If you’re just joining us, please familiarize yourself with the earlier posts in this series so you’re reading this within the context it was intended. :)
Part One: Out on a limb
Part Two: The Science of Intuition
Part Three: What is NVCODE?
Part Four: “Warren”
Part Five: Pheromones or “ESP”?
Part Six: Sasquatch, Lust and Pheremone Chips
Part Seven: The latest science…
Is the hair standing up on the back of your neck? Is your vision blurry or are you overcome with an irrational feeling of dread and terror and you haven’t even SEEN a Bigfoot yet? It just might be infrasound.
A BIZARRE experiment in soundless music has revealed how people’s emotions are affected by noises they cannot hear.
Scientists have begun analyzing the responses of 250 people who took part in the study into the effects of infrasound, carried out at Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral last September.
They showed the audience’s emotions intensified as the inaudible sound vibrations, too low for the human ear to perceive, were blasted out during a 50-minute piano recital.
Those feeling uncomfortable when the concert began, found their mood turning to anger.
Others, who had felt happy, started to notice sensations of joy.
Some physical affects were also experienced, including tingling in the back of the neck and a strange feeling in the stomach.
Ciarán O’Keeffe, a researcher on the project who has since taken up a lecturing post at Liverpool Hope University’s Psychology department, said: “When the infrasound was switched on, people experienced different emotional responses to it.
“The feelings that the listeners recorded at the time are in line with anecdotal evidence of experiences in places that have infrasound.
“Generally people found that they experienced more in depth versions of the emotions they were feeling before the infrasound began.”
The infrasound vibrations were created by an ultra-low loudspeaker inside a 12m-long, 30cmwide drainpipe cannon.
The contraption sent out subtle pulses at certain moments during two of the four pieces of music played by Russian pianist Evgenia Chudinovich.
During the concert, guests were asked to fill in questionnaires composed by psychologists about how they feel at different moments.
Infrasound has been used by organists in churches and cathedrals for at least 250 years to create grand, high-octane music.
Some scientists also claim it is the cause of the uneasy feelings and changes of emotion experienced in places believed to be haunted.
Mr O’Keefe added: “When places affect people physically and they aren’t able to explain it, they often attribute their feelings to being near a ghost.”
As the concert at the Metropolitan Cathedral was the first of its kind, the experiment must be repeated to ensure that the affects are caused by infrasound and not by another stimulus.
Two more recitals will be held on the same day in the Royal Festival Hall, London, with the vibrations created at varying points during the recital.
If successful, this will also prove the emotions were not caused by the atmosphere of the Cathedral.
The Soundless Music research is being under-taken by a team musicians, scientists and psychologists with the original concert held as part of the Symposium art and science conference run by John Moores University, The Wellcome Trust and Sciart Consortium.
In the 1990’s, I was a member of a listserv called the IVBC (Internet Virtual Bigfoot Conference). It was an email list – a discussion group – in the days before online forums. Many veteran researchers of those days were members of the list, as well as a few newcomers and aficionados.
One day, I mentioned something I’d noticed often in reports: hunters claiming of a feeling of dread and the “hair standing up” on the backs of their necks… PRIOR to hearing, smelling or seeing a Sasquatch. I remember posting a possible explanation: perhaps the Big Guys were “broadcasting some sort of sub-audible frequency” as a warning or deterrent.
The idea was met with such derision and ridicule from my peers in the research field that I left the list soon after.
Today, infrasound has become a popular and widely accepted explanation for this phenomenon.
Ignorance of cause does not preclude effect.
Infrasound is a low frequency that cannot be heard. But it can be FELT. Many large mammals use infrasound for communication. Animal infrasound researcher Liz Von Muggenthaler became a good friend after I contacted her years ago to pick her brain about this phenomenon. She has this to say:
“The study of animal communication, as with any science, is fraught with complications. Not only are animals unpredictable, but also most animals have a greater range of both hearing and communication than we do. Humans can hear from 20-20,000 hertz, or cycles per second. Many animals are capable of communicating below and above this range. Sound below our hearing range (below 20 hertz) is called infrasound. Infrasound consists of low-pitched sounds like those that come from a bass or sub-woofer audio speaker. Infrasound can travel for long distances and go through objects, including buildings, forests, and in some cases even mountains.
