Friday, December 05, 2008

Yakima Bigfoot Round-up next May!!!











Bob Gimlin is gathering a group of friends for a get-together next May 16th in Yakima, Washington for the First Annual Yakima Bigfoot Round-up, in Yakima, Washington. Guest speakers will include Dr. John Bindernagel, Dr. Jeff Meldrum, John Green, Chris Murphy, Richard Noll, Kathy Strain and Bill Munns, who will be doing a new analysis on the Patterson/Gimlin Movie. It will include a buffet dinner and entertainment in a beautiful ranch setting. There will be a gathering for dinner Friday evening. Camping is available at the location, as is a hotel, the local Fairfield Inn will slash prices for rooms for the event. Tickets are only 15 dollars, $25.00 for the tribute dinner, and also a combo deal for $40.00. I believe full information can be obtained from Tom Yamarone at tyamarone@pacbell.net Hope to see you there!!!

Review: Beyond The Edge Radio 12-5-08

This was a terrific show, with guests John and Kelly Weaver of the Spirit Society of Pennsylvania, who discussed their ghost investigations, as well as UFO investigations, along with a project called Museum of Mysteries that John is part of. I called in during the first hour and asked John and Kelly about residue hauntings and also about objects going missing for a short period of time, then reappearing about ten minutes later, as what happened with me several years ago. The second hour was devoted to EVPS, some pretty creepy ones at that, saying things like "Get out of my house," "Emma make water," "Emma is here," "Time to go" and other sayings, which were pretty clear. Next Friday, Sean, Monica and Eric welcome Mark Nesbit, Patty Wilson and Scott Crownover, Ghost investigators, beginning at 9:00 EST/8:00 Central. And as always, we encourage you to please tune in and support great research.

Book Review: Bigfoot by Alan Berry and B. Ann Slate

Really unusual but thought-provoking.

This short novel-sized book came out in 1976, and does take some unusual twists and turns. Slate and Berry focus 3 chapters to the Sierra Sounds (both Berry and Ron Morehead, Warren, Lewis and Larry Johnson), telling basically the full story of the strange vocalization recordings, as well as some strange lights seen. The Bigfoot/UFO connection is also explored, and it seems that Berry and Slate are giving an open-minded dissertation on it, while not necessarily endorsing it. Same goes for telepathy regarding Bigfoot and its possibility to use that medium of communication. An interesting discovery is also discussed, something called the Minaret Skull, which was kicked up from a bog by a donkey recovered by a physician, Robert Denton, and sent to a Dr. Gerald K. Ridge, a pathologist at of the Ventura County General Hospital. The skull was sent to UCLA's Department of Archaeology, where two Professors examined it and thought initially it might have been a large Indian's skull, but Ridge was not so sure. Eventually, the skull was misplaced and lost to the ravages of time. That event occurred in 1965. (There is a full appendix on the skull at the end of the book). The second Appendix deals with the Sierra Sounds and the circumstances surrounding that, and the analysis done President of Syntonic Research of New York City I.E. Teibel, who could not determine anything about the recordings other than they were not re-recorded or artificially created (Teibel had been on television discussing the Watergate tapes and the relative ease in altering tapes and the relative difficulty in detecting such alterations. Teibel had suggested on the television talk show that his firm could expose tapes that were hoaxes, so this is what inspired Berry to seek Teibel's expertise on possibly determining the authenticity (or lack thereof) of the recordings he picked up while at the remote camp with the Johnson brothers). All in all, this book does seem to delve into strange territory, but I do recommend it pretty highly, if for nothing else for the true story of the extraordinary series of recordings which is making the news in the Bigfoot world once again. I would give this book about a 3 1/2 out of 5 stars. 
A city lost for 1,000 years has been unearthed in Peru's Utcubamba province on the Pachallama peak and is believed to belong to the mysterious Chachapoya tribe, famed for their fierce warriors and beautiful fair-skinned women. Is it surprising that in this modern day such discoveries are still being made? With photo. There's more on the discovery in Expedition Uncovers Ancient Citadel in Peruvian Jungle. Meanwhile, Philip Coppens has updated reports of the Bosnian effort at Unearthing Europe's Oldest Pyramid Complex.

