In Search of Bigfoot (1976) - full transcript

(crickets chirping)

- [Narrator] A special lens penetrates

the blackness of the forest night.

Searching for the legendary monster known as Bigfoot.

The eight-foot tall creature is said to roam these hills.

Exactly where is not known.

How do you catch a legend?

Robert Morgan has come to the mountains to find out.

(bluegrass music)

It's late Spring when Bob Morgan arrives

at Cougar, Washington to review his search for Sasquatch.



After five years research he feels

this is a prime area for contacting the creature.

Others will be coming from all corners

of the United States to aid in the search.

Don Blake, biologist.

Laymond Hardy, botanist.

Ann Swain, sociology researcher.

Michael Polesnek, expert tracker.

Elizabeth Moorman, naturalist.

Anthropologist, Peter Lipsio.

Ted Ernst, Sasquatch researcher.

John Crowder, biologist.

Lem Akin, woodsman and Indian historian.

Mary Jo Florey, microbiologist.



For the next three and a half months,

this diversified group of scientists and researchers,

will live and work in the woods,

gathering evidence, looking for tracks,

and trying to establish contact with the creature

who some call the American Abominable Snowman.

They'll scout alone at times,

or work in small groups from field tents

located at strategic positions in the wilderness.

Keeping it all together is Robert Morgan

who will split his time between base camp

and the field positions.

- I hope you understand, I didn't come out here

to win friends and influence people.

I may be wrong in what I do,

but it's all for one purpose.

And that is to get the job done.

- [Narrator] By his own definition, Morgan's a tough,

hard-driving man who can't rest

until he's gotten the job done.

An early riser, you'll often see him working

late into the night.

He's tough because he has to be.

It's the key to survival in this mountain wilderness.

What gives Morgan his drive?

Why is he so persistent in his search

for something in which others say doesn't exist?

What keeps him going in the face

of unrelenting ridicule and unfavorable odds?

There can be no other explanation

than his own personal encounter with Bigfoot 20 years ago.

It was in these woods that Morgan

found himself face-to-face with a giant.

- Well, it all began for me in March of 1957,

when I was hunting

in Mason County, Washington.

I saw a creature there.

Came face-to-face with it.

Most man-like looking gorilla I'd ever seen.

This is how I described it, because I didn't know,

I'd never heard of Bigfoot, never heard of Sasquatch,

or the Omah, or the Yeti, I have never heard of any of that.

All of a sudden I came face-to-face with this creature,

about 40 yards away I guess he was,

and he had the most knowing

look on his face.

His eyes ...

I remember the eyes, I think, more than anything else.

And then I discovered, much to my surprise and shock

and dismay, when I tried to report it,

it was treated as though it was a hoax, if it were a joke.

This creature does exist.

It's here, it's all around us, we can learn from it,

and yet modern science has turned its back on it.

They don't want to know about it.

Now, that makes me madder than hell.

(dramatic music)

- [Narrator] We are told that giants

live only in storybooks and dreams.

If this is the case, then a lot of people

have had the same dream about Sasquatch.

Stories and legends of the creature date back hundreds,

if not thousands, of years among American Indians.

Masks, tribal rites and rituals

have been dedicated to the creature.

And he's known by a hundred different names.

Seeahtkch,

Omah,

Bushman,

Skookum,

Wild Man,

Tsonoqua,

Bigfoot.

By any name, his description comes out the same.

The creature is large, very large.

Standing eight feet tall and weighing nearly 800 pounds.

He's muscular, has little or no neck, and is bipedal.

Which means he walks upright like man on two legs.

The tracks he leaves behind tell the story.

Like the creature, they are big, some over 18 inches long

and eight inches wide.

The footprints show five toes and an imprint

like anyone of us would leave, except for the size.

They are nothing like a bear's track.

Sasquatch is apparently flat-footed and walks

with a four-foot stride with his knees slightly bent.

Each hand of the giant primate has five fingers,

but he doesn't have an opposing thumb,

Indicating he cannot grasp small objects the way we can.

Little else is known for sure.

Bigfoot is thought to be semi-nomadic.

Following a trail of food which is quite variable.

Berries, grass, seed, fruits,

even small rodents, fish and insects.

Other questions remain.

Is he dangerous?

Would he attack a human?

While he is generally believed to be non-aggressive,

these thoughts have certainly occurred

to more than one expedition member, including Morgan.

- [Morgan] Do I have any fear?

Of course I have fear.

But what the hell is worth doing in this world

if it doesn't have a price to pay.

In my own instance,

I've been in the close proximity of Bigfoot

and I have not been attacked, I am alive.

I feel that he had every opportunity in the world

to kill me on many occasions.

And they have not chosen to do so.

I have respect for this creature.

But I don't fear him per se.

(playing harmonica)

(campfire crackles)

(bluegrass music)

- [Narrator] The Cascade Mountain ranges

of the Pacific Northwest, are beautiful and awesome.

If giants like Sasquatch do exist,

this area would make ideal living quarters.

There's enough wilderness left between Northern California

and British Columbia to harbor

a sizeable population of the creatures.