Several species of animals are capable of communicating at these low frequencies. Elephants, whales, hippos, rhinoceros, giraffe, okapi, and alligator are just a few examples of animals that create infrasound. There are many more animals that are suspected of creating infrasound and are just waiting to be researched. Until recently, due to the lack of sophisticated technology, many bio-acousticians were forced to study animal sounds only within the human hearing range. This means that the scientists were only learning about half of the animal’s actual communication. In human terms this would be as if we learned only ½ of a foreign language, which would make us completely unable to understand that language.”
Because I’ve already written extensively on this subject, there’s no point in re-writing it all, so I’m going to re-post an article/interview with Liz that I published in the OregonBigfoot.com newsletter in October of 2007 here. The editor’s notes contained herein are part of the original article:
by Autumn Williams
“It was May 1984. Two friends and I were up in the hills NW of Yamhill, OR, late in the evening, around 10:30 pm. We heard the scream, a VERY low, very long howl. Not a coyote, bear or cougar. Have heard all of them before. This was nothing like anything I have ever heard. I still remember thinking to myself, “How in the hell can something make such a low howl?” It scared us at first, but is sounded like it was far away, like maybe a mile or so. We were drinking a little beer, so after awhile we relaxed and forgot about it. It must have been about a half hour later when we heard it again. I swear that it had to be within 30 yards of us. Same loud, low howl, but MUCH closer. And it sounded pissed. I could feel the sound vibrations bouncing off the back of my neck. The hair stood up on the back of all of our necks. All of us turned white as hell, and our jaws dropped past our knees. The howl seemed to say “GET OUT!” Which is EXACTLY what we did.”
Infrasound is “sound with a frequency too low to be detected by the human ear… from the lower limit of human hearing (about 16 or 17 hertz) down to 0.001 hertz.” (Wikipedia)
For several years now, I and other researchers have pondered whether Sasquatches may have the ability to produce and receive infrasound. While the idea has been tossed around endlessly on message boards, little has been done to examine whether there is any scientific basis to support this theory, so I began to research the subject thoroughly. This article is the culmination, thus far, of that research.
Infrasound in the wild kingdom
To begin with, I turned to the internet to familiarize myself with infrasound in the animal world. I found the following information on Wikipedia’s infrasound information page:
Several animal species are capable of generating infrasound. “Whales, elephants, rhinoceros, giraffes, okapi, and alligators are known to use infrasound to communicate over varying distances of up to many miles as in the case of the whale, for instance.” (Wikipedia)
Elephants regularly use infrasound for communication: “It has been discovered that elephants can communicate over long distances by producing and receiving low frequency infrasound, a sub-sonic rumbling which can travel through the ground farther than sound travels in the air. This can be felt by the sensitive skin of an elephant’s feet and trunk, which pick up the resonant vibrations in much the same way as the flat skin on the head of a drum. To listen attentively, the whole herd will lift one foreleg from the ground, and face the source of the sound, or often lay their trunks on the ground – the lifting presumably increases the ground contact and sensitivity of the remaining legs. This ability is thought to also aid their navigation by utilizing external sources of infrasound. Discovery of this new aspect of elephant social communication and perception is due to breakthroughs in audio technology, which can pick up frequencies outside the range of the human ear. Pioneering research in elephant infrasound communication was done by Katy Payne of the Elephant Listening Project,[9] and is detailed in her book Silent Thunder. Though this research is still in its infancy, it is helping to solve many prior mysteries such as how elephants can find distant potential mates, and how social groups are able to coordinate their movements over an extensive territory range.” (Wikipedia)
(I find it interesting that an elephant’s ability to receive infrasonic communication is due, in part, to their large feet!)
Although the theory that Sasquatches might use infrasound for any number of purposes is an interesting one, it seemed presumptuous not to consider whether DISCOVERED large primates were, or were not, known to use infrasound. Though I searched far and wide, I was unable to find any references to gorillas or any other large primates using infrasound as a communication tool – in fact, it didn’t appear that anyone had done any studies at all on primates and infrasound. And it didn’t appear that many Bigfoot researchers, if any, had even posed the question!
