The vast North American wilderness
is home to evil forces
thought only to exist in nightmares,
but the terrible creatures that roam here are all too real.
In the darkest, most dreadful part of the forest
dwell those that hunt and those that are hunted.
That thing was close enough that you could smell it.
Run! It approached the tent.
It did feel like a horror movie.
We both just stared at each other.
- There's... - Ah!
There's someone here! We need to go now!
This was one of my greatest fears.
Go, go, go, go, go!
"I'm dead. I'm dead.
This thing has got me. I'm dead."
Forests, like this one in Washington state,
are an ideal place to go hunting,
but you never know what you might run into.
You always want to be prepared.
If you're heading into unknown territory,
you have no idea what's about to happen.
You have no idea what you're going to encounter.
It's likely that you're going to come across something
that isn't happy that you're there.
All of us, as we grew up,
we've heard the fairy tales
of the troll under the bridge and the bogeyman,
so even as kids, you know, we've heard about monsters.
They live in the woods, and the woods are a scary place.
Scott Taylor and his girlfriend, Barbara,
think today is the perfect day for a deer-hunting expedition.
I was raised in northwest Oregon,
an outdoors-type of lifestyle, hunting, fishing, hiking,
just enjoying being outdoors all the time.
Oh, yeah. I'll get this for you.
Don't you worry.
But Scott already has a sense that today
might not to be a typical trip into the wild.
I don't like the look of this weather.
Well, would you rather be at home,
I don't know, doing laundry?
Let's go.
I'm coming, I'm coming.
I learned to respect the Pacific Northwest forest
because it can kill you pretty quick.
Don't take anything for granted.
If you're not prepared, and you don't keep your wits about you,
if you take some chances,
it might not turn out too well for you.
So you have to be very careful and have your head in the game.
As they venture deep into the woods,
Scott finds the surroundings oddly silent.
Just a little quiet.
Well, I don't know about that. You're making a bit of noise.
It's getting thick.
Well, don't be so slow.
He is right to be apprehensive.
Will you hurry up?
Did you hear that?
No.
I didn't hear anything.
Come on. Let's go.
It's like that weird vibe of, "I shouldn't be here.
I'm not comfortable here. I need to leave."
After hiking for an hour,
the couple arrives at a hunting blind.
We had hiked out about a mile and a half
and then found this nice place to sit where we could see.
And, you know, settled in to just watch the area
and see what might turn up.
Perhaps it's better that they don't know what's out there.
Scott and Barb wait for game to appear,
but the forest is eerily devoid of life today.
Yeah, I'd been there probably six times before,
and I never experienced anything
other than just a benign day of sitting
and watching for any deer to move around.
We can stay 15 more if you want.
No. I guess it's not our lucky day.
Typically, when there's a larger creature in the area,
the smaller animals will disperse.
Yeah, let's go.
Did you hear that?
Oh, my God. No.
You think you're out here by yourself,
and then you hear this noise, and you're like,
"What was that? Was that a bear? Was that a wolf?"
You know... - Did you see that?
It definitely can make the hair
on the back of your neck stand up.
Oh, come on. Let's go.
When you look at the idea of other creatures in the area,
some of them have different traits.
Some will follow.
Some will observe.
Some will engage.
They know their territory.
They know where you are, and that's really dangerous.
As they journey ever deeper in search of game,
they come across something very bizarre.
Babe, wait a second.
I noticed to my left there were a couple of piles of stones
on top of each other.
What?
And I thought, "That's very curious.
Who would have time to waste just stacking stones up?"
So some animal made a pile of rocks.
So what?
No animal did this.
The stones were probably
about the size of the palm of your hand.
There was about three in each little pile stacked up,
just balanced.
The fact that the creature is intentionally placing rocks
in a systematic way
indicates some sort of intelligence in this being.
Okay, some kids, then.
So there's a purpose for it.
They may be marking.
They may be burying something.
- Don't! - Don't?
Don't what?
By disturbing the rock structure,
Scott and Barb have just provoked
something they shouldn't have.
We should go.
I never experienced anything like this before.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
We should go.
