Destination Truth: Ghosts of Cannibal Village Kapre and The Delicacy of Balut!

Welcome Destination Truth Fans! 

And Hang On!  Joshua Gates, Erin Ryder and Team Truth are taking us with them to the Island of Fiji in search of ghosts, then we will travel to a remote area in the Philippines in search of a bipedal monster! 

Join us here and every week to see our recap of Team Truth’s travels!  In case your just now tuning in, we have new members of Team Truth this year and here’s a link so you can get to know them!

Enjoy my review of “Ghosts of Cannibal Village; Kapre”.

Destination Truth Ghosts of Cannibal Village

This week we jump right in with Team Truth and head to Fiji to try to uncover evidence regarding an English Missionary, Reverend Thomas Baker, and his followers who tried to convert a tribal village in the Fiji jungles to Christianity. 

They met the Tribal Leader and spent the night in the Village only to be be killed and eaten the next morning.  They had all been ripped limb from limb and devoured by the Cannibal Villagers.

Modern day decedents of the Villagers believe that the Spirits of Thomas Baker and his followers remain in the area of the Tribal Village of Nabutautau.  Locals claim to hear crying, screaming, they are seeing dark shadows, and apparitions. 

They are claiming the village is cursed.  The locals have asked the family of Thomas Baker for forgiveness, performing cleansing ceremonies, prayers and rituals of exorcism.  Nothing has stopped the supernatural activity in the Village.  Come with us, as Team Truth prepares to go in search of Ghosts of a Cannibal Village deep in the South Pacific.

 

After packing up their gear, Team Truth flies 5500 miles from  their headquarters in Los Angeles, CA to the remote city of NadI, Fiji  They land, grab their vehicle, which actually seems to run good, and head 120 miles east across the island to the town of Suva. 

Once there they visit the Fiji Museum we get a brief history of Cannibalism as well as a look at Thomas Baker’s shoe, well what remains of it, only a partial sole.  To find out more about the history of Cannibalism Josh talks with archeologist, Sepeti Matararaba, he explains that Cannibalism was an integral part of the Fiji society for it was practiced widely in those early days. 

One story he told was of a local man who every time he ate a body he would place a stone outside his door.  When the man died, they counted 892 stones outside his doorway.

It turns out that Thomas Baker had five followers with him when he went to the Village of Nabutautau.

They were all cooked and eaten by the Villagers.  It really cursed the village; locals think the hand of god was working against them.  That is why locals believe the Village of Nabtautau remains haunted. 

Josh, Ryder and the team head off to the local market to find Kava Root and tobacco.  These offerings  must be presented to the tribal villagers when they arrive.  So, off to the market we go!

Josh is puzzled by the extreme variety of the local souvenirs.  Lots and lots of Cannibal utensils, which when Josh inquires about one in particular it turns out to be a Cannibal Fork, to eat brains with.  Cannibal weapons, although old, were everywhere and seemed quite effective!

Josh and Ryder find the Kava root.  It turns out that the longer the root of the Kava is, the older it is and the longer it has been in the ground.  With their gifts in hand, Team Truth travels 60 miles inland, following the route of Thomas Baker. 

Josh wants them to visit another remote village, Sautabu and talks to the locals there for their beliefs on the haunting.  This is where Reverend Baker and his group had visited just days before their demise.  There is a local cave nearby where locals once killed and cooked their subjects before eating them. 

This cave is said to be haunted by spirits of victims that had feel prey to the Cannibals.  Before visiting the cave Josh, Ryder and Team Truth must get permission from the Tribal Elder to enter the cave for an investigation.  The Tribal Elder shared a drink with Josh, which signaled his approval.  (Truthies Note:  Remember the last time Josh shared a beverage with a tribal chief, ah, did not go so well. I.e.: S4x07 Haunted Island Ruins/Micronesia).

Josh meets with the Tribal ambassador, Marika Nagata, who tells Josh about the paranormal activity going on in the cave.  Mr. Nagata says that there is an oven in the cave where people were cooked. They can feel like something has happened there before, it is a haunted place.  They allowed a small group to go explore the hidden cave. 

Josh, Tristant, Katy and Dave took off for the cave. They know that Reverend Baker actually went to this cave before he went on to be killed in Nabutautau.  The entrance has a cow’s skull marking the entrance then they all have to walk through about knee-deep water to get inside the cave.  They find the Cannibal oven and Josh wants to do an EVP session. 

