ArtRojasDesign

Haunted Island Ruins

Josh heads out to find a creature that haunts a series of man made islands in Micronesia. People hear noises in the night and don’t want to go visit the ruins. Legend has I that Governor Burg took away some bones from the location and soon after was plagued with illness and died. It’s very similar to the stories of the archeologists who opened the tomb to King Tut.

As they start of their trip they get the coolest car yet which is a beat up truck with a tiki bar on top. I’m surprised we don’t see more of these on the road, they are quite fashionable and wonderfully practical. Wherever Josh goes, a party is sure to follow with this baby. The police have to give him a warning though as his driving is making him pass in the wrong lane. He breaks out there’s a tiki hut of my roof excuse and they let him go. Seems you can get away with all sorts of things if you’re driving a tiki hut.

Before the investigation begins, Josh does some fine haggling at the local market where he comes away with some fine pottery and a copy of Major Payne. Now that’s a store that stocks everything! Of course he has to wake up the shop keepers before he can do any business with them.

But you can’t just go traipsing into the jungle and set up base camp. You need to ask for permission first, so Josh arranges a visit with the local tribal chief to see if they can go and investigate the ruins. These are the parts of the show I really like. We get to see Josh immerse himself in their traditions and show his respect for their beliefs and way of life. It’s really a neat thing to see.

And with permission granted and words of warning offered, the team heads out to the ruins and makes base camp. The team quickly split into the two groups and heads out into the night to see what they can find. Dan, Bobby and Shawn head out and find the tomb of Governor Berg and while looking around see an orb peeking through the undergrowth. They keep hearing noises while they set up for an EVP. The orb looks like a flashlight reflection but it’s on the other side of the plants so who knows what they’re looking at.

In another part of the jungle, Josh, Ali, Gabe and Mike find the ruined temple and crawl into the courtyard. They hear rustling in the trees as though something is walking around. Gabe then claims to see a shadow. The team checks the area then finds the main tomb where they sit down for an EVP session. They all feel a blast of cold air and then almost immediately Josh is feeling sick and has to leave. As he leaving things go really bad and he’s actually vomiting. The team gets him back to base camp where they get him an IV to rehydrate him. But it doesn’t end there, Josh is sick for the rest of the day and for the trip out of the Micronesia. Whatever it was, it got a hold of him that’s for sure.

As for the evidence there might be a response during an EVP. It’s a barely audible "yes" which the team finds interesting, but they aren’t staking the whole investigation on it. But the EVP comes at the time and place where Josh got incredibly sick. Was some bad food catching up to him or was something causing him problems? It’s interesting the whole team didn’t get ill so it’s hard to say if this is just an odd coincidence or if something dealt with Josh since he was the leader of the team.

Aisha Kandisha

There is a strange and mythical creature that is said to hypnotize men and lure them to their death. She has great beauty, but talons on her wings and the feet of a camel. (Oh the ex-wives jokes I could make!) Locals claim she is very real and very dangerous. It’s basically the story of the Siren of the ocean that lead sailors to their death. She’s not trying to wreck them on the coral reef, she’s trying to lure them over the side of a cliff in the desert.

Josh talks with eyewitnesses who claim to have seen her only days earlier. Josh and the team will need to head out into the desert and find the abandoned Kasbah which is where Aisha is said to live. Considering the rather rotten luck Josh has with air travel I was quite stunned he decided to use a hot air balloon for recon.

But low and behold he finds the ruins, marks them on GPS, then jumps in some dune buggies and blazes a trail to set up base camp. The builds are very old and look paper thin. The wind has certainly made them unstable. It looks like it’s been pretty much turned over to the local wildlife.

As the investigation starts, who was wondering how long it would take for someone to say "Rock the Kasbah"? Everyone knew it was coming, no one was bold enough to say it.

Ali and Shawn head out and come across bats and an owl making all sorts of noise in the night. This would certainly noises and screams that people hear. The owl screech pierces the quiet night! I bet that travels for miles.

Josh and Mike listen with the parabolic dish and hear the distinctive sound of chains rattling. Natives say you can tell Aisha is around because you can hear these chains. But as they both say, it could be from anything and definitely sounds mechanical. And who knows where it is, that sound could be hundreds of yards away.

They really don’t find much except for a crumbling building that literally comes down in Josh’s face, just as Mike predicted. It doesn’t deter him though, and the team presses on for more evidence. There’s little else to find however and the team heads back with a couple tooth fragments and a hinged bone. Both turn out to be from a cow.

It seem the legend of Aisha is mainly based off of wild sounds in the desert night. The screeching of the birds is certainly unnerving and when you add rattling chains and perhaps the howl of the wind you certainly have the makings for a very creepy night. But what are the people being attacked by? That could be anything, but my guess is on a wild dog or a wolf. Those always seem to be around in places like this.