Ah! - We got to get out of here!
A lot of people see the monsters,
but they just don't want to talk about it.
I think people are hardwired to be afraid of them.
Did you hear that?
No.
I didn't hear anything.
Out for a day of hunting,
Scott Taylor and his girlfriend, Barbara,
stumble upon something Scott wishes they hadn't...
Babe, wait a second.
What?
A strange rock structure.
It looked definitely out of place.
It wasn't something that could happen naturally.
Somebody had to put them there.
So some animal made a pile of rocks.
So what?
No animal did this.
Okay, some kids, then.
Barb, don't!
Don't? Don't what?
If you disturb something that is important to them,
that would be the equivalent
of going onto an ancient burial ground
and start digging without permission.
You would offend.
You would upset.
That's when this creature started vocalizing.
It was an amazingly loud,
whooping, whoo-hoo kind of sound.
A common thing is that people say they hear whooping,
and no one really knows what exactly it means,
but the common thought is that it's a communication.
My mind just started clicking through all the animals
that I know that are out there that make sounds.
There was nothing that matched.
We should go.
Let's go. - Yeah, we should go.
Scott and Barb don't know
what beast they've disturbed,
but they know they've made it very angry,
and the hunters are now the hunted.
Oh, my God!
I could tell there was something there,
and it was moving, and it was big.
You could hear the sticks pop.
As they rush to get out of there,
Scott catches a terrifying glimpse of the creature.
I mean, you couldn't see any real features
other than it was a great, big blob.
It was just very, very large,
but I had nothing to really gauge its size to.
The more they run to escape the monster,
the deeper they are drawn into its stalking grounds.
Ah!
You okay? You okay?
Come on. We got to get out of here.
McLERAN: And when people hear that noise,
and they hear it crashing through the woods,
that definitely adds to the fear factor
that's involved with the sighting.
She was terrified.
- Oh. - Oh, sorry, sorry.
Look!
What the hell is this place?
Come on. Let's go.
Oh, my God!
Run! - Run!
- Oh, my God! - Go!
Wait, wait.
Are we lost?
Babe.
And that's where we saw a creature.
Oh, my God.
And Barb kind of gasped and exclaimed, you know,
"What the, you know, bleep, is that?"
It stands up, and it's on two legs,
and it has a human-looking face
and is, like, five times bigger than a black bear.
Then you realize what you're really seeing.
Oh, my God. Suddenly, it clicked.
The thing that was there, that's a Sasquatch.
Scott!
A Bigfoot encounter can happen to anyone at any time.
Eyewitness sightings, there's thousands of sightings
that exist and have been documented.
The idea that there's that kind of a creature
that suddenly came out of myth and became real,
that was the big epiphany.
Run! - Ah!
And now this hunter of legend
seeks Scott and Barb for his prey.
Run! Run!
The couple faces a terrible dilemma.
If they can't outrun Bigfoot,
they will have to confront him,
but are their weapons enough?
The rifle I was using is a deer rifle.
It's not very big.
If something is as big as that thing is,
that rifle probably wouldn't have done a whole lot
before it could get to me.
What are we going to do?
The moment of truth is upon them.
Scott and Barb ventured into the woods
for a leisurely hunting trip only to find themselves the ones
being hunted by the legendary Bigfoot.
When you realize that they're real,
and you get a feel for how big they are
and how helpless we are,
it sure puts things into a different perspective.
The sheer size of the creature is enough to intimidate
even the biggest of people.
We're talking about a creature that crosses your path
that is 8 feet tall and 600 pounds.
You see that, and you realize,
"Wow, this creature could do anything it wants to me,
and there's nothing I could do to stop it."
Now they are about to be set upon by the angry beast
and are in desperate fear for their lives.
But Scott worries that shooting the beast
will only make things worse.
Don't.
And she saw the look in my eyes, which actually made her
even more afraid and upset, and it was like...
Don't! It won't work!
A rifle bullet, .22 caliber, anything like that,
is not going to penetrate or not going to cause any damage.
You would have to bring something more
than the conventional weapon to defend yourself,
but if you have to do that,
you probably shouldn't be there in the first place.
