"True Terror" is Anything but True

[Carnoferox]

Last night I watched a few episodes of Travel Channel's new cryptozoology/paranormal show True Terror with Robert Englund. Despite being billed as a "documentary series" (hence "True" in the title), almost all of the stories featured are based on dubious newspaper accounts from the late 1800's-early 1900's. These accounts are further embellished with details fabricated by the show's writers. In particular I noticed the inconsistencies with the show's retelling of the Tombstone, AZ flying monster story in episode 4 "Fear the Unknown". This version is almost entirely different from the original article in the April 26, 1890 issue of the Tombstone Epitaph.

• The two ranchers who saw the flying monster are named as Ezekiel Bates and Sam Dawson in the show, but are unnamed in the article.
• The monster is portrayed with legs behind its wings in the show, while the article says the legs were in front of its wings.
• The monster is claimed to have a wingspan of 92 feet and length of 160 feet in the show, but the measurements are switched in the article.
• The monster is shown carrying off and killing the ranchers' horses in the show, which didn't happen in the article.
• The monster is also shown carrying off and killing Sam in the show, which also didn't happen in the article.
• Ezekiel kills the monster with a single bullet from a pistol in the show, while both ranchers killed the monster with Winchester rifles in the article.
• The monster's body could not be found after it was killed in the show, another detail not in the article.

Of course the original story is almost certainly a hoax, so it shouldn't be marketed as "true" anyway. However, the sheer number of added/changed details damages the show's credibility even further. If you're looking for a better-researched show in the vein of MonsterQuest, I'd definitely recommend skipping True Terror.

[Bendy Demon]

If you are looking for reliability, truth and accuracy then t.v -especially cable networks like National Geographic, Science Channel, etc is not the place to look.

These channels went downhill so fast you need a helmet to prevent brain damage.

[Piney]

52 minutes ago, Bendy Demon said:

If you are looking for reliability, truth and accuracy then t.v -especially cable networks like National Geographic, Science Channel, etc is not the place to look.

These channels went downhill so fast you need a helmet to prevent brain damage.

NatGeo isn't bad. It's the History and Travel Channel that's trash

[Dejarma]

On 4/9/2020 at 7:56 PM, Carnoferox said:

The monster's body could not be found after it was killed in the show, another detail not in the article.

no body then... in the show or not: 'shoot a monster dead, but no body' can only mean the whole thing is BS

[preacherman76]

I love the Travel Channel. Not the investigation shows so much. I cant stand those. I love the shows where people just tell their stories. Shows like A Haunting, or paranormal 911, or haunted hospitals.