Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files (2010) s02e16 Episode Script
Pride House Specter & Bluegrass Bigfoot
Tonight on Fact or Faked No way! Paranormal Files.
Oh my God.
Nice! One of the most haunted towns in America.
She came down by the fireplace and caught her on fire.
Reject! Hey, check that out.
All right, Ben, we're all framed up and ready to go.
I'm hearing footsteps.
It's not me.
I'm standing still.
I just heard a door slam.
Whoa.
Whoa.
Where was that? Look at that.
What's going on? Austin, do you see this door opening right now? Oh, my goodness! There's a flying saucer.
I'm getting a series of lights right there.
So, you're seeing what I am seeing.
What the heck is happening? Hey.
Boys, boys.
Okay.
Well, let me start us off.
I've got two pieces of evidence today.
And they both come from Jefferson county, Kentucky.
The cryptid known as Bigfoot.
Wow.
Cool.
- Yeah.
- All right.
Now, the first is a photo taken by Ken Mahoney in 2009.
Now, Ken has this house with a garden in the back.
And he was having this problem because he was noticing a lot of his plants were being eaten.
So, he set up a trail cam to try and catch the culprit, and this is what he caught.
Whoa.
Wow.
It's like it's just sitting in the bushes.
Can you zoom in on that? What is that right there? It looks like a gorilla crouched in the foliage.
why there would be a gorilla roaming the backwoods of Kentucky.
Exactly.
And there's not supposed to be any large predators-- Even black bear aren't found in that area.
So a lot of people are speculating this could be actual evidence of a Bigfoot.
This really is a great photo.
I mean, what other evidence is there? Well, the other visual we have is a video.
It's pretty interesting.
So, take a look at this.
Oh, wow.
Wow.
Whoa.
Yeah.
Pretty clear, isn't it? That's Bigfoot.
That's wild.
I mean, you know, normally Bigfoot videos are grainy and really hard to make out.
This is really clear.
Everything about this clip is remarkable.
Check this out.
If we pause it-- Look at the creature's arms.
Look at how long they are compared to the rest of his body.
You see what I mean? I mean, from here to here is different than his feet.
This is a good video of Bigfoot.
So, do we know who the videographer is? Well, the videographer does wish to remain anonymous.
And, you know, that tends to give support to those who believe that this may have been a fabricated video.
But I think there's a lot of things that we could do with it and try and test it and see what we can come up with.
All right.
Well, I think this would make a great investigation.
But before we make any decisions, we should see what else everyone brought.
Okay.
Well, I have a really interesting ufo video that was shot on the 4th of July in chino, California.
There was a family enjoying a barbecue when they looked up at the sky and they saw an object with bright lights a few hundred feet above.
Wow.
Yeah.
You got to check it out.
Okay.
There it is.
Okay.
There's definitely an object there.
Right there.
They'll zoom in.
Whoa.
Okay.
- Look at the lights.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
Now, this is a really good video.
I mean, some researchers claim that UFOs are attracted to aerial displays, especially displays of light.
Oh, really? Yeah.
I would say that the biggest tell in this video is that if this was 4th of July-- Clearly there are people there.
You can hear it in the video.
And nobody's reacting to what they're seeing in the sky.
The fact that nobody reacted to it tells me that they know what they are looking at.
I think it's most probable that we're dealing with some type of balloon or something filled up-- A bag with helium with LED lights.
Yeah.
It's possible.
So, I think we should move on.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Bill.
Well I found some amazing footage that supposedly is leaked from Russia that is said to document the transporting of two large metallic alien saucers on flatbed trucks surrounded by a military convoy.
You got to see this clip.
Wow.
All right.
Whoa.
Here they are.
Oh, what? Yep.
And there's a second one.
Wow.
Look at that.
They do look saucer-like, though.
Now, a man named Artem shot this through his apartment window in St.
Petersburg, Russia.
And ufo theorists who have examined this footage have claimed that this is either actual alien saucers being transported or some sort of antigravity devices that have been reverse-engineered from recovered crafts.
These are all really interesting theories, you guys, but I think I know what these are.
What? Well, these look very similar to to military hazardous-waste container lids.
Now, those things can measure up to 18 feet in diameter, and that would explain the convoy.
So, I think this is just a case of mistaken identity.
I'll tell you what, though.
When you first look at it, it definitely looks like a flying saucer on the back of that big rig.
Right? Yeah.
Devin, why don't we move on to you? All right.
I got a really cool picture for you guys.
In December of 2009, a paranormal investigator named Rick moran was investigating what is said to be the most haunted house of all of Texas-- The Pride House.
While he was there, he captured a purported ghost traveling down the staircase of the Pride House.
Take a look at this.
- Look at that.
- Wow! Whoa! That's pretty defined.
Right? Now, what we have here is a potential full-bodied apparition descending the staircase.
It has no feet.
It looks like it's almost just floating down the stairs.
So, Devin, I'm curious.
Is there any kind of backstory to the Pride House? What would support this apparition? Yes.
There is a story of a 15-year-old girl named Jenny Brown.
She was burned on Christmas day, and she died shortly after that in this house.
A lot of people think that that's Jenny Brown's apparition descending the staircase.
That is an eerie twist.
Yeah.
This is a very compelling piece of evidence that meets all our criteria.
Okay, guys.
So, the Pride House.
It seems like we got some excitement generated about this one.
A few of you want to go on that.
How does it compare to everything else that we've seen? I think it's, by far, one of the best cases that we could take on.
We have two pieces of evidence about Bigfoot, and they're in Kentucky.
There are so many legends, so many stories.
That's where I want to go.
I really love the Pride House case.
I've been working on some really cool, illusion-based tests, and I think it would work great for that case.
On top of that, that's the perfect place for night investigations.
Sounds creepy.
You know, guys, I'm in for Bigfoot.
I would love to see if the legend is actually true.
Well, I agree with the rest of the team that Pride House is a keeper, but, Ben, I'm more interested in going with you to Kentucky.
Well, this could be a first-- Me and the ladies.
Do you want to go to Kentucky? Yes.
That sounds great.
I'd love to.
Okay.
And Bill, Austin, and Devin-- Pride House, Texas.
- The guys.
- All right.
Guys' night out.
Yeah! What I'm talkin' about.
Whoo! Well, it looks like it's just us guys on this one.
And here we are in Jefferson, Texas, to investigate our next case.
Just look around-- This quaint, little, old-west town is believed by many to be one of the most haunted towns in America.
The location we're heading to definitely stands out.
The Pride House.
It's the oldest bed-and-breakfast in Texas, and it's considered to be wildly haunted.
Well, let's talk about the photograph that brought us here.
Sadly, Rick moran, who was the photographer who captured this image-- He's passed away.
So, we're gonna meet with Jenny lovelace, who's the current Pride House owner.
And we're gonna get her firsthand account of what actually happened the day that Rick captured this photograph.
Wow.
Hi.
Jenny? Hey.
I'm Bill.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, as well.
This is Austin.
Hi, guys.
This is Devin.
Hey.
How you doing? Good.
Come in.
This place is beautiful.
Jenny, what year was this house built? It was built in 1888.
We heard this is one of the most haunted locations in Jefferson.
Can you kind of give us a rundown or a list of all the reported paranormal phenomena that occurs here? We have anywhere from doors opening and closing, the lights getting turned off and on.
We've had people being touched.
We've had footsteps.
And it sounds like heavy boots on a wooden floor, but it's carpeted.
And then whistling-- I hear whistling all the time.
How often do people experience paranormal activity here at the Pride House? It's on a daily basis.
It's very rarely that someone will come and not have an experience.
What's the significance of this particular room? There was a little girl.
Her name was Jenny.
She was opening Christmas presents in front of this fireplace, and a gust of wind came down the fireplace and caught her on fire.
And she lived upstairs - and died January 28, 1901.
- Wow.
That's tragic.
So, Jenny, what are some of the hot spots in this house? They're in the parlor, the staircase, and there's two rooms upstairs, the Ashland and the royal George, that tend to be quite active.
Wow.
Look at this.
So, this is the staircase where the picture was taken.
So, you were in the house.
Was there anybody besides you and Rick? There were other investigators, but they were all asleep.
He had gotten up very early to do some things on his own.
He was right here, and he set the camera on a tripod.
Do you still have the camera? I do.
I borrowed it from his widow.
We'd love to use it for some tests, if that's all right.
Could we borrow it? Sure.
We promise we'll get it back to you.
Absolutely.
Do we know why he set the tripod right here? I mean, had there been any other occurrences on the stairwell? Very early on when I bought the house, I was standing actually here and I looked up and there was a man at the very top of the staircase looking down at me.
