Spooky Southwest: The Hum, The Highway, and The Monster

S2 ep 5
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Kenny: [00:00:00] Hello everybody and welcome back to Enter the Rest Podcast, season two, episode five, and today on this episode, we're gonna hop on the Southwest. Express and go to the four corners of the United States and investigate a couple of weird things here. So in this episode, we are gonna be talking about the Taos hum, the Devil's Highway in the Mongollon monster. 

Garrett: Spooky 

Kenny: I'm your host. I'm your host Kenny, and joining me is my brother and co-host Garrett. 

Garrett: Woo. 

Kenny: Alright, so back in the. Early 1990s in the [00:01:00] city of Taos, New Mexico, a strange phenomenon started to occur. A lot of people started to report hearing this weird low humming noise, and it was just a constant hum. It never stops, and some people still report it to this day.

Garrett: Here's the constant hum.

Kenny: Well, you know, some people actually do report it as describing it like, uh, like a throat singing, like Tibetan throat singing. So

yeah, something like that. So supposedly only about 2% of the population can actually hear this sound. So it's been described as throat singing, or some people say it resembles like a cicada, like hiss a jet. A swarm of bees or like the constant thrumming, like hum of a truck. Or some [00:02:00] people say it's pretty close to the note E-flat.

So any musicians out there, you'll know that tone. So some people say it's like that. So of the people who can actually hear this noise, it's pretty divisive. So some people say it's like a magnetic pull. It draws them in closer to that area while others. Say it's like driving them mad. So some people say like they can't sleep or do anything with it, while other people are like, they feel they, the, some people who hear it, they feel like they're more like one with the earth because they can hear that noise.

I feel like most of the time when talking about this, uh, the Taos hum, uh, most of the time I hear it in the context of it being more of a negative thing. So this one local woman named, uh. Tanya Salzman. And so back, she wrote a letter back in March of 92, uh, to the Taos News [00:03:00] that she described it as a deafening den that interrupted her sleep and consequently her life.

And it just, it was unrelenting. So there has been a variety of theories on the onto what the, the Taos hum is. Some people think it's like different like pipes reacting within the environment. Other people maybe thought like it's wind farms, like maybe like the, like from the turbines making like the weird hum.

Garrett: I could see that. Or like exposed oil rig piping or anything like that where you kinda like if any of you have ever blown over the mouth of a bottle, you know, to make a nice little whistley noise. 

Kenny: Yeah. There's been also a theory that it's low frequency submarines somehow making this noise, but New Mexico is not exactly.

Close to the coastline 

Garrett: tunneling Marines, 

Kenny: I don't know, 

Garrett: subterranean, I don't know what you call mole people. [00:04:00] Just what the hell would that even be? 

Kenny: Yeah. I don't know. There's a lot of weird stuff in New Mexico. Maybe there's an underground ocean. 

Garrett: Yeah. 

Or maybe it's a big old, you know, Jawa sand crawler.

Just, you know, going, whoo tin ee

Kenny: some people think? Maybe it's actually a bunch of like seismic activity that some people are picking up on. So in 20 tectonic 

Garrett: plate shifting kind of situation, something 

Kenny: like that. In 2016, a group of French scientists thought they figured it out. Uh, they attributed the noise to micro seismic waves putting pressure on the seabed, and that was causing a drowning effect that was able to reach the Earth's surface.

However, you know, new Mexico's a good bit of ways away from coastline and only 2% of the population were, we were self, self-reported that they were able to hear it. Now New Mexico isn't the only place that's been like reported to have like a weird humming noise in the, in the seventies in Britain. And, and Bristol people also reported [00:05:00] a weird, uh, continuous humming noise.

And also in the larg Scotland in the eighties. There's been a couple of different areas around the world where there's been these strange, like consistent. Humming noises going on. But Taos, New Mexico and the southwest of the United States has been pretty notable for it. 

Garrett: A bunch of aboriginals with didgeridoos

Kenny: they just decided to jump to from Australia to 

the American Southwest. 

Garrett: I didn't think it was gonna make sense. I was just saying what it is. 

