imonacan's blog

You might have a good idea from reading, and your knowledge of forested areas.. where potential areas to investigate closer to home, might possibly be. I learned about audio surveillance, from others out investigating, and the valuable results this can provide. I was also familiar with this method, by doing nature recording. All that is required is to leave a recorder out in these areas, and to monitor the results. You will probably hear more strange sounds, than anything else, while being involved in this research and investigation.

Any audio recorder will do, but there are some that have more extended battery life, more field durable, and produce lower self noise for picking out faint sounds in a recording. To get into more details about recorders, there are many using them on our forum, that can recommend and guide you to making a good purchase.

If you are camping out at the same locale, I recommend that the recorder be placed well away from camp. It makes sense, that any creatures in the area might sound off naturally, when a human presence is not nearby.. but this might not be true in every case. No one knows, for sure.. exactly what patterns these creatures follow, and how and why they do the things (and make the sounds) they have been reported to do, by witnesses. That is why I also keep a recorder in camp, and bring it into my tent, and set up a camp surveillance, while sleeping. Squatch has been know, to visit campsites. Some might be curious, while others might keep their distance away from humans that enter their areas. There is little doubt in my mind, that they know what we are doing, from the moment we enter the area... if they are present in the locale. For some reason, audio recorders seem to have better results, than camera traps.

I prefer to bungee my recorder to a tree, or set it in a large tree crotch. I use a small plastic tripod, or a little gorilla pod, with the bendable legs for adjustment. When I use external mics with the recorder, they are clipped to the bungee, on each side of a tree. I try and select a tree that is about human head width, to simulate a decent stereo effect and human hearing. I document when the recorder is set out, and when it is retrieved. I note what direction each mic (left or right channel), is facing. Omnidirectional mics work the best, and give you the greatest area of coverage. A good quality set of binuaral mics, that are field worthy, will do the trick for external mics. Many digital recorders, have omnidirectional mics built right in.

I have heard about bipedal sounding footfalls being heard approaching the recorders, and have heard this in other researcher's recordings. I have recorded an unexplained "something" approach my recorder, and scratch, poke , and possibly lick at the fake fur mic cover on the recorder. The most difficult thing about audio, is that there is no visual. The sounds are classed as "unknown", until they can be documented and absolutely explained for a source. This... I will not hesitate to say, is the most difficult part. It often leaves the listener.. with more questions, than answers. It does, however... let one know that interesting and unusual things are happening around the area, and makes it absolutely worthy of further investigation. For this reason alone.. it makes the recording venture well worth the effort. If nothing is noted (besides expected known wildlife sounds) after several tries, than it's time to move on to another area.

For longer term recording, there are solutions such as bringing a 12V battery along, and stepping down the voltage to meet the power needs of your recorder, with a DC to DC converter. This setup, includes a waterproof pack / case and rain cover for the recorder, battery, and converter, and camo netting to conceal the setup from other people finding it, in my absence. The mics are clipped to a bungee, and are the only things exposed. I use the largest SD memory storage card, the recorder will allow. This has given me about a week of continuous recording. I know of others, that are even getting more continuous run / recording time, in the field.

The most time consuming and sometimes boring part of all this.. is monitoring the results. I download the audio from my recorder, to my computer. It helps to own a recorder, that is user friendly, for doing this task. Many choose to look for peaks in the audio WAV graph, while others look at the recording in spectral form, that can show even more detail. Personally, I listen to the whole recording, in sections.. while viewing it both in WAV and spectral forms. I want to listen to everything recorded, because many sounds are faint (and show no apparent peaks), and are sometimes lost in the flat line , of the visual data.

This can takes weeks (as time allows me) of careful listening, with good quality headphones on, at as high of a volume that I am comfortable with, to review just a weekend of audio data. If something of interest is found, I note the labeled segment of the recording, and then clip it out, rename it, and make it a separate file from the original longer master recording. From there, I will sometimes amplify the sounds of interest, and even try for subtle noise reductions , if any hiss is present after the sound if amplified. There is a wide range of software programs to use for this, and also a very good freeware (Audacity) program available for the computer.

