I just found something incredible this evening. It was complete chance. I'm trying to get it onto my computer right now, and then i'll post back with a link..

This is awesome....


-robo

NOTE FROM MODERATOR: The recording discussed in this thread is as admitted hoax. The sound file has been removed so as not to pollute the pool of genuine evidence.

Sorry about the above post. I was so excited i had to post even before i had anything to show.

Here's what happened this evening. I met an old friend from high school a few weeks ago randomly here, and he and his wife (scary.. high school friends getting married already!) invited me over for dinner, which ended up being this evening. Anyway, he's here doing medicine at Columbia (as is his wife), but we're both from West Vancouver, B.C.
We were having a good time over the meal, chatting about stuff back at home, and i brought up the topic of Sasquatch, since it's been a bit of an obsession for me lately Both Mike and his wife were interested, though they didn't know much and had 'heard' that the whole thing was supposed to be proven as bogus. I was doing my best to correct this misinformation without coming across as too wacko when his wife suddenly said, 'you know, Mike has a recording of Bigfoot.'..

Here's the story. Mike told it in quite a lot of detail, and i've written it down in as much detail as i can remember:

Mike and a friend of his who i don't know were on a four day backcountry backpacking trip in Manning Park (a big Provincial Park in southern British Columbia) at the end of last summer, in early september. On the secord night they camped beside a creek (Lightning creek, he thinks) under Lone Goat mountain. They realized as they were trying to get to sleep that they'd set up the tent too close to the creek, because it was very noisy, but they were also on a nice flat spot, and the only clear areas were beside the creek. They were discussing whether they should try to move the tent to a spot further from the creek, when they heard an animal howl outside the tent. This was at about 2am, he thinks. They were surprised because it was very loud, and they also could hear it clearly over the noisy creek. Mike isn't such an experienced outdoorsman, though he's a good hiker, and had no idea what the sound was, but his friend said it was a couple coyotes. The howls went on for about 10 minutes, Mike thinks. He said they made his hair stand up on end and he felt frightened, but his friend seemed confident that he knew what they were, so he stayed calm. When it had been silent for several minutes, his friend confided that actually he didn't think they were coyote, that they were too loud and long and just didn't sound right. He admitted that they were creepy sounding, but very logically pointed out that the only things they had to be afraid of were grizzlies, and it certainly wasn't a grizzly, so it was nothing to be afraid of. Nonetheless, all talk of getting out and moving the tent in the dark was abandoned. Sasquatch was never suggested.
Then a little while later, the sound started again. Due to the noise of the creek, it was hard to tell distance, but this time it was very loud, and powerful sounding, and could be heard echoing around. Both of the guys were quite spooked, despite their belief that it was no animal that would harm them. It was then that Mike's friend commented that it sounded like a ape, but the call was so long. They agreed on this, and tried to calm their nerves by talking about what it could be, while the howls continued nearby. Then Mike had an idea. His DV Camcorder was in the tent with them, and he could use it to record the sound. It took a few minutes to get the camcorder out in the darkness (they didn't want to turn on a light, and attract attention), but he finally got it started, just before the calls stopped. He thinks he must have gotten the last 30 seconds of about 3 minutes of calls.
They heard a few calls somewhat later, but they were fainter and the camera was not recording anymore at that point.

He played the tape for me. The video portion was of course just blackness, but the sound is excellent quality (it's a good JVC digital video camera). The creek is very loud (Mike said it is even louder in the recording than at the time) but the calls are extremely clear. When i heard it, my hair stood up.. the calls are very loud, and sound, to me, like Squatch.

Interestingly, when they got back to the park entrance, they played the sound for a ranger, who actually grinned said 'Sounds like bigfoot'. But they thought he was joking, from the way he said it, and didn't take it particularly seriously. Still, Mike was curious enough that he saved the tape until now, though hasn't done any other investigating of it.

I asked if they'd investigated the area around their campsite, but he said they didn't, and the rest of the trip was uneventful, at least from a 'mystery howl' point of view.