Kenny: In any case, I, I think it's pretty interesting. I know if I was one of the people living in Taos, I could hear it. I don't know how much it would actually affect my life anyway, because I do have tinnitus and it's pretty, pretty notable tinnitus, so, or tinnitus if you are one of those people.

But, uh, 

Garrett: aluminum, 

Kenny: but I don't know how much of more it would really affect me [00:06:00] because I already have a constant ringing in my ears. 

Garrett: Yeah. I wouldn't be able to tell, to be honest. I, I have tinnitus, really bad or. Tinnitus. I, I already have this problem. 

Kenny: Yeah. So who, who, who knows, like, would we even be able to tell a difference or would it be less like a second humming noise that we'd be aware of?

Garrett: Maybe it's the only reason why it's 2% of the population could hear it is because they're the ones that, uh, haven't done hard labor jobs or been around gunshots and explosions like we have and having, uh, ear infections from dust and stuff. 

Kenny: All that fun stuff. 

Garrett: Yeah. 

Going deaf. 

Kenny: It's great. 

Garrett: A joy for all ages.

Kenny: It's, it's not great.

Garrett: No, it's horrible. It sucks. 

Kenny: Well, let's just hop on the road here and then now we're going to, gonna go to the Devil's Highway, us Route 6, 6, 6. 

Garrett: Is someone gonna start playing ac DC now in the background

highway to copyright [00:07:00] strike 

Kenny: Right. But in all seriousness, uh, US Route 6, 6 6, the sixth branch of US Route 66. And it spanned three different states from Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. No longer called that. It was renamed in 2003 to us Route 4 91, partly because of the name and everything and like the superstition around it.

So this highway is actually one of the more haunted locations in the us. It's been reported a, a lot of weird things have happened. There also been a lot of. Uh, deaths and car accidents reported on this stretch of road much more than the national average. 

Garrett: Now, could that be due to that? It's out in the middle of nowhere on like vast straightaways and people are driving at night just kind of nodding off, or do you think it's actually something spooky?

Woo. 

Kenny: Maybe it's just a combination of all the above. I think something that could be a part of it is, [00:08:00] you know, you're driving there and before it was renamed and you're all of a sudden. You're driving on route 6, 6, 6, and you think, you start thinking about all these weird things that could happen, or maybe you're just like, it's in the back of your mind that some, this is a evil place, and then you get all sketched out and jumpy, you know?

Then you might see like a deer or something, and. All of a sudden you like, or an 

Garrett: armadillo or whatever, 

Kenny: armadillo or something, and you just like, he whipped that wheel a lot harder than you would've normally, and you'd go careening off a hill.

Garrett: Bye. Have a good time. 

Kenny: There's also the possibility that besides just the name, that it is more just a haunted place.

Garrett: It's a bunch of naagloshi 

Kenny: that is part of it in that area. That's the part of the US where skin walkers as part of the Navajo lore have been notably around that part of the Four Corners region of the United States. There's been several reports of skin walkers there. And there's been [00:09:00] many stories that circulate that, uh, skin walkers are said to be along that route, appear to travelers in an effort to warn them not to continue down the road.

Uh, that they cherish as theirs . It's just there. It's like they're kind of claiming it as their like territory or whatever. 

Garrett: Mm-hmm. 

Kenny: They'll, uh, give you a warning before, you know. They go and like shoot your ass with a bone arrow or something. 

Garrett: Yeah. You know, just make a snuff pouch outta your scrotum. Like watching, you know, old, I'm not too sure on that one.

It rubs de lotion on its skin or else it gets turned into a tobacco pouch again. 

Kenny: But there a couple of notable like paranormal phenomena that happens on us. Route 6, 6 6, 1 trope is Satan's sedan and this is basically like a really. Like a dark black sedan that appears on the highway and it, like, it charges individuals, it starts tailgating people, and it causes, it drives very aggressively, especially after sunset.

And it causes people to, uh, [00:10:00] drive off the road or pull over to just, just try to get out of the way. So witnesses will claim to see headlights speeding up behind them. And despite the fact that they are reaching high speed, the car seems to even gain on 'em like super fast, like it's supernaturally fast 

Garrett: meth head in a Tesla.

