Bones Episode 6.18 The Truth in the Myth

ACT 1

A couple that met online, Gary and Kim, fumble through their first date in the woods. Gary clutches his binoculars as he tries to spot butterflies. Kim is less than enthused. She didn't come on this date for butterflies. She came on this date for passion! She pulls Gary into a kiss next to a swarm of butterflies. As they roll around on the ground, the butterflies disperse, revealing a total mood killer: a corpse.

Hodgins believes the butterflies were attracted to the remains. They eat all sorts of unappetizing things. Brennan reports that the victim is male. His ribs are splayed open and all the blood was drained from his body. Bite marks could indicate an animal attack. She smells sulfur while Hodgins investigates a noise in the woods. He finds a goat.

At the Lab, Cam reveals that the victim's heart is missing. Was it eaten out of the chest? Vincent discovered a pin in the right ankle, which was inserted to repair a past fracture. Spiny animal bristles cover the remains and there is bone damage from fanglike teeth. Vincent takes this time to inform everyone he has reached step nine in his treatment with AA. He must apologize and make amends. He begins with Hodgins. Vincent urinated in his tadpole tank. Cam only wants information about the case. Vincent believes the murderer is a cryptid, more specifically a chupacabra. Hodgins is onboard: the chupacabra sucks blood and leaves behind the scent of sulfur. And chupacabra means goatsucker!

ACT 2

Cam examines stomach contents when Angela enters. She reports that all the victim's clothing was brand new. Perhaps this man didn't really belong outdoors. Angela divulges that Vincent apologized to her for using her letter opener to clean his fingernails. He also told his darts team that he slept with her. Angela is forgiving but Cam isn't sure she would have reacted the same way.

Booth drives while explaining the victim's identity to Brennan. Booth figured he had to be a tourist because of his clothing. He sent his description to local hotels and someone responded with a match. Lee Coleman was staying at the Pine Tree Manor. He disappeared, leaving all his things behind. Booth recognizes the name Lee Coleman but Brennan does not. Lee Coleman is the host of Kill the Myth, a television show on the Wilderness Network. He debunks various myths and legends. He was likely in the woods for his show, trying to disprove the existence of the chupacabra.

At the Pine Tree Manor, Booth and Brennan meet the owner, Randy Shepard. His hotel is mostly deserted save for Melissa Lawson, the activities coordinator. He knows exactly why Booth and Brennan are here: a chupacabra killed Lee Coleman. Melissa confirms that there have been chupacabra sightings at the hotel. Randy informs them that people used to come from all over to try to see one. Hodgins interrupts with a phone call. He identified mammalian hair and reptilian scales on the victim, which is puzzling because those traits do not coexist on any known animal...except the chupacabra.

ACT 3

Sweets watches Lee Coleman's television show with Nadine Tweed, producer of Kill the Myth. Lee did all of his own research and rarely shared his findings with Nadine. She tells Sweets that Lee debunked a pet psychic named Diane Michaels. Not long afterward, a dog attacked Lee while Diane watched from across the street. Diane denied that the dog belonged to her or that she had anything to do with the attack. However, Lee reran her episode and went missing right afterwards.

At the Lab, Vincent tells Cam he will analyze the remains to determine what marks were caused by small animals and what was caused by the chupacabra. He desperately wants to apologize to Cam for wronging her. Cam relents. Vincent admits that he stole three coupons from the desk in her office. He also told his paleontology colleagues that he had a sexual relationship with her. Cam is shocked and repulsed. She decides to move past it...if he can provide a logical explanation for the injuries on the remains.

Booth and Brennan eat at the Diner and watch footage from Lee Coleman's program. He often used hidden cameras in his work. Perhaps there are hidden cameras in the forest where he was killed! Brennan believes everything has a reasonable explanation but Booth does not agree. He tells her he saw a Yeti in Nepal. Brennan dismisses it as a hallucination but is troubled when this upsets Booth.

Meanwhile, Sweets questions Diane Michaels at her home. Dogs, cats and birds surround her. She defends herself: the dog attack was not her fault. Hadley the dog acted on his own. She had no time to restrain him. She has an alibi for the time of the murder. She was seeing a client: a horse. She suggests Sweets ask the horse for confirmation. She wants to be helpful and offers to talk to the goat found at the crime scene. Sweets leaves.

Angela and Hodgins trek into the woods to look for the hidden cameras. Angela knows that Coleman used a type of camera that has a maximum focal length of twenty feet. They measure twenty feet from where the goat was tethered and begin to search. Hodgins sees something. He climbs a tree and tosses the camera to Angela. Could Lee Coleman have recorded his own death?

