River Monsters (2009–2017): Season 1, Episode 2 - Killer Catfish - full transcript

My name is Jeremy Wade.

I'm an explorer, a
biologist, and a fisherman.

I travel the world's rivers

in my search for
freshwater monsters.

And then I heard this story.

People are disappearing
in north India,

swallowed by some kind
of horrific river monster,

a freshwater abomination.

I'm going out
there to investigate

to uncover the truth behind
these horrifying stories.

I'm going to hunt down the
monster of the Kali River...



to prove if it really exists.

They do exist.

I first heard these
reports in 2005

when I was traveling in India.

If they're true, they're
the stuff of nightmares.

The first victim is
a young Nepali boy.

Just 17 years old, Dil
Bahada is swimming

while he and his
girlfriend wait for the ferry.

They are planning
to cross into India

to start a new life together.

But their dream
will never be fulfilled.

Suddenly, and without warning,

Dil disappears beneath the water

as if he is being pulled
down by something below.



It all happened in a flash.

He never surfaces.

And after days of searching,

no remains of the young
man are ever found.

It's as if he's
simply disappeared.

We found no body, no creature,

nothing for at least
five kilometers.

Within a few months,
the monster struck again.

This time, it is a young
boy washing in the river.

He is standing in shallow
water no deeper than his knees.

Suddenly he screams,
"Something's grabbed me,"

before being dragged underwater.

His father is only
a few feet away.

By the time he has
come to his son's aid,

the boy has
completely varnished.

Again, people search the
water hoping to find some trace,

some clue as to how
this tragedy occurred.

Nothing is ever found.

My quest has started.

Both attacks happened on a
short stretch of a remote river

called the Kali where
this river forms the border

between Nepal and India.

This mystery can only be
solved using logic and analysis.

I cannot let my imagination
get the better of me.

I must keep an open mind,

and the only way I can do
that is to get to ground zero.

I fly into Delhi,
India's capital.

Then an overnight train

takes me to the northern
frontier of the country.

As a biologist, it's in my
nature to be skeptical,

but as a traveling fisherman,
I've actually seen enough

to realize that not
all fishermen's tales

are pure imagination.

The latest news is that
people are still disappearing.

The creature is
it still out there.

And from the last railhead,

it's a 20-hour,
bone-jarring journey

higher into the Himalayas.

I've now been traveling
for over two days.

The modern world might as
well be a million miles away.

This road just gets washed
away every year in the monsoons.

I mean, you can't
reach the area at all

for sort of weeks
on end, very often.

According to my
map here, in fact,

the road doesn't even
go to where I'm getting to,

but just trust that
we're gonna get there.

If anything goes wrong,
I'm a long way from help,

but it's getting too
late to turn back now.

The river is named after Kali,

the Hindu goddess of
death and destruction.

And the river itself flows
out of the sacred Himalayas.

This region has a long history
of man-eaters and spirits,

of demons and gods.

This is where
heaven meets earth,

a place where
reality and fantasy

are almost one and the same.

This is the perfect
place for a monster.

Maybe too perfect.

I've made contact with
an old friend, Vini Badola.

I've been on fishing
trips with Vini in the past,

and I'm relying on him to help
me speak with the local people.

He's set up an expedition

that will take me right
over the monster's lair.

What I've got to do is
have a really good look

at the water where the
monster is said to live

and gather as much
local intelligence as I can

along the way.

Now, the thing is, from
the stories I've heard,

it's supposed to operate
in a length of river

that's possibly 15
or 20 miles long.

So we're starting our
expedition high up the valley

at an altitude of
some 2,000 feet.

The riverbank is
just mountainside.

There's just no way
I can do that on foot.

Okay, we're going.

From here, there's
no going back.

The local name for the area I'm
about to enter is the Goondesh.

It means "the lost country."

My first stop is Roll Ghat,
where Dil Bahada disappeared.