He asks if there is anyone here and goes on to say that people were butchered, cooked and eaten in this cave and continues with ‘can you tell us your name’?  Just then, a cry or scream comes from another part of the cave.  I jumped.  Katy jumped too!  Josh heard it too, then he sees a light and they take off to see if it can be captured on video.

They continued to search the cave but never found the source of the mysterious light.  They hiked out to the surface and got back on the road.  This final leg of the journey takes Team Truth deep into the interior of Fiji and to their destination Nabutautau.  Nabutautau is the scene of most of the paranormal activity being reported.   They drove for 3 hours over muddy roads and rough terrain, finally reaching the village just as night was falling.

The current Nabutautau Chief has a connection to this incident; his great-great grandfather was the one that killed Thomas Baker.  After Reverend Baker’s death, three of the chief’s sons died mysteriously. They village felt that god had cursed them.

The stone and the axe from when Reverend Baker and his followers were killed are still in the village and when locals walk by there, they can feel their presence.  After getting the Chiefs blessing, Team Truth quickly unpacked their gear and got the investigation going!

They setup IR cameras on huts where noises have been heard.  They are concentrating on a ridge above the current village; this ridge is not inhabited due to the paranormal activity that occurs there. 

They built base camp in a wide clearing.  They are planning to strike out, searching for remains of the Chiefs hut, where Reverend Baker last slept.  They also want to find the execution stone, where the missionaries were murdered.  Josh takes off with Ryder, Adam and Kyle.

 

They enter a hut where they find a cooking pot; Josh says he hopes it was not used to cook people in.  They then find a Stone Alter that looks beaten and worn.  Ryder finds a mysterious substance on her hand after touching the Alter and says ‘Josh, what the F*#k Is This‘? 

Josh says it was probably used for sacrifice or butchering something.  However, there are no bones or carcasses around.  He says they need to collect that substance for later analysis, it looks like blood.  Then he adds that Ryder needs to get it off her hands!  In addition, get out of this place.  Yuck!

Back at base camp, Tristant is seeing some strange lights, on IR camera number 2, they almost looks like eyes.  Josh, Ryder and the team track over to that location to check it out.  When they arrive, they find out what caused these mysterious lights over the hill.  Cannibal horses!  Yeah, it was horses’ eyes glowing in the IR camera!  Hey at least he is paying attention!

Richie, Katy and Dave are searching another part of the abandoned village.  Katy mentions that it was only 1867 when this happened.  It really has not been that long ago.  They enter into a part of overgrowth from the jungle when Katy sees something!  She jumps and tells Richie that she just saw a shape run through the jungle in front of them!

Katy says it looked like a shape and was not moving at first, then just took off and disappeared!  Dave sees nothing on the astroscope, at least not right now.  They take some still pictures, but find nothing.  They then keep going.

Josh, Ryder, Adam and Kyle come upon a huge rock, it has a placard on it that begins with ‘Obedience all the way to death’, and there is another placard.  These placards are a tribute to Reverend Thomas and his followers and tell about the details of their deaths.  Josh says that the actual stone where Reverend Thomas was decapitated should be around this area along with the axe that was used.  Ryder and him begin searching the area.

Katy, Richie and Dave come upon the Chiefs bench, which means the bed that Reverend Baker, slept in, on his last night, must be near.  They find the area and decide to do isolation EVP sessions.  Richie goes first.  They are each going to do a 30-minute session.  Richie asks Reverend Baker to give him a sign, he does not see anything, but did get the chills. 

Next up is Katy.  She sets up her audio recorder and begins by asking ‘Is there anyone here with me’?  Her next statement is ‘If you feel you were wronged, please let me know’.   Then something touches her hair, on the right!  She jumps, I jump, she screams, I do not know if I screamed or not, but my heart is beating faster!  She jumps up and radios Dave and Richie who run and meet her half way! She felt something touch her neck, there is no wind, and nothing else is moving.  They head back to base camp.

Josh yells for Ryder, he has found the axe that was used to kill Reverend Baker.  The locals leave it there so everyone remembers what happened.  The axe remains at the very spot where the killing took place.  They decide to conduct an EVP session, right here, right now Josh was calling to the spirits that have been murdered here.  Then Ryder starts feeling something and freaking out a little.  She asks if they, the spirits, are with us right now? 

