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Sometimes in the Bigfoot community you may hear researchers and witnesses talk about being "zapped". The zap they are referring to is in fact infrasound. I think it is important that we have a basic understanding of infrasound and what it can do.

So today I wanted to take a little time and talk about infrasound. First, I guess we need to understand just what infrasound is and how it works.

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I love to hear about instances where amateur or unknown researchers make amazing discoveries where science missed the mark. This is one such story.

In the high deserts of southern Peru, just 200 miles south of Lima, lies one of the driest places on earth. A place where it only rains about 20 minutes a year on average. And only if you travel by air to the region, can you see one of the greatest ancient mysteries on earth. Grayish rusty lines intersect in all directions across the barren landscape. Known only as The Nazca Lines, they’ve stumped scientists for the last eighty years, or since air travel over the region was humanly possible, as they can’t be seen to any degree from ground level.  Which has fueled theories of alien activity by ancient astronaut theorists. Most notably, researcher and author of Chariots of the Gods, Erich Von Daniken. Why would the lines only be visible from the air at a time when humans were incapable of air travel?

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The Burden of Proof is a phrase that I'm sure most of you have heard many times. It is used in the court of law probably everyday. It is also used very often in the Bigfoot world, but before I get into some of that, lets look at what "Burden of proof" means.

The Burden of proof is a duty placed on a person to prove or disprove some stated or disputed fact. In the court of law, in criminal cases, it is normally the prosecution that has the burden of proof. In plain words, the prosecution has the burden (duty) to prove that the defendant is guilty of a crime. In doing so the person would get convicted of the crime. On some occasions, the defendant (the person accused of a crime) has the burden of proof. In cases where the defendant is pleading insanity, the duty of the defendant's lawyers is to present proof that the person has mental health issues.

If the prosecution can present their proof to the jury in a way that leaves no doubt, then the person is normally found guilty of the crime. The long and short of it is, the prosecution is accusing a person of a crime and must prove it. Hence, the phrase "innocent until proven guilty".

Now, lets take this novel concept over to the bigfoot world. It seems that if you have seen a bigfoot, have found things possibly associated with bigfoot, you get the ol "Burden of proof" phrase. So, for instance, you make a statement like " I seen a bigfoot carrying a live chicken", you will get the reaction that you must prove it. The problem is, the people who don't believe your statement, are accusing you of lying and asking you to prove your statement. They are acting like the prosecution, which to me, puts the burden of proof on them, not the witness. Beside, sometimes, there are things that you just can not prove when it comes to something you seen. The value of the witness comes into play. Is the witness a honest person, does the witness have a history of being truthful, in other words is the witness someone to be believed.

Some may say, "you have to be able to prove your claims", but sometimes it just can not be done when it comes to something you and only you have seen. There was no picture taken, there was no other witnesses, no evidence left behind. There is no way to prove it. Does that make you guilty? I don't think it does. The person or people accusing you has to prove you are guilty. They would have to prove you have a history of lying, or making up stories. Can they do that? For some people, yes they can, for others not they can't.

Now, for the sad part. The sad part and the one that hurts the bigfoot world in general, is not only that skeptic slam researchers and witnesses with the "burden of poof" phrase but other researchers use it. People and researchers who supposedly believe in bigfoot, run bigfoot groups and who do research, will slam other researchers and lay the "burden of proof" on them. Then the researcher who is sharing their research will often try to appease these so called fellow researchers by providing pictures, videos or witnesses. But, it is normally not ever enough. Now, I'm not saying accept all claims and never check into a person's story but some of these folks take it way over the line and try to tear down a person. In general, the people in the bigfoot world rip each other apart, all the while supposedly having a common goal.

In the event, that the researcher/witness does provide some type of evidence to strengthen their story, it is often rejected by these folks calling for the "burden of proof". Nothing seems to be good enough. Evidence presented is normally dismissed with claims of "they faked it". Well, prove they fake it. Present your evidence that it's fake. It is my opinion that some of these people ripping into claims, probably just do not believe that bigfoot is real at all, so nothing would satisfy them.

There seems to be a pretty large group of these people in the bigfoot community. Many are researchers themselves but seem to continually rip down other researchers. Then they high five each other and pat each other on the back to celebrate ruining someones reputation or claim.

Now, I'm not trying to be too hard on these folks who rip into other researchers, because I know that most of us have fallen into that trap at one time or another. But, at some point, we will have to raise above some of the antics going on in the bigfoot community and work towards our common goal.
A common goal of learning more about bigfoot.

I hear some of the claims being made, and no I'm not buying into it. But I can't just go barreling into someone because I don't see it like they do. It seems the wildest claims will still have supporters.

