River Monsters (2009–2017): Season 3, Episode 5 - Electric Executioner - full transcript

Wade: I'm Jeremy Wade, biologist
and monster wrangler.

I've spent the last 25 years

traveling the globe,

bringing in these giants.

There it is.

Look at that for a fish.

Much of this time was in Brazil,

where I've caught
many monsters before.

Red-belly piranha.

I'm back to investigate a new
story about a triple homicide.

The people who fell in the water
actually disappeared.



This is like no creature
I've tackled before.

But this thing is different.
It has invisible powers.

Chasing this monster
takes me into the heart

of Brazil's rugged frontier,

where people fear for my life.

He says it will kill you,
no two ways about it.

And it leads to possibly
the strangest monster catch

of my career.

I've chased river monsters
all over the world,

but I've always considered
Brazil my second home.

There's the fish.
There's the fish.

This is where I've done
most of my fishing...

Look at this!

Catching all manner



of freshwater killers.

I've been drawn back
by a chilling story

about the death
of a group of cowboys.

I've heard of a river monster
taking an individual before...

but never three people at once.

This is a new killer for me.

Wade: My journey begins
in Brazil's wild west.

Pará state is cowboy country,
and outsiders rarely visit,

but I'm on my way to meet
an eyewitness

to the cowboys' deaths.

I'm traveling by boat
along the Tocantins River

so I can start fishing
immediately

and see what killers
are in this area.

During the wet season,

this river is connected to the
place where the cowboys died,

so the monster could have
escaped into these waters.

I don't know yet
what could be down there,

so I have to be prepared
for anything.

This is actually a fish I bought
down at the market this morning.

It's just a tasty, scaly fish.

I'm just gonna cut the tail off
and use that, I think.

It's a big river, this,

and so what you're not doing
is casting at random,

because the fish won't be
distributed at random.

But what we've got here
is quite turbulent,

and it's also moving
back on itself near the banks,

so it's the kind of place

where food coming down the river
would settle,

and that's going to cause
the small fish to congregate,

and then
right on up the food chain.

It's up from the bottom.

It's not long
before I get my first bite.

Oop, I think
something's nibbling that.

Yep.

That's a piranha.

It's a black piranha.

The black piranha is the largest

of the piranha family...

growing up
to a foot and a half long.

A mouth full
of razor-sharp teeth

has given piranhas
a fearsome reputation,

and it's well earned.

Two years ago, I found a story
about a young boy

who was devoured by piranhas
in front of his grandparents.

All they got in was bones.

Wade:
It's unlikely that piranhas

would have killed
all three cowboys,

but I know from experience

that you've got to keep
an open mind,

only eliminating a suspect

after you've heard
all the evidence,

which is why I'm meeting
a witness tomorrow.

Before I track him down,

I'll see what other potential
suspects are here.

It must be a predators'
paradise down there.

Within minutes, something else
has grabbed my bait.

This feels much bigger
than a black piranha.

Gosh, this is strong.

This is strong.

It's rising up in the wa...
There it is!

Oh, it's a ray.
It's a ray.

Look at the size of that.

This is the first spotted
river ray I've ever caught.

I've come across stingrays
before.

In Thailand, I've seen how they
can seriously injure people.

I want to take a closer look,

but I'm not sure how to safely
haul it into the boat.

My worry with this fish
is getting too close to it.

Oh.

Its tail has a venomous spike
5 inches long,

which could whip 'round
and stab me as I pull it in.

Wade: Taking it to shore
and pulling it onto the bank

is the best option.

On close inspection,

I'm reminded
that this can kill, as well.

That spine there,
very dangerous.

It's just like a knife
5 inches long.

That would go in your flesh
very easily, be very painful,

and actually, if that's
in the wrong part of your body,

that could puncture an artery.

That could be fatal.
And these here... look at those.

They don't look very nice,
either.

Like piranha,
this is an unlikely suspect

for killing three people
at the same time,

but I'll need to hear
the witness's account

before I can take it
off the list.

I've arranged to meet him
near where the deaths occurred

just outside the small town
of El Dorado.

