FIRST INVESTIGATION: MACHU PICCHU, PERUThe ancient City of Machu Picchu is Peru's most recognizable tourist attraction and one of the most familiar symbols of the Inca Empire.“The Incas started building it around AD 1430 but was abandoned as an official site for the Inca rulers a hundred years later at the time of the Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire. Although known locally, it was largely unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by Hiram Bingham, an American historian. Since then, Machu Picchu has become an important tourist attraction.”
Hearing stories about Alex Chionett’s investigations of a lost city of Peru, which is not found on any map, and is haunted, Josh and the DT team set out to investigate the reports. This “haunted lost city”, sits more that two miles high in the Peruvian's Andes mountains. The story is told that the residence of this lost city buried their gold in tunnels under the city to hide their riches from the invading Spanish army before disappearing. Now, about hundred years later, local farmers have reported seeing moving figures and chimes of a phantom bell tower as if the city was still there. The South American explorer, Alex Chionetti, had to turn back before reaching the summit of this ancient city while investigating alone. Josh plans to pick up the investigation where he left off.
They flew over 4,000 miles from Los Angeles to the City of Lima, Peru. After gathering their gear, they headed out to get in touch with Alex Chionetti at the monastery where he was comparing his field notes to the record of history buried in the library. He told Josh that the farmers living below the city were terrified because they see figures of light and hear lots of eerie sounds. There are stories about the many tunnels that hold treasure and hundreds of skeletons. He continues to tell Josh that the roads in that area have been abandoned for hundreds of years and he and his team will be the first film crew to go up there and investigate the area. Starting in Lima, Peru, they will drive several hundred miles into the Andes and hope to make it to the tiny village below, the last inhabited village before the ruins. The dirt roads leading up were very dangerous, steep, and muddy with foggy weather. They finally reach the tiny town, sliding their jeep to a halt. They talk to some of the residence that feel they are living in the shadow of a haunted city. Always at night they report hearing voices, and tell Josh that they see ghosts. It will be at least a full day’s hike to reach the ruins so they decided to start fresh in the morning.
Getting an early start the next morning, they set out on a long hike of more than 3,000 feet into the clouds. They hike was grueling so they decided to try using donkeys. Before taking off the donkeys became spooked. Finally they were able to continue on up the steep, slippery, dangerous terrain. Gabe's donkey got spooked and dumped him off. After that, the locals would go no further so they headed off on foot by themselves. Winded and very tired, they got to the top and set up base camp. They set up cameras around base camp while Josh and Jael set out to explore the area. Using the Flir camera, Josh gets a hit hidden in some trees. Josh plans to hike down to where he saw the heat signature, when they all hear a strange noise. It sounded like a howling and they thought that it could be some sort of animal. They hear it again and this time it sounded like crying or howling. Josh and Jael get to the location where the heat signature was and see nothing. They did hear movement in the bushes and Josh's foot falls into a hole where a tunnel is located. They find more tunnels and have Rex bring a camera to put down into the space to see what is down there. Next they do an EVP session to see if anything or anyone unseen was with them. Back at base camp, Sharra notices some flash in front of one of the infrared camera set out in the perimeter. After checking in at base camp, Josh, Jael and Mike head out again. They come across the ruins of the old bell tower. They break out the parabolic dish to hopefully pick up the phantom bell ringing or another sound. They do capture a strange sound and also got a feeling like someone was up there with them.
Back at Los Angeles, they analyze the noises but the evidence was inconclusive. They did pick up a strange noise in the tunnels from the EVP session, an apparent voice saying, "touch him". For the rest of the evidence, they turn to Steve and Tango to get their opinion. Steve wasn't sure what the thermal hit could have been, there was all kinds of possibilities. The flash on the infrared camera could be some sort of energy passing by the camera.
SECOND INVESTIGATION: THUNDERBIRD, MANOKOTAK, ALASKA
This creature, the Thunderbird, is massive, dark brown in color, enormous beak, sharp claws, and a wing span of nearly 30 feet. The journey begins north to the frigid weather of Anchorage, Alaska. While waiting for their connecting flight, some locals were telling their stories of the Thunderbird. They tell them that the temperature has been 20 degrees to below 35 at night. They then boarded their flight from Anchorage to Dillingham, an isolated town that can not be reached by road. It was whiteout conditions when they arrived there. Josh talk to a local pilot, who told them that what he saw was no ordinary bird, it was much different. In order for them to get a sweep of the area, they took an airplane up to check it out. They chartered a 1961 classic plane, and scouted out the area where they spotted the tiny town of Manokotak. This was the town where most of the sightings have been reported. Back on the ground in Dillingham, they geared up for the long trek to Manokotak. Josh wants to look for eyewitness to help them target the best investigation sight. Using a fleet of snowmobiles and local guides, they head off in the below freezing weather to Manokotak, a.k.a. Thunderbird country. On the way, Bicha flips his snowmobile but is ok. The yuk’ip natives fed the crew some local cuisine, and moose fat. Then they hooked up with Timmy Evon, an Alaskan pilot who spotted the Thunderbird very close to where they were. He directed them to the exact location where he saw the creature. They found the area and set up base camp.Rex tells them to watch out for the wolves and to back away from them if spotted. The temperature was dropping while Josh and Jael head out to put one of the trap cameras with bait underneath. Afterwards they head out in the negative weather. Gabe and Bicha heard a boom sound while sitting at base camp. While investigating the sound, they experience twigs breaking above them and suddenly hear a sound like something buzzed over them. Josh and Jael head back to base camp to see what was happening. After reloading the cameras with new batteries, they head out again. Using the Flir and parabolic dish, they begin to hear noises above them. They hear something moving around and Josh gets a thermal hit on the ground. Fearing that it could be a wolf, they back away and head to base camp. On a computer at base camp, one of the cameras caught something strange flying in the area. Josh and Bicha do another sweep of the area and see something flying between two trees. It was a black object but hard to make out. They also noticed that the bait was gone around the trap camera leaving no prints almost like a bird swooped down and grabbed it. They did see claw marks in the snow and took pictures of the area. The trap camera took several pictures as well.
Back at Los Angeles, they take a look at all the photos that the trap camera snapped off. They did catch on the infrared camera something large buzzing through the trees. Wanting an expert opinion, Josh took the evidence to Mike Dees for his analysis of their findings. The footing of the object flying between the trees proved inconclusive and the photos taken by the trap camera showed the image too close to see what it really was. He said that is can be feathers in the photos and that a massive sea eagle could have migrated there. This could be what the locals are seeing and not the elusive Thunderbird.
~Julie~
