Most believe that werewolves are fictional, turn from man to beast, and howl at the moon. To many of those living in Romania, they are a very real and dangerous predictor. Could these people be mistaking these nocturnal creatures for regular wolves or even bears? Just recently a Romanian village was so scared; they unearthed a human corpse, removed its heart, and drank its blood as some sort of ritual to ward off the creature. Near the rural Romanian town Brad, most of the recent sightings have been reported deep in the woods. The locals were so terrified, the abandoned their homes and fled to safety. The werewolf is believed to be a fast runner, have a very aggressive disposition, stalks isolated Romanian forest in the dead of night, coved in a dark fur, rises up on two legs when it attacks its victims, its mussel is larger and broader than a normal wolf, and its distinct call can be heard for miles.
They flew 20 hours to Bucharest, Romania where they find they luggage a mess. After they were momentarily detained at customs for putting their reason for visit as "werewolf hunting", they headed off to begin their werewolf search. Josh starts with talking to Ion Ghinoiu, a leading anthropologist, an expert in all things werewolf. He tells him that this werewolf tradition is prehistoric and is still believed by the people of Romania today. He told them that they needed to take a train to the back woods of Romania and talk to the people living there. After finally getting on the train, Josh and the DT team travel over 100 miles to the town of Sibiu. The weather there was extremely cold and they arrived at nightfall. After finding lodging, they talked to the owner about the werewolf sightings and enjoyed some fun dancing. The owner, Coldea Sorin, tells Josh that many in the forest area do believe in the werewolf. No one will walk in the forest at night for fear that the creature will get them. He tells them that they need to travel further north to Brad where a werewolf was recently sighted and the villagers fled. He also told him that there was a cave that the villagers were convinced that the werewolf hides in it. In the morning they made it to Brad and went to their make-shift zoo to check out the wolves there. Then they spoke to some of the villagers about the werewolf. They pointed up in the mountains where the village was abandoned and 60 families used to live. Now only 14 people are left living in Brad.
They headed up to where the villagers told them the white cross was located marking the beginning of the abandoned village and also where the cave was located. They had to climb a very shear cliff to get to the location of the village and cave. After finally reaching the top, they hiked up higher and found the cave. Josh, Evan and Mike went inside to check out the main tunnel, while Sharra and Bicha stayed at the mouth of the cave, and Jael, Rex and Gabe checked out some of the side tunnels. While inside, Josh notices claw marks and finds human bones and hair fibers or could be fur. They leave the cave and find a ride on a horse drawn wagon to the edge of the abandoned village. They finally arrived at the cross marking the village’s edge, set up base camp 100 yards from the village, and set up cameras with raw meat underneath them. While Josh and Sharra headed west with the flir camera, Jael and Bicha headed east, and Rex monitored the equipment back at base camp. On the flir Josh gets a hit and they run towards it. When they got to the location, it was gone. Meanwhile, Jael and Bicha hear a strange noise in the dark woods. Josh and Sharra arrive at the abandoned village and check out the ruined buildings with caution. They noticed that things were left like the people left there in a hurry. It begins to snow so he and Sharra return to base camp. Jael and Bicha discover some large footprints while Jael feels very cold and becomes ill. Back at base camp Josh decides that he, Rex, Mike and Evan will return to where the footprint was found. They find it, take pictures and castings of the prints for analysis. Evan sees two eyes through his camera while they all hear howling. Josh sees the eyes too and they move towards it, and then Evan takes a tumble and falls. They continued until dawn then return to Los Angeles to have their evidence looked at. The fur analyzes turned up to be just a Romanian wolf. They took the castings to Dr. Jim Dines, a mammalogist, who said that the prints were canine footprints or wolf. The larger prints he couldn't say, which makes Josh wonder if they belonged to the elusive werewolf or another type of mysterious canine animal.
SECOND INVESTIGATION: ARICA DINOSAURS IN CHILE
The Arica desert in Chile covers 70 thousand miles uninhabitable and unexplored rock. Over 20 million years old and 50 times drier than the Californian desert, it was not a place Josh really wanted to be. On the lonely desert road, people have reported seeing a dinosaur-like creature keeping pace with their cars. This Arican dinosaur has reported to have survived in the baron caves and desert of Chile. This creature has been reported to have leathery skin, very large in stature, presumed to live near a water source, stands upright on two legs and attacks with its razor sharp teeth. It leaves a unique three-toed print and reported to be a very fast runner.
They flew over 5,000 miles to the city of Artofagasta, Chile and drove to the town of Arica. This is the town where several recent eyewitnesses have seen the creature. Along the way they stopped to talk to Caodero Santoro, a paleontologist about the recent sightings. He has been studying the possibility of the monster for years and could tell him if the recent sightings were plausible. He tells Josh that the Arican desert is one of the places that used to have dinosaurs. Eyewitnesses tell him that they saw the dinosaur while driving on the desert highway. Some say that it just stood in front of their car, stared at them, and then ran off. All the sightings have been narrowed down to a section in the Pampa Ancha area. Josh decides to charter a plane to spot the green oasis area where the creature might use as a food and water source. But after referring to the pilot as Mr. Magoo, he felt uncomfortable to fly with him. They rent quad runners and head out to look for any signs of the creatures existence. While driving around, Josh spots a huge footprint with three toes. They took castings and went on foot from there. They set up base camp and cameras, and set out to check out the perimeter.
Josh and Jael get a hit on the flir moving up in a canyon area several hundred feet in front of them. They try to fine a way to get to it but have trouble finding a path. Meanwhile, Rex hears noises and rocks falling off the canyon walls around him. He tries to find the source but has trouble getting anywhere. Back to Josh and Jael who find a paw from some animal that looked like it was eaten. Slipping and sliding around they make their way down where Jael spots some excrement for which they bag for evidence. They all meet back at base camp where they have different groups head out again. Sharra and Bicha hear something moving around, like it was something heavy. Suddenly they take off running and said that something was chasing them. Meanwhile, Josh, Mike and Gabe find a graveyard and hear water running. They follow the sound of rushing water and hear something large moving in the bushes. They move towards it, then it makes a loud noise and runs off. They chase it down and find the water source they were looking for.
Back in Los Angeles they took the footprint cast to Dr. Luis Chiappe, paleontologist, who said that it looked like a print from a meat eating dinosaur. This footprint fit the stories that the local witnesses told about seeing the dinosaur. Also, a huge ostrich-like bird could be what the eyewitnesses have seen which resembled the dinosaur.
~Julie~