They decide a better option
is to make another run for it.
Okay. Okay.
We're going to go.
We're going to go fast, and we're going to go quiet.
You ready?
Go.
"I'm dead. I'm dead.
This thing has got me. I'm dead."
Run!
That thing was following and was close enough
that you could smell it.
Help! I'm lost!
There are instances where Bigfoot has acted out,
chased people out of their neck of the woods.
The couple hightails it to their truck
as fast as they can with Bigfoot on their heels.
Go, go, go!
They lock themselves in their truck,
but escape is not that easy.
Typically, you find this more with hunters that are armed.
They manage to get away,
but their terrifying encounter
with the legendary beast in the woods...
Run!
Has altered Scott's and Barb's experience
with the great outdoors forever.
Barbara, she's never gone camping since then.
That's how it affected her, and that's 12 years ago.
And at the same time,
I don't ever want to go out there
without my Marlin .45-70 loaded with hot loads.
I'm never coming out here again
unless I have the biggest gun I own with me.
I think that's a perfectly natural reaction
to have to these things,
and I've heard other people say the same thing.
Whenever you go into nature,
all manner of blood-curdling predators
may be lurking and lying in wait.
As Alexa and Meredith are about to find out,
not all of these malevolent beings
are supernatural in origin.
In fact, the most dangerous could look exactly like we do.
We decided to go on this road trip
really to get to know ourselves and to sort of enjoy nature.
Instead, we found absolute horror
and just complete fear for our lives.
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
This part of west Virginia
richly rewards travelers
with a wealth of scenic beauty.
Having started out from Portland, Maine,
the young women find themselves passing
through in the early days of their adventure.
I figured a road trip would be fun,
and I've always wanted to go out West.
She said she wanted to go on a trip out to New Mexico,
and I agreed to it.
All that, like, Girl Scout training that we did
when we were kids, we're going to be okay.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Virginia was just sort of on that path,
and I'd heard that there was some pretty amazing camping
out there, and it's very beautiful.
Camping was what we really wanted to do.
We had both had experience camping,
so we felt pretty comfortable doing it.
My boyfriend knew that I was camping,
didn't know exactly where.
We didn't really think that it was necessary to tell people
exactly where we were going to be.
But perhaps they should have.
The first sign that their trip
might be headed in the wrong direction
occurs when they pull into a local gas station
looking to choose a campground for the night.
So, White Rocks campground we found on a list
of the national parks in the national park camping spots.
There were a few in the area.
We chose it simply because it was close
to where we were getting off the interstate.
The name sounded kind of appealing.
What about this?
It's close-ish.
I don't know. It could be gross.
When they talk with the locals,
things go a little off.
Let's ask him. Excuse me.
We didn't know anything about any of the campsites,
so it was really just, you know, point your finger and pick one.
Hey, do you know this place?
Sure.
We met a few people from the area,
and we had told them that we were going to be camping
when they asked what we were doing.
Is it any good?
Compared to what?
It's about 20 miles from here, right?
You girls camping together?
What gave it away, the camping gear
or the camping pamphlet I'm asking about?
You girls should be careful.
People can be weird down here.
We were in a brand-new state, brand-new area,
so, like, we're both a little, like, nervous.
Come on, Alexa. Let's go.
And they might have reason to be.
It was also kind of, like, oh, a little taken aback a bit.
Typically, in a small town, strangers tend to stand out.
There may be predators who look for that kind of stuff.
If you happen to be in a situation
where you're staying in someone else's territory,
it's not a good idea to tell them that you're alone.
It's not a good idea to tell them where you're going.
We just kept expecting to hear,
you know, that banjo music in the background.
Because if they don't want you to be there,
and they know that you're alone,
they know where you are,
that's giving them all the tools they need to hurt you.
We were in the middle of nowhere.
We say one house on the left
when we first pulled onto the road
and then didn't see anything else.
The farther along the path the women drive,
the creepier it gets.
It did feel like driving into a horror movie.
