Sasquatch Through the Eyes of Science

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    The blog is opinion. It is honest opinion. I do not tend to hyperbole, and I habitually try to be honest in these things. My opinions are informed by things I know by way of research and reading and study of a variety of topics, as well as my education and experience as an engineer.

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    • 2021-Apr-12 - Bigfoot Tree.

        We met with Brent Dill of the tall ones in Darrington and drove out to the site of the infamous Bigfoot Tree.

        This is a double tree, forked at the base just above the ground. While reputed to be hollow, it is not. It is a largely healthy tree, but there is damage from people knocking on it with sticks and bats. There is sap bleeding from damage to it that may be from insects or from people.

        The tree stands next to an old river bed. This is not the geology for stable caves, and there is no cave here. There is no need for a hollow area to make the sounds. While the tree was not terribly active, it is clear that the solid body of the tree conducts the sound into the ground where the energy is dispursed immediately around the tree. A large stump next to the tree, also said to be hollow, is irrelevent to the accoustics here.

        The ground shakes for the same reason that debris is raised on a table when the table is struck by a hammer. You hear it because the vibration is in the range of sounds we can hear. The winds were calm, and we were there in mid afternoon, we only heard a few knocks from the system.

        During that first trip I noticed at least one knock from another tree just up the road from the one we were watching. I returned with Mrs CC the next week to observe in the evening. I had hoped that as the sun went down we would get a rush of air down the valley - but it was not enough to get the performance we wanted... What did happen, just as we arrived, and before I was able to set up recorders, was a series of a dozen or so knocks following the mid-day sun coming off the system.

        During this second trip I heard similar knocks from at least 3 other trees surrounding the one we were observing. The microphones I did set up measured low-level activity from the system that we did not notice audibly. The few big pops we heard into the evening were certainly recorded, but there were a number of low-frequency thumps recorded that we did not hear.

        If you have ever sat in a forest during mild winds, you have almost certainly heard trees creak and groan in the wind. That is all you are hearing in this place. However, the infamous tree has an unusual arrangement high above where most people look. The forked tree has a branch from one fork that has been wrapped deeply in the bark of the other fork, creating an effect akin to the bow of a stringed instrument (the branch) vibrating the strings (the adjacent trunk) to make sound. The vibration is carried into the ground which performs the function of a the sound box of such an instrument, not by being hollow, but by simply being there supporting the tree and mechanically coupled to it by roots and gravity.

        This is certainly one of the most interesting trees that exist anywhere, but there is no cave, no Bigfoot groaning or thumping, no magic other than that of nature.

    2021-Mar-08 - Dog Man - Opinion.

        Last weekent Hidden Existence exhibited the best of 18th century observational science1. That is not a jab, it is a recognition that photography was not easily accessible until the 19th century - after the more modern invention in 1820... Before that your only choice was to find an artistcally capable person and convince them to produce a work of art for you.

        These days you may find this method used with some police investigations. However they more often use computer software to blend common attributes. The artist with the patience ask the subject to describe something with enough detail to reproduce the image is rare - and you will find in that video the subject with the conviction to tell the artist what is wrong is also somewhat rare.

        In fairness, the subject did say more than once that the mouth and nose were not quite right, that the creature was snarling, and the lips and nose were drawn back. The artist missed those directions, but the subject did not press the point, either.

        The subject had drawn his own rendition of the creature2, it can be seen around the timestamp 1:52:47 of the video. It is this, in combination with other descriptions, other sketches, and the artists own rendering, that has convinced me of something.

        The resemblance to a baboon3 is stunning, including the anatomy for a howling scream4 looks pretty darn similar to what people describe, and draw.

        These animals are not uncommon for people to try and take on as pets or to import illegally, and then release when they learn how much trouble primates are... As if they could not learn from their own example of how much trouble primates are.

        I am not saying everyone is seeing this, or a kangaroo... I am just observing the likeness is stunningly similar, and it would be easy for someone not familiar with these kinds of animals to mistake their identification with reference to a myth they are more familiar with.

        Another problem, one illustrated in the video linked above, is that these sessions are typically rather brutal; trying to extract the description, without much sensitivity to the subject who is dragged back into a usually traumatic experience for the entertainment of others. I see this time and again in the social media venues, no matter that some people are certainly sympathetic, the hosts may even be sympathetic, but completely inept at doing this sort of thing properly, without being brutal to the person who had the experience.

        For the mental health of the subject, I would strongly recommend doing this sort of thing with several off-line sessions where the subject is lead through a psychologically sound approach of abstracting the experience and examining the memory from a more detached perspective.

    1 - Dogman Live Drawing

    2 - Subject's Sketch

    3 - Baboon Face

    4 - Screaming Mad Mandrill

    2021-Feb-23 - Tech Habituation.

        It is an observation from the more metaphysical side of Bigfoot that they do not like technology, but this observation is not restricted to them.

        It is the woo side, however, who proclaims that technology hurts them. Actually causes them discomfort or pain. That they can detect technology by mysterious means. These are all speculations and they cannot be readily tested.

        Some people have attempted to use scent killer agents used in hunting to no avail, but I don't think that means anything spooky is going on. I am not sure, but I don't think it is anything extraordinary.

        I think that it is entirely plausible the subjects can sus out technology for a variety of entirely mundane reasons. I think it is unlikely that it is harmful to them. I think it is more likely it is unfamiliar to them. If you found an alien weapon lying around, would you just start pushing buttons? If so, may I humbly refer you to the movie The 5th Element and the What is the Red Button for scene...

        In a recent conversation with Patrick Vaugn, he suggested two brilliantly simple things that should probably be done broadly by serious researchers anywhere.

        The first is to get a cheap radio, tune it to a local station, leave the volume low but audible in the area, and leave it to be discovered... Just let the subjects check it out.

        The second is go take all those things you point out into the dark, at them, and play around the camp at night pointing them at each other. Just let the subjects know they don't really do any damage, they don't hurt. Let them know we don't worry about pointing them at each-other.

        These are just so mind-bogglingly simple, and they are completely brilliant, that I really must credit the source of the idea. Patrick has also worked out some highly detailed ideas regarding how the subjects try to interact with us. It is a solid foundation for a serious project in observational science we may be able to meaningfully apply this year.

        In fact, I will be starting to design a proposed set of protocols to follow. These protocols will be designed to provide several different control tests to evaluate if his observations are sound. An expansion of this project will include trying out these protocols with the subjects in different geographical areas, starting in Washington, where there is at least some evidence the subjects employ similar behavior. If we can have successful experiments in at least two locations, we would want to expand the project with other control tests.

        Thanks to Patrick Vaugn for these inspiringly simple ideas to habituate the subjects to the technology we have for the purpose of reducing their apprehension about it.

        One last thing. To the radio idea above, I would add that if you have any potentially throw-away equipment, old cameras, flashlights, etc... Use it for habituation experiments if you feel safe to do so. Turn it on, and leave it away from your camp, undisguised and unhidden.

        I think that I will be trying this with a cheap cell phone. I can write a program to use its sensors to record activity and even produce audio or turn on the screen at times...

        There is no guarantee of the response from the subjects - but they are great ideas.

        At the research area I visited in summer 2020, they used chemical glow sticks hung behind the forest line. Nothing really happened with them that night - but it let me test out the gopro mount I made for the starlight binoculars.

    2021-Feb-21 - Arizona Squatch.

        During my meet and greet interview1 at Hidden Existence I was asked about Arizona Squatch2 and the phenomena they are experiencing. They have hours of video posted, and I have only an hour or so that I have watched to this point - but I wanted to record my first impressions, in part to document how they may change with time or with meeting them (live or online) about their situation.

        I run an open notebook as a matter of honor. Like anyone, I have ultimate control over my website content - I could delete or revise anything I choose. I revise only spelling and punctuation - perhaps formatting - not content. Honesty is something I expect and project, yet in the more broad Bigfoot Community it is something I find among the wild stories and the click-competition. In the interview I mentioned, I clarified that I refer to Sasquatch as the physical creature I described in another video3 while I refer to Bigfoot for all the other, often paranormal, phenomena.

        I must confess some fascination with what I have found so far. I wish it was closer than 1400 miles away, because I would like to see what is going on - but that will be impossible for the foreseeable future. This is because of the restriction of 18th century technology in their investigation process. This is not a criticism, but it is a restriction. They record their observation notes and post them in social media - but they do not take pictures or video of the phenomena they observe, nor do they record audio (at least that I have found so far) of the subjects they observe. They impose this restriction in what they consider to be respect for those who occupy the places they observe, and how could I not honor that sentiment.

        At this point I have only seen videos they have posted about what is a more paranormal phenomena. They describe visual phenomena often associated with what many people characterize as sinister and terrifying entities, yet their encounters are benevolent in nature. I have mentioned before, and will certainly in the future, that fear is not a rational place - but fear sells, it markets well. They are approaching what they are experiencing with wonder instead of fear, and look at the benefits they reap from that outlook.

        The description of shimmering visual distortions has its best illustration with reference to the movie Predator, and it certainly could present a tactical advanatge for a sinister entity seeking to approach you closely, and that biases people. People also tend to fear what they do not understand. What they describe is not like any creature in the natural world, and that alone will put the brains of many people into the desperation to retain reality mode - they will instinctively want to avoid that strange thing, and they will demonize it.

        In contrast to that, chemical, thinking, Arizona Squatch approached what they saw with observational science, and with calm and intellectual clarity. It approached them quietly, they noticed it. They approached it with curiosity instead of fear, and it does not reflect a threat to them. The reward they reap is immeasurable. Their stress level is pretty low in comparison to many facing the same sort of phenomena. The phenomena reflects a more benevolent attitude to them; where even an animal will respond to our fear with agitation and aggression.

        As to what it is they are experiencing, I would start with local native lore. I have not dug into this, and I am not sure if I will. There is enough to do here with the seemingly more flesh-and-blood entities we have in Washington. However, the case of Barb Schupe4 seems relevent for the PNW region.

        I have not looked into what she is experiencing. It is not a bias against the more paranormal things - it is just that nothing I have observed seems related to anything she has going on there. However, some of the phenomena she reports are undeniably similar. The only real difference is that Barb is open to recording - but seems to believe her subjects are rejectful of technology and that people who try to record audio or video will likely not achieve the full experience.

        Superficially - very superficially - what Arizona Squatch and Barbara Shupe observe bear some significant similarities. I do think it is on the mystical paranormal side of things more than the flesh-and-blood creature I call Sasquatch.

        Because many people like me go into the forest for years and never notice either the big hairy folk, nor the mystical shimmering folk, nor even the orbs and lights... Because many people who actively look find mainly one of those phenomena where they do look... It seems likely there are many things going on out there - and they are likely to be independent.

        I am inclined to accept the observations of groups experiencing these phenomena. I am not inclined to believe these are Sasquatch - not the hairy hominid. They are part of the larger phenomena of Bigfoot. There may also be Sasquatch in the area. These phenomena may be related or independent of them. My inclination is to set conclusions aside and examine the observations.

        Too many investigations that are ongoing have Sasquatch with no spooky or mystical phenomena whatever. Perhaps some try to ignore and suppress those details, but none that I have been in contact with over the last couple of years.

        In fact, I have found more of the paranormal believers that expect the spiritual and mystical phenomena must be everywhere - and I expect that is a larger problem with bias.

        I have no objection to observation with 18th century restrictions. It is regrettable they will never produce images of the phenomena they observe, but the philosophy behind it is sound and reasonable. Their challenge is to produce such vivid and clear observations that we can reasonably imagine what they observe in our own theater of the mind, as it were.

    1 - Hidden Existence Meet and Greet Interview.

    2 - Arizona Squatch

    3 - What is Bigfoot? My Real Answer...

    4 - Barbara Shupe

    2021-Jan-21 - NAVY UFO Videos... Still???

        People are still buying into the mystery of the NAVY UFO videos.

        These just aren't really a mystery, they are training videos. Each demonstrates rather succinctly a feature or effect related to the name attached to the original released video...

        The video Go Fast is an example of parallax. A slow moving object is viewed against the ocean surface from a jet. The object appears to be moving fast in the opposite direction. The breakdowns show you how the display helps you understand this.

        The video FLIR is an example of what happens when an object moves outside the tracking range of the camera. One of the breakdowns shows clearly how the aircraft being tracked is not making a sudden turn.

        The video Gimbal is an example of what happens when a tracked object crosses directly in front of the system, forcing the gimbal to move more in the rotational axis.

        The reason these are not a big deal to anyone of importance is simply that none of these is a mystery of any kind. However, there is no reason for cable TV to let facts get in the way of a UFO show...

        These do not represent a compromise in national security. They do not represent a compromise of equipment in the field. The Navy released them with little comment because portions of these video segments had been previously leaked - they were released "for completeness."

    Mick West Breakdown of UFO videos

    (1) Go Fast Breakdown

    (2) FLIR Breakdown

    (3) Gimbal Breakdown

    2021-Jan-17 - Research Region 2.

        I went with Mrs CC to meet Brent Dill of The Tall Ones at what I will refer to as Research Region 2 Area Alpha. This is closer to both our homes than Research Region 1 is, and is near some of my old haunts near the town of Sultan, WA, where some of my more intense Squatchy experiences of the past were.

        It was a typically miserable drizzle day. Sunday worship was in full swing, with the exclamation of "mine is bigger" made by the muzzle flash, volume of discharge, and the depth of clips... If I were a squatch, I would have been further back in the valley, for sure, as the sheer noise drowned out talk at times.

        It really was a nice spot, though. I will remind you that a gravel pit near Region 1 area Charlie has many visitors with firearms well within ear-shot and yet has apparent activity from the subjects.

        One or two key people for this venture had backed out at the last minute, so we ended up just taking pictures and talking as the rain passed by and then restarted with greater vigor.

        Brent is going to take some looks at the more paranormal and spiritual sides of things in the next month or so. I strongly suggest doing some research into trickster spirits and protection from spiritual attacks.

        To my observation and experience, it does not matter if a spiritual assault is a real and external influence or just a psychological expression of internal conflict - either way there is the potential for damage to the psyche. Protection, as I observe it, is anything you can accept as providing a barrier that protects you.

        For example, if you have read The Dresden Files you know this series of stories has vampires and the like. Protection from them is not necessarily a cross... For Dresden himself it is a pentagram... It has to be something you believe in is the point.

        Take great care, whether there is something external or just psychological, there are real threats looking into these things. Our society leaves people largely unprepared for things that happen on the fringes of what we recognize as normal.

    2020-Nov-11 - Absolutes and Science...

        I am always entertained by people that complain that Science doesn't know anything because they are always wrong about things; and because they are often wrong, they clearly know nothing of value, so they should not be respected or listened to.

        This reminds me of the character Fonzie on the TV show Happy Days, one of this characters personal tics was the inability to say the word wrong after the phrase I was... Even if it was true, he could only get into the first syllable and then got stuck... It was like Superman against Kryptonite...

        So, you see, I smile – sometimes outwardly – when people go down this path, because I see these scenes with this character unable to say the words – with the laugh track running full volume...

        This Luddite logic, however, justifies dismissal of everything that brings the ease of living they enjoy: Internet, phones, electric lighting, heat - without people who learned to think in an organized way, and to accept the lessons of things that did not work as planned, we would not even have explored the world, much less learned to communicate around it in seconds.

        I am left imagining how utterly embarrassed these people must be every time they are wrong about anything, no matter how trivial. I expect these people are tyrants in personal life – requiring all who are close to them to buy into their personal truths, for not agreeing with those truths means you must be their enemy, a troll, a hater... In social-media terms, they are snowflakes.

        Such people usually respond with anger and threats when questioned. Imagine how they would be broken by the kind of questioning any new idea from science must endure before it becomes accepted. In the world of these people, those who are louder, angrier, stronger, more violent, are right – facts just do not enter into the equation for them personal beliefs are far more important, and questions are a threat to their righteousness.

        The idea of absolute knowledge that does not change with time, realistically, can only be found in religion. Only in religion, where an omnipotent being passes along revealed truth, can we have absolute knowledge...

        The flaw here, of course, is the knowledge is revealed to a human, who is then responsible for accurately conveying their revealed truth to everyone else - and they always fail. Oh, sure they can often convey the basic idea reasonably well, but there will always be those who do not understand - or who do not listen well.