For the last leg of my journey,

I leave the boat behind
and drive cross-country.

I'm comfortable
in the Brazilian rainforest,

but this area
is unfamiliar to me,

and I'm not sure what to expect.

The whole area
was cleared decades ago

by ranchers
and gold prospectors.

All the wild animals
were chased out or killed,

making it safe
for livestock and humans.

But it seems
that a deadly water predator

has managed to cling on.

The cowboys' deaths are
still raw in the minds of many,

and I've been refused access
to where they died.

I meet the witness, Jesunaldo,
at a nearby farm instead.

Okay.

He tells me that it happened
during the wet season

when the pastures were flooded.

A mule had become stuck
in the water.

Jesunaldo and five other
cowboys tried to rescue it.

What they had to do
was actually sort of go in

and just try and pull
the animal out.

The first three cowboys
went into the water.

Jesunaldo and the others
hung back.

As the first horses got up
to their bellies,

something startled them.

All three cowboys
were thrown into the water.

The others immediately got out
before it was too late.

Wade: Mm. Mm.

I just asked why he didn't
just jump straight in
to try and help them,

and he said, "Something told me

there was something
in the water.

It wasn't safe.

Didn't want to be number four...
The fourth victim."

People who fell in the water
actually disappeared.

And we're talking water
that was...

It sounds like 3 or 4 feet deep.

Mmm.

I asked him what that
leaves him feeling like.

This was six years ago
that it happened,

and he said it's left
this sort of lingering sadness

from having lost his colleagues.

Jesunaldo's story

helps me eliminate
some potential suspects.

Piranhas can definitely
be taken off the list.

When piranhas attack, it's
an unmistakable feeding frenzy

with the water looking
as though it's boiling.

But Jesunaldo saw
only a calm surface.

Also from Jesunaldo's account,

stingrays can be struck off
the list.

If the cowboys had been
fatally stabbed by rays,

there would have been huge
amounts of blood in the water,

which he didn't see.

Jesunaldo has his own theory
about the killer's identity.

He's given me the name
of a terrifying, new suspect

for the cowboy killer.

It's a creature I've heard
about but never encountered.

Now, he says although he didn't
actually see anything,

I mean, he's pretty certain

that, you know,
this was electric eels

that caused
these three men to die.

I have a prime suspect...

A monster said to have
mythical powers

and one I always feared
I might encounter.

Now I have to try to catch one.

Known locally as poraque,

the electric eel
isn't actually an eel at all.

It's a member
of the knife fish family.

They can be found

throughout the Amazon
and Orinoco River basins.

They can grow
to over 8 feet long

and deliver a charge that's
enough to light up a house.

But is this enough to shock
a human being to death?

I've heard stories

about electric eels
killing people before,

but they've never been proven.

I've also heard of murderers

blaming electric eels
to cover their misdeeds.

But could an eel really kill
three people at one time?

I have my doubts.

There are many other animals
in these waters

that are documented killers,
such as anacondas and caimans.

Victims of these predators

bear the telltale marks
of bites or strangulation,

clues that help identify
the culprit.

A victim of electrocution
would have no such marks.

My job now is to find out
what state the cowboys' corpses

were in
when they were recovered.

To do this,

Jesunaldo has put me in contact
with a man called Hermes.

He discovered the bodies
the next day.

He tells me that the grim
search for the three bodies

started where the cowboys
disappeared.

They actually got boats
with motors in the water,

and they were driving those
around to create a disturbance.

The wash from the propellers

would churn up anything
lying below the surface.

There were no bite marks

or anything like that
on the bodies.

Having no bites is in line

with the prime suspect
being an electric eel.

And Hermes
has one final revelation

about the recovered bodies.

All three
had their hands clenched,

and inside the hands
were weed or grass

from the bottom of the water.

Clenched hands
are a telltale clue.

Wade: When a person receives
a large electric shock,

the body's muscles
begin to spasm,

which could explain
why the cowboys died

with their hands clenched.

This is all strong evidence
that an electric eel

might be responsible
for the cowboys' deaths.

But I wonder how much
real proof I'm going to find.

I've got to catch one

and see for myself
what these fish are capable of.