What sounds have I found ? Knocks that sound like wood on wood, from the middle of the night. Softer knocks that sound like tapping, or even metallic sounding. Sounds that are percussion - like, that sound like wind chimes and bongos. Knocks that are in the company of strange vocals.. that sound owl- like. Most common, is a human sounding "yaaahoo" or "ahhhoooo" or "wooooooo", or "ohwoooo", recorded both in NY, and in Pennsylvania. Also, a whistle - like vocal that sounds quite loud, and more like a vocalization . Most of these sounds were recorded in the earlier AM, or late PM, and in areas where human presence was unlikely, but not impossible. Another sound to look for, would be high pitched siren like screams, and howls.. that sometimes mix in with canine howls.

Once I have recorded the sounds of interest, I try and compare them to what others have recorded. I've found some startling comparisons, to what others have recorded, in other states, as well as my home state of NY.

Here are a few examples, of some of these clipped out recorded sounds from NY state:

http://soundcloud.com/imonacan/ooooohooh-edit

http://soundcloud.com/imonacan/ovrnght-10-11-clip-vocalizations-knocks

http://soundcloud.com/imonacan/set-of-4-tap-knocks-2

http://soundcloud.com/imonacan/wood-tap-knock

http://soundcloud.com/imonacan/ovrnght-8-1-pt1-clipe

A couple clips from Pennsylvania, that were possibly in response to my own vocal:

http://soundcloud.com/imonacan/my-whoop-with-possible-distant-replies

http://soundcloud.com/imonacan/amplified-possible-distant-replies (the above sounds of interest, that were amplified)

http://soundcloud.com/imonacan/distant-knock

All of the clips, were found and clipped out of longer (overnight / surveillance) recordings.

These sounds, may or may not be sasquatch related... but they have held my interest, and encourage me to keep on investigating in those areas.

What do you think they are?

I encourage you to give this recording venture a try, yourself. Use audio surveillance to your advantage, and listen.. for what you might also come up with in your own field recordings.

Bill

On October 23, 2010, during the Fall NESRA expedition, while out on what I refer to now as the "leafy knoll", along with my night OP partners Mike and Chris. I had a brief, but electifying sighting of a figure that I caught a glimpse of (that was on the move), with my Gen 2 night vision goggles.

We had made a plan in basecamp during dinner, for the MD Bigfooters to call blast..on the hour, from their position near base, while Kev and John did some observing from various positions on the road, while the three of us I mentioned took position on various observation points in the forest, on the selected knoll, where Chris and I had sat the night before. Chuck would be coordinating and noting our events, back at the basecamp.

We had heard (two of us) a softer rapping (like wood on wood), coming from behind our position. The sounds were much like.. when one would test a hand held hardwood knocker, for the best tone, on a selected tree. This came from behind us, near the blazed trail that we had walked into this position, from.

The 3rd call blast from the MD Bigfooters, came at 10PM, and was an Orangutan vocalization. I was already panning the lower areas of the forest to the west and south with the goggles. I made sure that I was observing during all of the call blasts, and as much as possible in between times.

I'm not sure of the exact time of the sighting, but know that it came in the moments after the call blast. I think Chris might be able to narrow down the time, to the exact moment...with his parabolic recording of our field session.

