An Explanation For The Bf Smell

[SWWASAS]

Wow how did I miss this thread?    I knew skeptics had a big bag of excuses to explain away evidence, but migraines, brain tumors, sinus infections, sleep apnea?    I thought "In search of Aliens" was really reaching lately for new material but they have a lot to learn from the skeptic side in BF.   Now skeptics are starting to research medical journals to debunk evidence and witness reports.    If they think this route is productive, I will just declare that chronic skeptics must be suffering from similar medical issues that cause them to become argumentative,  irrational and ignore evidence presented  contrary to their beliefs.   Neither side could prove the other wrong without comprehensive medical evaluations of individuals in both sides of the issue.    Seems to be stalemate now with my assertion.       

[MIB]

I'm surprised no one here seems aware of a common explanation for what causes this odor.

 

What leads you to think that?   We're mostly quite familiar with that explanation.  Some have been for a decade or two.  For instance, I discussed it with the afore mentioned Henner Fahrenbach in 2004.  It may contribute.  It may not.  The smells I'm familiar with are not smells I'd describe in those terms, however, scent descriptions are very subjective.   I've stood in a cloud of stink with another person probably 8 inches apart, stink we both attributed to bigfoot, and yet we described it in entirely different terms. 

 

MIB

[bipedalist]

Yes, jayjeti thinks we are all the loser on the block in regards to BF phenomenology.  Not to fret, he has learned more in six months from our six years of learning and we should be appreciative of his efforts to keep the BFF afloat.  <yes, sarcasm as he is no longer a newbie>  

 

So, I have smelled horse sweat, burnt transmission fluid and the proverbial male fox or skunk smells in association with BF.  Big question is if these are internally produced or a byproduct of their phenotypic behavior in being BF rolling in stuff and being backyard mechanics.  

[JustCurious]

By your faux-logic I should be hallucinating bigfoot in my living room, not in the woods where I belong.    I grew up out there.  Not merely rural, but *raised backwoods*.   (Don't mistake that for uneducated, that'd your second mistake, and underestimating my IQ would be a third.)   Hasn't happened.   It's a safe enough bet that it isn't going to.  I think that's what I said. If 'bigfoot odors' could be explained by this disorder, it wouldn't just be happening in the woods.

 

Further, I didn't detect any odor during sightings.   I detected it independent of sightings.   Sometimes associated with other things, but not sightings.

I'm not sure if this was directed at me?  I wasn't directing anything I said at you.

 

Funny thing about smells ... unless two "observers" are in the same cloud of scent, all we have as a basis for comparison are words.   We don't know if we're using the same words to describe different things or not.   The assumption that they are the same is pretty weak.

Perhaps not specifically, but on a broader basis, I think we get the impression of an offensive smell regardless of the words used.

 

IMHO of course.  What you've said is pure foolishness. 

Any more foolish than what I was responding to in the OP?

 

Drew's hypothesis is not an explanation, it's a rationalization to justify sweeping inconvenient witness testimony under the carpet.  No more, no less, and it should be identified clearly as such.

I don't think it's either an explanation or a rationalization, it's just a bogus attempt to explain away witness testimony with yet another far-fetched (i.e., not rational) hypothesis. My post was stating why I didn't think it was rational.

 

MIB

JC

[the parkie]

Oh I think many are Jay for sure, it's just there is absolutely no point whatsoever in explaining this to the OP.

 

 Spot on.

[Guest]

So, I have smelled horse sweat, burnt transmission fluid and the proverbial male fox or skunk smells in association with BF. 

 

Just to be super clear, those smells occurred when other phenomena informed you of their source right?

 

 

I've been a few dozen times chasing various odours around the woods, especially on those damp but not raining hard days when they really seem to carry. Anyway, "wet horse", I've been unable to attribute so far to anything but deer, then there's some rotten smells I've traced to small dead critters, and funghi. There's some funky skunky odours that raccoons and opossums sometimes give off, they're not as strong as skunk, seem to mostly build up on their fur, but when they're near you can smell them and the scat is quite odiferous at times (Fresh or wet). Smells pique my interest, but so far mundane critters have seemed to be responsible. Oh, sometimes intense feline spray seems a little like burned transmission fluid to me. 

