I love going out into the forest. The fragrance of pine is relaxing to my soul, and the sounds of the forest creatures are music to my ears. In fact, there really is not anywhere I would rather be, except maybe surfing a nice clean six-foot wave at San Onofre Beach. I was a night person as a young man, but get me out into the woods now and I am up bright and early in the morning. I will drive dusty back roads until the sun goes down, walk trails and bushwhack as long as there is light to see. However, when the big orange ball disappears below the horizon, it is a cold brew, clean up, dinner and a campfire for me. The idea of leaving the safe cozy environs of my campsite is not on my nighttime to do list.

Nevertheless, just ask any dyed-in-the-wool bigfooter and they will tell you, “They come out at night.” They, of course, being bigfoot or sasquatch, depending on your preference—the object of our fascination, obsession and fear. Even though firsthand sightings generally seem to be evenly split between day and night, bigfoot is a nighttime rambler according to most. Therefore, with this overwhelming cryptoid fact, no serious bigfoot field researcher could spend two or three nights in the woods without doing a little call blasting.

Call blasting in the Sierras. Click to enlarge.

I have left my glass of Chardonnay and the comfort of a warm fire behind to venture into the inky cold blackness of the night in the hope of a response or a visit from these elusive creatures. I have been involved in about a half dozen call blasting sessions with mixed results. However, more than sharing my experience, I am interested in hunting down the person who first invented “call blasting” and how it first got started. After all, no bigfoot expedition would be complete or considered serious without a few of these primal scream sessions.

I should probably set out some sort of definition of call blasting before I go further. Most folks would probably say that call blasting is the amplified sounds of purported bigfoot recordings, or other animal sounds that might attract a bigfoot. However, some have suggested that call blasting is any act in the field where one makes noise to attract a bigfoot. These “call blasts” could be cupping your hands to your mouth and letting out a bigfoot-sounding yell or scream. This type of “organic” call blasting could also include whacking a large piece of wood against a tree or clacking two large rocks together. Both of these organic wood or stone sounds are alleged to be non-vocal ways that bigfoot may communicate according to some in the field.

Therefore, with this in mind, we can tip the organic call-blasting hat to those that came before electrification. Early names that come up as possible originators are Peter Byrne and Morgan. These men were active in the 70’s and the 80’s. As much as I attempted to clarify whether either of these men or others might have call blasted way back when, I was never able to receive confirmation one way or the other concerning possible exploits by them or others.

I started my search for the godfather of call blasting by e-mailing a true legend in the field, Ray Crowe, president of the Western Bigfoot Society. I have been a member for many years and stay in touch via the society newsletter. Ray sent me back several names and one I recognized immediately was Thom Powell, author of The Locals. Thom in turn was kind enough to pass on some important information to me. He pointed me toward John Freitas, the man whom he believed was the originator of call blasting.

I wasn’t sure how to get in touch with John, but through a friend I was able to locate him. I e-mailed John about my interest in the historical aspect of the subject and he replied back suggesting that I call him and talk on the phone. I called John and found out that call blasting is a relatively recent addition to the bigfoot field of study. John Freitas claims he was the first to use call blasting in the field around 97-98 in Northern California. John says he first got the idea for call blasting from duck calls that hunters use to attract ducks when duck hunting. He had some recordings of alleged bigfoot calls so he went out in the forest to try it.

Freitas confessed that his earliest methods were simple, a boom box cranked up full blast to send out sounds along with a little cassette recorder to tape any responses. John does not mind taking credit for being the godfather or “Master Blaster” of call blasting. Freitas alleges that another high profile bigfooter once made claims that he was the creator of call blasting. This is false according to Freitas and this person’s claims do not set well with him.

One thing that I have learned in this fascinating field of study is that many people do not see eye to eye. In fact, some people down right cannot stand each other in this bigfoot world. So with this in mind, I knew I was more than likely going to get more than one take on the subject of call blasting and what was most important for me as the writer, was to maintain a strictly neutral position while working on this article. Therefore, I went to find another person who might have some knowledge in this field. I turned to someone I have met and spent some time with out in the field. His name is James Fay, but his friends and I know him as “Bobo.”

Bobo is a very interesting person. He grew up in Southern California, but found his way up to Northern California quite a few years ago. Bobo is a friend of John Freitas’ and has been out call blasting with John. In fact, if you have ever seen the 10 Most Scariest Places show on television with the bigfoot segment, it is Bobo who is John Freitas’ assistant. Bobo tells me there is another man who was involved in call blasting in the early days. His name was Irwin Supple and his story is quite unbelievable. According to Bobo, Irwin Supple was a WWII vet who had some knowledge of monkeys. Stuck behind Japanese lines during the war, he and his six men had to survive in the jungle for about two and a half years. He and his men formed a symbiotic relationship with the local monkeys. According to Bobo the monkeys hated the Japanese because they ate them. They soon started alerting the Americans when Japanese patrols came around and in this way Irwin became acquainted with “monkey speak” so to speak!

Irwin and his men eventually were rescued and all of them being severely malnourished, they were hospitalized for many months. After being discharged in the states, Irwin took some of his back pay, bought a Jeep and loaded up his hunting supplies for a little R&R. He shot a deer up by Fish Lake in Northern California. He was too tired to dress it that night, so he tied it up, gutted it and left the entrails on the ground. Not too much later he heard what he thought might be large monkeys. The monkeys took the deer, and as time went on Irwin started taping the sounds of the big monkeys. He eventually realized his visitors were bigfoot. According to Bobo, Irwin was “way underground.”. His instruments were simple. A ghetto blaster, hooked up to two speakers on the doors of his car.

Bobo knows both men well and as far as he is concerned Freitas and Supple both developed their own techniques separate of each other. Supple’s methods were very primitive and according to Bobo he started recording responses on reel-to-reel and then later on cassette. Bobo eventually lost contact with Supple. Sadly, Supple’s tapes have most likely disappeared. Attempts by Freitas and Bobo to contact him were unsuccessful, and Supple is most likely deceased by now.

Supple’s war history may seem a little dramatic, and was told to me second hand. Either way, his call blasting is separate from that. However in a sense, it is all connected. Our bigfoot world is filled with contradictions and stories that no one can verify. Second-guessing will always be the name of the game and we will go on. I recognize this story has a West Coast slant to it but if anyone has an East Coast or Middle America angle, please submit it. But for now, Irwin Supple was an early pioneer of call blasting and John Freitas is the “Master Blaster.”

One last thought, as we start to catalogue and organize the history of people and interesting ideas in this field— there will be correction and revision. We will re-write and re-organize our bigfoot history as time goes by. One thing is important though, if we are to create timelines and history for this little world we live in, those involved must speak up and contribute or those silent have no reason to complain that they were left out of the story.

Finally, in defense of this article, I tried to call and e-mail quite a few people to gain consensus on this story. Several of these people are very well known and could have helped me verify the facts. Unfortunately, these people whose input I considered important never responded. One must assume at this time, silence equals no input to share.