Unexplained Noises Caught on Tape — Real or Fake? | The Proof Is Out There | History

From eerie sky moans and Bigfoot’s chilling cries to dragon-like roars and strange underwater sounds, this compilation investigates whether these bizarre audio recordings are evidence of the unknown—or just elaborate hoaxes. See more in this The Proof Is Out There compilation.

May 2015, a local horticulturalist is recording himself during a routine mushroom hunt in the woods of Northern Illinois.
These look pretty big.
TONY HARRIS: The footage shot from his perspective shows him calmly narrating as he walks through the forest, pointing his camera at various mushrooms scattered on trees and logs.
And this one looks like it has a bite out of it.
TONY HARRIS: After pointing out what looks like a half eaten mushroom, the man is startled by a strange and scary sound seemingly coming from nearby.
[howling] It’s a long drawn out howl that lasts about nine seconds and certainly sounds like an animal of some kind.
The mushroom hunter pans his camera back and forth to see if he can spot anything, but sees nothing.
I think it’s time to go.
TONY HARRIS: Field researcher Ken Gerhard believes Bigfoot is a real primate, and like other primates, capable of producing a huge array of vocalizations and noises.
KEN GERHARD: So this I would characterize as a yell or a scream, which does fit into the paradigm of the Bigfoot world.
TONY HARRIS: Gerhard claims Sasquatches are social animals and may vocalize if there’s another one nearby.
Most animals vocalize for a couple of primary reasons.
One is for mating.
TONY HARRIS: But Gerhard believes this actually isn’t a mating call, it’s a war cry.
[howling] KEN GERHARD: This particular vocalization has a definitive sound of aggressiveness.
I would say whatever is making this sound is trying to scare this person out of its area.
TONY HARRIS: One theory is that this particular alleged Sasquatch is just defending its feeding grounds.
KEN GERHARD: Bigfoot is what we call opportunistic omnivore, which basically means it eats anything.
And it would make perfect sense that as an omnivore, Bigfoot would find an abundant and plentiful food source in this mushroom patch.
Most Bigfoot sightings in Illinois occur in the South in places like Shawnee National Forest.
But this encounter allegedly took place in the North.
There is a theory that Bigfoot is a transient species.
And one of the reasons they’re so hard to find is that they’re always on the move.
So if they exist, it’s plausible they could be in the area.
But let’s turn it over to our experts.
Anthropologist Kathy Strain wonders if we could be hearing a black bear.
Now, there haven’t been native populations of those bears in the state for a century.
But it’s believed that stragglers from neighboring Missouri and Wisconsin can travel to the state.
So how about it?
Bears do regularly growl.
However, they don’t tend to scream or yell for long periods of time.
Their growls are very concentrated.
But this was very loud and very extended.
Biologist Dr. Floyd Hayes examines the other possibilities.
FLOYD HAYES: The coyote or wolf can have a long howl.
But it sounds quite different than that.
It sounds more like a dog howl.
And I don’t think there’s any smaller animals like a fox that would make a call that loud.
So the only possibilities in my mind would be either a human or this mythical Bigfoot creature.
TONY HARRIS: So we turn the video over to our expert sound ecologist, Dr. Ben Gottesman.
BEN GOTTESMAN: We see that the sound lasts for about 10 seconds.
At the beginning, it’s a very throaty broadband scream.
But then it ends in this long drawn out tonal wail.
TONY HARRIS: Under further examination, Gottesman says something rings hollow about this sound.
BEN GOTTESMAN: This is an open forest.
And yet, there’s a certain muffled quality to the sound.
So I went digging, and I found the following sound effect from a show about dinosaurs.
[howling] Sound familiar?
It’s a match.
Listen again.
This recording is a hoax.
So our verdict, this is a hoax.
These aren’t real Bigfoot vocalizations.
They’re just sound effects, cleverly edited into a video in order to create an internet sensation.
Still, that doesn’t discount the idea that Sasquatch could be a mushroom lover.
Just make sure to avoid the poison ones big guy.
October 2019.
Gino Meekis is grouse hunting in northern Ontario with his wife and grandson.
The family is on its way back to their car when they hear this.
[eerie sound] Let’s hear it again.
[eerie sound] It’s a series of bloodcurdling cries echoing through the forest.
It continues for about five minutes.
[eerie sound] I wish I knew what it was.
I just don’t know what to say it is because I didn’t see it.
[eerie sound] People have been saying that it could be a wendigo.
In my culture, we really believe in that.
I didn’t, but I’m kind of starting to think it could be something like that.
TONY HARRIS: The wendigo Gino’s talking about is a creature from the legends of the Algonquin tribes, with a cry that stuns its prey and a penchant for human flesh.
KEN GERHARD: Typically, it’s described as incredibly tall, emaciated-looking, ashen skin, large, sunken, glowing eyes, pointy ears.
It is often said to have very sharp teeth and to smell very bad and have very bad breath.
The predominant characteristic is that it’s cannibalistic, with this never-ending hunger for human flesh.
In fact, there is a psychiatric disorder referred to as wendigo psychosis.
