Everyone Has An Explanation
Recently I had a chance meeting with one of the landowners whose property abuts my research box here in Central Illinois. As the gentleman was in his eighties and had lived here his whole lifetime I thought it would be a good time to see what he knew. We discussed the wildlife in the area and I inquired if he had ever seen Bobcat or Cougar, as I have seen both at this location. Â His answer was yes, he had seen Bobcat but not any Cougar.
Picture of a Bobcat I took at this location in 2005.
He did toss out two interesting comments.
When he was younger he used to use coonhounds and had been active hunting coons. He said that on several occasions the dogs would return prematurely and hide behind him and refuse to hunt. He said to me “You know what that means, wolves. The dogs always act like that when wolves are around.”
He also said that his 25 year old granddaughter was afraid to go outside at night because of the wildlife.
Several years ago I spoke with a retired gentleman while hiking in the same area. We got to talking about animal sounds so I asked him if he had ever heard anything unusual, like whoops. He said yes, he had heard whoops and knew that was the sound of foxes.
The following is a recording of what appears to be a whoop that I recorded at this location in 2005.
Each of the men had their own explanations for what wildlife is in the area, although neither had seen what was making the sounds. Everyone has an explanation to deal with the unknown.
Night Sounds, Pt 8 – Human
And finally probably the most difficult sounds to separate from possible bigfoot / sasquatch sounds are of course human. Obviously there is no need to post typical human sounds but in an upcoming series of posts I will provide some sound files that don’t seem to fit into the human category.
My wife Vickie and myself enjoying a campfire with squatchin’ friends in West Virginia.
Guidelines for Sound Identification
One area of purported evidence for the existence of bigfoot / sasquatch is vocalizations. Many recordings of varying quality are available either on the internet or by retail sales.
One problem with sound identification is that to my knowledge there are no publicly available videos showing a sasquatch making a vocalization.
So for the sake of clarity I have drawn up what I call three “Guidelines for Sound Identification”. Â I would consider this a sort of “rules of engagement” when discussing possible sasquatch sounds.
If anyone has any ideas for what should be added or changed please let me know. I would like this to be a collaborative effort among those serious researchers who concentrate on audio recording.
Comments are welcome.
Guideline # 1
“To identify a sound as belonging to a certain species requires an audio recording of sufficient quality and volume to be analyzed in sound editing software. The sound must then be compared to a sound recording of a known species. A poor quality recording that has been distorted with bad filtering techniques is next to worthless.”
Two examples of poor quality sound recordings, due to the poor field recording equipment available 30 years ago.
1973 Whoop-Howl from Puyallup, Washington
1978 Whoop-Howl from Snohomish County, Washington
Two examples of better quality sound recordings.
Guideline # 2
“A soundscape is made up many sounds coming from various sources. The unknown sound does not necessarily belong to any of the predominent sounds. Just because you hear a cow or a coyote does not mean that all the sounds recorded are of cows or coyotes.”
Example # 1Â The following sounds can be heard on this two minute clip – dogs, coyote, Illinois Howl, dog howling, wild turkey.
Example # 2Â – The following sounds can be heard on this two minute clip – coyote , Â cattle, Â Illinois howl, dog, cattle, coyote, dogs.
Guideline # 3
“To illustrate a point about a sound you need to be able to produce a sound clip that matches your example. Don’t say ‘I hear that sound all the time’ but then be unable to produce a recording.”
International Cryptozoology Museum
My wife and I recently visited the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine. Â Loren Coleman, Curator and Owner, gave us a personally guided hour long tour of the many fascinating exhibits.
Needless to say what impressed me the most is the 8 foot tall bigfoot replica. Makes you really stop and contemplate what we are dealing with in sheer physical size of these animals.  If you get a chance you really should take the time to visit this interesting museum.
On The Road Again
My wife retired the end of May and now we are traveling in our motor home to different parts of the country. We have both been in all 50 states but now we have the ability to spend extended time in areas of interest. First trip, from Illinois to Maine with all states in-between. We will be enjoying the fall colors and I will be recording full-time and checking out a lot of spots with known squatch activity.
From our campsite in the Adirondacks of Upstate New York.
Night Sounds, Pt 7 – Cattle
Some researchers may think it strange that I would include cattle sounds as being mistaken for sasquatch. Â Several times I have had witnesses contact me about recordings they have obtained that they wanted my opinion of the sounds. When I listened my answer was that it was a bull bellowing. Neither witness was familiar with cattle and were not aware of how deep and loud a bull’s bellows can be. These bellows can be very deep, repetitive and carry a great distance. Â Neither witness was happy with my answer and wanted to argue, although both areas had cattle grazing in fields close by.
Belle sizing up a range bull in New Mexico.
The following sound clip is of my neighbor’s bull. Â Click here for: bull bellowing
This bull is about a half mile north of where I live, I need to get the microphone closer for a decent recording.
File # 20 – 2011.06.03_Cattle_04.mp3
File # 19 – 2011.06.03_Cattle_03.mp3
File # 18 – 2011.06.03_Cattle_02.mp3
File # 17 – 2011.06.03_Cattle_01.mp3
File # 16 – 2011.06.01_Cattle_01.mp3
File # 15 – 2011.05.31_Cattle_03.mp3
File # 14 – 2011.05.31_Cattle_02.mp3
File # 13 – 2011.05.31_Cattle_01.mp3
File # 12 – 2011.05.17_Cattle_01.mp3
File # 11 – 2011.05.16_Cattle_03.mp3
File # 10 – 2011.05.16_Cattle_02.mp3
File # 09 – 2011.05.16_Cattle_01.mp3
File # 08 – 2010.10.22_Cattle_04.mp3
File # 07 – 2010.10.22_Cattle_03.mp3
File # 06 – 2010.10.18_Cattle_02.mp3
File # 05 – 2010.10.18_Cattle_01.mp3
File # 04 – 2010.10.18_Cattle_03.mp3
File # 03 – 2010.10.18_Cattle_02.mp3
File # 02 – 2010.10.18_Cattle_01.mp3
File # 01 – 2010.08.31_Cattle_01.mp3
Copyright 2004-2010 by Stan Courtney. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.