Then Josh asks if they, the spirits, were killed by this axe?  Immediately something moves to their left!  They hear something or somebody walking through the woods right by them!  Right then, the axe moves and falls off the rock, nobody was near it and nobody touched it and it frakking moved!

Team Truth journeys back to Los Angeles, Ca to review their findings.  They analyzed the liquid found on the sacrificial alter, and although inclusive, it did show markers for human blood.  Then they move to Katy’s isolation session.  Katy was obviously reacting to something.  

While going through the video footage frame by frame they found that her hair was moved, right before she reacts to it.  Then the audio recordings from Katy’s session were gone through and a breathy voice has been captured on the recording.  Then we find that during Josh, Ryder, Adam and Kyle’s EVP session, they found evidence of the paranormal also. 

After Josh asked the question, ‘Were you killed by this axe’? They received what sounds like a scream!  All of these experiences together with the corroborating evidence have once again resulted in a very successful investigation for Team Truth and the search for Ghosts of the Cannibal Village!    The dead may be consumed, but they cannot be confined.

Destination Truth – Search for the Kapre

Now travel with Team Truth in search of the Kapre, an animal that has the local villagers terrified. This boogieman is a hulky primate monster in the Philippines.  Reported to be 7 foot tall, with dark black hair that dwells in trees, has a strong odor and reportedly attacks anyone that disturbs its territory.  It is suppose to live near Mt. Pinatubo.  The Kapre is reported to be bipedal, walks upright, moves in the jungle under the cover of night, and has piercing eyes.

With terrified locals on high alert, and clamoring for answers the team assembles and packs up for another investigation.  Team Truth leaves Los Angeles, Ca and travels 7300 miles west across the Pacific Ocean in pursuit of a living breathing nightmare! They land in Manila, Philippines. 

After landing, the team was hungry so they visited the Manila’s massive downtown shopping district in search of lunch!  They came across a delicacy ‘Balut’, which Josh and Ryder have enjoyed before!

Ryder and Josh both said they enjoyed it so much the first time that they never actually need to have it again!  (Truthies Note: Yeah, we remember the not quite cooked egg-eating incident! S2xE11 Search for the Aswang in the Philippines)

They need to get across town to interview a professor at the university, they some wheels!  The closest things to cars in Manila are motorcycles with attached sidecars.  The team commandeered several rides and away we go!

Upon arriving at the University, they meet with Nestor Castro, professor of anthropology at the University of the Philippines.  Josh asks him to describe the history of the Kapre for him.  Dr. Castro says that the Kapre is dark and muscular, that they sleep in the tops of trees.  He also says that the locals avoid mango trees, banyan trees because they are fearful of these beings.

The team grabs a 4×4 and head to where the Professor said the Kapre has reportedly been spotted.  They head 100 miles north of Manila on the edge of the jungle to the lands of the native Aeta people.  These people are indigenous to the area with ancestors relating the legend of the Kapre for generations.

In route to their destination they could not help but notice the colorful restaurants and bars, they even discovered a SciFi themed bar called ‘The Stargate’ and sure enough, there was an actual Stargate.  Josh tried, but could not get it!  He might need the dialing device to actually get it to work!

They continued north and ran into a local that said he had recently seen a Kapre.  Hermino David, a local eyewitness said that he was walking in the jungle and huge shadow crossed his path and that he was very scared because he saw it was a Kapre.  Josh asked him what it looked like and Mr. David said it was big, dark and hairy with a very distinct odor.  Mr. David then pointed Team Truth to another recent eyewitness, Ronald Tolentino. 

Mr. Tolentino reported that it was very late at night and he was coming home from work.  He passes allot of abandoned buildings and about 10 meters from him he saw a Kapre sitting in a tree.  He believes that the Kapre is a very dangerous creature.  The Kapre can run after and chase people and abduct people and sometimes it can even kill people.

Team Truth will be holding their investigation near the location of both of these sightings.  Near the base of Mt. Pinatubo, the Aeta people have lived here for generations.  Josh wants to ask them what their opinion is regarding the Kapre and help separate fact from fiction.  Upon arriving at the location for base camp, Josh is having a little trouble getting out of the 4X4.  The seatbelt won’t seem to come unlocked, Josh asks for scissors but to no avail.  He does manage to get the seatbelt unlocked.  Yea!