Two Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints missionaries in Burns Lake, British Columbia, Canada, think they've found the footprint of a Bigfoot near their porch. The report follows multiple sightings of the legendary creature around the area. Elsewhere, a costume designer is making news regarding the 1967 Patterson-Gimlin film footage, as reported in Bigfoot: Just a Costume? Meanwhile, the Centre for Fortean Zoology presents another video update in On the Track: Episode 14 (November 2008).
Long Beach & Sea Serpents
English Language on Bigfoot Audiotape?

The X-Creatures: Shooting The Bigfoot

The X Creatures Episode 4 "Shooting The Bigfoot" Part 1
08:38
Previously viewed
The fourth of six episodes in which presenter Chris Packham studies the creatures that may or may not exist. Shooting the ...
5.0 
5 months ago 793 viewsnwoo2002
The X Creatures Episode 4 "Shooting The Bigfoot" Part 2
07:35
Previously viewed
The fourth of six episodes in which presenter Chris Packham studies the creatures that may or may not exist. Shooting the ...
no rating 5 months ago 525 viewsnwoo2002
The X Creatures Episode 4 "Shooting The BIgfoot" Part 3
07:30
Previously viewed
The fourth of six episodes in which presenter Chris Packham studies the creatures that may or may not exist. Shooting the ...
4.5 
5 months ago 727 views
Long Beach & Sea Serpents
Alleged Suits & Morris Missteps
Flashback: Camel Spiders and Other Giant Spiders
Saving The Cross River Gorillas
Ya Talkin’ Ta Me? Who Are You?

List of great Canadian Sasquatch Researchers

John Green

Thomas Steenburg

Chris Murphy

Rene Dahinden (D) (Originally from Switzerland)

Bill Miller (Originally from Illinois)

John Kirk (Originally from England)

Bob Titmus (D) (Originally from California)

Gerry Matthews

Ken Kristian

J.W. Burns (D)

20 Inch Track Found In B.C. By Missionaries?

HOUSTONTODAY.COM Published: December 04, 2008 10:00 AM Updated: December 04, 2008 10:23 AM Two missionaries with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints got quite a scare on the night of Dec. 2 when they saw what they think was a set of sasquatch footprints right outside of their Burns Lake home. Tyler Beck and Brad Blazzard are in B.C. for two years, rotating in different 

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Scott Nelson's Qualifications

     R. Scott Nelson is a retired U.S. Navy Crypto-Linguist with over 30 years experience in Foreign Language and Linguistics, including the Collection, Transcription, Analysis and Reporting of voice communications.

 

     He is a two time graduate of the U.S. Navy Cryptologic Voice Transcription School (Russian and Spanish) and has logged thousands of hours of voice transcription in his target languages as well as in Persian.  He is currently teaching Russian, Spanish, Persian, Philosophy and Comparative Religions at Wentworth College in Missouri.

 

     His pertinent Curriculum Vitae follows:

 

 

R. Scott Nelson

Curriculum Vitae

 

    

     Eleven years on the Faculty of Philosophy and Languages at Wentworth College,

Lexington, Missouri; teaching Russian, Persian and Spanish as well several Philosophy and Religion courses.

 

      Retired U.S. Navy Cryptologic Technician Interpreter (Crypto-Linguist), worked for Naval Intelligence at the following duty stations:  Naval Security Group Activity (NSGA), Rota, Spain; Naval Security Group Detachment Galeta Island, Panama; NSGA Homestead, Florida; NSGA Edzell, Scotland and aboard the following afloat units:

USS Coronado, USS Belknap, USS Deyo, USS Bigelow, USS Sphynx; serving in the Atlantic Ocean, Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea and Persian Gulf.

 

     Two time graduate of the Defense Language Institute, Foreign Language Center, Monterey, California (Russian and Spanish).

 

     Two time graduate of the U.S. Navy Cryptologic Voice Transcription School at Naval Security Group Detachment (NSGD), San Angelo, Texas (Russian and Spanish).

 

     Graduate of U.S. Navy Communications Intelligence Analysis and Reporting School at NSGD, San Angelo, Texas.