Kenny: Some witnesses say it like flies upon 'em and then goes around and then other people like it's very aggressive and causes them to pull over, like I said earlier, or fly off the road, 

Garrett: could just be a pissed off local who happens to just drive fast and aggressive as shit. 

Kenny: Right. And they just happened to own a black sedan and they're on that road frequent enough.

They've inspired the, uh, the drone. They their 

Garrett: own local crypted. 

Kenny: Yep. They 'cause they, uh, have that road rage so bad. 

Garrett: I mean, I personally used to drive like that. You just see a black Cadillac flying up behind you and tailgating you and zipping around you giving the finger. I mean, 

Kenny: speaking in the same vein of like weird vehicle sightings, there's also.

The evil [00:11:00] spirit of a semi-truck that's said to haunt the highway. 

Garrett: Oh no. It's a morbidly obese man who can't do pushups, and he's chasing me. All I can think about it is like, for those who remember the show Adventures of Billy and Mandy, or whatever the hell it was. Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.

Kenny: Yeah. 

Garrett: Yeah. The episode, you know, the episode we're in the desert and freaking, uh, the trucker picks up, uh, grim. He collects toenails and shit and he's in that creepy looking semi-truck. 

Kenny: No, I don't remember that. 

Garrett: Yeah. He makes sunglasses frames with like, you know, toenails on 'em and shit. Has a big jar of toenails.

Kenny: Ew. 

Okay. 

Garrett: Yeah, 

Kenny: I, I don't remember that at all. But supposedly a lot of people have reported that driving on this road, their car will overheat when normally their car has been fine and it causes them to pull over and then all of a sudden they'll see that there's a semi-truck that kind of just disappear out of nowhere, and it's driving intentionally at them [00:12:00] at very high rates of speed.

Some people claim that they've been hit by the truck. And some people say that it's like been like a near collision, that it's going right by them and it's like super, super fast. 

Garrett: It was like a, kinda like the movie, the Hitcher kind of deal 

Kenny: maybe. But people claim that it's like a spirit that that controls the semi and it's angry and despises anything that contains life.

Like maybe it was a. Trucker or someone that died on that road, now that it's just an angry, malevolent spirit that wants to like road rage everyone to death. 

Garrett: The idea of a phantom vehicle, though, it just sounds very, uh, goofy to me. 

Kenny: I mean, it could just be like the spirit. A dead trucker. Right? I know, 

Garrett: but why don't you have, like, why don't you have ghost houses disappear?

It's an inanimate object 

Kenny: that, that's an interesting topic that we can actually talk in a, uh, another episode down the road. But there has been cases of these strange apports of houses just appearing in the middle of nowhere. 

Garrett: No, I call bullshit. [00:13:00] 

Kenny: Let us know if you'd want to hear that episode. People have also report on this road reported seeing Hellhounds 

Garrett: coyotes.

Y'all are up too late. 

Kenny: Coyotes on meth. 

Garrett: Ooh, so just child smugglers from Mexico, 

Kenny: not those kind of coyotes. 

Garrett: Oh, 

Kenny: so a lot of people say they've seen these packs of, of dogs and that they're supernaturally fast. Being able to run as fast as a vehicle is able to drive regardless of how fast the car is going.

And this, as many witnesses have expressed. The fact that these seemingly supernatural beasts have the power to literally shred tires with their sharp teeth. Other people have claimed that they saw them jump into the windows of vehicles driving along the road and that they literally attack and ma the people inside the vehicle and causing them to crash.

Garrett: Somebody's been 

dipping into the 

Benadryl heavy duty going into the shadow realm. 

Kenny: I don't remember if people see like dogs and stuff on Benadryl, but they do [00:14:00] see shadow people and spiders. I. 

Garrett: Somebody's been popping the gas station, caffeine and dick pills trying to get through the night any way they can.

Kenny: If 

it lasts longer 

than 

four hours, 

go see your doctor. 

Garrett: Rhino. 5,000. Oh, the FDA tried to sue us add another zero. 

Kenny: Speaking about malevolent spirits still on this stretch of road because there's just so much shit that happens on this road. It's ridiculous. There's said to be one spirit that's. Actually not hostile.