The actual sighting facts :

I was panning with the goggles (facing south) slowly from left to right (east to west) near the edge of the heavier forest canopy, when a dark figure emerged (in an swath of open forest floor, that was very well illuminated by moonlight) from behind a lite barked, large mature (birch or beach) tree, and moved rapidly to the west, toward the direction Chris had set out the bacon bate, hair trap, and game cam. To describe the shape of the figure, it was thin and had a forward leaning gait. During this brief observation, I saw the top of the figure rear back and then go back forward again, before I lost sight of it. It never re - emerged from behind a set of two large trees, that were closer to my location. I noticed no eyeshine or arm swing, and could not clearly define the head area (definitely was a rounded top) of the figure, from the rest of the body. I'm uncertain, if I viewed the entire length of the figure, or only saw it from the waste area...up. I say this, because I did not notice any leg movement. One thing for sure... the dark figure covered 20 plus yards, in around 2 seconds. It seemed to me... to almost glide through, in a very rapid, smooth motion. The thin moving figure, was as dark in appearance, as the darkest objects (more distant trees) in my FOV, accept for the top head and rear upper body area, that was illuminated by moonlight. The observation lasted between 1 and 2 seconds (maybe even 3), to my best estimate. Upon seeing this, I unleashed an emotional outburst, that caused me to fall forward and drop my goggles, and almost tumble down the hill in front of me. The fact that spotting this figure.. caught me by surprise, and the fact that it made no sound while on the move…did freak me out, and seemed almost unreal. It was however, very real. I was immediately joined at my position by Mike and Chris, asking me if I was alright, and what had happened, and about what I had seen. The view in the goggles, was as good as this night vision instrument gets, with some great assisted moonlight. Although there is some graininess with these Gen 2 goggles, the view was clear enough to see the details I have noted. The view was the typical green tube intensifier background. My on site estimate of the figure being 100 yds from me, turned out to be, not accurate at all, and an overestimate. This is due to the 40 deg view in the goggles, which gives somewhat of a tunnel vision, that can cause objects to be perceived as being further away, than they actually are. Here are the pair of goggles, I was using:

Shortly after the sighting, Mike walked down to the spot where the moving figure first emerged, while I covered him with the NV. After doing some comparisons to Mike, in the same position…what I saw, was not any bulkier or wider (possibly less) than Mike, and not much taller (less than a foot). That evening, and the next day…we came up with no additional evidence that anything had passed through the sighting location. The leaf litter was heavy, and the although we searched the area for signs of anything (hair, prints, breaks, skip marks on the forest floor)..we found nothing.
In addition to what I mention here, we heard the tapping knocks, some interesting howls or strange owl sounds from a distance, and a distinct (several second) growl sound, from the trail (near a creek) on our walk back to base.

The theory and speculation of this sighting:

The three of us have discussed this incident on site, both Saturday night, and the following day on the revisit. The exact route of the figure, was in question. We all saw where it probably came from, and the route it took, based on what I saw. It is on the question, whether this figure was responsible for the tapping knocks, that we had heard, earlier in the night OP session. It is also a theory, that the figure did a sharp turn, and headed back south into the deeper forest…possibly after hearing my outburst, from my location on the knoll. More theory could be, that the call blast (orangutan vocals) done by MD Bigfooters..could have put it on the move. The timing was certainly right. Whether this call blast had a positive or negative reaction on the figure, would be impossible to even speculate. In my case, if this call blast did indeed put this figure on the move…it was certainly a positive thing.

Summary thoughts:

I refer to this sighting as a “figure”. This is what I saw, a dark figure. Nothing that I could see from this distance and brief sighting, could define this as a sasquatch. I did however, think about something I saw on a website report, that very much resembled the shape of this moving figure. This is what I was thinking about in the field, soon after the sighting, and it stuck in my mind:

Dusk sighting on shoreline of Lake George at Deer Leap

Only the overall shape of the dark figure I saw, resembled the top sketch, in this BFRO report from 1990. I saw no face, arms, or even leg movements…which make me wonder, if the legs were in a depression, and out of my line of sight. The figure I saw was very thin, and when I compared it to Mike (from the same viewpoint)…was not any bulkier, and possibly less so. Please note also.. that the image below of the creature seen around the Whitehall, NY area.. was drawn by Eric Miner. It was attached to this post, to only note and compare the general shape and posture of the seen figure, in relation to how the head sat on the body. This was similar to what I noted, when the figure first emerged, and I got my best (but very brief) view of the upper body and head, that was illuminated by moonlight.
Any skeptical thoughts (including my own), that this could have been a man moving that fast... in that kind of terrain, out in the dark forest with no light, and making no sound...is laughable. Whether others chose to believe me, is totally up to them...and bothers me not, either way.