Vini's organized a meeting

with a man who
was there at the time.

His name is Buvan Punetta.

And is this the place where
people saw the creatures?

Mr. Punetta was
waiting for the ferry

to come across the river.

There were three other people,

his friend and this
young Nepali couple.

And he said the boy,

in shallow water,
knee-deep water,

he just disappeared too
quickly even to scream, to shout.

What alerted them was the
fact that the girl screamed.

He just disappeared
under the water.

And it's calm water.

It's not the fast
bit of the pool.

And, you know, he didn't
see fish or anything at all.

There was just a
disturbance, and the boy went,

and it happened right
here where I'm looking now.

And it's very hard to believe,
but he saw it with his own eyes.

Perhaps what Mr. Punetta
saw has a less mysterious cause.

Could it actually be
just a consequence

of the turbulent Kali River?

Maybe Dil died as a
result of being sucked down

by the huge forces
generated by whirlpools.

My new fishing rod.

To find out, I use
a depth sounder

to determine the topography
of the river and the pools.

I'm looking for
sudden deep holes,

evidence of whirlpool activity,
a place where undercurrents

might drag a swimmer underwater.

I'm gonna put up
the sensitivity here

and crank it up.

20 feet. Look, I'm
touching the rock.

20 foot straight down.

There is deep water
close to the bank.

That crack there. Do
you know what I can do?

I can shove this
pole in that crack.

So literally, I'll just move
it six inches sideways,

and we've got 23 foot.

In fact, near the rocky outcrop

the water is as deep as 28 feet.

These areas of deep
water are created

as the water is
forced around a bend.

The same force creates a
series of shifting whirlpools.

It is a very powerful river,
and there are places literally

where, yes, you can
be in knee-deep water,

you take one step, and
you're in 30 foot or whatever.

And I think, you know, you
take a mouthful of water,

you go under, that's
it, you don't come up.

Yet these places are
away from the area

where Dil Bahada disappeared.

What's interesting, though,
is that a lot of these stories

are not from the
rougher bits of the river.

They are from the quiet places,

normally in the pools
where there's a ferry

and you've just got
gently shelving water,

and they disappear.

That doesn't quite, you know,

fit with the idea of, you
know, it's always the water.

Mr. Punetta remains doubtful
that Dil's disappearance

was simply drowning.

The next incident
certainly wasn't.

It's only a mile
or so downstream

where the next case occurred.

Dharma Ghat is another
ferry crossing point.

The 10-year-old boy

was definitely
grabbed by something.

Those were his final words

heard by people
on the riverbank.

But by the time anyone had
come to help, he'd vanished.

No one saw a thing.

What an unimaginable tragedy.

Whatever grabbed him must
have been extremely powerful

to have dragged the boy
underwater so quickly.

The next case is even scarier.

This time, the victim was
not a small, defenseless boy,

but an adult buffalo.

The buffalo went
into the shallow water

over there.

As it was drinking water,
something dragged it in.

We saw something
struggling with the buffalo.

Then it disappeared
into the deeper water.

Kehsa Singh witnessed
his father's fully grown buffalo

being dragged to its death

from the side of the
river only 40 inches deep.

It was larger than the buffalo.

Buffalo in this region

can weigh between
500 and 800 pounds

and reach over 6 foot in length.

What animal is
capable of dragging

an 800-pound domestic
buffalo to its death?

There is one obvious suspect.

Is the monster I'm looking
for a giant crocodile?

Crocodiles are often seen

in and around the
rivers of northern India.

With jaws capable of exerting
a force of 1,000 pounds

to crush the skull
bones of victims,

they're well-known man-eaters.

India's leading expert on these
apex predators is Ron Whitaker,

an American expatriate.

He's got up close
with all three species

that inhabit India and Nepal.

That's it.

The salty.

The gharial.

And the mugger.

The likeliest culprit
is the mugger,

as it is the most widespread.