And then he turned towards the wall and just walked out the wall.
Wow.
Yeah.
Well, thank you so much for your time.
You're welcome.
We really appreciate it.
Absolutely.
Okay.
So, we're gonna get some of our gear.
We're gonna get to work.
Okay.
Now that we have Jenny's account of what happened the day the photograph was captured, we're gonna attempt to re-create this mysterious apparition using the same camera in the same location.
Guys, to me-- I think the most likely scenario is that it's a motion blur from a slow shutter speed on the camera.
And, you know, you're gonna be shooting in infrared, so we'll get the same sepia tone that we're seeing here.
So, in this case it could literally just be somebody running down the stairs at a fairly rapid pace.
Well, you guys, this is a sophisticated camera.
I mean, it does have a timer.
It's entirely possible that it was set on a timer and Rick didn't know that he accidentally took a picture of himself when he stepped in front of the camera.
So, that's where we should be beginning this test.
All right.
I'm gonna go get changed 'cause I'll head to the top of the stairs and run down.
In order to try and replicate the photograph a little bit more, I'm gonna put on light-colored clothing and some darker boots.
Hopefully the light from the room will kind of intensify the blurring image and maybe look more like the original photo.
I'll be at the vantage point taking the photos.
I'm gonna get changed, I'll be right back, and let's make this happen.
Sounds good.
That sounds good.
All right.
All right.
Let's do this.
Devin, you ready? I'm ready.
You still got it framed up? Austin, you ready? Yep.
Okay, on 3 Shutter! Right now I'm setting up the camera at the vantage point that Rick took the original photograph.
We're gonna shoot up the staircase where Bill is setting up the garland and hopefully be able to replicate this.
All right.
Let's do this.
Devin, you ready? I'm ready.
You still got it framed up? Austin, you ready? Yep.
Okay, on 3 Shutter! That was right on time.
That looked good.
Let's take a look at this.
All right.
Look at that.
You're coming down the stairs.
That's looking pretty ethereal.
It's losing definition, but look what's really working.
The shape you have, very humanoid obviously.
The same thing we have here.
Putting Austin in dark shoes, it made it look like he didn't have any feet.
But when we compare it to the original photograph, this appears to be looser.
It looks more like a cloud.
The biggest thing that's not matching for me right now, you guys, is your legs.
It doesn't look like legs in the original photo.
It looks like an apparition that's floating.
Right.
Given the fact that the original photo is a little bit more smoky, maybe we should start looking into some natural elements.
What else could this be? Let's do it, guys.
All right, let's see what we got as far as material that we could manipulate.
You know what, you guys? There are fans all over this house, and there's a central AC.
It could have been a gust of wind, and maybe some debris came down the stairs.
Think about it.
It's apparent they decorate for Christmas.
We see it in the original footage.
I remember growing up, my mom used to actually line the stairs with cotton to give it the appearance that it snows inside, right? Think about this.
Right above right here-- If cotton was there, what if it had released and fell? Yeah.
It's literally right where the apparition is in the photograph.
Possibly the gust of wind carries it, and, voilà , floating debris, AKA our ghostly apparition.
And if this camera was set on an automatic timer and it snapped the photo and nobody noticed that it was taking pictures, they ended up picking up the debris, moved it, there goes the evidence.
I mean, it might not even be a hoax.
- Just a simple case of mistaken identity that no one even knew happened.
- Yeah.
I say we put that one to the test.
All right.
Okay.
Right now we're making snow out of cotton that could have been a Christmas decoration fallen from above and been the apparition seen in the original photograph.
The biggest challenge is gonna be snapping the photo as the debris falls right into frame at the perfect spot.
Austin, you in position? I am in position, ready to let the snow go.
Devin, you ready? Framed up, ready to go.
Okay.
On 3 Bring on the snow, Austin.
Did you get that? Yeah, look at it.
What do you think? I think we should do a side-by-side.
I think it looks really close.
This is much smokier of an image, and the shape, although it's not quite right, you can see through the legs very well.
But when you really look close at the photo, the texture isn't the same.
I don't think this is a match.
If this were the explanation of the apparition in the photograph, the timing would have had to have been perfect.
That's pretty amazing.
Then, you guys, let's move on to our next test.
Okay.
With the Pride House being such a popular hot spot of paranormal activity for tourists, we're gonna test the idea that maybe somebody just hoaxed this photograph in order to increase the lore surrounding the property.
You know, if somebody was to take the time and actually create a high-quality hoax like this, a great way to do it is simple project an image in front of the stairwell.
I mean, a lot of times people actually credit this effect as the explanation to ghosts they see in photos and videos.
Well, if we're gonna project an image, let's use a specialized screen that uses millions of tiny, little crystals that bend the light, creating depth and the illusion of a 3-d image.
We can project our ghost, and the transparency will allow the stairs to be visible right through our apparition.
I'll throw back on the white tracksuit.
We can record an image of me in the same position as the apparition in the photo.
We'll project it in front of the stairwell.
Let's see if we can get to the bottom of this photo.
So, we're blacking out the staircase.
That way, we can prerecord an image of Austin walking down the stairs.
When we play that back through a projector, it's gonna look like he's floating down the staircase.
All right.
Guys, I'm gonna throw my hood on to give me a full ghostly appearance.
That looks good.
Okay.
You ready? Yep.
Com on down, Austin.
That looked good.
Guys, I think we got this.
Okay.
Okay, let's try this.
Right now, I'm connecting the lens and preparing the projector so we can play back Austin's image onto the screen.
The projection screen is able to trick the mind into thinking it sees a 3-d image by creating an optical illusion of depth.
This looks great.
The screen is comprised of three separate chemical coatings on 4-millimeter-thick polyester film that catch and warp the projected light, creating the illusion of a three-dimensional image.
All right, guys.
I'm putting in the playback video of our recorded apparition we made.
Great.
Ready? Yep.
Go ahead.
All right.
Run apparition.
Hey, hey.
Check that out.
All right.
Take a look at this photo right here, you guys.
All right.
Hey, it's not bad.
No, it's not bad at all.
It's very transparent.
The shape is similar.
The only problem I'm seeing is that we're still missing that smoky appearance.
The screen is translucent.
It's not perfectly transparent.
It's almost like we're trying so hard to make our experiment fit.
I mean, if this is a hoax, this is almost becoming too elaborate.
Overall, all of our experiments came really close.
But the one that came the closest was the motion blur with the slow shutter speed and Austin just walking down the stairs.
And that's the most likely, natural explanation.
But just because we've been able to prove that it's possible that the photo was taken like this doesn't mean that this photo wasn't paranormal.
You guys, I think all of the reports of paranormal activity here warrants a nighttime investigation.
I'm in.
Let's get to work.
Hey, man.
You're almost set up? Yep.
We got that place totally wired on the inside.
All right, guys.
We have three IR cameras, one full-spectrum.
The first IR camera is actually in the parlor facing the fireplace where Jenny was originally burned on Christmas day.
The next IR camera's set up in the royal George room.
And our last IR camera, that's actually set up in the Ashland room, where Jenny passed away.
Now, our full-spectrum camera, and we have that right in the stairwell where the original apparition was captured.
Make sure you stay in constant communication.
Right on.
You guys want to go turn off all the lights in the house and go green? Okay.
You got it.
Yep.
Go green.
Austin, what I'm trying to do is see if there's another reason besides paranormal for people hearing footsteps in this room.
I don't know what they're hearing.
This is thickly carpeted floor.
Copy that.
Also, make sure you guys keep your ears open for whistling.
She said there were sounds of whistling, as well.
Copy that.
Austin, do you see this door opening right now? All right.
The guys are inside turning off all the lights so we can go green.
I'm gonna be here at base camp monitoring all the cameras.
That way, I have full coverage of what's going on inside the house while the team's sweeping for any signs of paranormal activity.
Go green.
Austin, do you see this door opening right now? Devin for Bill.
Did you just say that you saw a door opening? Yes.
It just unlatched and opened on its own.
Make sure you're keeping your eyes peeled for any movement.
Copy that.
I'm gonna set up the motion sensor in this room right now.
Austin, the accelerometer is triggering.
I'm hearing footsteps.
It's not me.
I'm standing still.
Bill for Devin.
Go for me.
Did you just trip or something? I heard, like, footsteps and boots stomping all around the bed.
No.
No, I didn't.
Bill for Austin.
I'm gonna conduct an evp session in the Ashland room.
Jenny, we understand that you passed away in this room.
I don't know if you're still here.
