- We do not know what we're dealing with,
and when we respond to the scene
of a cattle mutilation, we treat it
as a hazardous materials scene.
- She just looked at me as if to say
what was that?
- I'm beginnin' to believe there must
be more than one cat because so many
people have seen and certainly some
spooky things have happened, yes.
- Why did a killer crocodile
choose Ginger Meadows, and just what is
the Black Cat of Killakee?
Animal X investigates the weird world
of animal mystery.
First, we hunt the strange cattle mutilators
of the southwestern USA.
- There's something deadly
stalking the eerie San Luis Valley
in Colorado and New Mexico.
A mysterious entity that preys on cattle,
mutilating them with surgical precision.
It's a gruesome phenomenon that's
been going on now for more than 20 years,
and one that's got officials and ranchers truly baffled.
Animal X headed to northern New Mexico
to speak to those caught up in this bizarre business,
more commonly known as cattle mutilations.
Rancher Jesse Gonzales has seen the work
of the cattle surgeons first hand.
In just two weeks, he lost two cows,
one of them a prized six-month-old Angus bull
used for breeding.
These days, he patrols his cattle with a rifle
at the ready, hoping to avoid a repeat attack.
- I came to check on my cattle,
and I noticed a cow was lying on its side.
All his sex organs were gone.
His, you know, all his testicles,
all his sex organs were gone,
one eye, the tongue was missing,
part of the ear.
There was a skin graft which I thought
to be very weird on the jaw.
It was like a shape right at the jaw
and no blood.
It was a really weird situation there.
- John Paternoster has spent
six years campaigning on behalf of local ranchers.
He claims authorities are not doing enough
and has proposed new forensic guidelines
to be used every time cattle are discovered
mysteriously mutilated.
In this case, the animal was found
to have more substantial wounds inside than out.
- This small hole on the neck
we didn't know the significance of until we
skinned the animal, and as you can see,
the tail was missing, as originally
reported by the rancher.
We do not know what we're dealing with,
and when we respond to the scene of a cattle
mutilation, we treat it not only as a crime scene,
but as a hazardous materials scene.
The possibility of toxicity has to be accounted.
- Fears over contamination seem
to come from one prevailing theory,
that extraterrestrials are the cattle surgeons
who carry out the mutilations.
This remote area of the Rocky Mountains
has certainly had its fair share
of reported UFO sightings.
During the day and at night, people have
claimed to have seen unusual craft and lights
all within the confines of the San Luis Valley.
Another explanation is that the macabre attacks
are the work of satanic cults
practicing animal sacrifice.
Even this legendary creature, the chupacabras,
or goat sucker, has been blamed for the killings.
Whoever or whatever is responsible,
they have certainly covered their tracks.
The lack of evidence left at the scene
is just as mystifying as the mutilations themselves.
Tony Trujilloo says before his ranch was targeted,
he'd half expected an attack.
After all, his neighbor had lost two cows
in just two weeks.
Eventually, he found a cow with its sex organs
missing as well as its udder, part of its tongue and eye.
He says he was astonished to find not one
scrap of evidence.
- Nothin', you don't see nothin'.
No footprints, no nothin',
and there was snow that day
when mine happened.
There was snow that Friday,
and there were no signs of anything.
No sign of struggle, nothin'.
- Animal X traveled to Albuquerque
to find the official government agency
investigating the cattle mutilations.
We met up with the Director of the New Mexico
Livestock Board John Wartman, who admits
that he has a real mystery on his hands.
He's recently set up a special team
of investigators to deal with the problem.
A move many claim has come too late.
As for the unconventional theories,
like those involving UFOs, he says
without hard evidence, it's not something
the department is pursuing.
- What I'm saying is that I think
that clearly it's people that are doing it.
What the reasons are, we're not certain,
and until we catch one of these people
and prove that that person was the one
that did it based upon real evidence
and solve a case, we're all gonna be
kind of wondering what it is.
- Perhaps in time, better
forensic tests will help authorities find out
exactly what is causing these cattle mutilations.
Perhaps we will never know.
Interestingly, the San Luis Valley
is not the only place where such killings
have been recorded.
Sweden has its own cattle mutilations problem,
and in England, horse mutilators are at work.
Could there be a link between the cases?
For ranchers, the mutilations are an economic burden.
Losing their cattle is costing them money.
They for one feel they have a right to know
just what it is that's out there.
- Some Animal X mysteries defy science
and draw investigators to seek answers even
from beyond this world.
Others are rooted in the brutal heart of nature.
This ferocious killer picked on an unsuspecting
victim without warning.
- Tropical Australia is one
of the most beautiful places on earth.
Australians call it God's own country,
but lurking below these tranquil,
inviting waters lies a devil who's
not after your soul but will take
your body as soon as look at you.
Animal X traveled to the remote
Kimberly region of Western Australia
to investigate a fatal tale that shows
the incredible single-mindedness
of these giant predators.
Ginger Meadows was an unsuspecting tourist.
A vivacious young American woman
from New Jersey who loved life
but was to experience an horrific death.
- She had a lot of plans.