Reaching lengths of 18 foot,
they are serious predators

and have even been
observed feeding on tiger.

They could easily make
short work of a mammal,

even one the size of a buffalo.

Muggers have
been known to attack

and kill livestock such
as cows and buffaloes

on a fairly regular basis
in some parts of India.

Mugger crocodiles are not
typically known as man-eaters,

but there's no reason why
they shouldn't attack humans,

and it does happen sometimes.

Could it be that this
creature, living up to its name,

has hauled a
buffalo to its death

and attacked and killed
at least three people

in the cold mountain
river, the Kali?

In the lower part
of the Kali River,

before it enters the Ganges,

where it spreads out and
where it's flowing slowly,

the water's warm and
sustains mugger crocodiles.

Roll Ghat, where Dil
Bahada disappeared,

is 2,000 feet above sea level.

And here, the water is
both faster and colder.

Mugger crocodiles
typically prefer deep pools,

and slower-flowing rivers

and nice embankments
to haul out on and bask.

No one has seen
any sign of a mugger

in the area of the
disappearances,

so I travel downriver to scour
the banks at lower altitude.

Muggers are less
agile out of water

and are easily visible on land.

Coming ashore to bask in
the sun and lay their eggs,

they'll remain out of the water
for up to 12 hours each day.

We have it on good authority

that crocodiles
aren't around here.

The people don't see them.

You'd see them out of
water if they were here.

But it's just the
terrain is wrong.

The altitude is too high.

The water's too cold. You
know, there aren't crocs.

There is no evidence of
any species of crocodile here

and certainly not
higher up the river.

So what sort of creature is
responsible for these deaths?

We camp at the location of
another attack, Nagru Ghat.

There is a similarity
in all the attack sites.

Fast streams feeding deep pools,

natural places
for ferry crossings.

And for those who
don't know these stories,

perfect swimming pools.

He is 18 years old, Atul Kumar,

and he is swimming
with a friend.

They decide to swim
to the other side,

a distance of some 70 yards.

His friend reaches the
safety of the far bank.

But without warning,
without a sound...

Kumar disappears.

His distraught family
launches a search for him.

But just like the other
cases, nothing is found.

But this time, the
monster slipped up.

This time, a man, a local
man saw the monster in the act.

He draws the head of
the beast in the sand.

He says it looks
like an elongated pig.

Oroji actually saw this?

- Yes, he's actually seen it.
- Twice.

Twice.

And he gives it a name.

The suse.

But what is a suse?

I was about to find out.

Vini's just introduced
me to Jogar Singh,

who is in his 70s now.

He's lived on the
river a long time.

He's actually
worked on the river.

He's floated on
log rafts down here

and has probably seen and heard

more than anybody
else in these parts.

So just gonna sort
of quiz him a little bit

on, you know, the detail
of some of the stories.

Mr. Singh immediately
starts to talk about the suse.

I get the feeling
I'm closing in.

He says the suse is a
creature which if it sucks,

it can suck you
in from a distance.

Things that have been lurking
in the corners of my mind

come lurching forward.

When a fish does get big,
when it opens its mouth,

it does create this
kind of vacuum.

People, they think that a fish
actually just bites something,

but actually a big fish,
when it opens its mouth,

it creates this vacuum,
and the bigger the fish,

the longer the distance
that it can suck over.

So you wouldn't
necessarily see anything.

It wouldn't be too
far from the truth

to say it's actually
sucking it in.

He says it's huge.

It's bigger than that.

It's longer than this
distance. This is about...

9 or 10 foot,
something like that?

It's bigger than that.

Even his seemingly
wild claims about the size

are suddenly making sense.

Then a single word
crashes through, a name.

He said it looks like a goonch,
but it's vast, and it's black.

Goonch. I know that name.

A local name for a rarely seen
species of predatory catfish,

also known as the
giant devil catfish.

Goonch.

Yeah, that's really interesting.