 

     Acquired the Persian Language while assigned to afloat platforms in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf.  These platforms had Persian as their primary target language.

 

     Logged thousands of hours of collection and transcription of voice communications as a Cryptologic Interpreter for the U.S. Navy.



                 Characteristics of Human Language

                Evident in the Berry/Morehead Tapes

 

                                                   By R. Scott Nelson

 

 

     The Functions, Properties and Elements of human language as given here are defined by the Department of Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences, Brown University and will be underlined throughout.

 

 

Functions of Language

 

     Certain functions of language are indistinguishable from language itself, namely; Communication and Thinking.  Verbal communication, the conveyance of symbolic meaning through utterance is the very purpose of language.  Therefore, any vocalization that contains morphemes, or units of meaning, is indeed serving this purpose.

 

     Thinking is tantamount to how we define ourselves as human beings, the mental process that makes us “sentient” and separates us from “lesser” species.  Language as the means by which we communicate our thoughts is inseparable from thinking; when we form thoughts we do so in a certain language.  We cannot conceive of an object such as a tree without forming the word “tree” in our minds, and thus the thought and the word become one.  The unitary principle of Thought/Language is inherent in our subject/object relationships. 

 

     The degree of influence on Western thought patterns as a result of the invention of a phonetic alphabet is open to speculation.  Cultures that lack a phonetic alphabet are assumed by many to have retained a more holistic understanding of their environment.  What is clear is that Western human thought patterns have become linear, and these patterns have a close correlation to the development and expression of our languages.

 

     All this may be delving a bit too deeply into Psycholinguistics for our purpose, but since the creatures in our study are using language, these speculations may serve to alert us to the homo-centric tendency to classify Bigfoot into one group or another.  Is Bigfoot an animal, or is he Human?  Is he or is he not sentient?  Does he think in linear patterns or more holistically?  Here we must not forget the tertium quid that Bigfoot may be very different from any creature ever classified.  We cannot assume that he has not developed a graphic system for expressing language, simply because we have not discovered it.  In fact, there is much evidence that he uses the forest itself, by means of broken and twisted limbs, to build elaborate communicative formations which humans often mistake for storm damage or dismiss as territorial markers.  These formations could be a much more complex form of communication than we imagine.  Likewise, we cannot assume that Bigfoot has not developed technology, just because he has not electrified and digitized his world.  Again, the forest itself may be his machine, engineered to facilitate his existence.   We cannot assume that he is incapable of creating fire; he may simply choose not to.  In the end, we must be careful not to assign the language of Bigfoot or his thought patterns to any one humanly contrived pigeonhole, while at the same time analyzing his language by the human definition of it.

 

     Intimidation, as a function of human language, is heard throughout the recordings, specifically on the Berry Tape in what has previously been dubbed “samurai chatter” and which I have come to refer to as “Hostility Assertion”.  These are vocalized by a drawn out stream of morphemes, often repeated, which are articulated at high volume in a highly hostile tone (BI-5:32.42 – BI-6:35.60).  Several of these Hostility Assertions are articulated as forceful ululations in which the streamed morphemes may not have specific meaning in the sense of being semantically discrete.  These ululations have an extremely intimidating effect on the listener and may be utilized solely for this purpose

(BI-7:02.52).

 

     Persuasion and Instruction:  If we accept the argument that the creatures are at times speaking in cognatic words and phrases, then persuasive and instructive utterances are found throughout the recordings and can be referenced in the line-by-line analysis of the transcripts.  Other than these cognatic phrases, since we are dealing with an unknown language, persuasive and instructive utterances must be inferred from the recognizable inflective modulation of the voice in such utterances.  These are also found throughout the recordings.       

 

     Emotional Expression:  If we presume that Sasquatch possesses similar emotional sensibilities as humans and would express them in a similar fashion, then indeed we find emotional utterances throughout the Berry/Morehead recordings.  We can infer much of this from modulations in pitch, tone and degree of agitation in the voice, and from the meaning of presumed cognatic expressions.  Since emotion is so often swayed by external environmental stimuli, it is easy to understand why the range of emotions expressed by the creatures during this confrontation between species, would be quite narrow: apprehension, aggravation, and hostility are most common.  However, there are many instances where curiosity, wonder and (…).  This last instance is also evidentiary to the Entertainment Function of human language.