We would probably all be better off, if we would just share what we know, what we have experienced, what we have found, and what we have seen and see where all of it crosses and intersects. That would seem to be better than researchers ripping into each other over personal experiences. Its no wonder that some witness are reluctant to come forward, it is like volunteering to join in on a gang fight.

With all that said, and yes I ramble some, I think hoaxers and hoaxes should be exposed. But it should be done with some tact.

I'm reminded of a verse in the bible, that I will paraphrase like this " ... if this work is not of God but is only of men, it will come to nothing."  And so it is in the Bigfoot world, If a person is a hoaxer, or a liar, it will eventually come out and their research will amount to nothing.

As for me, all I can do is share my research, what I know and my opinions. I can't make you believe any of it. But what I know does not hinge on whether you believe me or not.                    



Thanks
~Tom~


This post by Thomas Marcum, Thomas is the founder/leader of the cryptozoology and paranormal research organization known as The Crypto Crew. Over 20 years experience with research and investigation of unexplained activity, working with video and websites. A trained wild land firefighter and a published photographer, and poet



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It seem as if the idea of baiting or as others may call it gifting, for Bigfoot has become more popular. The idea is centered around leaving food of some sort out in hopes that a Bigfoot will be attracted to it. But this baiting can also employ other non food items such as stuff animals or other objects. I would assume that gifting has happened in the past but is more widely used today among researchers.

For this post I wanted to focus more on the food aspect of gifting. I'm sure Bigfoot would eat just about anything but like most of us, Bigfoot probably has favorite foods.

When I'm running experiments with food I normally leave out apples. It seems that apples are one of the more popular foods left out for Bigfoot. I left out a pile of apples in front of a game camera and it seems that apples are popular among many forest creatures. One of the most notable captures I filmed with the game cam, was some crows coming in and taking the apples. During this experiment, I did not care what took the apples, I wanted to see how many different animals would come to the apple pile. There was a bunch of different animals, including deer, squirrel, and coyotes. I wonder, if crows or other birds take bait items and some assume it was take by Bigfoot. We must carefully consider missing gift items. Some don't use cameras when gifting, which may increase success but may also increase the chance of misinterpretation of missing items.  

Here is a still frame from the game cam video of the crow taking a slice of apple.
     
Over the years I have used a lot of different foods in experiments. Peanut butter seems to be popular but one must remember that bears really like it as well. Peanut butter is very popular among Bigfoot researchers. I have also used bananas a few times. I would place the bananas high up in trees.  I have heard of some researchers using dog food, potato chips, eggs, potted meat, hot dogs, tuna and just about any other food you can name.

Of course results have varied with researchers who use food as a baiting item but mostly the efforts have not produced much in the way of Bigfoot photos or evidence. The lack of success using food could be due to the fact that Bigfoot gets the idea that the item is not normally found in the area and avoids it. Sometimes when something seems odd or out of the normal, animals will be much more cautious or avoid it all together.

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Chimpanzees pass down a ‘secret handshake’ through the generations, according to a new study.
Researchers found that troops of chimps pass on traditions, including the handshake, from one generation to the next - and they differ from group to group.
When chimps are cleaning, they adopt a ‘grooming handclasp’ - two chimps clasp onto each other’s arms, raise them in the air and groom each other with their free hand.
Previous research suggest this handclasp may be a cultural phenomenon - like how people greet each other - but only some chimpanzee colonies practice this grooming behavior.
Researchers looked at chimps on the Chimfunshi Wildlife Orphanage Trust in Zambia - finding some prefer to clasp hands, while others clutch onto another chimp’s wrist.
Edwin van Leeuwen, of the Max Planck Institute, said: 'We don’t know what mechanisms account for these differences.
'But our study at least reveals that these chimpanzee communities formed and maintained their own local grooming traditions over the last five years.
'Our observations may also indicate that chimpanzees can overcome their innate predispositions, potentially allowing them to manipulate their environment based on social constructs rather than on mere instincts.'
Observations also revealed grooming behaviors are transmitted to the next generation of potential handclaspers - showing the chimps learn from one another.Mark Bodamer, of Gonzaga University, said: 'By following the chimpanzees over time, we were able to show that 20 young chimpanzees gradually developed the handclasp behavior over the course of the five-year study.
'The first handclasps by young individuals were mostly in partnership with their mothers.
'These observations support the conclusion that these chimpanzees socially learn their local tradition, and that this might be evidence of social culture.
'Continued monitoring of these groups of chimpanzees will shed light on the question of how these group-traditions are maintained over time and potentially even why the chimpanzees like to raise their arms up in the air during social grooming in the first place.'
[Source: dailymail ]

TCC -  Hmmm "Secret Handshake" ..does this mean their hiding something? I have heard rumors for years that Chimps could speak but choose not to around human....if so Smart move on the chimps part. Wonder what else they are hiding.
Thanks
Tom

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