HBM095: The Bats that Stay

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Illustration by Jeff Emtman

 

Not all migratory bats migrate.  We don’t know why some choose to stay behind at their summer roosts.  But according to the University of Washington’s Sharlene Santana, the bats that stay tend to die.  

Content Note: Fleeting language

In this episode, HBM host Jeff Emtman attempts to make a metaphor about bats and humans.  Perhaps it’s anthropomorphic, perhaps it’s unnecessarily poetic, or perhaps it’s a fair one.  

Jeff leaves his home in Seattle to move cross-country to Boston.  Along the way he takes a five day layover in Colorado to meet up with an old friend (Helen Katich) and her girlfriend (Laura Goldhamer).  The three drive from Denver to the San Luis Valley of Central Colorado.  They visit Valley View Hot Springs and walk to the mouth of an abandoned iron mine 10,000 feet above sea level called “The Glory Hole.”  

 
 

The Glory Hole houses an estimated 250,000 Mexican free-tailed bats each summer.  These bats migrate in from Central and South America to eat bugs and raise their pups.  They fly together at dusk in gatherings visually similar to the murmurations of starlings.   This bat species, also known as the Brazilian free-tailed bat, is extremely social, and perhaps nature’s most gregarious mammal species.  

Despite this, their social and hunting calls are completely inaudible to humans.  They produce ultrasounds, sounds too high pitched for human ears. But some audio equipment (see below) can still record these sounds, then computer algorithms can pitch them down into human-audible sounds.  

 
Helen Katich

Helen Katich

A preserved Mexican free-tailed bat at the welcome center of Valley View Hot Springs

 

One evening, Jeff and Helen and Laura hike to the mouth of the mine.  At this vantage point, they watch some of the bats flying out and Jeff manages to record some of their loud, ultrasonic vocalizations, before the storm forces them back downhill.  The next day, Jeff flies to his new home in Boston.

Jeff recorded the bat calls in this episode with a Tascam DR100MK3 at 192kHZ sample rate and an Echo Meter Touch 2 Pro at sample rates of 256kHZ and 384kHZ.  The calls were recorded at frequencies of approximately 21kHZ to 36kHZ and time/pitch-shifted with Elastique 3.2.3 Pro.

Producer: Jeff Emtman
Editor: Bethany Denton
Music: The Black Spot and Laura Goldhamer

 

HBM074: Benedict Arnold Makes People Nervous (Rumble Strip)

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Benedict Arnold memorial in Saratoga State Park, NY. Photo by Erica Heilman.

Benedict Arnold memorial in Saratoga State Park, NY. Photo by Erica Heilman.

 

There is an unusual piece of carved grey stone in the hills of upstate New York.  It depicts the boot of a notorious American villain who was shot in the leg during the Battle of Saratoga.  Major General Benedict Arnold’s name is nowhere to be found on the inscription.  Instead, it refers only to the "most brilliant soldier of the Continental Army”.  The rest is implied.

Steve Sheinkin thinks that we can’t—and don’t—talk about Benedict Arnold’s actual history because it serves Americans an unpalatable contradiction.  Benedict Arnold won crucial battles for American independence, but he was also a turncoat.  

Steve was often asked to sterilize history during his career as a textbook writer.   Certain characters of the American Revolution enjoyed near godlike status.  Giving counterevidence to their omniciencense or foresight was practically blasphemy.  But that counterevidence exists, found in letters and personal journals of George Washington, Paul Revere and others.  And these records paint much more conflicted, funny, perverse and sometimes bumbling portraits of the country’s forefathers.  

But Steve’s bosses found it an issue of money.  His editors were especially risk-averse for fear of offending a seemingly all-powerful Texas State Board of Education, who, according to Steve, had no patience for course material that questioned manifest destiny, Protestant Christianity, or the free market. 

And that, Steve says, is why textbooks are boring.