        I have previously talked about things that are fragile: That are easily broken, but can be rebuilt again and again - like a house of cards - in comparison to things that are brittle: That are easily broken and cannot be rebuilt - like a house of glass cards, or a snowflake.

        In human experience, absolute knowledge is brittle. It leaves one in a situation where one is unable to adapt to changing information - expecially during a crisis.

        Science, in contrast, works with the best available information at the moment, yet adopts new information as it comes in. This approach leaves one flexible to change how they behave during a crisis where information can change frequently.

        Consider the extinction of species, for example... Well, they declared such a thing extinct 50 years ago, and someone took a picture of one just last week - the first picture of a live specimen in over 75 years...

        Extinction is, of course, a tough call; a dark extension of the thinking that absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. However, if there is not a viable breeding population, it does not matter much if there are a few surviving specimens in the wild. The conclusion is reasonably justified when, for 25 years in this example, there has been no sighting or picture of the animal - and that situation continues for another 50 years until someone gets a picture of some strange animal...

        Still, there are those who are unable to see this as anything other than being wrong. People who think this way are often people who tend to make themselves feel superior by kicking others down. They fixate on rumors that once every few years someone reports seeing one and consider that to be proof - then when a picture is eventually taken, well, that is vindication that they were right all along - more importantly that others were wrong all along...

        These are typically low-information people who have difficulties with complex and multi-faceted concepts; they over-simplify issues to the point that important information is lost. The result is that they end up mis-informed and, thus, they end up spreading mis-information.

        Consider the use of masks with the virus SARS-COV-2. Where the initial concern was that hospitals would run out of personal protection equipment and it was stated, at that point, that it is less important that all individuals wear masks than it is that doctors and nurses and other caregivers do in the context of their work.

        Later, it was observed that very few masks are really effective against the size of particles that are a threat with the spread of the virus. It was also observed that most people do not properly wear the effective masks - rendering even them relatively ineffective.

        Down the line just a little more it was observed that even the most ineffective masks against catching the virus are significantly effective in terms of preventing the spread of the virus - because particles from a cough can spread as far as 27 feet, but even a field-hospital paper mask with ear-loops can reduce that to under about a foot...

        Low-information people see this as contradictory, they see science changing its position with each of these discoveries.

        They see an evolving position as an indication of ignorance, and they extend that thinking into an imaginary future where even more contradictory guidelines come out - so why listen to them now - because we know they were wrong before and they are probably wrong now...

        I won't bother to argue that thinking - you can look up logical fallacies and cognitive biases yourself and determine which are in play with that thinking.

        Instead, I would argue that none of these 3 evolving views is in conflict, and that all are still correct, and entirely accurate. I would also argue that media presenting these ideas is often not clear or complete, and that people listening do not hear the meanings of the words.

        Yet, it is still true today, that care-givers and hospital patients need to have the PPE far more than most people on the street - but now we have capacity for everyone to have access to appropriate PPE, which is something we did not have in March...

        It is also still true that most paper or cloth masks will not effectively prevent you from exposure to the virus. So, where in every TV drama where the masks protect the people who wear them, this is not so effective in the current health crisis.

        It is also still true that even the basic paper ear-loop masks effectively reduce the spread of particles exhaled. This alone is not important until you consider that a person can be infected and shedding the virus for days before showing symptoms - and they may show very few symptoms at all during their infection...

        Even low-information people can put these two thoughts together and realize that wearing a mask becomes more of a social responsibility than a protective measure. They still have challenges with the understanding they could be sick and not realize it...

        In the end, where reason has well established knowledge, facts rarely change. Hence you will not often see these people complaining about the medicines that keep them more healthy or their cell phones that keep them connected to their social-media echo-chambers.

        Yet on the fringes of knowldge, where new things are discovered frequently, what is accepted as fact may be adjusted frequently, and information guiding decision processes changes all the time. So, the parts of science that are exposed to the news are more fluid than those that form the bedrock of modern technology.

        So, yes, science is wrong all the time - especially at the fringes where new discoveries are just being understood. This is a strength, not a weakness. We only accept an idea when it has been vetted by relentless and vicious questioning - and we let it go when it fails.

        Perhaps that potential for abandonment is something they also find threatening about science. What if they were to adopt belief in some idea which then becomes supplanted by an even better one, yet they are too attached to the first to move on.

        There are certainly those comforted by absolute knowldge. Smug in their ability to be right, regardless of change. Always willing to kick lesser people down to feel good about themselves.

        I, for one, am willing to be wrong; and I find that preferable to believing I am right, even in the face of conflicting evidence.

        Absolute truth is brittle, easily broken, often impossible to repair. It is a myth held up by simple-minded people who do not want to be bothered by a changing world.

    2020-Nov-01 - Lights, Orbs, Portals...

        As the hunting season is on, the subjects seem to have moved (presumably) to higher ground for now; The research group speculates that as the snow starts and hunters thin out, they move back to the lower regions of the area they designated as Delta. As precipitation picks up, audio recording is more problematic - the forest continues to rain for hours after the weather passes...

        So, I have started turning my attention to some projects for next year, and also to elements of the woo side of this puzzle. People are experiencing strange things in the forest and relating them to Sasquatch. I am not as convinced as many how these things may be related.

        To try and illustrate this, conduct an experiment yourself. The next time you are at a store, observe the other people in the store, pay particular attention to their cell phones - are their phones out and in use, or can you even tell if they have one...

        Now, in your field report substitute the word sasquatch for people and substitute the word orb for cell phone...

        Now consider you are reading the observations of other people, not observations you made directly, and carefully and honestly ponder: Are the orbs actually part of the subjects? Are they pets? Are they companions? Are they spirits?

        How would you go about trying to figure it out by observation alone?

        In my mind, I have described before, I have a shelf for unexplained phenomena. This shelf has jars with labels appropriate to the things they represent; that being various archetype manifestations, angels, demons, ghosts, etc.

        These jars contain descriptions of the traditional properties presented by the beings represented by the labels. This includes the rules that seem to govern the accompanying phenomena.

        There are jars here for unexplained lights, orbs, and portals. I have not seen these things - at least not that I am aware of - but they are things people experience in the night and in the deep forest and they deserve a place on that shelf for these reasons...

        A light would be an illuminated area where the source of the light is not necessarily apparent. For example, if you shine a flashlight onto the ground, the light scatters and the local area is illuminated by it. The general illumination would be a light - provided the spot illuminated by the flashlight is not apparent. The spot illuminated by the flashlight would be a light - provided the flashlight is not apparent.

        An orb is a source of light with no apparent explanation. A flashlight would be an explanation, but if you had a source of light that shone either generally or directionally that simply hung in the air, or emitted from an object not traditionally a source of light, this will be an orb. The area illuminated by an orb would not be considered a light - because its source of illumination is apparent in the form of the orb.

        The strangest thing I have seen in the forest is St Elmo's fire. I have not seen any inexplicable lights in the woods at night. I have not observed inexplicable orbs during any paranormal observations.

        In principle, I believe these things are possible. As I have described earlier, I have containers for these concepts on my shelf of unexplained phenomena. These use the traditional words and descriptions, but lack clear explanation - which is why they are on that shelf. It is absolutely not quantum physics - and that white paper is drafted1.

        Orbs in the woods at night were commonly called will-o-the-wisp and this has been around for at least centuries. In more modern times, sightings of these orbs are dismissed - along with the witnesses. While swamp gas might explain some things - it is not a universal explanation, and not always appropriate. I suspect there is a (collection of) phenomena that manifest as orbs of light, and that when we start to consider it more seriously, we will learn to understand them better.

        There is a non-zero chance some of these are related to things we cannot explain, and that fall into categories of mystical and spiritual. I do believe we will learn to understand these eventually, but am happy for now to record the observations without explanation, and set them upon my shelf of unexplained things.

        The elephant in the room, then, is portals... For an observation to go into this jar, I will require the observation that something was observed entering or leaving the manifestation. I don't care what you want to say passed through it (Bigfoot, Aliens, Demons, Angels, Orbs...), just that it appeared to act as a passage from one place to another.

        After some experiences with paranormal phenomena, I like to say that just because someone is afraid, it does not make what they are afraid of evil. I have found that once people have concluded something is evil, that conclusion justifies any level of fear - hate - even violence - and that those responses are all irrational. To be sure, a rational response, after rational analysis, may be that something is a threat. But if some phenomena is genuinely not a threat - even if it appears frightening, if we respond with fear, we will severely hampered to recognize it as non-threatening.

        For the most part, while I accept witness anecdotes of portals, it is in terms that I believe they did actually see something, and their description is of what they perceived; my skepticism comes in the form of accepting their explanation or interpretation of what they may have seen.

        If things were always exactly as they appeared, no differences in education or personal experience would matter, no eyewitness testimony could vary, no interpretations could vary. Yet testimony and interpretation does vary - and there is no guarantee that any offered testimony or interpretation is either correct or complete. We do not know anything, some believe certain things, and some believe their interpretation with passion and conviction - but we do not know.

        The manifestation of a portal may be nothing more than a complex manifestation of orbs and lights, for example. The manifestation of entities may be a matter of interpretation, or of illusion for that matter. The brain tends to fill in details for us - even if they are fabricated.

        There are few accounts of portals where I know of a witness who is rooted in rational thinking and an approach of scientific thinking. One I have been digging into is from June of 2014 in Southern Oregon, at the SOHA (Southern Oregon Habituation Area) that was part of Dr Mat Johnson's investigation of the Sasquatch puzzle. My investigation of this event is in the form of reviewing the various recordings and videos from Dr Johnson, and interviews with Adam Davies and John Carlson. These are the 3 principals for this event.

        I first met Adam Davies in early 2020, just weeks before the lockdown in Washington. We spoke for several minutes, mostly about Sasquatch DNA. At the time I was unaware of the story I am investigating now. I have not met any of the other principals of the event. I am aware of his work, and have seen him in various documentaries. I am of the opinion he is rational and honest, and dedicated to the application of scientific practices and rational analysis of phenomena. This opinion is strongly influenced by our conversation.

        I am of the opinion that Dr Johnson is serious and honest in what he says. I believe that he honestly represents the things he experiences from his personal perspective. Even he says that there is much to learn, and he does not know everything about it. That is more honesty about the so-called woo than many Sasquatch researchers present about their mundane beliefs of the creatures. Both Adam and John attest they believe him to be honest.

        I had not heard of John Carlson, that I recall, before this story. I will accept that Adam vouches for him and requested his presence for the investigation in question.

        So, I am convinced all the principals of this event are honest in reporting their observations and perceptions. Therefore I accept observations of phenomena to be accruately reported to the extent that memory can vary with time and perceptions - but largely at face value. Note that these events were not recorded or reported around the time they happened. Dr Johnson revealed the portal at a conference about a year after the event2 - Adam and John reported the event on a podcast3 a few months after that. Since there is conflict with interpretation - that is what I will focus on trying to understand more clearly here.

        My purpose here is not to explain or define the portal, but to understand the psychology of what happened, because the overall descriptions of the events by the principals leaves me with a sense of cognitive dissonance - which tells me something is incongruent.

        The purpose of their trip was to observe Sasquatch research areas and make a superficial judgement of whether there was something interesting to the investigation of Sasquatch going on within the research areas they visited. One of those areas was SOHA.

        Adam and John kept watch of the camp at night to make sure their host was not hoaxing them. On the third night they observed a light in the forest, when they investigated it they observed what I would accept as a portal as defined above.

        The only one not traumatized in some way be the experience is Dr J. He reasoned that whatever it was, it had likely been there all along, that he always woke up alive in the morning, and it was reasonable to expect he would do so again... You can dig more deeply into this through his materials which are freely shared on the Internet.

        Mr Carlson has a christian background. In his eyes the figures next to the portal were demonic. I would agree the appearance was close enough to make me examine that jar for more information. Ther interactions with the figures convinced him even more that these figures were demonic in nature, and represented a manifestation of evil. I can understand that interpretation but, as I will describe below, I am not sure the properties or rules of demons were manifest in these figures.

        It was Adam Davies whose reaction preplexes me the most. It seems clear that this was a traumatic experience at the time, and it seems clear this experience is still haunting to him. Since I was not there, I am left to accept his judgement of the event. This man who travels the world and explores truly dangerous and exotic places, so we can see them without the danger, seems to still have issues with the experience; I cannot so easily dismiss this emotional baggage.

        I have said before that fear is irrational; that once we have reacted with fear to a situation, the long-term memories are shaped by the chemistry going on when those memories were stored. Once we commit to an irrational response, it is challenging to return to a rational analysis, our brains actively resist giving up the fear in our memories.

        I the emotions involved and find the reactions consistent in all principals to the event. If the reader is not aware, the portal appeard on two consecutive nights at the end of the visit. There was nothing unusual on the first two nights of the expedition.

        Dr Johnson and the others have very different interpretations of the event. In my opinion, there is no strong evidence available to support either interpretation. What follows is my own interpretation, based on watching the videos and listening to the podcasts. I have not spoken to any of the principals on these matters.

        When I open the jar labeled Demons to read the notes, they tend to have some common characteristics which I do not hear described in the accounts. For example: Smells of burning sulphur, rotting flesh, urine or excrement. For example: Swarms of insects associated with death and decay. For example: The utter hate, contempt, and agression for humans typical of demonic encounters. When you have just one indicator registering, the diagnosis of demon is hard to make - I would need to talk to them to learn more, but have not at this time.

        There is no tradition regarding the interpretation of Dr Johnson. There is nothing to go on except the observations describing the event and his interpretation of it - which only came a long time later. At the time, you see, Dr Johnson did not recognize what was happening, and even joined in rebuking the demons with Mr Carpenter and Mr Davies, before going back to his cot to sleep.

        It was only much later, through mind-speak that Dr Johnson was given an explanation for the event. Certainly mind-speak is another jar on that shelf. I accept that voices and images in his head presented this story and do my best not to judge this. In truth I simply do not know anything beyond the fact that many others judge Dr Johnson to be honest. This does not mean he is correct, only that he earnestly believes what he says about the subject.

        So, for a few moments, I am going to call upon my background from Scouts and Civial Air Patrol, and frankly even Star Trek or Babylon 5, and try to imagine a plausible alternative to the demonic interpretation that is possibly consistent with the story presented by Dr J.

        Imagine your civilization has the capability of opening a portal between worlds. I do not specify between stars or between times or alternate realities - indulge yourself. Your people understand that you can travel freely through the portal with safety. For some reason, however, natives on the other side of the portal may be injured or killed if they are too close to the portal - or maybe they could travel through the portal but not back home - indulge yourself. You are assigned as a guard to watch over the portal while your people do their work on the other side - for the moment we will imagine this is benevolent for this alternative, but in honesty we, as humans, do not know.

        Normally this mission is uneventful. This time, however, there are some natives awake and aware near the portal. You have been unable to communicate with them, however you sense apprehension and anxiety from them or from their behavior. Your imperative is to keep them away from the portal, for their own protection, but their anxiety is only growing as you hold your place.

        Suddenly, they begin to approach with great anxiety and some aggression. Unable to communicate, you can't just ask them to stay back. You have no alternative but to step forward toward them, to be between them and the portal, and to keep them back from it. Without communication with them, your options are limited; you are permitted to be frightening - and that might exploit their apprehension... They stop their advance and they return to their original position; while not ideal, your imperative is met, the standoff continues until the portal is closed.

        Try to honestly consider yourself in that situation. You have an imperative to keep natives away from the remote end of the portal. You have an imperative not to harm them. If you are able to communicate with them, then your job might be simpler - but if they do not seem to even understand you are trying to communicate with them, how do you respond - without harming them - without allowing them to get near the portal, which may injur them.

        If you can imagine anything resembling this scenario, then you should realize that you are only imagining they are demons in the first place. You do not know what they are.

        Before that event, Dr Johnson had observed unexplained lights, but never realized the source was a portal. Long before and long after the event, nobody was harmed at that location, nobody else had a response of fear and apprehension.

        So, the portal opened to a dark and desolate place, illuminated in deep red. The figures were short and black as coal, their eyes appeared to glow red.

        This could be a distant world, or an alternate reality, or any of a number of things - including hell. The figures could be many things - even demonic.

        I believe that Dr J was guided at the time by his trust that, whatever it was, it had always been there, and nobody had been harmed there.

