My name is jeremy wade —
Freshwater detective, explorer, and angler.
I've been fishing the world for decades,
But it's the amazon that keeps calling me back.
Now i'm returning to south america
On the mission of a lifetime —
To spend an entire year going further, deeper,
And more remote than i've ever been before,
In search of the river monsters of the amazon.
I've uncovered reports of three mysterious deaths
In the northern part of the amazon.
In each case, the lifeless body was recovered
With strange injuries.
Locals are pointing the finger of suspicion
At something living in the water.
But on the lawless frontier between colombia and brazil,
Is it really a fish that's responsible?
I'm on a mission to find the truth behind the mystery,
On a river system...
That forces me to question everything i know.
Whoa. Aah!
— captions by vitac — www.Vitac.Com
Captions paid for by discovery communications
I've based my career
On investigating extraordinary claims from all over the world.
Pack hunter massacres...
Underwater flesh-Rippers...
Even tales of men swallowed whole.
But nowhere seems to hold as much intrigue and mystery
As right here in the amazon.
Three bodies in three amazon countries.
Three unexplained deaths. One deadly signature.
But what was responsible?
The three attacks occurred in the region of the amazon
Where brazil, peru, and colombia meet.
Leaving my boat in the brazilian port of tabatinga,
I'm on the trail of my first case —
A bizarre death at a rural school just 10 miles away.
Originally
A portuguese settlement and military outpost,
Tabatinga now lays dubious claim to being
The main entry point for colombian cocaine into brazil.
I'm on my way to meet an eyewitness to this incident
That i've heard about.
This is someone who apparently retrieved the teacher's body
From the water.
But to meet him, i've got to cross the border
Into leticia in colombia.
There's a heavy military presence.
And my claim that i'm crossing the border in search of a fish
Raises some eyebrows.
I'm allowed to pass...
And continue to the school where the incident occurred,
Where a man named walter is waiting for me.
Walter was just a boy when it happened.
The man who died was his teacher.
And walter leads me down to the riverbank
Where the body was recovered.
There were 20-Odd lads playing football in front of the school.
And at the end of the game, to cool off,
They came down here with the teacher.
It's been years since it happened.
But as walter talks,
It's almost as if it were yesterday.
The time of year that it happened was high water.
So the water was actually up around here.
Walter and his friends swam for a while
Before venturing into the forest,
Leaving their teacher in the water.
They didn't see what happened next.
And they found his body right here.
Sí.
He said the first thing that they noticed was this
Dark mark on his chest.
Was that almost like a bruise?
Like something hit him?
No.
He said it was more like a burn.
Um, almost from friction possibly, but — but a burn
Rather than a bruise.
Temblon?
Now, to me, that sounds like an electric eel.
I've come across those before.
I know that they can kill people.
But there's one detail here that doesn't really stack up.
The strange dark mark on the teacher's chest.
I've never heard of an electric eel causing such wounds.
Could the trauma actually have been the result of foul play,
Or perhaps some other kind of creature?
But what lives in the water that can burn you?
With the help of a local boatman,
I head out onto the water.
Could whatever's responsible be one of the dozens
Of new species discovered each year
In the teeming waters of the amazon?
Within minutes, there's activity.
Right. That was a tug.
And that's now missing its tail.
That was a piranha. He's taken that off.
Piranhas are an all-Too-Familiar problem
When fishing the amazon.
But i have a solution.
I switched to a tough plastic lure.
Hopefully, i'll have more luck with this.
Almost immediately,
My change in tactics is rewarded.
Very aggressive piranha there.
Taking this very noisy, large lure on the surface.
It's a perfect opportunity for an experiment.
Right.
I'm just gonna see if we can demonstrate
How sharp those teeth are.
This is 300-Pound breaking strain kevlar,
The same material used to make bulletproof vests.
Just get some in here.
Eh?
That's impressive.
Its teeth slice effortlessly through the kevlar.
But what about woven steel?
Huh.
It's a sobering reminder of the flesh-Slicing potential
Of these prolific predators.
On those rare occasions when piranhas do attack,
It's death by 1,000 cuts.
Walter described his teacher's wounds in quite some detail,
And there was no mention of bite marks, blood,
Or injury dealt by human hand.
This is just flesh and bone.
It just goes to show what an arms race
It is under the water here.
Could that arms race have produced a fish
Capable of inflicting these mysterious injuries?
I've heard about a second unusual death,
This one more recent.
Tomorrow, i'll track down the witness.
