My Research

There are many sounds that researchers mistake for sasquatch. One of these is a domestic bull bellowing in the distance.  The sounds can be very low and carry for a great distance. It bothers me to sit out on the deck at my home while my neighbor’s bull is carrying on. And that is 1/2 miles away and through the woods. It is not only the bellowing that bothers me but also all the grumblings and other sounds that bulls make to go along with it.

Recently I placed my recorder along the fence row that separates two pastures. The one bull comes up to this fence and paws the ground while he is vocalizing. Although they can see each other, the two bulls are separated by about 200 yards.

These two clips illustrate the bellowing that bulls can make.

The short version of the bull can be listened to here: Bull bellowing clip # 1:

Another short version of the bull can be listened to here: Bull bellowing clip # 2:

This final clip is long, 43 minutes, but has so many sounds in it that I thought I would include it for anyone who wants to listen. This sequence has individual sounds from each of the two bulls, but in several places includes both animals bellowing at the same time.

The long version of the bull can be listened to here: Bull bellowing clip # 3:

As I have mentioned in earlier posts when ever I leave recording gear unattended in the woods it always gets inspected by forest creatures. And usually those animals are small, such as raccoons, possums or mice. Once in awhile the inspector might be a White-tailed Deer such as happened on the 4th of May 2011. And sometimes I am left to just wonder what or who the visitor was. This happened on the 30th of March, 2011.

Recently I have been recording full-time at an area close to my home that I refer to as the Groves. It was originally pasture land but now the trees and brush are gradually taking it back over. There are quite a few cows and one bull in this pasture. It is close to a country home where the resident no longer lives but comes out and feeds and waters his 10 dogs a couple of times a week.

Belle and a nameless Black Angus bull sizing each other up in New Mexico in 2005.

My interest lies in the fact that the dogs go wild barking at certain times. I am suspicious that something is coming in from the woods, irritating the dogs and then leaving. My goal is to record these other animals. I have recorded what sounds like yells, whistles and last October I recorded what appears to be whispering.

On the 17th of this month I recorded a 45 minute segment of something that was very close to my recorder and microphones. All the sounds and movement appears to be of a cow. But it is still interesting to have the recording to compare against other unseen animals.

This log is about 20 feet log and 3 feet high. I placed my recorder on the other side in between the two adjoining logs assuming the cows could not get into that area.

The short version of the sounds can be listened to here:  Short Version

And the longer (45 minute full segment) can be listened to here: Full Version

We have lived in our new home for two years. It was chosen on purpose for being “in the woods”. It is situated on a point between two lakes. It is in a mature oak forest and the amount of birdlife, amphibians and mammals is prodigious. It is a short drive from where I have been involved with my research for the last six years.

I have heard the “Ohio Moan Howl” and human-sounding calls from this location and recorded many distant howls and whistles.   There have been several times when we thought perhaps we were not alone but nothing definitive.

Yesterday afternoon my wife and I planted some hosta in our backyard overlooking the lake. Our property is on the lake, although the slope to the shore is much too steep for the casual walker.  While digging holes for the plants I stopped to knock off a few branches of a dying pine tree in our yard. Some of the branches I broke off with my hands, some of them I broke with a small shovel.

The pine tree I was knocking dead branches from.

I didn’t think anything about it until about 5 minutes later we heard what appeared to be a rock being thrown with force against a metal object. Others may think it is wood, I am not sure, but I do know it was purposeful.  The sound came from across the cove probably about 70 yards away. I was fortunate to have my Telinga parabolic pointed that direction and my recorder to be on at the time.

This is a picture through the trees in our backyard showing the area  across the cove where the rock throwing sound came from.