What is that? Bill for team.
Who's with me on the second floor of this house? There's whistling and there are things being thrown.
Bill, I hear the whistling now, too, and I'm on the stairwell.
Did you just hear that? I just heard a door slam.
Whoa.
Whoa.
Where was that? Where did that come from? I don't know.
Devin, every room I go to, I'm hearing things-- Crashing, falling, throwing.
What's going on? It's not just the royal George room.
It's the Ashland room, too.
And it's the stairs.
Did you hear that? Yes, I heard that.
Austin, I'm gonna go downstairs.
I'm heading back to Ashland.
Austin for Bill.
Austin for Bill.
The accelerometer in the royal George room just started going off again.
It's going off like crazy right now.
There's definite movement going on.
Devin, meet me in the royal George room.
Copy that.
I'm on my way.
You guys, there is so much activity going on in this room.
The door opened.
The accelerometer's going off.
Bill What do you see? Look at this.
Come here quick.
What is that?! Yeah.
Can't wait to hear about the case.
Oh, you missed out.
So, the three of you in Texas-- What happened? Well, you know what? We ran three different experiments.
And when it came down to it, we couldn't match the photo in its entirety.
And we started thinking, with all the paranormal lore and history surrounding the Pride House, we had to do a night investigation.
And that is when things got pretty interesting.
So, I went up to the royal George room to set up an accelerometer, but before I could even finish doing that, the bathroom door opened on its own.
And we had a surveillance camera already set up, and we got it on tape.
Wow.
Yeah, take a look at this.
Watch this.
The door is directly behind Bill, where he is right now, to the left of the painting.
Whoa.
No.
Now I'm, like, stunned here.
Listen, I am watching this from base camp.
The door had been closed the entire time, latched shut.
Bill walks in, the door starts to open.
Being the skeptical point of view, you know, you're in an old house.
Maybe a change in air pressure maybe as he walked by or something.
Okay, you would think that air pressure could have something to do with it.
That was only if the door was not latched.
The door was latched.
The only way it could have a natural explanation for it to open is if possibly there's a dramatic change in temperature causing the wood to shrink up a little bit and the gap opened, the door would open.
But there was no dramatic temperature change.
On top of that-- We'll keep going.
But wait till you s-- You just got to see what we come up with next 'cause it'll show you why it opened.
I enter the room.
I have my thermal imager with me.
I start scanning the room, and this is what we capture.
Whoa.
No way.
Where is this? That's on the exact same door that opened when Bill walked into the room to set up the motion detector.
It looks like a fresh set of prints, like it just happened.
Neither of us touched it.
And there it is.
I mean, this is a pretty compelling piece of paranormal evidence, in my opinion.
People are always talking about walking through cold spots or hot spots.
I mean, this could be an example of the paranormal trying to communicate through heat transfer.
So, once we had this documented on the thermal camera, I did then continue to the Ashland room, where I was gonna begin to conduct my evp session.
Want you guys to listen to this.
Tell me what you think you hear.
Will whoever's with us here in the Pride House That sounds like whistling.
Yeah.
Can you play that again? Yeah.
It does.
Will whoever's with us here in the Pride House - No.
That's, like, a distinct human whistle.
- Yeah.
It's not like wind or something.
We set up base camp outside, and I'll tell you right now it was a dead zone.
There was nothing going on, no people, no traffic-- Nothing.
So, guys, uh, Pride House-- Fact or Faked? Considering the evidence that we gathered during our investigation, I think we can all say that there's something paranormal likely happening at the Pride House.
Well, nice job, guys.
I think your experiments came close, but it didn't replicate it.
It seems like you gathered some very interesting things that were happening that night.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So, good job.
Tell us about your case.
Well, as you know, the ladies and I went to Jefferson county, Kentucky, to investigate two very intriguing pieces of evidence regarding the mysterious Bigfoot.
Check it out.
So, Jefferson county, Kentucky, just outside of louisville, investigating the "bluegrass Bigfoot" phenomenon.
Not many people know that Kentucky is one of the most active locations for Bigfoot sightings in the U.
S.
That's right.
And we have two pieces of evidence to investigate.
Now, the first one is a photograph taken by a game trail camera in September of 2009 in the backyard of Kenny Mahoney.
So, when the photo went public, I mean, theories started flying.
Probably just a plastic bag.
Maybe even a silverback gorilla.
But many are still convinced that what Kenny captured was actually a sasquatch.
Now, the second piece of evidence was supposedly taken close to where Kenny captured his photograph.
Now, in this video you see a large, shaggy, humanoid figure walking through the trees.
So, I think we start with talking with Kenny Mahoney, get his take on the photo, and then we tackle the video second.
Sounds good.
Coming up on "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files" Release the hawk.
Okay.
Bluegrass Bigfoot.
Nice.
We're about to meet Kenny Mahoney, who captured a trail-camera image in his backyard of a creature that many believe to be Bigfoot.
Hopefully he can tell us more about the image he captured that day.
Kenny.
I'm Ben.
Hey.
How are you? Nice to meet you.
So, is this the same location where you had the camera placed that day? Yes, it is.
Yep.
Where exactly was the figure? In the picture, it looked to me like it was in the brush line because there's, like, a bloom in front of it.
And how is this camera set up to be used? Anytime something comes by, it senses the motion and takes a picture of it.
Kenny, your backyard goes into the woods here.
And I imagine other people are back there, hunting.
Do you think it's possible that anyone intentionally came through your backyard, knowing you had a trail camera set up to try and hoax you? There could be a possibility, and that is one of the things people come up with-- That somebody, you know, jumped the fence and took the picture and jumped out.
So, Kenny, when people saw this image, what were their reactions? What did they think it was? You know, Kentucky's known for having Bigfoot sightings.
You'd be surprised how many people believe that it is a Bigfoot.
Well, we appreciate you allowing us to come.
And do you mind if we just keep your camera where it's at and use that for some of our experiments? Just have at it.
Well, thank you so much.
Thank you all.
- We'll get started.
- Thank you.
All right.
Thank you, Kenny.
All right.
Well, let's go get our equipment - and get started.
- All right So, now we have Kenny's story regarding his purported Bigfoot photo.
We're now ready to begin our experiments to see if we can ID the figures seen in his original photograph.
Okay.
Well, guys, I think the first thing we need to do is a size test.
Let's look at the perspective of what was captured on film and try to match it.
Well, Ben, you're 6'6".
He's the closest thing we have to a Bigfoot.
So, we should definitely use you to stand in for the guy.
All right.
If I must, I must.
Well, we've got this black robe.
We can just put you in that.
And we'll also take a look at the original photograph and gauge your size compared to the original.
Okay.
So, I'll head back there to the foliage.
You tell me when you're ready.
All right.
Why don't you get dressed, Bigfoot? Our goal for this experiment is to approximate the size of the figure in the original photograph.
What I'm gonna do is just crouch down here in this thorn bush and put out my arms and try to make the same shape and color and see what it looks like.
Now, this motion sensor here, once it detects movement, it'll release the shutter, which is placed here, and snap a photo.
Hopefully we'll be able to re-create the same exact figure we see in Kenny's original photograph.
Okay, ladies! Bigfoot's in the forest! Can you crouch down just a little? All right.
Hold that there, Ben.
That's great.
Are you getting good shots of this? Well, we'll take the SD card out and then do a side-by-side.
There you are.
Can barely see me.
Exactly.
You being on the same plane as the foliage back there, you get completely blended in with everything.
Also, whatever is in the original picture is a lot more defined.
You look like a smudge compared to the object in the original photograph.
What if this is just forced perspective? What if this thing we're seeing is not in the bushes but actually closer to the camera? It would certainly explain why the object appears more in focus than Ben does.
You know, what some of the other theories that were suggested, though, is that it could be some type of animal, like a bird.
Now, this area has numerous birds of prey, and they would definitely circle this deer-feeder area hunting for food.
I want to put this bird theory to the test.
Oh, wow.
That's gorgeous.
Thanks.
This is nike.
Nike.
Nike is a Harris hawk.
Now, what kind of prey do they usually catch? Well, the natural quarry would be rabbit, would be squirrel, would be rats, mice, things like that.
And these are the things that are just around this area.
Well, absolutely.
With a deer feeder that you see right there, it's obviously gonna drop big grain and things like that for the deer-- Exactly perfect to feed all these ground quarry and ideal for a bird of prey just to sit out in one of these trees here and pick them off, you know? Perfect.
Now, sid, she looks like a pretty big girl.
What's her wingspan? Wingspan when she's flying and she's just about ready to land is probably about 2 1/2 to 3 feet.