Daybreak, i leave colombia,
And take a boat into peruvian territory...
To the island of santa rosa, where last year,
Another attack occurred bearing the same deadly signature.
The victim was this man's younger brother.
Jack leads me to the rear of the family home.
This is where they found the body.
It was a normal day, just like any other.
His brother was told by his father to go and check
A fishing net that was set some way away.
It was high water, and he left the house by canoe.
It was the last time anyone saw him alive.
And then some time later, the rest of the family
Just realized it's been a while, he should be back by now.
The family became worried.
Cristián!
Jack suddenly noticed that the canoe was floating empty.
As he pulled his brother's body from the water...
Cristián!
He made a shocking discovery.
Cristián!
He bore an unusual black mark across his chest.
Marka negra. Sí.
So, what did the hospital actually say?
Es temblon.
Temblon.
Jack also seems to be describing an electric eel.
People here are very clear that these black burn marks
Are the work of the temblon.
But i'm finding it hard to believe that the electric eel's
Brief shocks could cause such terrible wounds.
What creature lurks in water that can scorch human flesh?
I'm in the northwest corner of the amazon
Investigating three mysterious deaths
In three separate countries.
So far, i've spoken with witnesses
To attacks in colombia and peru.
Both described finding the victim's body lifeless
In the water with a strange black mark across the torso.
Was that almost like a bruise?
Like something hit him?
No.
The witnesses blame a fish they call the temblon.
Not only is this a new name to me,
But i've never heard of a fish capable of burning human skin.
Did you actually see anything in the water yourself?
But neither witness actually caught sight
Of the creature responsible.
Still without a solid lead,
I do what i know best and get out onto the water,
Which has now receded from around the houses.
What monsters could be hiding here?
Things are strangely quiet in this oppressive heat.
All i'm managing to attract are butterflies lured in
By the salt in my sweat.
Plenty of activity above the water at the moment.
I just wish the same was true underneath the water.
Could whatever's on my line...
Shed light on the stories
I've been hearing?
What was i saying?
That's quite surprising.
What's that
Good.
This is called a silver bream.
I'm actually holding it quite firmly because on this fin here
Is a very, very sharp spine, and it's actually got
Backward-Facing barbs coming down it as well.
So if it wriggles and sticks that in you,
It's actually pretty painful.
Which i know all too well.
The spines are coated in a sticky mucus...
Ow!
Which causes severe pain.
This is a fish that can stab you.
It can draw blood.
But no way can this cause the wounds
That i've been hearing about, those burn marks.
It's a good sign, though.
Something's starting to move.
There's no shortage of amazon fish that can inflict injury,
From piranhas with their razor-Sharp teeth...
Ow!
And catfish with their wicked spines,
To venomous stingrays and monsters with mouths
Big enough to swallow you whole.
But the wounds being described are baffling.
Nothing i've ever seen...
Could cause those.
With no witnesses to eye the actual attack,
And having caught no potential suspects,
I leave peru,
And slip back into portuguese-Speaking brazil,
The third country in this trio of tragic deaths.
There, i meet up with a fisherman named joao,
Who dragged his lifeless friend from the water.
Now, this is something that is consistent
With those other two stories i heard.
There were dark marks on the body
Looking just like burn marks.
Joao and his friend made their way through the forest
To a lake they'd fished many times before.
They'd already caught a lot of fish,
But they decided to just fish a little bit more.
It was a decision that would prove fatal.
Joao is holding the nets
While his friend is actually paying it out.
His body shook violently as he disappeared below the water.
Crucially, though, joao is the first of my witnesses
To actually see the creature responsible.
Joao says what he actually saw
Was something coming out of the water
And wrapping around his friend's head.
Scaring the creature off with his spear...
Joao recovered the body of his friend.
Now that is exactly the same as what in colombia and peru
They call the temblon and what we know in english
As the electric eel.
It seems incredible,
But i can't now dismiss these claims.
Joao is a fisherman and he says he saw with his own eyes
An electric eel attacking his friend.
I know from my previous investigations that
They can not only kill humans, but large animals, too.
Their powerful shocks cause paralysis
That can lead to drowning.
They even have the power...
400, 500 volts.
To induce a fatal heart attack.
But an animal with the power to burn flesh
Seems impossible to me.
Sensing my skepticism, joao tells me of another case
He's heard about and gives me directions to the medic
Who examined the victim's body.
I waste no time and head straight to her clinic.
Could she have the answers i need to explain the telltale
Marks scorched into the victim's skin?
