Is Bigfoot real? If it is then is it an animal or a supernatural being? These are two episodes that feature Li Kim’s search for Bigfoot in Malaysia. Alleged footprints of this illusive creature have been sighted in Johor, south of Peninsular Malaysia, in the recent years, notwithstanding the findings of Harold Stephens in Endau in 1974. A prominent Bigfoot researcher from North America, John Green, said that only scientific data and tabulation can be accepted and not the myths and legends of the natives. However, if natives from different continents unconnected by time and technology tell the same story, perhaps there is scientific truth in their legends. In this two-part adventure, Li Kim will explore the nocturnal habitat of Bigfoot with the natives while seeking answers from world-renowned primatologist, Dr Jane Goodall, on the existence of Bigfoot.
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TVTranscript
00:00 In 1974, Harold Stevens, an American author known for his explorations of World War II
00:06 and other world travels and adventures,
00:08 discovered large footprints along the sandy riverbank of Sungai Kinchan in Johor, Malaysia.
00:13 The natives who were part of the expedition confirmed that the prints were that of the Orang Dalam
00:20 or what is commonly known as Bigfoot.
00:22 This became a landmark case internationally for many Bigfoot researchers
00:28 that sparked the possibility for this mysterious creature to exist in the rainforest of Malaysia.
00:33 But, is Bigfoot real?
00:35 [Music]
01:04 [Music]
01:12 Tonight, Sewong is partly that we've asked for him to bring Nkuk into our midst.
01:20 [Music]
01:25 Is Nkuk has arrived?
01:27 In fact, he knows that we are talking about him now.
01:32 Many of us have seen his footprints everywhere.
01:35 Pak Sathe hesitated.
01:37 He said that it is not easy to meet the Orang Tuar Jarang Gigi
01:41 and it is not up to us to demand when we want to see him.
01:44 In my investigations thus far, the local Bigfoot is spoken of as a mythical spirit being of the natives,
01:51 rather than a primate.
01:52 I am at the Department of Zoology of a Malaysian university
01:56 to speak to a paleontologist, Mr Lim Shen, on his understanding of the Bigfoot phenomenon.
02:01 [Music]
02:04 There has been much news about sightings of Bigfoot in terms of footprints inside the deep forest,
02:13 the way branches are broken seems to show a presence of Bigfoot.
02:19 The evidence that you mentioned, like footprints, branches that have been broken,
02:25 these could equally be explained by some other large animals like elephants,
02:31 which are quite common in some of the forested areas in Peninsular Malaysia.
02:36 But the elephant footprint is kind of roundish, right?
02:41 But the footprints that have been found or put on newspaper
02:46 seems to be that of kind of an extended human-like footprint.
02:51 Yes, it may be true and it may be a sub-triangular shape, a long shape,
02:59 but there is another kind of animals which can produce such a footprint like the Malayan sun bear,
03:05 or it could be two oval-shaped footprints of elephants overlapped with one another,
03:13 creating double oval shapes which might appear like a big human footprint.
03:21 Do you see a reconciliation of this scientific information and sightings by Orang Asli?
03:28 It could happen in the future, but it has been years that we want to look for proof,
03:35 hard evidence in the forest about the existence of Bigfoot.
03:40 What people have sighted, a tall creature between 7 to 10 feet tall, hairy, without a tail.
03:48 It is a consistent description of the Bigfoot. What's your opinion on that?
03:52 As a paleontologist, I look at the fossils and we have found lots of fossils of some very rare animals.
04:00 And if you say the Bigfoot exists, I can't even find the fossils of it,
04:05 which may suggest the existence of Bigfoot.
04:08 We understand Bigfoot as a big primate.
04:13 Then I think that the closest fossils that I have ever found are Orang Hutan's fossils.
04:18 So there might be a possibility that Orang Hutan survived into historical period in peninsular Malaysia
04:27 and leave their imprints in the memory of the local Orang Asli legends and oral traditions.
04:35 Did the Orang Asli really see Bigfoot or was it merely Orang Hutan mixed with local stories and mythology?
04:41 I just received a call from Pak Satay whom I met earlier regarding his Bigfoot encounters.