Wow.
Pretty big girl.
Yeah, she is.
I say we get this set up and we can give it a try.
Glove.
Thank you.
Just follow that line back.
There you go.
Perfect.
There you go.
All right.
I'll be right over here if you need me.
- All right.
Thanks, sid.
- You bet.
Okay.
Ready? For our experiment, we're gonna take this Harris hawk.
I'm gonna climb up this ladder which is behind me.
It'll give us a better angle for us to cast off the bird so that when it comes down on the prey, which is a mouse carcass, we might actually get some of that flaring motion where it spreads its wings out and capture what we're in the image.
Oh, she's getting hungry.
- She's ready to eat.
- She's ready to eat.
We're all set up here.
Okay.
I think if we put the bait right about over there.
Give her a good look at it so she knows where it is.
And when I cast her off, she should fly right to it and you can start snapping photos.
So, you count me down.
Got it.
Hopefully because of where I'm at with her up here, she'll come down, and as she gets ready to land, she'll flare her wings out.
And maybe that will re-create what we saw in the photo.
All right, Ben, you ready to do this? I'm ready.
Okay.
Bait's set.
Oh, she's eyeing it already.
Okay, Lanisha, get ready.
All right, Ben.
Release the hawk.
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Now, I'm up here on this ladder so we can get our Harris hawk to get a good angle when I cast her off.
She's gonna fly down to the bait.
Now, hopefully she'll come down, and as she gets ready to land, she'll flare her wings out.
And maybe that will re-create what we saw in the photo.
All right, Ben, you ready to do this? I'm ready.
Okay.
Bait's set.
Oh, she's eyeing it already.
Okay, Lanisha, get ready.
All right, Ben.
Release the hawk.
All right.
She definitely was hungry.
Why don't you come on back and we'll look at the side-by-side? Hey, look at that.
This looks a lot better than our last test.
It definitely created a defined shape of, like, a head and, like, an arm the way that we see in the original.
The size, shape, and definition looks really good.
Yeah.
Her dark plumage is just the coloration that we're looking for there.
There are other birds just like her, you know, that are all around here.
And it's very plausible they could be just hovering over some type of food that they're eating.
It's definitely a plausible explanation.
Now, remember, we have a video, also, that was taken supposedly nearby here.
I think we need to start looking at that.
Well, I did some research on this area, and I think I know a place where we can conduct our next experiment.
Really? Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Great.
Our Harris hawk, nike, did actually really well.
The natural explanation is probably what happened here.
So, now we're gonna head out to a location that Lanisha found to perform experiments on the video that we have.
Now of course, one of the popular theories always is that this is somebody walking in a Bigfoot costume.
But in this case I think we can do that and step it up a level by using some custom-made prosthetics.
So, this Bigfoot suit consists of several different parts.
One of them is this hump that I have here.
Now, this is foam that has been carved and cut specially to fit inside the spandex.
It's hand-stitched.
That'll give kind of the appearance of the hunchback that we're seeing in the video.
Plus, we have these arms.
Now, this is a prosthetic which extends the length of the arm so that when I walk, it looks just like the video.
Looking good, buddy.
All right, Ben.
Jael and I are gonna head back to the vantage point, and you get into your first position.
And let's get this test started.
Okay.
All right.
All right, Ben.
We're at the vantage point.
We're all framed up and ready to go.
Ready.
Do the Bigfoot! Look at that.
Look at his arms.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's really good.
Mm-hmm.
Ben, that was perfect.
Let's do a side-by-side.
All right.
Sweet.
That was great.
Yeah.
Look at that.
See the movement of the hands here? You got that nice hyperextension behind you.
That looked really good.
This creature in the original footage, it has this very unnatural posture that was really hard for you to replicate.
Just look at these legs.
They're so thin.
And the waist is really thin.
You know, there's no tush there.
No.
Well, you know, another popular theory is that this could just be someone puppeteering.
Well, it would be an elaborate hoax.
But the more I look at the video, that could explain the gliding motion.
Plus, the shoulder and the knees really look like they're the only parts that are moving.
Two people operating from a really high vantage point would easily be able to control its movements.
Yeah, well, scaffolding will work, but it's got to be big enough, tall enough that it'll be out of frame the whole time.
I think if we build this scaffolding, it should be at least 15 feet high.
Then we should have enough room to work.
Well, you two being of similar height, I think you can go up onto the scaffolding, and you'll be the puppeteers.
I'll stay down below to film.
I like that.
Perfect.
Okay, guys.
Here he is.
Ha ha! Look at this guy.
Our puppet is almost done.
Upon looking at the video, we noticed there were some things that needed some touch-ups.
Like, the back of him has sort of this hump.
So we've taken this foam.
We'll be inserting that in, finishing him up, and he should look a lot like the video.
We've created two pivot points on our Bigfoot.
One pivot point is at the shoulders, and the other is at the knees.
So, when we manipulate our wire, it'll actually look like his arm is being propelled by his hands.
And then when we manipulate the knees, it'll lift his legs in the way that will replicate that gait that we're seeing in the footage.
All right.
All right.
Got it? Yep.
Okay.
All right.
Do you feel secure? Yeah.
Feel secure.
All right.
With this rig that I have on, I'm supporting the weight of our puppet.
And I'll also be controlling its arms.
Lanisha will be behind me, and she'll be controlling its legs.
All right, Ben-- We're all rigged up and ready to be puppet masters! Okay.
Bluegrass Bigfoot! Start walking in 3, 2, 1! Nice! We've just finished rigging uphe puppet.
I'm gonna take my place down at the vantage point where the camera is.
Hopefully we'll re-create this video.
All right, Ben-- We're all rigged up and ready to be puppet masters! Okay.
Bluegrass Bigfoot! Start walking in 3, 2, 1! Right, left.
Right, left.
How does it look, Ben? Nice! Nice! So, we first decided to tackle the photo that Kenny Mahoney took in his backyard in 2009.
I think that based on the experiments that we did with our first piece of evidence, the photograph, we were able to debunk that.
I think that was definitely a bird.
So we moved on to our next piece of evidence, which was this video that was shot in a heavily wooded area of Jefferson county.
Now, in looking at the figure in the original video, it almost seems to move like a marionette.
So, we decided to build what was essentially a really big puppet show in the middle of the woods.
No way.
Yep.
This is what it looked like.
Wow.
Oh, my gosh! Look at that.
Get out of here.
You know what, guys? It looks like our Bigfoot may have been sampling some of that famous Kentucky bourbon before he took a walk through the woods.
Well, it was definitely hard to control.
I mean, as much as Lanisha and I coordinated, we could never get it perfect.
I mean, you know what? The anatomy of your puppet, though, is spot-on compared to the original.
Right.
The only thing is the actual movement of it is now lacking.
All in all though, I mean, your experiment is impressive.
I mean, just on size and scale alone, it's very memorable.
I really like all the experiments that you guys did.
I think that you have really proved that the original video is an unnatural movement, which still could be CGI.
You know, and I had always suspected CGI could be the culprit.
So, what I did when we got back is we made our own little model.
So, take a look at this.
Now, the first thing we had to do was look at that video and see the movement and the shape of the creature.
So, we made a wire frame.
Now, the same movement points-- The pivot points we used were the shoulders and the knees.
Now, after that, we added fur to it.
You can see right here.
Look at that.
Okay? That's awesome.
Now Bigfoot's starting to take shape.
We need to give him movement.
Now, using those pivot points, we gave him a little bit of motion.
Okay? Finally, we took a backplate, which was just the locked-off shot of the forest scene, did a composite.
So, we took our creature, put it over the forest, and there you go.
- Wow.
- Oh, wow.
That looks so cool.
I mean, that-- A Bigfoot video, it is.
Yeah, absolutely.
Now, would you say creating a CG model like this, which looks awesome, is that far out of reach for the average joe? All you would need is to get the backplate and spend most of your time actually creating the 3-d model.
But these types of programs are available to the average person, correct? Yes.
So, based on the experiments that you guys conducted, do you guys feel that CGI is the answer to this original Bigfoot video? CG had always been an inclination of mine with this video, and I think once we created our own, it really proved that.
Okay, so I have to ask.
The Kentucky Bigfoot case-- Fact or faked? Well, in terms of our first piece of evidence, we nailed that photo.
I think that it was actually just a bird that was flying across the motion camera.
Even though the costume did come close to replicating the figure that we see in the video, I mean, we just weren't able to completely nail the movements down.
So I'm gonna have to go with CGI on this one.
The photo-- Misidentified.
The video-- CGI hoaxed.
