Fire Dragon of Pocahontas County

History of the county

**Fire Dragon of Pocahontas County** is the fifth episode of Mountain Monsters season 2, and the eleventh episode overall.

A.I.M.S. goes to Pocahontas County, where there are reports of a heat-seeking reptilian monster.

## Summary

Trapper and the team drive to eastern West Virginia, after a creature called, the Pocahontas Fire Dragon.

    The fire dragon is reptilian, as Trapper and Jeff explain, is attracted to heat, 10 to 12 feet long, 1000 pounds, and quadrupedal. Jeff says it was first spotted in the 1920's by train engineers, the reason being that the easiest place to build a railroad track is along a river, especially in Pocahontas county, where 8 rivers all meet. Trapper believes the Fire Dragon uses the rivers as travel routes. Since the Fire Dragon is attracted to heat, the team plans to use heat to draw it out, and because it is late fall, the Fire Dragon will have fewer heat sources, making the hunt all the more dangerous.

The team meets in the forest with a fisherman named "Bub" who is also an avid camper. He says he recently encountered the Fire Dragon while he was camping. Late at night, Bub was about to cook some fish he'd caught over his campfire, when he heard noises in the bushes and caught a glimpse of a 12 foot long creature, which stood up on two legs, and headed for his fire. Bub got on his quad and drove twenty yards away, then looked back and saw the creature thrashing about where the fire was, and then drove away. Huckleberry says some reptiles need to be warmed up to be able to move around quickly, so the fire dragon took a while to reach the fire because it was cold, but once it did, it was able to thrash around. Trapper is certain that it was the Fire Dragon Bub saw, and has him show them the trail the Fire dragon came from. After showing them the trail, which is well worn, the team decides to have they're first night hunt there.

At night, a quarter mile from Bub's sighting, the team begins searching for signs of the Fire Dragon, though wary of it's powerful tail and teeth. Finding the trail they saw earlier, the team follows it, when they hear movement not far in front of them. Searching the area, Trapper finds a pile of poop, which he can tell is not from a deer or bear. Following a trail over a stream, Trapper knows they are following the Fire Dragon because there are water splashes on the rocks. The team comes upon a log pile, when suddenly, a gunshot rings out in the distance. The team yells for whoever it was to hold there fire, and a light turns on a few yards away, revealing a cabin. The man standing on the porch who is obviously surprised, asks the team if they saw anything come by to which Trapper replies they heard it but didn't see it. Assuring the man they mean no harm, he lets the team come up to his porch. It turns out, the man was shooting at the very creature the guys are looking for; the Fire Dragon. He says it hit his house, knocked off his chimney, and threw a stick at him, then ran off, which is when he shot at it, although he is unsure if he hit it. The team believes the Fire Dragon was wanting the heat from the fire inside the cabin, leading it to attack the house, so the they search the back.

    The team notices that the chimney's cap was torn off and bent over. The man, who says his name is Chester, says the Fire Dragon climbed up a steep hill behind the house after getting shot at. He also offers the team some Coffee when they finish searching around. Inside, Chester says he and his wife were talking when the attack happened, and it seemed as though the house was going to cave in on them. Buck notices the trail the Fire Dragon took, which was his quickest escape route, but Trapper knows the water is his main territory, and he is to hard to catch on land. Trapper has Chester come out to see his chimney, who is quite surprised by the damage done to it. Also, Chester points out a claw mark on the wall, from the Fire Dragon trying to get at the fire inside.

    Trapper and the team are now certain on using heat to catch the Fire Dragon.

Next day, Huckleberry meets Willy and Wild Bill and gives them information on the Fire Dragon for the trap. Drawing from previous experience with water traps, Willy designs a trap door water trap, a huge wooden box with a trap door to imprison anything that swims inside. He cuts down a few trees for wood, and has Bill and Huckleberry chop them up.

Meanwhile, Trapper, Jeff, and Buck meet two guys named Abe and Derek, by the Cranberry river. They were fishing in a boat on the river one day, when Derek noticed ripples in the water. Thinking it was a big catfish, the pair rowed in that direction. The ripples stopped, and they felt a tap on there boat. They thought they had scared whatever hit them away, until it hit them again, hard. All they could see was a tail in the water, but since there are no alligators this far north it was definitely the Fire Dragon. When they made it to shore, they found a bite in the bottom of their boat, which they show to the team.

The team is shocked by the bite mark, Buck even saying it looks like a shark attack. Trapper says that the Fire Dragon would have had to been going 20 miles an hour to make the dent, showing them the creature is more dangerous than believed. They thank Abe and Derek for sharing their encounter, and are able to determine the Fire Dragon is living in the area. Although the river where the attack took place is too deep for a trap, the team knows of a little inlet nearby, where they will put the trap.

