Henry Carmona
Screenwriter
http://robo.cx/~bobo/ars/Manning_Park-sasquatch.mp3
(right click and save if it doesnt play)
Heres the story:
(right click and save if it doesnt play)
Heres the story:
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.