This sighting offers no proof of anything to anyone, but confirms for me…that something is definitely out there, in this area. This was a team effort by all involved in the expedition, and the NESRA members that scouted this area, and have also had experiences there in the past.

I’ve had a great couple years in the field, and consider myself very fortunate to have had any of this happen. My Thanks go out to the NESRA folks here, that have shared their own experiences and information, and these outstanding Adirondack locations, with me.

The following spring of 2011, our NESRA team returned to the same location and did experience some interesting activity near the base camp, On the night OP.. things were quiet this time, and no call blasting was done.

We took some photos of the sighting location, and also made some key measurements, that were not taken during the fall 2010 outing after the sighting, due to bad weather, the morning after the sighting. From the point I first saw the moving figure emerge, to the point I lost sight of it... was a distance of 77 ft. ! A fantastic distance to cover in a couple seconds.. but it really did happen. Whatever it was, was certainly moving at full speed. The distance I estimated the figure was, from my OP position... was overestimated the night of the sighting. The actual distance, was closer to 45 yards away. This error in judgement.. was probably due to the darkness, and the depth perception using the night vision goggles, that have a more narrow field of view (40 degrees, at 1X), than using one's own eyes, with no optical assistance.

If anyone is interested further, I was invited as a guest ( April 2011 ) on our friend and NESRA member Steve Kulls internet blogtalk Squatchdetective radio show. Mike, who was also with me during the sighting, joined in the conversation and added even more insights. In addition, Mike and Steve both discuss other very interesting incidents that took place in the same general location. that has a history of squatch related incidents and sightings. There was also some interesting comparisons made, to what a researcher saw in Kentucky, in my discussion with the co-host, (Chris B) :

Bill

The most impressive (and almost heart stopping) event that happened to me so far in the field, from the time I decided to join in on the search and investigation of unknown hairy bipeds that possibly inhabit our forests and more mountainous regions here in the Northeast.... would be a vocalization that took place on Oct. 31, 2009 while camping in the southern parts of the Allegheny NF, in Elk Co, PA.

We (my camping partner Floodman, and myself) had chosen a spot back in off a dirt road that had an open area, with deciduous forest surrounding, and a stand of pine forest and ridge line to our west and north. The map showed a creek on the other side of the ridge. We had selected this general area, based on a sighting report that took place, back in the spring. While my partner relaxed by the fire, I walked off a short distance and found a tree that I had selected earlier, to do a few wood knocks...hoping for some response. I did several sets of them, spaced apart...with no replies, as my recorder was rolling. A while later, I thought about doing a vocalization, with my best effort at a whoooooop (much to the entertainment of my more skeptical partner) , also in hopes of some response. My vocalization to the east, got none. After waiting for a while, I tried another to the west, and heard it echo in the distance. Waiting quietly for around 20 minutes, I looked at my watch and saw it was 8PM, and decided it was time to eat some dinner.

