Knocking in Humboldt County, California

You would be interested in what happened to me a year ago, and twice more in 24 hours, just 2 weeks ago, near the Humboldt Mendo County headwaters of the Matole River. I am absolutely convinced that some unknown animal exists here so I began on the internet a search for similar accounts. While immersed in the Internet searching it became clear to me that your organization should have this most recent information in a timely manner. Last July 2018, I was staying in a very isolated region, which had very limited access, behind 3 locked gates and 20 miles south of Whitethorn, CA, on a primitive 4x4 road. This place is at the end of the world, on the northern border of a vast green belt spreading from Shelter Cove on the coast, east to Highway 101, and south to Fort Bragg, and east to Piercy, as can be seen on Google Earth. About 3 a.m. I was awake, it was a hot and dark night in these mountains. Something above my tent location, approximately 200-300 meters, began knocking on wood, best described as loud whacks on a tree trunk by a big club or branch. It started with one knock, which got my attention, with a brief hesitation, then several more knocks, but randomly timed, some in succession, others after hesitations. The knocking was loud, so loud that it echoed down the canyon. The event lasted only a minute or two. My first thoughts were that there was no one on the mountain who could be out here in the middle of a primitive and protected area. These knocks were obviously from something large, and no North American animal could have made them. I listened intently while my mind tried to wrap around how the noise was made. The woods were silent, not even a cricket. I told a few locals afterward and learned that there were other hotspots for squatch sightings between Piercy and up to Willow Creek. Flash forward to two weeks ago, when waiting at the first locked gate to this same conservation area, I heard two distinct vocalizations which cannot be explained. As I waited in the dusk for about 45 minutes, waiting to meet a party at the gate who were running late, I heard a very loud wail/ scream/ call that I've never heard before in nature. The call of this thing I located at about my 2 o'clock, facing east, and up the heavily wooded area above me, about 200-300 meters. I instantly knew where I had heard such an unfamiliar call....about 3 years ago when watching a Bigfoot reality show, where these squatch hunters were making this strange/unique call while searching for Bigfoot. There was a few second delay from the first call, then a few more, then silence for about a minute, leaving me to wonder if this whole experience was real, pondering what I know about the wilderness, either that was an unknown animal or some kind of implausible prank. It was loud, echoing down the mountain, as though some huge creature could belt like the lungs of Pavarotti, only much louder! The chance of it being a prankster waiting in silence with me for 45 minutes in that remote location, just to hang out in these impenetrable woods and prank me, went away very quickly when, when another call out at about 3-400 meters to the north of the first, approx my 8 o'clock. It was also just as loud, just as unique as the first, but came only 3 calls in succession, u-ah-o, u-ah-o, u-ah-o, with a distinct higher pitch on the "ah". This absolutely blew my mind, because the first call might be an elk on steroids, but the response from what was clearly not an owl, brought chills down my spine. This was some kind of communication between two individuals, neither which can be explained by any rationale. I must tell you that I have trekked and lived in remote areas in Africa, Australia, central and south America, many places of potential danger, and never had an inkling of fear. I was born and raised near Yellowstone Park, with 100 times the average distance trekked by most individuals in their lifetime, and never had bad experiences with grizzly, mountain lions and wolves. Travelling all these years with a firm understanding of ecosystems, I never could have believed in such mysteries, that anything new would ever be discovered. I had a fourth experience, which I must say something about, but it happened just the night before the dual vocalizations. On Friday evening, Nov 1st, 2019, I had just moved into a cabin that my brother and I rented, located along an extremely rugged canyon area of the Matole River. It was dusk, quite dark already in the forest. I was outside looking at the stars, taking in the newness of these rugged surroundings. Up above, again about 300 meters up and to the east of the river, there was a screaming that was so loud and so foreboding that I could only listen in amazement. It was the loudest screaming I've ever heard, so loud I thought it was produced by some kind of banshees from a horror film. The screams continued, full throttle, for over 5 minutes. I know mountain lions can scream, but nothing like this. It sounded much louder, more guttural, literally as if someone had set up a loud speaker and played the bloodiest scream that Hollywood could produce. At the time, the night after Halloween, I wondered if someone was up on the mountainside pranking me as a newcomer to the neighborhood. I listened for a bit, then went inside and told my brother about it because it was so unnerving. Bigfoot did not even enter my mind. But then at dusk the next evening I witnessed these 2 calls waiting at the gate. I have since been over and over in my mind, why have I been so lucky as to hear or experience such mystery? Much less 3 distinct vocalizations which cannot be explained. I began pouring over USGS maps and satellite imagery to ascertain what the link may be, 20 miles apart, are there any people or neighbors or access for individuals in the areas I experienced which may explain these? Could one individual in such obvious stress on one night, have triggered the coincidental travel of at least 2 more unknown creatures the very next night?? I have talked to many locals about hearing strange noises, but no one claims anything, or they don't want to be ridiculed. Look, I am a man, 60 yo, with extensive wilderness experience in forests and jungles all over the world. The closest thing to new species discovery for me was the Costa Rican jungles, but my mind has always been as a skeptic observer, dealing in evidence based biology as a science. What has happened to me recently has completely changed me! There is a mystery in these woods, and I have a few ideas how to answer them. Please feel free to contact me, if you would like access to these remote locations. And I am very curious if other people in my area are having similar experiences. Something unexplained to science lives out here, and I am beside myself with these recent events. Troy Hunter, troy.hntr@gmail.com. There is very limited cell service. 928-231-3***.