I know a sound recording is not much in the way of evidence, but this one is clearer than any i've heard online. And of course, there was no sighting associated with it, so i have no idea if it's really BF. I'm no expert, but it doesn't sound like any animal i can think of , and Mike's friend (and the ranger) had no better ideas.


Here's the recording (I brought the tape home and recorded it onto my computer). The clip is just over 30 seconds long, in MP3 format. It starts where his recording starts, and ends just after the the calls stop (rather abruptly). The tape continues for a while longer, but you can just hear the creek and Mike and his friend talking. No more calls are recorded. At the beginning, you can hear Mike's friend asking if the camera is going, and Mike replying.

File removed by moderator.

-robo

Damn....that is the best quality I think I have ever heard! No idea what it is, but you can hear the nasal tones exceptionaly clearly, partiularly with the "deer snort" mimic sound, at the end. Wow. The only thing I can think of(other then the obvious) would be "maybe" an elk, but that would be a stretch. Again, wow.

Dude that is awesome!!!It doesn't sound like any Coyote I've ever heard.And the Park rangers comment is veeerrry interesting,That alone makes you wonder if its not the first time they've had similar reports from campers/hikers.Kind of related question for all,On alot of the supposed Bf sounds on the web do certain ones seem to make your hairs "prickle" while others dont ?Genetic memory ? cause I got that sensation with this one.Thanks robo.

Wow, that was cool. Imagine hearing this late at night in the woods near your camp.

http://www.isu.edu/~peckgary/elk.wav

http://FindSounds.com

I am not saying what they heard was an Elk. But normal animals can make very abnormal sounds.

IMO the calls on this tape are too long to be an elk. Also, they sound much to deep for an elk. What interests me are the last two calls recorded. Eeeeerie!

Wow robo! I'm not saying what that is...but I have some recordings from Northwest Louisiana that are very recent and sound so similar to that, that it is unreal! We never saw the source of the howl sounds, it just got closer when we answered and then followed us a little ways before going totally silent on us, but we were in a really active area for bigfoot. We just don't know for sure if that's what it was.

Let me know if you are interested, I can send you the recordings I have by e-mail so you can compare them to what you have. Your friend's recording is way better quality than mine is.

Oh and...there aren't supposed to be any elk in Northwest Louisiana by the way.

Arkansan - i'd love to hear your recordings. Are they not posted on your site?

I don't know if elk are common in Manning Park, but i suspect that they do live there. I know they are common a bit east of there.

-robo

No robo, I don't have any of my recordings posted on my website. Geocities has a thing about sound files and won't even allow uploading of them at times. And when they do, the sounds hardly ever work so I don't bother. Besides, I don't put everything I have on my website.

Drop me an e-mail at arbf@voltage.net and I will send them to you.

Wow.... What a lucky find. That is an AWESOME recording. I have no clue as to what it is. I grew up in Colorado and have heard elk bugling many times. NEVER have I heard elk that sounded like that. Nor coyote or anything else. The closest thing that I can think of that might sound like that would be cattle.. Do you know if that area is open for grazing?

Wow.... that's incredible.. Thanks for sharing robo...

And it was quick thinking on your buddy's part to use the camcorder to record the sound. I'm filing that away in my "handy ideas" file....

OK, well, I'm just about the furthest thing from a wildlife expert you're going to find, but if I was out in a dark tent in the middle of nowhere you can bet your sweet bippy I'd be thinking bigfoot if I heard that! Yikes, man.

Robo, thanks for posting it here! I recommend you talk your friend into making a report to the BFRO, especially now that you have a digitized recording.

Arky, you holding out on me?

Great recording, robo! Thanks for bringing it to us!

Whatever it is... is sounds lonely... or bored...

But I agree with Titus... after listening to it several times... I feel it may either be elk or cattle... near water at night I suspect cattle... but those guys usually leave a few calling cards... they ain't paticular where they go... (hey, you trying eating nuthin' but grass all day and you'll know what I'm talking about!)

