Destination Truth – Ghost of Petra/The Lizard Man S03E14

Josh and team head to Amman, Jordan to hunt for ghosts in the ancient city of Petra. Since I’m not up on my geography I was amused to have Josh bring me right up to speed on where Petra is through his use of the Indiana Jones series. Clearly Josh is a movie buff and knows how to clue in an audience.

A creature known as the Djinn (as in Gin and Tonic) is said to haunt the ruins of the tombs of the city. Right off the bat we have issues with luggage at the airport. Undaunted Josh heads to the local market to buy some new threads for Vanessa. She gets some fine clothes that cover her from head to toe, literally.

You know, the markets Josh end up in are some of the coolest places. They always seem to sell everything he might need, such as tomatoes, green beans and evil eye necklaces. These foreign markets, they have gifts for everyone.

After getting some local information Josh heads out into the middle of the desert to look for nomads who know about the Djinn. Nomads in the desert, that ought to be easy. Is it me or does it look like Josh is doing some stunt driving out there in the desert?

But you can’t go by 4×4 forever, eventually you have to ditch them for Josh’s favorite animal, the Camel. And the camel will take you to nomads.

While gathered around the fire the nomads guarantee that Josh will see the spirit. If you go out into the desert alone you will experience it. Is it the wind? Is it confusion over the immensity of the desert itself? Hard to say, but Josh heads out the next morning and finds some excavation workers who’ve had experiences. They claim they hear knives or swords clanging together and see shadows lurking in the tombs. They also hear their names being called when there is no one around.

In short order Josh is at Petra and sets up base camp. They set up right in front of the ruins and head out with the thermal imager. As you might expect, the place is extremely rocky and treacherous. Certainly the wind and echoes could play tricks on you. And speaking of tricks, Evan sees some flash of light streak past the camera.

They press on and go into the tomb where they hear the sound of rocks falling and then the sound of two swords clanging together. Immediately they experience what all the people have been claiming. Since the tomb is carved, there shouldn’t be any rocks falling. Josh sets up some more trap cameras and recorders to capture any more activity.

After the tomb, they move on to the next location. Ryder nearly falls off the cliff as they walk around in the dark, but makes it to the large room where they do an EVP session. They hear chanting and get someone saying "Yes" when asked if anyone is in there with them. They also get some wild spikes on the EMF meter when there is clearly no electricity out there.

The team does a regroup then moves off to different locations with Josh deciding it’s a good idea to go rock climbing in the middle of the night in the middle of the desert. Apparently any time is a good time to repel a sheer rock face. Meanwhile, base camp sees a shadow in the amphitheater and sends Ryder out after it. She doesn’t pick anything up but lets the recorders run.

As the sun comes up, the team heads back to the US with footage in hand to have it analyzed. Once again, Josh turns to the Ghost Hunters to have a look at what he has. The orb they see moving is either a bug or a bird. They agree someone is saying "Yes" in the tomb and they also hear the sounds of rocks and swords clashing.

In the end they don’t come away with anything truly solid, but they get some unusual sounds that match up with what locals hear. Is the place haunted or at least paranormal? Hard to say, they don’t capture too much, but what they do get is hard to explain for the area. If anything, they’ve added to the experiences and to the mystery of Petra.

Bishopville, South Carolina.

First off, I’m ever so disappointed I didn’t know Josh was filming in my neck of the woods. Columbia is a mere two hours down the road from me and had I known I would have made a pilgrimage. But I’m sure this is exactly why he doesn’t tell anyone where he’s going. I’m sure the last thing he needs is people tracking him down and expressing their man crushes for him while he’s trying to hunt dangerous things.

But moving on. The residents of Bishopville claim to have a Lizard Man that is attacking cars and scaring the locals. He went dormant for years but has resurfaced again.

Josh in the South… Get ready!

And did he spend extra to get that Wagoneer or what?

And the hat, the hat completes the look!

Where is the first stop for the team? That’s right, the diner for the Lizard Sandwich then some shopping for Lizard Man paraphernalia. To find people who’ve had experiences Josh puts up posters for a town meeting. One person who’s had experiences and was sent to track it down was the Sherriff. He’s even got castings of its feet. Next up is Dixie who says her car was mauled by the creature and caused some severe damage. And finally we have Frank, a local pilot, who’s seen the creature during the daylight hours.

Now, here we have a backwoods pilot offering to take Josh up for a ride in a slightly unusual aircraft. Who else thought this was going to end in disaster? Come on, raise your hands. Maybe Josh should have accepted a swig from the unmarked container of "liquor" Frank offered. Just to calm his nerves and all. Especially for the landing, since Frank isn’t all that good at putting the "experimental" plane back on the ground.

Kamikaze flight over, Josh heads back to his town meeting. But first, a stop to visit the Button King and the legendary toilet covered in buttons.

At the town meeting everyone seems to have a story of the Lizard Man and warn Josh of snakes and other creatures that lurk in the swamps. After some fine food and dancing with the townsfolk, Josh snags some ATVs (he seems to like those this season) and heads out into the swamp.

Josh is one of those guys who finds some rickety structure in the middle of a field and feels compelled to climb it. Bless his heart. But while he’s up there he gets something on the thermal and gives chase. Right at that time the perimeter alarm goes off. The hunt is on! And then gunshots!

While trekking through the woods they hear growls and grunting. They get to the perimeter alarm and hear more growling in a thicket of bushes. Without blinking Josh brandishes his machete, ready for action. The growls in the bushes get pretty loud and angry so Josh retreats before the team is totally mauled. It’s not the Lizard Man so best leave it alone.

But he’s not done for the night. Josh decides to put on the hip waders and head deeper into the swamp. Always a good idea! Thin rubber always defends against swamp creatures!

Evan sees a big pair of the eyes in the darkness which more than likely has them chasing a coyote, which then turns into a pack of coyotes.

With the night wearing thin the team heads home to check out the evidence. The growls are coyotes or feral dogs. The damage done to the cars couldn’t have come from anything lizard like and more than likely aren’t even from teeth. And the big evidence, the castings of the feet, all turn out to be identical and a fraud.

This is one of the rare times where Josh flat out calls something a hoax and a fake. The Lizard Man is a harmless hoax, now advertising gimmick for the people of Bishopville. But they have cool characters and some fine Southern cooking, so all’s well that ends well.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Destination Truth – Haunted Island Ruins / Moroccan Succubus S04E07
• Destination Truth S04E14 – Ghosts of Antarctica
• Destination Truth Spirits Of Angkor Wat/Canadian Lake Monster S04E02
• Destination Truth – Great Wall/Israeli Mermaid S03E11
• Destination Truth – Naree Pon/Aiya Napa – S04E13
• Expedition Unknown – Secrets of the Nazca – S01E10
• Destination Truth – Ghosts of Haboro/Mngwa – S04E03
• Destination Truth – Jungle Temple Ghosts & Namibian Night Stalker – S04E12
• Destination Truth – Jersey Devil/The Yeren S03E12
• Expedition Unknown – Hunting Vampires – S02E04