Call Blasting: More Historical Background
Posted by: Loren Coleman on June 3rd, 2011
Some positive outcomes of the “Finding Bigfoot” clarifications are the solid historical research and timelines that will issue from the tracking of when specific search techniques were developed and used by fieldworkers. Too often in cryptozoological examinations, records and remembrances have vanished, principals have died, and a history is completely lost.
With regard to detailing a clear understanding of the histories of call blasting and wood knocking, a truer history is being developed. I think this should be extended to the history of the first casts, the first hair sampling, and the first notice of dermal ridges. Of course, many of us think we know who did what first and when it was done, but as has been revealed this week, we all have different pieces of the puzzle that need to be shared so currently still-writing historians like myself, Dmitri Bayanov, Michel Raynal, Jean-Jacques Barloy, Jeff Meldrum and others can chronicle the reality behind the assumptions.
So, let’s look at call blasting again.
It will be recalled that “Finding Bigfoot” host Matt Moneymaker claimed on his Animal Planet biography that he was the “first” to use “call blasting.” Various people have challenged this as being historically incorrect. One person was Virginia investigator William Dranginis who noted that call blasting (earlier termed “call broadcasting”) was used before Moneymaker’s claim. In reply, Matt Moneymaker wrote this here at Cryptomundo:
Bill Dranginis is notorious for not telling the truth, and he was kicked out of the BFRO almost 15 years ago for exactly that reason. If he says he recalls an article describing someone else doing call-blasting before I did it … then he needs to produce that article. I kinda doubt it exists. Dranginis would not hesitate to make up something like that. Also, there were no recordings of sasquatches available in the 1980’s that could be used for that purpose. I got the first fairly clean recording that could that be used for sound blasting, and I got it in 1993.
Now William Dranginis has produced the 1986 newspaper record of the 1983 “call broadcasting” which he spoke that predates Moneymaker’s first noted recording by a decade, 10 years. The article, please note, predates Moneymaker’s first claimed date of using call blasting by 7 years:
Ron Schaffner has noted that his associates in Ohio, Larry Peters and Willard McIntyre employed call blasting in 1982 in that state.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
Roger Patterson did it, too, outside of Yakima, from his Bigfoot observation tower on Jerry Merritt’s dude ranch.
Very interesting, Loren. I find the history behind bigfoot investigations as interesting as the subject of the investigations, if not more so in some cases. A lot of previous publications have focused on the search for the animal, but I think a book chronicling the various techniques used in searches would be a valuable addition to the literature.
The cantankerous Moneymaker could do himself a big favor and finally admit he was wrong about something as most human beings frequently do make mistakes, instead of continually attacking others simply because it irritates him that he might be incorrect.
Well, there you have it. Right there in black print. As I knew, Mr. Dranginis has pulled through with the hard facts. Kind of hard to deny that evidence. Great job, my hat’s off to you Bill!
Interesting. Question, scientifically, Credit is all about who is the first published doing it. The publication usually is a description of the technique and how it is used in the field. I’m not sure if you need to employ it in the field to lay claim to the credit of inventing the idea. So, who first published (news paper, magazine, journal, book, as long as it is in print) these techniques? I then think it needs to be backed up by field work later, but I’m not a scientist, I only dabble in paleontology as a reading hobby. But anyway, I think you’ve shown various documents, books, clippings etc. on various field techniques (call blasting, knocking, etc) that took place before 2011. You might even find more than the ones you’ve already found….
Very nice article. Nice to see some evidence in black and white. This was clearly ahead of its time.
Though it’s my habit to be removed from the contention often associated with the Bigfoot topic, I’m contributing to the “Call Blasting” discussion in view of the insulting comments that Mr. Moneymaker was quoted as making about my friend and colleague, William Dranginis.
I have known Bill Dranginis for 10 years and have worked with him in a variety of settings and conditions. In my opinion, there are four words, in their most positive sense, that succinctly describe him: honesty, character, creativity, and generosity.
For what it’s worth, regarding the “call blasting/call broadcasting” question, in 1982, I stood right next to Larry Peters in Maryland’s Patapsco State Park as he broadcasted the high volume recording of an alleged Sasquatch wail into the forest using a portable amplifier and loudspeaker.
I have never met Moneymaker but he comes off as a total D*#k! He seems to be the type of guy known as the one upper, if you have a story he has one even better. If you saw a sasquatch, he fought off a whole group of them single-handed. As for his claim that he was the first to record a sasquatch, that claim is totally outrageous. For all he knows he could have recorded some teenager, tripping on shrooms howling at the top of his lungs. There is no proof what he recorded is a B/F. It is his word against anyone elses that anything he says or does is not a lie and it seems to me he is not above stretching/bending the truth to make himself seem more important, that seeming to be very important to him. Just an observation from a not so important believer.