04:48 I requested for him to take my team and I to look for and hopefully to meet his version of what amounts to Bigfoot.
04:54 It is unfortunate that Pak Satay has fallen ill mysteriously and cannot assist us.
04:58 I find it difficult to accept as he was healthy and fit when I met him just recently.
05:03 Did Pak Satay ultimately get permission from Orang Tua or Bigfoot for our meeting?
05:09 Pak Satay's premature withdrawal from our research is rather disappointing.
05:13 Should I still pursue further with this investigation?
05:17 I have learned that while most people are open to the existence of ghosts and spirits that infest the forest,
05:22 the moment I speak of Bigfoot, they are highly sceptical and do not believe that it is real.
05:27 Why are we open to accepting and believing in ghosts more than the reality of Bigfoot?
05:31 And through this line of thought, it has brought me to meet Charles Goh,
05:35 the co-founder of Asia Paranormal Investigators Singapore,
05:38 who conducted two Bigfoot expeditions in Johor, Malaysia in 2006.
05:43 From this research and this expedition to Johor, what did you find out?
05:51 And who were the people you interviewed?
05:54 Well, first we ploughed out the various locations where Bigfoot is found.
05:58 We tried to visit those locations around Johor area, Kahang area.
06:03 We went to Tanjong Piang where we found actually that there is a ridge,
06:07 a mountain ridge that connects all these states together,
06:10 which means that a creature could actually travel along the top of the mountain and then visit other parts.
06:16 You know, it's possible.
06:17 Second was we tried to look for the eyewitness based on the reports.
06:24 Of course, we were looking for Ah Mae, the fisherman who was catching frog when he saw Bigfoot.
06:28 We were looking for Ah Long who saw Bigfoot rubbing, who was woken up by Bigfoot at night.
06:34 We were trying to look for people who may have seen it as well.
06:38 We went to look for a watchman who was handicapped, who was watching a control tower
06:47 and then he reported this Bigfoot creature and he got sacked on the job.
06:50 Very credible people who said that they saw something.
06:53 This is actually a cast of a Bigfoot print that was given to me as appreciation by Wignor after our Bigfoot expedition to Nthawapin.
07:02 We've seen a monkey without a tail. It's about six foot tall and it walks upright.
07:16 I flew for two hours in a very small plane over forests with no roads.
07:21 It was very, very remote, down towards the border with Brazil.
07:25 And we landed with one of these little communities and the interpreter, I said to him,
07:31 "Could you ask the hunters?"
07:33 All I said was, "Have they seen a monkey without a tail?"
07:37 That's all I said, "A monkey without a tail."
07:40 So no talk of Bigfoot, nothing like that.
07:43 And the answer eventually came back. Three of the hunters said,
07:46 "Yes, we've seen a monkey without a tail. It's about six foot tall and it walks upright."
07:52 And when they were relating their experience to you,
08:01 is Bigfoot a creature or an animal or is it a supernatural being
08:09 that perhaps they are looking at it from a spiritual point of view?
08:13 When they described, they got mixed up with what they learned maybe as a kid
08:18 or from their own folklore, what they see with their eyes and what the current world perceives.
08:24 When I interviewed Ah Meh, the fisherman who had a stand-off with Bigfoot,
08:28 in the beginning he was telling me Bigfoot is supposed to be this tall.
08:32 And then on the second interview he was saying that,
08:34 "No, people were telling me Bigfoot is supposed to be taller, it's supposed to be bigger,"
08:37 and that kind of thing. So they get confused.
08:40 Over time, more local established belief will overtake what they actually saw.
08:46 So do you think therefore, the orang asli's account or experience is reliable?
08:59 I would say that the basic idea that they saw something is there, right?
09:06 But the end result of what they described to me could be a bit grey.
09:12 Based on what Charles Goh explained about witness statements,
09:27 I wonder how we are able to ensure that our investigation is objective.
09:33 Basically, what for me is more of information gathering,
09:37 and then trying to map it out together with the rest of the sightings from other areas.
09:42 And then trying to go into the historical aspect of it.
09:46 How do typical Malaysians perceive of Bigfoot?
09:49 Have they ever seen a gorilla? Do they know what is an orang utang?
09:53 How does it look like?