This is characterized by strong compulsions which lead to cannibalism.
There were some famous sightings that were logged from the 1800s up through 1922 in and around Minnesota.
And in each case, the sighting or encounter was followed by a mysterious and unexpected death.
Thankfully for Gino and his family, their grouse hunting expedition only involved hearing this sound as opposed to seeing what might be responsible for it.
But unfortunately for us, that means we can’t get eyes on it either.
So we asked our experts to take a listen.
First up, wildlife biologist Dr. Stephanie Schuttler compares these strange sounds to the sounds of other known animals that roam these forests.
Bears don’t really communicate vocally at a long range, so they’re not really projecting loudly out into the forest.
[bear grunting] So to me, it doesn’t sound like a bear.
[eerie sound] Moose can make really loud noises as well, but they tend to make more of a bellow.
[moose bellowing] This noise seems to be more harmonic.
There’s more of a variation in the vocality than you would get from a moose.
To me, it sounds more like a canid.
[dogs barking, howling] Because it’s a lower-pitched sound that kind of has that bark-howl mix.
TONY HARRIS: Next, soundscape ecologist Ben Gottesman compares the alleged wendigo howls to the most credible alleged Sasquatch recordings on record, the Sierra sounds.
[light whooping] [eerie sound] BEN GOTTESMAN: Overall, the frequency is higher, and it doesn’t have that slow, drawn out feeling of the alleged wendigo recordings.
TONY HARRIS: Under further scrutiny, Gottesman notices a puzzling detail about the original recording itself.
It was when I normalized the sounds that I heard that there is some editing that was done on the recording.
[eerie sound] Do you hear that little click right there?
This is a bad edit job.
And because it wasn’t a smooth transition, there is a jarring click.
And that means that whoever was creating this was copying and pasting.
TONY HARRIS: Gottesman follows up, playing on a hunch based on Schuttler’s theory that this is some kind of dog.
While the dog barks and the alleged wendigo sounds weren’t a complete match, I did hear some similarities.
And so I stretched a dog bark and I lowered it.
Let’s compare that with these wendigo sounds.
[altered dog howl] [wendigo recording] It’s pretty similar.
So in conclusion, I think the wendigo recordings are definitely altered and likely using a sample of a dog in order to create these mournful howls.
So it turns out this is no wendigo after all.
Our verdict, what we’re hearing is a hoax.
It’s probably the sound of a dog barking, stretched out and pitch shifted to make it sound like something far more ominous.
It’s April 2020 in the woods near Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Chase Floyd, a science teacher, is investigating mysterious howling and whooping noises that he started hearing the night before.
[whooping sound] Chase continues to record as he explores the area.
He now suspects the noises he’s hearing were made by a Sasquatch.
[whooping sound] Let’s take a closer listen.
[whooping sound] It sounds like a strange whooping noise.
As Chase seemingly moves closer to the source of the sound, his breathing gets faster and more labored, but he forges on anyway.
Right now, I’m starting to get lightheaded.
I really don’t feel good right now.
As I kept going, I started feeling nauseous.
I got to a point where I was like, I just kind of want to get out of here and lay down.
So I’ve done some research on unusual animal sounds.
So a lot of canines make weird noises, but nothing that would make the sounds that are in the video, at least not I know of in Pennsylvania.
NARRATOR: Once Chase shares the video, it racks up over 600,000 views.
Field researcher Ken Gerhard says the animal sounds recorded by Chase are all too familiar.
[whooping sound] I’ve actually heard similar vocalizations, and these are definitely attributed to the Bigfoot phenomenon.
NARRATOR: What’s more, Gerhard thinks Chase may be experiencing ohmawing, a phenomenon first described in Native American folklore dating back two centuries.
Ohmawing is said to be an overwhelming energy experienced in close proximity of a Sasquatch.
It manifests itself in a variety of symptoms, including temporary paralysis.
I don’t feel good.
So ohmawing is described as a type of infrasound.
The theory behind predators utilizing this infrasound is that it is a way to disrupt, confuse, or disorient their prey animals.
If Bigfoot actually exists, then ohmawing may be a predatory mechanism.
Or maybe it’s a defense mechanism like a skunk’s odor.
So there are really two questions here, folks.
First, what made these sounds?
And second, is there anything to this theory of ohmawing?
Soundscape ecologist Ben Gottesman breaks down the sound waves.
BEN GOTTESMAN: In order to find out what these alleged sounds are, let’s compare them to some of the mammals in Pennsylvania.
NARRATOR: Gottesman starts with elk, which are known to produce bugle calls like this.
[squealing] [whooping sound] BEN GOTTESMAN: It really isn’t a match.
The frequency range doesn’t match up.
The harmonic characteristics don’t match up.
Up next, we have coyotes.
[barking] [whooping sound] The frequency range is much higher at around 650 hertz.
That’s barely at the upper range of the alleged “whoop.” NARRATOR: Gottesman is unable to make any match.
But Professor of Biology Floyd Hayes says that infrasound is for real.
And while humans can’t hear it, they can feel it.