First, I put in a call to the Dian Fossey Fund and spoke with one of the primatologists there. She said she was unaware of any infrasound studies done on any primates. (Not surprisingly, she showed little interest in the subject of Sasquatch.) Then I called my good friend, Craig Woolheater, over at TexasBigfoot.com to pick his brain… he said he hadn’t heard anything about it either. We searched the web for infrasound experts and came upon Liz Mugenthaler.
I gave her a call and we hit it off like old school chums. I found her to be very knowledgable and open to the subject of cryptozoology (which was a pleasant surprise, since most scientists don’t look past their noses when it comes to this subject, unless it’s to look DOWN their noses at it…).
In the following interview, conducted via email with infrasound expert Liz Mugenthaler, we take a close look at what infrasound is, how it is represented in the wild, Liz’s own pioneering research in the field and how this understanding might be used to further the research of unknown animals… including our elusive barefoot friends.
Autumn: Liz, thanks so much for taking the time – and having the guts! – to do this interview. Please give a brief (or not so brief, if you like) history of how you got started in animal infrasound studies. What is your educational/professional background?
Liz: As an undergraduate, I had my first published paper on animal infrasound “Infrasound from the rhinocerotidae.” This was the first paper on animal infrasound in the scientific world other than elephants and whales. To produce this study I worked closely and borrowed equipment from NASA Langley’s Advanced Test and Measurement Division, who are the world’s authorities on infrasound and vibration work. After graduation, I applied to several graduate programs, but then met a professor by the name of Melvin Kreithen. I was on my way to the American Association for the Advancement of Science student award competition, where I was a finalist, and I stopped at the University of Pittsburgh to meet Dr. Kreithen and ask him about birds and infrasound for migration… the pioneering research he was famous for. He read my papers on rhinos, and (by then) Okapi, and asked me where I had applied to graduate school. I told him Cornell and Duke. He then took his glasses off, dangled them on his knee and said, “Dear, do you think you will have $30,000 after graduate school?”
“Of course not! I’ll be in debt $90,000!” I exclaimed.
Dr. Kretithen placed his glasses on the table, laughed, then said, “Then don’t go because you will need that $30,000 for therapy because every graduate student and half of the faculty will try and take credit for your work, and you will be stuck studying ant farms or some such for your first two years!”
I took Dr. Kreithen’s words to heart and spent my savings on starting a company that could study what it wanted, using a multi-disciplinary approach which is largely foreign in most universities.
(Editor’s note: Boy, can I relate! This is precisely why I decided to forego a traditional education as well. There simply isn’t a degree program available at any accredited university in the field of cryptozoology. So I ended up spending all of my money on field research instead. *GRIN* – Autumn)
Autumn: What is the main focus of your research? What questions do you hope to answer?
Liz: I focus on endangered species and vocalizations outside the range of human hearing. I think if humans recognized that most if not all other animals hear and vocalize far beyond our abilities, humans would be less narcissistic. Additionally, perhaps if we can bridge the communication gap, we would learn far more about our planet and perhaps even our universe, and ourselves then we can on our own. To take a quote from Douglas Vakoch of SETI: “Perhaps the ultimate benefit of making contact with (extra-terrestrial) civilizations is not what we learn about them, but what we learn about ourselves in the process…We are guaranteed to gain something more powerful: a more humble, more realistic, and yet paradoxically more complete and more extensive understanding of our own place in the universe.”
(Editor’s note: Interestingly, Liz’s thoughts here about her research again mirror my own. I’ve often thought that when we look for Bigfoot, we find ourselves… – Autumn)
Autumn: Which animals are known to communicate through infrasound? Are there differences in the ways in which they do so? For what purposes do they use infrasound?
Liz: Most large mammals use infrasound, too numerous to mention. We have discovered Rhino, Okapi, Giraffe, Hippo, Tiger, Lion, etc. Infrasound production in some animals is sometimes difficult to discern, but we do know that it is Helmholtz resonance in Giraffe and Okapi, in which an enclosed volume of air (lungs) is coupled to the outside (neck) by one degree of freedom (larynx, or nose). Measurements of the entire resonator system are taken into account, but basically the length of the neck dictates the frequency of the sound. The longer, the lower. Remember the Ricola cough ads…? Where the guy is with that 8 ft horn in the Alps? Same theory.
