TV Review: Destination Truth 3.07 – “Haunted Lost City/Thunderbird”

Episode: Destination Truth 3.07 – “Haunted Lost City/Thunderbird”
Original Air Date: October 21, 2009

In this episode, the team investigates a Pre-Columbian Incan city lost in the wilds of Peru and trek the frozen landscape of Alaska in search of the thunderbird. I was super excited for the thunderbird part of the show, but it feels like the momentum of the show is starting to peter out a lot in these last few episode (not much in the way of anything happened, not even crazy time with the locals).

First up is an abandoned city in Peru. A fellow adventurer/Dom DeLuise’s ghost had reported a “lost” city two miles high in the Andes that was abandoned by the Incas before the Spanish rolled into town. Story goes that they buried their gold/jewels before hightailing it out of Dodge, so of course it’s an interesting site to certain people. Nearby locals claim to hear a “phantom” bell tower ringing in the night and see figures made of light. They avoid the site altogether and are really terrified of it.

The team gets to Lima, and Josh meets with the guy who “discovered” the lost city. After that, they head to the village near the city to talk with the locals and get transport (i.e., donkeys and horses). They talk to one old guy who makes the same claims of everyone hearing the bell and seeing the figures of light. They spend the night in the village’s “hotel,” where they get to sleep on bare mattresses on the floor and use a shower head that’s connected to a bare light bulb by a bare electrical wire.

The next morning, they get a few guides and some transportation. On the ride up to the city, the animals are not happy about where they’re going or what they’re being made to do. Eventually, they refuse to get any closer (Gabe’s horse throws him), and the local guides have decided they don’t really want to help the team to the city anymore. This forces the team to hike the rest of the way up the mountain.

They finally get there, and the initial sweep gets a thermal hit on/near a group of trees and a cooing/whooping noise is heard by all of the team members (which kind of sounded like an owl to me). While out there, Josh steps into a tunnel opening. They get a camera down there to look around (hello, there might be gold), but there are tunnels all over the place and they’re caving in. The team doesn’t have the proper equipment to investigate them at that point.

While they camera/EVP the tunnel, Sharra sees something pass really close to one of the infrared cameras (it was too close to get a good look at it). After they move on from the tunnels, they find the remains of a structure that they assume is the bell tower the locals kept talking about. So they do some EVP there before they pack up and leave. The evidence they get is almost nil: the sounds they heard are ruled out as possible animal noises, while one EVP produces inconclusive sounds and the other sounds like actual words. They take the video image to Steve and Tango from Ghost Hunters, where the thermal hit on the trees is inconclusive but the infrared seems of possible interest (but doesn’t show anything).

Next, the team heads to Manokotak, Alaska to search for the thunderbird (why the composite model has teeth and a beak is beyond me). Everyone in Alaska seems to have had an encounter with the thunderbird, as all the people they talk to have a story. They get to talk to a pilot that actually has a sighting story and got published in real newspapers.

They stop at a local store and suit up like extras from John Carpenter’s The Thing, and hop on some snowmobiles to reach Manokotak. Josh’s reaction to the guides is hilarious (one is packing heat, and the other has a fox on his head, but it’s not shaped like a hat). Of course, Bicha wrecks his snowmobile (totally flips it) on their way out there. Once in Manokotak (which is a native town), they are welcomed and given “Eskimo Ice Cream” to taste. After the taste testing and chatting about the thunderbird, the team sets up out where the locals claim to have seen the birds.

With wolves and frostbite to worry about, they set up camp and start walking around the frozen woods. They hear branches and twigs breaking near camp and walk around to check things out. Could have just been the weight of the snow on the trees, but Rex falls to the ground when he thinks he sees something fly 50-100 feet about the trees. Almost all of the team heads out to that spot, where they hear more noises and catch something on the thermal that was probably a wolf. They also catch something flying over the tree line on one of the infrared cameras before they pack up.

Again, they don’t get evidence of anything other than that there are things in the wilderness that eat meat when you leave it laying around out there. A consultation with their animal expert brings the Steller’s Sea Eagle out as a possible explanation for the thunderbird (it has a wingspan of 10 feet).

Rating: 2.5 / 5 Stars