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Utah Skinwalker

The Skinwalker is a shapeshifter than can take on the appearance of both man and animal. Based on that description, anything and everything could be a Skinwalker, so how do you know what you’re dealing with? Well, Jack and Dana are headed to the Devil’s Soup Bowl to find out. The thinking is that you make a circle around your camp and point arrow symbols inward to invite the spirit into you.

Jack and Dana set up camp and begin walking around the area. They do come across some footprints that lead into a creek. On the other side are dog tracks. Evidence of the Skinwalker you ask? Or just evidence of a drunk teen wandering around in the desert being foolish?

After the first investigation they meet with a Native American who claims to have seen Skinwalkers when she was a girl. She tells Dana and Jack to go to Skinwalker Ridge. If the Skinwalker wants to be found, it will.

While out at Skinwalker Ridge, they come across what looks to be a mass graveyard for animals. There are complete animals carcasses and bones littering the ground. Unto itself that really isn’t evidence of anything. If there were a drought or disease, the animals would drop and decay where they stood.

To keep things moving, Jack sends up a drone with a camera attach to track something. Dana heads out on foot to see if she can track it. While she’s out, the night is alive with the sounds of cries. It sounds like Coyotes howling in the night. They get multiple thermal hits, but they get them from so far away there is no way to tell what they are.

In the end, the evidence doesn’t point one way or the other. They have animals on the thermal imager and tons of noises. But with so many legends floating around, they have to based on something right? Are these stories told to children to keep them in line and out of trouble or are they based on some fact that is waiting to be discovered. Animals can certainly change color and appearance, but can something actually change it’s physical shape and being?

Ozark Howler

Jael and Devin head to Jasper AR to find the Ozark Howler, a creature like a massive cat with horns. Yeah, that sounds like a little strange. Perhaps this is some sort of mutant mountain lion.

Here is something interesting, they go to speak with the Mayor of Jasper, who readily admits lots of myths and legends get started in his area. When you’re out in the woods, you’ll hear noises, get turned around, get disoriented and get yourself scared half to death. To me, that sounds like people are working themselves into a frenzy.

As they start the investigation, the goal of the night is to place a tracker in some meat, hang the meat from a tree and see if anything comes along and takes the bait. That sounds reasonable, expect, any and everyone animal out there is going to be attracted to their porkchops. But they do have cameras set up to see what comes to dinner.

While filming there are lots of wild screams in the night. It does sound like a woman screaming, but if you take a moment, it’s sounds like a bird. A large bird. Perhaps even a bird of prey, but a bird none the less. Hell, that could be the screech of a hawk, an owl or something similar. Apart from the sounds of the birds, Devin grabs some footage of a figure moving on the Flir. At first glance, it looks like a pig or maybe a badger. It’s slow moving and relatively small. However, it’s something in the woods moving under the cover of darkness. Without actually seeing it, I bet it would scare the hell out of people.

Something does take the porkchop bait during the investigation. Devin tracks it down and finds his GPS tracker is broken with teeth marks in it. Unfortunately, they don’t get any footage of the food being stolen. The animal knocks over the camera on the approach. They do find quite a few animals tracks while out there.

When all is said and done, it appears they captured evidence of a mountain lion or something similar. I don’t believe they captured anything that resembles some massive cat weighing 400 pounds with horns on it’s head and death in it’s heart. I agree with the Mayor on this one, there are perfectly normal things in the woods that give off strange noises and seem larger than life. Is there an Ozark Howler? I’m going to have to say no, too much points to the screech being a bird of prey and people mistaking a mountain lion, puma or feral cat as something much more sinister.

Other Articles of Interest:

• Haunted Highway – Beast of Bray Road and Tonopah Mine – S02E03
• Haunted Highway – Darkman of Standing Rock and Blackstar Shadow Man – S01E02
• Haunted Highway – Lake Murray Beast and The Donner Party – S02E04
• Haunted Highway – Bear Lake Beast and Vergas Hairy Man – S01E01
• Haunted Highway – Island of Lost Souls – S02E01
• Haunted Highway – Manchac Swamp and Moonville Tunnel – S02E02
• Haunted Highway – El Dorado Hell Hounds and Georgia Skinstealer – S01E04
• Haunted Highway – Bridge of Doom and Shades of Death Road S02E05
• Haunted Highway – Black Angel and Arizona Domes – S02E06
• Ghost Adventures – Skinwalker Canyon – S14E07

The show may be low budget, but it’s sort of growing on me.

Darkman of Standing Rock

First up, we have Jael and Devin heading out to investigate the Darkman, which is a apparition that appears and usually foretells of bad of dangerous events. Devin even goes so far as to call it the Grim Reaper. Does it’s appearance mean someone is going to die? According to Native American lore, the answer is yes.

Jael and Devin manage to speak with many Native Americans and not only do they believe in the power of the Darkman and fear seeing it, but many claim that it has made an appearance and shortly thereafter, a family member has died.

With this information and their equipment, they head out onto the plains to see if they can capture a glimpse of it. They borrow a couple of horses and head out into the night. As they get set up, the horses get spooked and take off. They don’t just run, but completely leave Jael and Devin for dead. There’s a lot of tension between the two after this since they’re stuck out there. But they once things calm down and they get a fire set up, Jael says she saw the fire flare up and then go out. When they review the evidence the fire does appear to "burst" and there is an outline of some sort of figure. Are we just seeing things on the camera or is something walking through the fire? They also feel they captured a pair of glowing red eyes. As we know, animal eyes, and human eyes are well, appear red when you capture them on camera. Is this a trick of light or something more? Did the Darkman make an appearance out there or was it just the wind and the animals of the plains?