09:54 Or the sun bear.
09:55 Or the sun bear, yes.
10:00 I would say that Malaysia is big, it's full of forests.
10:03 Modern man is coming face to face with nature and they don't know what is it.
10:08 This is actually a cast of a Bigfoot print that was given to me as appreciation by Rick Nor
10:14 after our Bigfoot expedition to Andaman.
10:17 So this is actually taken by a sheriff of the state of Washington in 1982.
10:22 When he went there to investigate a report of Bigfoot.
10:26 It's the same print and yet in a slightly variation so that it is on the move.
10:31 It's not like somebody take a piece of board with a print on it and just step on it.
10:35 But if you look at this print, what the orang asli seem to have witnessed doesn't look very close to this.
10:42 In fact, in both sightings, they never describe the feet.
10:48 They describe the height, they describe the face.
10:51 He was always standing far away, closest of Ah Meh staring incident is 15 metres away.
10:57 So 15 metres, they can't see the feet.
11:00 After talking to Charles Goh, who is an objective and passionate researcher
11:15 and understanding more about the characteristics of orang asli and their mindset,
11:20 I have decided to meet again with the youngest son of Papa Kais, Pak Acai in Johor.
11:25 I would like to ask him to take us to meet the orang tua Jarang Gigi
11:29 since his elder brother, Pak Satay, has fallen ill.
11:44 From what I understand, Pak Acai, there is a relationship between your father,
11:51 Pak Kais, and what you call the orang tua Jarang Gigi
11:58 that maybe some of us will relate to as Bigfoot.
12:01 My father, Pak Kais, is very close friends with Dato' Pulupaya or orang tua Jarang Gigi.
12:10 My father was a healer or a shaman of the village.
12:14 When he sleeps, he dreams about Dato' Jarang Gigi and he even meets him in person.
12:20 Dato' offers help, assistance and guidance to my father to do his healing work.
12:26 When my father was ill, Dato' requested that we send him to a secret place where he would heal my father.
12:33 It was a special place specified by him and nowhere else.
12:37 It's really quite intriguing that the father of Pak Acai has such a close relationship with this orang tua Jarang Gigi.
12:50 And the description that we understand sounds like what we commonly know as the Bigfoot.
13:01 I have asked if Pak Acai could take us to the sacred spot where Dato' Jarang Gigi or Bigfoot performed the healing rituals for his father.
13:08 After much consideration, he finally agreed.
13:11 There are Native Americans who consider him to be a spiritual, supernatural being.
13:26 The Bigfoot
13:31 The Bigfoot
13:36 This is actually a cast of a Bigfoot print that was given to me as appreciation by a big law.
13:42 We've seen a monkey with an elephant tail. It's about 6ft tall and it walks upright.
13:48 The Bigfoot
13:53 Pak Acai is now leading me to the sacred and mysterious location selected by Dato' Jarang Gigi to heal Baba Kais.
14:03 It is a 30-minute hike into the forest using the trails of wild animals.
14:10 After preparing the necessary items for Dato' Jarang Gigi, Pak Acai started to chant the invocations to call upon him
14:18 and to inform him that we would like to meet and experience his presence amongst us.
14:23 The Bigfoot
14:28 (Chanting)
14:31 (Chanting)
14:34 (Chanting)
14:37 (Chanting)
14:40 (Chanting)
15:08 The cloth is symbolic of purity, that's why it's white.
15:12 And by hanging it up, he's informing when he's calling for help of orang tua
15:17 that they are sincere with their intentions for calling him for help.
15:21 (Chanting)
15:27 (Chanting)
15:34 (Chanting)
15:59 More than two hours have passed and we received zero signals from Dato' Jarang Gigi.
16:04 But we continued waiting and hoping, and then something happened.
16:09 Pak Acai just told me that he had also heard a whistle sound from the right side.
16:28 Very soft, it was underneath the sound of...
16:32 I actually don't know what it would be, but those loud sounds you hear of nature and this.
16:40 And the whistle sound was very similar to the sound that Pak Acai had said in the beginning of the ritual.
16:49 And I heard the same whistle from this side, and I thought it was just me, but he heard the same too.
16:55 So it's quite interesting.