And this is like the pale spirit and it's typically believed to be that of a young girl who's, and she's seen standing on the side of the road in a gown and that's white and there's been no reported cases of the, of this spirit being actually harmful. She just kind of appears 

Garrett: so, kind of got a la Llorona, but less cunty.

Kenny: Uh, yeah, I guess so. She said to just have a sad, unnerving expression that prompts the concern of anyone who sees her. It says that when people like approach her, they like ask her what's wrong or to [00:15:00] help her, she just vanishes, disappears without a trace. So at least she's just like literally ghosts you.

Yeah. And doesn't actually try to like. Kill you while you're on the stretch of road. 

Garrett: So what you wanna do is you want to, you want to gun in the car, like really fast. Get to about 90 and then throw the passenger door open. If you can get past the wind and just uh, then really make her disappear. 

Kenny: Oh my God.

So something else that happens on this road is that a lot of people have, well just either disappeared. On this road, just like strange, like some 

Garrett: one, like, uh, missing 4, 1 1 shit. 

Kenny: Yeah, they just completely vanish. There's also been a lot of cases of missing time, so people will start driving on the road.

They'll have no recollection of anything that's happened, and they'll just be like, pulled over on the road or something, or they can be traveling and they'll just have hours of time just missing on that road. I'm unaware of any reports of like UFO activity happening. On the stretch of [00:16:00] road, but it would not surprise me if there were, I probably could look into it more just to look to see how many sightings of UFOs or maybe potential alien abductions have occurred.

Occurred on this stretch of highway. So if we move on down to Arizona, which is not along that stretch of highway, we'll go and we can talk about the Mongollon Monster. 

Garrett: The Mongoloid Monster. 

Kenny: Uhoh 

Garrett: Grilled Cheese. 

Kenny: Oh my God. But. No, the Mongollon monster is sometimes referred to as the Arizona Bigfoot, though sometimes it's been described as having more of a troll like appearance with like a long white beard and wild hair.

And in one report it was actually seen carrying a club. But the reason it's called the Mongol and Monster, it's been reported along the Mongol and Rim in Arizona, and the Mongol and Rim is a, like a 2000 foot tall escarpment, [00:17:00] uh, that's about 200 miles long. So it's a pretty tall, like mountain range. So it's about 200 miles long in like the eastern part of the state.

So some people have described, like I said, more of a control like than other people have described it more of just like, kind of like your typical Bigfoot, where it's like seven to eight feet tall, covered in reddish brown fur, that kind of thing. The oldest known documented sighting was reported in a 1903 edition of the Arizona Republican in which IW Stevens described a creature that he saw close to the Grand Canyon.

Having long white hair and a matted beard that stretched to his knees. It wore no clothing, and upon his talon like fingers were claws of at least two inches long. Upon further inspection, he noted a coat of gray hair nearly covering his body, and there was a spot of dirty skin showing. So I'm not sure if he had like, just like a patch, of fur missing somewhere.

Garrett: Yeah. 

Kenny: He later stated that, uh, after he discovered [00:18:00] the creature, it was actually drinking the blood of two cougars that it killed. And it threatened him with a,

Garrett: oh no, 

it got a middle aged 

white woman. 

Kenny: But, but it, uh, it threatened him with a, a wooden club and SRE screamed the wildest Most unearthly Screech.

Later another sighting happened in the mid 1940s by a cryptozoologist Don Davis, and so he was actually on a Boy Scout trip, uh, near Payson, Arizona. Where he said the creature was huge. Its eyes were deep set and hard to see, but they seemed expressionless. His face seemed pretty much devoid of hair, but there seemed to be hair along the sides of his face, his chest, shoulders, and arms.

They were massive, especially upper arms, easily upwards of six inches in diameter, perhaps much more. And he said, I could see that he was pretty hairy, but didn't observe really how thick the body hair was. And the face and head was very square, uh, square [00:19:00] sides and a squared up chin like a box. So that seems like, especially like the more deep set eyes, that to me seems more like, you know, your normal like description of a Bigfoot.

Garrett: Yeah. 

Kenny: Sasquatch 

Garrett: had like a cinder block though. 