Kentucky Bigfoot-- We're still searching.
Oh my God.
Nice! One of the most haunted towns in America.
She came down by the fireplace and caught her on fire.
Reject! Hey, check that out.
All right, Ben, we're all framed up and ready to go.
I'm hearing footsteps.
It's not me.
I'm standing still.
I just heard a door slam.
Whoa.
Whoa.
Where was that? Look at that.
What's going on? Austin, do you see this door opening right now? Oh, my goodness! There's a flying saucer.
I'm getting a series of lights right there.
So, you're seeing what I am seeing.
What the heck is happening? Hey.
Boys, boys.
Okay.
Well, let me start us off.
I've got two pieces of evidence today.
And they both come from Jefferson county, Kentucky.
The cryptid known as Bigfoot.
Wow.
Cool.
- Yeah.
- All right.
Now, the first is a photo taken by Ken Mahoney in 2009.
Now, Ken has this house with a garden in the back.
And he was having this problem because he was noticing a lot of his plants were being eaten.
So, he set up a trail cam to try and catch the culprit, and this is what he caught.
Whoa.
Wow.
It's like it's just sitting in the bushes.
Can you zoom in on that? What is that right there? It looks like a gorilla crouched in the foliage.
why there would be a gorilla roaming the backwoods of Kentucky.
Exactly.
And there's not supposed to be any large predators-- Even black bear aren't found in that area.
So a lot of people are speculating this could be actual evidence of a Bigfoot.
This really is a great photo.
I mean, what other evidence is there? Well, the other visual we have is a video.
It's pretty interesting.
So, take a look at this.
Oh, wow.
Wow.
Whoa.
Yeah.
Pretty clear, isn't it? That's Bigfoot.
That's wild.
I mean, you know, normally Bigfoot videos are grainy and really hard to make out.
This is really clear.
Everything about this clip is remarkable.
Check this out.
If we pause it-- Look at the creature's arms.
Look at how long they are compared to the rest of his body.
You see what I mean? I mean, from here to here is different than his feet.
This is a good video of Bigfoot.
So, do we know who the videographer is? Well, the videographer does wish to remain anonymous.
And, you know, that tends to give support to those who believe that this may have been a fabricated video.
But I think there's a lot of things that we could do with it and try and test it and see what we can come up with.
All right.
Well, I think this would make a great investigation.
But before we make any decisions, we should see what else everyone brought.
Okay.
Well, I have a really interesting ufo video that was shot on the 4th of July in chino, California.
There was a family enjoying a barbecue when they looked up at the sky and they saw an object with bright lights a few hundred feet above.
Wow.
Yeah.
You got to check it out.
Okay.
There it is.
Okay.
There's definitely an object there.
Right there.
They'll zoom in.
Whoa.
Okay.
- Look at the lights.
- Yeah.
Yeah.
Now, this is a really good video.
I mean, some researchers claim that UFOs are attracted to aerial displays, especially displays of light.
Oh, really? Yeah.
I would say that the biggest tell in this video is that if this was 4th of July-- Clearly there are people there.
You can hear it in the video.
And nobody's reacting to what they're seeing in the sky.
The fact that nobody reacted to it tells me that they know what they are looking at.
I think it's most probable that we're dealing with some type of balloon or something filled up-- A bag with helium with LED lights.
Yeah.
It's possible.
So, I think we should move on.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Bill.
Well I found some amazing footage that supposedly is leaked from Russia that is said to document the transporting of two large metallic alien saucers on flatbed trucks surrounded by a military convoy.
You got to see this clip.
Wow.
All right.
Whoa.
Here they are.
Oh, what? Yep.
And there's a second one.
Wow.
Look at that.
They do look saucer-like, though.
Now, a man named Artem shot this through his apartment window in St.
Petersburg, Russia.
And ufo theorists who have examined this footage have claimed that this is either actual alien saucers being transported or some sort of antigravity devices that have been reverse-engineered from recovered crafts.
These are all really interesting theories, you guys, but I think I know what these are.
What? Well, these look very similar to to military hazardous-waste container lids.
Now, those things can measure up to 18 feet in diameter, and that would explain the convoy.
So, I think this is just a case of mistaken identity.
I'll tell you what, though.
When you first look at it, it definitely looks like a flying saucer on the back of that big rig.
Right? Yeah.
Devin, why don't we move on to you? All right.
I got a really cool picture for you guys.
In December of 2009, a paranormal investigator named Rick moran was investigating what is said to be the most haunted house of all of Texas-- The Pride House.
While he was there, he captured a purported ghost traveling down the staircase of the Pride House.
Take a look at this.
- Look at that.
- Wow! Whoa! That's pretty defined.
Right? Now, what we have here is a potential full-bodied apparition descending the staircase.
It has no feet.
It looks like it's almost just floating down the stairs.
So, Devin, I'm curious.
Is there any kind of backstory to the Pride House? What would support this apparition? Yes.
There is a story of a 15-year-old girl named Jenny Brown.
She was burned on Christmas day, and she died shortly after that in this house.
A lot of people think that that's Jenny Brown's apparition descending the staircase.
That is an eerie twist.
Yeah.
This is a very compelling piece of evidence that meets all our criteria.
Okay, guys.
So, the Pride House.
It seems like we got some excitement generated about this one.
A few of you want to go on that.
How does it compare to everything else that we've seen? I think it's, by far, one of the best cases that we could take on.
We have two pieces of evidence about Bigfoot, and they're in Kentucky.
There are so many legends, so many stories.
That's where I want to go.
I really love the Pride House case.
I've been working on some really cool, illusion-based tests, and I think it would work great for that case.
On top of that, that's the perfect place for night investigations.
Sounds creepy.
You know, guys, I'm in for Bigfoot.
I would love to see if the legend is actually true.
Well, I agree with the rest of the team that Pride House is a keeper, but, Ben, I'm more interested in going with you to Kentucky.
Well, this could be a first-- Me and the ladies.
Do you want to go to Kentucky? Yes.
That sounds great.
I'd love to.
Okay.
And Bill, Austin, and Devin-- Pride House, Texas.
- The guys.
- All right.
Guys' night out.
Yeah! What I'm talkin' about.
Whoo! Well, it looks like it's just us guys on this one.
And here we are in Jefferson, Texas, to investigate our next case.
Just look around-- This quaint, little, old-west town is believed by many to be one of the most haunted towns in America.
The location we're heading to definitely stands out.
The Pride House.
It's the oldest bed-and-breakfast in Texas, and it's considered to be wildly haunted.
Well, let's talk about the photograph that brought us here.
Sadly, Rick moran, who was the photographer who captured this image-- He's passed away.
So, we're gonna meet with Jenny lovelace, who's the current Pride House owner.
And we're gonna get her firsthand account of what actually happened the day that Rick captured this photograph.
Wow.
Hi.
Jenny? Hey.
I'm Bill.
Nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you, as well.
This is Austin.
Hi, guys.
This is Devin.
Hey.
How you doing? Good.
Come in.
This place is beautiful.
Jenny, what year was this house built? It was built in 1888.
We heard this is one of the most haunted locations in Jefferson.
Can you kind of give us a rundown or a list of all the reported paranormal phenomena that occurs here? We have anywhere from doors opening and closing, the lights getting turned off and on.
We've had people being touched.
We've had footsteps.
And it sounds like heavy boots on a wooden floor, but it's carpeted.
And then whistling-- I hear whistling all the time.
How often do people experience paranormal activity here at the Pride House? It's on a daily basis.
It's very rarely that someone will come and not have an experience.
What's the significance of this particular room? There was a little girl.
Her name was Jenny.
She was opening Christmas presents in front of this fireplace, and a gust of wind came down the fireplace and caught her on fire.
And she lived upstairs - and died January 28, 1901.
- Wow.
That's tragic.
So, Jenny, what are some of the hot spots in this house? They're in the parlor, the staircase, and there's two rooms upstairs, the Ashland and the royal George, that tend to be quite active.
Wow.
Look at this.
So, this is the staircase where the picture was taken.
So, you were in the house.
Was there anybody besides you and Rick? There were other investigators, but they were all asleep.
He had gotten up very early to do some things on his own.
He was right here, and he set the camera on a tripod.
Do you still have the camera? I do.
I borrowed it from his widow.
We'd love to use it for some tests, if that's all right.
Could we borrow it? Sure.
We promise we'll get it back to you.
Absolutely.
Do we know why he set the tripod right here? I mean, had there been any other occurrences on the stairwell? Very early on when I bought the house, I was standing actually here and I looked up and there was a man at the very top of the staircase looking down at me.
