Devil Monkey

***Devil Monkey*** is the fifth episode of the third season of the thriller horror docudrama found-footage television series Lost Tapes. It originally aired on Animal Planet on October 12, 2010.

## Plot

In Spring (April) 2009, a reporter from West Virginia named Stacie Foster accompanied ATF agents Ollie Moye and Mark West and law enforcement officer Ernest Tybee as they ventured into the Appalachian forests to bust an illegal moonshining operation.

Tybee and the agents have been tracking the moonshiners for some time, and hope to catch them red-handed and end their illegal business. It is becoming dark as they enter the forest and come upon a wooden sign with the words "KEEP OUT", but they see claw marks on the sign which Tybee cannot identify. They then hear loud rustling in the trees, but assume it is the moonshiners trying to scare them off.

Shortly afterwards, one of the agents discovers a tripwire connected to a rudimentary alarm system, which they carefully step over. Suddenly, they hear strange sounds as the alarm is suddenly triggered by an unseen creature. When they return to check on what happened with the alarm, they discover a footprint in the dirt that Tybee does not recognize as belonging to a local animal. They discover another tripwire, this one connected to a booby trap in the form of a crossbow set to fire when the wire is disturbed.

They hear more rustling and sounds, and, suddenly, a teenager named Matt Jones, who along with his friend Owen was attacked earlier that day, emerge from the darkness, bloodied and terrified. He claims that monsters are following him and warns that they must leave immediately or be killed, but the agents cannot let him compromise their mission. Ignoring Matt's pleadings, they continue into the dark forest until they finally come upon the moonshiners' camp. Moye and West break off to investigate the far side of the camp.

They discover claw marks and fresh blood on a barrel, and as they continue, they find that the camp has been trashed, and there is no sign of the moonshiners. Moye hears more sounds from the forest, and West suddenly discovers the mauled corpse of one of the moonshiners and tells Moye to come to him. West is suddenly attacked by an unseen creature from behind, which disappears as suddenly as it appears. They hear more screeching and leave to regroup with Tybee and Foster, who have begun to investigate the distillery where the moonshiners have been brewing their product. Inside, they discover the dismembered body parts of Owen and hear the sound of scraping claws on the outside of the still.

Moye and West, meanwhile, are attacked and killed by mostly unseen creatures. Tybee and Foster hear growling coming from behind a board in the still, and Tybee demands that whoever is hiding there come out. Suddenly, what appears to be a large, tailess monkey emerges from behind the board in full view of their cameras, and Tybee tells Foster to run as it attacks him. Foster yells for him in desperation, and everything suddenly becomes quiet. Seconds later, the monkey emerges from the still, screeching as it chases her. Foster runs to a fence, but it is locked. In a last-ditch effort to escape, she tries crawling under the fence, but the creature catches up to her and kills her. Matt escaped from the forest, telling authorities about the creatures.

A search of the area was performed, and the bodies of all the other people who entered the forest were recovered, but were so badly mutilated that they could only be identified through DNA and dental records. A team of zoological experts was assembled to identify what perpetrated the attacks, and though it was obvious that the creatures were mammals, it is not known what kind.