        I believe this was a totally new experience for Adam, and that his interpretation was guided strongly by John. John's interpretation was strongly guided by an experience in his youth, and indicated a demonic involvement.

        In reality the figures may have been demonic - but I don't think their behavior is consistent with that, nor is their activity consistent. They may have been lesser denizens serving demons. They may have been entirely belevolent, but with the imperative to keep locals away from the portal by any means possible.

        Rationally we must realize there is no way to know the answer.

        Rationally there is no way to learn more without observation of the phenomena. That observation should not be tainted by preconceived conclusions whether rational or not.

        We do not even know this is actually a portal - it could merely be a phenomena that somehow reflects a manifestation of the imagination of those seeing it. If the consensus of the observers is something like hell, well there was the picture... Yet later, when Dr J figured out a ritual to open the portal, it opened to an entirely different appearance.

        From the perspective of safety, due caution is warranted. However, if we are to learn more than observation is vital - and that observation must be dispassionate and rational. That observation must absolutely include the thoughts and beliefs of the witnesses because there is evidence those are contributing factors to the phenomena.

        We do not even know this represents a portal. We do not know if the figures were actually beings. We do not know their intentions if they were. There is justification for caution, but there is not justification for fear.

        I assert that even if it is a gateway to hell guarded by demons, then fear is not the best response. Even then, the response should be rational and proportional. And if the response has no effect, then perhpas the phenomena is not quite exactly as it appears...

        From the descriptions, we know how it appeared - but if things were always as they appear then we would never need to re-examine what we have seen.

    1 - Current revision of the It's Really Not Quantum Physics paper.

    2 - See Dr Johnson's Videos with Adam Davies and John Carter - From June 2014 through Oct 2015.

    3 - Audio interview with Adam Davies and John Carter - 2015 Oct 4.

    2020-Oct-26 - Recovered Memories.

        I have heard several times lately of people who will use various methods to help people cope with their traumatic Sasquatch encounters. I am entertained how some people say this is NOT hypnosis as if hypnosis is something suspect; these methods are more like meditation, and can help you recover memories you may not realize you had... Or (let's be honest) like self-hypnosis... The peripheral thought is that hypnosis is prone to creating false memories, but this method is not - bovine excrement!

        It is not hypnosis that creates false memories - it is your own brain trying to make you happy as you try to remember something. It does so even more enthusiastically when you are trying to please someone else who is trying to help you remember something. So false memories can emerge no matter what method you use to recall or deal with a traumatic experience - or any other experience.

        I am not certain if this is true, but I have some experience with people that suggests questioning confabulated memories is more likely to generate a defensive response - because the brain is trying to keep you from realizing the fabrication - that you lied. When the memory is real it seems, people can be less defensive about it - however, the brain can still enhance real memories with confabulated details.

        Eyewitness testimony is the most unreliable, this is a well documented fact. For science it is simply anecdotal evidence, and unless the anecdote reveales something new that might be explored it will be of little value.

        Naturally people want to be special. Naturally people will present details to make their story special. So, back to the idea that it is of little value beyond being a story.

        This is not to dismiss the reality, nor the trauma, of an individual experience. It is simply that, for the purposes of science, they typically bring little to the table. At most they may bring a new item to the list of things that might be relevant at some future encounter that will be more well documented.

        There is no need to be defensive about it. There is no point in deliberately embellishing - the brain will likely do that anyway. That is why I try to record or write out observations while any experience is fresh to the mind. Whatever I may recall in the future that I did not record is probably the brain filling in gaps, and probably did not happen. New memories should still be recorded, but they should be noted as potentially suspect when added at a later date.

    2020-Sep-26 - Safety in the forest.

        With over 25 years experience in developing software for air safety systems, I tend to approach everything in terms of safety management. But what do I mean of safety in terms of looking for something like Sasquatch.

        Obviously the safest thing is to stay home, but that is not going to be satisfying to me. It may suit many, even most, and there is nothing wrong with that. I simply have a bit of the explorer bug in me. If I have been sharing the forest with these beings, then I want to understand them more.

        I am making these explorations with my wife. She has a background working with exotic animals and animal training. Certainly we make presumptions, and those presumptions may be wrong. There are no experts in this subject, so we can only do our best due diligence.

        .

        Most people think of a camping trip and try to plan for a great time... Far too few pay time for considering what might go wrong... I plan a trip to observe and contact starting with the worst that might happen, and what do do about it.

        Certainly the worst they could do is make us disappear. There is little I could really do about that, and I expect we would not likely care about it for very long. I could bring guns, but I do not think they would do much for my safety; I have never needed one before, and I usually do not have one. I have bear spray, but I have never needed it, either.

        Presuming our subjects exist as we believe them to be, they are a hunter-gatherer society living in family or small clan groups. They tend to avoid us unless we are too close to someplace they consider important to their security. Historically they haze even individuals out of an area they want to themselves. In particular the groups believed to be in the area we are observing have a history of hazing people who are in places the subjects want to themselves.

        Before this year I never really sought them out, and I only had a handful of encounter experiences many years ago, described in earlier blog entries. In the RA1 region when I am entirely passive I do not experience much activity; yet when I make a couple of calls the forest is entirely different as the evening progresses.

        This gives me no doubt whatsoever something is out there, and leaves me only the question of exactly what that is - and why it seems to respond to these calls. Its behavior is consistent with what people describe of Sasquatch. It is important to remember the population of experiments here is small, and that factors I have not considered well may be at play. There are lots of things I need to eliminate, and there are more ways I need to collect information to eliminate other possibilities.

        I don't just mean the elusiveness. I have never heard trees just fall down on a calm summer evening - let alone 2 trees in a couple hours and on opposite sides of us. There are also a few likely whoops I have recovered from previous recordings using audacity, and while they could be an owl, they are single calls with no other context - that is unusual for an owl.

        So, I make a presumption they will ask me to leave if I am not going to be tolerated in an area. I park facing out - I don't want to have to back out or turn around in the dark and in a hurry. Until I know there what mundane wildlife may be around I have the bear spray at hand. In general the mundane wildlife will avoid us, and the bear spray will serve. If the subjects set their minds to it, we have no hope of stopping them.

        I set up recorders outside voice range from camp. I run a voice recorder on myself (or in camp) for debunking sounds on the other recorders. I usually collect the recorders just before leaving, however, I can leave them to be picked up the next day if necessary.

        There is a psychological advantage walking the woods in the light - even the dusk or dawn - when one can see well for some distance. There is a deeply instinctive fear of the dark, yet I have walked the forest in complete darkness for many years. As I am older and less spry, my fears are more of injury than of wildlife - but knowing what I am looking for in this project absolutely has an impact on my thinking.

        So, for safety, we set up our camp for observation. We set some equipment in the field with the plan to collect it before we leave - but we are willing to abaondon it if necessary. Some more valuable equipment we keep close to our vehicle. When we are sitting in the camp we are able to grab what it at hand the leave immediately, if necessary.

        At the same time, we recognize the subjects are likely to be curious about us. They must decide if we are a threat, and how to respond. We expect them to test us in some ways - like pushing trees down to see how we respond to that. We expect them to test our mettle, to determine if they can go about their business with us knowing they are there.

        So, it is a balance. For the most part we do the same things we would do for a day hike, or for camping. For observation trips we remain a little more mobile - ready to up and leave with a moments notice.

    2020-Sep-20 - Missing Persons in Parks and Forests.

        There are some mysteries here, and something unusual is going on, and for the families of the missing these issues should not be diminished. I believe it may touch upon things we have forgotten about as a society, things we do not understand that do pose a real danger. As a society we must decide how to apply our pooled resources across all matters of civic scope. For me to assess this rationally I need to put some effort into a review of the math here.

        Across the US more than 600K new cases of missing persons are created each year. Yet this is misleading because it includes duplicated cases and does not address resolved cases. The vast majority of cases is solved in relatively short order. This number is also reported as part of a claendar year schedule, and at the end of a given year about a months worth of cases (~50K) remain unresolved at the end of the year - but the vast majority of these is also solved.

        A fairly detailed breakdown for the year 2012 can be found in social media that was carried out by someone who has adequate familiarity with the subject. The analysis points out that some years more cases are resolved - the accumulated count goes down. The summary of that analysis suggests that on a given year around 2000 total cases remain unsolved.

        These cases include people deliberately eluding law enforcement, or deliberately eluding business or family. They also include witness protection cases.

        So, based on that analysis, about 1 in 300 missing persons cases remains unresolved, yet most of those are not at all mysterious.

        So where efforts to document the missing from national parks and forests go forward, the most rational people address and acknowledge the foregoing statistics, even those who have written books documenting many cases of missing persons.

        The numbers are not clear, but I will go with the established estimate that around 1600 people are reported missing each year in our national parks and forests. It has occasionally been acknowledged that this number is of total new reports and does not include resolved cases. It has also been acknowledged occasionally that the majority of these 1600 cases are resolved.

        Honestly, of 133 people every month mysteriously vanished without trace from national parks and forests, even the news media would realize they were covering this kind of story a lot...

        It is not unreasonable to consider this 1600 to be a subset of the 600K. Applying the breakdown discussed above, 1 in 300 remain missing each year, leaving 5 or 6 unsolved cases in any given year - and not all of these are necessarily mysterious.

        All of these cases have various levels of search and rescue resources applied while the cases are active. Often these cases receive more effort from volunteer groups than do those of people who vanish from urban areas where law enforcement generally carries out most search efforts.

        It has been posed that of the mysterious cases, similar descriptions are not typically found in urban disappearances.

        It is also worth noting that a number of the resolved cases are found to have mysterious circumstances. So let's allow all 6 unresolved to be mysterious, and let's arbitrarily double that number to include mysterious cases that were resolved. We still cannot make this so common that even the media would realize they had this sort of story too frequently...

        Let us not forget there are also people who similarly disappear from other wilderness areas that are not national parks or forests. Yet if this happened even once a week it would be covered so frequently that people would become concerned.

        So, as a society of around 330M people, we have under 20 who die or disappear under non-criminal mysterious circumstances each year from national parks and forests - around 1 in 16M people total. Consider 18 sports stadiums packed once a month for an entire year, and one single person vanishes mysteriously from all of that, and only 6 or 7 of those are ever found over a decade.

        As a society, how much effort should be dedicated to the resolution of these cases? I would certainly argue that typical search and rescue efforts are usually adequate, I used to volunteer for such activities, when I was more able. I understand that the unresolved vanishings are hardest to deal with on a family level.

        Is one man, dedicated to understanding these cases, working under a volunteer status, funded only by book revenues and social media revenues, adequate?

        The efforts of Mr Paulides are well known among enthusiasts. I would argue there is enough of a base there. This community could self-actuate to support more work if they collectively agreed it to be worthwhile. Alternately they could produce a sound and coherant proposal for research from either public or private sources.

        The fact that contribution by somone following the data resulted in an unusual revelation only recently means people are examining this problem. The revelation had to do with the phase of the moon. Myths about how the phase of the moon is related to various human behaviors are generally debunked by examination of actual data. This contribution, however, indicates an actual relation with the phase of the moon and mysterious disappearances meeting the case criteria.

        If the federal government determines this is worth exploration, I do not oppose the idea. Such a grant would be subject to adequate reviews for any concerns I have.

        In the tradition of capitalism, if individuals or a corporate sponsor see fit to explore these mysteries, I could not object to this, either.

        For myself, should my explorations touch upon these mysteries, I may re-evaluate my position on supporting with personal capital at that time. I have paid for his media content, even though I could obtain it for free. I do make sure I watch at least 30 seconds of ad content watching his videos - so the algorithm pays him. That is about as far as I will go for now. I do not subscribe - the algorithm will tell me if he has something interesting to present.

        I do not begrudge enthusiasm of others to explore these issues. I only feel they should make their decisions with due diligence. I have shared my research into this as part of my own due diligence. I genuinely believe something truly mysterious may be at work.

        Now that the smoke has cleared - at least for a while - maybe I will be able to pursue my own cryptid enthusiasm... And just maybe I will be exploring related mysteries in the process.

    2020-Sep-18 - It's NOT Quantum Physics, and I'll tell you why...

        If you have been told, or read about, the metaphysical concepts that tie spirituality and mysticism to Quantum Physics, then you are aware of some apparent contradictions that you cannot resolve with the evidence you have at hand: People who work with science do not seem to understand what you see as a profound insight into how the world works.

        Some people have invented elaborate conspiracy theiroes to explain this. Some struggle to believe that all those highly educated people are simply ignorant of the spiritual and mystical implications of this science. I have even heard people declare that these elements of Quantum Physics are not taught in schools or universities, and that is truly as ridiculous as it sounds. Others live with this cognitive dissonance, unwilling to accept a global conspiracy of all people of science or that they are all so intuitively blind.

        As someone who knows there are mysteries we do not understand in science, who has experienced the spiritual and the mystical, and as an engineer who is cognizant of the actual science of Quantum Mechanics, I want to tell you that the reason for this apparent contradiction is simple.

        You do not have all the relevant information, and you probably won't like how you feel when I explain it. But these tiny revelations will free you of this mystery. Unfortunately this will not help you achieve your spiritual goals - except by removing the encumbrance of these contradictions.

        I am drafting a white paper on the subject. I hope to record a video and podcast for it, once the skys clear and we can see the high ridges and mountains again. Today we finally had a pretty normal sky color again - so it may be soon.

        Until then I offer these thoughts:

    • The implications are not at all lost on educated and intelligent people.
    • In every class where these emergent properties of Quantum Physics are introduced, all recognize a connection to the obvious mystical concepts - and discuss them - and move on with their education.
    • The difference is that the students and teachers have the full context of the science they are learning.
    • What you believe has been cherry-picked for its apparent relevance in metaphysics - and presented out of context.
    • When you are not told the whole truth, intelligent people will likely find conflicts and contradictions - and they have - not all have dealt with these discrepancies rationally.
    • There is no conspiracy at play here, nor is there mystery.
    • There is nothing more than successful marketing designed to separate a large number of people from a small amount of their savings...
    • It was more successful than anyone imagined - and others have successfully piled on to get their fair share of the take.
    • The only victims are those who read and believe without asking the right questions - or accept answers that do not make sense.

        It is my sincere hope to free you of any misconceptions that may impede finding your metaphysical answers with a more complete understanding of what you have been told. And I will present the evidence to inform you, and to set you free.

    2020-Sep-14 - Smoke and Mysteries.

        I apparently missed some interesting sounds in RA1 last night.

        The smoke has kept me out for a couple reasons. First is that Mrs CC does not get along well with poor air quality.

        Second is more anthropomorphic: The subjects are presumed to be a hunter gatherer group, and I have no idea how they will be reacting to the sky turning orange, and I am not anxious to find they are agitated by it...

        On an entirely different note, someone who follows Dave Paulides missing persons information pool did some studies on lunar cycles, and the result is genuinely astonishing.

        In our modern mythos a common belief is that many normal things in life are somehow tied to the lunar cycle. Mostly it is not true.

        Something happens, someone looks to the sky and sees a (nearly) full moon, and creates an association in their mind. They tell a friend, and so on...

        Actual scientific studies of these universally find no correlation with the phase of the moon.

        Most strangely, though, it seems there is a remarkable correlation with the phase of the moon and the rare mysterious disappearances Paulides follows. To be sure it is not a clear and direct relationship - but statistically speaking the correlation here is very unusual.

    2020-Sep-09 - Where the Woo Comes From.

        People occasionally experience high strangeness in the forest. There is a difference between being free of supersitition and being ignorant of it. We make our people ignorant - and that leaves them with no social reference for strange things that have happened to our people since the beginning of time. These things need to be understood - some may be purely psychological - but of any at all are not - if any at all are real in any way - we need to understand how they work. To get there we must first acknowledge things happen - we must observe and describe them - and people should be aware strange things can happen.

        I have not experienced strange phenomena in the forest; no orbs, no glowing eyes, no shimmering cloaks. Nothing paranormal.

        To explain such things I have to draw on what I learned of the newage culture. This is largely based on Zoroastrianism. These are the people who were the 3 magi of christian tradition. It is the longest running religion in our civilization, and christianity is based largely on the same basic concepts regarding the roles of good and evil. Broadly, the culture draws upon traditional beliefs from a wide collection of cultures, and work those ideas into their own framework of beliefs. Here I consider them not as explanations, but as source of information - ideas with which to work toward observation and description - the first stages of the application of scientific thinking.

