DESTINATION TRUTH - Hanging Coffins; Kazakh Monster

SyFy - Original Air Date: 8/14/12

Off to the Philippines to hunt for ghosts in hanging coffins, which have been put up the side of a mountain and hung on cave walls by locals in a very remote area near Sagata.  An arduous trek takes Josh & co. to the ancient graveyard, which appears to still be used.  Naturally, they hear weird sounds and see shadows; even Josh is freaked out.  The "groan" in an area with animals and creaking wood near the coffins don't impress me (wood settles).  Nor do I think much of the EVPs or camera malfunctions.  Nor am I impressed with the misty "figure" that shows up in one shot. Malfunctioning camera & local atmospherics, more likely.  If this is one of their most compelling pieces of evidence, I'm deeply unimpressed.

Then it's tromping through Kazakhstan to find the local bigfoot, Kiyik Adam.  In the dark the team catches some eye shine, but is it bigfoot or a bear?  Whistles turn out to be from a bird, and a small thermal hit a small animal, definitely not bigfoot.  A larger thermal hit could be bear, elk, or...?  Oddly, their expert in the US doesn't offer a guess on the eye shine.  "It's easy to imagine there may be something to these stories," Josh concludes.

How you liked this season of Destination Truth depends on your tolerance for Josh, Ryder, and the rest.  The episodes follow the standard model: go to exotic place, interact with the locals, eat strange food, and tromp around in the dark looking for monsters/ghosts.  Sadly, as with all supernatural shows, DT is long on commercial break scares and short on actual ... Truth.  I enjoy these characters and will stick with them, but I'm not really expecting them to find anything.  And I was really disappointed that their "best evidence" looks more like a camera malfunction or operator error.  Call me when you get a picture of a monster that you saw _before_ you checked the tape/film/etc.

DESTINATION TRUTH - Vampire Monsters; Island of the Damned

SyFy - Original Air Date: 8/7/2012

The show follows its usual format of traveling, talking to local residents, witnesses, and experts, and then tromping around in the dark (and sometimes the day) looking for clues.  First up this week is searching for vampires, which Josh describes as local chupacabras, in Transylvania (southern Romania).  They get spooked by shadows in ruins and caves, and catch what might be a wolf on their cameras. They also find dog, cow, and goat bones, as well as the tooth of a cave bear.  But no vampires.

Next, it's off to Sweden to search for the ghosts of witches on Bla Jungfrun island.  They fly to Sweden, boat to the island, and poke around, mostly in the dark.  They follow "voices" that nearly lead them off a seaside cliff, and they get spooked by shadows in a cabin.  They get nothing on camera inside, but they catch an EVP they think says "leave now" in Swedish. Outside, they get an "orb" "floating" over a stone labyrinth (pattern), but the "orb" looks like a reflection of some type to me.  So, again, nothing concrete, but a lot of running around in the dark, scaring themselves.  How much you enjoy this depends on how much you enjoy Josh, or how hot you think Ryder is.

DESTINATION TRUTH - Spirits of Tika; Creature from the Black Lagoon

SyFy - Original Air Date 7/31/12

Josh, Ryder, & crew go to Tikal, a Mayan city in Guatemala to look for ghosts.  If you've read these reviews before, you know the drill: They go to the area, hang out with the locals, and then investigate the (ancient, deserted) city -- wandering around in the dark and scaring themselves. They have camera trouble, but I think this more likely due to environment than supernatural stuff.  Though they do catch mysterious illumination of a temple wall, where no people were (bio luminescence or static?) and some EVPS, which y'all know I don't really believe in.  (If that's the best ghosts can do, why worry?)  They also have "personal experiences," but I'm not too fond of those as evidence, generally, either.

Then the crew goes to Fiji to look for a sea monster plaguing the local mangrove swamps.  The usual talking to witnesses and local scientists follow, as well as hanging out and clowning around.  (Really, if you've seen this show, you know how it works.)  Diving offshore during the day, they encounter some big bull sharks, but no monster.  Poking around at night, they see ripples on cameras, and Josh gets knocked off of a raft that he unwisely stands on.  But he isn't eaten. Back in LA, their evidence is largely inconclusive, but their scientist expert suggests an invasive marine green iguana, which can grow to six feet long -- and would be unknown to locals.