I think that does actually
start to clarify things,

you know, pull all these
odd, weird strands together.

I think I have my culprit.

Are all these killings the work

of a giant, rarely seen,
predatory catfish, the goonch?

Now I know its identity,
it still sounds incredible.

All I've got to do is prove it.

I have to catch a goonch
big enough to be a man-eater.

I'm right here in the heart
of the monster's territory.

And we're camping next to a pool

which has all the
hallmarks of an attack site.

This place is starting
to cast a spell.

It's another pretty cold,
chilly day out there again,

and I can't even see the river.

Just had another
rather fitful night

interrupted by visions
of dark turning water

and underwater caverns

and something that is capable
of dragging in people and animals.

Every waking moment
is spent fishing.

But I keep coming up blank.

Nothing stirs.

As much as I like rivers,

I'd rather appreciate this
one, I think, from my armchair.

The cold is starting
to get into my bones,

and, you know, it's hard going.

I think I need some help.

And I've got a plan.

I've managed to
get a message out.

Someone should be on their way.

Marine biologist and
cameraman Rick Rosenthal

has vast experience
of finding and filming

the largest and most
dangerous marine predators.

I'm thinking if I can't
catch a goonch on my line,

maybe we can catch one on film.

This is Rick.

- Hello.
- Vini.

And although this has
never been done before,

Rick is the perfect
man to help me.

He brought those fishing rods.

I know a place where Rick and
I can get to know our adversary

before heading into
the monster's lair.

There's a place where you
can sometimes see goonch.

It's near Corbett National Park.

Yeah, Jeremy, we just can't
go charging into a river like this

without a good plan, especially
if there's something in there

that can potentially eat us.

And from a high vantage point,

Rick gets his first glimpse
of some kind of river creature.

Yeah, I can see
the pectoral fins.

Looks like a shark.
Looks like a nurse shark.

But hundreds of miles
from the sea, this is no shark.

That is a goonch.

It's time to get
a fish's-eye view.

The pools are deep
and inaccessible,

so we take no chances

and use a camera
mounted in a mini submarine

to look around.

All right, Jeremy,
let's launch this, huh?

Got an image yet?

Got an image. I'm
just under the surface.

Lights on?

Why don't you take it
down about right there?

And straightaway, we're
seeing fish, lots of fish.

It seems there's a good food
supply for a hungry goonch.

What's happening now?
What's happening now?

I think we have a catfish

tucked into an
underwater crevice.

There he is! There
he is! There he is!

It's a goonch.

It's quite spooky 'cause
there's this tail poking out.

And the body just
disappears into the dark,

and you can't see how
long the body goes on for.

So, now, can you see?

There's the tail.
There's the tail.

It's amazing seeing one
of these fish so clearly,

but could one of these
really be a man-eater?

It's time to take a closer look.

- You ready?
- Uh-huh.

This cloudy water makes the
whole experience really creepy.

I keep expecting a monster
to loom out of the murk.

And then one does,
and it's not alone.

- How many do you see?
- I think I saw three.

There's more than that. There's
a whole pile of them in here.

They're not like you think.

I'm not kidding you,
there's at least six in here.

They're all stacked
in there like cordwood.

There's some powerful
animals in there, too.

I would not want
to run onto those.

9 feet long.

They're just such a horror. Oh!

And they're strong.
They're really strong.

One of them just whopped
the camera with a tail,

and I'll tell you, this
is not a fat catfish.

This thing is strong.

I can see it could
pull somebody in.

Yeah.

This is the first time
the goonch catfish

has ever been filmed
in its natural habitat.

And we get not
just one, but six,

all tight against the rock wall.

And I just happened
to find it by luck, really.

Looked and there was one
and there was two, three,

and there was three on the wall.

There were six of them right
in an area about two meters.

They're kind of spooky fish,

especially in that
dark overhang.

Their tails are
just sticking out.