It felt like "The Blair Witch Project,"
and that was one thing I kept thinking about, was,
"I feel like those kids
driving in the mountains, getting out of their car
and going into the woods with something."
As they get closer to their final destination,
things don't improve.
I just remember at one point looking and seeing these men
standing around a burning trash can,
just kind of very eerily looking up at us
as if we were in a horror movie.
What do you think this guy is doing?
Hobo?
It made me a little bit uncomfortable to see them.
My parents and friends and boyfriend
told me to be careful and to follow my gut instinct,
and if something didn't feel right to turn around,
and things weren't feeling that right,
but I thought it was all in my head.
It made me more uncomfortable
that they were just burning random stuff,
and at this point, it could've been anything,
so it was definitely a little nerve-racking to see them.
These young women are starting to feel
that coming out here was a bad idea.
- Oh, my God! - Oh!
Everyone should listen to their instincts.
Fear is a warning sign.
If something is telling you to go back or not to be there,
it's probably best that you listen to it.
Alexa and Meredith are heading out
to go camping on the road trip of a lifetime.
But the deeper into the woods they go,
the more their sense of foreboding grows.
You girls camping together?
Come on. Let's go, Alexa.
There was no one thing that I could pinpoint
as the reason for my nervousness.
I've never felt that anxious.
It did feel like driving into a horror movie.
Now, along the home stretch
to where they intend to camp for the night,
things take an even darker turn.
So, when we were first driving into the campground,
about halfway down the road, we notice a truck behind us.
I just remember feeling a bit uncomfortable by it.
It was just very strange to me
seeing as how there was nobody else on the road.
What's with this yahoo?
It was just on the road with us.
It was behind us for a few miles.
It looks like the same truck they saw at the gas station,
and they wonder if they are being followed
by the men they encountered,
and if so, what do they want with them?
A lot of people look forward to playing with
or toying with non-locals.
I kind of pushed that out of my mind.
I just didn't want to freak myself out.
But they are freaking out
until the truck veers off
as suddenly as it first appeared.
They eventually turned down another road, and that was it.
And I remember thinking, "Where is that truck going,
and what are they doing?"
There was absolutely nothing out there.
The girls hope they will feel safer
when they are surrounded by other campers,
but they learn that's not going to be the case.
We drove around the campsite to see if we saw anybody else,
and there was nobody, so we just picked a spot.
When we saw that the campsite was completely abandoned,
my anxiety grew a bit.
It was very creepy.
Any relief that I was feeling to be off the road
was sort of taken over by that nerve-racking feeling.
So we just looked around, listened.
It was very quiet.
I guess it's not very popular.
Obviously.
It looks like a graveyard.
And I was thinking like, "All right.
I kind of do want to get a motel."
Maybe we should go someplace else.
That'll be an hour or two on the road.
It'll be pitch-black by then.
And saw how low the sun was, and it was one of these things
where we sort of looked at each other and said,
"Well, we either have to set up camp right now,
or we're going to have to turn around and be on the road
for another at least half-hour to find another place to stay."
Well, then, I guess we don't have a choice.
We decided to stay and set up camp
just because it was getting so dark.
Let's do it, then.
We got out of the car.
So we decided to just power through it.
It felt like the minute we parked
and started unpacking the tent that we were being watched.
I'm pretty familiar with the woods
and comfortable with being out in the woods,
but it was something very unsettling about where we were.
So she's setting up the tent, and I'm getting the firewood.
And we would both separately stop what we were doing
and just listen and look around.
I was focused on setting up the tent,
and I just had this feeling behind me
that there was something there,
and it was such an awful feeling that I had never felt before.
I felt like I was being watched pretty much the entire time.
I felt the need to constantly stop what I was doing
and sort of turn in a circle and survey my surroundings.
But we just kept trucking through it, just like,
"You know, we're already here. We've got this."
When you're along out there, you could be a sitting target.
If I was in their shoes, you know, I would've packed up,
and I would've gone.
Adding to the increasing sense of unease,
their phones don't work.
- Hey, Mer? - Yeah?
Do you have reception?
No.
So we're in the middle of the mountains of West Virginia
with no cell service at this campsite,
and it's about to get dark.
