Here's an inquiry I received on . If you have any ideas, please reply to
the list and I'll respond to the person who inquired.
Doug
>From: "John B." <>
>
>Hi,
>I was awaken the other morning by an eerie animal sound which I had never
>heard before and have no idea what it was. Here are the details...
>
>1. I heard this sound behind my apartment building, which is right on
>Main St. in West Lebanon, NH. The Connecticut River is also located
>behind my residence - about 1/8 of a mile or so (if that.) The sound
>originated from about halfway between my building and the river.
>
>2. As mentioned above, a large river is nearby. Even though I'm on Main
>St., most city folk would consider this area "the country". Between my
>building and the CT River is a small line of trees, then a huge open area
>(which used to be a rail yard), some woods, then the river. It sounded
>like it was coming from out in the open back there.
>
>3. This was around 4:30 AM the other morning (09/17). It was clear and
>calm outside, temp around 50 - very comfortable night.
>
>4. No recorder - dang!
>
>5. Now the tough part... First off, the main portion of the sound was
>LOUD. (It woke me out of a sound sleep and my two cats went
>bonkers!) The sound (or series of sounds) was repetitive in nature. It
>started with an eerie medium-pitched throaty whine (which only changed
>pitch slightly), followed by a break of chatter. The whine part was loud
>and the chatter was relatively much quieter (and sounded like a
>raccoon). What I heard of it lasted around 5 minutes and it repeated the
>sound about a dozen times. Each "call" lasted about 20 seconds total,
>with the whine being about 3/4 of it. There was a 5 to 10 second pause
>between each "sound". It was consistent and didn't sound like the thing
>was in any kind of distress. If I had taped it, you probably couldn't
>tell the difference between each full sound "section". (It was EXTREMELY
>consistent!) And I could tell that the sound didn't move AT ALL. The
>volume level and intensity were constant throughout. It ended with a full
>section (with the chatter part), and that was it. I heard nothing at all
>after that. I've lived here for about 1 1/2 years and have heard nothing
>out back there all that time.
>
>I just got done searching the internet for various animal sounds and none
>sounded like what I heard. (I think one of the fox ones was the closest
>of all I heard.) I've heard a variety of coyote sounds SEVERAL times in
>the past, so I ruled them out. In fact, I don't think it was anything in
>the canine family, as there was none of that "yipping" at all. (The fox
>sound that I said was closest didn't sound much like a dog.) Yes, there
>are raccoons and other such critters around, but I couldn't imagine them
>being that LOUD (unless they were in immense pain or something). There's
>been a bear in the area, but that was no bear! (Not even CLOSE to a growl
>sound.) It wasn't like any owl I've heard, but some kind of other
>nightbird could be a possibility. I even theorized it could've been
>man-made, but the sound was way too non-human-like - especially the
>chattering part. (Was it Bigfoot???) Even though I was half asleep (no -
>I didn't DREAM this - heh), I could recognize the sound if I heard it again.
>
>Well, I hope that's enough of info for you. I need to know what this
>sound was because it's driving me CRAZY! What bugs me most is that I'm a
>fairly good researcher and was sure I could find it on the 'net earlier,
>but no go. Any info would be appreciated.
>
>Thanks!
>
>John B.
Doug Von Gausig
Clarkdale, Arizona, USA
Moderator
Nature Recordists e-mail group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/naturerecordists
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