if
it's lacking a head
and maneuvers by traveling
under the sand,
and it's often referred to
as the Mongolian death worm
'cause it can kill its victims
in a number of ways.
Mongolian death worm
is a hideous-looking creature,
one to two feet long.
People talked about it
for generations.
It can shoot out electricity
for miles on end
that can be felt by anyone
traveling through the desert.
It's even more terrifying
because you can't see it
till it's too late.
-It is said to pop up
and shoot venom on its victims
where the tiniest bit will cause
the victim to drop dead.
Biologists know
of large species of worms,
and they know of species
of animals that can spit venom
or that can electrocute
their prey,
but to find
all of these features
in one species of animal
is highly unusual.
People who live near
the Gobi Desert in Mongolia
are deathly afraid
of this creature,
and, actually, uh,
there are descriptions
given by the prime minister
of Mongolia
saying that this is what
the creature looks like
and that it's out there
in the Gobi Desert.
There's many
science-fiction movies
that has copied the real stories
of the Mongolian death worm.
Some people say they're scared
to death when they see it.
People were seeing something.
I don't think it's a simple case
of it being an allegory
or a cautionary tale
of avoiding things
that can kill you in the desert.
I think they were
actually seeing something
that terrified them.
They witnessed it
killing their friends
and loved ones,
and they wanted to avoid it
at all costs.
A creature so lethal
that a drop of its venom
can cause instant death?
And if you somehow managed
to avoid its venom,
it could still electrocute you?
Remind me to think twice before
planning that trip to Mongolia.
So, what do you think?
Are creatures like
the chupacabra, Goatman
and the Mothman real?
Or are they figments
of overactive imaginations?
Perhaps mankind is so good
at creating its own demons
that they become real.
And we say we want to find them,
capture them, study them,
but perhaps all we really
should do is leave them alone.
Let them stay in the shadow.
Let them remain The UnXplained.