Are They Really Woodknocks?

[Doc Holliday]

i'll throw out another possibility....chest thump?

[CMBigfoot]

In forested areas away from rocks I would usually hear the wood on wood sounds. In forested areas next to a river, creek or area with rocks I would usually hear the rock on rock sounds. So I think they use what is available to them at the time and if there isn't anything available they may clap their hands or something else.

 

A friend of mine witnessed a bigfoot clapping its hands and he said it sounded like wood knocks.

[Guest lightheart]

Hey Nathan 

Just a quick flash of arm movement. I did not see the knock itself. When the stick broke it scrambled and I caught movement of the arm. These oak tree in the South are hundreds of years old and thick and massive. They grow close together so limbs overlap limbs.

[NCBFr]

While on my evening walk in a local waterfowl preserve, I had an experience that led to an odd idea about reported woodknocks. As I walked past the first of several small lakes adjacent to the trail, I saw a crow perched on the head of a bullrush, probably watching for ducks and geese to leave their new nests, so he could grab a quick egg snack. At the point when I was closest to him,about 20 yards, he looked at me and gave a couple of the "clicks" that they make, possibly to express annoyance at my presence on his hunting turf. I responded with a pair of "tongue clucks" of my own, and was surprised by the resonance of the sound in the still evening air. The clear "thock" sound of my clucks sounded remarkably like a bat hitting a baseball! That made me wonder if what has been reported as "distant woodknocks" might actually have been the sound of a large hairy biped making a sound like mine, but with a much larger mouth, and much more powerful tongue, from much closer to the listener than a far off woodknock. Is Sas/BF standing just outside the campfire circle or lantern glow, and clucking his tongue at our uninvited presence? Or did I have too much coffee with dinner before my walk, causing my mind to go off on a wild tangent?

 

You probably made the sound right, but I am sure it was lacking in the volume of a real BF wood knock.  You can always tell the difference between BF sounds and other sounds in nature but their sound pressure.  The closest I have ever heard was a full on lion's roar at the local zoo but even that did not match the power of what I heard from what I presume to be a BF.  

[Guest]

Bigfoot, if they are primates as believed, would certainly possess the ability to produce wood knocks and are likely to do them as known primates do. But wood knocks in the night, in the distance? Without seeing the source it could be anything from the aforementioned woodpeckers to Bigfooters off in the woods trying to elicit a response from Sasquatch.

[bipedalist]

I used a maple (hardwood) wood block (not a plastic jam block) to leave percussive signals in a research area for awhile.  They were imitated with fidelity by putative BF (and as best I could determine could not have been generated wood on wood).  Just my take on the matter.  The recorded versions were not in close proximity to my own stimulus however.  The sound was retained over time and produced in a different area all together (and at night I might add when it couldn't be confused with a woodpecker).  

Edited April 28, 2014 by bipedalist

[BC witness]

I agree, NCBRR, that my puny clucks were orders of magnitude quieter than what BF should be capable of, it is the "knock" quality of the sound that got me thinking about the possibility of the sounds being oral, rather than percussive, and possibly much closer to the listener than knocks would be assumed to be.

 

I am pleased that there are comments here that indicate other posters are considering sources besides "bat a tree" that could be the origin of the sounds. I'm certainly open to all ideas about the noises that are assumed to be produced by BF. Continue the posts, that I might learn more from you all.

[Guest JiggyPotamus]

It definitely cannot be discounted by any means. I do not put a whole lot of faith in wood knocks to begin with, simply because it is not that often that a witness actually observes a sasquatch doing this. It has reportedly been witnessed however, which is why I at least entertain the idea in general. But I ask myself why a sasquatch would make such a loud sound, and there are only two answers that seem likely to me: first, the sasquatch is attempting to communicate its position to other sasquatch, so that the others can find it...or it is attempting to communicate its position so that others will stay away from it.

 

Let's invent a scenario. A group of sasquatch, let's say a male and a female and a juvenile, wish to eat dinner. Let's say they split up to do this, and the young sasquatch gets left behind, or placed in a certain area for later retrieval...One of the sasquatch is able to acquire dinner for the family and so it needs a way to communicate this fact. If the sasquatch population is relatively well spread out then wood knocking seems like it could work. I think the fact that a sasquatch can put a lot of force behind a blow translates into the sound carrying a great distance, as well as possessing an aura of power that would not be confused with anything else in most instances. Therefore the other sasquatch hears this and so heads back to eat dinner. Just an example, which makes a few assumptions, but that is the basic idea.

 

So I don't think a wood knock could be confused at closer ranges, but as you mentioned it may be possible to confuse it with something else at longer ranges. But the thing is that a bird noise is not going to carry all that far. So if you hear a bird noise your brain will likely be able to discern both the direction of the sound, as well as an estimated distance. So I am thinking that such a sound wouldn't be confused with a wood knock that was barely audible because it occurred a great distance away. I am not positive of that, but I think that one could perceive the difference much of the time.