 

Josh was granted an audience with the Aeta chief, Mon Ramon Tiglao.  He tells Josh that yes he has seen the Kapre, many times.  The animal is big and there are many of them.  He says he can show Josh where the Kapre lives. 

However, before they go in the boat there must be a ceremony.  Yea! More beverages!  They took the chief up on his invitation and were treated to a full on Aeta dance party!  There was dancing, and laughing and fun had by all!  After the ceremony Josh, Ryder and the team stayed in the village for the night.

 

In the morning they pressed on into the Aeta land.  The chief said that the Kapre was found in dense jungles.  Josh and Ryder traded in their SUV for a more stripped down vehicle and headed right down the middle of a muddy riverbed.  Searching with the FLIR camera for heat signatures on both sides of the river.  Ryder spotted something in the FLIR, so they stopped to investigate.

They met up with the rest of the team members in a jungle clearing and setup base camp and got ready for the investigation.  They are looking for a very large animal, 7 to 9 feet tall, bipedal, hairy with a strong odor.  Josh mentions that there are no other large primates in this area.  Josh, Katy, Adam and Dave are trudging through the thick underbrush when they all hear something.

They come upon some old abandoned military buildings and Katy remembers that one of the witnesses told them that the Kapre had been seen near old abandoned buildings.  Josh agrees and says that there are a number of reports that say the Kapre could be living in or near old buildings.  There are lots of abandoned military from with the US Military had a base there.  When Mt. Pinatubo erupted it was all abandoned.  Josh and his team continue to check out these buildings for any sign of animals or signs of any wildlife.

Ryder, Richie and Kyle are searching in another direction when Ryder mentions that the Kapre probably isn’t the only thing she should be worried about.  Richie chimes in saying well yeah, mainly the spitting cobra!  Thanks Richie! 

He confirms that it can kill a person in 30 seconds, but most people within an hour you just stop breathing.  Ryder reminds Richie that sometimes he’s really fun to hang out with, but other times, he’s a total downer!

Kyle notices it first, but they come upon an area where the air is smelly and stale, Richie agrees.  Ryder comments that it smells like wet dog.  We know that a pungent smell is one of the signs of the Kapre, so they keep their guard up.  They come to area where the tall grass has been flattened down by something very big.  This looks intentional and not by accident.  It’s all matted down like a nest or a bed for something big!

 

Just then Ryder and her team all hear footsteps coming through the tall grass.  Then they all see something sort of look or show itself just over the top of the grass.  They can hear whatever it is and it sounds large!

Josh and his team hear a bellowing sound and head in that direction.  They see some heat signatures which mean something came through there very recently.  They continue moving forward on that trail.  They come upon a very old and scary looking suspension bridge that spans the river.  Of course it has collapsed in the middle and is almost touching the water.  Josh says, come on, we’re going across! Everything will be fine!

Just then Josh does get a hit on the FLIR and picks up a tall animal on the other side of the river.  Here they go!  Josh and his team make it across the suspension bridge and continue searching for whatever made that heat signature.  They are walking along when a bush to their right starts shaking like crazy!  Something is behind that bush!  Josh says that whatever it is looks big and it looks pissed off.  It seems to move off into the woods, the team is going to try and follow it.

 

Ryder radios Josh, bad weather is moving in.  Rains arrived and brought a close to the investigation.  They packed up the gear and hiked away from the flood prone canyons.  The next day they boarded a flight and returned to their Los Angeles, Ca offices.  Once there they sat down with Mike Dee, former curator, Los Angeles Zoo, to discuss the findings.  Mike goes over the thermal hit and thinks that what Josh caught was Tarsiers, a primate indigenous to the region.  The other thermal hit that Josh got seemed to be a bigger animal, 50-60 lbs and Mike saw large arms.  This somewhat seems like what the eyewitnesses have been describing, but that animal is going to have to remain a mystery.

Josh thinks that something as massive as the Kapre would have a hard time remaining hidden forever.  But for now there is still considerable room, in the Philippines, for wildlife and for something large that keeps retreating up into the hills.  What it is, we cannot say for sure, but before long it just might be forced to show itself!

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