Dr. Deyce reviews her old case notes.
The body of an indigenous fisherman
Was brought to her clinic.
On his chest and back were three stripes.
She said it's almost as if a thick electric cable
Had been wound around the body.
For an eel to wrap around a person three times,
It would have to be significantly longer
Than any electric eel i've seen.
Soon after birth, the eels develop electric organs
Running the length of the body, leaving little room for muscle.
They can't wrap or coil around things like a snake can.
Could the marks in fact be bruising?
She says, "absolutely no doubt about it."
This was a burn. It wasn't a bruise.
On close inspection, it was almost as if
It had been fried or toasted.
I don't doubt that the wounds were burns,
But everything i've learned about the eel's deadly weapon
Suggests brief, intense shocks
Rather than the sustained power to fry flesh.
Dr. Deyce then shows me something
I've never seen before.
Footage of an electric eel shocking and killing a caiman.
I think what's going on here is this guy's actually —
He's — he's caught the electric eel on a — on a line.
There's the bait.
Caiman looking very interested here.
Almost sort of hypnotized by it.
Hey.
And, right, the caiman grabbed it by the neck.
Instant effect. Thrashing around...
Just like somebody grabbing an electric cable.
This creature is completely overpowered.
It's a terrifying sight.
And if this eel's deadly shocks are capable
Of penetrating the thick reptilian armor
Of a caiman for such a long time,
I'm left wondering whether the waters of the amazon
Could be harboring an electric eel
Unlike anything i've seen before.
Find out after this.
The spanish word, "temblon," comes from the word meaning
Tremble or shake because it makes its victims convulse.
I'm in brazil investigating three mysterious deaths.
Each victim suffered strange burns to the torso.
So far, i've doubted witnesses' claims that electric eel
Could be responsible.
But having just seen extraordinary footage
Of a caiman being shocked continuously
For almost a minute,
Is it possible that i've drastically underestimated
What the electric eel is capable of?
Dr. Deyce says if i really want to understand the electric eel,
There's an indigenous tribe called the matis
That i should visit.
Instead of avoiding these creatures,
They catch them to eat.
Now, normally these people, you know,
They live very remote from here and not easy to talk to.
But there's a guy, apparently called bushy, uh,
He's from the matis tribe and he lives...
At the moment, he's in a town called atalaia,
Which is only about 10 miles from here.
Bushy may be only chance of contacting this remote tribe.
Do they really eat electric eels?
And if so, how do they avoid the deadly shocks
During the catch?
Okay. Yeah.
That's interesting. He says, "yup."
"we — we fish for it to eat it."
He says it's — it's, uh,
"it's actually our favorite fish to eat."
Right. Um, this is interesting.
They catch them by hand.
A fish that strikes fear throughout the amazon.
A fish known to kill in seconds,
The matis apparently catch with bare hands.
That's something i need to see to believe.
Bushy is kind enough to consider my request,
But says that his tribe lives 500 miles upriver,
And that the journey cuts through the territory
Of aggressive warring tribes.
If that weren't enough, the rivers are getting low,
Making them hazardous to navigate.
But what he does say, though, is that if we can get there,
This is the time of the year.
The water is low.
This is when they fish for the electric eel.
As we talk into the night,
My excitement and apprehension grow.
This must be one of my most ambitious and possibly most
Dangerous journeys yet.
Even if bushy can persuade the elders to allow my visit,
I'll need a medical checkup immediately.
The tribe was almost wiped out by disease when they were first
Contacted by outsiders,
And they remain extremely wary.
Vanessa, right? Yes, sir.
Jeremy. Jeremy.
Vanessa is a nurse who's worked with numerous tribes
In this part of the amazon.
She examines me thoroughly for any sign of infection.
Even something as simple as a common cold
Could have disastrous consequences for the tribe.
Hmm. Okay.
Yeah, that looks like a-A clean bill of health.
Uh, no obvious signs of any infections that i might pass on.
So, okay for me to go and visit the matis.
The water level is continuing to drop,
Exposing hazardous tree roots and rocks.
There's no time to waste.
I decide to leave at first light
And head as far as the government base
On the edge of the reserve,
Where i hope permission will be waiting for me.
Packing light is not an option.
Everything for the arduous trip ahead must come with me
And my camera crew.
Just the barrels of fuel to get us there
Weigh in at well over a ton.
It's a long and tiring trip,
But just a fraction of what might lie ahead.
If bushy's request for permissions has been denied,
My journey and investigation are over.