In the case of other animals it may be internal resonance such as sinuses in the skull, neck skin flap, or body cavity resonance.
Autumn: How and where do you conduct your research?
Liz: We conduct our research at major zoos and in the field throughout the world.
Autumn: What equipment do you use?
Liz: The equipment we use is varied depending whether the research being conducted is atmospheric (air), underwater, or seismic in nature. For atmospheric we use DAT recorders. We have pulled from the test and measurement, music, car audio, defense, and engineering industries to create quite an array of equipment. Please see our website for more detailed equipment. http://www.animalvoice.com/
Autumn: What are some of the surprising things you’ve found?
Liz: Everything we find is a surprise! That is what unbiased science should be about!
(Editor’s note: THANK YOU, Liz, for this wonderfully refreshing answer!!! –Autumn)
Autumn: I understand that you’ve already undertaken one study on infrasound to attempt to study a creature undiscovered by science. Please describe your studies at Lake Champlain and your findings there.
Liz: Using 4 laptop computers, two with sound analysis software, Digital audio recorders, data-loggers, GPS software on computer, 2 portable analyzers, amplifiers, 2 vector sensors (which measure vibration) and two hydrophones (underwater microphones) and other equipment we visited sites on the lake where the “CHAMP” creature has purportedly been seen. Due to thermoclines, sometimes we could hear several miles away. (In lakes usually there is a warm layer of water and a cooler layer. Where these layers meet is called a thermocline. The depth and thickness of the thermocline can vary with the season or time of day).
It was vitally important that we search using passive means (receiving a signal), so we could not use sonar (which is active or sending a signal). The premise is that any large predator that is searching for food in a deep and murky lake would probably need to be using their own type of echolocation. Searching for an animal such as this is purported to be, using sonar, unless it is highly specialized form, would be not be valid protocol from an animal behavior standpoint. The creature could hear the boat’s sonar or fish-finder and it would be scared away, especially if it is thought to be timid or cautious. Sort of like hunting with a boom-box blasting out AC/DC. Not a good idea.
We would watch the signal scrolling across our computer and analyzer screens and record onto hard-drive and Digital audio recorder. Most of the time we could hear fish, crayfish, and the occasional turtle, and boat engines. We once even heard music coming from a boat moored several hundred meters away. Ironically, it was the song “When the levee breaks” by Led Zeppelin. We also could hear the “plop” made by fisherman’s lures as they hit the water, even 500-600 hundred feet away. That should tell you how sensitive the vector sensors are. Whales and dolphin search for food using a high frequency sonar signal called echolocation, or “bio-sonar.” The only other known aquatic animals that echolocate are dolphins and whales (marine, although there are freshwater dolphin in China, India, Pakistan, and Brazil.) Echolocation (biosonar) is a high frequency signal mostly above our hearing range that bounces off objects. The animal can hear the return signal and thereby know what it is. Some call it perfect underwater sight. Average echolocation signals vary, but go up to 200,000 Hertz (cycles per second) or expressed differently, 200 kilohertz (kHz). The human ear can only hear to 20,000 Hertz or 20 kHz. Man-made sonar or fish-finders send out a signal that is very regular, and entirely different then biologically produced sonar.
At three different sites, on the 3rd, 4th and the 10th we picked up an echolocation signal. We picked this up on Digital audio recorders or DAT (7 Hz to 44.1 kHz ) and computer analysis data-loggers (DC to 240 kHz) which stores onto hard-drive. The PCMCIA card that allowed us to data log was donated by National Instruments, and is the very latest in technology. It allows us to analyze sounds 20 times higher then the human range of hearing. The data on Digital audio recorder has been analyzed, and the data-logging sent to a member of our software team at National Instruments. We captured the echolocation signal on our hard-drive, analyzed it as it was happening, and the signal goes up to 140,000 Hertz, or 140 kHz. The echolocation signal under analysis is similar to Beluga whale and killer echolocation, yet different enough so that we can not make a positive identification. Methods such as cross-correlation, where one compares the properties of one sound to another, can usually tell us what type of creature it is, but not in this case. It is significantly different from both whale and dolphin, but it is echolocation.