I walked back to my vehicle, and leaned the knocking stick on the tailgate, and made the poor decision of pushing the pause button, and placing the little Zoom recorder on a tripod (also sitting on the tailgate)....on standby. Just as I joined Floodman at the fire, and sat down to help prepare our dinner, I got my reply...and what a dooosey it was. The vocalization came from a NW direction in the area we estimated was at the top the the ridge line. It started off as a "woooooooo" sound (almost identical to the pitch of my voice ), and then transformed (rather quickly) into a higher pitched scream...that echoed past us, with a force that left us both speechless.... and quite nervous. The scream had a kind of waivering, wailing, insane sound, like nothing either of us had ever heard. It produced an echo that could be heard in back of us, in the forest to the east. The hair was standing up on the back of my neck, and arms, and my mind was racing, and thinking..." something IS out there". I tried to make eye contact with my buddy, that was sitting across the campfire from me...just staring into the fire. The look on his face, was one of those priceless moments, that I'll never forget. All of a sudden, I thought about the recorder, and got up to take it back off pause, while nervously shining my headlamp into the trees that surrounded our camp...looking for, who knows what. As I returned to my camp chair, Floodman finally looked up at me, and said " you shouldn't have called that thing in here.....it could be watching us right now....maybe we should pack up, and get out of here".

I know my friend didn't want to hear this at the moment, but after a long pause and much scanning of the tree lines with our lamps, and much uncertain thought...I replied "this is what we're here for. I don't think we're in any danger...so let's relax, and eat...first". I had no idea if my reply was really correct, but after a while, the fears eased up...and I assured him that I wouldn't be whooooping anymore, for the rest of the evening. Before we turned in for the night, I got up the stones to take a walk in the direction of the scream, and place my H2 recorder in a select tree, recording for the overnight. Floodman would have no part of that little nocturnal walk in the woods, and to be butt honest...I was still terrified, and shining my headlamp everywhere. No results, other than a couple known species (that I needed to , and have since, identified) were recorded. I've had the winter to think about this, and can't come up with anything known , that could have produced this vocalization. If the vocalization was in the capabilities of a very talented human....than it would of HAD to be assisted by some form of amp or powered megaphone. Sure, it was Halloween, and we were out camping....but there were no roads in the direction of the vocalization, for several miles. If it was a prank, then it was quite the production, with someone trail blazing up to the ridge, through at least a mile of forest. There was a pickup truck that drove past us later, several times on the dirt road below....with spot lights, looking for deer or other animals...which is not at all uncommon.

I'm done beating on myself, for not getting this strange and powerful vocalization recorded. Yes, it was a big disappointment, and one I'll just have to chalk up to experience. It was a vocalization that could have been studied further, compared to known animal and human vocals, and analyzed. One of our NESRA members and note keeper, has the right idea....to Never turn off the recorder, and record on a lower format, with the largest memory card you can, and carry several of them. I've purchased a 2nd portable recorder, and one will be designated for just that purpose. After hearing some recorded vocalizations from Ohio, by several other researchers.... I have made some comparisons and found some similarities to what we heard, both in pitch and in the wavering sound... although every one of the vocalizations recorded (that I've heard so far), seems to be unique.

These are some highlights of the recorded audio from Warren Co., NY in the eastern Adirondack Park. These clips , or parts of them, were aired on Mike and Bob's Bigfoot Quest blogtalk radio show on 8/11/09. These links will take you to the Soundcloud.com website, where all the recordings were uploaded, to give anyone interested, a better chance to hear them again. An explanation of each clip can be read, and I suggest using some good headphones, and as much volume as you can comfortably stand, to hear all the details in the audio.

Mike was the first to arrive at the site of the basecamp on Friday 7/31. He walked around to survey the situation of the heavily overgrown site, and did a narration on his Samson Zoom H2 recorder. He decided to do some knocks on a rock that he tested for the best sound carry, and made this interesting recording clipped from the longer one:
NESRA Expedition 7-31-09 - 8-2-09 1 edit 3 wood knocks and crash real time 2 18 clip 7 WAV by imonacan

There was certainly a reply to Mike's rock knocks, less than 2 minutes after. To just hear the reply, here is a much shortened clip:
NESRA Expedition 7-31-09 - 8-2-09 1 edit 3 wood knocks and crash WAV clip by imonacan