ACT 4

In the Bone Room, Vincent shows Brennan the ribs. She sees a triangle, which Vincent reports is from a bite mark, a chupacabra bite mark. Before Brennan leaves, Vincent wants to apologize. He once used her iguana as a hat and wore it to a party. He also spread a rumor that he and Brennan were on-again-off-again lovers. Brennan isn't mad. She laughs. The story is so absurd! Vincent defends his lovemaking ability. Brennan realizes she has hurt his feelings. It's all part of the recovery process.

Nadine Tweed visits Booth at the FBI. She realizes there may be another suspect and he could be after her too. Terry Bemis used to have a show on the Wilderness Network. He is a famous cryptozoologist and Lee Coleman had him kicked off the network. Nadine stopped working for Terry and started working for Lee. Terry made threats but she received a disturbing email from him just yesterday: "Heard about Lee. Some people get what they deserve, I guess. Wonder how things will turn out for you?"

At the Lab, Angela has reversed some of the water damage from the hidden camera in the tree. The footage shows Lee Coleman standing next to the goat. He explains that this is the only goat in a hundred mile radius, yet they have not seen a chupacabra all night. Before he turns off the camera, Angela shows Cam that the goat's ears perk up. The animal heard something that Lee did not. Angela will try to isolate the sound.

Hodgins approaches Cam with the results of the GC Mass Spec. He discovered a chemical on the "chupacabra" bite but isn't sure what it means yet. He does know that the reptile scales are from an iguana and the needle-like hair is from a wild boar. Hodgins is disappointed: this seems like it is nothing more than a hoax.

Booth reports that the farmer who hired the animal psychic confirmed she was on the farm. Brennan shares with Booth that there is a logical explanation for what he saw in Nepal: Ursus Arctos isabellinus. It is a seven-foot tall bear covered in ice. She believes Booth saw what he saw. He is just calling it by the wrong name. Booth is grateful she gave him the benefit of the doubt.

Booth and Brennan watch a taping of Seeing is Believing, the low budget show hosted by Terry Bemis on a public access station. As soon as he sees Brennan, he invites her on camera to be interviewed, toting her as one of his frequent guest scientists. Brennan immediately tells him she doesn't believe he is a scientist. He is also a suspect in the murder of Lee Coleman. Terry cuts to a commercial.

ACT 5

At the FBI, Sweets interrogates Terry Bemis. He insists the email he sent to Nadine meant nothing. He was simply angry about losing his show. He also lost an imminent publishing deal to spread his findings. He could have legitimized cryptozoology. Lee destroyed his life. Yet, he didn't kill Lee: the chupacabra did it for him. Terry doesn't think the FBI will find the creature. With all the tourists headed there, it'll be long gone by now.

At the Lab, Angela plays the sounds she isolated from the video. The first is the mating call of the whitetail deer. The second is something mechanical but Angela hasn't identified it yet. She will run it through the Jeffersonian Audio Database.

Vincent finally identified the bite on the victim: it's from a black bear. He found trauma to the ankles and Cam confirms there was also trauma to the tissue around the ankles. It's all consistent with the victim being hung upside down. This is how the blood was drained. Hodgins arrives: the chemical on the chupacabra bite was Jaw Jelly.

Brennan explains to Booth that taxidermists use Jaw Jelly to create a wet look in the mouths of animals they have mounted. The bite marks may have come from a taxidermied bear. Booth remembers seeing a stuffed bear at the Pine Tree Manor.

At the Pine Tree Manor, tourists abound. It is a lot busier than the last time Booth and Brennan visited. They are even raising the price of the rooms! Booth and Brennan approach the stuffed bear over the fireplace. Brennan notes that one of the incisors has been removed. Randy Shepard greets them. Booth asks to see his hands. They have rope burns all over them. Did Randy hoist up Lee Coleman to drain his blood?

ACT 6

At the FBI, Sweets presents Randy with rope in an evidence bag. They found both Coleman's and Randy's DNA on the rope. Randy admits the truth. He didn't kill Lee Coleman but he faked the chupacabra attack. Lee was already dead and his hotel needed help. He was in debt and needed tourists to save his business. He tore out the heart and drained his blood but he didn't shoot him. Who said anything about a shooting?

Angela has discovered more about the sounds on the video. What she thought was the mating call of the whitetail deer was actually manmade. The second sound is that of an ATV. Someone was out hunting and Lee Coleman ended up dead.

Booth and Brennan wait for Melissa Lawson at the Pine Tree Manor. She knows she is caught and raises her hands. At the Founding Fathers, the team rehashes the murder. Melissa shot Lee Coleman accidently while she was hunting. She blamed him for the incident because he wasn't wearing an orange vest. Melissa told Randy and he faked the chupacabra attack. As the group disbands, Booth tells Brennan he never saw a Yeti in Nepal. Therefore, she rationally explained something that never happened. His point is that life is confusing and inexplicable. Brennan laughs and heads off in cab.