And then he turned towards the wall and just walked out the wall.
Wow.
Yeah.
Well, thank you so much for your time.
You're welcome.
We really appreciate it.
Absolutely.
Okay.
So, we're gonna get some of our gear.
We're gonna get to work.
Okay.
Now that we have Jenny's account of what happened the day the photograph was captured, we're gonna attempt to re-create this mysterious apparition using the same camera in the same location.
Guys, to me-- I think the most likely scenario is that it's a motion blur from a slow shutter speed on the camera.
And, you know, you're gonna be shooting in infrared, so we'll get the same sepia tone that we're seeing here.
So, in this case it could literally just be somebody running down the stairs at a fairly rapid pace.
Well, you guys, this is a sophisticated camera.
I mean, it does have a timer.
It's entirely possible that it was set on a timer and Rick didn't know that he accidentally took a picture of himself when he stepped in front of the camera.
So, that's where we should be beginning this test.
All right.
I'm gonna go get changed 'cause I'll head to the top of the stairs and run down.
In order to try and replicate the photograph a little bit more, I'm gonna put on light-colored clothing and some darker boots.
Hopefully the light from the room will kind of intensify the blurring image and maybe look more like the original photo.
I'll be at the vantage point taking the photos.
I'm gonna get changed, I'll be right back, and let's make this happen.
Sounds good.
That sounds good.
All right.
All right.
Let's do this.
Devin, you ready? I'm ready.
You still got it framed up? Austin, you ready? Yep.
Okay, on 3 Shutter! Right now I'm setting up the camera at the vantage point that Rick took the original photograph.
We're gonna shoot up the staircase where Bill is setting up the garland and hopefully be able to replicate this.
All right.
Let's do this.
Devin, you ready? I'm ready.
You still got it framed up? Austin, you ready? Yep.
Okay, on 3 Shutter! That was right on time.
That looked good.
Let's take a look at this.
All right.
Look at that.
You're coming down the stairs.
That's looking pretty ethereal.
It's losing definition, but look what's really working.
The shape you have, very humanoid obviously.
The same thing we have here.
Putting Austin in dark shoes, it made it look like he didn't have any feet.
But when we compare it to the original photograph, this appears to be looser.
It looks more like a cloud.
The biggest thing that's not matching for me right now, you guys, is your legs.
It doesn't look like legs in the original photo.
It looks like an apparition that's floating.
Right.
Given the fact that the original photo is a little bit more smoky, maybe we should start looking into some natural elements.
What else could this be? Let's do it, guys.
All right, let's see what we got as far as material that we could manipulate.
You know what, you guys? There are fans all over this house, and there's a central AC.
It could have been a gust of wind, and maybe some debris came down the stairs.
Think about it.
It's apparent they decorate for Christmas.
We see it in the original footage.
I remember growing up, my mom used to actually line the stairs with cotton to give it the appearance that it snows inside, right? Think about this.
Right above right here-- If cotton was there, what if it had released and fell? Yeah.
It's literally right where the apparition is in the photograph.
Possibly the gust of wind carries it, and, voilà , floating debris, AKA our ghostly apparition.
And if this camera was set on an automatic timer and it snapped the photo and nobody noticed that it was taking pictures, they ended up picking up the debris, moved it, there goes the evidence.
I mean, it might not even be a hoax.
- Just a simple case of mistaken identity that no one even knew happened.
- Yeah.
I say we put that one to the test.
All right.
Okay.
Right now we're making snow out of cotton that could have been a Christmas decoration fallen from above and been the apparition seen in the original photograph.
The biggest challenge is gonna be snapping the photo as the debris falls right into frame at the perfect spot.
Austin, you in position? I am in position, ready to let the snow go.
Devin, you ready? Framed up, ready to go.
Okay.
On 3 Bring on the snow, Austin.
Did you get that? Yeah, look at it.
What do you think? I think we should do a side-by-side.
I think it looks really close.
This is much smokier of an image, and the shape, although it's not quite right, you can see through the legs very well.
But when you really look close at the photo, the texture isn't the same.
I don't think this is a match.
If this were the explanation of the apparition in the photograph, the timing would have had to have been perfect.
That's pretty amazing.
Then, you guys, let's move on to our next test.
Okay.
With the Pride House being such a popular hot spot of paranormal activity for tourists, we're gonna test the idea that maybe somebody just hoaxed this photograph in order to increase the lore surrounding the property.
You know, if somebody was to take the time and actually create a high-quality hoax like this, a great way to do it is simple project an image in front of the stairwell.
I mean, a lot of times people actually credit this effect as the explanation to ghosts they see in photos and videos.
Well, if we're gonna project an image, let's use a specialized screen that uses millions of tiny, little crystals that bend the light, creating depth and the illusion of a 3-d image.
We can project our ghost, and the transparency will allow the stairs to be visible right through our apparition.
I'll throw back on the white tracksuit.
We can record an image of me in the same position as the apparition in the photo.
We'll project it in front of the stairwell.
Let's see if we can get to the bottom of this photo.
So, we're blacking out the staircase.
That way, we can prerecord an image of Austin walking down the stairs.
When we play that back through a projector, it's gonna look like he's floating down the staircase.
All right.
Guys, I'm gonna throw my hood on to give me a full ghostly appearance.
That looks good.
Okay.
You ready? Yep.
Com on down, Austin.
That looked good.
Guys, I think we got this.
Okay.
Okay, let's try this.
Right now, I'm connecting the lens and preparing the projector so we can play back Austin's image onto the screen.
The projection screen is able to trick the mind into thinking it sees a 3-d image by creating an optical illusion of depth.
This looks great.
The screen is comprised of three separate chemical coatings on 4-millimeter-thick polyester film that catch and warp the projected light, creating the illusion of a three-dimensional image.
All right, guys.
I'm putting in the playback video of our recorded apparition we made.
Great.
Ready? Yep.
Go ahead.
All right.
Run apparition.
Hey, hey.
Check that out.
All right.
Take a look at this photo right here, you guys.
All right.
Hey, it's not bad.
No, it's not bad at all.
It's very transparent.
The shape is similar.
The only problem I'm seeing is that we're still missing that smoky appearance.
The screen is translucent.
It's not perfectly transparent.
It's almost like we're trying so hard to make our experiment fit.
I mean, if this is a hoax, this is almost becoming too elaborate.
Overall, all of our experiments came really close.
But the one that came the closest was the motion blur with the slow shutter speed and Austin just walking down the stairs.
And that's the most likely, natural explanation.
But just because we've been able to prove that it's possible that the photo was taken like this doesn't mean that this photo wasn't paranormal.
You guys, I think all of the reports of paranormal activity here warrants a nighttime investigation.
I'm in.
Let's get to work.
Hey, man.
You're almost set up? Yep.
We got that place totally wired on the inside.
All right, guys.
We have three IR cameras, one full-spectrum.
The first IR camera is actually in the parlor facing the fireplace where Jenny was originally burned on Christmas day.
The next IR camera's set up in the royal George room.
And our last IR camera, that's actually set up in the Ashland room, where Jenny passed away.
Now, our full-spectrum camera, and we have that right in the stairwell where the original apparition was captured.
Make sure you stay in constant communication.
Right on.
You guys want to go turn off all the lights in the house and go green? Okay.
You got it.
Yep.
Go green.
Austin, what I'm trying to do is see if there's another reason besides paranormal for people hearing footsteps in this room.
I don't know what they're hearing.
This is thickly carpeted floor.
Copy that.
Also, make sure you guys keep your ears open for whistling.
She said there were sounds of whistling, as well.
Copy that.
Austin, do you see this door opening right now? All right.
The guys are inside turning off all the lights so we can go green.
I'm gonna be here at base camp monitoring all the cameras.
That way, I have full coverage of what's going on inside the house while the team's sweeping for any signs of paranormal activity.
Go green.
Austin, do you see this door opening right now? Devin for Bill.
Did you just say that you saw a door opening? Yes.
It just unlatched and opened on its own.
Make sure you're keeping your eyes peeled for any movement.
Copy that.
I'm gonna set up the motion sensor in this room right now.
Austin, the accelerometer is triggering.
I'm hearing footsteps.
It's not me.
I'm standing still.
Bill for Devin.
Go for me.
Did you just trip or something? I heard, like, footsteps and boots stomping all around the bed.
No.
No, I didn't.
Bill for Austin.
I'm gonna conduct an evp session in the Ashland room.
Jenny, we understand that you passed away in this room.
I don't know if you're still here.
What is that? Bill for team.