An enhanced version of the reply, of this same shortened clip, can also be heard. Chris used Steinberg Wavelab editing software, to remove much of the background noise, to better hear these sounds of interest:
Chris B Enhanced 3 wood knocks and crash 6 sec clip 7 b WAV by imonacan

Late Friday, we walked down the muddy road into camp, and placed my H2 recorder in a selected tree crotch, a little ways off the road, and left the recorder running for an overnight surveillance. The three of us turned in a little after midnight. After the expedition, I reviewed the 7 plus hours from Friday PM to Saturday AM, and clipped out some of what I thought, were interesting sounds, and sent the clips to Mike, to also review. The recorder was set at medium gain with the full recording level, and on the surround sound setting. This clip was probably the most interesting, and came over an hour and a half into the recording:
OVRNGHT 8-1 pt1 clipE by imonacan

Something of reasonable size steps and approaches the tree and recorder, and scratches at what I believe is the fake fur windscreen, that protects the built in mics on the recorder. More crunching steps are heard, and then , more scratching. Fainter scratches are heard for a while, and also what sounds like it could possibly be a faint inhale, and a bit louder...exhale. A single sound that clearly sounds like a tongue click, can also be heard. I would suggest listening to this clip a few times over , to pick out these sounds. This clip was amplified, and run through an EQ curve to lessen some of the higher end hiss in the recording. No other editing, or noise reduction, was done to this, or any clips that follow.

Things go quiet for almost a half hour, and then pick up again in this clip, that I estimate is from around 2AM Saturday:
OVRNGHT 8-1 pt1 clipF by imonacan

What is interesting, is that nothing is heard walking away (from the previous "clip e"), and the crunching movements and scratching starts up again. A little breeze also seems to pick up, with the sounds of the dropping water from the foliage that also can be heard. Things again go quiet, accept for the dripping moisture. About 20 minutes later, several sounds can be heard, that sound like mic taps, like the recorder possibly being touched or poked at:
OVRNGHT 8-1 pt1 clipG by imonacan

The Saturday PM - Sunday AM recording from our night operations, was also interesting. Again, all recordings were made with the Zoom H2 recorder, that I located on a rock, about 20 yards west of our higher position, on the west end of the ridge. Again, the recorder was set at medium gain, full recording level, and the surround sound setting...in the hopes to capture our conversations, and any interesting sounds or movements during the night ops. After Mike did his 2nd set of wood knocks, and it seemed to initiate some movement that we were periodically hearing down below in the ravine to our south and west. Several hollow sounds that I described as a "clickity - clack" , can also be heard in the clip, that came from in between our position, and camp. This could possibly be the beak snapping sound of a Barred Owl, that had sounded off, around an hour before. Chuck had also heard a hollow sound from the basecamp, that he noted and described. Whether or not we heard the same sound...is still out for question. The conversation between Dave and myself, and our 2 teams radio conversation with the basecamp, can also be heard :
NGHTOPPS 8-1 pt1 clipA by imonacan

Later, Mike did his famous Yeti howl, that initiated more movements from the ravine. Our conversation and radio conversations can again be heard:
NGHTOPPS 8-1 pt2 clipC by imonacan

It is hard to hear the full effect of the movements down in the ravine in these recordings. This movement seemed to follow a similar pattern during the night opps, and move from south to west, and at times toward the basecamp. What amazed me about the "crunching" movements, was the fact that it would stop dead, and then start up in another location in the ravine. It was hard to imagine something moving in between these locations, without making a sound. This lead us to believe, it was possible that more than one source was responsible for these movements. Unfortunately, no visual conformation was had, to see what was making any of these sounds. A tremendously loud "thud" that happened Sunday AM in the area near the pond, was heard by three of us, but unfortunately... not recorded. This sounded as if something very heavy (piece of log, or a large rock) was slammed on the ground. This, and the other sound incidents that took place during the course of the expedition, made for an interesting experience. Give these clips another listen, and enjoy...and you be the judge.

Bill R.