Looks like both of these cases are the stuff of legend where regular events get blown out of proportion and take on a life of their own.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Destination Truth – Ghost of Petra/The Lizard Man S03E14
• Destination Truth – Siberian Snowman – s04e05
• Destination Truth – Jersey Devil/The Yeren S03E12
• Destination Truth – Naree Pon/Aiya Napa – S04E13
• Destination Truth – Great Wall/Israeli Mermaid S03E11
• Destination Truth – Jungle Temple Ghosts & Namibian Night Stalker – S04E12
• Destination Truth Spirits Of Angkor Wat/Canadian Lake Monster S04E02
• Destination Truth – Ghosts of Masada/The Leprechaun S03E10
• Expedition Unknown – City of Gold – S01E05
• Destination Truth – Guam Zombies & Fangalobolo – S04E08

Ghosts of Menengai Crater

Josh heads to Kenya to investigate the report of restless spirits that inhabit the Menengai Crater, the site of a battle that took the lives of 60,000 natives. Even though the battle ended long ago, the natives still claim the area is active with the presence of their ancestors.

The episode doesn’t start off with the usual blowout to their vehicle, but instead, a blowout to Josh’s pants. He is the victim of a wardrobe malfunction and stops in the market to have his pants fixed. The seamstress has no time for his modesty and off come the pants and we all get to witness Josh in his airplane boxers. Many questioned answered there I believe.

Moving on, the team makes a mad dash to catch a train, then drives across the plains where Bobby wants to make a taco out of everything in sight. Tacos? A zebra taco? Something not quite right about that boy.

The team presses on and meets with the town elders who says the team needs to make an offering to the spirits of the crater. This will also give them protection against the spirits.

After a little repelling, the group is in the right place and quickly makes their offering before heading out for the initial sweep. As the teams head out, it’s apparent there is plenty of wildlife in the crater as you can hear all sorts of noises and footsteps. There also seems to be some sort of laughing in the air. That an odd animal sound?

Josh then heads into a small cavern where he hears what sounds like singing and humming. It’s pretty odd. And then a strange light appears for a moment and then disappears. Is the humming just an strange sound reverberation? Is the light just a reflection? They don’t pick up much else, but it is kind of weird.

The team doesn’t actually gather up too much evidence on this one, but there are certainly strange sounds and plenty of noises coming from the crater. Obviously many animals are awake and moving around at night, but would those be mistaken for singing? I’m a little confused over this one. It’s hard to tell if Josh captured something or not. Either way, the natives believe their ancestors still inhabit the vast area of the crater, and for many of them, it’s both sacred and scary.

Kalanoro

Next up, the team heads to Madagascar in search of the Kalanoro, a small creature that is supposed to be strong enough to kill and maim.

But getting there is half the adventure and since Josh is in a hurry he shows the locals how to pull the rickshaw like cart. That alone looks like it might have done in a few team members.

The team then meets up with a local zoo caretaker who shows Josh some of the animals the Kalanoro could be mistaken for. The most obvious is the lemur which laps at his honey coated finger. Clearly, not the most dangerous of creatures.

There are witnesses who believe in the Kalanoro and the danger it presents. A local park guide says he was grabbed by one, and the State Park official says it’s claws are deadly. Even Dr. Goodman from the Chicago Museum of Natural History believes he ran into one. They all believe the Kalanoro is out there.

So on with the investigation, but first the team has to get there. At first they take a 4 wheel drive, but when the roads prove impassable, they hit to the open water and sail their way around the horn of Madagascar. Very little seems to stop Josh from getting to his destination.

While out in the extremely thick jungle, Alli nearly falls down the cliff into the water. Josh manages to get a leech stuck to his leg and once again there are all sorts of wild sounds coming from the night. There is some screech as they’re standing around a small waterfall. I doubt it’s paranormal, but that would certainly send you running in the other direction.

They do find some footprints, but they are too soggy and the terrain doesn’t allow for a casting. Josh gets a hit on the thermal imager and there is something on the IR camera. He’s not able to catch up with either one of them.

During the analysis they decide both the eyes and the thermal hit are the shape and size of a lemur. They weren’t able to track down the Kalanoro, but from the sounds of things it sounds like a hodgepodge of many of the animals that live in the area. And with those noises in the night, it can certainly take on a larger than life appearance.

