imonacan's blog

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 east 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 cook 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 wooooooooh 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.