I am going to be a guest speaker at the Afterlife Paranormal Conference and Film Festival in Chicago, Illinois this coming Saturday, October 6th, 2012.
I have written before about “Cry Baby” sounds that have been reported near bridges and woods. Please see Cry Baby Bridge. Recently friends of mine from Spirit Bluffs Paranormal tent camped in Siloam Springs State Park, located east of Quincy, Illinois. The following is their report and sound clips from their recordings.
We are a team of paranormal researchers called Spirit Bluffs Paranormal. Sasquatch hunting is not our forte but after hosting Stan Courtney to speak at one of our local presentations, we decided to check out a state park in our county that has had one reported Bigfoot sighting back in 1972. We had planned on camping out at Siloam Springs State Park, located in Clayton Illinois on September 22nd to invite others who are interested in the paranormal to come sit by our campfire and share their stories. Unfortunately, the cold snap that came through must have discouraged folks from coming out so, it was just our team who camped out that night. We set up our tents in the Group Tent site which is just to the right of the road that leads up to Hickory Hills Campground, an unused campground that the park has closed for the last two years due to a decline in campers ( and we suspect a decline in funding from the state too). This gave us the opportunity to be able to hike the closed campground during the day and then go back later that night to see if we could do any recording of owls and if remotely possible, possible Sasquatch noises. We honestly didn’t believe we would pick up anything but it was worth a try.
We went to bed early so we could set an alarm to wake up around 1 am to hike up Hickory Hill Campground. However, the alarm didn’t go off until 2am so we got up an hour later than we had hoped. We had to stoke the fires to warm us up since by now the temps had dropped to the mid thirties. It was way too cold for so early in the season but it’s the midwest and you just never know. Once we got the fires going good we checked our equipment that we were taking, just hand held digital recorders with an external mic, a Sony nightshot camcorder, a ultra violet video camera, two logs and two rocks for wood knocking and rock clacking. We set out from our camp at 2:25am, September 23rd and walked up into Hickory Hill Campground. As clear as the night was, it was so dark in this campground that we could not see 5 feet infront of us. Four of us, 2 males, 2 females, walked for about a 1/4 of mile into the campground. We could hear the coyotes and dogs quite a distance away. You could also hear the deer walking through the woods but we could not see anything. We decided to head back down the road to an area that had picnic tables to sit on and try the wood knocking and rock clacking. We were back to the picnic tables by 2:50am. This area is on the edge of a heavily wooded area with a lake down below but we didn’t realize the lake was so close until the next day.  We took pictures, ran video and tried our hand at the knocking and clacking. At about 3:15 am after we did a series of these sounds we began to hear a child crying.  You could tell this was not a baby crying but a child a little bit older. Our initial thought was that a child was wondering the woods somewhere and got lost. The child’s crying went on for about 3 mins, then stopped. After it stopped we noticed a light moving through the wooded area infront of us. We watched it for a while and then it too disappeared. This experience was really strange and as you can tell in this clip, it’s the last thing we expected to hear at 3:15 in the morning. One of our members did note during the time that we were sitting there that the pitch of the woods had changed and indeed you didn’t hear any of the other animals making any noise, it was perfectly quiet until the child crying started. Back at camp we reviewed the audio of the crying and when we played this the coyotes would start to howl even though they were far away. We can’t explain the experience of the night at all. We did go back to the area the next day and found that the lake is right at the bottom of the wooded area. There is also, a small dammed up area there. There is another campground in the park and it is approximately a 1/4 of a mile away.  We are not sure if we would have been able to hear a child cry from there or not. It has however, peaked our interest in this field.  Our recording is not of the highest quality but you can make out the child crying. We hope to go back out sometime next Spring.
Click here to listen to the complete sound clip: Â Full Clip Cry Baby
Map showing the location of Siloam Springs State Park.
My grandson is two and half years old. And as such, like most toddlers, is challenged when it comes to language skills. He has pet names for people and things. He differentiates between two sets of grandparents by the names of our dogs. Hence my name is “Papa Belle”, and his other grandfather is “Papa Tess”. His great-grandfather does not have a dog but he does have chickens. Therefore his name is “Papa click click”, my grandson imitating the sound the chickens make.
Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates a sound. Such common words in English are “meow” or “roar”.  This usage is common through many different cultures, although the word they use will not be the same as ours.
In March and April of this year (2012) I left a long-term continuously running recorder out in the woods at a witnesses property in Edgar County, Illinois near the Illinois-Indiana border. The recorder was positioned 12 feet off the ground in an open-platform tree blind.  The witnesses farm is in a remote area, there are scattered farms but very few people.  The witness had removed all gamecams from his property six months earlier.
A typical deer tree stand somewhat similar to the one in Edgar County, Illinois
On the 2nd of April, 2012, I recorded the most unusual sound. Immediately upon hearing it I thought “camera shutter”.  Others will think something else. I spoke with the witness, who was adamant that no strangers ever trespass and cut through his woods or pastures.  And once again he maintained that there were no gamecams on his property.