 

So, it being dictated as to what we have to count as bigfoot, I'm up to about 373 "skeptical bigfoots" now, with being told that I am counting every stump, shadow in the corner of my eye, odd smell, windfall branch, etc as  one... oh, someonething just cleared it's throat deeply outside, that's 374. Biological bigfoots, I've only had subtle hints of thus far though. 

[Guest]

And you guys thought that I overreacted......Yikes!

[SWWASAS]

Is there any relationship of smelling the bad BF smell to the sex of the human?   Do they only lay it on a male human during an encounter?    I have wondered if it is some sort of BF male dominance / territorial thing like some animals have that have repellant scents.      I have only smelled it one time and that was in what I suspect was a near road crossing encounter.    Two deer came tearing across the road in front of me, got to the other side and looked back into the woods from the other side of the road before they ran off.    They did not look at me at all but back into the woods from the direction they had just come.   When I passed where they were looking, I smelled a really bad smell.  

[Guest]

You wouldn't think pursuit of deer would be a territorial/dominance issue, or your presence much in that situation if you remained on road "where humans ought to be" as it were. 

 

However, one would imagine that previous pheromonal dumps would tend to remain in the hair, and when the critter got a sweat up, the odour would become strong again. So one could imagine that if subject had a recent territorial event with other BF or humans, in the past few days, that getting up a "lather" trying to run some deer down would have it good and funky again. 

 

Other times I wonder if some particular individuals "just don't care about personal hygiene", as it were, or the amenities were absent from that area at that time. i.e. they are not near any deep bathing water at that time. Though of course also, some standing water and marsh can get pretty funky smelling, especially when you stir up the bottom, so a dip in that stuff may not make the smell any sweeter... even if they just wade through it to cross and get it on their legs.

[Sunflower]

I'm surprised no one here seems aware of a common explanation for what causes this odor.  When male gorillas are under high stress situations, like being pursued by poachers, they release a horribly pungent odor out of auxiliary glands in their armpits.  Humans also have these glands that react to nervous stress, but it doesn't produce an overwhelming odor.  This is the reason only a small percentage of BF encounters result in a bad odor, something needs to trigger this involuntary response.

 

The following is copied from an article:

 

 

Canadian retired journalist and Bigfoot researcher John Green says that only about 10% of Sasquatch sightings are connected with a strong smell. It is this distinctive stench that separates Bigfoot from the other cryptids. Now, the question is, why the smell? Why does this happen when a sighting occurs?

The answer could be as simple as a defense mechanism. Similarly to the skunk, mountain gorillas are now known for emitting an intense odor. Anthropologist Dian Fossey recorded this fact in 1993. When frightened, she said, “the hair on each male’s headcrest stood erect and an overpowering fear odor permeated the air“.

In 1997, Dr. W. Fahrenbach, a retired biologist from the Oregon Primate Center, referred to George Schaller description of the gorilla’s hormonal release: “a mix of sweat, manure, charred wood and burning rubberâ€. This odor, he explained, emanates from the axillary organ, which is located in the armpit.

http://cryptozoologynews.com/tsiatko-skunk-ape-bigfoot-odor/

 

 

Jay,

 

Your comment has been brought up many times regarding the gorilla hormonal release.  Why those same people that agreed with this before are not agreeing now is strange???   Diane Fosse knew about it.....however, we may have some here that don't count what Diane Fosse did was a "science" and probably don't believe it???  I have no idea. 

 

I do accept that gorillas release a hormone and other animals do as well.