Normally I can see
what I'm up against...

Massive teeth, cavernous mouths,

and tails
that can fatally stab you.

The electric eel's
invisible powers

make it unlike any fish
I've gone after before.

I'm hoping to gain
some local knowledge

at the town's fish market.

The people here
are those most likely

to have come up against them.

Everywhere I look
are toothy, dangerous fish.

But electric eels
aren't on the menu.

Fishermen don't fish
for them, and the reason
they don't fish for them

is that they say
the shock is very powerful.

Wade: Electric eels, or poraque,

have been striking fear
into people's hearts

since long before Europeans
arrived in the 16th century.

Before electricity
was understood,

Brazil's indigenous Tupi people
told of a warrior

who carelessly dropped
a lightning bolt on an eel,

giving the fish
its mysterious power.

Wade: In reality, it's the eel's
specially adapted muscles

that generate the large shocks.

But does this electricity
kill somebody outright,

or do they drown
after being paralyzed?

When I tell people
about my mission to catch one,

they're in no doubt
about what will happen to me,

one way or the other.

He says it will kill you,
no two ways about it.

- No.
- No?

Don't mess with it, basically.
Don't mess with it.

When I said,
"Is it strong enough to kill?"

he said, "Yeah, absolutely.
No doubt about it."

It's looking like
it could be a bit of a mission.

I would normally try to
apprehend my suspect

at the scene of the crime,

but quite apart from the ranch
owner's sensitivities,

I'm here at the height
of the dry season.

The water levels have dropped,

and the spot where the cowboys
died is now just pasture.

All the fish

are now concentrated
in the remaining water,

in theory, making them easier
to find.

It's possible that the monster

could have moved
into the nearest big river,

the Araguaia.

One thing is playing on my mind.

Since nobody fishes
for electric eels,

I haven't been able to get any
advice on how to catch them.

I've been warned they're elusive

and tend to show up
when least expected.

All I can realistically do
is put a bait in the water

and hope an electric eel takes
it before something else does.

The thing is there's loads
of predators in these waters,

so, you know, I've got a bait
on the bottom here,

but, you know,
there's lots of other species

that could pick it up.

You know, there's no way really
to single out the electric eel.

I know I'm doing the right thing
to catch one,

but something else
could beat it to the bait.

Because I don't want to get
a nasty shock

when I catch an electric eel,
I'm taking some precautions.

The nylon line I'm using
won't conduct electricity,

so I'll be safe
while bringing it in.

Then, once I get it to the boat,

I have a thick pair
of rubber boots and gloves,

which means
I'll be able to handle it

without getting shocked.

My theory that the fish

should be more concentrated
here seems to be correct,

as something takes my bait
within a matter of minutes.

Whoa.

There's something
on the end of my line,

and it's putting up
a powerful fight.

I don't think
it's an electric eel.

It's too strong.

The back 4/5
of an electric eel's body

is mostly used
to produce electricity.

It doesn't have the muscle
to put up a struggle like this.

Ah, yeah.
You see the bubbles come out.

That's a big red-tail catfish.
Big red-tail catfish.

Out of the water,
it gulps in air,

blowing it out
through its gill flaps.

Got it.
Got it, got it, got it.

Very strong fish, but it tends
to not have the stamina.

But, I mean, another thing
to remark about this fish...

It's about 1/3 of the body
is his head.

Huge head.

Look at this.

This river
is just full of predators.

There's a big chunk of fin
missing there.

I get the fish back in the water

so it can recover
before I let it go.

This proves my point...
What I was saying earlier on.

You throw a bit of dead fish
in this river,

and there's anything
that could take it, you know?

Could be an electric eel.
That's what I was hoping for.

But, you know,
it could just as likely be

one of these red-tail catfish.

That was a great catch,

but unfortunately,
it's not the fish I'm after.

I need to find out more
about electric eels...

Anything about them
which may help me catch one.

I'm meeting up
with a fish expert

from the University of Pará...
Dr. Jonathan Reddy.

He has a couple of specimens
in a tank,

so I can get my first proper
look at an electric eel.