        The traditions of indigenous peoples usually recognize a variety of spirits that influence our lives. Some of these spirits are good, and their presence is welcomed. Some of these spirits are more sinister and are not welcome.

        As someone disposed to science and critical thinking, I cannot speak as to whether these things exist or not, only that they are tradition. I repsect the ideas carried in traditions, they often have a resonance with things that turn out to be true. I say true here, not factual, and there is a difference. The facts may be different than the stories, but I suspect there are facts related to truths we have long forgotten in our society.

        I accept these ideas, mostly at face value. I accept them as concepts and names representing things that may exist and that we do not understand well. It may turn out they are phenomena of human psychology, or that they are in some way real.

        There may be subtle energies that affect perceptions and thinking of living beings, but technology does not measure them. They are not repeatable experimentally, so many people reject the ideas as they cannot be experimentally verified with current technology. So be it.

        Based on what I have come to understand, when we formed villages for the first time, we combined many things for the benefit of community. We also drove out things that contribute to discord and strife, including people of course, but perhaps other more subtle things as well.

        Traditions suggest that it is not the nature of spiritual things to just disappear, a parallel perhaps to the idea of the conservation of energy. Consider these things moved into the forest surrounding our protected communities. They remain there to prey on those who wander too far - either physically or metaphorically.

        Certainly there are places in the world where bands of thugs represent extreme danger to unprotected people in the wild. But in most civilized nations this is not the case. For the most part our forests and wild places are safe for us to visit in terms of human threats.

        I consider the possibility that there are things out there we cast from our villages and cities in the distant past. Perhaps we are rediscovering those things from time to time. Perhaps, if they do exist, we are awakening them - and bothering them.

        Our secular society is largely unprepared to confront a real metaphysical threat to spirit and mind, should one actually exist. Our society is also largely unprepared for even the concept that there may be places we should not go, not alone or not at all.

        Our arrogance places us in potentially untenable circumstances where some of us may be unwilling to recognize what might sensibly be considered a threat.

        I have experienced some unusual things. I cannot say with certainty if they are real or psychological in nature. They do not happen frequently enough to confront experimentally with any reliability. Until they are proven to be purely psychological, they may deserve the respect of the possibility they reflect some real phenomena.

        It is possible that consideration alone may give them greater influence. However, in traditional beliefs, recognizing the influence of a spirit does not give it strength. Spirits generally gain strength from how we respond to them, whether we embrace fear or confidence. I would suggest that a purely psychological phenomena will manifest in much the same way - so there is no immediate reason to treat them differently.

        There may be things in the forest besides Sasquatch. Things we drove from our civilization in its foundation. Things we have forgotten about. Whether they are from within us or are an actual external threat, they may still represent a potential threat.

        I do not think we can say with certainty they are all evil. Certainly we can perceive they are not all good. Yet I think it would be reckless to presume they are all the same - merely wise to presume a potential threat and observe accordingly.

        No doubt in learning what these things are, we will learn more about ourselves as well as the world around us.

    2020-Sep-01 - Trees Pushed Down.

        I know there are some people who rarely ever leave the city. We sometimes find them lost on the back roads and needing help, and we do help them.

        For those who never leave the city, I would like to say that trees fall down in the wild forest without help just slightly more often than they do in the city park. Storms bring winds that can bring down trees anywhere. But on a calm summer evening with a gentle breeze, especially just a few days after a windy storm, it just isn't likely to happen.

        Another unlikely thing. When a branch breaks, it tends to fall straight down and land below where it broke from - that is on a calm summer evening with naught but a gentle breeze. So when a branch breaks in one direction and apparently lands in an entirely different direction, well, that just does not happen much.

        So, in the last month, in this place, I have heard a branch break1 in one place and then another in an entirely different direction just moments later. I have heard 3 trees fall with barely the slightest breeze, one in the well illuminated evening, while the other 2 were on the same night2 and in diametrically opposed directions from our location.

        I am trying to convince nobody of anything in this, just considering to myself how unlikely these things are without a deliberate intent to them.

        We will be looking for the tree breaks, time permitting, soon.

    1 - Reports from Weekend of 20/07/24

    2 - Report from Evening of 20/08/27

    2020-Aug-26 - The Mark Barton Experience.

        A terrifying experience is superficially disturbing, but does not change much for me, and that is probably deserving of some explanation. In fact, I think Mark's experience went exactly as planned. He is doing exactly what was intended, and there is great and real peril from it for many people, but it is not quite the peril he tells of...

        You should first be familiar with this. Mark Barton before the event is documented in an interview on Max Powers channel. This was recorded months before the experience that took place in February of 2020. The interview on Bigfoot Odyssey was recorded months after the event, and the trauma is still quite apparent. I observe in his behavior and his description of how his life has changed, and comments by his friends, evidence consistent with demonic oppression. I have reached out to Mark to share information and offer support.

        During the years I was not looking into Sasquatch I found occasion to turn my inquisitive mind to elements of the paranormal, some of which I addressed in an earlier blog entry. I was an engineering student and a scientist exploring spirituality and mysticism, my perspective is different than most.

        While there is no significant evidence of a spiritual realm beyond our physical world, based on traditional beliefs I will accept it as an axiom to build upon. With a Christian background I knew about God (3-parts), Satan, angels, demons; the church is a bit short on even the latter 2 of these and just avoids mention of them in my general experience. This leaves most people unprepared for things they might encounter out there in the real world during a paranormal event.

        In our secular upbringing we are totally unprepared for an encounter with the paranormal. While normally mild, some experiences can be terrifying and intense, we may find ourselves in a proverbial knife fight armed with a feather-duster.

        When I was looking beyond the church, I found there is a lot of information out there. However, most of it is deeply biased by thinking that is out of date with our society. I have adapted what I learned into my own reference frame, and I speak from that frame with my own understanding. I may be wrong, but I believe I am right enough to get by until we learn to understand more.

        Based on the paranormal things I looked into during this time, I would expect there is a complete ecosystem in this hypothetical spiritual world. It is populated with archetype characters for which I will use the terms angel and demon as placeholder words. I do not know what these beings actually are, but I know the stories behind them and use them in much the same way others do.

        Based on the descriptions by Mark, I conjecture his encounter was with what most people would accept as a demon. The smells, the attitude, the disposition, the whole presentation are that of a demon.

        If that is the case, then we must expect that everything he was given to know during that encounter was misinformation designed to place the demon in power and take power from Mark. We know that the most believable lies are wrapped in the appearance of truth. It was all designed to attach his personal experiences, and as a telepathic message, it was interpreted by his own mind, in pictures, words, and ideas he could understand. This presentation was consumed by his mind largely as it was expected to have been taken, but it all misrepresents his place in the world.

        Mark has the wisdom to state clearly that he speaks from his own personal understanding, that he may not understand all of it, and that he does not know what he encountered. I applaud that, and I point out we must take great care if we start filling in the blanks of his story without a proper context. I am certainly included there, my conjectures are based on my own understanding, knowledge, and experiences as they apply to his story.

        Based on his descriptions and behavior, I also speculate he is exhibiting indications of a demonic oppression. This is where a demon is attacking someone who is vulnerable to its influence.

        It is my understanding that these entities have no power save that we grant them over ourselves. We cannot grant them domain over others, just ourselves. Their only inate power is the equivalent of a whisper in the ear, a deception to get our attention. If we listen to them, we give them power, even more if we buy into their story. We feed them with fear, despair, anger.

        As a spirit entity, it communicates with us with what is best simply called telepathy. The direct implanting and reading of thoughts; words, ideas, images, concepts. Our brain matches up the meanings and intents provided we have a proper frame of reference. As a culture, we are not generally ready for this kind of contact, there is little privacy.

        The truth, however, is more likely a vastly different story. We are physical beings and have enormous influence within our environment and lives. They do not, they are jealous of us and of our place in the world, we have will and influence. They are vicious, spiteful, arrogant, and they have no principles whatsoever. It is we that give them influence here, it is we who fear, who hate, who kill, and these debasements delight them.

        The beginning of Marks intense experience came with the sense of hands holding him down in the chair. This fed into his expectations of Sasquatch, his thoughts gave it the strength of that being, and his belief the power to hold him there. When it told him what it wanted him to believe it was, his belief made it an even more powerful being of spirit and flesh in his thoughts, his belief gave it power over him, but I do not think it ever planned to take his life.

        Mark was given to believe, and to some extent still seems to, that they are powerful beings who can choose to take us at will. This is exactly what they want you to think, and Mark has done a great job getting that word out. The feast is heating up in the kitchen of our minds...

        Mark discovered the threshold. This is an idea, and while a cabin door is a great visualization, he is absolutely correct that he would have been safe in a tent. In fact, he would have been safe in a gazebo. Really he could have been safe anywhere, these creatures are limited by what we choose to believe, we have all the power. Our doubts give us up.

        They told Mark the greatest kills are those who die with all this knowledge he was given... Consider this: The greatest kills are when pathetic and virtually powerless beings such as these convince one of us to give up and die because of their lies. When one of us gives in to the fear and gives them domain to kill, that is their great kill.

        So, perhaps they do exist, but they have been out there all the time, nothing has changed. They have no power save that you give them over yourself. My knowledge and confidence in this cannot help you, you must know this yourself, you must know it in your bones. Your doubts and fears cannot harm me, unless I give them power - and I do not choose to do that.

        Mark's story creates a sense of fear, and allows people to empower these beings over them. His experience went exactly as planned, and he has told his story, exactly as planned. Many people have a renewed sense of fear of being in nature and experiencing the beauty of it and the things within it, exactly as they planned. They also believe this terror can enter their homes, and if they believe it then it is so, and therein lies the peril.

        The only thing out there I fear is humans. I accept the presence of wild animals, and I respect their capabilities in their habitat. There is risk in this, but of all the things to worry about, I worry more about a human with a gun who is listening to a demon than I do about the demon which has no power or influence over me - except through other beings.

        The peril now is the many people who know the story, and believe the misinformation Mark was given to share. You are potentially open to these entities, your fear will feed them and empower them over you. You also may believe they can reach you in your home. Nothing is different from as it always has been, except your fear. There is no danger there that has not been there for thousands of years while we have been out there. We simply know less about it as a culture because of our own arrogance.

    2020-Jul-27 - The Problems with Audio Observation.

        The subjects are savvy to wildlife cameras. They avoid the field of view, or they move the direction the camera is aimed to have free access to what they want. In fact, to some extent, cameras can be used to move the subjects from a given area. The point is it is unlikely to get an image of anything other than a hand or arm or shoulder while the camera is being moved, and not a clear one. Cameras help identify regular wildlife present in the area, and that is useful to a point.

        R1H has been using recorders on parabolic reflectors. This provides directional sensitivity for distant sounds, and general sensitivity for local sounds. It seems clear from recordings that the subjects do not like these new things, but have not figured them out. They approach, tap, shove, toss small stones or pine cones at them, and generally engage in some sort of counting coup.

        Some things can be inferred with audio as the main part of the story, but I must confess it is a challenge to think in these terms.

        I performed my first experiment concealing a recorder in the habituation area this weekend. It was an educational experience, the the media page1 has the highlights from both the concealed recorder and the one I had with me.

        Last weekend was just before the new moon, this weekend was just after. There were some very obvious different things going on.

        In general, the forest at night sounds much like the forest in the daytime. The creeking and groaning of trees in the breeze does not change. The cast of characters changes, birds are out in the daytime, not so much wildlife at night, but there is some, and herin lies the problem.

        We get apparent activity from the subjects when there are not cameras, but it is a challenge in logic to determine exactly what the activity is conducted by using sound alone.

    1 - Reports from Weekend of 20/07/24

    2020-Jul-20 - Squatching with other Humans.

        Invited by R1H, we went to area C late saturday afternoon. Earlier two others arrived together and had parked behine R1H's camper. Note that R1H does not camp in a tent anymore after a rather vigorous enounter with a clan protecting some juveniles...

        There are researchers and there are experiencers. One of the other two was not a researcher, and that became a probelm as the forest grew dark.

        Also note that R1H has been clear that doing wood knocks usually shuts down all activity by the subjects, so he recommends not interacting in that way.

        The other researcher walked off around dusk with a big stick. He came back several minutes later, giving me a chance to check my thermal imagers for reference. There had been some knocks from his direction while he was out of sight, yes, it was him, possibly sabotaging the whole purpose for the outing.

        I periodically scanned the area with thermal, and at one point found something warm between a couple of trees. Understand my thermal imager is for situational awareness. I am not looking to prove the subjects exist with a thermal blob... I want to know if there is a deer, a cat, or a bear -- or a subject. I want to know how near or far, and if it is unduly interested in where I am.

        When I asked R1H what he thought, he got his fancier and about 10x more expensive thermal camera out. He thought he could see eyes, but could not see what was there behind the trees.

        All of this was almost directly behind the guest experiencer. Many people either cannot imagine how they would react to actually encountering a subject, or they just never think about it beforehand. This fellow started becoming nervous, and it wasn't long before I was asked if I could move my car to let them leave.

        When I park to observe the subjects, I am ready to leave directly, moving forward and as rapidly as the situation may warrant... So I usually back into a place. Because of the knocking done by the other researcher, and a few other reasons, we decided to leave at that point.

        I was told by R1H that there was, indeed, not much more activity that night, and that the plate of food left in the habituation area was untouched in the morning, but had been cleared off as he broke camp.

    2020-Jul-04 - Cycles of the Moon.

        My notes from the orientation to Area 1 by R1H include when various locations tend to have more activity, but one of the key points is that all activity rises and falls with the phase of the Moon. After years of research, there is essentially no activity around the Full Moon, and a maximum of activity around the new moon.

        This weekend is around the full moon, and I like to point out that a negative result is still a result. My point in making observations around this time is, based on those assessments, make observations of the forest during a purported minimum activity period.

        Knowing the sounds of the place when the subjects are supposedly not active, or are minimally active, will familiarize me with the normal wildlife in the area at night.

        Also the sounds of the forest, the trees in gentle breezes, etc. Creeking and groaning of timber over the course of the night.

        We sat near area Y for several hours. The sound of a stream still high from spring runoff were most apparent. There was a couple camping between area Y and area Z, so I was reluctant to make any calls that might attract activity from the subjects. If these people are happy camping there and not being bothered by the subjects, I see no reason not to just let them be.

        As we drove out we used the thermal imager on the road, and spotted what is most likely a bear from the profile. We need to check this for scale and location during daylight with a person.

    2020-Jun-06 - Back to Research Area 1.

        We revisited the research area; more details on the projects page for Research Region 1. We were glad to find much of the trash picked up in Area C, there were still shells from many boxes of redneck fun fired off into the stumps and trees there. Our plan was to observe the transition from day to dark in Area D, but that did not work as well as desired.

    2020-May-12 - Research Area 1.

        We toured Region 1 with the principle researcher yesterday. The region is active and has 4 designated areas (C, D, Y, Z) where activity is observed frequently. The best opportunities here are accoustic, let's face it, they know what a camera is... There appear to be 2 clans in this region, and activity is focused in the various areas during different times in the year, however there is apparent activity throughout the year in each area.

        There were single events of interest in C and D during our visit. I do not consider these to be strong evidence in any way. The main reason is just a single observation without multiple events to support a stronger story.

        In area C, people have been a bit trashy over time. We observed some small trees with park scraped and one was twisted and bent. These are mostly debunked by identification of probably imprints from a trailer or camper and part of the reflector from said vehicle found among the scraped trees. However the one that was twisted is less easily explained. As my wife stepped back to the established road I noticed something turn out in her wake; it turned out to be a whole bird wing. Bones and multiple main feathers intact in a single structure. I briefly noticed a strong floral odor, but none of the plants in the immediate area had any odor resembling lavander; our host said that they had observed a strong lavander odor associated with females, but I was the only one to notice it. The odor did not come from me, or my clothes, nor from my wife or her clothes or hair.

        In area D, we heard 3 quiet whoops - they could have been the call of an owl, or an elk, but were single brief hoots which is not typical. The sound was a very flat tone like someone saying the word woop. It did not seem to be to garner our attention, if it was not an owl then it seemed to be a low-key signal that we had been observed. There was one single sound nearby of a branch being struck quite near us as we explored the general direction of the hoots. Very interesting, but not compelling evidence.