Or, it could have been Sas playing games with some humans... (hey, you trying eating nuthin' but berries and bugs all day and you'll know what I'm talking about!)

As i said earlier, Elk is a possiblility, but if that was a cow, it was a seriously lost cow. This is in the middle of a huge provincial park, at high altitude, in dense coniferous forest. No cattle grazing areas for a looong way around.

Then again, if it was a cow in that situation, it probably would be making loneley and mournful noises like that


I told him about the BFRO, and he said he'd put in a report, though he's busy and i don't know if he'll get around to it. I'll ask him in a bit, and if not, maybe i'll do it for him (if he doesn't mind). It's funny. I get so excited about this stuff, so it's sometimes hard to understand when others are like 'Oh.. yeah.. ok. Maybe i'll take a look at the site.'

I would have submitted a report before i was off the mountain

I think he's still doubtful about the whole Sasquatch thing. Hopefully the BFRO site will be 'authoritative' enough to convince him it's at least worth the time to talk to an investigator.

-robo

Geez! That's so close to home! I know where I'm going camping this summer!!

Thanks for sharing that amazing recording!! The last two whoops at the end sent chills through me!! Hearing that at night outside my tent would freak me right out - especially if it was getting closer!!

Elk is a possibility, though it doesn't sound like any elk call I've heard, with those last two whoops at the end, and the power of the call is obvious from the echo you can hear in the recording. And unless there's an undiscoverd species of mountain cow out there somewhere, I'd rule out a bovine source.

I've been wondering when we'd see digital media used to capture bigfoot evidence - the sound quality is amazing! I think I'm going to look into a camcorder before I head out into the woods this summer...

-Ray

Gee, I have a friend who, if he's reading this, really should post his opinion 'cause I think he might have something interesting to say...hint...hint-hint...you know who you are.

Hey Robo that's a very impresive sound you have there! I have heard the sound Arky has and I think it is real close to it. I don't think it is Elk or Cows....of course that is just my opinion.....

Most of us really seem to have keyed in on the isolated two notes at the end of the recording. Those are what really got my attention. Also, note the overall similarity of this to one of the Ohio recordings by Matt Moneymaker.

I checked the BFRO's BC sightings map, and found a few from the area:
http://bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=3899 (pretty much in the vicinity.. just outside the park, probably)
http://bfro.net/GDB/show_report.asp?id=3368 (about 80 km east)

Actually, there may be some more. i didn't have time to check them all out. Unfortunately, the BFRO's Canadian reports are not nearly as organized as the U.S. ones.. if they were divided up into smaller areas than provinces (like the county level organization for U.S. states) it would be a lot easier.


-robo

I been up to my elboes in cows most of my life and i aint never heard a cow sound like that ! Mabe a few lonely women , but never a cow.
Pegleg

I agree. I've never heard a cow sound like that either. And other than that, I can't think of anything else that could possibly produce those kind of sounds in the habitat described.

I'd really really like to see an audio analysis of this sucker...

Been listening to it all day. Wow.. This really blows my mind... Great GREAT recording...

I'll try to do a sonogram of the sound data tomorrow, if i get time. I'll post it here.

-robo

Ok. I did a sonogram of the sound (the very end was cut off, but other than that it's all there), and added some notes. For those that are unfamiliar with sonograms, the X axis (horizontal) is time, in seconds, and the Y axis (vertical) is sound frequency, graphed logarithmically. Color indicates amplitude (which basically means volume).

The fundamental frequency and first harmonic (first partial) look very strong, with the first partial being even stronger than the fundamental. The second and third harmonics are very faint, and beyond that nothing shows up on the sonogram. The Ohio bigfoot sonogram that i saw on the BFRO site was somewhat different in this respect, in that it had at least three strong harmonics, plus fundamental (if i remember correctly). On the other hand, such a difference is not really surprising. Even the same animal will make different kinds of calls, with different timbres. The way the recording was made also can make a difference. And we don't even know if the two recordings were made by the same type of animal!