In fact, scientists believe tigers can produce a roar under 20 hertz below the human hearing range.
That has the power to stun or paralyze an animal.
Also, the lower the frequency, the farther the sound can travel.
FLOYD HAYES: Infrasound is something that several large species of animals can produce, and some human vocalists are supposedly capable of producing infrasound.
NARRATOR: But Hayes has a bone to pick with the idea that Chase is suffering from ohmawing or any sort of infrasound attack.
His behavior just doesn’t make sense.
He’s not feeling well.
He doesn’t leave the area, and he doesn’t go to relax somewhere.
He still stays there and talks.
NARRATOR: After further analysis– [whooping sound] –Dr. Gottesman says that the sounds recorded by Chase Floyd resemble another set of alleged Bigfoot recordings he’s analyzed for us in the past.
BEN GOTTESMAN: When I was listening to the alleged sounds, I couldn’t help but think back to Ron Morehead’s Sierra Sounds.
NARRATOR: He’s referring to Ron Morehead’s 1970s recordings known as the Sierra Sounds, which many consider genuine Bigfoot calls.
[whooping sound] BEN GOTTESMAN: On top, we have audio from Ron Morehead’s Sierra Sounds.
I’m just going to play this series of three whoops, and notice how the third one has a special flourish.
[whooping sound] And now– [whooping sound] And if I ran a cross-correlation on these sounds, they would be upwards of 99% similar.
It’s the same sound, down to the tape recording artifacts present in the Morehead tape.
This video is a hoax.
So while we can’t rule out the possibility that ohmawing is real and terrifying, it wasn’t the cause of Mr. Floyd’s symptoms.
Our verdict– this is a hoax.
These sounds are a copy of the alleged Bigfoot recordings made in the early 1970s.
February, 2015.
At first glance, it looks like a totally overcast day in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
But turn up the volume, and it sounds like anything but.
[groaning sound] Musician Axel Samano is visiting a friend when she notices the eerie, atmospheric noises and aims her lens to search for the source, but with no luck.
[groaning sound] The sound resembles a metallic moaning of some sort.
It lasts for approximately 8 seconds and reaches a slight crescendo halfway through, almost as if something is crying out in pain.
[groaning sound] AXEL SAMANO: The sound was like metal bending.
When I realized that sound was coming from the sky, I really got scared because I didn’t know what it was.
[groaning sound] NARRATOR: Catholic miracle researcher Michael O’Neill reminds us that strange sounds from the sky are often read as signs of pending apocalypse.
But so far, the world hasn’t ended.
Throughout human history, there have been these reports of booming sounds or large screeching sounds or this moaning sound, as we hear in Mexico.
This is nothing new.
People have experienced and reported this in countries all over the world for centuries.
[groaning sound] NARRATOR: Others wonder of this mysterious sound could be somehow tied to the legend of La Llorona, or the weeping woman.
For centuries, Mexican children have been raised to fear the wailing woman whose spirit is trapped on Earth mourning two children she drowned in a fit of jealous rage.
There have even been reports of strange encounters with La Llorona amongst Spanish speakers all over the world.
Some of the strange sounds we’ve investigated before could be explained.
This one turned out to be squeaky truck brakes.
[squeaking] And this was a guy in Jersey with a homemade air cannon.
[explosion] So does this moaning noise above Nuevo Laredo have a common-sense explanation, or will it remain an unexplained mystery?
Let’s listen to our experts.
First, we bring the video to Professor of Atmospheric Sciences Dr. Dianna Hence to determine if the sound could be an aeolian tone, which is the sound produced by a strong wind as it passes over or through a fixed object.
This singing, ringing tree sculpture in Lancashire, England was designed with this concept in mind.
[whistling] I had some questions as to whether or not this could be the wind interacting with a particular structure or something nearby that would result in this particular sound.
[groaning sound] But the wind speeds were not very high– about 15 miles per hour.
So unless that wind happened to be hitting the resonant harmonic frequency of an object that would cause that to happen, that doesn’t really explain what’s going on very readily, either.
[groaning sound] NARRATOR: Meteorology doesn’t seem to hold the answer here.
So we bring the footage to our soundscape ecologist, Dr. Ben Gottesman.
BEN GOTTESMAN: When I heard this mysterious Mexican moan sound, I went digging and came across this one from Allen, Texas from 2012.
[groaning sound] NARRATOR: When Dr. Gottesman compares the recordings, the similarity to the mysterious sound that caused the sensation in Texas three years earlier is undeniable.
[groaning sound] Here’s our sound, as you see, five events.
Now, let’s look at this other video captured in Texas.
Again, we see these five events exactly the same, which leads me to believe that there is some sort of editing going on here.
[groaning sound] And so we can say that it’s likely that whoever made this video used the audio in the Allen, Texas video.
So our verdict, based on Dr. Gottesman’s analysis– we’re calling this a hoax.
This is most likely just a prerecorded sound found by somebody on the internet and repurposed to create an online sensation.
The moaning has less to do with a cry for help and more to do with a cry for attention.