16:58 Did Dato' Jarang Gigi or Bigfoot really make an appearance upon being summoned by Pak Acai?
17:05 Was the sound that Pak Acai and I heard by Dato' Jarang Gigi?
17:08 We have two witnesses, Rosie and Tina, who also heard a strange sound
17:12 as we were entering the forest heading to the sacred spot.
17:15 Can you give an example what it sounded like?
17:18 It sounded like someone sighing, like "Aham".
17:23 It was a very harsh sound.
17:26 It sounded like a human voice, but not as clear as ours.
17:30 It sounded only once.
17:32 It was very loud, but it wasn't deep.
17:35 It was like "Ahh", but it wasn't too.
17:39 It was different. I can't imitate the sound.
17:42 It didn't sound like a tiger. It was something that I have never heard before.
17:48 It was very dark and the narrow paths were filled with broken twigs, vines and aggressive insects.
17:54 The most surprising thing was that Pak Acai got lost,
17:57 despite his long experience hiking in this forest.
18:00 We walked in circles for a good 20 minutes.
18:03 What happened that night?
18:05 Maybe there was something mystical in the forest that confused Pak Acai.
18:08 But was it Dato' Jarang Gigi or Bigfoot?
18:11 I also noticed a rather peculiar fact about the herd of elephants who lived in this forest.
18:16 Walking around the forest, I just had a realisation.
18:19 I observed a lot of elephant feces.
18:22 We all know how big elephants are and they move around with their family members.
18:27 Yet, there is not much tremendous damage to the trees.
18:33 Which then makes me think, it is also very possible how Bigfoot can actually move around a forest and not easily get caught.
18:44 I have also spoken to an extraordinary Bigfoot enthusiast who is a Buddhist high monk,
18:49 His Eminence Sam Rinpoche, who shared with me similar research recordings
18:54 of authentic unidentified sounds in the deep forest,
18:57 footprints with dermal ridges and Bigfoot from different cultures.
19:02 They have recorded unusual sounds in the woods, in the forests.
19:08 These sounds are not identifiable to people who have intimate knowledge of the forest and animals.
19:15 They give these recorded sounds to a professional lab.
19:19 The sounds are not artificially generated, but they match no known human or animal vocalisation.
19:28 What evidence have you come across that actually tells you, yes, Bigfoot is real, without a doubt?
19:35 What really made me go inside, wow, it is something that can be indirectly proven, was that of Bigfoot.
19:44 When very learned primatologists study these footprints under a magnifying glass,
19:52 and they look carefully, there are dermal ridges.
19:56 You see, primates have dermal ridges, humans have dermal ridges.
20:01 And on humans, the dermal ridges are horizontal.
20:06 But for Bigfoot casts, they are vertical.
20:10 So therefore, when they found these casts, and they discovered dermal ridges,
20:15 it is impossible to think that these are something that has been faked by an expert.
20:20 Could Bigfoot be a supernatural being?
20:23 It depends on what culture you come from.
20:25 If you come from the Tibetan culture, they don't consider him a supernatural being.
20:31 They consider him to be within the animal species, although, albeit, a higher form of animal.
20:37 But in the American Indian folklore, there are Native Americans who consider him to be a spiritual, supernatural being.
20:47 I personally don't feel Bigfoot is something, kind of a mystical being.
20:52 I feel he's mysterious, because we can't find him yet.
20:56 I will be honest. I was expecting more tangible results.
21:05 However, what was more personally challenging was not giving up in my pursuit of understanding Bigfoot.
21:15 I am thankful for his eminence, Sam Rinpoche, for what he shared, as well as Charles Goh.
21:21 How do typical Malaysians perceive a Bigfoot?
21:25 Modern man is coming face to face with nature, and they don't know what it is.
21:31 If you come from the Tibetan culture, they consider him a higher form of animal.
21:35 There are Native Americans who consider him to be a spiritual, supernatural being.
21:41 So, I have come to conclude, the existence of Bigfoot, whether you've seen it or not,
21:48 connects us to something more than the ordinary.
21:52 A mysterious dimension, or another mode of existence.
21:57 What can I say but the simple fact that there is more to life.
22:11 [Music]
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