ArtRojasDesign

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

Ghosts of Truk Lagoon

Josh and team head out to an underwater graveyard that was the scene of a decisive battle between the US and Japan during World War II. The water is now littered with wrecked vehicles such as planes, tanks and trucks that many of the locals claim are still running. Not only do they hear the sounds of the engines, but many claim to still hear shots as though the war is still being fought. Many of the local people feel that the island has paranormal activity and there seems to be no shortage of people with eyewitness accounts. Scuba divers seem to both love and fear the wreckage out there.

Josh starts things off in typical style by renting a 4-wheel drive Jeep that is more than likely going to asphyxiate them all. It’s pretty much leaking exhaust fumes from every point. If Mike makes it, it’ll certainly be a trip to remember.

The team scouts several locations and then jumps in the water to see what they can see and hear. I have to say the dive is both amazing and creepy. There are dozens of vehicles just sitting in the water. It’s somewhat eerie to see a complete truck or tank just sitting on the reef floor. It does look like they could be turned on at any moment and driven out of there. And strangely, as Josh heads into one of the areas where several of the trucks are sitting, he hears what sounds like an engine running. There is definitely something there and you can hear an engine hum very distinctly. Of course I have to ask, is there some other explanation? Is it the sound of the water rushing alongside the container, or a vibration that’s giving off the noise? It seems very repeatable so more than likely there’s a natural cause. But none the less, having that sound coming from those vehicles would give me the creeps.

But that’s not all, as Josh continues his investigation he comes across multiple sets of human remains. There is no doubt about the destruction and loss of life that took place here. Further, there are still unexploded ordinances lying around. Josh and team swim right up on them and then make a hasty retreat before things go completely wrong.

Finally, they attempt an underwater EVP session to see if the can communicate with the soldiers. This actually seems pretty strange but who knows what kind of results they’ll get. I guess the worst thing that can happen is that they’ll get a response. (By the way, did anyone else think there was a voice saying "Hai" the word for yes in Japanese when Josh asked if anyone was there? That seems to have been glossed over in my opinion)

And with evidence in hand they head back to see they’ve captured. Alas, they yet again bring in Jason and Grant of Ghost Hunters to look over the evidence. Will this ever stop? Go away you two!

But what evidence did they find? There is the sound of the engine and perhaps even a voice. There looks to be someone walking around on the FLIR but that is dismissed as a real person who got in the way. And that makes me ask, are people just walking around while they film this? Isn’t there some sectioned off area where people can’t just wander into? You would think it would be harder just to "stumble" onto an investigation.

It’s hard to tell what Josh captured. The engine sound could easily be a naturally occurring phenomenon. Sure, it’s creepy and just happens to be in the same location as the trucks, but it’s really hard to say if it’s paranormal.

Japanese Kappa Monster

The Kappa Monster, which looks like Leonardo from the Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles has gone from being scary lake creature to iconic decoration on lunch boxes and popular plush toy. But it used to be a scary thing right? It used to terrorize the landscape, steal children and drag people to a watery end? Actually, yes it did. Apparently the Kappa is a rather dangerous creature that is still attacking people.

After checking out the merchandising of the Kappa in downtown Tokyo, Josh heads out to look for it. And after paddling their way up the river, they have to make a few river crossing. Not an easy thing to do with all that equipment. But never fear, Josh plunges headlong into the river and builds a pulley system to help ferry things across. That Josh, he’s mighty McGyver-esque.

During the investigation they get several things swimming in the water and Josh even feels something brush up against him. There is no attack by any means so I think we have to conclude they just saw some fish swimming in the stream. Big fish perhaps, but fish all the same.

As the investigation continues they come across a cave and decide to wander on in. Those crazy kids! Alas, there is nothing to be found and the team continues to follow the river and what looks a well worn path to see if they can spot the Kappa.

In the end though, they don’t find much. There are certainly plenty of fish roaming around in the water, but there’s very little out there in the way of wildlife. Normally they stumble across something that growls at them and tramples down the grass, but not this time. They’re not sure what people are seeing, but they don’t come away with any evidence that supports a Turtle-Demon creature. Has the legend simply taken over the imagination? At least for now the Kappa will have to be content to live in infamy on a school lunchbox.

Out of these two investigations I really liked the investigation at Truk Lagoon. I wish it would have actually been an hour episode just on that. I think there is so much more history and underwater sites they could have explored and talked about (especially since that Kappa thing was a bust). Too bad they have such a tight schedule to keep. And did anyone else notice all the high tech gadgets for this investigation, especially the product placement of the iPad? That was really cool!

Other Articles of Interest:

• Destination Truth Spirits Of Angkor Wat/Canadian Lake Monster S04E02
• Destination Truth – Spirits of Tikal and Creature From the Black Lagoon – S05E05
• Destination Truth – Alien Invaders and Swedish Lake Monster – S05E04
• Destination Truth – Naree Pon/Aiya Napa – S04E13
• Haunted Highway – Bear Lake Beast and Vergas Hairy Man – S01E01
• Destination Truth – Haunted Mining Town/Taniwha S03E13
• Destination Truth – Vietnam’s Bigfoot – S05E01
• Destination Truth – Great Wall/Israeli Mermaid S03E11
• Destination Truth – Haunted Island Prison/Ucumar – S04E10
• Destination Truth – Season 1 and Season 4