        Our host had us in conversation most of the time, explaining the activity in each area. He also expressed the observation that they will move and make sounds more freely if we are making noise, the logical observation here is that our conversation masks their movements around us, and they know it.

        There is just one possible element of woo in this for us. It is likely just a coincidence, but just as I woke in the morning yesterday I heard a single flat toned woop. It was clear, distinct, and unusual, and I was in my home, not in the field. The sound was a perfect match to my ear of the hoots we heard in area D. It is not much evidence of anything, but it is interesting.

        It was interesting to me that I smelled lavander, and only I smelled it. I said that I got a brief whiff of a distinctly floral odor. It was our host who used the word lavender, and I was not aware of the association of that particular order and females. I checked a number of plants, flowers, and ferns for scent, nothing like what I had smelled. I also checked my own clothing and my wife's and her hair but did not find the same scent.

    2020-Apr-24 - Physics of Consciousness.

        I want to point out that while science does not provide a direct path to understand how strange metaphysical things work, it does allow measurement of some pretty strange things. These things are the real clues that consciousness and intent may be a real part of how the universe is shaped. Be aware the things I will bring up only show us that strange things that seem more metaphysical, spiritual, or mystical can be observed by the application of well known physical properties and observable effects, but a mechanism to convey these effects is not apparent.

        The last couple blog posts have focused on why actual practical physics (classical, quantum, and relativistic) does not actually apply well to what I tend to call the spooky metaphysical phenomena (things related to spirituality and mysticism). That people tend to confuse analogy with relationship when trying to explain phenomena with scientific sounding ideas.

        The principle reason is that those well-known sciences speak to the observable properties of matter. Within these, classical physics speaks to basic day-to-day predictions that make the world work pretty well for us. Relativity shows us that the universe is fundamentally not quite as simple as it appears on the surface, but also shows us why Newton is pretty good for everyday life. Quantum mechanics shows us that the foundation upon which the universe is built is fundamentally much stranger than would be possible to measure with what we can simply see and touch.

        However, quantum mechanics speaks to particles of mass/energy. While on a one-by-one basis they seem highly indeterminate, in the collective they behave rather predictably which allows classical physics, once again, to be pretty good for everyday life.

        The break with these comes down to entanglement of particles. This shows us a real and physical relationship can be established between particles that connects them instantaneously across any distance, seemingly a violation of causality. The problem for metaphysics is that this relationship only accounts for certain properties of particles of mass/energy. While it illustrates a behavior like what some people think telepathy or spiritual/mystical connectedness might be, it does not directly represent how those things work.

        In the worlds of spiritualism and mysticism it is things like consciousness and intent that are related to connectedness. Science, physics, simply do not address these aspects of our being.

        Note that this presumes free will. If the universe is governed by absolute determinism then none of this matters. It is probably not possible to actually know if we have free will or absolute determinism, but I choose to presume free will. My logic is that it does not matter under a predetermined universe where changing the future course of events is absolute futility; however if there is free will then we have a responsibility to the conduct of our lives and our interactions with others. Ignoring the possibility of that sort of responsibility is just poor conduct.

        The fact that having a group of people consciously focusing on the positive outcome of a medical patient has a measurable effect on the outcome of their case is recognized. The relationship is statistically undeniable, but the mechanism by which this works remains unknown – because it does not work based on any currently well-known principles of science. It demonstrates a form of connectedness that is not describable in science.

        There are also apparent correlations in experiments to measure precognition and telepathy. These effects are very small, but measurable in a population of test cases. No mechanism is indicated for these effects, but their indication is measurable, so there is something yet to be understood in this.

        These are measured purely by statistics, not requiring the involvement of any significant scientific equipment.

        It turns out that there are apparently side-effects of consciousness and intent that can be measured in some of the unpredictability of quantum mechanics. So the strange properties of quantum mechanics might be exploited to measure, indirectly, the effects of consciousness and intent. These experiments do not exploit single particle interactions, but populations of interactions, and they show that there is an effect from consciousness and intent, but do not indicate a mechanism for the phenomena. These are nothing more than side-effects of some process we do not have the ability to measure directly.

        Note that the kind of quantum-mechanical properties used for this measure indeterminate events governed by different properties. For example some use the decay of radioactive isotopes while others use the breakdown of semiconductor junctions or resistor noise. All of these effects can be used to generate random bit streams, and all involve different quantum-mechanical properties, but all can be used to measure the effects described below. The effect is not observed in any particular event measured, but in a population of events. In combination these suggest pretty strongly that they are an indirect effect of the real mechanism at play. The mechanism remains out of reach for direct measurement, all we can tell about it is that something happens.

        Consider an experiment in retro-psychokinesis where an audio tape is recorded with tones related to the decay of a radioactive material emitting particles. The length of the tone is related to the rate of decay over a short period of time. The information is also stored digitally for later analysis.

        An experimental package with that recording and instructions is sent to a volunteer team of two people, a moderator and a target. Following instructions, they determine who is moderator and who is target. The goal of the experiment is for the target to listen to the recording and mentally focus on making the tones longer or shorter. They toss a coin to determine which goal to focus upon. The target then listens to the recording focusing on the goal determined by the coin toss. The moderator records observations based on the instructions and the answers to several questions for both moderator and target after the tape has been listened to by the target. The survey information is returned to the lab. Only then does the lab examine the recorded information in the context of the survey information.

        Oddly enough, there is a statistically undeniable relationship in the results. Occasionally the target was emotionally adverse to the possibility of an effect and the result was opposite the coin-toss goal. In other words if you were intellectually convinced this could not possibly work it often produced the opposite effect, but it still produced an effect.

        Another term for this is retro-causality. The implications of this experiment illustrate a conscious/intent effect on causality. Excluding absolute determinism, these results suggest that the decay of an atom in one place has an effect on a coin toss at a later time in an entirely different place; or more strangely that perhaps the toss of a coin today has an effect on the decay of an atom in the past. Either way the involvement of consciousness and intent seems clear because of reverse results for abject disbelief.

        This measures an effect, but provides no insight to a mechanism. It does show that whatever the mechanism is, it manages to connect consciousness and intent to properties of quantum mechanics that can be measured in the lab.

        Consider a monitor of random bit streams generated from quantum-mechanically defined processes. Ideally we expect these to be perfectly balanced between true and false bits. In a project called the Global Consciousness Project, however, it has been observed that when the worlds attention is attracted to some particular event, that the quantum-mechanical processes generating the stream of bits become temporarily imbalanced to an extent that is statistically undeniable. Even more strangely these effects are typically observed to begin before the event is publicized in the news.

        In fact, on September 11, 2001 the effect was more dramatic than observed for any other news event before or since, and the effect was first measured hours before people even boarded the planes.

        It is worth noting that there are swings in the balance of bits without discernible news events. This is expected really, given the source of the data and the sample size used. Nor can these imbalances be predictive in any way. They do not predict a discernible news event, nor a location nor a subject.

        What they do illustrate is a correlation between the consciousness and intent of the global population and their attention on certain events and side-effects measurable in properties of quantum-mechanically defined events. Once again, a mechanism is not indicated, just a correlation.

        I liken these effects to a science demonstration I used to do. In a darkened room I switched on a light that shined a spot on the wall. Light scattered from that spot on the white wall of the room would light up the room. The light was bright enough to cast shadows pointing to the spot of light on the wall; but that was not the source of the light, nor did it indicate anything about the source of the light.

        The actual light source was on the other side of the room, it was well shielded to prevent scattering from the source. Using mist from a pump sprayer with water I could reveal the beam of light pointing to the source.

        In analog here, the shadows we see in this demonstration are like the quantum-mechanical effects measured in the examples above. However just as the shadows are not indicative of the actual light source, the quantum-mechanical effects are not indicative of the mechanism causing them.

        So, while we know that quantum physics is not spiritualism or mysticism, we know that consciousness and intent can, under certain circumstances, have effect measured not in any single particle interaction, but clearly measurable in a population of such interactions. While we do not know how that effect is conveyed, we do know something is there.

        Though that is all we can truly say from these things, it is far more than could be discerned by classical physics or by relativistic physics.

        We do not know what consciousness is, so how can we define how it affects the world around us? What we can see is that it has effects we do not understand, but it clearly has effects.

        Learning about how such things work is analogous to a state change in matter. A solid is different from a liquid is different from a gas is different from a plasma. The behavior of a liquid is different from that of a solid, and the differences are not necessarily predictable. Therefore having a solid form of something does not tell us much about the liquid of the same material; we cannot simply imagine the actual properties of the liquid given the properties of the solid.

        In the same way we cannot imagine what understanding consciousness will reveal to us. All we know is that something is there to be understood, but not anything of how that understanding will change us. Understanding external combustion engines (steam engines) invoked tremendous changes in our society, but provided little insight to internal combustion engines which convert fuel to work with far greater efficiency and invoked just as many changes to our society.

        From a scientific perspective, conjecture on that is meaningless; that is for philosophers. We still don't have flying cars, we don't even have good self-driving cars yet, but cars were not terribly practical until we cracked internal combustion. We may have learned from the complexity of helicopters that a flying car is probably not a really good idea; except for population control, anyway.

        We will all predict what we would like to find, or are afraid to know, and that will be naturally limited by what we know and believe now combined with our inaginations. We are all limited by imagination on this, because our imaginations are limited by the state we are in now.

    2020-Apr-19 - Dimensions, Portals, Cloaks...

        We live in a 4 dimensional framework called space-time. While Einstein showed us that time is a dimension in space and that mass bends space-time, and time is affected by gravity and acceleration, we still think of time as something separate from distance; we do not see it, we measure it as a kind of distance between events, but in everyday life we have no need for space-time.

        There are really only 2 elements to Einstein's work that affect us. We need an understanding of space-time for satellite navigation to work with an accuracy of meters. We need an understanding of space-time to predict the orbit of Mercury over a period of time.

        There are people who justify all manner of strange ideas by starting with the statement that Newton was proven wrong by Einstein, so science is wrong, and then go into Quantum Physics – already discussed... They use this to try and justify that teaching physics in high school is misleading our children because they teach physics we have known to be wrong for decades...

        This is utter nonsense. In fact our children learn that Newtonian Physics works quite well in day-to-day life. The more advanced math of Relativity is usually introduced late in the year or in more advanced classes. One of the things they do is to show that, in day-to-day application, at the speeds associated with cars, and jets, and even rockets, the effects of relativity are tiny and can safely be ignored within the accuracy we can easily measure things.

        Experiments conducted by astronauts showed that even an extended orbital trip only affects them by a matter of milliseconds. The same will be true for any conventional travel within our solar system.

        In simpler terms, Newtonian physics is an excellent approximation. In our solar system it is only the planet Mercury which moves so fast that its orbit is affected by the small differences introduced by relativity, and only over a large number of orbits do we really see the effect and realize our calculations based on Newton are wrong.

        While quantum physics and conventional physics do not align well on the very small scale, collections of matter behave predictably and conventionally as they get larger. In our daily lives there is little need for quantum physics and, again, that topic has been largely addressed.

        What this does show us is that there is more to be understood. Realize that we will get there eventually, and we will get there by building upon what we know now. Once there we will still teach Newtonian physics in school, because it is a fine approximation for use in day-to-day life.

        The term dimensions, though, has come into different use. In talking about quantum physics I introduced the word model. I use that word again here. In what is broadly described as the woo, dimensions and quantum physics are words substituted for the phrase something we do not understand. Really, when you year someone say it's dimensional or it's quantum physics just substitute in your brain the phrase something we do not understand because that would be a more accurate thing to say. Most people refer to dimensions when talking about alternate realities, also when talking of a spiritual world separate from ours; it is also used in reference to the idea of portals. In short it is an overloaded word meaning different things to different people in different contexts, used so often and for so many things it basically has no real meaning beyond, perhaps, someplace they cannot point to on a map.

        I think people just want to make themselves sound more sciencey by not using words like metaphysics and spiritualism, and especially mysticism. However in doing so they alienate themselves from the kind of people whose attention they really want on the subjects at hand. It really is more the realm of spiritualism and metaphysics, even mysticism, than it is physics.

        In all these cases, once again, this is a feeble way to describe something we actually do not understand. These terms do not provide an explanation, but a conventional frame of reference that often does disservice in terms of a description of whatever the reality actually is. They are simply the best words we have, and it is not that I suggest we stop using them; it is that I suggest we be clear this is not an explanation to those who may not understand that clearly, especially ourselves.

        As I described with quantum physics, principles of conventional physics are well known and understood. If they were an accurate model for metaphysical and paranormal things we would understand those things well and they would no longer be paranormal, just normal.

        For you to understand my thinking here, I need to share some ideas to provide a framework within which I hope you can understand my meaning.

        It is my belief that there is an entire ecosystem in terms of what we refer to as spiritual life. We barely know that ecosystem might exist, and have not the slightest understanding of what may exist within it. I believe we come from a place where we perceive that more clearly, and we will return there as the energy that is our consciousness departs the interface to this world, the body. This sounds very shamanic, and I can live with that interpretation.

        I believe that the conservation of energy, in this way, is an approximation that extends to these concepts. While the death of the body certainly leads to entropy and decay, that the user of that interface to our reality returns to a different state of consciousness, its studies here completed for now. I consider life to be a fundamental violation of the second law of thermodynamics, and I consider that proven out by eventual death and decay of the body. The temporary imposition of order comes from outside this perceived reality of ours, uses the interface while it operates, and returns.

        It is my belief that the framework in which we live our day-to-day is highly limited. It does not present the tools to understand how it is separated from these other elements of our existence. Why we might subject ourselves to this loss of perspective is the greatest debate of all time, and not the subject of this paper.

        I present my beliefs to provide you a reference of how I approach thinking about such things. Nothing of these beliefs can be tested or disproved. They merely provide comfort, that all this does serve some purpose we are unable to fathom from where we are now. For me these beliefs are derived from common religious beliefs and my own interpretations of experiences with metaphysical and spiritual ideas.

        In science-fiction, like Star Trek, they have built elaborate explanations for things being cloaked from view, out of phase with our reality, alternate timelines, and so forth. As elaborate as this technobabble is, it is just babble, it makes great use of the best words we have for this sort of thing, but it is all just speculation and conjecture which cannot be tested or disproved1. Bear in mind there are people who actually ask how a transporter or warp drive works, and they are asking this question of someone who creates a fictional story for a television show in which these words are merely an excuse to make the story work.

        Even in these frameworks, however, being out of phase is a matter of time travel even if only a matter if milliseconds - and yes that is travel in the dimension of time. Alternate realities are branched from a decision, an act of will, this is not a dimensional separation; it is something else. Quantum physics does invoke additional dimensions, in a manner of speaking, to describe variables needed to resolve equations; these are not really dimensions in space as they are values of quantum properties that have no meaningful representation in the world as we experience it - they are added into equations to make the math work. The mechanics of fiction are, in fact, usually fictional; the writers and producers do occasionally bow to the geeks and use sciencey sounding words and even base concepts, where reasonable, on scientific principles, but they are still fictional ideas.

        Beliefs are fine, they provide comfort to us, as mine described above do for me in trying to understand why we are here, what this life is about. Beliefs can be constructive or destructive; they can be used to provide freedom, or to usurp control. Therefore I grant anyone their own beliefs, to the limit that they begin to impinge on the freedom of others. Beliefs are subjective and not generally representative of facts.

        If you can test your ideas in an experiment anyone can conduct and produce the same results then that idea is stronger than an idea supported only by the loudest voice or the point of a gun. There are those who believe that an idea that cannot be disproved is a stronger idea than something that is just a theory. In point of fact any idea that cannot be tested cannot be disproved, these ideas and their believers get defensive and angry when questioned, as if their idea cannot withstand questions. If an idea cannot be questioned or tested then it has no value as an explanation in a rational world based on facts and understanding – it is just a belief.

        While science understanding provides models and analogs that crudely approximate some things encountered in paranormal events, when you examine how we might apply an understanding of science to reproduce some of these effects it becomes clear that we have a crude blunt instrument.

        Whatever it is that separates us from that spiritual ecosystem, there are moments when parts of that ecosystem seem to collide with our physical world. As these phenomena seem to manifest properties we cannot define, these events are the very definition of paranormal. They may happen all the time, but with places where little is happening, and any subtle weird things can be ignored easily.