 

     Ritual, defined as a practice or pattern of behavior regularly performed in a set manner, is another important function of language.  There is a great body of evidence, documented by witnesses as well as researchers, of the practice of signal drumming by means of wood knocking or rock bashing.  These would certainly constitute a ritualistic form of communication.  We can assume that the creatures are not drumming out a coded alphabet such as Morse Code, since the signals are broadcast in set patterns of short duration.  However, something is being communicated through this behavior.

     Vocally, there are numerous ‘whistles’ and ‘whoops’ expressed on the tapes.  I do not presume these have semantic meaning but are ritualistic in nature and could serve any purpose from a mating call to an assertion of dominance over his clan.  There is one morpheme stream (or possible word) on the Morehead tape that is of particular interest here.  I believe it to have semantic meaning as well as being a ritualistic expression.  I infer this on the basis of several factors: it is repeated numerous times by the presumed female creature with an almost song-like quality to her voice; it is given in response by the presumed male in a manner suggestive of ritual; it is used in several morphological variations in combination with other morphemes.  Variations of the word include: “VÖ WÄ KÖ,” VÖ WÄ” and “WÄ KÖ” (M-12:48.56 – M-12:13.62 and again at M-20:48.77 – M-22:40.79).

 

 

Properties of Language

 

     There are certain properties that are necessary components of human language and are present in any system that utilizes phonemes and morphemes to construct meaningful utterances as evident in the vocalizations on the Berry/Morehead tapes.  These properties include:

 

     Lexical and Semantic:  Lexical, as a property of language, describes the combining of morphemes into words of infinite variation.  Semantics is implicit in any vocal language and defines morphemes and words as minimal units of sound which possess symbolic meaning and are used to communicate thought (see Index of Articulated Morphemes and Index of Possible Words).

 

     Learnable:  To be defined as language, it must be a system that is learnable.  Any system in which articulated morphemes are presumed to have meaning, must also be presumed to have been assimilated through observation or demonstration by one member of the society to another; such as a parent teaching words to a child.

 

     Conventional:  All semantic meaning within a language system must be conventional in the sense that it is based on usage and custom, and is therefore understood by all members of a given society.  Any system that practices conversational turns of utterance, as demonstrated by the creatures in our study, must be understood to possess linguistic convention.

 

     Automatized:  Speech perception and parsing are generally considered to be automatized mechanisms.  These are defined as actions that are carried out unconsciously or at such a rate of speed that they are unable to be modified or interrupted by purposeful intent.  Since the vocalized exchanges of the creatures are articulated so rapidly, they easily meet the criteria for an automatized language system.

 

     Arbitrary:  A language is considered arbitrary when it possesses words in which the sounds of articulated morphemes bear no relationship to their meaning.  This is in opposition to words based on sound symbolism or phonetic imitation of actual sounds, such as “crash” or “bash.”  At this point there have been no words or morphemes noted in the creature utterances which have any resemblance to any specific sound in his natural environment.  Allowing for the possibility that the creatures may perceive sound in a very different way than humans, and though we cannot presume to know the meanings of any non-cognate words, we must still judge that most of the morphemes collected from the tapes are arbitrary in nature.

 

     Creative:  Linguistic creativity refers to the ability to produce and understand an infinitely large number of utterances, whether or not they have been heard before.  Because many of the other properties of language are present in the vocalizations and because of the seemingly endless variation by which the creatures combine morphemes to construct utterances, we can conclude that their language is creative as well as hierarchically combinatoric (phonemes are used to construct morphemes, which are used to construct words, which are used to construct utterances, etc.).

 

     Open:  Language is dynamic: it changes constantly.  It evolves quickly, even from one generation to the next.  In this way, language can be seen as a living, evolving entity, open to all the influences of its specific environment.  All human language is open in the sense that new words and phrases from a wide variety of sources enter our languages every day.  It is here that the most compelling evidence is found for the subject creatures use of language.  (…)  (the argument for the presence of cognates is found in Analysis of Cognate Words and Phrases).  

