1 MINUTE AGO: Josh Gates LEAKS BANNED Expedition X Footage, Its Darker Than Anyone Thought…

Josh Gates is one of the most trusted names in exploration television. Host of Expedition Unknown for over a decade.
Executive producer of Expedition X built his entire career on credibility and authenticity. Never controversial.
Always played by the rules until now.
Two weeks ago, reports emerged that Josh Gates leaked footage from a banned Expedition X episode. Footage Discovery Channel refused to air content too disturbing for television. The network wanted it buried forever. But Josh felt the public deserved to see it. Subscribe because what’s on that leaked footage will shock you. Where Phil Torres and Heather Amaro were investigating. What they encountered that night. Why Discovery pulled the episode completely.
The team’s disturbing reactions caught on camera. Why Josh risked everything to leak it. What experts say about the evidence, and why it’s darker than anyone thought. This is the banned Expedition X footage that almost stayed hidden forever. Expedition X is a spin-off from Expedition Unknown that premiered on Discovery Channel in 2020.
The show is hosted by Phil Torres, a biologist and explorer, and Heather Romero, a paranormal investigator. Josh Gates serves as executive producer. The show investigates cryptids, paranormal phenomena, and unexplained mysteries worldwide, blending science with supernatural investigation. Unlike Ghost Adventures theatrical approach, Expedition X uses scientific methodology with less drama and more authenticity.
Phil brings biological expertise while Heather brings paranormal knowledge, creating a balance between skepticism and belief. The investigation in question was season 4, episode 7, scheduled to air in March 2023. It never made it to broadcast. The episode was pulled weeks before the air date with no explanation given initially. The episode was titled The Nightmare Forest and documented an investigation of Hoya Bachu Forest in a remote area of Romania. Hoya Bachu Forest is known as the Bermuda Triangle of Transylvania.
The location has documented paranormal activity spanning decades, including frequent UFO sightings, strange electromagnetic readings, people disappearing without explanation, and trees growing in bizarre unnatural patterns. Local legends about the forest go back centuries. It’s considered the most haunted forest in the world by paranormal researchers. Expedition X chose this location because of multiple recent reports, hikers experiencing lost time, strange lights photographed repeatedly, constant equipment malfunctions, and locals refusing to enter the forest entirely. It was perfect for investigation. Phil was interested in potential environmental factors, while Heather focused on the paranormal history. The team assembled included Phil Torres as lead investigator, Heather Amaro as co-lead, a full production crew, a local Romanian guide who remains anonymous, and a Romanian paranormal expert consultant.
They planned a five-night investigation with state-of-the-art equipment documenting everything. The planned episode followed standard expedition X format, research phase interviewing locals, initial daytime exploration, nighttime investigations, evidence analysis, and conclusions drawn. They expected a normal hour-long episode with nothing particularly unusual. What actually happened was catastrophic. The investigation went horribly wrong on night three. Something was encountered in that forest. The crew was placed in genuine danger. The equipment captured everything on camera. The footage was too disturbing for broadcast standards.
Discovery pulled the episode immediately and wanted all footage destroyed permanently. When footage was sent to Discovery Channel editors for standard review, they began assembling the episode, but immediately flagged serious concerns. Senior producers were called in. The legal team was consulted.
Network executives watched the raw footage. A decision was made quickly and definitively. This episode would never air. Discovery’s official statement cited content too intense for audience, potential liability issues, genuine safety concerns documented, and not appropriate for broadcast. The vague corporate language told viewers very little, but the message was clear. The episode was permanently dead. The specific issues were unprecedented. The footage showed crew members in genuine distress with panic attacks caught on camera. Screaming and terror were documented extensively. This wasn’t typical paranormal show drama where investigators act scared for ratings.
This was real fear and real trauma. The content was too intense to be considered entertainment. It crossed the line from investigation to survival documentation and the network couldn’t ethically air it. Legal liability concerns were massive. The crew had been put in a genuinely dangerous situation. Proper safety protocols weren’t followed.
Medical attention was required for multiple crew members. Psychological trauma occurred and was documented.
Workers compensation claims were possible. Insurance issues arose.
Discovery was exposed legally. Airing the episode would be admitting negligence and inviting lawsuits. The content violated Discovery’s broadcast standards. The network has specific limits on violence and disturbing content. This footage exceeded those limits significantly. What was captured on camera was too graphic and too real.