In Washington alone, there are millions

of unexplored, uncharted acres.

It's big country, where distance

is measured in time, rather than miles.

And where even man must fight for survival.

The territory is made up of dense forest,

tangled brush and rough terrain.

And a few steps off the trail, anyone,

including a large creature is swallowed by the forest.

(birds chirping)

The trees and underbrush provide such good shelter

that you rarely see any animals.

But the animals are here.

You can feel their presence.

You can follow their tracks if you're skilled.

And there, among the tracks of elk, wolves and wild cat,

are the gigantic human-like footprints of Sasquatch.

And they cannot be denied.

Tracks that give monster stories credibility.

The forests of the Pacific Northwest

have been claimed by the loggers.

But where the logging roads have not reached,

where the bulldozers have not swathed a path,

the country remains as it was thousands of years ago,

an untamed frontier.

One such area is of particular interest to Morgan.

He wants it scouted for future exploration.

In the expedition, only one man has any chance

of entering this rugged, cheerless territory

and returning safely.

The call goes to Mike Polesnek,

an authority on surviving in the woods.

He will go alone.

- Okay, Mike, here's what the situation is.

As you know, this area, as far as I know,

according to the people that live around here,

has never been crossed.

They hunt the peripheries.

One guy, as far as we know,

goes up a short distance up this stream

in order to fish, but they don't go in here.

But the problem is, you see,

the logging areas have surrounded this area.

It's kind of an oasis.

I've been wanting to go in here for two years.

You have five days.

Use your own time, use your own judgement.

And the important thing is there's no possible way

of radio contact or anything else.

You're on your own.

All I can tell you is be careful.

- Alright, if I get onto anything

I'll go ahead and stay right on it

'till I get a positive ID,

or establish communications in some form.

- If you're having problems, put up a flare.

- Alright.

- Okay.

And we'll take a bearing on that.

- Okay?

- Uh huh.

- [Morgan] That's it, my friend.

You got all your gear?

How much food do you have?

- Five days.

(bangs hood of car)

- [Morgan] That's it.

(bluegrass music)

- [Narrator] To the casual observer,

the area where Mike is headed, appears tame and inviting.

But an experienced woodsman like Mike,

knows that staying alert means staying alive.

(cougar growls)

(cougar roars)

(wolverine growls)

There's so much to be done and such little time.

Morgan keeps the expedition going at an accelerated pace.

With Polesnek on his way, he and Ted Ernst

set out to explore the lava flows of Mount St. Helens,

once an active volcano.

They'll spend the first day together.

Then Ted, like Mike, will be on his own.

Wherever he goes, Morgan is constantly reminded

that he is the visitor,

the intruder in Bigfoot's territory.

- [Morgan] In his element, he is king.

We are the invaders.

He has no fear.

Builds no cities.

He violates everything that we have stood for.

He belongs with this earth.

He belongs here.

He lives with nature.

We, unfortunately, live in spite of it.

He's part of nature.

We create our own.

Air conditioning, neon lights,

one-way streets, parking meters.

Good Lord, we must carry food on our back.

We have to eat specialized diets.

We have have to have this, we have to have that.

We have a high fatigue factor.

Etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

Hell, he doesn't carry a pack.

This creature walks along God's world as if he's one of 'em.

And he leaves very little behind except tracks.

(birds chirping)

It's kind of sad.

That we are in pursuit of a creature

that lives so beautifully with nature.

Perhaps, just perhaps, we can learn from them.

(phone rings)

- [Narrator] Morgan receives a phone call

from a logger named Skip Wood.

- Good Lord, six foot ...

And that was a six-foot stride huh?

- [Narrator] While clear-cutting acreage

in Washougal County, Wood and several others

were visited by a large hairy animal.

The creature, matching Bigfoot's description,

watched the lumbermen from a rock clearing above their camp.

And they watched it for four hours.

- This is very intriguing because this is the second report

now we've had within two months of cataloguing

and having the creatures come near loggers

during the day, which is extremely unusual.

I'll be en route within the hour.

Thank you so very much.

We'll get underway and appreciate very much your call.

Have a nice day, bye.

Hot report.

Day before yesterday.

(chainsaw cutting)

- [Narrator] Reports similar to Skip Wood's

have been on the increase in recent years

as civilization creeps deeper into the forest.

(tree crashes)

They're not just limited to the Pacific Northwest.

The Skunk Ape of Florida,

the Bush Monster of Idaho,

the Tsonoqua of Canada,

the Yeti of the Himalayas,

all bear a striking resemblance to Bigfoot.

Could it be that these creatures are cousins?

Members of an evolutionary strain unknown to modern man?

And does it roam these woods with bear

and other wild animals?

Morgan wants to find out.

(bears growling)

It's half a day's drive from Cougar to Washougal County,

over rough terrain and washed-out roads.

When the expedition group arrives

Wood is eager to tell them about the unwelcome visitor.

- Now this happened last Friday.

- What happened, again?

- Just happened to see one climbing up the hillside there.

- And it was going all the way up that bluff?

- Yeah, saw it out there in that little hole

I showed you there.