At the inlet, Willy and Bill begin constructing the enormous cage in the water. Once they are almost finished they decide to call it a day and finish in the morning.

Later, Trapper, Buck, and Jeff meet a man named "Grizz" who apparently has a video of the Fire Dragon. Grizz says he was hunting in the woods one morning when he took out his phone to take a video of the sunrise, and he noticed in the trees, something standing there, almost camouflaged. He realized was a figure standing six feet tall on it's hind legs, and it dropped down on all fours, looking about 9-12 feet long. The team are excited to see the video, so Grizz shows it to them. The team clearly sees a large, reptilian shaped creature appearing to be sunbathing on a rock, once again showing them it's need for heat.

Back at the trap, Willy and Wild Bill have just finished when the rest of the team shows up, including Huckleberry with something special for the bait; a stand with a fire pit on top which they can put in the water.

     Once the firepit is in the water, the team leaves until nightfall, ready to begin the hunt.
At night, the team returns and lights the firepit and torches all over the trap, which will draw in the Fire Dragon and send him in.

     Before the hunt, Trapper tells everyone his plan: They will split into two teams, both looking for the Fire Dragon, and will push him into the river, and once he is in the river, Buck's team will pursue him in a motor boat, while Trapper's team will parallel them in the side-by-side, until the Fire Dragon senses the heat of the trap and heads for it. As the night hunt begins, Trapper's team of himself, Huckleberry, and Jeff, search a field which they believe the Fire Dragon inhabits. They are soon proven right, when they find a bedding area, and a trail, which they follow. Meanwhile, Buck's team find a footprint that appears to have claw marks in it. They then hear a twig snap in the woods behind, which sounds like something heading toward the river. Suddenly, Willy falls into a hole, which they find is an entrance to a tunnel. They figure the tunnel is either a hibernation den for the Fire Dragon or an access to another water way. They radio Trapper and inform him of their discovery, and he tells them he is going to continue pushing the creature towards the water. Continuing, Trapper stops his team when he sees movement ahead of them, and Jeff sees the Fire Dragon on the thermal, up on a log.

     Trapper doesn't think the beast knows they're there, so they move slowly forward, to push it to the river. Giving Jeff his rifle and taking out his hand pistol, Trapper and the others spread out and advance. Huckleberry then spots movement heading in Trapper's direction, when the creature is right in the bushes in front of Trapper, he opens fire. When Huckleberry and Jeff regroup with Trapper, they spot it again and fire a few more shots, to scare it to the river. Buck, Bill, and Willy hear the shots and start running toward the river. As Trapper's team recovers from the excitement,Trapper radios Buck and tells him he shot at the Fire Dragon and thinks he hit him, and tells Buck's team to keep pushing it towards the river. Buck and his team are not far from the direction of where the beast went so they continue. Willy stops and points out eyes shining in the darkness, and the three give pursuit. Eventually they reach a road, and hear a motor roaring towards them. Bill stops a four by four with a terrified man and woman on it, but before any explaining can be done, the girl shouts for the driver to keep going, and the vehicle drives off at top speed. Immediately, Buck, Willy, and Bill take off in the direction the people came from. They find a smoldering campsite, with chairs knocked over, and the fire ring torn out of the ground, the work of the Fire Dragon, once again seeking heat.

     Buck then finds scratch marks on the back of a tree, meaning the Fire Dragon is headed towards the river. They radio Trapper who tells them to meet them and keep pressing the Fire Dragon to the river. Trapper's team, at the river, sees movement and hears something slipping into the river, leaving a trail on the bank. Buck, having been radioed by Trapper, brings his team to the riverbank, and launches off in the boat, while Trapper, Jeff, and Huckleberry follow in the side-by-side. In the boat, Bill searches for the monster in the river with a light but the mist and deep water prevent them from seeing anything.

     Jeff on the other hand, is able to see the Fire Dragon swimming in front of the boat on the thermal camera, and is headed for the trap. But when the two teams arrive at the trap, they find it is in flames, with a huge hole in the side. Trapper deduces the Fire Dragon was able to use it's tail to smash through the wall, and escape. Huckleberry's torch is also wrecked, with several teeth marks in the side. The team realizes they provided too much heat for the Fire Dragon, allowing it to have enough energy to break out. Although they definitely proved the Fire Dragon exists, Buck jokingly says now they'll have to go back to Chester and tell him they didn't catch that "Woolly bugger".