It wasn’t entertainment anymore, but rather a documentary of trauma that couldn’t be edited appropriately for television audiences. The unexplained elements made the network extremely uncomfortable. The footage shows things that cannot be explained by current scientific understanding. Equipment captured anomalies that challenge our comprehension of reality. Discovery was uncomfortable with the implications of what was shown on camera. Airing it would raise too many questions the network couldn’t answer and didn’t want to attempt addressing. The episode would damage Expedition X’s carefully built brand. The show’s reputation was built on credibility and scientific approach.
This episode was too extreme and would make the show seem exploitative or sensationalistic. The network made the decision to protect the brand by burying the episode entirely. The crew’s medical condition after filming was documented extensively. Phil Torres was affected severely. Heather Amaro was traumatized.
Multiple camera crew members needed professional counseling. The local guide disappeared after filming and hasn’t been found. Everyone showed PTSD symptoms. Medical documentation exists.
Airing the episode would expose all of this, making Discovery liable for damages. The footage appeared online two weeks ago through an anonymous upload to multiple platforms simultaneously. It’s 17 minutes of raw footage that immediately went viral. Discovery tried removing it through copyright strikes, but the Streryand effect made it spread faster. It’s now everywhere and cannot be stopped. The opening sequence shows the team entering the forest at night with Phil and Heather leading. Night vision cameras are active and everything seems normal initially. There’s casual conversation as they set up base camp and perform equipment checks. It’s a standard investigation start that gives no hint of what’s coming. The first anomaly occurs at the 3minute mark. All equipment dies simultaneously. Cameras, radios, everything. The batteries were fully charged, but all drained instantly. The team switches to backup gear, but the backup equipment dies, too. Only one camera continues recording, capturing everything that follows. The atmosphere change is dramatic and immediate. Temperature drops drastically with visible breath suddenly appearing. It was 60° Fahrenheit, but feels like 30° within seconds. The forest goes completely silent with no insects, no wind, nothing. The unnatural quiet is obvious.
The team notices immediately that something is very wrong. Phil’s reaction at the 7-minute mark is telling. He suddenly stops walking and asks, “Did you hear that?” There’s a sound like whispers coming from all directions. The language is unknown. Not Romanian, not any recognizable language. The whispers are getting progressively louder.
Strange lights appear in the trees. At 9 minutes, orange and red orbs move with apparent intelligence. They’re not fireflies or drones. The lights respond to the team’s movements. When the investigators move, the lights move correspondingly. They’re getting closer and surrounding the team systematically.
Heather’s experience at 11 minutes is the most disturbing. She screams suddenly, “Something touched me.” A visible mark appears on her arm. Three scratches appearing while the camera watches. No one is near her. The scratches start bleeding immediately.
Her terror is completely genuine. The breakdown begins at 13 minutes. Phil yells, “We need to leave now.” The crew starts running but can’t find the way out. The forest looks completely different. Known paths have disappeared.
Complete disorientation sets in. Panic consumes everyone. Multiple people are screaming simultaneously. The encounter at 15 minutes shows the camera catching something. A large figure in the trees with non-human proportions. It’s moving impossibly fast between trees. Eyes reflect the camera light. The figure is approximately 8 ft tall. Then the footage cuts to black abruptly. Phil Torres is normally calm, scientific, and analytical during investigations, but the leaked footage shows him absolutely terrified. His voice shakes uncontrollably. His hands tremble visibly on camera. This isn’t right.
Nothing about this is right. He repeats.
He’s trying desperately to stay professional, but fear is overwhelming him. He becomes protective of the crew, prioritizing their safety over the investigation. In the immediate aftermath, Phil refused to return to the forest. This was the first time in his career he quit a location mid investigation. He was visibly shaken for days afterward. He couldn’t sleep and had nightmares about the experience.
I’ve investigated hundreds of locations, never experienced anything like that. He later stated, “The experience genuinely changed him.” Heather Amaro has investigated the paranormal for years and has seen a lot in her career, but this experience broke her completely.
The scratches appeared on her arm while the camera was recording. “No explanation is possible for what happened. Physical attack was documented in real time. I felt something grabbed me,” she said during the footage. She required immediate medical treatment.
Heather’s lasting effects were severe.
The scratches took weeks to heal properly. Infection developed despite treatment. Doctors were confused by the pattern of the wounds. Not animal, not human, not anything they recognized. She still has permanent scars today. She references Romania very sparingly in interviews. She’s clearly traumatized and won’t discuss details publicly. The camera crews reactions are equally telling. Multiple professional crew members who filmed everything are shown in genuine panic. They’re screaming, crying, and running through the forest completely lost and disoriented. These are professionals in real survival mode, not acting. The local Romanian guide who led them into the forest vanished completely during the event. The team couldn’t find him despite searching.