These fish are using

their electric capability
all the time.

They're constantly sending out
little pulses.

Smaller eels like these
deliver a less-powerful shock

than the larger ones, but
they can still pack a punch.

Wearing protective
rubber gloves,

Jonathan shows me this

by hooking one up
to a bank of LEDs

It lights them up using muscles

that have been modified
into thousands of special cells

which work in a similar way
to "AA" batteries.

Each individual cell generates
around 1/10 of a volt,

but when they all fire together,

a large pulse is produced.

It uses this high voltage
to shock prey and for defense.

So, this voltage is
just for a very short while...

400, 500 volts.

And the bigger eels...

They're known to be up to
600 volts, maybe even above.

That's almost the same
as the voltage

produced
by a heart defibrillator.

Electric eels also generate

a low-energy pulse
of around 10 volts

which they use to survey
their surroundings,

helping to compensate
for their poor eyesight.

It can see even in muddy water
by using its electroreceptors

to detect distortions
in its electrical field.

A pulse is emitted
every few seconds,

and these can be picked up by
placing electrodes in the water

and amplifying the signal.

There. You see?

A wave of signals

as they try and work out
what's going on.

So, my finger in there
wouldn't feel this.

- It's only...
- You wouldn't feel this.

Small, orienting pulses
are harmless.

But the bigger shocks are
up to 65 times more powerful

and can travel through water.

When they're about
to stun something,

do you get much warning
if they're gonna do that?
- Yes.

Do I hear a...

You will get some kind
of warning,

but it might not be too much
for you to react in time.

There you go.

No problems.

No shock this time.

I'm hoping this equipment

will help me locate them
in the wild.

Wade: Electric eels
are proving to be very elusive,

and large rivers
have too many places to hide.

A farmer called Milton
knows the perfect place

where electric eels
could be trapped.

I'm going to fish in
a small lake which got cut off

when the water levels dropped
at the start of the dry season.

It's 3 miles inland
from the Araguaia,

so he gives me and my boat
a lift.

Electric eels come up for air
every 10 to 15 minutes.

They get 80% of their oxygen

by absorbing it through
blood vessels in the mouth.

If I pick up a signal and wait,

I'll know
I'm in the right position

to spot one
when it comes up to breathe.

Now, there was something
just surfaced...

Made some rings
just by that bit of wood there,

which could have been an
electric eel coming up for air.

I'm not hearing anything.

I've swept the entire lake
with no success.

Well, this equipment
worked very well in the tank,

but it's not really picking up
anything here

that I can recognize as being
definitely electric eel,

so I think I'm gonna return
to doing what I know best,

and that is getting
a line in the water.

Next to the lake
is a small pond.

Milton tells me it's full of
a toothy fish called trahira,

which he says is good for bait.

He gives me a bamboo rod to
catch them as the locals do.

Most fishing,
you're being quite stealthy.

You're creeping up.

You're putting the bait
in the water quietly.

Trahira are very inquisitive.

They lie in shallow water,

and if they hear a sound,

rather than head
in the opposite direction,

they actually come
and investigate.

Ah!

That's a trahira.

Those teeth are probably almost
as vicious as a piranha's.

It's a bit gap-toothed,
but those teeth are very sharp.

That's a start
towards getting some bait.

Unlike electric eels,

trahira are proving
incredibly easy to catch.

They're also very slippery.

It's like a bar of soap
with teeth.

Oh!

Progress stops when my hook

gets caught
on an underwater branch.

I'm not prepared for what I find

at the end of my snagged line.

Oh, oh, oh, oh!

But it's a case
of mistaken identity.

It's actually
not an electric eel.

That is an eel.

Wade: This is a masoom.

It may look like a true eel,

but it is, in fact,
another elongated fish.

For a moment there,
I was worried.

I saw this long, snakelike thing
on the line,

and I wasn't hanging around
to have a close look.

I was out of the water.

If this was an electric eel
this size,

that could be potentially fatal.

Strange sort of admission
to make.

I'm actually glad that wasn't
the fish that I was after.

I'm not having much luck
catching an electric eel.

It's proving far harder
to find than I expected.

