Thursday, September 11, 2008

DESTINATION TRUTH - Yowie & Haunted Mosque

SciFi Channel - Original Air Date: 9/3/08

Josh and company go south to the Australia to look for the Yowie, a legendary bigfoot-like creature.  They compile details from reports and then plan their expedition down under.  Will they have the same "success" they had looking for Yeti?  They head into Australia's Blue Mountains, a land of hills, forests, and cliffs.  Like bigfoot, the yowie allegedly break branches and then throw rocks to scare off intruders.  Eyewitnesses tell similar stories to US bigfoot encounters, and the crew collects some shreded bark for possible DNA samples.  To enter the yowie's territory, Josh and crew must rappel down a 200' cliff -- once again proving this show's "adventure" credentials.  Then they trek through wet jungles filled with some of the world's most deadly snakes.  Come nightfall -- when eyewitnesses have seen the creature -- they start investigating, as they say, "You don't find yowies; yowies find you."  Something starts throwing rocks at our heroes, and the thermal picks up a large shape walking near the edge of the cliff.  Josh can't catch it, though, and we're left with just a tantalizing shape, an "eye" shine caught on one of the crew's perimeter cameras, and some shredded tree bark.  Unfortunately, the DNA tests turn up nil, so they're left with only mysteries.

The haunted mosque is deep in the jungles north of Malaysia's capital and boasts a fearsome reputation.  After braving land leeches and gross food, they head up river into the predator-filled jungle.  According to local legend, the female spirit that haunts the mosque will only appear to lone men who go in the mosque in the darkness.  Drawing straws to see who will take the first shift, and the "winner" is Suzanne -- who's not too pleased about it.  Yet, her time in the mosque is uneventful.  None of the men were so lucky.  Casey quickly starts creeping out and sees a "white figure" on the road outside, though the team is all accounted for.  Josh investigates but finds no figure.  Inside, though, the videotape picks up a strange black shadow; that's enough for Casey and he leaves 23 minutes into his half hours shift.  Josh is next and keeps hearing things, including a door opening noise (caught on tape).  "I would bet my life that there is somebody here right now," Josh says just before he leaves the empty building.  Though the mosque is about to fall over, Josh swears the sounds seemed deliberate. As the next man waits, two researchers prowl around and are scared by a strange growling sound in the jungle -- which they insist was not an animal (despite the possibilities of tigers).  In the end, they end up with a strange glowing light (bug, Josh suggests) caught on tape, the mysterious shadow, and a couple of EVPs: a tone and a "human" hum.  Plus, of course the creaking door.  But it was the individual encounters leaves Josh feeling that the abandoned mosque may not be abandoned at all.

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