Dolphin and whale have extremely advanced auditory and sound production capabilities. Very specialized, that is what makes our finding so interesting. Whatever was in the water in Lake Champlain has to have the same type of advanced faculties to produce the signal we got. The signal could not have been produced by anything other than an underwater animal, swimming.
“I feel that the effort was a technical success as we were able to conduct far reaching, low-noise sound measurements and, indeed, were able to detect signals the nature of which suggests the presence of some interesting, unexpected phenomena.” Dr. Joseph Gregory, a former member of our team who was a professor of sound and vibration engineering at North Carolina State University. Joe passed away November 2003.
Fauna Communications presented their scientific findings at an Acoustical Society of America (American Institute of Physics) conference fall 2003. The paper largely talks about the technology we used, and is not a speculation about whether champ exists. What we can say, is that there is a creature in the lake that produces bio-sonar, and we have no idea what it is. Proving or disproving the existence of Champ would require a massive and non-invasive search using acoustics, optics, etc. Most importantly, animal behavior research requires a great deal of patience, so it would be a long term study. To see more about the study go to http://www.animalvoice.com/lakechamplain.htm
Autumn: To your knowledge, has anyone ever conducted a study of infrasound in large primates, like gorillas?
Liz: NO
(Editor’s note: Liz’s very succinct answer here, in my opinion, says it all. Research into the infrasound capabilities of even KNOWN animals is still somewhat in its infancy. – Autumn)
Autumn: Is it possible that gorillas might use infrasound for communication? (Compared to other animals you’ve studied that use infrasound, are there – to your knowledge – the proper biomechanics in place for a gorilla to do so?)
Liz: Any large mammal has the potential to generate infrasound.
Autumn: What have you discovered about HUMAN physical response to animal-generated infrasound?
Liz: Infrasound, at certain frequencies, (18-21 Hz) generates certain physical effects in humans, including causing ones hair to stand on end, feelings of fear or terror, your eyeballs to shake or see mirages, and other effects. Tiger infrasound can temporarily paralyze you, which is all the time a tiger needs! Bodily infrasound effects are a well documented phenomenon, first discovered by NASA and Russian space sciences in the 1960’s.
Autumn: For years, Bigfoot researchers have surmised that Sasquatch may use infrasound as a deterrent to humans; also, as a means of confusing or disabling prey. Are there instances in your research which show animals using infrasound for these purposes?
Liz: As is shown by tiger research, it is certainly possible for an animal to use infrasound either as a deterrent or a hunting technique.
Autumn: What are your thoughts on the existence of unknown bipedal primates?
Liz: While I have never had an experience, nor have I read any scientific journal on this creature, I think it is certainly plausible that it exists. More importantly, based upon the number of sightings, and based upon other instances of purported evidence, it is a scientific question that should be answered in an unbiased fashion, without fear of condemnation. Science should be neither positively biased in which a researcher wants it to be true, nor negatively biased in which a researcher does not think it is true, or is afraid to confront it because it is novel, or fearful of peer review. For instance, for 100’s of years it was reported that there was a small black rhino in the forests of Java. Naturalists in the 1830’s mention its existence. But it was 1998 before a picture (head shot) of one was taken by a trip camera. If you can’t find a 3500 lb rhino in the small forests of Java, how is one supposed to find a 600 lb, and apparently intelligent, humanoid in thousands of square miles of pristine forest? I truly believe that if science took this seriously, it would be a credit not only to those naturalists (witnesses) that have reported it, but to the science of biology/zoology itself. To prove finally that biology and zoology is genuinely unbiased. As it stands, the fact that no biologist/zoologist(s) from a (some) major universities have ever attempted a full, funded, genuine scientific expedition is an embarrassment to rest of the scientific community. Bias and pressure from peers is apparent in all sciences, and one has to be strong personally and professionally to avoid it. The biological/zoological community should be focused on clearing their name, so they are not accused of being unscientific. Shame on you!
(Editor’s note: AMEN to that! – Autumn)
Autumn: If a researcher wished to conduct an experiment to determine whether Sasquatch uses infrasound, how would one best go about this?