        Science provides ideas like wormholes and warp drive and folding space, but science also tells us that to make these things work as we understand them requires tremendous, effectively infinite, sources of energy, and that a being of flesh and blood such as ourselves would not fare well in its use for travel.

        Fictional cloaking usually involves some mechanism to bend light around an object, reality just does not work like that. Real technology for invisibility cloaks tend in the direction of obscuring objects by diffusing light - it is just elaborate but conventional hiding behind a curtain.

        Given that there do seem to be occasions where local effects suggest our physical world interacts in a relatively mild way with some place otherwise outside that physical world, or at least apart from that specific place in this world, the best we can say is that science does not understand how this happens or the principles involved. So principles we understand well such as conventional physics and even quantum mechanics do not apply well in their explanation.

        So, lets ignore the fact that we do not understand how it works. This is a long-term problem and we will not likely solve that problem in the near term. It's alright that we cannot explain it. Instead, lets focus on what we can observe when these things happen. In doing this, we free ourselves from the burden of understanding the unexplained and merely record what we can of the events. When we do this, we find a variety of categories of phenomena that may be associated with Sasquatch or may be independent of them. We do not know for sure because we do not understand them.

        Certainly some will be hard to explain from a rigid flesh-and-blood approach. However, I believe that humans have the capacity to perceive spiritual things more clearly. So why just for us?

        I like the idea of teleportation by will, and the occasional evidence of this is fascinating, and if I entertain this for us then why would it be just for us?

        I like the idea of telepathy, but most people do not have a clear understanding of just what that means. As a species we are not ready for than kind of openness. Still, if it is a spectrum of capability where only simple communication can be shared, as opposed to everything all at once, then it can become a more appealing idea; again why would it just be for us?

        It is not possible to test these wonderful ideas, so it is not possible to demonstrate them or to disprove them. Some laboratory experiments have, in fact, indicated statistically significant effects regarding telepathy, but these go without explanation of the mechanism; and the mechanism is not quantum physics.

        What we might like, what we might want, matters little to the real world. We like to think we are special, the chosen of god, the righteous and ordained. If you really think so then you have not paid enough attention to the last 500 years, let alone all of human history.

        If Genesis is to be considered, we were created in innocence living naked in the forest. We were cast out from that place because we did not fit in well; frankly, we broke the rules. Is there anything at all we know of that seems to be living naked in the forest, innocent of the apparent need to exploit and destroy the creations of god for their own gratification?

        Be humbled by the idea that some other form of life might just know who you really are and what you really think, and still tolerates sharing the universe with you, anyway. This does not make them something to fear, it gives us something to look forward to in terms of grace, tolerance, and respect.

        The phenomena reported that may be related to these concepts may be different things, or may be different aspects of the same thing. Bear in mind we do not understand them. We do not understand how they work, and even in observing them we are not necessarily clear on what is actually happening.

        People describe Sasquatch appearing and disappearing, sometimes associated with a bright light that may be simply present or might be perceived as a UFO2a. My v-log on brain contortions talks about perceptions, so UFO, to me, really does just mean unidentified. I accept the observations at face value, but I do not pretend to know there was actually a Sasquatch or an alien space ship2b.

        People describe figures moving within a distorted and translucent field of view. The sort of effect most easily described by reference to the movie Predator. Description of these does not convince me this is Sasquatch, but may be something different entirely. Even if people report seeing a Sasquatch in these circumstances, I refer to perceptions the brain can create for us in self-defense; things may not always be what you think you saw, if you saw a Sasquatch then record that. I accept the observations, and I avoid conclusions at this stage.

        People describe orbs and other phenomena which may actually be some sort of plasma phenomena. Floating lights may be a manifestation of part of that separate ecosystem, or of the high-energy effects that a collision between different localities of reality may exhibit. Perhaps both, maybe something else entirely is being observed.

        In all of these categories of experience, I accept the observation and while I consider the explanations offered, I recognize them as conjecture and belief, personal interpretation. They may be close to correct, or way off the mark, and that is why I prefer to stick to observations.

        I am not seeking to explain them, but to identify different categories of phenomena for the purposes of description and observation. The more we can learn to observe, the more we may come to understand of these things we cannot explain.

        I have never observed these things in the woods. I have observed St. Elmo's fire. I am aware of the effect called willow-the-wisp and that other apparently high-energy phenomena can be observed around mountain peaks and ridges, as well as around tectonic fault lines.

        I do not point to these as explanations for all observations. They are simply phenomena that are at least recognized as real and, while not well understood, are possible explanations for some events.

        Do things exist in other dimensions? Not as I use that word. However it seems likely there is a more broad ecosystem in which our physical world is just a dusty little corner. There are things we cannot explain, and though we crave explanations, it is a vice we should refrain from where the paranormal is involved.

        Do portals exist? I find observations suggesting that our physical world does occasionally collide with what we like to call other dimensions. I consider these as possibly other places in our own universe, or places in some detached and separate reality. While we lack the understanding to explain the mechanics of such a collision, I choose not to dismiss this idea. Calling it a portal is a matter of taste, and while I don't think it is necessarily accurate, I do not have a better word for it.

        Do cloaks like that portrayed in Predator exist? I do not think they are mechanical or electronic. I expect they are more closely related to portals and are a manifestation of the interaction of the different ecosystems I have tried to describe in this paper. Effectively that is saying that a thing may appear to us in this way when it is partly on both ends of what we might as well describe as a portal.

        Does Sasquatch use portals. Well, it seems clear that many do not; or choose not to. Some conjecture they have interbred with humans and some have lost the ability, again a feeble attempt to explain something we do not understand. So when they are seen in association with a portal phenomena it is reasonable to ask if it was actually Sasquatch, or was it something else we do not understand, but that the observers perception accepted as Sasquatch with a lack of some other framework to accept3? Once again, just record what you observed of the event.

        Do Sasquatch use something that looks like Predator style cloaks? Honestly this is like asking a TV producer how a warp drive works. We don't know what the phenomena is, so how can we say? I will say it is likely not something of technology if they do. I would go so far as to conjecture that if they can use portals then they can be partway through them, and that might look like this sort of cloak.

        I spent a lot of time in the woods growing up. I knew about many of these ideas back then. I never saw anything paranormal out there. I did see St. Elmo's fire once, on a mountain ridge, I don't consider it paranormal, but I recognize it as rare.

        In recent years I have come to believe Sasquatch was out there with me, that I was watched. Certainly I consider this to be true on a few specific occasions when they were more blatant, either by accident or by intent. I expect they were there far more often than I noticed, for this is something they are good at doing, and they do seem to keep an eye on us when we visit their home. Yet I did not see anything like any of these phenomena. I accept that others have, but this creates a dissonance that needs to be understood more clearly.

        Until I see it myself, I have to depend on the observations of others. It is unfortunate that those experiences usually come in the form of an explanation of the inexplicable rather than a description of an experience and observations of phenomena.

    [1] Science brutally assails an idea with questions and tests. If it survives this process the idea is elevated to the status of a theory, because it has not been disproved in testing and questioning. An idea, or a person, that cannot be questioned is of no value to science - or society.

    [2a] Many people seem to have lost sight to the fact that UFO means Unidentified Flying Object; unidentified means that you don't actually know what it is. A more broad term would be UAP for Unidentified Aerial Phenomena some of which may be appear to be objects and many that are not.

    [2b] If you have seen something in the sky you know to be an Alien Space Ship, then it is not unidentified at all, you have identified it and should report an ASS sighting to appropriate authorities.

    [3] Consider something we are currently almost completely ignorant of, something that would benefit from our lack of understanding, something that can misdirect our perceptions in simple ways. If we think it is Sasquatch then it benefits from our having been tricked by some simple mental slight of hand.

    2020-Apr-11 - Quantum Metaphysical Mumbo-Jumbo...

        As an electrical engineer with expertise in semiconductors and physics, I am occasionally afflicted with the burden of knowledge. This is a cognitive bias I must resist consciously. It is the presumption that my audience shares my understanding and vocabulary.

        As someone who has directly experienced a variety of paranormal phenomena over the years, I observe the rampant misuse of words when people try to explain paranormal, spiritual, mystical, and metaphysical things that have no proper description in the normal world.

        Vocabulary is important to sounding credible and intelligent. There are aspects of the paranormal that have no good analog in the normal world. When people struggle to explain phenomena they cannot even describe using words they do not really understand, it is hard to sound credible.

        One of the greatest barriers to the scientific community is this vocabulary gap. Many of the highly educated naturally suffer from degrees of hubris and arrogance in part because of the mistake that just because they know more they must be smarter. They are also afflicted with the Dunning-Kruger effect in that they think they know more about everything than they may actually know.

        More and more people with strong science backgrounds are beginning to look seriously at various paranormal phenomena. Parapsycology was a popular subject into the 1970's but has fallen from favor for many reasons. The reasons people are looking back to it today vary, but they all struggle with the problem that the people they need to gather information from do not share the vocabulary or the disciplined thinking that become second nature with a strong education in science.

        Decades ago people like Arthur Koestler and Lawrence LeShan discovered there is a vast and profitable market in comparing aspects of quantum mechanics to elements of parapsychology. This moved directly to mysticism with Fritjof Capra and The Tao of Physics in 1975. New books with these themes crop up even today, and are still selling strongly.

        One thing I observe in the popularity of these books is that people seem to think they provide an explanation for spiritual and metaphysical phenomena with elements of science. Nothing could be further from the truth.

        Consider that if a well understood science like quantum physics was actually an explanation for spiritual phenomena, such phenomena would be well understood, they would be normal. The fact that they remain paranormal is directly related to the fact that they are not actually explained by quantum physics.

        If I would ask the highly educated to try and get past the vocabulary issue, I would ask everyone to get past the pathological need for an explanation for everything. Some things do actually defy explanation, and the only way we can hope to approach eventual explanation is to merely observe and record.

        The pebble in my shoe for this blog is a set of words badly misused in explanation of things spiritual and metaphysical: Frequency/vibration, quantum physics, entanglement/non-locality. It is not that these words do not provide an appropriate way to visualize in the context they are used. It is that they are not actually the answers they are presented to be.

        The word I really want everyone to understand from this is model. I am accepting these can be good words to illustrate certain esoteric concepts that defy a clear analogy in the physical world. However, I want to free you from attachment to these words and terms, because they are only tools for the mind; and they may be the wrong tools for you to get where you want to be because they are also limited.

        On my desk, you may not be surprised to find out, is a model of the Enterprise as seen throughout most of the original TV series Star Trek. None of you would mistake that model to be a working star ship. None of you would think it has warp engines, photon torpedoes, or a crew for that matter. You realize clearly it is a physical representation of an idea to help visualize something that does not even actually exist in reality. It is a tool for the imagination, a 3-dimensional picture for the mind to consume.

        However, if I were to say that Quantum entanglement shows us how telepathy works, you may not be so clear on the idea that quantum entanglement is only a model to help you understand how something we cannot actually explain might have precedent in the world of science. It does you a disservice by seeming to provide an explanation where no explanation actually exists.

        Frequency and/or vibration, are used mostly in terms of achieving more spiritual insights or abilities. If you can raise your frequency then good things will happen. Obviously low frequencies are bad and high frequencies are good. If you do not have what you want it must be because your frequency is not high enough, you need to raise your vibrational rate.

        These words are an illustration, a model, they come from radio communication. If you want to listen to a particular radio station, you need a radio tuned to the correct frequency. In point of fact higher is not better, it is just different. If the station you want is at a lower frequency it should be clear that lower is better. The reality is that nothing is good except the exact match so you can actually listen to what you want.

        Vibration came into play from a number of sources. The most obvious is a speaker which converts vibration to sound by moving the air. However this became more complicated over time with quaint science demonstrations like how different sounds cause particles on a table to arrange differently with different frequencies. This became an illustration of how one might achieve a more pleasing state of mind by finding the right frequency to set their thoughts into pleasing patterns.

        If you want to tune in to greater spiritual and metaphysical things, try to remember that frequency and vibration are just words used to provide an illustration for you to understand. You want to be in better tune with your metaphysical goals. Try to remember that higher or lower does not matter, neither is good or bad, but you want to be in tune, so to speak. A different illustration might be a map, or even a globe, where you are in one place and the abilities you seek are someplace else. It is not a matter of raising your frequency now, it is a matter of going to another place. You may need to cross an ocean or climb a mountain to get there, maybe even explore places and things to get there, these are wonderful metaphores. Perhaps the model you want is a maze – perhaps even a maze where there are multiple paths to reach the same place, now that is very symbolic for this subject...

        Of course this only gives you a different way to visualize what you want to achieve; it does not actually help you much to get there. Getting there is still entirely your own burden, but that is the point, isn't it? Lots of books tell you this is what you want to do - none of them help you get there...

        Entanglement is a good model to illustrate the mystical belief that everything is connected. However, actual quantum entanglement is very limited, and it is well understood, and if it was an explanation for telepathy then we would understand how telepathy works and it would be normal. It remains paranormal because entanglement is not an explanation for it, but merely a model.

        Wikipedia has a great definition page for quantum entanglement, if you are really interested the I suggest you find it and read it. The basic case of entanglement begins with a radioactive decay event where 2 particles of the same type are produced. Certain properties of these particles will be conserved regardless of their separation.

        Due to the nature of particle physics we cannot know all the properties of any particle at once, but if we measure one of the entangled properties of one, we instantly know the entangled property of the other, no matter where it is in the universe. This is non-locality, it is not constrained by the speed of light that limits many physical properties in the normal world.

        Even more strangely, if we alter one of the entangled properties of one of these particles, we instantly alter the entangled property of the other particle, no matter where it is in the universe.

        It is conjectured that this can be exploited for instantaneous communication across any distance, or for the ultimate in secret communication between 2 points with no possible way to tap the signal between. Of course this has not actually been achieved in any practical way yet.

        Realize from this explanation of the actual property, that it only connects 2 particles of mass/energy. This does not connect you to the universe. However, it does provide an example where there is a precedent for such a connection to exist in the world of science.

        Now, a number of scientists in the field of quantum mechanics subscribe to the supposition of particle monogamy. That is to say they recognize the entanglement of these 2 particles described above, but if one of those particle decays further, then the entanglement is ended. Until by death do thee part...

        All physics, classical, relativistic, or quantum, work because there is math to describe them. While it is possible that entanglement continues in some form after such an event, nobody has managed to describe with math how that would work.

        Even so, I consider it a logical fallacy to presume the connection ends because the math is too complex. It is possible that dissimilar products of a decay event are also entangled in ways we do not understand. Scientifically there is no point to this conjecture; there is no math to describe it, no way to measure it, and therefore no way to disprove it with science.

        In theory, then, we might consider that since all matter in the universe is the cumulative decay product of a single particle that came into existence at the beginning of the universe, so every particle in the universe is entangled with every other particle. Go ahead, do the math on that.

        This is another pointless exercise in thought. There is no math to describe it, no way to measure it, and no way to disprove it with science, so again the concept seems intriguing, but has no value.

        In fact, it seems to me this begins to look like the Infinite Improbability Drive from the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy: If everything is connected to everything else by quantum entanglement, then the most unlikely possible outcome is conveying a coherent thought from any one point to any one other point by this means.

        If you want another way to visualize this connection, try looking into the holographic universe. This suggests the universe may be connected by the fact that it is all still just a single point, and that separation of things is merely an illusion derived from viewing the hologram from different perspectives.

        Once again, though, that is merely a different way to imagine the thing you want to achieve but have no proper analogy for in the real world. In one way this may be closer to the truth of things, however: All you have to do is change what you know, change your perspective, there really is no place to go to actually get there.

        The bottom line is, these words from science are not explanations and they are not answers, they are nothing more than illustrations to achieve your mystical goals. Quantum physics is not spirituality, quantum entanglement is not connectedness, and raising your frequency is not the secret to enlightenment. In the end, there is an indescribable path you need to find to achieve those goals, and you still have to find it on your own.

        However, using these words as if they are answers and explanations will cause severe eye-rolling among the people who know what these words mean. While that is truly their problem and not yours, it will nonetheless serve as a barrier to communication to achieve real traction in these subjects; that is a part of the problem you can choose to address, or choose to ignore.

    2020-Apr-08 - Not Dismissing the Paranormal...

