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From the High Desert

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October 10, 2015: Bigfoot Sounds - Ron Morehead & Scott Nelson

Oct 10, 2015
2h 38m
0:00 / 0:00
Art Bell welcomes Bigfoot researcher Ron Morehead and retired Navy crypto linguist Scott Nelson to examine the famous Sierra Sounds, audio recordings captured over several years at a remote wilderness camp in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. The recordings, made beginning in 1971, feature striking vocalizations that Nelson identifies as containing virtually every characteristic of human language, including conversational turns between a male and female creature.

Morehead recounts how hunters first encountered the creatures and began recording their vocalizations using portable cassette recorders. He describes brief sightings of large, incredibly fast beings moving between trees, 25-inch footprints with 13-foot stride lengths, and strange paranormal occurrences including unexplained lights and sounds with no visible source. Nelson explains that his decades of military experience transcribing foreign voice communications allowed him to immediately recognize articulated language in the recordings.

The episode features seven distinct audio samples played on air, ranging from aggressive vocal exchanges and eerie whistling interactions to rhythmic rock clacking and what Morehead calls "the question," a vocalization seemingly directed at the researchers. Both guests agree the creatures possess intelligence far beyond what most people assume, and Nelson notes he produced 75 pages of transcription from roughly 90 minutes of tape.

Key Moments

  1. Transcript

    Sierra Sounds origin: Morehead places the recordings back to encounters in the remote Sierra camp beginning in 1971.

  2. Transcript

    Not animal noise, language: Nelson says the sounds may resemble coyotes or apes fighting, but the structure indicates language.

  3. Transcript

    Human-language characteristics: Nelson says the Morehead tapes display turn-taking and repeated morphemes characteristic of human language.

  4. Transcript

    Rock cracks as signal: The guests describe rhythmic rock cracking used as apparent communication and warn of the force required to produce it.

  5. Transcript

    Seventy-five pages: The guests reiterate that the vocal material has been transcribed into 75 pages.

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