The sound was close, at least within 10 feet from the recorder.
I can not tell you what made that sound, but I am left with this thought –
Was this one of the “locals” passing close by the tree stand? Did they use an onomatopoeiac word to describe what they mistook for a gamecam, my recorder sitting in the tree stand.”  Was the “clicking and motor sound” heard on the sound clip their vocal term for a gamecam?
Click here to listen to this sound clip: Â Tree Stand Sound
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And here is a sound clip of an older 35 mm film  camera : 35 mm Camera Shutter
I am going to be a guest speaker at the Athens Fall Festival in Athens, Illinois this coming Saturday, August 25th, 2012.
Every year I return at least twice to the area where the Colorado Howl recordings were obtained the summer of 2009. Â The site is on a remote dead-end road, being 25 miles from the nearest pavement. I have spent many days there all alone enjoying the quietude.
I arrived on Saturday, the 21st of July 2012. Dennis and Shannon Pfohl,  of The Colorado Bigfoot Research Group pulled into camp on Monday morning and Marc Swanson arrived on the next Thursday evening and spent the weekend with the group.
This place is a little bit different than I have ever been before. Vocals can be heard anytime during the day or night and as a result we try to lay low in the morning and not move around much before 08:30 a.m.
On Monday afternoon at 2:30 p.m., I heard coming from the south-east at about 200 yards in the wood-line, a massive single wood knock. It sounded like a major leaguer hitting a home run ball out of the ballpark. This was not a trip that we would hear any loud vocals.
Tuesday morning at 5:00 a.m. Shannon heard what she described as someone yelling “heh” directly south of us. She thought  at the time it was only me out early in the morning. It was not.
[Photo by Marc Swanson]
Left to right – Stan Courtney – Marc Swanson – Shannon and Dennis Pfohl
Wednesday morning around 1:00 a.m. we had a massive thunderstorm and high winds. I was sleeping in the back of my pickup under the truck-topper. As the rain stopped I felt as if the truck was shoved very hard by something at the front . Twenty seconds later the truck was shoved strongly a second time. I couldn’t see or hear anything.
Around 5:00 a.m. Shannon heard a very large single wood knock coming from due south. At 9:35 a.m. I was sitting in a lawn chair by the meadow and heard another large wood knock coming 200 yards due west.
In the evening after dark, maybe 9:30 p.m., Shannon and Dennis, using a thermal imager, watched a cow elk in the meadow, seemingly upset about something (maybe our presence).
Click here to listen to this sound clip of the elk: Â Elk in the meadow.
Thursday morning at 8 a.m. Shannon and Dennis both felt and heard their 26 ft. trailer being smacked by something near the corner. There first response was wondering if I had snuck over and was teasing them. Â I was not up and about at the time.
It was a little unsettling to all of us to think that perhaps something had been in our camp during the daytime.
At 4:30 p.m. we did hear one distant howl as a response to one of our calls.
[Photo by Marc Swanson]
Friday evening we heard our first close-in coyotes vocalizing in a stand of trees about 200 yards SW of the camp. We were all hoping that the Colorado Howler would join the chorus, but it was not to be.
Click here to listen to this sound clip of the coyotes: Â Coyotes near the meadow.
Saturday morning, between 8:15 and 8:30 a.m. Marc, who was sleeping in his tent, was awakened by a very large  rock that was dropped or thrown and landed several feet from his tent.
Saturday afternoon we walked about 75 yards into the woods behind our camp to collect firewood. Marc and I then returned to camp. Twenty minutes later Shannon and Dennis came back to camp. Dennis related that while walking a little further into the woods he was alarmed to see a black “ball of fur” headed straight towards him.
It turned out to be Belle, my Karelian Bear Dog. She normally scouts out the area and spends lots of time in the woods. She is “on her own” most of time and as with other members of her breed are known as being quite fearless. Â The previous week she had a short altercation with a Hereford range bull, it was a stand-off.
As Belle came back towards Dennis she immediately hid behind his legs and peered back down the trail from where she had come. It remains unknown what she had encountered that would affect her in this manner.
We broke camp on Sunday morning and returned to our homes. Although we did not hear and record any loud vocalizations we did feel like we had heard very loud wood knocks and had perhaps had camp visitors on three occasions.
The following are some of the sounds heard from base camp: The Meadows 2012.
I am going to be a guest speaker at the Quincy Public Library hosted by:
Spirit Bluffs Paranormal this coming Saturday, August 11th, 2012.
If there is one Achilles heal when dealing with sasquatch research it is behavior. Â Sasquatch, as do all species of animals, tend to display the same set of behaviors within their specific groups.
One behavior that has been reported is the sasquatch affinity for domestic chicken.
Several years ago I was asked by a fellow researcher to accompany him to a rural home where the family had been experiencing loud vocals. They had also found possible stick structures and large footprints. The homeowner had lost several dozen chickens and ducks. Â As it was getting dark when we arrived I found it interesting to see the only two chickens left were perched on the porch railing as close to the door as possible. Â The homeowners eventually sold their home and moved.