It went hand over hand or hand over foot,

however you describe 'em climbing.

Straight up to the top and stood up there and watched us.

- Your whole crew was down here wasn't it?

There was --

- There was Chuck Owens.

- Skip told me, our boss, told me that ...

Or said that there was something

climbing up on the mountain up there.

So I turned around and looked.

- Lewell Casey and Bob Irwin.

- I just saw a steady thing standing there.

It looked like maybe a tree waving in the wind a little bit.

- All I could see was a big black glob.

- Dark, that's all I could tell ya.

- You see the outline distinct

so that it was definitely walking on two hind legs?

- [Skip] Oh yeah, yeah, you could see

it was standing up there.

It was too big for bear and bears

don't walk on hind legs unless they're fighting anyway.

- That would be my logical explanation for it.

It was a bear.

- Well, the way it went up the mountain,

the way everybody describes Bigfoot,

That's the only thing I could think it was,

because bear just don't do things like that.

- You had a feeling around this camp

since you have been here?

- Yeah.

You could feel them watching ya.

- Only thing when I first started work here,

I'd look at that mountain

and I knew I didn't want to be around it.

Because it was just ...

I knew something was there or something

was watching me all the time.

- I look up there all the time

and I expect to see it again some day.

- [Morgan] You just might.

(bluegrass music)

- [Narrator] The loggers want nothing further

to do with this or any other Sasquatch.

So Morgan, and Elizabeth Moorman set out alone

for the rock face where the creature was seen.

A heavy rainfall the night before

has left the ground wet and slippery.

Making the treacherous climb even more hazardous.

They must make their own trail as they go.

What looked so near from below,

will take them six hours to reach.

And they must hurry to return by dark.

(wind whistling)

Reaching the summit, the pair finds little more

than a spectacular view.

Morgan has chased too many reports,

followed too many leads to be discouraged.

His work done here, he heads back to base camp.

It's still early in the expedition.

- We both believe that we saw --

- [Narrator] Before our film crew arrived,

expedition Ann Swain had what might have been

the first Sasquatch sighting of the expedition.

She recounts the incident.

- I turned to my right and looked down

at the end of the creek

and as I lift my binoculars I saw this huge black form.

And I just ...

I just froze and I looked and maybe three seconds passed

and I put my binoculars down,

I was really excited, I didn't know what it was.

I saw it was large and it was behind these bushes.

And I put them down and I called to Bob,

and as I put them back up to look again it was gone.

When we got into the woods, to the forest,

there was impressions and they were

larger than even a large man would make.

And it was just where the pine needles had been ...

It was very wet in there and had been pressed down

and made wetter than the surrounding area.

I think there's a lot of evidence in this country.

There's a lot of reports

and I'm thoroughly convinced there is a Bigfoot out here.

Many of them, families.

- [Narrator] The group returns to Cougar

in time to pick up Mike Polesnek,

who has covered 20 square miles

during his five day trip alone in the woods.

(birds chirping)

- I got something for ya.

- [Narrator] On his way out, Mike found large barefoot,

human-like tracks.

It's exciting news.

- Coming out of the woods next to the berries,

there's still berries on the ground,

about that long, barefoot.

He's flat-footed.

I thought they were human,

but I went back on the way down,

I don't think they are.

- [Morgan] How far off the road are they?

- It's pretty close to the mountain.

- [Morgan] Quite a ways up?

- No, it's not a long ways up,

it's right there where the trail begins.

- [Morgan] Can we get Pete Lipsio in there?

- Yeah, I need to see him.

- And how 'bout up on the mountain?

- Oh, man, three hours going up, a cat come in first night.

And second night he come in closer.

And third night I left. (laughs)

I think he knew I was scared.

- Ah ha, okay. (laughs)

- Told ya I'd find something, there was something there.

- Fantastic!

(laughs)

- Alright.

- By the way, I think --

- [Narrator] Large human-like footprints

on the trail in an area where Morgan

suspects Bigfoot could be.

This might be the breakthrough the expedition has needed.

Certainly it could mean one or more of the creatures

is in the area or has been recently.

The risk of sending Mike into such a dangerous place

has apparently paid off.

- That's a good place for him.

- Been eating well?

- Yeah, berries, strawberries,

Tear you apart in there.

And there's snakes, good Lord, everywhere.

- [Morgan] Rattles?

- Yeah, when I left the camp I wasn't 15 feet

when I left that morning and almost got me.

- Right on through --

- Right on the trail.

Right on the trail from camp.

The snakes are everywhere.

The loggers have worked.

It's dangerous because of the trees,

their sharp edges sticking up like this

if you stumble and fall it's all over.

One guy could go in there and never come out.

- [Narrator] With fresh tracks to be examined,

the group wastes little time back at base camp.

Just long enough for Mike to get a beer

and doctor his feet which blistered during his journey.

Earliest reports of tracks found in these forests

date back to 1811.

A trapper stumbled across footprints

14 inches long and 8 inches wide.

Over the last five years Morgan has found

numerous tracks in these parts.

The ones Mike found are the latest in a long string

of evidence Sasquatch has left behind.