The human voices are lower, and can clearly be seen near the beginning. The creek noise is basically the big splatter across the whole sonogram, being concentrated from about the bottom of the howl area to about twice as high (freq. is graphed logarithmically here, so it's not _actually_ twice as high). The steady faint band just above the howl frequency is definitely not natural. It's almost certainly the noise of the camera motor, which is too quiet to actually be heard in the recording.

Here's the sonogram: Removed by moderator.

-robo

Just a few more notes.

I posted a better copy of the sound. It's a bit louder and cleaner. If you go download the sound again, you'll get the new copy.

Also, after looking at the sonogram some more, what i thought of as the first harmonic may actually be a different (second) fundamental. In other words, the howl contains two different 'notes'. I suspected this because the two strong and two weak bands are not evenly spaced. We might be looking at one fundamental with its faint first harmonic, and and a second fundamental with _its_ faint first harmonic.

I don't know if this is unusual or not in animal calls, but it looks to me like what is happening here.


-robo

As far as a cow being the culprit, although the last two snorts sound similar to an angry bull, the rest of the howls do not fit for cows. Hey I made a rhyme! LOL

I lived a few years ago in a little rent house that sat only 5 feet from a cow pasture, the fence was up against my bedroom window and at night those cattle liked to flock up to the house and hang out there. Don't know why, but maybe they felt safer with the security light outside. I hated it because it disturbed my sleep. I have heard cows and bulls in the middle of the night, and they can get really cranked up if they get startled, but they have never howled like that..LOL

I have 4 recordings from one night that are similar to robo's vocals minus the last 2 sounds on there. Before that night, I had not heard anything similar to that. The howls in person sounded more wolf-like at the beginning and more human-like sounding at the end. That's in person, and it doesn't sound exactly the same in audio. I thought it might have been a person trying to fool us initially, but everyone was accounted for. Still don't know what it was, but I can say for sure it wasn't a cow.

I still don't know what to make of it.It doesn't sound like any of the wildlife I've heard.At least if I ever record anything I know where to send it.

Great work, robo. What'd you use for the sonogram?

Arky, do you know if there are elk in your part of the country?

I'm not Arky but I don't know of any Elks in that part of the country. I know there aren't any here... We have deer but not elks.....

There are no elk here supposedly. Though there are a few along the Buffalo River in northern areas of Arkansas. They were escapees or something, I can't remember the story behind them, but they decided to homestead around the Buffalo and have since hung around there and get seen or heard from time to time. We don't have any here in my area that I know of. There aren't supposed to be any in Arkansas at all.

However, the recordings I got were from Louisiana, which doesn't have elk at all.

Hello. This is my first post so be kind.

I've been watching this forum ever since bipto pioneered it.

First, I really, really, really want to believe that sas walks. Unfortunately, I'm lacking the proof that I need to send me to the "full-on" believer's side of the fence. People have great stories to tell and their answer is always, "my camera was in my bag/unreachable". Or, it's, "can't you see the 5 adult bigfoots and the 12 baby bf's in the photo?" I'm the same way about aliens. Show me some solid evidence! Crop circles?

Now, about robo's sounds. I truely believe the sounds to be of an elk. Just like any other animal, the pitch of an elk bugle is going to vary. Also, the sound was recorded towards the end of summer to early fall, which denotes mating season is about to begin, or, has already begun. You'd be amazed at the sounds animals make during rut.

I'm heading to s.d. for a turkey hunt. Maybe I'll find my proof there.

Still sitting on the fence,
~O

Finally! He posts! OK, kids, have at him...

Just hope its not razor wire. Honestly Orbit I don't know what to make of the sound.I wasn't there.And as far as I know I've always been able to find another explanation for anything I've seen or heard.I believe in Bf based on the overall evidence,Tracks,hair samples etc.as for the photos.Maybe some show something, but most are what i term as the product of an overactive imagination.BTW welcome to the best forum on the web....