        Most people know that what they believe is true, and that is how wars get started. Spiritual and Metaphysical beliefs are just that; there are no facts, no reliably repeatable experiments, no proof save that of the experiencer and their anecdotes. Yet people often speak of personal beliefs as if they are objective truths, those who consider them to be facts are usually not interested in testing their own truths.

        I at least try to keep clear the difference between what I know to be factual and what I believe may be. I try to be clear in my language, and you should generally expect that whenever I am speaking of the paranormal the ideas are opinion and belief, occasionally based on experience and observation, but not demonstrable. That places the burden on you to recognize that nobody really knows; there are many beliefs and opinions, but no demonstrable facts. Without those it will remain paranormal.

        The paranormal is anything outside of normal experience. While science can cover just about everything you will experience on a day-to-day basis, every now and than someone experiences something right out of the Twilight Zone. If we could produce these effects at will, and measure them reliably, then they would be normal instead of paranormal. The paranormal is nothing more than those things we do not yet have the understanding to explain. Many times these effects are minor, most people manage to dismiss them, and preserve their sense of reality.

        I had a number of experiences, however, that just broke how I knew things should work. Rather than have a mental breakdown of denial, or struggling to forget them, I just filed them away as: There has got to be a reason things like this happen, we just don't understand the principles yet.

        It is clear to me that people are having experiences they cannot explain when encountering, or seeking encounters with, Sasquatch. It is clear to me that some of these experiences are leading them to conclude there are strange metaphysical and spiritual properties related to them. I find no surprize that indigenous peoples attribute spiritual properties to these beings. Many people dismiss this because they attribute such properties to just about every aspect of life. Personally, I consider that to be a philosophical perspective of life, I do not discount the beliefs. Instead, I look to understand the context they take in the mythology and the history for the context of these beings in their traditions. I ask what these spiritual and metaphysical properties are, how they manifest, and I do ask their explanations so I can understand that context as well. Whatever is going on, we need to understand it better. To get there we cannot dismiss the strange and spooky experiences. At the same time we should be aware of the chance that we ultimately find some observations are not actually related directly to Sasquatch.

        Before you get into the It's all in your head thing, I'll put you straight to the Harry Potter scene moments after he is killed near the climax of the story. Dumbledore said it best: Of course it's all in your head, why would that make it any less real?  Yes, it is a fictional character, but it is a great line, and it fits here. You experienced something, you know there is no mundane explanation with our current understanding. You cannot just make it happen again, but that does not mean that it didn't happen.

        This is no different from a Sasquatch witness who has no pictures, no recordings, no physical evidence of any kind, yet they did have the experience. They cannot just go back to the same place and have the same experience repeat. There are variables they have no control over. It does not mean their encounter did not happen. The only difference in my mind between this and a ghost is that with Sasquatch we expect the encounter was with a physical creature not unlike you or me.

        There simply are strange things that happen. They cannot be explained within our current framework of understanding, but they do really happen. They should not be dismissed, but we should refrain from our almost pathological need to explain everything, or dismiss it an any cost. Your perceptions may be off the mark, your interpretations may be off the mark, all the more reason to record as much as you can about the observations. Then as you learn more you may find a possible explanation - or you may find they mystery deepens. Just accept the strange. The paranormal is rare, this is why it is not well observed, explained, and normal. That does not make it unreal.

        I'll just walk you through my best ghost story, because it has several elements that simply defy normal experience for me. Sure, the experience may just have been imaginary - but it was shared, it is a pretty strong imagination to alter the perceptions of 2 people in the same way. The experiment to use divination to find an explanation had what seem to be extraordinary results - but random chance in such a small population of tests cannot be completely dismissed. However, the subsequent discovery in the news, and the location of that discovery goes beyond the high probability of mere chnace, it no longer feels like just chance.

        A couple of friends thought it would be a good idea to go someplace really dark for stargazing, this was a friend of the future Mrs CC, call her Jill, and her boyfriend, Jack1. Based on my knowledge of the area we agreed on Jack Pass. At the time it could be reached from either Index or Skykomish, and we started in from Index.

        We were only about 6 miles back from US-2 when I had a strange thought to stop. This part of the road was covered by a thick canopy of trees, no way to see the sky, the reason we were there, I tried to resist the thought, but I eventually said I just want to be sure the sky is clear before we go too far back into the hills.

        This is an area I have been camping around all my life. I liked going to places so far from the city you could not see your own hand in front of your face in the dark. I had no fear of the woods or the dark. I don't really have that fear even today, but I am more aware of real hazards these days.

        I said We should close our eyes so the lights in the car don't set back our dark-adjusted eyes much. The moment I unlatched the door2, I had a sense of abject terror. I know Sasquatch people today will think infrasound; look at my end note with the exact sequence of that moment etched in my mind - the door was not yet open enough for infrasound wavelengths to reach me from outside.

        I slipped out of the car and closed the door, and I heard the other 2 doors close, too. The sky was clear, but I was trying to wrap my head around the sense of fear I was experiencing. In the light of the half moon I could see Jill taking slow and deliberate steps across the road; we could see clearly enough, so I was wondering what was going on. I was about to ask when she turned and ran back, almost tackling Jack against my car. She was in tears, and literally quivering with fear.

        Once I realized she was quivering in fear, I pried her head from Jack's jacket and asked if she wanted to leave, she shook her head and a squeaky No, I'm OK came out as she buried her face again. I was thinking damn, I could use her as an excuse to get moving, but she nearly shot that idea down making a brave show of it. I pried her face out again and asked The fear in your voice, are you kidding? A shaky NO came back, much to my relief. OK, let's get out of here were the next words from me.

        After getting the car started I asked if they wanted to go back or continue, they both said Let's go home. I turned around and we headed back to US2. There was a wide turnout on the north side of the road just before getting to Zeke's drive-in and I pulled out there, and stopped in a place the headlights of cars didn't reach.

        We all got out, and everything was fine. No terror, no fear, just a normal night... We talked about the experience. I explained that I felt a sense of terror the moment I cracked the door open, so did Jill, but Jack didn't sense anything. I even said I was glad Jill was honest about her fear, it gave me an excuse to turn back. She said she was testing her fear, taking just one more step away from the car, but she just couldn't take it anymore, and ran back. Given our descriptions, and Jack's dark imagination, he was convinced this must have been something demonic; after all there are covens of witches3 in the area of Index...

        We agreed this was enough excitement for one night, and headed home.

        It was Jill who really got me to explore my interest in the paranormal. She appreciated that while I was knowledgeable, I would listen without judging, I would offer ideas, but point out it was only a possible explanation, and if I had none I would say so. Jack just didn't get this sort of thing, so she couldn't talk to him much about it.

        A few days later Jill suggested we get a reading from a psychic to try and figure out what happened during the experience in the woods. She had been experimenting with Tarot Cards, so I suggested we both use the cards first. I suggested we both do simple yes-no readings on a predefined set of questions, and we worked out several questions. We agreed to continue any questioning based on the results as simple yes-no questions. These are the points where our cards agreed well:

    • We experienced a ghost, not a demon.
    • The ghost was of a female age 18-25.
    • She had been murdered.
    • The body had been dumped near where we had stopped the car.
    • She was just looking for someone to help her.
    • We were experiencing her presence empathically – we were feeling her terror.

        I no longer have my notes on this experiment, so many years ago, but I recall that several of our cards matched identity, not just meaning. Consider the odds of drawing 3 cards from a shuffled deck of 78 cards and having more than just a couple cards match in just a dozen or so drawings...

        I will be explaining at some point what I think about psychics and tarot cards, but I want to explain here that I always saw this as a tool of the imagination. They provide a framework for reaching into our own imaginations more than a medium for communication with the beyond.

        Three months later it was in the news that a body had been found along that road, wrapped in plastic and dumped in the woods off the road. She was never identified, and was buried as a Jane Doe in Snohomish. The news was light on details, but the age, gender, and circumstances matched the results of our experiment with divination.

        In the news I noticed paint markings on the road where the body was found. A few weeks later I took a drive out there and the paint marks were exactly where I originally had the thought to stop. I remember that area specifically because of a couple landmarks passed just before getting there.

        So, I have never been afraid of the woods, or the dark, but on this one occasion I was terrified of something that did not touch any of the 5 senses. Perhaps my exepeience can still be dismissed as a one-time thing - but my sensation of terror was shared, though I did not know it at the time. Perhaps the two of us read something from each other subconsciously. On its own this might be dismissed. I know Sasquatch people today will think infrasound, not a consideration then; look at my end note2 with the exact sequence of that moment etched in my mind - the door was not yet open enough for infrasound wavelengths to reach me from outside.

        Two people compiled the same story explaining the experience, spearately using randomly drawn cards with prearranged meanings. The points these drawing agreed upon are outlined above, and describe a story later verified (largely) by the county Sheriff. Each of the yes/no questions drew 3 cards from the full shuffled deck, but the goal was a yes/unclear/no answer. Give or take interpretation, these amount mostly to a 50/50 chance of agreement. There is a very small population of drawings here, so on its own this might be dismissed as coincidence and even collaborative imagination.

        I did not think much of it until 2 months later when it was on the evening news that a body fitting our story was found along that road, and the body had been there when we had our experience. I was gobsmacked at this revelation. But that was nothing compared to how I felt later when I drove up to find where the sheriff had marked the road.

        I have no mundane explanation for this set of experiences, not one at a time, and certainly not all together in a logical chain of events. Scientifically, however, all I can say is that it is a remarkable set of coincidences...

        I have seen and experienced other haunting paranormal phenomena. I have been called upon to help debunk things people described. When I have been there I have done so on the spot. Often there is no simple explanation based on what is there after the fact, and no simple way to recreate the event that leaves no traces.

        An example of debunking after the fact is a picture I took at a place where it was thought a ghost had been sensed (heard, felt, seen), I was there with Jill. The picture seemed to show a profile apparition of a man at the corner of a hallway. It was really remarkable. A few days later I was there, we set the lighting as closely as we could to the time the picture was taken. It turns out the texture of the glass cover on the hall light created a subtle outline on the wall, this was not easily noticed in person because the source was obvious; but out of the context, in the picture it seemed like a ghostly apparition. We turned the glass and took another picture, then restored the glass and took a third picture - the results were as you would expect, the appearance of the ghost was debunked. There are many reasons someone might sense a ghostly presence. We know now that bad wiring can emit signals that affect the brain, for example. We can only say the picture was explained.

        I record these things when they cross my path. I do try to debunk them, but if that fails I refrain from trying to explain them most of the time, though I often have my own beliefs regarding such things. As I learn more, I may go back to strange experiences and try again to debunk the event based on new information. This may provide a possible explanation, it may not. Rinse and repeat for life...

        Direct personal experience tells me now that something associated with Sasquatch absolutely crosses into the spooky metaphysical side of reality. This will not deter or deflect my scientific approach to the puzzle, but for some aspects of their interactions, I need to allow for the strange to be happening around them and not simply dismiss it, but record whatever happens, including what people think and feel.

        The rules are to record everything, even feelings or thoughts that seem foreign to your normal thinking. Debunk as you can based on what you know. Research, see if others have this experience, glean what you can from their observations, they will likely try to explain it; that is an almost pathological need for humans, try to dismiss this urge. Evaluate their explanation, determine if it is objective or subjective, add that to your notes. Their explanation will almost always be subjective. That does not make it wrong, but it is a personal belief. You can choose to accept their belief yourself, but recognize that is merely accepting a common belief.

    [1] Obviously not their real names, they know who they are, you only need names for reference.

    [2] Exact sequence, (A) ready to step out, (B) unclip seat belt, (C) count 3..0, close eyes at 1, (D) unlatch door, sense of terror begins at that instant, (E) hear other doors open, (F) open door and step out, (G) close door, open eyes after all doors close.

    [3] In point of fact there are practitioners of Wicca who live in the area. They are really pretty nice folks if you chance to meet them.

    2020-Apr-03 - You Don't Get Much Closer Than This...

        It was August 1986, Friday night near a new moon. The town of Sultan was not as bright then as it is now, so the seeing was good. It was so dark you could not see your own hand in front of your face, we were in an area that had been clear cut a couple years earlier, so the sky was open. I backed onto an old skid path to be off the road – not that any other traffic was likely.

        We were just a bit south of the Horseshoe Bend on the Sultan River for star gazing. No telescopes, no cameras, but a slightly phosphorescent star map for the constellations.

        The mosquitoes were just miserable, though, we had ducked back into the car to get away from them and get some hot chocolate, sitting in the back seat, in the dark, deciding what to do when our decision was suddenly made for us...

        At once there was a grunt, then the back end of the car was shoved about 2-3 feet toward the passenger side. Something brushed by the car, shaking it again a bit. Then it huffed and stomped north toward the horseshoe bend on two feet, practically shaking the ground with each stomp. Apparently we had blocked the trail...

        There wasn't even a discussion, we started the car and turned right, toward town... There was no interest in following the dead-end (at the time) road to see what had brushed the car out of the way and stomped off.

        I did stop in Monroe on the way home for gas. There was a hand print about the size of a dinner plate on the drivers side rear fender, and finger marks under the bumper. The road dust had been disturbed on most of the drivers side by something hairy – you could see where the hair had dragged through the dust.

        Our eyes were still adjusting from having opened the door and activating the dome light to get our drinks, we could not see anything outside, or inside for that matter.

        If it could see well enough, it may have been watching us for a few minutes. Certainly it could have done more damage than it did. Other than the grunt, which may simply have been the exertion of shoving the car aside, there was no vocalization here. There was no sense of fear or dread, no scent.

        Given the hand print and the hair, there was little doubt about what had shoved the car in the dark. Sometimes people will not discuss such an experience. We talked about all of them, frequently. Even after this, we didn't stop going for day hikes and camping trips. There was nothing in any of these experiences to indicate to us any imminent danger.

        I had been going to these places for years and, except for these incidents I have described, only had the vaguest hints of something being out there. Whatever was out there was curious about us, watching us from a distance, not alerting us to its presence.

        Only rarely did it do anything to suggest leaving, and those suggestions were clear, but not dangerous or particularly intimidating.

    2020-Apr-01 - Alone in the Woods.

        I spent a lot of time in the woods growing up. It has always been a place for me to go for quiet, I like ridges and peaks, but anywhere in the forest is good. I don't need to go far, but I enjoy discovering places our kind have not seen for uncounted years. My favorite region to go is best described as any drainage opening into either Index or Skykomish, along US2 in Washington's Cascade Mountains. I sometimes stayed in the Sultan Basin, but usually only if I wanted to pan for gold. There isn't anyplace I would not visit, but this area has been the most familiar.

        This is an area I learned like my own back yard. While getting lost in this area would have been challenging for me, I always had a plan. There was no GPS in those days, but I had all the regional maps from the USGS, and I can still navigate by compass over a mile with en error little more than 10 feet.

        I would pick the area I wanted to explore, drive to the end of, or to a distinct point on, a forest service road, and walk into the woods.

        For a day hike I had a survival pack with about a weeks provisions. For a week, I would have hammock and my good old Mt McKinley mummy bag from REI, and provisions for a couple weeks, plus the survival pack for day excursions from my base camp. I always had alternate ways out, and back to the car.

        When I started day hikes with friends, they always had a similar survival pack. They always knew the simple alternate ways out.

        All that time out in the woods, and I never saw a Sasquatch, never smelled that smell... I heard things from time to time. Whenever I left camp to investigate, I would hear something beat trail away, but never something to make me think two feet...

        In retrospect, however, I am pretty sure I was being watched most of the time I was out there. If they were there, though, they used bird and animal calls, they never raised my suspicion or fear. I am sure I was familiar to them because my family had camped in the area regularly since I was very young.

        I consider myself fortunate to have found a girl who liked going to the woods a lot more than going to the mall. Most of my closer encounters with Sasquatch came after meeting her, and therein lies my thinking that they were watching me before, they merely came in closer when she was around, close enough to be noticed, but not noticed very often.

    2020-Mar-31 -- Did you see That?(!)

        It is said you never see them unless they want it; or if they make a mistake. I think one made a mistake this time. If it had not moved, I probably would not have noticed it.

        This was in the early 1980's, summer, a day hike with the future Mrs CC. We had hiked in to the lower Mt Fernow Potholes. At the time the forest service road up Johnson Creek was passable all the way to the end, so it was only about a half mile walk. I was marking the trail we used with surveyor tape so it would be easy to find and follow in the future.