These particular tracks leave little doubt

that something large with man-like feet

has passed through here.

- Went into the woods, then after that

you just couldn't pick up anything

with this foliage on the ground.

- [Morgan] Pete, make your measurements.

Photograph, measure

- I'm gonna photograph it and take measurements

and then I'll pour some of that --

Mike will you give me a hand here for one second please?

Just hold onto that okay.

Very interesting.

- [Morgan] Something moved through here.

These ferns are down.

- [Pete] Okay, hold it.

(shutter clicks)

Good.

- [Morgan] I never cease to be amazed

that when I see a Bigfoot footprint and look at it,

that I really don't realize the massiveness of it

until I put a ruler down.

And then I say "Good Lord, that's 16, 17 or 18 inches."

You don't realize it until you put that ruler down.

And consequently, if you were walking casually by,

not looking for Bigfoot, and you saw barefoot footprints,

you'd probably ignore them.

I'm sure that's been done many times.

- [Narrator] As a plaster record of the two tracks is made,

the mood of the group changes.

It goes from elation over finding the prints, to anxiety.

Expedition members become tense, on edge.

There is the sense of danger.

Others who have been in the vicinity of Sasquatch

have reported similar eerie feelings.

The hope is that whatever made these footprints

is still in the area and might return.

- All become part of the cast.

If you take a walk back through this area you're gonna find

a couple of things rather interesting.

Number one, all the berries are gone.

Number two, there is fresh and old breaks in these ferns

leading all the way back up into this area.

I didn't find the end of it I just found 'em

(birds chirping)

- [Narrator] It would be senseless to send

a scouting party into the surrounding woods.

The tracks are now several days old and there

are too many places around here to hide.

So the group heads back to camp,

satisfied with what they've uncovered.

By early August, Morgan has gathered enough data

about Bigfoot in Western Washington to warrant new plans.

He's convinced there are two or more families.

Mother, father and one or more young who travel

a specific route through the Mount St. Helens area.

Minor changes in field positions will place

the researchers right along this movement route.

- We're gonna tighten up.

As you know when we first came out here we thought

of three migratory or movement route patterns.

We've pinned down one that seems to be used now.

So rather than ranging out now,

it's time, I think, to move in closer.

- [Narrator] "If you can't find the creature,"

Morgan likes to say, "let the creature find you."

- You can do what you want during the day.

Do your normal tracking and ranging out during the day.

But in the evenings, and in the early morning hours,

set your alarms, and from pre-dawn

'till perhaps two or three hours after dawn,

I think we should be especially aware.

I'll show you the way we're gonna do this.

Don, you and Laymond are gonna take --

(bluegrass music)

What we have done here.

We've established four camps along

a line which I feel is a movement route.

When the creature goes from one wilderness area

into another wilderness area.

These areas are accessible.

(bluegrass music)

I cannot go into the total wilderness areas

because we are not logistically equipped to do so.

Here, I'm trying to get him, a little bit, on my ground.

Hopefully, they will either observe him

in movement or the creatures will come to their camp.

I asked my people to be in from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am.

To be awake, aware, of what's going on around them.

Now, I do not permit firearms in the field.

I don't feel it is necessary.

I feel that if a creature like this wants you,

your firearms are nothing more than an iron teddy bear.

'Cause he's gonna get ya.

So certainly there can be a time

when this creature could be dangerous.

But if you don't wanna get wet,

stay the hell out of the water.

If you're not willing to take that chance,

don't come along with me.

It's as simple as that.

And everyone of my people, they know this,

they understand it, and they accept it.

Now out of the camp, the people will rove during the day.

And they go within certain areas that I have assigned

and they rove around and the biologist

and botanist are doing their job

which is an updating, constant updating,

I'm getting a constant update of what food is available,

what succulents are available,

what animals are moving where.

The biologist, the tracker is telling me

what animals are feeding on.

I'm constantly aware of what is happening out there,

of what is the weather like,

what animals have been eating, by their defecations.

The browsing, whether or not the animals are in abundance.

Are they sitting still?

Are they moving?

Where do they water?

I'm constantly aware of everything that's going on out here.

(bluegrass music)

(fire crackles)

(crickets chirping)

- We come right back to the basics again,

to the cynical ruthless point

and this is produce the creature.

And everything else is all nice,

it's interesting, makes life very exciting, and so on.

But that's about all it does.

- [Narrator] Morgan has driven to the Canadian border

to confer with two men who are

chasing Sasquatch through British Columbia,

where creature sightings have become commonplace.

Rene Dahinden lives here year round

and has been on Bigfoot's trail for two decades.

John Green, author, journalist,

has written three books on the subject.

Over a picnic table rich with Bigfoot artifacts,

the three men discuss their different operating methods.

Dahinden and Green both say the creature

must be brought in dead or alive.

Morgan contends that Sasquatch is too human-like to destroy.

- I don't think there's any argument

that the fastest way to bring this to legislation

for the betterment of the species,

the fastest way would be killing one.

- The only way.

- Possibly.

However, the killing of one, how does the ...

I really feel that the youth of this world

and the people that are young at heart

have had enough of the killing.