Hey:robo and everyone else my grandmother told me about what she called the big hairy thing in the mountains.What I think it was by my family and their description was a BF.We are from tennessee and my grandmother owned about 500 acers of mountian land in east tennessee.there was all kind of stories they told me about the creature but the two that stuck out the most were one about the old grown up barn where 12 people and 3 dogs all saw the same thing.and the one I wanted to talk about is there's a lot of people saying elk well maybe not.My grandmother said that the beast would try to mimic cows or bulls maybe for prey she said it done a pretty good job but the tone of the call was off much more human sounding than a cow but not sounding much like a human ither.Maybe the one in robo's sound clip was calling elk. My aunt once had a recording of a long,sad,screeching sound it was really spooky to me although I was a kid the last time I heard it.Sure wish I had it now.I later on asked my grandmother why she never turned it in to someone and she said to me because that God put it there for a reason and maybe the reason was in those deep wooded lands it wasnt meant to be found. if anyone wants more info please e-mail me at hermansaho@hotmail.com Oh yea thanks robo great stuff.

Interesting. Bigfoot, Elk, Bigfoot imitating Elk... how about Elk imitating Bigfoot?

Since there was no other investigation at the time, and no sighting or other evidence, i guess we'll never know.

I was just thinking about it and realized that if they hadn't happened to have played the sound for that ranger, and if he hadn't half-jokingly said 'Sounds like Bigfoot', nobody would even have heard the recording.. It would probably have sat on a shelf for a while and then been erased to video tape somebody's BBQ or something..


Maybe i'll do some searching for Elk distributions in B.C. All my rehearsals for today got cancelled, so i'm sitting here wasting time


-robo


ps. bipto - i used Amadeus II to do the sonogram. Great basic audio editor.

thanks for the welcome jim!

robo, I don't know if I'd discard the recording. It could be sas. My judgement is that it's an elk. great work on the recording!

my wife has mentioned that i've been wrong, on occasion, in the past.

I'd hate to have seen you discard a sas recording while I'm sitting down for a meal of crow.

Hey:Orbit we have all been wrong before and will be wrong again.But all we can do is look for the truth and voice our oppinion.Well me I truly and strongly think that there is enuff evidence to prove that there really is a creature called bigfoot.I may never have solid evedence but I sure hope that oneday me or someone will
-TN HILLS

Welcome Orbit. I've heard a lot of sounds out there. I'm not exactl a true believer either, but I don't know if I could actually attribute those sounds to an elk? At least not one I've ever heard anyway???????

Here's an older post with a similar theme. Weird sound heard at night, comparisons to elks, etc...

Assistance Request

Bipto thats pretty good also but did I hear two different calls there or maybe just me.but there seemed to be two things converseing with each other??

Robo- Awesome research, man! And what a great clip of what might be a red blooded Squatch! I have no experience with elk calls, but I do have lots of experience with cows and their vocalizations. Ironically, just today, before reading this, I was working on my sister's farm. They have two giant bulls amongst thier herd, and while I was re-siding one of her barns, those big bulls made one hell of a chorus. The bigger one was pissed off all day, and the sounds he makes scare the hell outta me. If I was on the other side of that electric fence, I'd be a dead man, plain and simple. Now, comparing the sounds to your clip. This big bull has a very distinct, yet varied, set of vocal patterns. You can pick out different sounds for his different moods. I have NEVER heard him bellow singularily for the length of time as per your soundbyte. The quick hoots towards the end, yes. All the time. Don't get me wrong, I've heard him give it his best for as long as he could, yet that wasn't as long as your clip. And this big bull had twice the bass and b*lls of the mystery critter on the clip. So, what do I think? Without knowing the intricacies of Elk calls, I'd say that sound is definitely NOT a cow. Male nor female. I would have to say by default that it was probably either an Elk or a Squatch. Absolutely awesome job posting it here and great job on the sonogram analysis!