It's a big gamble.
But with every hour, i'm edging closer to the matis
And their extraordinary knowledge of the electric eel.
True to his word, bushy has secured the permissions.
But things are still far from certain.
It's been a real mission just to get here,
The boundary of the reserve.
As we prepare to leave the safety of the base,
I have no idea what to expect.
Upriver here, the only people there at the moment
Are indigenous tribes.
In terms of outsiders,
You're just talking occasional health workers and patrols
By f.U.N.A.I. Themselves.
A film crew...
That's fairly unusual.
This is gonna be the first film crew
To go to this particular village.
Our passage will take us through the territories
Of warring tribes never before contacted by outsiders.
The danger is real and present.
In the last 20 years,
More than 100 agents of the indian protection agency
Have lost their lives at the hands of indigenous tribes.
We raced the light to reach the safety of the village
Before nightfall.
But our heavily-Loaded boats aren't traveling fast enough.
We've basically run out of daylight.
The village apparently is not very far,
But nobody knows exactly how far.
And the thing is it's gonna be very dark soon.
So rather than risking traveling at night,
And particularly in hostile territories,
We decided to just come in on this beach and camp,
Which is not an ideal situation.
To have come so far and to be so close
Is incredibly frustrating.
We prepare a simple camp and i try to get some sleep.
Yeah, this is no good.
I can't — i can't actually sleep.
Every noise and rustle in the rainforest
Reminds me just how remote we are.
I don't even know if i was properly asleep or just dozing,
But there was something...
Our only deterrent against hostile tribes and wild
Predators is a small campfire.
I hear a sort of crashing sound or crashing or splashing.
So far, i've traveled for two days to see the matis
And the electric eels into a territory
That few people would attempt to enter.
I could've sworn i heard something.
Right now, all i want to see is the daylight.
After a sleepless night,
I push deeper into the brazilian amazon,
Investigating a series of mysterious deaths
Where the bodies were found with bizarre burn marks.
Witnesses are blaming the electric eel.
And in a bid to get closer to the truth,
I've traveled for days to meet a secretive tribe
Who have such an intimate knowledge of these fish
That they allegedly catch them with their bare hands.
Finally, i'm nearing the village.
Members of the tribe have gathered on the banks
To greet me.
I was gonna say there was something of a welcoming
Committee, um, here on the riverbank.
That's what it looked like in the distance.
But on arrival, there's certainly quite
A subdued mood about things.
There's tension as i approach the village chief.
As bushy introduces me...
Jeremy, jeremy.
Something is clearly wrong.
I may not speak the language, but it's very clear
That the chief is deeply distressed.
Someone from the village has been taken ill
And isn't expected to survive the night.
He's — he's actually quite apologetic.
He said, "look, um, normally we would —
"we would greet you with, um, you know,
Some happiness and celebration."
His — it's his mother, actually,
Who is very ill at the moment,
And he's saying that she could die,
Literally, at any time.
So, he... Has — has no time to devote to us.
Uh, he is literally...
Waiting, uh, for his mother to die.
The tribe gathers in the community longhouse
For a vigil.
This is no place for an outsider.
Bushy introduces me to efan, who agrees to take me upriver
With a family traveling to another village.
All thoughts of the electric eel slip to the back of my mind
As i prepare my gear.
Efan has agreed to fish with me,
And i know this is some kind of test.
With a simple stick for a rod, an old piece of line,
And a small hook, he casts out.
And immediately has a fish on the end.
Ah, that's not bad.
Oh.
Could i, too, have something on my first cast?
That's — that's a good-Sized fish.
Oh,
I'm in brazil living with the secretive matis tribe
Fishing deeper into the rainforest
Than i have ever been before,
Lured here by stories that they catch electric eels
With their bare hands.
It's a fish that witnesses claim
Can not only kill in seconds, but also burn human flesh.
That's — that's a good-Sized fish.
I'm hoping to earn the trust and respect of the tribe.
And the best way to do that is to supply a meal.
I may be, uh, trembling at the knees
When you've got a good-Sized fish on.
I'm just gonna loosen off the drag, here.
About to see it in a second. About to see it in a second.
No, we're not.
The thing about fish living in muddy water,
You get them near the surface,
And as soon as they're in the light,
They detect the light. And they kick and they go.
There it is. There it is.
That was first cast.
The bait had been out a couple of minutes.
And for a fish of this size to take that
In that short of time is a real indication
Of what happens to these rivers when it is just low pressure
Subsistence fishing.