I really feel they have had sufficient

of a slaughtered species for the

so-called enlightenment of man.

But I think that it is time for a new precitent to be set.

For legislation to be passed on an accepted species

without total so-called scientific knowledge.

- [Green] Alright, why pick this species?

Are you gonna stop people from slaughtering

hundreds of thousands of deer every fall?

- Why not start now?

- [Green] Why start with this one?

- Well, uh --

- I'll tell you why, it's because it looks more

like man than any other and as far as I'm concerned

that is a concern for humankind not for any animal kind.

- You remind me of the little old lady

who got all hyped up when I told her

I will kill a Sasquatch and then she went in

and had a steak dinner.

First thing first, and the first thing is to find proof,

100% so there is unquestionable evidence

available which prove the existence of this creature.

And the rest of them is all, well,

it's nice you know you can dream about it and so on,

but you have to be cynical, you have to be ruthless,

it's no game.

It's no game, it's one of the biggest

scientific discoveries the world has ever seen.

In an anthropological and probably zoological and biological

sense, might revamp or turn over

the whole theory of evolution and everything else.

That will flip our lid, to put it bluntly.

- But I would rather --

- So therefore, never mind the philosophical discussions

I say go grab 'em.

Any which way.

- I would rather lose than win that way.

- Well, you know if you are in this business,

20 years, you haven't go time any more for ...

No, I'm in this to collect a Sasquatch, dead or alive,

to prove his existence and that's all there is to it.

- [Narrator] While Morgan is away,

a local resident discovers large impressions practically

in the expedition's back yard.

Mike Polesnek and Laymond Hardy visit the area

to see if the tracks will yield other clues.

Like a team of detectives, they scour the area

and their efforts pay off.

Apparently something large was walking

along this frigid mountain run-off.

Perhaps to cool off from the heat.

And while walking, slipped on a moss-covered rock,

leaving several hairs and a large impression

in the streambed.

The hair is sent to Mary Jo Florey

at her laboratory in Portland for analysis.

It will take several weeks for her

to determine who or what left it behind.

Like sand in a giant hourglass,

the melting snows of Mount St. Helens

are a constant reminder that summer is slipping away.

- How're you doing.

- [Narrator] Near the base of the mountain,

Don Blake and Laymond Hardy have heard strange sounds.

Loud piercing screams which they cannot place.

Morgan has sent Lem Akin to investigate.

- They didn't sound like birds

and I couldn't imagine it being a cougar,

'cause didn't make a noise like the cougars,

we hear at back home.

And, of course, I don't know all of the noises

that elks and deer make, it's possible --

- I know it's too early in the year for elk.

Rutting season starts about mid-September,

October, so it's early for that.

What did it resemble? Anything?

- It was not a human type of scream.

It's the type that I've heard chimps make.

Sort of a chimp-type scream.

Completely --

- I'll go along with that.

It did sound like the kind of noises

you hear a chimpanzee make when,

say you've taken something away from 'em.

Not an alarm, it's more of a --

- [Lem] Frustration type.

- Yep, uh huh.

- But it was quite a little distance off,

it was probably as much as a quarter of a mile in September.

- [Narrator] While scouting nearby terrain,

Akin and Blake discover a lava tube cave.

One which no human has ever entered.

- [Akin] Here's this.

Watch out.

- [Blake] You don't wanna wack your head on this.

- [Akin] Yeah.

- [Blake] Make you fall down.

- [Narrator] Getting around the mountains

has presented no problem for Blake,

who has used crutches most of his adult life.

The cave is just another challenge.

- [Blake] Boy, having that opens up.

Now then, we're losing altitude fast.

We're dropping, let's see,

five feet for every eight I reckon.

- [Narrator] Dozens of the caves formed

when molten lava gushed through the valleys

from a violent Mount St. Helens.

The underground tunnels are the longest

of their kind in the world.

And could provide winter shelter,

or even burial grounds, for Sasquatch.

- [Blake] Well places the cave at six-feet high.

'Bout five feet, six.

Have to be careful that I don't break my head somewhere

- [Akin] You can't even see the end of the galley.

- [Blake] No, that goes right on down.

- [Narrator] It would take several years

to explore all the lava tubes, if you could find them all.

This cave offers little besides relief from the heat.

- [Blake] Boy that's quite a cave there Laymond.

- Yeah, you were gone, two and a half hours.

- Coming out, feel that heat just blast ya

right square in the face,

soon as you get to the lip of that hole.

- While you were gone, I was reading,

something rolled rocks down

from the top of the hill, right up here.

There was about five different intervals of it.

Probably fifteen or twenty minutes apart.

And then there was one time I heard rotten wood move,

crash or something.

So I don't know whether it was an elk or a bear

or some other animal.

Whatever it was, no doubt, came up another side

because this side over here's a little on the steep side.

At the heat of this sun though, most anything there

would be under those trees.

Probably was navigating under the trees.

- [Akin] They've got more brains than we've got.

- [Narrator] Could it have been Bigfoot?

He's been known to throw rocks at people before.

Or could the giant creature turn out to be a giant hoax?