 

     The various systems of language such as Phonology, Morphology, Semantics, Syntax and Grammar, as they apply to the subject language, cannot yet be described (outside of cognatic utterances) due to the limited volume of creature language collected here.  This will certainly change in time.  With the recognition and acceptance that the creatures do indeed speak and understand a complex language, a greater effort will be made to collect voice recordings and our analysis of the language will improve.

 

     There is one system of language, however, that must be discussed here since it explains why these vocalizations have never before been recognized as language: the Prosody of utterance.  The intonation contour, stress pattern and speed (approximately twice the speed of human speech) at which the vocalizations are delivered makes it impossible for humans to understand.  In addition to this, the rate of discourse, or the speed of exchange of conversational turns is such that the creatures are virtually “stepping on” each other in their responses.  This also makes it impossible, in real time, to distinguish the utterance of one creature from that of another.  The conclusion that must be drawn here is that the creatures mentally process information at a much higher rate than humans do, or at least they are able to communicate their ideas much faster.  Some might argue that the creatures are able to do this because their thoughts are much simpler, but I think this would be a very homo-centric way of looking at this issue.

 

 

 

 

 

Elements of Language

 

     Since we are dealing with an unknown language, several elements of human language cannot be described by examples found in the tapes.  We do not yet know the meanings of any non-cognate words, therefore, phrases, sentences and grammatical categories such as nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc. cannot be known.  However, we must assume that similar components are extant in the vocalizations, since we find so many other elements of human language present.

 

     Phoneme:  a minimal distinctive sound unit used to form morphemes.  Not only are phonemes present in the vocalizations, but they are so phonetically similar to human phonemes that we must conclude they are articulated by the same apparatus as that of humans, i.e. with the tongue, lips and teeth.  (see Transcription Key and Frequency Count Table)

 

     Morpheme:  a minimal linguistic unit of meaning; a stem, a minimal word or what is commonly referred to as a syllable.  Other than ululations, whoops and whistles, human-like morphemes constitute virtually all of the vocalizations collected (see Index of Morphemes). 

 

     Word:  These are notoriously hard to define in comparing languages of different structural types, but for our purposes: a unit of expression comprised of one or more morphemes which is intuitively recognized by native speakers of a language and which is relatively uninterruptible or with few pauses in pronunciation (see Index of Possible Words).

 

     Utterance:  a stream of spoken morphemes or words (evident throughout the recordings, see Line-by-Line Analysis).

 

     Discourse:  a spoken utterance of some length or a set of connected utterances (evident throughout the recordings, see Line-by-Line Analysis).

 

     Conversational Turns:  alternating utterances that make up a discourse among several speakers.  These communicative exchanges take place so rapidly, in real time, that it is difficult to distinguish one speaker from the next (evident throughout the recordings, see Line-by-Line Analysis).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Articulated Phonetic Structures

 

     After the definition of each phonetic term, articulated phonemes are given as transcribed.  Note that some phonemes fall under more than one type.  For a full list of phonemes and their pronunciation, see Transcription Key.

 

Bilabials:

 

     Made by pressing both lips together;  B, P, M.

 

Labio-Dentals:

 

     The top teeth meet the bottom lip;  F, V.

 

Alveolars and Dentals:

 

     The tongue-tip is touching the back of, or the ridge behind the top-front teeth; T, D, N.

 

Interdentals:

 

     The tongue is sticking out between the front teeth;  Δ, Θ.

 

Palato-Alveolars:

 

     The flat part of the tongue is touching behind the alveolar ridge;  SJ, TSJ.

 

Palatals:

 

     The flat part of the tongue is against the hard palate;  JÜ.

 

Velars:

 

     The back of the tongue is pushing up against the soft palate;  K, G, KH.

 

Uvulars:

 

     The back of the tongue is pushing up toward the uvula;  Rr.

          

Pharyngeals:

 

     Made by bringing the walls of the throat closer together;  KH.

 

Glottals or Glottal Stops:

 

     A break between vowels sounds, made by contraction of the diaphragm;  ′.

 

Orally or Nasally Stopped Articulations:

 

     Completely blocks off air through the mouth;  P, T, K, M, N. 