In November of 2010 I gave a public presentation in Belleville, Illinois. After the talk I was approached by a woman from rural Red Bud, Illinois who had been losing five or six chickens several times a week. The chicken house showed no signs of forced entry. The only clue was the strange “cry baby” sounds that she would hear coming from the woods behind her home.
Recently I interviewed a homeowner from near Mt. Vernon, Illinois. He had seen an 8 ft upright figure around his outbuildings and was concerned for his livestock. During the conversation I asked about chickens and he said he had given up on raising them as they always disappeared.
I am currently recording long term at a rural residence near Greenville, Illinois. The family has learn wood knocks and unusual howls. And once again she notes that the neighbors chickens are upset at night.
And recently this newspaper article was published in our local newspaper here in Central Illinois concerning ducks.
Crimes/Incidents
May 29, 2012 At approximately 8:41., a deputy was advised by dispatch of a need to return a call to a 53-year-old woman in reference to ducks being taken from her pen. The deputy contacted the woman who said she wanted to make a report of her ducks being taken. The woman informed the deputy she had four ducks in a pen in the backyard. The woman also reported there were a dozen eggs missing as well. the complainant reported the pen was not locked but the door was shut. There was no indication another animal had gotten into the pen. The woman advised there were two male and two female ducks. The deputy advised the woman a report would be completed. No arrest were made.
In most of these cases, although a sasquatch was not seen, the witnesses had noted unusual sounds and other unusual things happening around their residences.
But why take chickens or duck? Of course no one knows the answer other than maybe for the fact the chickens are small and  easy to carry.  Plus many people today that live out in the suburbs or rural areas raise a few chickens but do not raise the larger animals.
For a previous article related to this subject please see:
I am going to be one member on the Haunted America Monster Panel at the Haunted Ameican Conference this coming Friday, June 22nd, 2012.
Since I was a child I have loved the the song the Teddy Bear’s Picnic.
If you go out in the woods today
You’re sure of a big surprise.
If you go out in the woods today
You’d better go in disguise.
I have a few rules setup for myself when I am in the woods. # 1rule is that if I see or hear something unusual that I take it all in, remain calm and try to remember the details and enjoy the moment.
Yesterday, the 11th of June 2012 I was driving to a location to interview a witness. Since it was close to my main research area I planned on stopping and letting my dog exercise for a couple of hours. I got to the location around 08:15 and slowly walked through the woods.
This photo was taken last fall at the general location. As many areas of Central Illinois it is a mix of wooded streams and farm fields.
I was walking along a small dirt road and as I came to a corner that overlooks a four acre field I stopped to check out the field. There were three turkeys trotting across the far end of the field and I stopped to watch. As I did so just fifty feet in front of me along a small brush and tree line an orange solid colored five foot tall animal barely broke through the foliage and then leaped straight backwards into the brush.
The sighting lasted such a brief moment that I was unable to make out any definable shape. All I can say for sure it was about five feet tall and covered with long orangish hair. I got the impression that whatever this was, it was curious about what had spooked the turkeys and didn’t realize I was that close to it.
Belle was about 50 feet behind me and hadn’t come around the corner yet. The hair on this animal was about 5 inches long and not manicured looking. More of a scruffy or shaggy look to it. I don’t believe it was a deer.
I could have walked with Belle into the exact spot but I am in this for the long haul and do not want the locals to think I am aggressive. I know of two other daytime sightings at this same area. I have recorded lots of vocals here in the last seven and a half years.
This is the same location where a group of us last spring experienced unusual howls, possible infrasound and dirt throwing.
One common occurrence from people who believe they are having visits from sasquatch is gifts. This concept is not something new as it has been reported by witnesses for quite some time. We have lived in our present home for three years now.  I do occasionally record unusual sounds coming from the woods that surround our property. We have had no sightings or found any unusual footprints. I do make note of things that just seem a little odd or strange.
On the 30th of November, 2011 I found this tail from a skunk on our front porch. At the time I assumed our dog had brought it up from the woods although she did not have any skunk smell on her.
[ Skunk’s tail left on our front porch 3oth November, 2011]
Last year when we started having activity around our home my wife’s first comment was “Do not feed, I do not want them coming up around the house.”
On the 7th of May 2012 my wife told me how unusual it was, there were four rocks, the size of a quarter, placed in our wooden platform bird feeder. Every morning after her morning walk she pours a pint of sunflower seeds into the feeder for the birds and squirrels. Then she also remembers several times finding rocks up by the door. Each time she thought it odd.
[One of several rocks that have started appearing in our wooden bird feeder.]
Now, I make no claims as to what is bringing dead animal parts or rocks and placing them on our porch. I have not seen nor heard the culprit, it just is one of those thing that make you shake your head and say “that is odd”.
For sounds that I have recorded coming from near my back yard please see:
and