But I've gotten word
of another attack,

and I'm heading out
to investigate.

It happened in 2007
on a farm near Vila Nova,

where a 21-year-old farm worker
called Francisco

died in a small pond.

I've traveled there to meet up
with his friend, Fernando,

the only witness
to Francisco's last moments.

Francisco had only been working
at the farm for two weeks

when he decided to go fishing
in a nearby pond.

Fernando warned him about the
electric eels he'd seen there,

but Francisco carried on anyway.

They were fishing
with a sort of basket.

You go in the water,

and you run this
along the bottom of the pond,

and then you see if you got
any fish in the basket.

And he said, you know,
they tried a couple of times.

Hadn't caught anything.

Fernando was staying
on the bank.

He didn't want to get
in the water.

On the third scoop
of the basket...

Francisco disappeared.

And, so what he did...
He ran for help,

came back with two other people,

and when they got there,
there was no sign of anybody,

no sign of Francisco.

They started searching
for his body

by dragging a wooden hoe
through the water.

Eventually, Francisco's body
rose to the surface

with a macabre addition.

The body of the eel was wrapped
around the boy's body.

Only when it was pulled
right into the shallows

did it actually then disappear
back into the water.

Now Fernando's saying that, like
me, you know, he'd heard stories

that this is a fish that's
capable of killing people,

but he didn't
really believe that,

hadn't heard
anything very definite,

and so when he saw
what actually did happen,

he said
he almost didn't believe it.

I've never heard of a situation

of someone being killed
by a fish

in such a small volume of water.

But the other thing
that really struck me

was that unlike the case of the
three cowboys who were killed...

I mean, here there was
absolutely no doubt

what animal was responsible.

There was a 100% positive I.D.

You know, this was an electric
eel that killed Francisco.

Finally, clear evidence
of an electric eel

causing a human death.

What I don't know, though,

is whether victims drown
after being shocked

or die from electrocution.

I've tracked down
Dr. Evo Panovich,

the pathologist who performed
Francisco's autopsy.

So, I just asked Dr. Panovich
a simple question...

Is the electric eel capable
of killing a human being?

And the answer...
A very clear yes.

He goes on to tell me
exactly how Francisco died.

It sounds like it was actually
really... the heart was stopped.

So, instead of actually
contracting strongly

to circulate the blood,

it had gone into some kind
of fibrillation.

In that kind of situation,
you know,

drowning is almost secondary.

The immediate cause of the death
was the electricity of the fish.

This is exactly the evidence
I've been searching for.

There's only one thing
left to do...

Catch the culprit without
ending up on Dr. Evo's slab.

The locals tell me
electric eels lurk here.

I'm wearing
my protective rubber boots,

and the rubber gloves are on
standby in case I catch one.

I've just seen
something surface.

I've also ditched
my carbon-fiber rod

in favor of a bamboo pole...

Perfect for small ponds
like this

and with the added advantage

that it won't conduct
electricity.

It's trahira.
Whoops.

Once again, aggressive trahira

are proving no problem to catch.

Actually thought that might have
been an electric eel

because the take was not
characteristic of trahira.

Trahira makes a very sort
of jagged, quick take.

That was quite fiddly,
and the line going out slowly,

so I thought it might have been
an electric eel,

but another trahira.

Wade: I'm becoming
increasingly frustrated...

because the final question
still lingers...

Is one eel capable
of killing three men?

Little is known
about electric-eel behavior,

so just seeing one in the wild,
never mind catching one,

might help me answer
this last question.

I know now
that this is an animal

that's capable
of killing people.

It's got nothing to fear
from other animals,

and at times it certainly seems
to be pretty bold,

but, you know, where are they?

I think, you know,

I've got to give this
some real serious thought

about what I do now

if I'm actually to succeed
in catching one of these things.

The electric eel's elusiveness

isn't the only thing
going against me.

It was on a night like this
when, according to Tupi legend,

the ancestral electric eel
received its heaven-sent powers

when a lightning bolt
was dropped on it.

But the rain that's falling
for the first time in months

is about to make my job
much harder.

Soon the eels
will no longer be concentrated

in the shallow dry-season ponds.