Unlikely, in the face of countless reports

by people who say they've seen him.

People who have nothing to gain by fabricating the story.

People like Patty Carter, who as a young girl,

was befriended by a young Sasquatch.

- Patty, it was a couple of years ago,

I guess when we first met, and you told me a rather,

I found intriguing story,

about what happened to you when you were a child.

And I wonder if you'd recount that

for me of your first encounter.

- Well, there was two of them.

A big one that was fairly heavy with child, young, whatever.

And a young one.

Stood there and looked at me for a while

and they come down to the creek,

got a drink and then they left.

Anyway, they come back about every week.

And it got so I'd take 'em down

some venison sausage daddy made.

And they'd eat it and they'd throw

sticks and rocks and stuff, play catch with them.

- [Morgan] With who, with you?

- The young one, yeah.

- [ Morgan] They wouldn't throw at you would they?

- No just to me, very gentle.

Underhand type motion, very gentle.

- Did you ever throw it back to him?

- Uh huh.

- And then what would he do?

- Pick it up and throw it back to me again.

- And how long would this go on?

- Couple hours, like playing catch with me.

The one, the female, it had its baby

not too terribly far from me.

Like, about 25, 30 yards, I imagine.

- [Morgan] Was that in a cave or was it --

- No it was behind ...

It was by the creek, by the stump, behind the stump.

- [Morgan] Behind the stump?

Did the creature make any sound?

- Well, no more so than anything else

would giving birth to a young one, it hurts. (chuckles)

- [Morgan] And then what did the creature do?

- Well, it wouldn't let me near it at all.

Near the little one.

- [Morgan] Uh hmm.

- And she cleaned it off

and picked it up this way,

held it next to her, real close to her.

- Do you think that these creatures are animals?

- No, they are not, they're human.

- I took and looked at these tracks down here good

and they was about six inches wide

and about 18 inches and a half long.

Sounds crazy, don't it? (chuckles)

But it's true.

- [Morgan] What do you think Annie,

what do you think it was?

- I have no idea what it was.

- [Morgan] Did you know something was there?

- Yeah, ain't never heard of Bigfoot at the time.

I was scared to death.

- Yeah, but we got one hell of an introduction here

one night, let me tell you we did.

- [Narrator] The creature is real.

Very real to folks like Don Autry and his wife Annie,

who live down the road from expedition headquarters.

- Bed was right through that door right over there,

and I was laying there and I hear something groaning.

Raised up on the elbow and I listened to that

just for a minute.

And I was thinking now, what in the hell's going on here?

And I yelled 'hey!"

By the time I hollers that she was standing there

in the door and she said "are you groaning?"

I said "no, hell I ain't a groaning."

And she said, "well then something is."

And I got up ...

You gonna have to help me on this little bit,

I don't remember exactly all that happened.

I was scared, by God, to death.

That's all there was to it.

And anyhow, I come out of the bedroom

and I come in here and I listened for it just a minute.

And I got an old single shot .22 that I had,

single shot, you know.

So I loaded it.

Then I went to the bathroom.

And when I was in there in the bathroom,

whatever it was that that was, come from out of the woods,

back from about Southwest coming this way here.

And, man, it sounded like he weighed five,

six hundred pounds, even more,

just really putting his feet down heavy.

- [Morgan] Was it moaning at that time?

- Yeah, moaning all the time.

Never quit moaning.

Anyhow, it come on up to the bathroom wall there.

And I stood up from the bathroom floor

and that bathroom at that time was four foot off the ground.

And that sound, he was this close to the house,

that sound was coming straight there

through the wall just like this.

And then he raced all around out here

and I come back in here and we sit around.

What else could you do but sit there

and listen to the thing?

And I did, I started to go outside

and I got right along in here

and there was another deal out here

that I tore off since then.

And she grabbed me by the arm, she said,

"you don't know what you going out on."

There ain't no damn way you got me outside then.

- [Morgan] Did you have any feeling of fear?

Did I have any feeling of fear? (laughing)

How tight did I squeeze you huh?

(laughing)

- That night was gunning and squeezing.

- Yeah, I was scared, you betcha.

Definitely.

I was scared.

I logged this country, I've been logging it for 11 years

and I've never seen nothing,

I've never seen a footprint, until this.

I just walked right up on it right here at the house.

And it wasn't a prank.

It wasn't a prank, that wasn't a prank.

For a man he'd had to have been

over eight foot tall and make tracks

that stole these down here.

I don't know nobody that big.

And I was borned and raised in the woods.

I've killed bear, help killed elk, deer, everything.

And I've never heard nothing like this.

("The Old Country Church")

♪ Precious years of memory

♪ Oh what joy, oh what joy they bring to me ♪

♪ How I long once more to be

♪ With my friends at that old country church ♪

- [Narrator] And the reports continue.

Each similar to the one before.

Except for place and time.

Too many reports from too many people.

For a hoax to be considered.

♪ And the Savior above, by His wonderful love ♪

♪ Saved my soul at the old country church ♪

(logging trucks roar)

- [Polesnek] I believe that this could be

a possible area for him.

There's no roads here.

There's no roar of the logging trucks.