Sounds like what we have for both of these adventures are tales that have grown in scope over the years and sounds in the night that keep people from investigating further. They are both wild and scary places, and when you mix in the real dangers of the animals you get all sorts of living legends.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Destination Truth – Jungle Temple Ghosts & Namibian Night Stalker – S04E12
• Destination Truth – Ghosts of Cannibal Village and Kapre – S05E03
• Haunted Highway – Utah Skinwalker and Ozark Howler – S01E03
• Destination Truth – Naree Pon/Aiya Napa – S04E13
• Destination Truth – Vampire Monster and Island of the Damned – S05E06
• Destination Truth – Hanging Coffins and Kiyik Adam – S05E07
• Destination Truth – Ghosts of Haboro/Mngwa – S04E03
• Destination Truth – Spirits of Tikal and Creature From the Black Lagoon – S05E05
• Destination Truth – Haunted Island Ruins / Moroccan Succubus S04E07
• Destination Truth

Josh and the team head out to Siberia for another in their series of hunting down Bigfoot, this time the Siberian Snowman. The Siberian version is pretty similar to all the other versions, a big, furry, somewhat human looking creature that is exceptionally tall, reclusive and although often seen, is rarely photographed.

The team lands in Red Square where they fulfill Dan’s dream of Break Dancing in Russia. He has some skills too! Well, sort of. I’m sure the locals thought it was great!

They break away and meet with an authority on the Almas who claims they’ve found hundreds of footprints and have dozens of sightings. Alas, there is no photographic evidence of the Snowman running around in the hills.

They head into the high country with the help of plane, train and automobile and end up at the home of someone who’s seen the Almas first hand. But first, they’re offered a sumptuous feast. And not just anything will do for this group, it needs to be horse. And not just any part of the horse, the butt end. In his own words, Josh proves he’s hungry enough to eat a horse.

Their host gives them some details of her encounter and tells them they need to go further up the mountain to find the Snowman. So they rent a military transport and head up the mountain. The road is pretty steep going and soon they have to ditch the truck and go the rest of the way on foot.

On the walk, they get something on the thermal but they aren’t able to catch up with it. They press on and make base camp before heading out into the night.

Things get pretty exciting when Ali, Gabe and Shawn are standing near the mountain side and hear something large moving around and rocks falling. But the way things play out, the team takes off running and we don’t have any idea what was there. Looks like they might have been on to something, but bailed out a little soon.

All is not lost as they come across a tuft of hair tucked away in the foliage.

Meanwhile, Josh, Bobby and Mike come across what appears to be some massive footprints. They follow the trail, but are soon surrounded by wolves. Now is a good time to head back to base camp. Note to self, for a frozen expanse of wilderness with very few people around, there are plenty of wild animals. And no shortage of scares.

With fur ball in hand they head back to the main road and move on to their next location. But first, they need to stop at a local market for some supplies. Supplies include a whip to keep Josh under control, trendy shirts for Mike and Gabe, and a pipe so Dan can solve crimes. The stuff they find in markets is simply amazing, not to mention bizarre.

They meet up with a woman who claims to have seen the Almas while camping. She explains the area is quite rugged and they’ll need different transportation than the 4×4 Mystery Machine. Armed with a tank, yes indeed a real tank, Josh heads up the mountain. I think he needs to keep that tank for future investigations. Well, if he hadn’t broken it. But seriously, a tank!

Their new ride is turned into base camp and the team heads out to find more evidence. Bobby and Shawn find more footprints in the snow while Josh finds more tracks of his own. Josh even find a clearing where something large was laying down or rolling around in the snow. They’re able to find a urine sample and take it back with them.

The perimeter alarm goes off but ultimately they aren’t able to find the cause.

In the end they gather up their evidence and head back to Los Angeles. The fur clump turns out to be from an Ibex which is native to the region. The footprints are from something heavy which more than likely walks upright but they can’t make out much more. Unfortunately, they don’t come up with much to support the idea of a Siberian Snowman. The foot prints are certainly interesting but there’s quite a few animals which could have left those, the most obvious being a bear.

There would be food and water for a creature to live and hide up there, but you would think after all this time they would have found a carcass or some other tangible piece of evidence to it’s existence. Seems to me, like a bear or some other animal has been mistaken as the Snowman. And for the close up encounters it would seem like wolves or something similar would be to blame. Not much evidence here, perhaps he’s hanging out in Florida.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Destination Truth – Spirits of Easter Island – The Moa – S03E15
• Destination Truth – Jersey Devil/The Yeren S03E12
• Destination Truth – Naree Pon/Aiya Napa – S04E13
• Destination Truth – Jungle Temple Ghosts & Namibian Night Stalker – S04E12
• Destination Truth – Haunted Island Ruins / Moroccan Succubus S04E07
• Destination Truth – Ghosts of Haboro/Mngwa – S04E03
• Destination Truth Spirits Of Angkor Wat/Canadian Lake Monster S04E02
• Haunted Highway – Utah Skinwalker and Ozark Howler – S01E03
• Destination Truth – Guam Zombies & Fangalobolo – S04E08
• Destination Truth – Hanging Coffins and Kiyik Adam – S05E07