        It had been a pretty nice day, and we were following the ribbon markers back when we paused at a large glacial erratic for a break. Just before finishing the walk back to the car, I happened to look over my left shoulder and saw something move. I had an unusually long view in this direction, probably about 80 yards unobstructed view.

        The motion caught my eye, and for a moment I could see a figure leaning against a tree. This was a human shaped figure, facing me, with right arm extended to the side leaning on a tree. It was apparently standing on a stone or stump for a better view. I must have seen the left arm move.

        The moment I saw it, it turned toward the tree it had been leaning on, I could briefly see the other arm at its side. It dropped down on all fours and moved quickly into the brush. I have seen bear standing on their hind feet, this was no bear; a bear can not make the shape I saw.

        That is the closest I have come to seeing one directly. It was fairly far away, just a shadow against the sunlit brush behind it. There was some motion that caught my attention. The whole thing was over in a couple seconds. The moment my head turned toward it, it moved quickly out of sight.

        I did return to the area several times, even solo at times. Other than the usual for the area, I never caught sight of one since. The ribbons made it more fun, no need to navigate, just enjoy the walk.

    2020-Mar-28 -- Sasquatch Gotta Eat...

        A man named Mitchel Townsend may have what will become the first peer-reviewed paper on Sasquatch to be published. It is based on the latest archaeological understandings, and the idea that Sasquatch are physical beings much like you and I are. This is the third draft going into review, and with draft there has been new evidence available as more people know what to look for.

        The fundamental supposition is that: They gotta eat. He found the first site near Mt St Helens where the bones of 2 deer were found. Two other sites were found and noted in the first draft of the paper. There are clear signs this is not normal predation.

        I'll leave you to look up his work for the details, but for the high-level view, these kills were processed differently than would be done by a bear or a big cat. In fact they were consistent with human hunter-gatherer sites.

        Most interesting of all were that the rib bones bore scars from teeth. These teeth were similar to human teeth, but much more consistent with the specific shape of neanderthal teeth. The only problem is that these sites were weeks old when found, and the teeth are almost twice the size of the normal range for either humans or neanderthal.

        Also fascinating was that, as fresh as these bones were, with some flesh still on the bone, they were not being scavenged. It's almost as if the local wildlife knows to just leave these sites alone.

        Even as we listened to the presentation, Mrs CC has her tablet out, and is looking up tooth patterns for animals common in the area. These bite marks do not match because either the front teeth or the back teeth would produce different scars on the bones. But a human jaw – or one of that shape but about twice the size – would produce the patterns found. -- Aside - Talking with him after the presentation, he was pleased she was being skeptical and looking things up, even as he spoke. That is someone versed in science and skepticism, quite pleasing in this community to see that kind of intellectual maturity.

        The paper is a good application of modern science, using archaeological evidence documenting our own ancestors, to identify similar behaviors and signs found not from thousands of years ago, but found in modern times and with meat still on the bones.

        I can't speak to some of his other ideas. I haven't heard the talk yet. However, based on this paper he is a clear-thinking fellow with a good grasp of science and the application of scientific knowledge. The archaeology paper is a promising path toward having a peer-reviewed paper discussing an undiscovered hominin in modern times.

        As to the hybrid-hominin thing. Next time you are in a room full of people, take a careful look around at all the different head shapes you see. All of these are artifacts of hybridization events in the distant past. He makes the point that all humans are hybrids anyway, it seems quite unlikely they are not.

        I find it interesting that Thinker Thunker, who has a number of video analyses based on body ratios, posted a video a few years ago that noticed the body alignments of Sasquatch no not work for a human, but they do work pretty well for a neanderthal.

        While it is interesting, even compelling, it does not mean they are neanderthal. However it does suggest they are structurally similar to neanderthal, and that (based on Townsend's paper) their teeth are consistent with the frame they seem to be built around.

        So, a reasonable question arises: How about their DNA? It is getting close to the time I will need to roll out my analysis of existing DNA evidence. With all the controversy around the subject, and the deeply entrenched on both extremes, I don't want to just accept either side, and so I have been studying that science with some enthusiasm for the last 6 months or so. As a result of the pandemic, I will have time to work on those documents – unfettered by my normal work responsibilities.

        On this subject, however, there is only one source of actual published DNA data available for them, and that is the Sasquatch Genome Project (SGP).

        If I apply the SGP protocols for species identification to the appropriate fragments of neanderthal DNA now available in genbank, there is better than 98.5% alignment to modern humans – note that there is far more DNA data in genbank now than was available in 2013 for the SGP. So, at the time, the best alignment for this DNA would probably still have been neanderthal, if it was in genbank at the time – next is modern humans.

        Ignoring questions about the quality of the SGP samples, even the most interesting samples align more closely to modern humans than to neanderthal. However, I think there is a good candidate for which species Sasquatch may be a hybrid of alongside us – but remember there are a lot of branches on our phylotree that we don't even know about anymore. It seems at least one still hanging around.

    2020-Mar-27 -- Be Somewhere Else(!)

        This event had no direct interaction we were aware of, save the urgency of the feeling we had. If I have ever had a more psychic experience with Sasquatch, this was it. It was a day-hike with the girl who would become Mrs CC. We were pretty good at finishing each-other's sentences, which is not an unusual phenomenon. However, something very different from normal happened this time.

        This was around 1984, in the Summer. We were on a day-hike near Mineral City, a historic site on Silver Creek near Index, WA. A landslide had long since closed the road, so you traverse the slide and walk up the old road to get there.

        There was a wildfire about 2 ridges away from us at the time. We were aware of it, but not concerned for a walk planned to take just a few hours.

        We were only a few hundred yards from the historic site, in an area where 2 creeks converge with Silver Creek. There was a distinct moment when we both felt an urgent wave of concern, as if the thought Leave this place, NOW! had been injected into our thinking. There was not anger, there was not fear, but there was urgency.

        We immediately looked at each-other, and confirmed verbally what we both suddenly felt. We looked up the ridge, but the smoke had not changed. We didn't discuss it for more than about 30 seconds, and she used the euphemism big and hairy, which was in my mind, too. We grabbed our day-packs and started back down the road. After about 300 yards the sensation went away, as if a light switch had turned off.

        Sure, it's completely unscientific, and there was no encounter we are aware of. Based on many similar stories, however, I will tentatively chalk this up as one of our Sasquatch encounters. There are more sightings in that vicinity than in most other areas of Washington, and it makes sense that a group could be moving through there to get away from the fire danger. It seems beyond mere coincidence that we both experience the same thought at the same time and that thought is so unusual for us in the outdoors.

        There are different ways of perceiving thoughts. Random thoughts occur all the time, normally it is actually part of the memory search process. There was a foreign thought suddenly in the highest priority of my thinking. When you remember things, you remember the faces or voices associated with that memory - but with this thought there was a a strangers voice.

        Perhaps we saw a tree-peeker in peripheral vision and it didn't register consciously. This is certainly possible, but we were looking in different directions at that moment, and that moment itself is clear to us now more than 35 years later. Not much before that moment, not a lot after we started walking until the switch went off. Also, even if we both caught sight of a tree-peeker and didn't notice it, I am thinking our brains would have induced something closer to fear than just an urgent need go back down the road.

        I certainly do not think this was infra-sound. No fear, no nausea, but a fairly clear and distinct thought. Just doesn't sound like infra-sound.

    2020-Mar-25 -- Asked to Leave(?)

        I think there is a spectrum to rock throwing. I would not dispute that large, heavy, rocks thrown very close to you are a clear message regarding your acceptance to the area. On the other hand, small rocks and pebbles, even pine cones, on roofs and windows are almost certainly an invitation for some form of interaction.

        Some people say they are messing with you, whatever that means between their ears... I suggest they are trying to make you aware of their presence in a less hostile way. There is risk in any response, but my inclination would be to respond without yelling, to go to a window or porch and speak in a calm and friendly voice, and let them escalate the next level.

        My experience with stone throwing was more of the warning kind... Less of the threat kind...

        It was Sunday morning in a late Summer of the mid 1980's after several days camping near the Horseshoe Bend on the Sultan River. We had been panning gold, which was open to the public at the time, and had close to an ounce each. We were going to do a little more, make brunch, and then pack back out. The diversion dam rode was gated, so we parked at the end of that road and walked in to a trail that cut down to the river. There were no incidents during the week, no signs of anything unusual.

        A while after we started our last mornings work there was a loud splash across the river from us. There was no mistaking the sound of a fair sized rock hitting another in the water.

        We looked at each-other and everyone was confused as to the cause. We were still looking around when the second projectile landed in almost the same spot. It had come from the hill across the river. That is a fairly steep hill that comes just about to the river bank.

        Now we were watching the hill, and it wasn't too long before a third rock emerged from the trees and landed in almost exactly the same place in the river. This was a good-sized two-hand rock and an Olympic class shot-putter would be challenged to make that throw at all, much less with the apparent accuracy whoever was hurling these was achieving.

        It did not take long for us to decide that it may be a good idea to pack out and get burgers in town. It didn't take much to discourage investigating the source. I knew the area and that we were probably in clear view from above – but above the thrower was hidden in the trees and shadows.

        Given we never saw the culprit here, as a critical thinker myself, I totally get skepticism here. However it would be an amazing human able to hurl 2-hand rocks the distance necessary and with the accuracy apparent, even accounting for the down-hill assist.

        In retrospect, there were no vocalizations; at least non we could hear over the river. There was no danger to us; the rocks landed in the water on the far side of the river. But it did seem we were being asked to leave the area.

        I knew that area, specifically, pretty well. I had been camping on the horseshoe a few years earlier when some numb-skull started firing off a box of red-neck fun, shooting uphill from the river, unknowingly firing bullets right over our camp. The shooting stopped when someone got to a car horn and blasted out a few loud notes. Back then an old forest-service road ran out onto the horseshoe.

        An hour or so later we took different paths down to the river, but nobody was there when we converged. We could see where they were shooting from, and they had put bottles and cans on branches of a tree up the hill from the river. We picked up their trash for them.

        Frankly I was more afraid of the shooters than whatever was throwing the rocks, but I had climbed down the hill in just the area where the thrower had been in the later incident.

        I remembered spots where I could see down to the river through the branches, and I expect we were in clear view to whatever was hurling those rocks, while they were concealed in the shadows and branches.

    2020-Mar-23 -- Is Sasquatch Dangerous?

        Is Sasquatch dangerous? There are many opinions about this, some informed by fear, some by experience, some by hope. I have a saying that Hope is NOT a strategy. We tend to fear what we don't understand, so I will also discount fear based opinions as uninformed. I have yet to share my closer encounter stories, but none include overt belligerent aggression. Certainly I have been asked to stay away from an area once. I also think we were asked to leave a place once, and we did so. However there are those who report being escorted from places more vigorously than I have experienced.

        There is no broad brush for this. The best expression I have seen is that They can have their moods... So, with Mrs. CC having experience working with exotic animals (yes: Lions, tigers, bears, and primates, and more...), and my experience hiking and camping for many years, our approach will be based on that combined knowledge. I am not in any way saying they are simply animals - only that they can potentially be dangerous and should be accorded the respect that deserves; the same as observing Grizzly or Elephants in the wild. In addition they are very much like us - and so I would also place this in the danger level of observing a human hunter-gatherer tribe with the capacity for hostility, when provoked. Now, what provokes them... (?)

        I always had the impression they were generally pretty passive, this is supported by years of hiking and camping, often solo. However my research over the last year or so has lead me to be more cautious - but not with fear. I have great confidence they will ask clearly and distinctly that I leave, if that is how they want to manage my visit to their places. I think problems evolve when people choose not to respect those messages. Whether that is done out of ignorance, stubbornness, or arrogance probably does not matter. Once the human is in a state of fear, reason will depart the scene.

        There is little documentation of this, either. From related stories, most people react poorly in an unexpected encounter situation. It is not their fault really, they usually did not know to be prepared for anything. It is precisely that lack of documentation which lead to my initial thinking that there is little danger to seeking them out, with caution and respect - and I also recognize their response is likely to be entirely on a per-situation decision basis. So, for my purposes, little has changed except the knowledge there is precedent for them to be alarmingly aggressive. Still, what exactly did the humans do before that aggression took place - my money is on stupid.

        Certainly I had heard of Dyatlov Pass. I always had doubts about that story, and I think a very rational explanation of that situation has been arrived at by rational analysis. Starting with the geography of the place they camped, which generates infra-sound resonances naturally. An avalanche would explain the injuries some seem to have suffered, and scavengers some of the rest. Effects of hypothermia explain much of the rest. Oh, yeah, the picture... If you look at the many-times-copied and rather degraded pictures easily found on the internet, it is ambiguous; if you look at one from a few generations closer to the original negative you see it is wearing a jacket.

        Port Chatham is a different matter. This looks like a case where they pushed back and we left a commercially successful settlement. Interesting that this place had no signs of tribal human groups... The Nahanni Valley is another place where it seems they have pushed back, on multiple occasions.

        I am certain there are others not widely known. I would wager that in all of these cases the people have ignored warnings and that the arrogance typical of human self-superiority is what lead to these outcomes.

    2020-Mar-20 -- Why document tracks and structures?

        I have seen the question: What is the value of documenting footprint track-lines and structures, often by hunters who recognize tracks as important, but why take casts and make detailed records? Asking the question shows more wisdom than is possessed by those to blithely criticize anyone who wastes time in such ways.

        Hunters have a different goal from field researchers, for them tracks are important to identify the species present, size of tracks, where they are going, and how many there are, their goal is to find prey animals which are easily observed in the wild and, frankly, to harvest some. Responsible hunters waste little of their hunt, and that shows respect for nature and their prey. Prey animals do not make art or use symbols.

        Scientifically speaking, recording everything observed is important. You do not always know if what you observe is related to your subject or not - so it is best to record everything - even the strange things that don't make sense. Sasquatch are a species we cannot easily observe directly. Signs they leave behind are among the most available ways we can learn about them.

        To the same point, if you are practicing a habituation area, document that area also from fixed camera locations and with fixed settings on the camera so pictures have the same field of view. They may move or arrange things you do not notice unless you have the ability to flip between discrete views of the area.

        Structures are difficult to judge at times. I have never looked for structures, but at the same time I have never seen anything I considered so strange that I had to imagine something non-human making it. They are something that may change with time. Recording it - preferably from known fixed perspectives - would permit the tracking of changes over time. Do this to determine if they are maintained, altered, or just falling apart.

        Be aware there are humans who build structures in the woods; there are traditional beliefs and ceremonies where structures are constructed as part of the ritual. They may be constructed without the use of strings, cords, ropes, or any kind of fastener - to be made entirely from nature, and they may be far from the tree line for privacy or isolation or in hopes they go undiscovered.

        Tracks (and handprints, body imprints, etc) have historically revealed some interesting things: Their dermal ridges are arranged differently from those of Humans. The statistics of their measurements tend to form a normal curve, indicating a real population. Their measurements are significantly outside the normal range for humans but are consistent with a much more massive creature. Their foot anatomy is consistent and different from the vast majority of humans - some humans do have a more flexible foot than most. Tracks occasionally indicate injury or defects which also indicate a living population. The properties of these casts provide details that most hoaxers are unlikely to consider - much less carry off well.

        A story about a track is just another bigfoot story. A cast of a footprint is evidence. Many casts tell a more detailed story of groups in different areas, of individuals in that group. Sure, many would believe Roger Patterson (left) had found footprints - but what he is holding in that picture is tangible evidence preserving those footprints; as with his film, they may provide supporting evidence for new discoveries not yet made.

        Truth be told, however, I would make a cast anymore. I would use close-up 4K video or higher resolution stills to create a 3D model of the footprint with a reference scale - the resolution must be able to capture details like dermal ridges. I would still do this for multiple footprints if I had them, and still document the track-way. Software to create a 3D model from multiple photographs is freely available now, and it will allow capture of footprints in fragile media (snow or sand or mud) that plaster might damage - and an SD card in a phone or camera is lighter than plaster and water to lug around the woods and mountains.

        When using photography, try to cross-illuminate images to capture subtle detail like dermal ridges. In fact, practice first in your own yard with your own footprints and handprints to prove out the idea before you foul up the recording of rare physical evidence in the wild.