Who's with me on the second floor of this house? There's whistling and there are things being thrown.
Bill, I hear the whistling now, too, and I'm on the stairwell.
Did you just hear that? I just heard a door slam.
Whoa.
Whoa.
Where was that? Where did that come from? I don't know.
Devin, every room I go to, I'm hearing things-- Crashing, falling, throwing.
What's going on? It's not just the royal George room.
It's the Ashland room, too.
And it's the stairs.
Did you hear that? Yes, I heard that.
Austin, I'm gonna go downstairs.
I'm heading back to Ashland.
Austin for Bill.
Austin for Bill.
The accelerometer in the royal George room just started going off again.
It's going off like crazy right now.
There's definite movement going on.
Devin, meet me in the royal George room.
Copy that.
I'm on my way.
You guys, there is so much activity going on in this room.
The door opened.
The accelerometer's going off.
Bill What do you see? Look at this.
Come here quick.
What is that?! Yeah.
Can't wait to hear about the case.
Oh, you missed out.
So, the three of you in Texas-- What happened? Well, you know what? We ran three different experiments.
And when it came down to it, we couldn't match the photo in its entirety.
And we started thinking, with all the paranormal lore and history surrounding the Pride House, we had to do a night investigation.
And that is when things got pretty interesting.
So, I went up to the royal George room to set up an accelerometer, but before I could even finish doing that, the bathroom door opened on its own.
And we had a surveillance camera already set up, and we got it on tape.
Wow.
Yeah, take a look at this.
Watch this.
The door is directly behind Bill, where he is right now, to the left of the painting.
Whoa.
No.
Now I'm, like, stunned here.
Listen, I am watching this from base camp.
The door had been closed the entire time, latched shut.
Bill walks in, the door starts to open.
Being the skeptical point of view, you know, you're in an old house.
Maybe a change in air pressure maybe as he walked by or something.
Okay, you would think that air pressure could have something to do with it.
That was only if the door was not latched.
The door was latched.
The only way it could have a natural explanation for it to open is if possibly there's a dramatic change in temperature causing the wood to shrink up a little bit and the gap opened, the door would open.
But there was no dramatic temperature change.
On top of that-- We'll keep going.
But wait till you s-- You just got to see what we come up with next 'cause it'll show you why it opened.
I enter the room.
I have my thermal imager with me.
I start scanning the room, and this is what we capture.
Whoa.
No way.
Where is this? That's on the exact same door that opened when Bill walked into the room to set up the motion detector.
It looks like a fresh set of prints, like it just happened.
Neither of us touched it.
And there it is.
I mean, this is a pretty compelling piece of paranormal evidence, in my opinion.
People are always talking about walking through cold spots or hot spots.
I mean, this could be an example of the paranormal trying to communicate through heat transfer.
So, once we had this documented on the thermal camera, I did then continue to the Ashland room, where I was gonna begin to conduct my evp session.
Want you guys to listen to this.
Tell me what you think you hear.
Will whoever's with us here in the Pride House That sounds like whistling.
Yeah.
Can you play that again? Yeah.
It does.
Will whoever's with us here in the Pride House - No.
That's, like, a distinct human whistle.
- Yeah.
It's not like wind or something.
We set up base camp outside, and I'll tell you right now it was a dead zone.
There was nothing going on, no people, no traffic-- Nothing.
So, guys, uh, Pride House-- Fact or Faked? Considering the evidence that we gathered during our investigation, I think we can all say that there's something paranormal likely happening at the Pride House.
Well, nice job, guys.
I think your experiments came close, but it didn't replicate it.
It seems like you gathered some very interesting things that were happening that night.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
So, good job.
Tell us about your case.
Well, as you know, the ladies and I went to Jefferson county, Kentucky, to investigate two very intriguing pieces of evidence regarding the mysterious Bigfoot.
Check it out.
So, Jefferson county, Kentucky, just outside of louisville, investigating the "bluegrass Bigfoot" phenomenon.
Not many people know that Kentucky is one of the most active locations for Bigfoot sightings in the U.
S.
That's right.
And we have two pieces of evidence to investigate.
Now, the first one is a photograph taken by a game trail camera in September of 2009 in the backyard of Kenny Mahoney.
So, when the photo went public, I mean, theories started flying.
Probably just a plastic bag.
Maybe even a silverback gorilla.
But many are still convinced that what Kenny captured was actually a sasquatch.
Now, the second piece of evidence was supposedly taken close to where Kenny captured his photograph.
Now, in this video you see a large, shaggy, humanoid figure walking through the trees.
So, I think we start with talking with Kenny Mahoney, get his take on the photo, and then we tackle the video second.
Sounds good.
Coming up on "Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files" Release the hawk.
Okay.
Bluegrass Bigfoot.
Nice.
We're about to meet Kenny Mahoney, who captured a trail-camera image in his backyard of a creature that many believe to be Bigfoot.
Hopefully he can tell us more about the image he captured that day.
Kenny.
I'm Ben.
Hey.
How are you? Nice to meet you.
So, is this the same location where you had the camera placed that day? Yes, it is.
Yep.
Where exactly was the figure? In the picture, it looked to me like it was in the brush line because there's, like, a bloom in front of it.
And how is this camera set up to be used? Anytime something comes by, it senses the motion and takes a picture of it.
Kenny, your backyard goes into the woods here.
And I imagine other people are back there, hunting.
Do you think it's possible that anyone intentionally came through your backyard, knowing you had a trail camera set up to try and hoax you? There could be a possibility, and that is one of the things people come up with-- That somebody, you know, jumped the fence and took the picture and jumped out.
So, Kenny, when people saw this image, what were their reactions? What did they think it was? You know, Kentucky's known for having Bigfoot sightings.
You'd be surprised how many people believe that it is a Bigfoot.
Well, we appreciate you allowing us to come.
And do you mind if we just keep your camera where it's at and use that for some of our experiments? Just have at it.
Well, thank you so much.
Thank you all.
- We'll get started.
- Thank you.
All right.
Thank you, Kenny.
All right.
Well, let's go get our equipment - and get started.
- All right So, now we have Kenny's story regarding his purported Bigfoot photo.
We're now ready to begin our experiments to see if we can ID the figures seen in his original photograph.
Okay.
Well, guys, I think the first thing we need to do is a size test.
Let's look at the perspective of what was captured on film and try to match it.
Well, Ben, you're 6'6".
He's the closest thing we have to a Bigfoot.
So, we should definitely use you to stand in for the guy.
All right.
If I must, I must.
Well, we've got this black robe.
We can just put you in that.
And we'll also take a look at the original photograph and gauge your size compared to the original.
Okay.
So, I'll head back there to the foliage.
You tell me when you're ready.
All right.
Why don't you get dressed, Bigfoot? Our goal for this experiment is to approximate the size of the figure in the original photograph.
What I'm gonna do is just crouch down here in this thorn bush and put out my arms and try to make the same shape and color and see what it looks like.
Now, this motion sensor here, once it detects movement, it'll release the shutter, which is placed here, and snap a photo.
Hopefully we'll be able to re-create the same exact figure we see in Kenny's original photograph.
Okay, ladies! Bigfoot's in the forest! Can you crouch down just a little? All right.
Hold that there, Ben.
That's great.
Are you getting good shots of this? Well, we'll take the SD card out and then do a side-by-side.
There you are.
Can barely see me.
Exactly.
You being on the same plane as the foliage back there, you get completely blended in with everything.
Also, whatever is in the original picture is a lot more defined.
You look like a smudge compared to the object in the original photograph.
What if this is just forced perspective? What if this thing we're seeing is not in the bushes but actually closer to the camera? It would certainly explain why the object appears more in focus than Ben does.
You know, what some of the other theories that were suggested, though, is that it could be some type of animal, like a bird.
Now, this area has numerous birds of prey, and they would definitely circle this deer-feeder area hunting for food.
I want to put this bird theory to the test.
Oh, wow.
That's gorgeous.
Thanks.
This is nike.
Nike.
Nike is a Harris hawk.
Now, what kind of prey do they usually catch? Well, the natural quarry would be rabbit, would be squirrel, would be rats, mice, things like that.
And these are the things that are just around this area.
Well, absolutely.
With a deer feeder that you see right there, it's obviously gonna drop big grain and things like that for the deer-- Exactly perfect to feed all these ground quarry and ideal for a bird of prey just to sit out in one of these trees here and pick them off, you know? Perfect.
Now, sid, she looks like a pretty big girl.
What's her wingspan? Wingspan when she's flying and she's just about ready to land is probably about 2 1/2 to 3 feet.
Wow.
Pretty big girl.