There's no shooting.

There's no people chattering about.

He can walk around here at ease,

because nobody comes in here.

(gentle country music)

(rattlesnake rattling)

- [Narrator] Despite warnings not to go,

Morgan and Polesnek return to the untamed area

the tracker explored earlier in the summer.

(eagle cries)

Even with the introduction

of four-wheeled drive vehicles and snowmobiles,

this American frontier has been unwilling to yield to man.

The pair has food for seven days.

The snakes are everywhere.

(fire crackles)

(pats sleeping bag)

- [Polesnek] Did you give me back the maps last night?

- Back up in the side pocket.

(steam hissing)

Water's hot.

- Combination there?

- Yeah.

- [Polesnek] You need a compass.

- No, those things travels Northeast.

The idea was to always follow this up.

I just hope we don't have to go over that.

You see how sheer it was on the far side?

(laughs)

- [Polesnek] Nice.

- Yep, straight up.

If we can get ...

Follow this along I don't wanna go higher

if it's not necessary yet.

Ever since 1970, I've been following areas finding tracks,

feces and all this jazz, coming down through this area.

And it's just recently come into,

what I think, is a movement pattern.

And what our objective is,

is to go entirely through on the North fork

of this creek, up to Mount Mitchell.

And it's my understanding that

not too many people have ever done this.

And as you know the dire warnings that we have received

that people go in and they don't come out.

(laughs)

But in any case, this is the flow line coming down

through here and it's a natural walkway, it's very hidden.

- [Polesnek] So far it's been pretty rough.

I don't know what it's gonna be like

when you get deep down into the ravine.

- [Morgan] Well, I don't know.

When you stand up on the cliff side

and look over this valley, it's one thing.

When you get down here it's something else.

- [Polesnek] I sure agree.

- [Morgan] Well, we'll find out.

- [Polesnek] Well, Bob, I sure coulda have had

a better choice of people to go out of this world with.

(laughs)

(birds chirping)

(suspenseful music)

- [Narrator] So far, the only passible way

through this wilderness is along the river bed.

The water is icy, the algae covered rocks, treacherous.

On the second day, despite their pleas,

Morgan orders the camera crew to stay behind.

The rest of the journey is too risky.

Others who have challenged the river

beyond this point have never returned.

(dramatic music)

(water rushing)

(bluegrass music)

The intense heat has driven Elizabeth Moorman

to seek refuge under nature's own shower.

(rattlesnake rattles)

- [Polesnek] You wanna cross here, Bob?

- [Narrator] For Morgan and Polesnek,

the trip through the river valley

has been arduous and frustrating.

A bad fall has left Morgan with several bruised ribs.

On more than one occasion,

they felt they were being followed.

Whether it was a bear, Cougar,

or some other creature, they could not be certain.

The journey has affected them

both physically and emotionally.

The experience, they say, has been

like a tribal initiation into manhood.

They have been baptized by the forest.

But still, no Sasquatch.

- I've been warned time and again

not to go into this area because

a lot of people have been ...

Have gone in and haven't come out.

Well, like anything else, you go in and find out why.

Find out for yourself, then you know.

It's not a matter of someone telling you.

We discovered that coming up along that river,

for instance, it was like stepping back in a time machine.

I think I've seen what this country

must have looked like perhaps

thousands upon thousands of years ago.

And coming up over the top of that ridge,

we found an area where berries are so abundant

that we literally ate our way over the mountain.

Well, when we crested that ridge,

and started down, in this area, the past few miles.

The area took on another character.

It took on a forbidding, foreboding aura

and I just knew damn well we weren't welcome.

And literally every step of the way Mike and I ...

You just know if you make a mistake

there's no way in hell you're gonna come out.

But you know it gave us a new awareness

a new respect for wildlife,

because the deer and the elk and the bear,

they live with it every day.

But I am convinced and I welcome anyone

that is a skeptic on it, to come along with me.

I'm convinced that this area,

there's no problem whatsoever for a creature

like bigfoot, to live in almost a Garden of Eden

without any worries about man.

There's very few men that ever enter this area.

(calculator keys clacking)

(phone rings)

- Hello.

- Oh, Bob, this is Mary Jo Florey,

and you remember those hairs that you sent out

to the lab about a month ago?

- Yeah, yeah.

- I finally got a report back

from the director of the lab on those.

And he feels that those are

human body hair from the lower extremities.

- From the lower extremities?

- Course it doesn't confirm it absolutely,

but it certainly is highly indicative.

- Well circumstances under which they were found,

you know, was very well documented.

And I think the chances of that being

homo sapien is very, very remote.

- Well I am inclined to agree with you.

- Thanks for making this a very good day, bye bye.

- [Mary Jo] Bye.

(sighs)

(taps pen)

- Well I'll be damned.

(chainsaw running)

- [Narrator] August sizzles on.

(tree crashing)

Logging is temporarily halted on orders

from the forestry service.

The extreme fire danger has made logging too risky.

The town of Cougar, which mirrors

the lumber industry, becomes deserted.

Day after day the temperature touches 100 degrees.