Kenny: Blocky then if we jump forward to 2006, a member of the White Mountain Apache Nation in Arizona by the name of Collette Al Taha. And she saw, she stated this in 2006 that in her words, we're not prone to easily talk to outsiders, but there have been more sightings than ever before and it cannot be ignored any longer.

Then regarding local reports, tribal police, Lieutenant Ray Burnett states that a couple of times they've seen this creature looking through people's windows and they're scared when they call 

Garrett: you climbing in your windows, snatching your people up. 

Kenny: Oh my gosh. He stated that the calls that we're getting from people.

They weren't hallucinating, they weren't drunks and they weren't, people that we know make hoax calls. They're from [00:20:00] real citizens of the Ford Apache Indian Reservation. Um, so some people, it seems like they feel like the thing is harmless, that it just, you know, it's just there. Other people seem to obviously be worried and concerned, especially if this big thing is looking in their windows probably at night.

So they're probably very worried. Otherwise they probably wouldn't be calling the tribal police. 

Garrett: But yeah, I mean, as most people would be, I mean, when you see a big hairy man staring in your windows, I mean, one would be alarmed. 

Kenny: A lot of people seem to say that what people are actually seeing is a misidentification of like grizzly bears, because apparently as, as recently as the thirties grizzly bears roamed the different forests of Arizona.

So maybe people saw 

grizzly 

bears. 

Garrett: Most people would understand the. A bear versus large monkey man. Yeah. Especially, uh, the whole muzzle, you know, little snouts. 

Kenny: Yeah. I mean, I could see a grizzly bear taking out two mountain lions for [00:21:00] sure. 

Garrett: Yeah. But not a drinking. It is blood. Like it just cracked open a high sea orange and just went at it.

Kenny: But the whole wooden club thing makes me think yeah, it's probably not a 

Garrett: bear. Yeah. Big monkey man door. Or very large inbred hill people 

Kenny: in the Southwest. There's so much weird stuff going on like all the time. There's like new stories coming out of that region of something happening. Is there a big footlike creature or troll like creature along the Mongollon rim in Arizona that's killing mountain lions and screaming at people?

Is it a grizzly bear? Uh, I don't know. I don't think it's a grizzly bear, especially not really anymore. High 

Garrett: and likely, yeah. Oreng Pendick On methamphetamines. 

Kenny: So the, I think there's definitely a lot of weirdness going on in the, in the American Southwest. Do you think that a group of Bigfoot are there throat singing and it's so loud that it's causing people in Taos, [00:22:00] New Mexico to think they're hallucinating or having tinnitus so bad.

That's actually Bigfoot and their throat singing and it's also causing the infrasound. It's causing people who to hallucinate and drive off cliffs off route. 6, 6, 6. 

Garrett: And they're probably also stealing black sedans and going on joy rides. That too. Impossible. 18 wheelers. It's just all Bigfoot, Bigfoot, on meth.

Kenny: Yep. They just, they just, they, they got their own operation going on now, and now they're all slinging that ice. 

Garrett: Yeah. And plain didgeridoos . 

Kenny: Yep. But really though, what do you think is actually happening on like Route 6, 6 6 now, 491? 

Garrett: Um, I would say mostly it's placebo. 'cause it's just a number. It's nothing inherently evil about it.

Um, but also long straightaways at night, very flat. I imagine a lot of people are probably also driving out there under the influence for recreational purposes. 'cause [00:23:00] you know, it's long, flat and straight and nobody's there at night and you wanna go on a smoke ride or get drunk. I mean, probably a lot of that or people staying up way too late or tracking trailer drivers, taking them gas station dick pills to keep awake and, uh.

You know, they just, they get that kind of moth to the flame effect and there hasn't been a single light for like, the past five hours. So they just start staring at it and they're so dazed out that, you know, they kind of just turn to wherever they're looking. We've got lead, paint, stare and just nearly take somebody off the road.

Kenny: I will say, I forgot, I, and I forgot to mention this earlier, that, uh, after they changed the name from Route 6, 6, 6 to 4 91, the amount of accidents actually went down. 