I was getting close, but with
this, you know, it could mean

that my window of opportunity
is rapidly closing.

It could actually be too late.
This could ruin it.

This could mean that I actually
don't find my electric eel.

The water is rising,

and all the small ponds
and waterways

are starting to link up again,
allowing the eels to disperse.

This makes
an already elusive creature

nearly impossible to find.

My best option is to travel east

to where the rains
haven't yet hit.

I fish as I go,

but I'm still catching
everything but an electric eel.

This is a thing
called a fidalgo.

It's a type of catfish.

Not an electric eel.

My last hope is an area
just southwest of Maraba,

where it's still tinder dry and
fires are burning everywhere.

The water here
is at its absolute lowest.

And at daybreak, I'll have the
best chance I'm going to get

before the rains sweep in.

After asking around,
I get a promising lead

about a tiny pool right in
the middle of cattle pasture.

It's more like a mud puddle...

The last place I'd expect
to find a river monster.

Finally, after 10 days
of searching,

a giant electric eel
is right in front of me.

That looked like
just one of these branches,

one of these roots.

That is an electric eel.
It's a big one.

Now I've got to work up
the nerve to catch it.

I'm just making
a bit of a trench.

From my point of view,
it'll be easier to handle

if there's some kind of
sort of notch that it's in

rather than
its being able to slip

and slide all over the place.

My normal capture method

would be useless
in water this shallow,

so out goes the rod
and in comes a lasso...

Fitting for cowboy country.

Because electric eels don't
rely on physical strength,

pulling it out of the water
shouldn't be that hard.

But not getting shocked will be,

so protective clothing
is essential.

We've got a plan.

The plan is not so much

to sort of go after the head
with the noose,

but to position that and then
get it to go through the noose.

Just taking a few deep breaths
because one slip

and, you know,
it could be very nasty, indeed.

Need to be so focused
and so careful about this.

An eel this size can deliver
a shock of 650 volts.

That's enough to stop my heart
in seconds.

First go! Amazing!
First go!

Electric eels can keep on
shocking out of water,

but the rubber gloves we're
wearing protect us from this.

Look at the colors
on this thing.

These are...
I got to get it clean.

That is... it's doing - it looks
like a muscle contraction...

Spasm, almost... and that's
when it's actually shocking.

Wade: Because electric eels

get most of their oxygen
from breathing air,

they can stay out of water
for long periods of time.

That's 5'10 1/2".

That's pretty much
exactly the same as me.

This is exactly the same size

as the eel
that killed Francisco,

the 21-year-old man who died
in a tiny pond near Vila Nova.

Wade: If I wasn't wearing
these rubber gloves,

I could be dead, too.

It's over 100 degrees,

and I don't want the fish
to overheat,

so time it went
back in the water.

Whoa.

The pond may be shallow
at the moment,

but the rains
are not far behind me.

The waters will soon rise,

giving this eel the freedom
to roam once again.

My search led me
to this tiny, drying-out puddle.

I mean, the water in there
is barely 6 inches deep.

It's the last place you'd expect
to find a river monster,

but that's where it was.

There's more.
There's more.

There's more.

It's not just this big one.
There's...

Again, it looks like wood,
but it's started moving.

We're watching it,

and it looks like there's
actually several, but smaller,

right in with these roots here.

I've just never seen
anything like this before.

It's like a tangle of bodies.

I'm just trying to count
the heads.

The more I look, the more I see.

I was thinking 10 or a dozen.

I think there could be 20
down here.

This is an incredible discovery

and answers the final question
about how the cowboys died.

Wade: I believe a group
of electric eels like this

was trapped in a pool
over the dry season.

When the rains came,
the water levels got higher,

until the eels could all leave
into the swelling waterways.

It was in these waterways where
the trio of unlucky cowboys

came across them...

after their startled horses
threw them into the water.

Each one of these eels
could deliver a fatal shock,

so a group of 20

would easily be capable
of killing the cowboys.

This journey has once again
proved to me

that there's no end
to lethal river monsters

and that they can be found
anywhere.

Who knows
where I'll find one next?