 

Affricates:

 

     When two sounds occur, one right after the other then fricate;  DZJ.

 

Fricatives:

 

     The air is partially blocked so that friction occurs;  F, S, H.

 

Approximates:

 

     The tongue or lips shape the mouth cavity to create some air restriction;  L, R, W, Y.

 

Voiced Articulations:

 

     Caused by vibration of the vocal chords;  B, V, D, Z, Θ.

 

Voiceless Articulations:

 

     With no vocal chord vibration;  P, K, T, F, S.

 

Aspirated Articulations:

 

     Voiceless with a strong puff of air;  P, K, T, Δ.

 

High/Front Vowels:

 

     The tongue is close to the top of the mouth while the front of the tongue shapes the vowel;  Ï, I, Ü, U.

 

Low/Central Vowels:

 

     The tongue is close to the bottom of the mouth while the middle part of the tongue shapes the vowel;  Ä.

 

Low/Back Vowels:

 

     The tongue is close to the bottom of the mouth while the back of the tongue shapes the vowel;  A.

 

 

 

 

Mid/Front Vowels:

 

     The tongue is halfway between the top and bottom of the mouth while the front of the tongue shapes the vowel;  Ë, E.

 

Mid/Back Vowels:

 

     The tongue is halfway between the top and bottom of the mouth while the back of the tongue shapes the vowel;  Ö, O.

    


 

Announcement/e-mail sent to Alan Berry and Ron Morehead Re: Their Recordings

Please review the attached data and the comments below.  This will probably
challenge many researchers established paradigm regarding language... Ron
Morehead

Dear Al and Ron;

We have verified that these creatures use language, by the human definition
of it.     The months of hard work that we have put into the study of the
Berry/Morehead tapes is finally coming to fruition.  The analysis is
finished, although I am still working on parts of the final write-up such as
frequency count tables, morpheme lists, etc.

I believe that the study of these tapes will never (and should never) end.
With the recognition and acceptance that these creatures do indeed speak and
understand a complex language, a greater effort will be made to collect
voice recordings and our analysis of the language will improve.  Now that we
have a precedent and techniques established for this study, this process
will certainly become easier.

Feel free to forward this e-mail to any interested party and use it, if you
will, as an announcement of our findings.  I have attached a segment of my
analysis called Characteristics of Human Language Evident in the
Berry/Morehead Tapes (I have removed a few statements which I feel should
not be released without the corroborating data).  I have also attached a
synopsis of my qualifications and pertinent Curriculum Vitae.  Please
forward these attachments with the e-mail as a sampling of our work.  I also
want to give out my personal e-mail address, rrugby@hotmail.com. and I
invite comments and inquiries from any interested persons.  I cannot promise
to answer all such correspondence as I am still busy with my write-up as
well as the fact that many questions can only be answered by the data
itself.  However, I will do my best.

Scott Nelson, Crypto-Linguist

Beyond The Edge Radio Tomorrow...

Sean, Eric and Monica welcome back Pennsylvania Ghost Hunters John and Kelly Weaver beginning at 9:00 EST/8:00 Central. And as always, we encourage you to please tune in and support great research.
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Bigfoot: A big fake?
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Spaceships come up often in Lake County discussions
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In British Columbia, Canada, Bigfoot is taken a bit more seriously than most locations, even after the infamous "Georgia Bigfoot" hoax. Perhaps the reason for British Columbia's regard for Sasquatch is due to the huge number of sightings throughout the vicinity. So who are the people looking for the giant hairy homonoid in the wilds of British Columbia, and what do they know about the legendary creature? Meanwhile it has been revealed that another hard to find creature has been located, despite its reported extinction, as explained in New Population of Endangered Monkey Found in Northern Vietnam, and in the UK Big Cat Spotted Again.
The Special Investigations Unit's continuing monitoring of strange phenomena at a site designated "Marley Woods" has offered up many photos and videos of strange lights and orbs. And, recently, strange white hair was found tangled in fence wire at the site. What are the results of laboratory testing of these hair samples? Meanwhile, November observations of the strange phenomena at Marley Woods are reported. With photo. Elsewhere, Robert Barrow blogs about The Extraordinary Witness.