They eventually found their way out, but the guide was never located. He remains missing to this day. The Romanian paranormal expert who consulted stated afterward, “I warned them. Locals know better. That forest is cursed. People don’t come back or they come back changed.” He refused to elaborate further and was clearly frightened. Josh Gates watched the footage immediately and called Phil personally asking, “Are you okay?” He showed concern for his team, but also recognized the historical significance. “This is important evidence. People need to see this,” he believed from the beginning. “Discovery learned about the leak within hours as social media alerted them to the spreading footage. Millions of views accumulated quickly. The legal team was activated immediately. Crisis management mode began. The PR department scrambled for response, but containment was already impossible. The official statement was carefully worded, “Discovery Channel is aware of unauthorized footage release. Episode was never approved for broadcast.
Concerned for crew safety and privacy, investigating source of leak, taking appropriate legal action. It was standard corporate response, revealing nothing substantial. Discovery attempted to remove the footage through copyright strikes on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook, but the Stryand effect kicked in immediately. Removing content made it spread faster as people downloaded and re-uploaded everywhere. The footage cannot be stopped now. Legal action is being threatened. Discovery is investigating who leaked the material.
NDA violations are extremely serious with financial penalties and career-ending consequences. Lawsuits are being prepared, but the leak was anonymous, making it hard to prove who did it. Industry insiders point directly to Josh Gates. He’s the only person with both motive and access. He wanted the episode aired, but the network refused.
Josh is known for integrity and transparency. Would he violate an NDA?
Evidence increasingly suggests yes. The upload timing was suspicious, occurring right after Josh’s podcast episode discussing censorship in TV. The leak was anonymous but sophisticated, suggesting someone with technical knowledge. The footage is raw edit quality that only producers possess.
Josh is the executive producer with full access. Discovery cannot prove Josh leaked it, but suspicions are strong.
The relationship is now severely strained. Trust is damaged, perhaps permanently. Future projects are questioned and listed as under review.
Josh’s entire career is at risk for doing what he felt was right. Expedition X’s future is uncertain. Season 5 was in production, but is now paused indefinitely. The network is reviewing all content with stricter oversight demanded. Phil and Heather are caught in the middle. Their show has been jeopardized by footage they didn’t leak themselves. Public reaction exploded.
The paranormal community called it most credible evidence ever and finally proof of something. Skeptics analyze it frame by frame. Some call it fake, but most say it’s real. The debate rages across social media. Everyone has an opinion and mainstream media is covering the story extensively beyond just paranormal communities. Hoya Bachu Forest is located near Kluj Npoka, Romania, covering roughly 250 hectares. Strange activity has been documented since the 1960s. The forest was named after a shepherd who disappeared there with 200 sheep. Neither was ever found, and the legend began. Scientific anomalies are extensively documented. Vegetation grows in bizarre twisted patterns throughout the forest. A circular clearing exists in the center where nothing grows despite soil tests showing nothing wrong. Plants simply refuse to grow there. Electromagnetic readings are consistently abnormal. Compasses spin wildly and don’t function properly inside the forest boundaries. Multiple disappearances are documented. People enter and vanish completely. Some are found days later with no memory of the missing time. A classic lost time phenomenon. Others are never found at all. Search parties actively avoid entering the forest because it’s considered too dangerous. The UFO connection is well established. Frequent sightings occur with extensive photographic evidence. A famous 1968 photograph captured by a biologist shows a discshaped craft clearly. Multiple witnesses have reported objects that appear on military radar. The Romanian military acknowledges the sightings but cannot explain them. Paranormal reports are constant and consistent. Apparitions are seen regularly throughout the forest. Voice recordings capture unexplained sounds. Electronic voice phenomena occur frequently. Faces appear in photographs taken inside the forest.
Physical sensations are commonly reported, including feeling watched, feeling touched, overwhelming fear, and physical illness afterward. Local Romanian beliefs run deep. People actively avoid the forest, calling it a portal to another world and gateway for demons. They believe it’s cursed by ancient people based on indigenous legends predating Christianity. This deeprooted fear is passed through generations and taken very seriously.
Previous investigations by Ghost Adventures in 2016 experienced equipment failures and strange occurrences, though nothing approached the severity of what Expedition X encountered. Other teams have tried investigating and most turn back. Those who don’t turn back invariably regret not doing so.
Expedition X ignored all warnings.
Locals begged them not to enter.