You better get that tent set up before it gets too dark.
It was very uncomfortable to know that
if I needed to call anybody,
I couldn't and that there was going to be no one
who knew where we were.
Meredith and Alexa truly hope they are alone in the forest,
but they get the ever-growing sense that they are not.
What was that?
Sometimes camping alone in the woods is a bad idea.
Meredith and Alexa have embarked on a cross-country road trip
that so far hasn't gone as planned,
and now, miles from civilization,
they have an overpowering feeling
that they are being stalked.
We're in the middle of the mountains of west Virginia,
and it's about to get dark.
If I needed to call anybody, I couldn't.
If something were to happen,
no one would be able to find you.
So when we first got the campfire lit,
we hoped that it was going to make us feel better.
The intention was that it was going to calm us down
and provide some light
and let us see a bit more into the woods.
The woods were so thick that
even a pretty decent-sized campfire
couldn't penetrate all the way.
What is it?
But all the fire does is make the woods
seem even more terrifying.
I thought I heard something.
I would turn my lamp on every now and then
to kind of look around the trees.
What is it? What do you see?
I had the feeling, since we pulled in there,
we were being watched.
Alexa?
I had never felt that feeling before.
It was just a strange feeling.
So I would look around the trees thinking I'll see something.
I don't know, really, why I felt like I had to do that.
What is it?
It's nothing. Just being silly.
I'd see shadows, but with the light source,
it's always hard to tell.
I've never been in a place where the woods were so thick.
Look, Al, the place is surrounded by dry leaves.
All right?
No one is sneaking up on us.
It's okay. - Yeah, I know.
To calm themselves,
the girls delve into an ancient game
by the fire.
Alexa and I are both very familiar with tarot.
It's something that we've always done
as a sort of meditative thing.
Hey, want me to read your future?
Not really.
Aw, come on.
It'll help pass the time.
Sure. Whatever.
We figured that if we pulled cards,
it would sort of help us realize
that things weren't as bad as we thought they were.
Moon card.
So I pulled the Moon card, and that spoke a lot
about facing your deepest subconscious fears.
And it just made me very uncomfortable.
Of course, alone in the woods at night
is a perfect place for subconscious fears to run wild.
And if the Moon card wasn't unnerving enough,
the next one chills both women's blood...
Death.
It was a very intense card to read at the time,
and the minute I started looking at the card
and thinking about what it meant,
it just made the fear so much worse.
So you have to imagine if they're using tarot cards,
they already believe in a higher power or supernatural presence.
If they're getting negative cards
that suggest that there's something evil out there,
it's already in their minds.
I was here facing complete uncertainty
and complete isolation from anybody who could help us.
I hadn't been trusting my intuition at all.
If I had, I probably would've realized
that my anxiety was going to lead us into a bad place.
It was completely still in the woods.
There were no animal sounds whatsoever,
no wind, no nothing.
Okay.
I think we need to calm down.
Let's just call it a night and leave here tomorrow super early.
The fact that we didn't tell anybody
specifically where we were really started to set in
when we realized that we might not
even have the chance to do that, and that if anything happened,
absolutely nobody would know where to even look to find us.
Yeah, okay.
Sounds good to me.
What are you doing? - Grabbing this.
I found it unnerving that I had to have the knife.
I didn't feel comfortable going to bed without it,
but I felt like it was a good idea to have it.
But the thin walls of a polyester tent
aren't enough to keep them safe, whether they're armed or not.
And inside the tent, their paranoia grows along
with their desperation to connection with civilization.
I tried to call my boyfriend just to see
if maybe I could get through to him.
I thought that it would really comfort me
if I could just tell him where I was.
I pressed send on the phone, and it just said,
"Calling, calling, calling," and then never connected.
We're in the middle of nowhere, and our phones aren't working.
And that was a very intimidating thing to realize that,
no matter what, we still couldn't call anybody.
Pretty much immediately after the phone said,
"No service," we heard footsteps.
- What was that? - I don't know.
It was one step of footsteps, very metered, heavy boots.
It was exactly like the sound that my boots had made,
except louder and heavier.