She wanted to see the world, travel,
experience different cultures,
meet different people.
She seemed to have the next three,
four years planned ahead.
- Jane Burchett was with Ginger
when she died.
In fact, the crocodile that took
Ginger Meadows could easily have taken her instead.
Jane has never spoken about the experience
to the media before.
It happened about eight years ago
at a place called Crocodile Creek.
Jane and Ginger had been cruising
on a yacht called Lady G.
Running out of fresh water, the skipper
took Ginger's party to get fresh water
from a waterfall.
- On entering, it was breathtaking.
We tied off to the base of the waterfall,
and the captain, the engineer and the first mate
started climbing up the waterfall,
and Ginger and I remained behind.
- This was when the girls
made their tragic mistake.
It was a hot day.
The water looked so inviting.
The temptation to dive in and cool off was too much.
- I could stay here forever.
- Whilst we were swimming to the shoreline,
we probably made it half the way there.
I was swimming ahead of Ginger.
I got an extremely uneasy feeling,
and I said something's wrong.
We were probably about six, seven meters
from the shoreline, and we heard the captain
screaming out at the top of his lungs
get out of the water, crocodiles.
And I turned around, and probably a similar
distance from the other side of the bay,
all I could see was the wake in the water,
and something obviously swimming towards us.
- Jane says there was no panic.
They both decided to swim to where they thought
they'd be safe, a ledge in about two feet of water,
but nothing was going to save them
from this prehistoric killer.
- As this crocodile was heading straight
towards us, and this thing was going
so fast, I just could not believe
how fast it was swimming.
I totally remember not being scared
but thinking how are we gonna
get out of this.
- I'm gonna go.
- No no, Ginger, just stay here.
- No, I'm gonna go back.
- No stay here, Ginger.
Ginger!
And then it brought her up out of the water,
waist high in the water, and she looked
at me with her hands in the air.
It had hold of her, and she just looked
at me as if to say what was that.
And took her back under the water again,
and gone.
- Crocodiles have always been
a problem in this part of Western Australia.
They were almost hunted to extinction
until they were declared protected a few decades ago.
Now when they become too troublesome,
they can't be killed or culled.
They have to be relocated.
Wildlife officers are dispatched to set
traps for the killers.
Inside this trap is half a donkey.
Laurie Smith is a reptile curator
at the WA Museum.
He know what makes crocodiles tick.
- About six foot, five, six foot.
- There's no doubt they are killing machines.
Under natural conditions, being large animals,
they've got to secure fairly large prey
to sustain themselves.
- Police Sergeant Mick Scanlon
headed the team of rescuers whose gruesome
task it was to find Ginger's body.
He'll never forget the day they recovered
Ginger's remains and how the giant croc
tried to reclaim its prey.
- I saw something rise out of the water.
It was well lit enough to see that
it was a crocodile, and it rose about six foot
outta the water and crushed against the side
of the boat, and it struck the boat heavily.
I saw it grasp the end of the body bag,
which was strung across the front of the penguin,
and it went back down into the water.
- One of the team fired a shot.
- At that, we went up to the front of the boat,
inspected the body bag and found that
the entire end of the bag had been ripped off.
- Despite sustained efforts
to capture the beast, results have been inconclusive.
A number of animals have been caught
since the attack, but no one can be sure.
There's every chance it's still out there, lurking,
waiting for its next prey.
There's an old saying out here: never smile
at a crocodile, the price could be just too great.
- The croc is a powerful and ancient
creature but firmly in the mortal world.
Not so the black cat which allegedly haunts
Killakee in Ireland.
After the break, Animal X examines the evidence
for a terrifying apparition and its occult origins.
- The eyes of a cat wax and wane
like the moon, so the cat has always
been sacred to witches.
- Welcome back to the weird
world of Animal X.
There are many tales of ghosts,
but few ghosts with a tail.
Here is one, a terrifying black cat
that's been seen several times
in a place of deep, dark secrets in Ireland.
And this is no ordinary specter.
Some say it's the devil himself.
- From a land rich in folklore
comes one of the most terrifying and best
authenticated tales of a ghostly animal.
Some believe it's a demon spirit,
born of violence and bloodshed,
a phantom feline known as the Black Cat of Killakee.
Animal X traveled to the bleak mountains
overlooking Dublin in Ireland to investigate
the many reported sightings of this strange
apparition, which go back almost 300 years.
The story begins with the wealthy Massy family.
As titled landowners, they were in control
of huge estates, and on them, they built
some impressive properties.
Today, there's little left of those grand mansions.
They lie in ruins in the twisted
undergrowth of the Irish woods.
But there is one part of the original
estate still standing, the old Dower House,
now a restaurant.
Mysteriously over the years, it's become
the center of a veritable storm of psychic
activity, with sightings of not only
the black cat but human specters as well.
- The cat has been seen in various places
at various times, and I'm beginning to think
there must be more than one cat
because so many people have seen him
and so many people have said they've seen him.
Certainly some spooky things have happened, yes.
- These frightening events
have included bumps and knocks in the night,
eerie voices, lights flickering on and off
and doorbells ringing even though they'd been removed.