This is very meaty.
There's not very much in the way of bones, here.
Efan.
Okay.
Interesting. They don't really like these.
They only eat these if they have to.
This redtail catfish is a good catch,
But it appears i'll need to try again
If i'm to make a proper impression.
So i'm gonna leave the clicker on.
Pre-Spool.
That's something.
That's under a branch, by the feel of it.
So, that's a redtail. It's another redtail.
So, just gentle.
Gentle. Gentle.
The first time i came to the amazon,
I was several weeks fishing a river
In a more populated area.
I never saw anything the size of this.
Nice-Size fish.
Two casts, two big fish.
This is clearly a very special place where normal rules
Don't seem to apply.
On my return, i learn from bushy
That i've been granted an audience
With the village shaman.
It's said he wields mysterious powers,
Including the ability to protect the hunters
From the eel's deadly shocks.
Inside the maloca, a ceremony is underway.
Hmm?
The shaman asks me to explain
What it is i hope to learn here.
If somebody from outside who's not matis, somebody like me,
Were to try this kind of fishing, what might happen?
That was, um, a surprisingly forceful reply.
"i absolutely don't recommend you try.
"the shock is very strong.
"that could burn your arm.
It could even give you a heart attack."
Clearly, they believe that the electric eel
Can kill and burn,
But the shaman insists that the matis can resist
Their deadly powers.
He then begins a strange ritual.
Could this be the secret of their immunity?
He burns two hardwood sticks in the fire...
Aah!
Pressing the glowing embers into the hunter's arms
And picking the blistered flesh away
Before rubbing a mysterious paste into the raw wounds.
It's a poison that comes from the skin of a certain frog.
And the body's reaction to any poison —
The first reaction is to empty the stomach.
As the tribesmen vomit beside me,
The link between this ritual and the supposed ability
Of the matis to handle the eels is unclear to me.
But there has to be some good reason for undergoing what looks
Like a fairly unpleasant experience.
They do say that what makes a good hunter
Is an empty stomach.
You know, maybe there's some kind of link there.
I don't know.
But as the hunters go to recover,
One thing is for sure...
It appears that tomorrow,
I shall finally see with my own eyes
Whether this tribe can really handle the fish
That's claimed to burn human flesh.
The hunters rise early and, focused on their task,
Leave me struggling to keep up.
Overnight rain has turned dust into mud,
And i worry whether the water has risen,
Making it impossible to find an eel,
Let alone catch one.
We're going to the other side of the river.
Um, not straight across.
Apparently, we're going a little way upstream.
What a little way is, um, i don't know exactly.
I suspect "a little way" could even be an hour.
Such concepts start to lose meaning here.
We make our way a little upriver
Before starting our trek into the jungle.
I'm no stranger to dense tropical forest,
But efan seems to slip through the undergrowth without effort.
We're heading off the path now.
We reach a pool where the hunters employ
Their first eel-Catching technique.
They think that it's a — it's a wounded animal
Or something, apparently, this splashing sound.
It's something that just gets their curiosity.
They begin to take up their positions.
When the water is just confined to small puddles,
That's when they tend to just grab one with their hands.
The hunt moves into its next phase.
A pregnant woman doing the splashing in the water.
This is more reliable in terms of calling the electric eels.
It seems improbable,
But suddenly, all hell breaks loose.
I'm hundreds of miles up the amazon...
On the hunt for the electric eel with the matis tribe.
It's chaos as the hunters try to bring the fish
Into shallow water.
All right, i'm now in the water.
I struggle to get close.
There's something hairy about getting in the water.
The eel writhes to get free.
You see it you see it
Finally, bushy, the man who brought me here...
I can see it — you can see it trembling.
You can see it trembling.
Holds a live electric eel in his bare hands.
He's just holding that. He's holding it.
I've seen what these fish are capable of.
I'm not too comfortable being this close.
He says it is shocking.
This is the fish that is responsible for killing people.
And according to others, actually burning their skin.
But looking at, uh, bushy now, no sign of any burns.
He's been holding this now for several minutes.
I'm left with two possible conclusions —
Either the matis have special powers...
Because they have this understanding
That i don't completely follow,
Scientists don't completely follow.
Or something else is responsible
For the bizarre deaths.
But this time,
The amazon isn't prepared to give up
All her secrets just yet.
And as long as there's mystery out here...
I'll keep coming back.
Want to catch a river monster of your own?
I'll show you how at animalplanet.Com/rivermonsters.