Yeah, she is.
I say we get this set up and we can give it a try.
Glove.
Thank you.
Just follow that line back.
There you go.
Perfect.
There you go.
All right.
I'll be right over here if you need me.
- All right.
Thanks, sid.
- You bet.
Okay.
Ready? For our experiment, we're gonna take this Harris hawk.
I'm gonna climb up this ladder which is behind me.
It'll give us a better angle for us to cast off the bird so that when it comes down on the prey, which is a mouse carcass, we might actually get some of that flaring motion where it spreads its wings out and capture what we're in the image.
Oh, she's getting hungry.
- She's ready to eat.
- She's ready to eat.
We're all set up here.
Okay.
I think if we put the bait right about over there.
Give her a good look at it so she knows where it is.
And when I cast her off, she should fly right to it and you can start snapping photos.
So, you count me down.
Got it.
Hopefully because of where I'm at with her up here, she'll come down, and as she gets ready to land, she'll flare her wings out.
And maybe that will re-create what we saw in the photo.
All right, Ben, you ready to do this? I'm ready.
Okay.
Bait's set.
Oh, she's eyeing it already.
Okay, Lanisha, get ready.
All right, Ben.
Release the hawk.
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Now, I'm up here on this ladder so we can get our Harris hawk to get a good angle when I cast her off.
She's gonna fly down to the bait.
Now, hopefully she'll come down, and as she gets ready to land, she'll flare her wings out.
And maybe that will re-create what we saw in the photo.
All right, Ben, you ready to do this? I'm ready.
Okay.
Bait's set.
Oh, she's eyeing it already.
Okay, Lanisha, get ready.
All right, Ben.
Release the hawk.
All right.
She definitely was hungry.
Why don't you come on back and we'll look at the side-by-side? Hey, look at that.
This looks a lot better than our last test.
It definitely created a defined shape of, like, a head and, like, an arm the way that we see in the original.
The size, shape, and definition looks really good.
Yeah.
Her dark plumage is just the coloration that we're looking for there.
There are other birds just like her, you know, that are all around here.
And it's very plausible they could be just hovering over some type of food that they're eating.
It's definitely a plausible explanation.
Now, remember, we have a video, also, that was taken supposedly nearby here.
I think we need to start looking at that.
Well, I did some research on this area, and I think I know a place where we can conduct our next experiment.
Really? Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Great.
Our Harris hawk, nike, did actually really well.
The natural explanation is probably what happened here.
So, now we're gonna head out to a location that Lanisha found to perform experiments on the video that we have.
Now of course, one of the popular theories always is that this is somebody walking in a Bigfoot costume.
But in this case I think we can do that and step it up a level by using some custom-made prosthetics.
So, this Bigfoot suit consists of several different parts.
One of them is this hump that I have here.
Now, this is foam that has been carved and cut specially to fit inside the spandex.
It's hand-stitched.
That'll give kind of the appearance of the hunchback that we're seeing in the video.
Plus, we have these arms.
Now, this is a prosthetic which extends the length of the arm so that when I walk, it looks just like the video.
Looking good, buddy.
All right, Ben.
Jael and I are gonna head back to the vantage point, and you get into your first position.
And let's get this test started.
Okay.
All right.
All right, Ben.
We're at the vantage point.
We're all framed up and ready to go.
Ready.
Do the Bigfoot! Look at that.
Look at his arms.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's really good.
Mm-hmm.
Ben, that was perfect.
Let's do a side-by-side.
All right.
Sweet.
That was great.
Yeah.
Look at that.
See the movement of the hands here? You got that nice hyperextension behind you.
That looked really good.
This creature in the original footage, it has this very unnatural posture that was really hard for you to replicate.
Just look at these legs.
They're so thin.
And the waist is really thin.
You know, there's no tush there.
No.
Well, you know, another popular theory is that this could just be someone puppeteering.
Well, it would be an elaborate hoax.
But the more I look at the video, that could explain the gliding motion.
Plus, the shoulder and the knees really look like they're the only parts that are moving.
Two people operating from a really high vantage point would easily be able to control its movements.
Yeah, well, scaffolding will work, but it's got to be big enough, tall enough that it'll be out of frame the whole time.
I think if we build this scaffolding, it should be at least 15 feet high.
Then we should have enough room to work.
Well, you two being of similar height, I think you can go up onto the scaffolding, and you'll be the puppeteers.
I'll stay down below to film.
I like that.
Perfect.
Okay, guys.
Here he is.
Ha ha! Look at this guy.
Our puppet is almost done.
Upon looking at the video, we noticed there were some things that needed some touch-ups.
Like, the back of him has sort of this hump.
So we've taken this foam.
We'll be inserting that in, finishing him up, and he should look a lot like the video.
We've created two pivot points on our Bigfoot.
One pivot point is at the shoulders, and the other is at the knees.
So, when we manipulate our wire, it'll actually look like his arm is being propelled by his hands.
And then when we manipulate the knees, it'll lift his legs in the way that will replicate that gait that we're seeing in the footage.
All right.
All right.
Got it? Yep.
Okay.
All right.
Do you feel secure? Yeah.
Feel secure.
All right.
With this rig that I have on, I'm supporting the weight of our puppet.
And I'll also be controlling its arms.
Lanisha will be behind me, and she'll be controlling its legs.
All right, Ben-- We're all rigged up and ready to be puppet masters! Okay.
Bluegrass Bigfoot! Start walking in 3, 2, 1! Nice! We've just finished rigging uphe puppet.
I'm gonna take my place down at the vantage point where the camera is.
Hopefully we'll re-create this video.
All right, Ben-- We're all rigged up and ready to be puppet masters! Okay.
Bluegrass Bigfoot! Start walking in 3, 2, 1! Right, left.
Right, left.
How does it look, Ben? Nice! Nice! So, we first decided to tackle the photo that Kenny Mahoney took in his backyard in 2009.
I think that based on the experiments that we did with our first piece of evidence, the photograph, we were able to debunk that.
I think that was definitely a bird.
So we moved on to our next piece of evidence, which was this video that was shot in a heavily wooded area of Jefferson county.
Now, in looking at the figure in the original video, it almost seems to move like a marionette.
So, we decided to build what was essentially a really big puppet show in the middle of the woods.
No way.
Yep.
This is what it looked like.
Wow.
Oh, my gosh! Look at that.
Get out of here.
You know what, guys? It looks like our Bigfoot may have been sampling some of that famous Kentucky bourbon before he took a walk through the woods.
Well, it was definitely hard to control.
I mean, as much as Lanisha and I coordinated, we could never get it perfect.
I mean, you know what? The anatomy of your puppet, though, is spot-on compared to the original.
Right.
The only thing is the actual movement of it is now lacking.
All in all though, I mean, your experiment is impressive.
I mean, just on size and scale alone, it's very memorable.
I really like all the experiments that you guys did.
I think that you have really proved that the original video is an unnatural movement, which still could be CGI.
You know, and I had always suspected CGI could be the culprit.
So, what I did when we got back is we made our own little model.
So, take a look at this.
Now, the first thing we had to do was look at that video and see the movement and the shape of the creature.
So, we made a wire frame.
Now, the same movement points-- The pivot points we used were the shoulders and the knees.
Now, after that, we added fur to it.
You can see right here.
Look at that.
Okay? That's awesome.
Now Bigfoot's starting to take shape.
We need to give him movement.
Now, using those pivot points, we gave him a little bit of motion.
Okay? Finally, we took a backplate, which was just the locked-off shot of the forest scene, did a composite.
So, we took our creature, put it over the forest, and there you go.
- Wow.
- Oh, wow.
That looks so cool.
I mean, that-- A Bigfoot video, it is.
Yeah, absolutely.
Now, would you say creating a CG model like this, which looks awesome, is that far out of reach for the average joe? All you would need is to get the backplate and spend most of your time actually creating the 3-d model.
But these types of programs are available to the average person, correct? Yes.
So, based on the experiments that you guys conducted, do you guys feel that CGI is the answer to this original Bigfoot video? CG had always been an inclination of mine with this video, and I think once we created our own, it really proved that.
Okay, so I have to ask.
The Kentucky Bigfoot case-- Fact or faked? Well, in terms of our first piece of evidence, we nailed that photo.
I think that it was actually just a bird that was flying across the motion camera.
Even though the costume did come close to replicating the figure that we see in the video, I mean, we just weren't able to completely nail the movements down.
So I'm gonna have to go with CGI on this one.
The photo-- Misidentified.
The video-- CGI hoaxed.
Kentucky Bigfoot-- We're still searching.