As well, furniture and ornaments have been
found smashed around the house.
There are many theories as to how
the building gained its ghostly reputation.
It's had links to the occult and supernatural.
Mystical Poet William Butler Yeats has
reported to have joined in ceremonies
at the Dower House.
He belonged to the magical order
The Golden Dawn, a group whose practices
are alleged to have involved the ritual
killing of a cat.
In the 1930s, the brooding house received
another visitor of literary fame,
a minor novelist, this time a witness
who claims to have met the cat face to face.
Looking for inspiration for his colorful
thrillers, F.W. Gumley and a friend
set off one winter's night into the grounds
of the estate.
They weren't disappointed.
Just as the pair were about to cross
over a wall, they saw in the moonlight
the gleaming eyes of a large cat
that had confronted them.
But it was in 1968 that the most
celebrated black cat sighting was recorded.
An Irish artist, Tom McAssey and his two
friends were staying at the Dower House,
then an art gallery.
They noticed a heavy door they'd shut
earlier was open.
Beyond in the darkened hallway,
they saw a shadowy figure.
In a low, gutteral voice, it called
out to them to leave the door open,
but McAssey panicked, slammed the door,
and ran off.
As he looked back, he saw it.
Crouched in the hall was a monstrous
black cat with piercing red eyes,
an image he captured on canvas.
- He certainly came up with a fearsome
picture of a fierce cat, and people
come from far and wide just to see
this picture, and it hangs in the front
hall at Killakee since that time.
- Some say such ghostly phenomenon
are not surprising, given the reports
of terror and sickening cruelty that
have occurred in this building,
just a stone's throw away on Montpelier Hill.
In the 18th century, it was used by members
of the Dublin Hellfire Club, a group
of arrogant and vicious young bucks
said to be in league with the devil.
Certain ceremonies are alleged to have
involved burning cats alive.
- It's interesting when you have
stories around a building like that,
and you wonder what is behind the story.
- Local Historian John Lennon
has delved into the dark past of the Hellfire Club.
He's looked at claims of black masses
and bizarre wages in which members won
and lost vast sums of money.
- We're talking about debauchery of all kinds
and carrying on.
Cards was the one thing that people
say that the stories relate to playing
cards at tables and dropping cards
on the floor and seeing cloven hooves
and people playing cards and the devil himself
and all this going on around the club.
- According to local folklore,
members didn't stop at torturing cats.
They killed people as well.
In 1970, a shallow grave was uncovered here.
In it, the skeleton of a dwarf
with a skull too large for its small frame.
The discovery corresponded with reports
that a member of the Hellfire Club
had once tortured to death a deformed
youth just for fun.
Found along with the boys remains,
this brass figurine of a horned
and tailed devil thumbing its nose.
Mute evidence of the club's evil associations.
Back in the 18th century, as claims
of such sickening cruelty spread,
there were also reports that members
had used black cats at club meetings
to represent satan.
It's said his sabled majesty graced
them with his presence on more than one occasion.
A gesture that's not so surprising, really,
given the animal's importance to those
dabbling in witchcraft.
- The classic example of this is Freya,
the Norse goddess.
She was the witch goddess
in the sense that magic and witchcraft
all belonged to the Goddess Freya.
She was seen riding in a chariot
drawn by twin cats.
Later on, she became demonized,
and the cat became associated
with witchcraft and darkness
and the moon.
- Janet Farrar believes the
Black Cat of Killakee is part of a cat cult
that dates back to the early Bronze Age
when witches first came about.
- If you look at a cat, the eyes of a cat
wax and wane like the moon.
So the cat has always been sacred to witches.
Because the witch cult started
in Western Europe, especially in Germany,
and of course Freya was Nordic,
therefore Germanic as well, because
of this, the cat became associated
with the goddess of the witches.
Therefore every village witch
was supposed to have the familiar,
the witches demonic cats.
- One of those said to have
witnessed the cat being used as satan's
representative was a young clergyman.
He sought refuge at the club during a snowstorm.
Greeted by a cloaked figure brandishing
a sword, he soon discovered the building
was not a farmhouse, as he'd originally thought.
Once inside, he knew for sure he'd
made a terrible mistake.
He found club members having a meal,
their guest of honor a black cat
sitting at the head of the table.
The clergyman asked what the cat
was doing there.
He was told it was indeed a representative
of the devil.
He then did what he felt he should do.
With his Bible and a cross, he attempted
to exorcise the animal.
Suddenly, there was chaos.
The cat cried out in pain,
jumped up onto the table,
then onto a chandelier, which fell,
setting the building alight.
What happened to those inside is a mystery,
but soon afterwards, the club's
activities here ceased.
Was the cat really a manifestation
of the devil?
Who's to say, but one thing's for sure,
locals even now rarely venture
up here after dark.
Could it be for fear of meeting
the legendary Black Cat of Killakee?
- It's said that there are
stranger things in heaven and earth
than we can think of.
- It's something out of the ordinary.
There's a weird feeling when you see
those stuff.
- And this thing was going so fast.
I could not believe how fast it was swimming.