Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster: The hunt for wonder

By Jessica Severin de Martinez,

Megan Fitzgerald, Robyn Doyon-Aitken , Chion Wolf

Published May 22, 2026 at 6:42 AM EDT

FILE: A view of the Loch Ness Monster, near Inverness, Scotland, April 19, 1934. The photograph, one of two pictures known as the 'surgeon's photographs,' was allegedly taken by Colonel Robert Kenneth Wilson, though it was later exposed as a hoax by one of the participants, Chris Spurling, who, on his deathbed, revealed that the pictures were staged by himself, Marmaduke and Ian Wetherell, and Wilson. References to a monster in Loch Ness date back to St. Columba's biography in 565 AD. More than 1,000 people claim to have seen 'Nessie' and the area is, consequently, a popular tourist attraction.

What if the real mystery isn’t Bigfoot or Nessie, but the people who devote their lives to searching for them?

Chion talks with Mike Wanders, who spent a year traveling through legendary Bigfoot country, and Steve Feltham, who has spent decades on the shore of Loch Ness.

What keeps a person returning, again and again, to a mystery that refuses to resolve itself? And what if not knowing can be its own kind of joy?

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GUESTS:

Mike Wanders: Bigfoot researcher, adventurer, and documentarian. He traveled to alleged Bigfoot hotspots across North America for a year and documented the journey
Steve Feltham: Known as the “Nessie Hunter,” he moved to the shores of Loch Ness in 1991 and holds the Guinness World Record for the longest continuous vigil seeking the Loch Ness Monster

Jessica Severin de Martinez, Meg Fitzgerald, and Robyn Doyon-Aitken contributed to this show.

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