Bachelors Grove Cemetery (Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area.)

Recently I was asked to speak at the Illinois MUFON State Meeting at Starved Rock State Park. After giving my presentation I was introduced to John Stephenson who stated that my talk had made him think about some of the activity and things he was finding at Bachelors Grove Cemetery, which is part of the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, Illinois.  John’s website is found at Bachelors Grove.com.

The trail leading into the abandoned Bachelors Cemetery, Chicago metro area.

According to John’s excellent website – Bachelor Grove.com.

“Bachelors Grove Cemetery is well known as one of the most haunted places in all of Chicagoland. This small desecrated graveyard has more unexplained paranormal activities than any other cemetery worldwide.”

Some of the activity John mentioned was –

Bent over trees

Feelings of being watched

Growls

Large nuts or acorns being thrown at witnesses.

Large pyramid structures

Logs being thrown at witnesses.

Logs blocking trails

Tree Twists

Unknown footfalls

Voices

Weird, freaky smells

John Stephenson standing underneith a very large pyramid structure.

Another picture of the pyramid structure showing its large size.

One of many arched-over trees.

On-site interview with John Stephenson.

Click here to listen to the interview: Cemeteries and Squatches, Pt. 3

Possible Howl Recorded

While we were in the middle of the cemetery John was explaining its history to me when several sirens went off. A few seconds later this loud siren type howl started across the four lane road and in the woods up a hill on the other side. Time 10:00 a.m. I wish I would have had my parabolic microphone on it.

I only had my little Sony M-10 (monitoring recorder) running at the time. Not a very good recording, I had to crank up the gain on the first part. But it is the best I could do. Excited was not enough to express how I felt when I realized what it was. It howled three times and then was quiet.

Click here to listen to the sound clip: Bachelors Grove Possible Howl

Waveform View

Spectral View

I have already written about the many sasquatch sightings close to cemeteries.  See:

Cemeteries and Squatches, Pt. 1

Cemeteries and Squatches, Pt. 2

After posting The Whisperer on the 22nd of October 2010 I have been going back through some of my sound files and blogposts and looking for any similarities.

The first part of March 2010 I recorded a lot of coyotes that were particularly vocal, I assume because of the mating season.  I posted on Facebook what I thought were some odd coyote vocalizations. I was contacted by five or six researchers who thought that I should take a closer look at this sound file as there was one segment that was very un-coyote like. I dubbed the sound clip the Lake Howl and included it a March 28th, 2010 article entitled That Strange Anomoly.  I was very reluctant to say much about it because of the many coyotes also vocalizing within the sound file.

A view of the hill behind our home where I recorded the “mumble” in March of  2010.

For a recorder I used the Sound Devices 722 with a Sennheiser MKH20 Omni-directional microphone. The microphone was placed on our patio where it was protected from the weather.

After the recording last week I am now wondering if it is not a somewhat similar scenario, in that you have a common animal (whether coyote howling as in March of 2010 or dogs barking as in October of 2010) mixed in with an unknown sound. If you look both at the sound clip using a sound editor and listen to the clip there is one very short sound segment that is highly unusual. I have recorded many coyotes and not ever seen or heard this particular sound.

The following sound file was recorded the 2nd of March 2010.  The coyotes were very close to my house and at first you hear a lone male calling, and then what sounds like a mumble (at the 24 sec mark and lasting for one second) and then the rest of the coyote pack howling.

A 2 minute segment with the mumble at the 24 second mark.

Click here to listen to sound clip:  Mumble 1   35 second  sound clip

Waveform View

Spectral View

A 5 second segment of just the mumble.

Click here to listen to sound clip: Mumble  5 second sound clip

Waveform View

Spectral View

I do not know what the source for the “mumble” is but my suspicion is that I may have recorded the same unknown intruder that I later recorded and labelled The Whisperer in October of 2010.

Since moving into our new home in April of 2009 I have heard and recorded several unusual vocalizations. To the south of me about one half mile using a remote recorder I recorded what sounds like a growl followed by the dogs barking.

And one half mile to the north of our home I have a neighbor who also has a home in the woods.  He has commented that some animal is coming in close to his pond, makes strange noises and his dog starts barking. Both of these neighbors are having the same type of  occurrence.  I have also noticed lately while standing out in my yard that my neighbors cattle get upset as well as his dogs. This is not every night but about once a week.

So I set up my parabolic microphone and recorder in the woods close to the farm in the hopes of getting a recording of the unknown intruder.

The Telinga parabolic microphone near the edge of the woods.

I allowed the recorder to record for four days continuously until I discontinued it because of the threat of rain. Sounds recorded were the typical, both Barred and Great Horned Owls, squirrels, Blue Jay, a donkey from 1 1/4 miles to the north-east and several lively deer who found my recording gear quite interesting.

The following sound file was recorded the final night, the 22nd of October 2010.  Although the sounds are not close what I hear is the dogs barking, what sounds like a whisper (at the 60 sec mark) and then the dogs whining.

A 2 minute segment with the whisper at the 60 second mark.

Click here to listen to sound clip:  Whisper 1

A 5 second segment of just the whisper.

Click here to listen to sound clip:  Whisper 1  5 second sound clip

Waveform View

Spectral View

I do not know what the source for the “whisper” is but my suspicion is that I recorded the unknown intruder that has been upsetting the neighbor’s dog.

I have a location close to my home that I have a suspicion about. Seems that something is coming in close to one of the farmer’s homes, makes strange noises and gets the dogs to barking. So I set up my parabolic microphone and recorder in the woods close to the farm in the hopes of getting a recording of the unknown intruder.

Because of the threat of rain I placed a trash bag over the top of the parabolic which is attached to a tripod. My recorder is inside a water proof backpack. To be extra sure I also placed it into a trash bag. I was in hopes that the parabolic would still function if not in the best of conditions.

Several trash bags covering my parabolic microphone and audio recorder.

I was surprised to record the following segment. Knowing that there is no video we can only surmise what the sequence of events is by the audio alone. It appears that a White-tailed Deer is alarmed by this strange contraption that is in his territory. He stomps around and then gives out a series of buck snorts.

To listen to the sound file click here:  White-tailed Deer