And, a huge welcome to Orbit and tennessee hills!! Always great to have new minds to meld with here!

Thanks for the welcome Grover's Ghost.I dont know for sure what it is but I live on a farm and have four bulls and I'm like you never heard a bull whale so long and the last two whoop's sounds to me like part human part ape???/Maybe I'm just wishful thinking but I sure loved the sound clip.

The recording of that vocalization is great! I hear the the word Elk being tossed around quite a bit here, I will admit that the tone sounds like an elk, but it sounds, oh how do I say this......, a little to "drawn out" to be an elk. Just my two cent worth.

I'd also like to give Tennessee Hills and Orbit a big welcome to this board.

Hello everyone I have been looking around the web and found a site where you can listen to elk calls they sound very close to the real thing that is what I know of elk.so go to www.abeandson.com and listen. click on elk calls then bugels the dominator.I can see where robo's sound clip resembles an elk but I still dont think that is what it is because it still doesnt sound like an elk..great stuff.
TN hills

Hey, TH, I think this is the link you meant: http://www.abe-son.com/

Yes, welcome!!!

But...

....what the heck took ya'll so long? LOL!!!

Cool stuff Robo!! It sounds like it could be.... and the location is right... and the two whoops at the end seem right... and if you go over a series (I mean a "S E R I E S") of elk and bison and cattle and coyote ....... it doesn't have an exact match. (I only included bison there because of them being in the same genus as domestic cattle and if you haven't heard their sound recordings, you better... and add moose to that. I don't know the habitat of the locale specified but... hey. Comparisons are fun.) The whoopers at the end are cool cause they match some of the descriptive stuff said to be utilized by the target spp. so.. if you start removing possibilities it sure suggests ...
But as others have continued to remind us (and over and over because its true) ...... incredible sounds can come out of animals that you would never guess.

For that matter the ways that humans utilize sounds can't be ruled out either although your friend would know better than us about the likelihood of that.
Time of evening/morning would be significant if someone were in the area imitating elk calls. I have heard SOME humans do an incredible sound series that I wouldn't want to hear RIGHT OUTSIDE my tent. (You know who you are ) With that in mind what do WE sound like? Look at the range we exhibit male to female, male to male, female to female. Its not always the size of the guy either ... look at who does the base sound for the Statler bros for example.
Example: Bobcat coughs and low based growls compared to a cougar. Its amazingly close and in some clips the bobcat wins. Spectacular when you look at the body size comparison of perhaps as much as 150 pounds difference.
*Although in the clips I have the sizes, ages and weights are all unknowns.

As NW mentioned and ARky mentioned, the call although elklike seems different. I would love to talk to your friend sometime Robo if that would be ok. I think it would be neat if he did or you guys collaborated on a report. He must have a lot to say.
This is great motivation for stemming up some more similar vocs unknown and from various sources. Very coooool

yea bipto so you already checked it out what do you think? its not a real elk but very close.

thanks RB I NEEDED THAT I MEAN THE WELCOME I JUST HAPPEN TO COME ACROSS THIS SITE YESTERDAY AND I HAVE TO SAY THE MEMBERS ARE GREAT SO FAR I MEAN THE ONES I'VE MET OR READ OF THANKS TO EVERYONE.AND WHAT A FIRST TIME EXP I'VE HAD THE SOUND CLIP ITS GREAT..TN HILLS

Just wanted to say welcome to orbit and tennessee hills.

and...

I still don't think it's an elk. It sounds just too close to what I heard in Louisiana and there just aren't any elk there.

Oops,I welcomed orbit and missed the wagon on Tenn.Hills. so a late welcome.And Lisa I think you're right.I've been searching files a good portion of the day.and while I've found similar,nothing else seems to compare to the overall pitch or tone of the sound. so much to do so little time. (well ok thats an exxageration )