 

Now a sasquatch is probably much more able to distinguish minute differences in sounds, because living in the forest they cannot help but to be "tuned" to it more than most humans. Even hunters who spend a lot of time in the woods don't actually live there, and therefore are not going to key in on as many things as an intelligent animal like a sasquatch will.

 

I think wood knock "evidence" should just be used as a guide at this point. It shouldn't really be considered evidence of anything, rather a researcher could just move to an area where the knock originated. Not seeing what is making the sound is the problem, and assuming it is a sasquatch is a mistake in my opinion. And even if a person can distinguish between a bird and a knock, it is still possible to get tricked on occasion. So researchers should just investigate such sounds, and not assume they had a sasquatch experience, because doing so is likely what has kept the idea of wood knocking so prevalent in the research community in the first place.

[georgerm]

Why wood knock at all? Why not simple call or howl out to bring the family back together or to warn others of predators?

 

A huge chimpanzee was in this small open air cage, and while I was standing there it let out this humongous call, yell, or scream, and it was deafening. It's mouth was wide open and huge, and the sound would carry for miles. Would calls like this carry as far as wood knocks?

 

I went to this remote sough near our home to collect clams and up in the timber came wood knocks. There are no roads or homes in the area in the immediate vicinity. There have been several recent encounters and foot prints from this neck of the woods. It sounded like a wood cutter. I knocked back and seemed like it was answering back. This went back and forth for about 10 minutes until we had to leave. It was either a wood cutter, a BF researcher, or BF in my opinion. I'm simply amazed if it was a BF since pinpointing their position is a rareity for me. In this situation, speculation is in order since there is no proof that BF was the cause.

 

If wood knocking has been observed by a 'reliable witness' then wood knocks are at a lower level of evidence which is beyond speculation in my opinion.

[Guest]

What is needed is decibel levels in this discussion. What decibel levels are BF/Chimp/Gorilla capable of. A mouth-pop would just be a quicker way of signaling, when they know other BF are in the area of 1/4-1/2 mile (for example), and it would imitate the non-obvious wood knock. Why knock wood when you can just 'cluck' one off? But it would be for close in group situations.

 

Howling is reserved for special occasions, wood knocks are for human-in-area-warnings, I spy human, and possible location detection.

[southernyahoo]

 So researchers should just investigate such sounds, and not assume they had a sasquatch experience, because doing so is likely what has kept the idea of wood knocking so prevalent in the research community in the first place.

 

Another possibility is that when researchers investigate the sounds they hear more of them, have encounters and collect other forms of evidence.

[georgerm]

What is needed is decibel levels in this discussion. What decibel levels are BF/Chimp/Gorilla capable of. A mouth-pop would just be a quicker way of signaling, when they know other BF are in the area of 1/4-1/2 mile (for example), and it would imitate the non-obvious wood knock. Why knock wood when you can just 'cluck' one off? But it would be for close in group situations.

 

Howling is reserved for special occasions, wood knocks are for human-in-area-warnings, I spy human, and possible location detection.

 

The decibel rating is important and BF knows how far sounds carry especially in mountain canyons where sound carries through echoes. Someone reported while hiking they noticed the number of wood knocks aligned with the number in their party.

 

Being intelligent as suspected by many, BF could have many knocks, clacks, and animal imitations that have precise meanings. Since BF desperately wants to avoid being detected by humans, all of these noises probably have distinct meanings such as: hikers over here, hunter with gun, hide now, move to mountain top etc.

[Guest lightheart]

I agree George. They do seem to use these "forest sounds" to tell the others to take cover. Last weekend just as I entered the trail I heard a large angry barred owl sound.  This was immediately followed by another softer more distant call. In this instance I was the first one in the forest. Later on my hike I found some some bushes that had been ripped out of the ground and thrown into a pond.

 

All the knocks I have heard  correspond to the number of people in their space. Since I go alone now it is always only one. With my Dad I heard two. With a large group I have heard three. I think as wild as it sounds they use one, two, and many, This would fit with proto-language rather nicely.

Edited April 28, 2014 by lightheart

[NCBFr]

I have spent alot of time trying to figure out the wood knocks directed at me about 3 AM EST one morning a couple of years ago.  I have come to the conclusion it was a signal to me that they were hunting in the area and that I better go back to bed because if my presence ruins their deer hunt I would be next on the menu.

[Guest]

But I ask myself why a sasquatch would make such a loud sound, and there are only two answers that seem likely to me: first, the sasquatch is attempting to communicate its position to other sasquatch, so that the others can find it...or it is attempting to communicate its position so that others will stay away from it.

That's a false dichotomy. Assuming that Bigfoot are responsible for at least some of the wood knocks, there could be any number of reasons they do it apart from communications.

The rest of your post is just nonsense.