Garrett: It makes sense. Just 'cause everybody hyping themselves up. Placebo effect. And then I, I imagine, uh, there's probably less tourism and people are trying to like, do you know, hood rat, Hellraiser shit, you know, trying to go drink and drive on Route 66.

You know, [00:24:00] you know, I, well 6, 6, 6, but, um, I like bull crap. 

Kenny: Yeah, that's definitely possible. And or maybe people who, um, 

Garrett: just making bullshit up 'cause it's, you know, 

Kenny: well that too. Yeah, it's 

Garrett: apt. For the name, everybody's got their own little, uh, urban rumors. 

Kenny: I was gonna say maybe the people who didn't know it as Route 6 6 6 and they show up and it's just 4 91 that maybe they don't psych themselves out then.

Garrett: Yeah. 

Kenny: What are your thoughts on the Taos hum? 

Garrett: That more than likely, I would say, might just be, uh, at the craziest thing. You know, you can think I'll probably just tectonic plate shifting or it's just, uh. Like exposed piping somewhere, like maybe like some drainage ditches, catching the wind just right. And like culverts any sort of, uh, any if they have like irrigation trenches or any of that kind of stuff, you know, that could cause like a [00:25:00] nice little, little like 

Kenny: woo, 

Garrett: you know, wind noise.

Kenny: I could see that. But what about the reports of the people who say they hear it constantly? 

Garrett: And the prolly just got tinnitus dog. I mean, 

Kenny: I mean, yeah. Okay. That's, that also could be pretty possible. 

Garrett: I mean, you, you're on the desert, you probably, you know, picked your ears a couple times with dirty, dusty Fingees and probably got an ear infection or two and you know, dirty, 

Kenny: dusty fingees

Garrett: yeah. So I mean, you know, there you go. You yourself, ear infection and you got tinnitus. They're just, you know, they're out there bored as shit and they're doing drugs. 

Kenny: That could also be a thing. 

Garrett: Which would, uh, your, uh, theories be 

Kenny: for the, uh, the highway or first or the, uh, Taos hum. 

Garrett: I dunno. Shoot. 

Kenny: I think that highway is evil, no, really?

I don't know. I don't know what the thing on the, uh, 

Garrett: insert mermaid man 

Kenny: and barnacle boy. 

Garrett: Yeah. [00:26:00] 

Kenny: Evil. I think it could be like there a lot of the people go and they psych themselves out when they say they're on route 6, 6, 6 'cause they think it's evil or something's gonna happen to them and them thinking that makes them more prone to accidents.

Garrett: Mm-hmm Definitely. 

Kenny: I do also think that, you know, maybe there has been some weird shit that happens. Like maybe someone actually did see a skin walker on that stretch of the road, but you know, I can't really say for sure. And then with the taos hum. I could see it being some kind of like, maybe geomagnetic or seismic activity.

And so that's why only a small subset of the population can actually pick up on it. 'cause they're the only ones that are sensitive enough to actually like, be able to detect it. 

Garrett: Yeah. If it's only 2% of the population, it can, it could also be people with uh, uh, metallic fillings in her teeth, picking up on AM radio stations 

Kenny: like, um, Lucille Ball, getting those.[00:27:00] 

KGB Spy communications. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, I think it's something to that effect. And the geomagnetic part of it could be why like those people in the UK at one point also said in their town there was like a constant hum. Maybe certain conditions are met in different locations and that just causes this weird low humming noise that some people can pick up on.

Garrett: I mean, more than likely it's just probably some. Something very small, mundane, or very, or it's the exact opposite and it's something, uh, creepy. Some spooky woo uh, X-Files shit. 

Kenny: It's a satanic cult that's conducting some kind of evil ritual to summon these bigfoot creatures to be their slaves, and they just hear the constant droning.

Garrett: Yeah. And, and it is, I guess it's the evil cultist who are out driving the sedans at night that are all blacked out because, uh. They wanna run people off the road. They're dark, steer 

Kenny: use for sacrifices. Thank you everybody for listening to this [00:28:00] episode of Enter the Riff podcast. If you've enjoyed this episode, please give us a like, subscribe and share it with your friends.

It would be very much appreciated And yeah, I. Have a good night. [00:29:00] Peace.