Destination America is becoming a network that seems heavily focused on paranormal programming. In February, the network debuted the new series True Supernatural, Ghosts in My House and Ghostly Encounters, and the channel has a backlog of other monster- and ghost-related programs in its library. One of those series that has been a hit — and, in fact, is Destination America’s No. 1 series, according to the network — has been Mountain Monsters, and Mountain Monsters Season 3 begins on March 7.
Mountain Monsters Season 3 is billed as a “Bigfoot Edition,” and kicks off with eight episodes featuring the pursuit of Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) across the region (the second half of the 16-episode season will air later this year). The show again finds the men of the Appalachian Investigators of Mysterious Sightings (AIMS) — Trapper, Jeff, Willy, Wild Bill, Huckleberry and Buck — seeking legendary creatures. This season, as the series’ subtitle indicates, the team will be looking more for Sasquatch-type creatures in various areas of Appalachia, where locals have various names for the apelike beasts they claim to see, from “Midnight Whistlers” to the “Wildman.”
In the season premiere of Mountain Monsters: Bigfoot Edition, AIMS begins its efforts to prove the existence of Bigfoot in central Kentucky, where they believe that the Midnight Whistlers reported there were the first variation of Bigfoot to emerge from the Mammoth Cave system 3,000 years ago. The Midnight Whistlers, as you might expect, draw their name from the ear-piercing whistle they are said to emit. According to a Mountain Monsters release, “The AIMS team goes hot on the trail of one Midnight Whistler after discovering the most elaborate and massive nest they’ve seen to date and must construct a customized trap large enough to contain this 8-foot tall monster.” If nothing else, “Midnight Whistlers” is going on my shortlist of what I’m going to call my fantasy football team next year.
Other upcoming episodes include the following, some of which, while having “Bigfoot” in their titles, don’t necessarily appear to be even focusing on a Bigfoot, but rather a Hellhound or a Chupacabra. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
“Bigfoot of Putnam County” March 14 at 10pm
The AIMS team heads to Putnam County, WV after the legendary Chupacabra, known as the West Virginia Vampire. Thought to originally be from Costa Rica, this four-foot-tall, sharply fanged creature has migrated North to Appalachia and is killing indiscriminately and terrifying the locals. But the mystery soon deepens when the team learns that the victims’ bodies are vanishing after the blood has been sucked out of them.
“Bigfoot of Eastern Kentucky” — March 21 at 10pm
The AIMS team continues their quest to prove that Bigfoot exists in Appalachia as they head to Eastern Kentucky after the “Wildman” thought to be the most dangerous and aggressive Bigfoot in the region.
“Bigfoot of Lincoln County” — March 28 at 10pm
The AIMS team is out for revenge as they head back after the “Hellhound” who evaded them in the cornfields of Kentucky last autumn and left a terrible taste in their mouth. This time this deadly K-9 has reemerged in Lincoln, WV, and seems to again be using cornfields as cover to travel undetected from farm to farm.
It’s probably unlikely that AIMS will have any more luck proving the existence of Bigfoot than the gang on Animal Planet’s Finding Bigfoot has had, but folks on all of these shows should start heeding the words of advice we heard from one of our readers regarding these series: “You need to get a monster soon or I am gone.”
Mountain Monsters: Bigfoot Edition airs Saturdays at 10pm ET on Destination America beginning March 7. Eight episodes will air, with the second half of the season premiering later in 2015.
RELATED: INTERVIEW WITH JOHN “TRAPPER” TICE OF “MOUNTAIN MONSTERS”
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Jason Elias/Destination America