Liz: In order to really study the question of infrasound usage, an array of microphones would be needed. If triangulated, this would give the researcher accurate positions. However, infrasound in the field is very tricky, and it would be very expensive. The best approach would be to purchase a DAT recorder, not MP3 (which compresses a signal) and set it up to record continuously without human intervention. Additionally masking the scent, pheromonal intervention, would be extremely important. Otherwise you are hunting deer with a boom-box.
Autumn: What uses might the proper infrasound frequency have in FACILITATING an interaction with these creatures?
Liz: In essence you could be “speaking” in terms that they understand or that which is familiar to them.
Autumn: Finally, what are the DANGERS in experimenting with infrasound?
Liz: Infrasound can cause physical and emotional harm at the right frequencies and amplitudes, and can be used to scare away an animal as well as attract it.
A FEW FINAL THOUGHTS ON SASQUATCH AND INFRASOUND
Unexplained Terror
Forward-thinking Sasquatch researchers first began examining this phenomenon as a means to explain feelings of “dread or terror” in eyewitnesses. Woods-savvy hunters – big men with big guns who have hunted an area for years – will suddenly report feeling overcome with fear and an urge to run… sometimes even before any visual, audio or olfactory sign of a Sasquatch is present. Infrasound, at certain frequencies, is capable of producing a fear response in humans and is thought to magnify existing emotions as well.
A Hair-Raising Experience
Eyewitnesses commonly specify “feeling the hair stand up on the back of my neck” during an encounter with a Bigfoot. Infrasound is one plausible explanation for this as well. According to Liz Mugenthaler, certain frequencies emitted by tigers cause the hair to stand up on one’s neck.
A Powerful Hunting Tool?
Some animals use infrasound to disable their prey. This was something I had not originally considered when exploring the idea that Sasquatches might use infrasound – but it certainly would be a handy application. The thought that infrasound is capable of producing a “disabling” effect – even to the point of knocking a human unconscious – could also explain those reports in which a witness inexplicably “falls asleep”. I have noticed a prevalence of this in reports for years and, in fact, I programmed the database specifically with a field to flag the report for these reports.
Disappearing Sasquatches?
Liz Mugenthaler told me during our lengthy conversation that the infrasound produced by a tiger can cause VISION disturbances in humans, making the eyes vibrate and causing a loss of visual acuity. I was excited when she told me this… I thought, perhaps, not only might it explain eyewitness claims of “camouflaged” or “disappearing” creatures, but it might explain some of my own firsthand experiences in the field as well. Several times, when there were indications that a Bigfoot was near, I have experienced strangely blurred vision and an inability to focus on the spot where I could clearly hear a bipedal creature in the brush. I made a mental note of this at the time, and always explained it to others as an “inability to focus properly”, though I never had an explanation for what might have caused it. Could infrasound explain it?
A HUGE thanks to Liz Mugenthaler for her time, pioneering spirit and dedication to the true meaning of science: The exploration of things we don’t yet understand, and the attempt to explain the UNEXPLAINED.
[END ARTICLE]
What does it all mean?
If you’re still with me here, you’ve probably noted that there are many implications in the above article that infrasound could be responsible for some of the effects noted by Bigfoot witnesses. But not all.
The point of posting all of this information about infrasound is not to attempt to explain away all of the seemingly extra-sensory communication described by witnesses as attributable to this phenomenon, but to give one possible explanation for some of it, as well as to demonstrate the fact that infrasound, in its own way, is perceived through EXTRA-SENSORY means. We cannot hear it. We do not know of a specific organ in the body, at this time, that is specifically receptive to it. Yet we experience its effects!
Want to try it? This was recorded in Taos, NM. [Listen, and email me what you experienced!]
Many other places, apparently, give off infrasound as well. “It is usually heard only in quiet environments, and is often described as sounding like a distant diesel engine.” For more information on places that hum, click here.
If infrasound is a phenomenon that we can’t “sense” with the usual sensory organs, isn’t it entirely possible that there are other phenomena that may equally affect us? Tell Warren to stick that in his pipe and smoke it! *grin*
Providing that your Warren has been made comfortable with all of this, I think it’s time to get to the heart of the matter… the Bigfoot reports.
Stay tuned, and as always, feel free to send me your comments.