[SWWASAS]

Perhaps I need to be more specific to my question.   Have any females here, had a BF encounter where they smelled the bad smell and there was not a human male present?    I doubt that my road crossing thing had anything to do with my gender.   Perhaps the BF realized that if it had followed the deer across the road,  I would have hit it with my truck and the odor was a fear response.    I have not smelled anything during on foot BF encounters.   Like Green, I think the smell release might not be that common.    Putting out a strong smell does not seem to be something a creature that wants to stay undetected would normally do.   But if located or seen I can see it might try to repel humans by doing it. 

[Catmandoo]

I have considered the pheromone dump as as 'repel' activity. I have been dumped on in 2 watersheds. When that smell hits, the old genetic memory kicks in and you know that an ass-kicking animal is nearby. The most potent episode, that burned my sinus membranes, was when a Sasquatch came up a steep slope behind me. I checked out the slope afterwards and had difficulty standing erect. Sliding down was easy. I had to go down on 'all fours' and grab bush and tree limbs to pull/crawl back up the slope. The exertion of the climb is a possible additive factor to the potency of the pheromon release.

[SWWASAS]

Part of my reason for asking about gender in this matter is that males and female humans react differently to human male pheromones.     I thought perhaps there is some carryover from BF to human in this matter but really do not want to go there because of gender related issues.    Certainly the closer to human that BF are, the more similarities there should be.   I have heard reports of one male BF in a habitation situation in WA that has a really bad smell.   But it has been observed rolling in manure.   That scent would not come and go unless the subject smelled worse wet or on a warm day.   

 

While this subject is probably pretty fringe, I think it is one area where we can perhaps nibble at the edges and make some sense from sighting report data.     If large apes, have the dramatic scent response to fear, and most humans do not,  does that at least lead us in the direction of apes and away from wild man of the forest?    Just asking!

[jayjeti]

Jay,

 

Your comment has been brought up many times regarding the gorilla hormonal release.  Why those same people that agreed with this before are not agreeing now is strange???   Diane Fosse knew about it.....however, we may have some here that don't count what Diane Fosse did was a "science" and probably don't believe it???  I have no idea. 

 

I do accept that gorillas release a hormone and other animals do as well.

 

 

I read all of the thread before commenting and was surprised no one brought up this possible stress induced release from an auxillary gland, which made some say "Oh, we all know this."  Well, I couldn't tell by all the other explanations being fielded.  

 

I believe it is only the male gorilla that excretes the foul odor.  I don't know how that might relate to bigfoot.  I think BF is on man's linage, but man also has this gland that secrets, it's just not a great foul odor.  By the way that is unrelated to people's foul underarm odor which is caused by bacteria that grows well in that region and sweat.

[LeafTalker]

Have any females here, had a BF encounter where they smelled the bad smell and there was not a human male present?   

 

Yes. 

 

I doubt that my road crossing thing had anything to do with my gender.    

 

You are wise to doubt that, in my opinion. 

 

 

If large apes, have the dramatic scent response to fear, and most humans do not,  does that at least lead us in the direction of apes and away from wild man of the forest?   

 

No. Why should a single attribute lead anyone anywhere? That seems a little reductionist, to me. I think the big picture is more complicated than that. The big picture has many little parts to it, and no one single part is more significant than any other. If it truly were, we would've figured out what that part was a long time ago, and we wouldn't constantly be changing our minds about that single part, and arguing about what that single part was. Usually, when we redraw our inner maps to make sense of the world, we have to make them bigger and more inclusive, not narrower and smaller.  

 

 

I read all of the thread before commenting and was surprised no one brought up this possible stress induced release from an auxillary gland, which made some say "Oh, we all know this."  Well, I couldn't tell by all the other explanations being fielded.  

 

You are a kind and sensible person, jayjeti. 

 

I believe it is only the male gorilla that excretes the foul odor.  I don't know how that might relate to bigfoot.  I think BF is on man's linage, but man also has this gland that secrets, it's just not a great foul odor.  

 

And you know things, too. Thanks for that information.