Recorded on 7/10/10 @ approximately 00:30
This vocalization was recorded shortly after midnight on July 31, 2010. It responded to a long, low-pitched howl by Will Robinson.
Friday, July 30 brought yet another opportunity to do some bigfooting, so (as always) I grabbed the opportunity and ran to the hills. A small group of researchers and I headed to Mt. Hood National Forest to a spot overlooking an area closed off to all human traffic.
Arriving late in the day, but with plenty of daylight still left, we made our camp near the top of a hillside overlooking a meadow system. The hill, which we nicknamed “Will Call Hill” due to Will Robinson’s excellent calls, was largely barren on top except for numerous dispersed tree snags. This made us a bit nervous as the night descended upon us because of the amazing lightning show going on all around us. We were not at the very top of the hill, but close enough to make us consider fleeing to lower ground until the storm passed. Luckily, the lightning continued to dance in the distance and not come any closer to us which allowed us to stay at our location.
We started vocalizing sometime around 11 pm, and our first couple calls elicited no response from any animal, but treated us to amazing echoes, highlighting the acoustics of the valley. Shortly after midnight, Will made one of his excellent calls, and within ten seconds we got a response. The call back consisted of two low-pitched moans, the second of which trailed off in an agonizing wail. This call was immediately stepped on by a chorus of coyotes from the same area.
Our initial reaction was to laugh because we thought nearby campers were calling back to us. The vocalization sounded like a man, so at first we assumed it was. Then, as facts started sinking in, we realized that it was more likely a sasquatch. Let me explain.
First of all, sasquatches often sound like people. They have very similar anatomy to us, so it isn’t surprising that their vocalizations can sound very human-like. However, sasquatches can get inhumanly loud, and this call was so clear (in person) that I’m left thinking it was more likely a sasquatch solely based on the volume.
Secondly, the coyote vocalizations were believed to have come from the same area. Over the years, this has been a pattern seen by sasquatch researchers all over the country. It was Kathy Strain that first pointed this out to me when she said, “There’s something going on with coyotes and sasquatches.” I think (and this is speculation) that coyotes follow sasquatches around to get their food scraps in a similar way to how owls follow elk around (the elk flush out rodents from the brush making easy prey for the keen-eyed owls). If this is true, it goes a long way towards explaining why sasquatches don’t like dogs.
Thirdly, and most importantly, there were no people where the calls came from. The roads were all closed (which we verified the next day by trying to get to the spot), and people aren’t even allowed in there to begin with.
We heard the creature vocalize another time less than an hour later. Craig Flipy reported in the morning that just before sunrise, he heard it one last time. My recorder was running for both of these events, but so far I have not been able to locate the sounds on the recording.
This area is of high interest to my cohorts and I. Due to our ongoing research efforts, the location will not be made public at this time.