
Have you ever had one of those moments when everything just happens so perfectly horribly that it's terrifyingly funny? Tonight Sam, Lyn, Mary, Krissy, and I were playing flashlight tag out in the woods between my house and the cousin's homes(a very normal thing for us). It's dark, so dark you can't hardly see a hand in front of your face, the moon is strangely absent from the starry sky, lightning flashes off to the east, creating a strobe affect as we run through the to still night air. So the stage is set in motion. Lyn is it, meaning that the rest of us are scurrying for a place to hide and somehow all manage to be in the same place. At the top of the hill above my grandparent's home, we wait and listen for Lyn to come while keeping an ever present watch for the bright beam of light omitted from his hand. Because of the strangely still night air we are all a bit jumpy already, so when Krissy starts saying that she hears something across the field, we all just push it off as her being paranoid. All of the sudden, in the woods behind us we hear the sound of running feet. With a start, we all take off down the hill thinking it is Lyn. Krissy lays flat on the ground, Mary and Sam run to the bottom of the hill and I slide into the woods for cover. Dixy starts to bark and Sam laughs, thinking that she is chasing Lyn, then Lyn comes running from the OTHER direction! With a start we all tell him to shut up and turn in fear towards the sounds in the woods. Dixy is still barking, something is still running. Then we hear it, not a bark of a dog, but a fierce, harsh growl pierce the still air. With a chorus of screams we all take off in a stamped for the safety of the barn. All of this is happening so fast that we even leave poor Krissy where she lays on the ground. Her and Mary pull up the end while the rest of us lead onward in our sudden migration to the fortitude of the barn. We all rush in, bolting doors and cutting on lights as fast as we can. By this time we are all out of breath and more then a little worried, but we quickly become braver and open the door(but only when the outside light is shining brightly) and venture outside. At this point we are all laughing a bit but still a bit shook up. So we walk a little farther from the light, listening to Dixy barking in the woods. This sound pierces the air once more, this time only a few yards away! With panic in the air we all scream and turn, running for the barn and slamming the door behind us in terror. Now we are more then scared, we are utterly shaken to the bone. One of the siblings calls home and asks for dad to come up so we stand, waiting for him and listening for the sound that has been stalking us. Sam and Lyn open up one of the doors and like the cowards that we all are stick their heads out while holding a pitchfork for protection. We give up on this plan fast and sit back to wait. About 2 min later as we stand by the big sliding doors of the barn they are suddenly pounded on from the outside. As we are all terrified already we all start to scream at this intrusion of our peace. We open the door to find dad standing there, laughing at our fear. Then we tell him what has accrued and we all walk out with him and listen as Dixy chases it farther into the woods. Every few barks she lets out is followed by it's eerie howl. We all make it back home and even Dixy makes it back after a while, but it's still a night that we will not forget any time soon. And as I am sure you would expect, we shall not be playing flashlight tag again any time soon.....
The sound we heard we have identified as a bobcat(or maybe a crazy fox ;) ) here is the link for what we heard. Check it out...if you dare....
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&ved=0CB4QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.audiosparx.com%2Fsa%2Farchive%2FMammals%2FBobcats%2FBobcat-growl-01%2F137417&rct=j&q=bobcat+growl+sounds&ei=k3UITM6KFoWsNbbshbYE&usg=AFQjCNFdaoy95UaMDjDNDU7U0pwy5fc9Tg



