Is Mountain Monsters Real? The Debate Explained

Summary Trapper John Tice insisted Mountain Monsters is unscripted, showcasing the natural chemistry between the A.I.M.S. team.

The show's focus is on the hunt for cryptids, not necessarily finding evidence, highlighting the thrill of the chase.

Mountain Monsters had a feud with Finding Bigfoot over alleged scripted content, adding drama to the cryptozoology reality TV world.

"Is Mountain Monsters real?" Travel Channel viewers may have pondered while watching the cryptozoological reality TV series. Mountain Monsters premiered in June 2013 and for over eight seasons, the series has bopped around from Destination America to the Travel Channel to now Max as part of the Warner Bros. Discovery buyout. Despite changing networks, the series remains largely the same. The show follows six West Virginia hunters who call themselves the Appalachian Investigators of Mysterious Sightings (A.I.M.S.), an apt name for a team that searches for the strange and mysterious creatures of the world.

Cryptids have always fascinated movie and television fans, and Mountain Monsters combines that love of the unknown with a charming reality show about the hunt, which ends up being more about the interesting and odd men who go out searching for them. The show is a procedural investigation with each episode focused on a different cryptid. Even when the Mountain Monsters hunts are unsuccessful, the hilarious banter between the trappers makes the series worth a watch, but has also led some to believe the show is scripted.

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John "Trapper" Tice Insisted Mountain Monsters Had No Scripted Lines

The A.I.M.S. Squad Developed Their Rapport Over Years Hunting Together

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The witty dialogue between the A.I.M.S. team is one of the reasons to keep tuning into the show, and the team's founder "Trapper" John Tice, has denied the suggestion that their lines are in any way scripted. He told OCJ,

"We have no scripted lines. The funny stuff is just the funny stuff that old guys say and do. The great part about us is that we can laugh at ourselves."

The A.I.M.S. team has known each other since well before they were filmed for a TV show, so it's certainly believable that the six of them developed a comfortable rapport that makes it easy for them to come up with a quick response and line when they speak to one another. It's a natural chemistry developed after years of hunting together.

Another reason that people tend to think the show is scripted is because, over eight seasons, Trapper and his team have never actually found any real evidence of a cryptid. However, the same could be said for any cryptozoology or ghost hunter TV show. Rarely, if ever, do the investigators find irrefutable evidence. That's not necessarily the point, however. In many ways, the point is the hunt. It's using investigative techniques and an open mind to consider if there's more to the world than meets the eye, and it's about having fun while doing so.

Both Reality Shows Had A Bone To Pick

Mountain Monsters and a similar cryptid-hunting TV show, Finding Bigfoot, ended up getting into an online scuffle after the latter called out the former for what it saw as scripted writing. Matt Moneymaker of Finding Bigfoot posted on X,

Trapper responded with a tweet of his own,

The official Finding Bigfoot X account finished things off by referring to Mountain Monsters as a "hoax-fake show", and things seemed to have cooled since.

The world of cryptozoology reality shows is more fiery than most would have guessed, but both series have their defenders and there's nothing wrong with a little ribbing between fandoms as long as it doesn't get too vitriolic.

Mountain Monsters Honored Trapper After His Passing

Trapper Passed Away Before Season 7 Of Mountain Monsters

The founder of A.I.M.S., John "Trapper" Tice, sadly passed away on December 16, 2019 (via Ingramfh) at the age of 72 after a brief fight with an unnamed illness. Mountain Monsters season 7 of the series began with a tribute to Trapper as the series continued on, the banner now carried by Trapper's friends. He remains a part of Mountain Monsters, however, as he left a journal of his field notes for the team, part of which centered on a new adventure for them: the hunt for a group of formidable creatures known as "Smoke Wolves".

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