Morgan is warned the forests

may be closed to everyone including his researchers.

But for now, the expedition is allowed to continue.

Still, no rain in sight.

- What I saw, Bob, was located

on the far right side of that mass of trees.

It was large enough for me to see with the unaided eye.

- [Narrator] John Crowder has seen something

he can't identify on a ledge

near the snow line of Mount St. Helens.

A strange sense of fear had invaded his camp

shortly before the sighting.

It was a feeling no one could explain.

Like so many other things this summer.

- [John] Big enough to see.

- Well you know of the gray Bigfoot

that's been reported in this area.

But I also, I think we could be aware that there are,

I believe, mountain goat up in this area.

- [Narrator] There's only one thing to do

and that's survey the ledge close up.

Morgan and the others have made this climb

many times before on another mountain

at another place in the forest.

Morgan has become weary

from the endless climbs and dead-end trails,

but any feeling of fatigue he may have

is no match for his unrelenting drive to find the Sasquatch.

He's so close now he feels nothing will stop him.

All the signs are there, the tracks,

screams, reports from loggers and residents.

Morgan is convinced

he's located a movement route

for at least one family of Bigfoot.

A movement route that goes straight through Ape Canyon.

Named that, in the 1920's

when a group of prospectors were attacked

by vicious hairy apes.

Ape Canyon is just beyond where

John Crowder saw something large and gray.

(rocks clatter)

There's little relief from the scorching heat

and at this altitude the thinner oxygen

adds to the physical stress of the climbers.

It's hard to describe the frustrations

of having made the climb

and finding little more than scuff marks.

Morgan knows time is running against him.

- [Morgan ] (sighs) I think that next to close-mindedness,

I think time is our greatest enemy.

Most definitely time.

The lumber industry is cutting into the forest.

Man is moving in more and his snowmobiles

and his trail bikes, his four-wheeled drive vehicles.

The Bigfoot has to retreat.

So we're running a race against time.

Very definitely, it's a very pressing,

a very, very frightening thing.

Time.

- [Narrator] They start down in silence,

hoping to reach their vehicles before sunset.

But the day is not over.

- [John] What do you think, Bob, it's old stuff.

Has a lot of clean edges.

- Well, it's hominid, bipedal.

What does that thing measure again?

- Roughly 13 to 14.

And there's been a lot of washing here on the width,

but we could go at least six at the widest point.

It's not where a few rocks laid and rolled away,

we've seen enough of that up here.

- Add another ...

Add another mystery.

- [Narrator] August passes the sun to September,

but the forest has had enough.

(dramatic music)

(fire crackles)

A small fire breaks out not far from the main logging road,

but a safe distance from the expeditions camps.

(bluegrass music)

Firefighting teams are on the scene quickly.

And the forestry service is encouraged

by a general stillness of the wind.

Morgan keeps in touch with the fire's progress.

(dramatic music)

The fire burns into the night.

And the next morning, through self-generating winds,

it begins to burn more rapidly.

More acres are threatened.

The forestry service calls for help.

And the small band of firefighters

turns into a sizeable camp.

Despite the efforts of 600 people fighting the inferno,

The fire goes over the hill and into Ape Canyon.

(helicopter approaches)

Morgan is distressed as the fire

spreads quickly through the canyon.

All the evidence of Sasquatch in the area

has led directly to this place.

He surveys the situation with Sam Melville

star of the Rookies television series

who's visiting for a few days.

- Wanna get a shot of that plane.

(plane roars)

- Talk about the fickle finger of fate.

We just had it.

(fire rages)

(plane roars)

- What do you think, do you think you're gonna have to pull

any of your people out of their base camps

or out of their camps?

- Yeah, it's possible, I warned the two biologists,

you know, they're right over the ridge,

they're right over the top, and this will alter

Elizabeth going back into the lake.

(plane flies overhead)

It's just a flat block for a movement,

I'm afraid, with all these people.

Look at them, look at the hundreds of people

who are going to be in this area fighting a fire.

They're gonna be running up and down.

Airplanes over.

You think a shy creature's gonna come within a ...

All our waiting and all our planning and ...

Geez.

- [Firefighter] Tuck and roll.

- [Firefighter] Move!

- Our whole damn concept was locked along that one route ...

And there's an ...

He may take the Western route.

May come around here, God only knows, but ...

See what we've been banking on the last several years

is gathering information along this one route.

And now with this cut in the middle,

right now, I don't know, I just ...

I don't know how it'll affect the movement and patterns.

I don't know it's a factor that I hadn't ...

- Hadn't counted on for sure.

(plane flies overhead)

Man, look at that burning over there.

(fire rages)

- Well, next year.

(gentle music)

(door shuts)

(crying)

(helicopter flies overhead)

- [Narrator] It's the end of the road

for this particular expedition.

There's little doubt the fire

and the hundreds of people fighting it

will lead the Bigfoot to an alternate route.

But for Robert Morgan, it's far from the end of the road.

He'll be back next year and the year after

and the year after that.

He'll be back for however long it takes him

to satisfy the world that we are merely

men among the giants.

(plane flies overhead)

(plane flies overhead)