Blackstar Shadow Man

The Shadow Man has been blamed for the disappearance of hikers in the Silverado, CA area. There are claims of a link between a massacred village and the appearance of the Shadow Man. Personally, the claims aren’t as tangible as I was expecting. We don’t have the usual story of someone being grabbed, or scratched or even drug along the ground. You supposedly can only see these figures out of the corner of your eye, which makes it a little suspect in my book. But anyway…

Jack and Dana head out into the wood for their investigation. Dana is freaked out by just about everything out there. She’s even startled by Jack setting up equipment. When it comes to being blindfolded and sitting at the base of a tree, it only takes a couple of minutes before she’s coming unglued.

At the end of the investigation, Jack even admits they barely got any sleep because of all the animals and walking around they heard. Part of the evidence is the 360 rig capturing what looks like a shadow running from one side to the other, even across Dana herself, causing her previous moments of hysterics. Is that a trick of light or really something moving out there? When it comes time to truly ask if there is really something out there, Jack has to go with the evidence and his gut and say that people are mistaking animals, the wind and light reflections as something more than they area. He is hard pressed to say there is any evidence to support the Shadow Man. He did capture a couple of interesting things, but what exactly are they? Is that the Shadow Man running through Dana and her having a genuine reaction, or is that the shadow from the trees, the wind or limbs moving in the moonlight? When you’re out in the wood on your own is your imagination just getting the better of you?

Other Articles of Interest:

• Haunted Highway – Island of Lost Souls – S02E01
• Haunted Highway – Manchac Swamp and Moonville Tunnel – S02E02
• Haunted Highway – Lake Murray Beast and The Donner Party – S02E04
• Haunted Highway – El Dorado Hell Hounds and Georgia Skinstealer – S01E04
• Haunted Highway – Utah Skinwalker and Ozark Howler – S01E03
• Haunted Highway – Bear Lake Beast and Vergas Hairy Man – S01E01
• Haunted Highway – Beast of Bray Road and Tonopah Mine – S02E03
• Haunted Highway – Black Angel and Arizona Domes – S02E06
• Haunted Highway – Louisiana Swamp Woman and Pioneer Cemetery – S01E05
• Haunted Highway – Bridge of Doom and Shades of Death Road S02E05

Bear Lake Beast

Jack Osbourne, son of the Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne has decided to satisfy his curiosity for the paranormal, by traveling the Americas searching the nature of Urban Legends. If this sounds a little familiar, it is. This is by and large the same premise as Destination Truth. However, for right now, Jack is focusing his attention on America and his team is much smaller. It’s two teams of two (with Jael of past Destination Truth and Fact or Faked fame) heading up the other camp. So how does the show compare and what do they come away with?

Well, first off, it really feels like the intro Blair Witch. There’s lots of talking to the camera and explaining what they’re doing. It’s not bad, it’s just makes me laugh a little.

And they don’t visit any markets. A convenience store looking for supplies just doesn’t have the same local color as the markets Josh finds himself in.

But on with the investigation. First up is the Bear Lake Beast, a creature, like Loch Ness that’s supposed to inhabit a lake. There are multiple sighting and even one guy who says he was up close and personal with it. Unfortunately, his description is a little vague and he doesn’t have too many details. But Jack and Dana head out onto the lake to see what they can find. Using Sonar they scan the water and Jack sets himself up with a late night underwater dive. The tension mounts as he disappears for a little while, but he does resurface with a large bone in his hand. Now there’s something.

Dana also captures footage of something in the water. The Flir shows it to be much warmer than the surrounding area. Even though it looks big, it only lasts for a second and then it’s gone. It’s not evidence, but it’s something.

After some analysis, Jack finds out there are thermal springs under the lake. They’re pockets of warm water that push up to the surface. Was that what Dana caught on the Flir? And what about the bone? Well, it’s an animal bone, more than likely a cow bone. What was it doing in that cave? Was it drug down there? Did the animal try to swim and it drown? It was a food source to something…

Vergas Hairy Man

This is basically derivative of Bigfoot that lives in Minnesota. The story is similar to the Skunk Ape and others. It’s a big hairy creature that lives in the woods, is tall, is covered in hair and gives of a pungent odor. Jael and Devin are heading out into the middle of nowhere to try and locate it.

They meet with some local residence who claim to have seen it. A woman they meet says she had encounter out in the woods during a snowmobile trip. The creature chased them after the sound of the engines distressed it.

Jael and Devin head into the woods and play engine sounds to see if they can "rouse the beast". Jael does capture something on the Flir that appears to be walking. There is definitely something there, but it’s such a blob there’s no way to tell. It didn’t come across as aggressive none-the-less. The also discover a lot of broken branches and bent over trees as though something was making a path. There is also the discovery of human-like hair. Are they in the lair of the Hairy Man?

When the evidence get analyzed the team begins to have doubt. Jael begins to feel the whole thing is a hoax. Since the town knew they were out there, did someone or a group go out into the woods to keep the legend alive? Is there something really living out there or were they duped?

Other Articles of Interest:

• Haunted Highway – Lake Murray Beast and The Donner Party – S02E04
• Haunted Highway – Island of Lost Souls – S02E01
• Haunted Highway – Louisiana Swamp Woman and Pioneer Cemetery – S01E05
• Haunted Highway – Darkman of Standing Rock and Blackstar Shadow Man – S01E02
• Haunted Highway – Manchac Swamp and Moonville Tunnel – S02E02
• Haunted Highway – Beast of Bray Road and Tonopah Mine – S02E03
• Haunted Highway – Utah Skinwalker and Ozark Howler – S01E03
• Haunted Highway – Bridge of Doom and Shades of Death Road S02E05
• Haunted Highway – El Dorado Hell Hounds and Georgia Skinstealer – S01E04
• Haunted Highway – Black Angel and Arizona Domes – S02E06