Previous investigators cautioned strongly against it, but production wanted compelling content and ratings drive decisions. Risk assessment was clearly inadequate. They should have listened to the warnings. Whatever exists in that forest actively doesn’t want people there. It’s intelligent, potentially malevolent, and genuinely dangerous. Multiple forensic video analysts examined the leaked footage frame by frame, looking for editing, CGI, or manipulation. No evidence of tampering was found. The footage appears completely authentic. This wasn’t staged. Reactions are genuine. Fear can’t be faked like this, experts concluded. The figure in the trees was enhanced and stabilized for analysis. It shows a large bipedal shape approximately 8 ft tall moving between trees with incredible speed. The proportions are wrong for human anatomy.
The arms are too long. The movement is too fast for any known animal. Analysis concludes it’s consistent with unknown primate species. Phototric analysis of the lights revealed they’re not conventional light sources. They’re not drones, aircraft, or any known technology. No heat signature is detected. The lights move in physically impossible patterns while responding intelligently to human presence. Experts state, “No known explanation exists.” Medical professionals examined Heather’s scratch marks. Three parallel marks with spacing suggesting a very large hand.
The spacing is too wide for human hands and not consistent with any known animal. The marks appeared while being filmed with no one near her. Medical conclusion, genuinely unexplained injury. Audio analysis enhanced and isolated the whispers heard on camera.
The sounds are not any known language.
Computer analysis is inconclusive. The whispers sound similar to ancient linguistic patterns, but cannot be translated by any available database.
Origin unknown. The electromagnetic phenomena that drained all batteries simultaneously would require enormous power. All equipment was fully charged.
Everything drained in seconds. No visible power source exists.
Electromagnetic experts state unprecedented in field investigations.
Can’t explain it scientifically.
Temperature documentation shows visible breath appearing suddenly. A temperature drop of 30° Fahrenheit occurred in seconds, not gradually. No weather event explains it. The drop was localized to the team while surrounding areas were unaffected. Scientists conclude violates thermodynamics. Shouldn’t be possible.
Phil Torres eventually commented publicly, “I’m a scientist. I believe in evidence. I saw something that night that challenges everything I know. I can’t explain it, but it happened. The footage proves it.” Paranormal researchers analyzed the footage as consistent with negative entity encounter, possibly demonic or malevolent. Physical manifestation is rare, but documented. Heather called it a textbook case of dangerous haunting.
Even skeptics admit the footage is compelling. If fake, it’s the best ever created. They concede. Josh Gates watched the footage when it first arrived and immediately recognized its significance. This is important, most compelling evidence I’ve seen in 20 years, he stated internally. He wanted to air the episode and argued passionately with the network. Public deserves to see this. He insisted repeatedly. He lost that argument completely. The network meeting was heated. Josh argued, “This is why we do this work.” Network executives countered, “This is a liability nightmare.” Josh pressed, “We have responsibility to truth.” The network responded, “We have responsibility to shareholders.” The fundamental disagreement couldn’t be resolved through compromise. Josh wrestled with an ethical struggle for months. He had signed an NDA and given his word, but he also believes deeply in transparency. He built his career on credibility and authenticity. This footage proves something extraordinary exists. Hiding it felt morally wrong. Corporate interests versus public interest created impossible conflict. What matters more?
He struggled with the decision constantly. The tipping point came from Phil Torres continued PTSD symptoms.
They went through that trauma for nothing. The episode won’t even air.
Their experience means nothing if buried. Josh realized he felt responsibility to honor their experience by sharing the truth with the world.
After the leak, Josh posted on social media, “I believe in transparency. The public deserves truth. Sometimes rules need breaking for the greater good.
Whatever consequences come, I accept them.” This statement basically confirmed he leaked the footage intentionally. The consequences he faces are severe. Discovery will likely sue for contract violations. Financial penalties are possible and substantial.
His shows could be cancelled entirely.
Expedition Unknown is at risk.
Expedition X is definitely affected negatively. His career could be completely over. Josh knew all of this before leaking. He did it anyway because some things are bigger than career. This is evidence of something extraordinary, maybe dangerous. People need to know what’s out there, even if it costs me everything. It was principle over profit, truth over career security. The paranormal community praised Josh extensively. Did the right thing.
Network censorship is wrong. Truth matters more, they declared. A petition to Discovery not to punish Josh gathered thousands of signatures. Phil and Heather both publicly supported the leak despite personal costs. Discovery hasn’t fired Josh, but all projects are paused.
Expedition X is cancelled. Legal battles are beginning with Discovery suing for NDA violations. Josh’s career hangs in the balance. The footage transformed the paranormal field with universities studying it academically. Romanian authorities restricted access to Hoyabachu Forest. The missing guide remains unfound. Josh is creating an independent crowdfunded documentary.
Phil reflected, “That night changed me.
I’ll never go back. Some places should be left alone.” The leaked footage sparked mainstream debate about what’s being hidden and whether the public deserves truth regardless of corporate interests.