; Phantoms and Monsters: Pulse of the Paranormal

Wednesday, December 02, 2015

The Taos 'Voice'


I recently received the following account:

Hi, I thought I'd pass my experience on to someone who could possibly make some use of it. It involves not a sighting, but a hearing of possible Bigfoot speech. I could have seen whatever made the sounds... if I could have gotten up from bed to look out the window, but found I was quite afraid to do so!

I moved to Taos, NM from Culpeper, VA on April 20th, 2006. Having given my belongs to the movers to delivers a week or so later, I took a flight from Baltimore-Washington International Airport to Albuquerque, and an Airport shuttle north about 135 miles to Taos.

But this involves a Bigfoot story in itself. My daughter and my ex drove north from Richmond on the evening of the 19th to give me a lift to BWI.

The preferred route involved using VA 15 as a way to avoid using the US Route 95 to VA Route 3 approach, to avoid the busy interstate traffic. It doesn't save time; it just avoids the interstate.

There is a remote stretch of that very un-busy highway in southern Culpeper County where we would always smell a powerful stench. We would joke about Bigfoot being "in the house", and on this late evening the stench was there, as it usually was. And my daughter made the joke to let her mom in on the Bigfoot joke.

Only this time, Bigfoot was really there, walking along the side of the road in the same direction they were driving. They said they could only say, in a very brief glimpse, that it was large, smelly and hairy, with a band of white hair around the midriff - a description I have only seen in one sighting report since that time, or before.

They noted it made no move to slow down or turn around, or acknowledge their presence in any way whatsoever, as if it were on a "mission from God".

Fast forward to late June of 2006. I was still a newcomer to Taos, and had made no mention of this to anyone, or of my interest in the subject. I have forgotten the exact date, but it was a hot late June night, as late June is the time the summer temperatures peak in northern New Mexico.

It was very late, around 3 or 3:30 AM, and I could not sleep. This was the "witching hour", when I often heard a pack of coyotes making their rounds, yipping as if to taunt the dogs in the area: "HERE WE ARE! WE'RE FREE! AND YOU'RE NOT!!"

I was sleeping on a mattress on the bedroom floor. I lay there, waiting for them to show up. I would soon come to understand this "witching hour" often brought odd whistling and other unidentifiable noised from the 20-acre or so horse pasture in back, which housed 3 horses. The very large white horse was found dead in the pasture sometime around this date, leaving two.

The property was on a strip of land that is part of Taos County. Across the street (Gusdorf) where Taos High School is located, it is town property. Across the biggish horse pasture in back is more town property and the neighborhood known as Cañon, once a village in its own right. Behind that and up on the foothill slopes is Cañon Heights. These foothills are part of the Sangre de Cristo range. The Sangres were literally a mile to a mile and a half east of my house.

To the north (towards downtown) about 40 yards was a large willow tree, which, not surprisingly, grew over the septic tank for all 3 buildings, each consisting of two apartments. This is the northernmost of the 3 buildings; I was in the middle one.

From the area of the willow, I became aware of whispering voices. As I strained to listen, I came to realize that it was indeed speech, but this was not English or Spanish or any human language I am aware of. The impression I got was of a mother shushing a young one, who may have been making more noise than they wanted made! This was the inflection, and the impression of a mother shushing a noisy young 'un was very definite.

Several minutes passed. Then, to my eternal surprise, a loud cry came from directly in back of my apartment. It sounded as if it was maybe 40 yards away, no more, and thus in the horse pasture proper. It was a deeply resonant male voice, which I later realized was virtually identical with the "Samurai Chatter" voices in Ron Morehead's SIERRA SOUNDS recordings. I had not heard of these at the time of these occurrences.

The single word had a rising inflection, with an urgent but inquiring tone - there is no question in my mind it was a question: "reet-ZAH?" As if it were a name and the speaker was asking, "Reetzah? Where ARE you?"

I left Taos in August of 2011 and came back east. I never heard any voices again, but odd whistling was not uncommon. On one occasion - it was early winter of 2010, I believe, I heard a whimpering noise from near the bush off the front and southwestern corner of the house. It was like a dog whimpering in pain or fear, but clearly it was not a real dog making the noise. It was someone or something doing an impression of a dog. I though it best, under the circumstances, not to open the door to look out. This bush was only 8 feet or so from the front door.

What continues to most impress me about this is that the area is not even close to being remote or far from other human dwellings. If in fact a Bigfoot made the noise - and it is unthinkable a human could have - it came down the foothills, which are dotted with dozens of homes.

NOTE: Many of us have heard of the Taos Hum...but could the strange voices described in the account be related o the same phenomenon? I have heard of a fair amount of unexplained activity in and around Taos...including unknown manifestations and UFOs...Lon

Explorer's Guide Santa Fe & Taos: A Great Destination (Eighth Edition) (Explorer's Great Destinations)

New Mexico Off the Beaten Path®: A Guide To Unique Places (Off the Beaten Path Series)

Southwest Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff (Curiosities Series)

The Real Cowboys & Aliens, 2nd Edition: UFO Encounters of the Old West