By now, the paranoia is probably at its maximum.
I can imagine two vulnerable people
alone in the dark feeding off of each other's paranoia
could be very scary.
Oh, my God.
It approached the tent,
and we both turned and just stared at each other.
We were looking at each other.
It was almost like we were both thinking the same thing.
The fact that there was nobody else around...
It wasn't like we were at a campsite
where there are people walking around.
It just came out of nowhere.
Oh, my God.
They're getting closer, so what do I do?
Meredith decides to take control of the situation.
She moved pretty fast.
Really, she did.
She grabbed that knife, grabbed her lamp,
and then exited the tent.
One of them could make a mistake
that could end up hurting the other.
There was a very intense moment
where I realized that it was actually us being watched.
It really reinforced my feelings of fear.
Mer?
- It was just this very... - Mer?
Sudden feeling of a need to protect myself
and my best friend and our lives.
Meredith?
She may not be able to see who or what is out there,
but Meredith can feel it, and it terrifies her.
Alexa and Meredith are being stalked
in a deserted campground.
And there's no way to call for help.
Oh, my God.
We both were preparing for something to happen.
If they go for her,
I'll pick up one of the logs we had.
I'd use that.
Ladies!
Hey! Hey, pretty lady.
I got something for you.
I'm coming to get you!
Hey! Where you going?
Come on, now.
Come on back!
I ain't done with you yet! - Go, go, go, go, go.
- I was just getting started! - Go, go!
Come on, ladies!
The women hope making it to their car
means they're safe, though they very much doubt it.
Got something for you.
Why don't you come here and see what it is?
Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on.
Okay.
As they try and start the car,
they realize their stalker is getting closer.
I'm coming to get you!
Mer, come on! You can do this!
Come on! Come on!
- Yes. - Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Okay, okay, okay, okay. - Reverse, reverse.
- Okay. - Go.
Then he appears.
Go, go, go!
The women outrun their pursuer,
but they're very far from being out of the woods.
- Do you see anything? - No.
I looked over to try to see if I could see something.
As they leave the campground, they discover that their car
is not the only vehicle on this deserted road.
Out of the darkness, we see these two run-down trucks...
Why are you slowing down? Let's get out of here.
Just sort of pulled off to the side of the road,
and they looked like they'd been pulled off
far enough to try and be a little bit hidden.
I think that it probably was one of the trucks
that we saw before.
I'm guessing they followed us and saw where we were.
Seeing those two dirty trucks there was proof enough
that there was someone right there with us.
It looked as if there was somebody in the truck.
We were just panicking, just drove out of there.
And I just felt so sick to my stomach.
It felt like I was going to vomit at any point.
It was a very intense physical feeling.
Oh, God. Oh, God!
They're coming! Go faster!
- I'm trying! I'm trying! - Go faster!
Go! They're coming.
You know, my car is run down,
and it can't really handle a pot-holed, gravel road.
- What do they want? - I don't know!
Go, Mer! Go!
So I'm going as fast as I can while also trying
to make sure that we don't bottom out.
That could have us stuck there without any way to escape,
but the feeling that I was getting
from whatever was out there
was just so malicious and so horrifying and intense,
and it's really horrifying to know
that literally anything could've happened to us.
The women escape the campground and west Virginia.
It was this whole perfect lesson
of how things could go very wrong
and how we were just lucky enough to get right out of it.
Something really, really bad just almost happened to us.
The pair learned their lesson.
Camping alone is not always as much fun as it sounds.
That's the thing I still think about is,
"What could they have done? What could it have been?"
We didn't go out seeking any kind of trouble,
but it found us.
You know, the trouble really found us.
It's very common with the lack of police presence
where strangers come and visit
that someone will try and prey on an outside source.
Like Alexa and Meredith,
Scott and Barb realized that you never know
when a trip into nature can turn into a living nightmare.
There are certain areas in the forest where that's their place,
and we don't go there.
There's lot of room for things out there to hide in.
People that have had an encounter with them,
there is a connection there,
and that connection makes you want
to find out more about who are they?
What are they?