Saturday, March 21, 2009

Hearing a Sasquatch - The sixth sense.

Every so often I download a few podcasts to listen to while I am commuting to work. One such podcast is Sasquatch Watch Radio which is hosted by Billy Willard and DB Donlon, AKA "The Blogsquatcher". Both of these fellows are members of the group Sasquatch Watch of Virginia. Billy and his son Josh started this group in 2005 while DB has his own blog.

Recently, one such podcast of Billy's touched on the subject of Infra sound.

It was an interesting show and it reminded me of some reports of people feeling like they are not alone, perhaps better described as feeling "uneasy" or "queasy". Some go as far to say that they felt a form of paralysis for a period of time and they could do nothing except lie in a semi-fetal position. Maybe this is the way that the body and brain react to trauma, perhaps even along the lines of those who fall into a coma after being traumatized, some say it's the body's way of beginning the defence and repair process by shutting down certain things that are not necessary to survive - movement, consciousness, sensory inputs. 

What's more interesting is that if infra sound is actually used as a form of defense, what is it that humans are doing to elicit such a response? Many people are simply minding their own business, camping, fishing, hiking - by all means not showing any signs of aggression. This is why I think that perhaps infra sound is not a defense mechanism, instead, it's a way of warning humans of impending danger. How many people stick around after having an apparent "infra sound" experience? I'd probably be leaving the area pretty quickly. 
Mind you, I do not believe that I have ever experienced Infra sound or any events as some of those described so I cannot really tell you what I would or would not do or how I would feel. 

Now let's look at this slightly differently. If you were an avid hiker or field researcher, you would be accustomed to your surroundings including all the sounds around you. Crickets, Birds, Frogs, Wolves, Owls. All of these animals generate unique sounds and we can almost immediately picture what the animal is as soon as their call is heard. 

Now imagine one day all of that changed. You were hiking along a trail and with tremendous volume and strength you heard a blood curdling scream. It seems very close to you, but you don't know where it's coming from. Your mind races to think of what it might be - Part of your initial terror is that you cannot associate the sound with anything so the fear of the unknown is steadily increasing. Now imagine if you heard the call again, this time it seems louder and closer, but again, you cannot associate the sound with anything you have ever heard before.

At this point your heart is probably racing, the hair on the back of your neck is standing up and goosebumps cover your entire body. You feel helpless, alone and scared. 

Audible perception of sound that we cannot identify has the ability to trigger a defensive response in cases where we feel vulnerable.

Non- audible infra sound can apparently still be perceived by the human body, thus causing it to take a similar course of action.

Notice the similarities? Not being able to identify and relate to the sound. The fear of the unknown. Your body is reacting according to it's sensory inputs, and since we cannot "hear" infra sound, who's to say that your ears are part of this perception? Maybe we all have a sixth sense. Who knows....

We haven't even begun to fully understand "audible" Bigfoot vocalizations and now we are exploring something much more intriguing. Perceiving sounds without hearing a thing. Fascinating.