At least 5 or 6
feet long in there.

They bumped the camera
a couple times underwater.

I could feel their strength.

Now we have hard proof

that there are large
goonch in these waters,

that they stick together and
are found in the deep pools,

tight against the rocks.

But none of these
is the man-eater.

The chance of that being
the biggest fish there is

are, you know,
sort of minuscule.

They must be bigger than that.

Now that we have the first-ever
footage of goonch in the wild,

it's time for Rick and
me to confront the Kali

and the monster
that lurks in its depths.

How does a goonch become
a supersized monster?

There might be a grisly answer.

Here, there is an unusual
and regular supply of food.

Human corpses.

It is the Hindu custom

to burn the dead on
the banks of the river

before consigning their
remains to the waters.

Pundit Kamlesh Vyas
is a leading Hindu cleric

and has personal
experience with this practice.

They'll burn the funeral pyre,

and when the body
is even half burned,

they'll just push it away
or just slide it into the river.

Once the soul is gone,

that means your body
is just a thing, actually.

So, water creatures, they
can use the body as their food.

Is this fish getting fat
on human remains?

The theory that this
monster has grown extra large

on a diet of partially
cremated corpses

is something that the local
people actually said to me.

It sounds pretty
gruesome, but, of course,

it's just perfectly natural
behavior for a scavenger.

The thing about
these stories, though,

is that this monster
appears to have made

this sinister quantum leap
to feeding on living animals,

including people.

But just how big
could a goonch get?

That's the ultimate question.

Creatures that live in the
water can just keep on growing

if they've got enough food,

and there will be a
few freak individuals

which have grown bigger
than the other ones there,

and if you put in
lots of artificial food,

those creatures will
grow even bigger.

We set up camp at the place
where the buffalo disappeared.

But conditions have
already changed.

What are your first
impressions of the water, Rick?

Murky. Really murky. Be tough.

- Yeah.
- Yeah.

It's so brown.

We're a little late, aren't we?

The run-off has begun.

Gonna be difficult to
see anything in that water.

I've brought this guy here

halfway around the
world from California

to a river that just looks
like soup, you know,

and what he must be
thinking, I just don't know.

You know, I knew
that the visibility here,

you know, is not good
at the best of times,

but it is really murky now,

and it's just so
disappointing to hear him say

there is absolutely no way
he's gonna get in the water.

There's just no point.

You can see about this
far in front of your face.

Rain and snowmelt
have colored the water.

The monsoons are starting
sooner than we thought.

You earned it.

After a couple of days, the
water has still not cleared.

And after another
day of hanging on,

well, there's just no
point Rick being here.

And he decides to leave.

Okay, Jeremy. Good luck.

Have a good journey.

So now it's back to
the rod again, I guess.

Being on my own again
really makes me feel

the remoteness of this place

and the sheer enormity
of what I've got to do,

because, you know,

Rick and I have just
thrown everything at this

and we haven't so much as
had a glimpse of this killer fish.

So in a way, I just feel as
if I'm back where I started.

I've just come full circle.

It's back to a
line in the water.

I have got to know this river.

I've heard the horror stories,
seen the evidence for myself.

I've worked out what the
suse is, what it looks like,

and where it lives.

The next step is to
try and fish one out.

I have at least got
a much clearer idea

of what I'm dealing with now,

but it's still a
needle in a haystack.

And the monsoon
is fast approaching.

I can feel the air
pressure building,

and you've got these
clouds boiling up,

and, you know,
if the rains come,

I could be stranded here,

and that, you know,
really focuses the mind.

The brown water that sent
Rick home is getting worse

and the water level
is beginning to rise.

I've just got to get cracking.

I've got to get bait in the
water in front of something,

and it hasn't happened yet.

There is still time,
but the pressure is...

Not just the
atmospheric pressure,

the pressure is building.

But this rising water
has got the goonch biting,

and I'm quickly into some fish.