Click here to listen to sound clip:  Rock Throwing 1

Waveform View

Spectral View

At about 11 a.m. and  11 p.m. on the 4th of May 2011 I recorded a White-tailed Deer sniffing and checking out my recorder at the North Woods, near my home.  The location is along a stream in a small valley, about a mile long, that feeds into the lake I live on. The nice thing about the location is that there are no roads or people close by, very quiet. Now when I place out remote recorders they are usually an object of interest by the forest critters. Most of the time I assume it is raccoons, possums or even field mice.

It had a long approach getting to the recorder and leaving. The best way to listen to this sound is with headphones and the volume turned up. Although the subject was very close to the microphone, the noises it made were very subtle.

To listen click here:  The Sniffer Pt. 2 – 11 a.m. and here  The Sniffer Pt. 2 – 11 p.m.

Location of the recorder placed underneath a log. As the small recorder was not visible to any casual passer-by my hunch is that it was detected by the animal having smelled it. None of the leaves appeared to have been moved so I would think that what ever was inspecting the recorder was careful not to touch either the recorder or the leaves that were covering it.

Compare this recording to the recording of the 30th of March 2011, The Sniffer, recorded at a different location here in Central Illinois.

The evening of the 6th of April, 2011 I was accompanied by Laura Richter, Chris Mason and John Winterbauer,  all of Springfield, Illinois on an evening walk through  my “Main Research Box” here in Central Illinois.

A daytime photo of the woods in my “Main Research Area”.

It was one of those quiet nights where you think you hear subtle sounds off in the woods but can’t quite make them out. We did have three incidents of note.  John describes in the podcast his feeling of being uneasy and a strange tingly sensation. Later Laura gets hit by a possible projectile throw from the woods, and John & Laura explain footsteps stopping and starting and hearing an odd clucking sound.

To listen to the podcast click here: Walk in the Park, Pt. 2

There have been several reports lately of sightings, footprints from two separate locations, numerous stick structures and vocalizations all within the forest preserves in the 4 northeastern counties of Illinois.

I have been on location at Bachelors Grove in rural Cook County, Illinois four times since early November 2010.  Normally I am not interested in stick structure, teepees, tree twists or arched over trees. It is difficult for me to differentiate between what is storm caused, human activity or something else.

Bachelors Grove however impressed me.  What I found very odd is that there is an area of the woods that is almost devoid of any vegetation or leaves. The area has trees of all sizes and logs, lots of logs strewn around.  I am told by local researchers that new structures periodically show up overnight, and that the logs are moved around. Many of these logs would take a lot of effort to move, something that I would find very unusual for humans to be able to do.

The area that is devoid of vegetation is about 100 by 100 feet. When I stand there I get the impression that it is a very unusual spot, almost like it is an area where something happens. And by that I mean I just get the impression that it is perhaps a rendezvous area. There has been much speculation over the years about sasquatch social structure. I normally try to steer clear of speculation when it comes to why sasquatch do what they do or what their  lives are like when there are no witness reports to back up our ideas.

This new structure was built between the first part of December, when I had last visited the area and the first part of April. It is approximately 12 feet by 12 feet by about 8 feet high. Pictures are a very poor way to visualize such an open structure.

What impressed me was the construction. I will not go into details because of the problem with hoaxers or people coming forward and claiming they had built it. If someone believes they either built it or it is of human construction then they can contact me with an explanation of the details of its design. I tried to lift the heavier crosspieces and was unable to even budge them.

Most areas in the out-of-doors do not bother me, but this location effects me in the same way as the Little Big Horn area of Montana, I just get the feeling that something has happened here. Not foreboding but I just wonder what goes on at 3 am when most of  mankind is asleep.

To see structures photographed earlier at this location please click here:
Cemeteries and Squatches, Pt. 3

Pieces of evidence sometimes are found at the most unexpected times.  Such was the case a year ago when I found “Footprints in Stone – Pt.2“ embedded in a concrete roadway in Cook County, Illinois.

In March my wife I were walking the streets shopping in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico when we saw this long string of footprints laid down in soft concrete many years ago.  And once again, it would appear  that children are easier to keep away from wet concrete than a wandering dog.