Stan Courtney's audio recordings have solved one philosophy's oldest questions, "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Quite an accomplishment. An accomplishment one could rest their laurels on, but Courtney didn't stop there, he also built the most useful online list of Bigfoot web sites. The page is called SquatchMarks, The name comes from a hybrid of the two words Sasquatch and Bookmarks. We would even go as far as calling it the Google of Bigfoot sites, but, honestly, its better.When you search for "Bigfoot" on Google you get 4x4's, Computer networks, and people with genuinely Big feet.
Squatchmarks filters out all of those false positives and then even categorizes them for you. Dont take our word for it, here are few quotes from other sites.
...a treasure trove of links to just about every Bigfoot/Cryptozoology website in existence --southeastsasquatchassociation.weebly.com
...an attempt to collect as many Bigfoot / sasquatch links as possible in one list. --Alliance of Independent Bigfoot Researchers.
...has an extensive links page,and I'm glad he does because he sends quite a few visitors to BigfootSightings.com
...Wow Stan..that sets a standard! Nightwing a member at BigfootForums.com
...Stan Courtney's Squatchmarks put us on the map! BigfootLunchClub.Com
We owe a special gratitude to Stan Courtney. In 2007 when we were a small isolated blog, one person noticed us, and all of the sudden we started getting traffic from a page called Squatchmarks at Stancourtney.com the rest is history, everybody at BLC would like to thank Stan for putting us on the map.
We were fortunate enough to track Stan down and ask a few questions. He generously lent his time to do an interview with us. Not only does he talk about his creation of the best online list of Bigfoot websites ever. He also shares what drives his craft, discusses various opinions on call blasting, the Sierra Sounds, and a possible bigfoot language.
QUESTIONS REGARDING YOUR AUDIO
BLC:You are known by many regarding your Bigfoot sounds, but you have an impressive library of bird audio. Where does your interest in bird sounds come from? Ornithology, birdwatching or just a fan of the different sounds they make?
SC: I have always had an intense interest in birds, and especially bird songs. However, my first audio recordings were of frogs in the Williamette Valley where I lived in the late 1960's.
BLC:I Love the sound of the Red-winged Blackbird, and was glad to be able to see you had a recording. Whenever I hear it, I always look around to see if I can catch it in flight. Do you always have the luxury of seeing the bird you are recording?
SC: I use several different techniques in gathering wildlife sounds. I always carry a recorder with me in the woods, I also am currently attempting to record 24/7 from two different locations. And then I also use a 24" parabolic microphone. So some of my sounds I record while I see the subject but most of my sounds are recorded remotely.
BLC:When it comes to technology and technique, you are awful forthcoming and very helpful on your site. Is this a philosophy you developed on your own? or did you also have a generous mentor when you first started your craft?
SC: My goal has always been to share my sounds and to encourage others to share their sounds as well. I am always more than willing to try and questions about recorders, techniques or sounds in general. Many researchers in the birding community are very helpful in this regard.
QUESTIONS REGARDING BIGFOOT
BLC:You have some sounds in the unidentifiable category, but I assume they all don't all fall into the Bigfoot column or do they?
SC: I have always been very careful not to label any sound as being Bigfoot related. To my knowledge there are no videos showing a Bigfoot making a vocalization. Whatever "Unknown sounds" that I have recorded are just that, unknown. And I would assume quite a few sounds that I have labeled as "unknown" are not Bigfoot related.
BLC:Is there a distinctive Bigfoot Sound and do you have any on your site?
SC: I have heard roars, screams, whoops, whistles, howls all at very close range. I think most researchers would have labelled them as being sasquatch. Unfortunately, for several different reasons, I do not have recordings of them. At this time, although I have some recordings that were very close, none of them would fit the category as being typical Sasquatch type vocalizations.
BLC:Birds generally use calls to attract mates, primates vocalize usually to declare territory; do you think call blasting is useful to Bigfooting?
SC: Call blasting has been used extensively by many researchers. If used in a prudent manner I think it can have startling results.
BLC:Do you have an opinion regarding the Sierra Sounds, or the proposed language found on them?
SC: I am convinced that squatches have a language. One of my primary goals is to record close-in vocalizations that would be useful to compare to other researchers recordings.
QUESTIONS REGARDING SQUATCHMARKS
BLC:Squatchmarks is the definitive go-to page to find Bigfoot sites, blogs, chatrooms, radio shows, forums, audio, videos--everything Bigfoot on the web. It’s better than Google if you are looking for a Bigfoot site. Not only is it the largest list on the web, but it is extremely user friendly; clearly labeled and categorized like a spreadsheet on a single page. Has this page always been like this, or did it evolve over time
SC: I first got on the internet in 1997 and have always searched for a decent start page, with no advertisements. Squatchmarks as you see it today has basically always been the same.
BLC:Did you build Squatchmarks primarily for yourself and hope it would be useful to others?
SC: I guess I built it for myself. As most of the items on my webpage they are a resource to keep things organized so I can find files that I use.
BLC:Did you know you were building a research tool that would become indispensable to other Bigfooters?
SC: I have been surprised by the number of people that use squatchmarks. It is a constant effort to keep it updated. I rely on other researchers to send me new links and delete broken ones.
Thank you Stan for taking the time to do this interview. We appreciate your contributions to Sasquatch research and everyone here at Bigfoot Lunch Club salutes you.
Its worth your while to check out Stans Cortney's Site here.
And make sure you check out Squatchmarks, here.
And you can follow him on Facebook