Steve Sheinkin is now the author of many children’s history books that tell the stories left on the cutting room floor of his former employer.   Recent releases are about the history of the atomic bomb, the permanently undefeated Carlisle Indian School football team, and, of course, Benedict Arnold.

We adapted this episode of Here Be Monsters from a brilliant piece by Erica Heilman that she made for her own podcast, Rumble Strip.  Rumble Strip is great, listen to it.  It’s part of The Heard.  Jeff Emtman re-edited this piece with help from Bethany Denton and Nick White.

Music: Swamp Dog, The Black Spot

 

Author Steve Sheinkin. Image courtesy Erica Heilman/Rumblestrip

HBM067: Dispatches From PestWorld 2016

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Pestworld 2016 in Seattle, Washington. Photo by Jeff Emtman.

Pestworld 2016 in Seattle, Washington. Photo by Jeff Emtman.

 

Feeling anxiety about the American presidential election, HBM host Jeff Emtman took a trip to a place he hoped to be insulated from politics: PestWorld 2016, the largest American gathering of pest management professionals. Jeff has always liked bugs and pest animals, so it was a miniature vacation.

He talked with the following attendees about the tools and the philosophy of pest management:

Rose Eckhart of ZappBugg bed bug heaters
Carlita Turk of TAP Pest Control Insulation
David Walters of HY-C Home Solutions
Evan Bruce of Heat Assault glycol bed bug products
Roger Johnson and Evan Church of Pest Routes
Sheree Swindle of Bed Bug Mutts with Lily Loo
Bill Robinson of B&G Curtis Dyna-Fog sprayers and foggers
Alan Huot of Wildlife Control Supplies outfitter for wildlife professionals

Jeff Emtman produced this episode with help from Bethany Denton and Nick White.

Music: Serocell, Flowers

 

Rose Eckhart of ZappBug explains the basics of bedbug infestations.

The Golden Eagle mosquito fogger from Curtis Dynafog.

Alan Huot of Wildlife Control Supplies demos wildlife baits.

HBM018: How I Learned to Love Rejection (part 2)

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HBM018.jpg
 

Please note: This is an early episode of Here Be Monsters that aired in 2013. This episode no longer appears on the official HBM feed. However, you can still download it here.

This is part 2 of 2.  Listen to Part 1 first!

In the summer of 2011, a scared 22 year old decided to hitchhike across America. He was trying to meet real Americans. However, there was a caveat—he was also terrified of strangers.

That young traveler was me. Fear was becoming far too prevalent in my life, so I headed out onto the road. This episode looks at the lessons I learned in the first half of that trip, joining a carnival, sleeping in a cemetery, camping with a train rider named puke.

Right now, we’re doing a fundraiser for the show, selling a really unique and funny magazine with photos from this hitchhiking trip. SUPPORT THE SHOW!

Here Be Monsters is now on Stitcher!

Music: Flower Petal Downpour ||| Nym ||| Swamp Dog ||| Lucky Dragons

A collection of my audio and photos from this trip across America.

 

HBM017: How I Learned to Love Rejection (part 1)

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Photo by Jeff Emtman.

Photo by Jeff Emtman.

 

Please note: This is an early episode of Here Be Monsters that aired in 2013. This episode no longer appears on the official HBM feed. However, you can still download it here.

In the summer of 2011, a scared 22 year old decided to hitch hike across America. He was trying to meet real Americans. However, there was a caveat—he was also terrified of strangers.

That young traveler was me. Fear was becoming far too prevalent in my life, so I headed out onto the road. This episode looks at the lessons I learned in the first half of that trip, meeting a pastor, finding a strange cave, admiring the bizarre beauty of Yellowstone, and witnessing a fatal shooting.

Part 2 coming soon!

Right now, we’re doing a fundraiser for the show, selling a really unique and funny magazine with photos from this hitchhiking trip. SUPPORT THE SHOW!

Music: Flower Petal Downpour ||| Nym ||| Swamp Dog ||| Lucky Dragons

A collection of my audio and photos from this trip across America.