That is a goonch.

It's not a very big one.

Each catch gives
me data on these fish,

like how big their mouth
is in relation to body size.

Information that
will help me calculate

how big a man-eating
goonch really needs to be.

Look at the length of
the tentacles on the tail.

Look at that.

Can you imagine that scaled
up to about three times the length

and grabbing you by the
leg and dragging you under?

Goonch have huge
backward-facing teeth,

the teeth of a predator.

It might not be the Kali
monster, but it's a monster.

The fish are getting bigger.

But still no monster.

And with conditions worsening,

I have one last
trick up my sleeve.

One thing people have
said about this creature

is that it is actually attracted
by commotion on the riverbank,

particularly the flames,
vibration, smells,

everything associated
with these riverside funerals.

So I'm building a
simulated funeral pyre

to try and call the creature in.

That night, nothing stirs.

But in the morning...

It's in the fast water.

Something very powerful on here.

Try and relax and
keep a bit calm.

Gaining a tiny bit of line.

Right, the water is
flowing this way now.

I've got it into the water
that's flowing this way.

I have been fishing long enough

that I've developed
a kind of sixth sense.

I know when I have a big
fish on, and this is a big fish.

It's goonch. No, it's goonch.

It's a lot of line out in
some very strong water.

The other side of it.

The big problem here is
that if it gets out of this pool,

I am never going to be
able to pull this fish back

up against this current.

Very touch and go.

And then it does exactly
what I didn't want it to do.

I'm gonna have to go for a swim.

I don't know what I'm thinking,

apart from being desperate
not to lose this fish,

regardless of my own safety.

Wait till it comes off.
Wait, wait, wait, wait.

Now, now, now!

That is a serious-sized goonch.

That is a man-sized animal.

That is as big as a person.

It is bigger than a lot
of people 'round here.

That is a big fish.

They do exist. The
goonch do exist.

6 foot of muscle
behind that mouth,

and those teeth are just like
shark teeth, pointing back.

If that got hold of you,
there'd be no getting away.

When I was diving with Rick,

and we were seeing these
beasts under the water,

and they just looked
so otherworldly.

Is it a hallucination? Do
these things really exist?

And, yes, the goonch does exist.

Just the absolute
perfect predator.

Huge mouth on there.

Huge, huge, huge mouth.

And if anything just comes
down within range of that mouth,

it's too late.

I mean, big as this fish is,

the fish that is taking people
would be bigger than this.

It wouldn't actually need to be

more than a couple
of feet longer,

but that would really
give it a bit more weight.

I mean, it would probably
weigh twice as much as this

and, you know, just the
thought of that is quite terrifying.

Okay.

Is it off the ground?

- Not yet.
- Okay.

166.

161 pounds.

The description given
by Sarendra Bora

of the creature as
an elongated pig

easily corresponds with
the smooth, scaleless back

of the goonch.

Kehsa Singh's statement that he
saw a black shape also matches.

And the sucking force caused
by the opening of a vast mouth

that Jogar Singh talks
about, that also matches.

I think that what the
eyewitnesses saw

was not an elongated pig,

not a mythical
creature, the suse,

but this, the
giant devil catfish,

a monster-sized goonch
fattened on human remains.

I think it's time he
went back in the water.

He's starting to recover.

Back in the water just to
get the last little bit of energy

and then back home, I
think, for me and the fish.

Goonch catfish
are now very rare.

This monster's
not the Kali killer.

Even at 161 pounds,
it's just not big enough.

I came to prove that
giant catfish exist here,

and I've done that.

I never set out to persecute
these amazing animals.

Taking a long time.

And the people here
feel very much the same.

With that in mind, I
let my monster go.

The beautiful irony is that
the presence of these giants

means the river is
healthy and alive.

The day the monsters
disappear is the day the river dies.

And I have no doubt

there are monsters far
bigger than my goonch

alive and well
in the Kali River.