January 2, 2020
The first weekend of December found the Blind Pig house bustling as usual.
Christmas preparations were under way at home and at the Folk School. The Deer hunter contracted some sort of respiratory virus and was huddled on the couch under a blanket with a gut splitting cough.
December 8th was the annual Pressley Christmas gathering at The Deer Hunter’s Aunt Wanda’s in Clyde, NC. There was no way he was going to be able to make it, so the girls and I decided we’d go and come back in the same day instead of spending the night like we usually do.
We had a wonderful time as always. That’s the only time of the year we get to see most of the Pressleys. There’s always news to catch up on and there’s good food too. You can’t beat Uncle Sam’s homemade soup and cornbread.
We got home that night at about 8:00 p.m. I swear The Deer Hunter hadn’t moved since we left him early that morning. He was still on the couch with medicine bottles and tissues covering the floor near him.
After unloading the car and doing the things I had to do I was ready for bed. I knew after the big day 5:30 a.m. would come quickly.
I was deep asleep when suddenly Chitter woke me up screaming “What is that sound? Momma! Momma what is that sound do you hear it?”
I was trying my best to crawl to the surface of consciousness, but just couldn’t seem to get there as quick as she needed me too.
I stuttered “What? What what is it, is something wrong? I don’t hear nothing.”
Chitter said “Oh it was horrible I think someone or some dog just died out back of the house. I was in my room and I heard the most awfullest sound I’ve ever heard. It was terrible! Momma! I’m afraid Molly (my niece’s dog) might be dead.”
Finally I said what I usually say “I don’t know go tell your daddy.”
In his feverish hopped up on cough syrup state The Deer Hunter was no use. When she asked him about the sound he mumbled something about it being under water parallel to the something or other.
Knowing Chitter was literally shaking from fear I begin to wonder what in the world she heard. I said describe it again for me.
Chitter said “It was just this horrific hair raising sound like something was dying or a woman was screaming.”
She said she was going to take a bath. After she left my room I laid there thinking about what could be out in the darkness of the night and remembered all the tales I’ve heard about a painter or mountain lion sounding like a screaming woman.
When Chitter got out of the shower she came back to tell me she’d texted my niece April to tell her to go check on Molly. Molly was fine, but April had her own screaming story to tell.
About three weeks prior to Chitter’s incident April was coming home from work one evening at about 7:00 p.m.
There’s a long sidewalk that begins at the parking area of their driveway and leads up to the front porch.
Just as April started up the sidewalk she heard a horrifying screaming that liked to have scared her to death.
Inside the house her mother was washing up the supper dishes and she heard the sound too. At first she thought it was April playing with Molly on her way in, but after a few seconds she got scared. She said “I took off running through the house. I just knew April had somehow managed to fall and break her ankle or leg and was screaming in pain.
About the time she got to the door April was pushing her way through saying “Let me in! Let me in! There’s something out there!”
I told Chitter what I remembered about folks saying a painter sounds like a screaming woman and she said maybe that’s what it was.
Even after a hot shower the girl was still shaking like a leaf. I told her she could sleep with me if she wanted to and she gladly took me up on my offer.
Just as I drifted off to sleep she woke me up one more time. She’d googled mountain lion screams and found one. She said “That’s exactly what I heard. I swear.”
On Christmas day we all discussed the recent hearings. I said “I just wish I could have heard it.” April’s mother said “No you don’t Tipper. Its the most terrifying thing I’ve ever heard. I haven’t got over it yet.”
—January 2, 2020
After I posted about Chitter and April’s experiences back in January of 2020 a lot of folks shared their experiences of hearing painter screams or seeing the big cats. A few folks said bobcats can also produce that hair raising sound.
I’ve still not heard it myself, but early one morning Paul heard the terrifying sound as he walked home from Granny’s before daylight to get ready for work. He said it was so shocking he about lost his balance for a minute.
The eerie sound came from the high ridge behind our house. Paul thought maybe I heard it too, but I didn’t. I was either still asleep or already taking my daily treadmill walk in the basement.
Last night’s video: Updates: Cookbook Signing, Granny, & Next Live.
Tipper
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My husband told me, when he was a young boy, they heard the horrible screaming of a panther and didn’t know what it was at that time. They called the neighbor immediately thinking someone had drowned in their pond. One night, way back when we were first married, I was sitting on our porch steps. My husband was working afternoon shift and it had just gotten dark. There were very few neighbors back then and lots more woods. I looked up and across the dirt road, I saw the figure of a large black cat with a long tail bounding through the woods. This was back in the early 80’s. It didn’t make a sound..just silently leaping along. It scared me to death though. We also heard a kind of baby screaming sound one night, and saw a fox coming down this same dirt road making a horrible sound. We thought maybe it had rabies…who knows. There are more neighbors and homes now, but I still see a lot of critters.
Never heard one scream, only growl, as I accidentally encroached on a she lion and cubs snacking on a mule deer she downed in Southern Utah. Closer to home, I was snowshoeing in one of the 7 canyons that are close by and when I doubled back to use the trail I’d broken to go back down, there were ascending footprints paralleling my trail. Those paw prints seemed as big as pie plates to me. This was before cell phones and I was resigned to being dinner if it had to be. Never more scared before or since.
Back in the early seventy’s my husband and I were going to visit my sister and her husband, we went on the back roads of Fairystone Park. He would always tug at his socks on his right leg when he thought there might be a cop behind him, There is a large vacant brick house on that road that many people say is haunted, and on certain nights of the week you will see a light on in the basement area, well he pulled off the main road, and backed the car up on a dirt road near that old vacant brick house, and turned his car lights off. We sit there a few minutes to wait and see if it was a cop that was behind him, the car passed on and it wasn’t a cop after all, but we started to hear this awful loud sound like a woman screaming., as we kept sitting there the sound kept getting closer and closer, and louder and louder, I hollowed out to my husband start the car and let’s get out of here, he did, and spun tires out of that place in a quick hurry. I will never forget that night, the sound of a woman screaming and the sound getting closer and closer to our car. That was so terrifying. Being parked near a haunted house, and hearing that woman screaming, (panther sound), would scare the very socks off of you.
I have heard the bobcats scream but not in many years – probably 65-70. I saw one black panther when I was about 10 or so. It crossed highway 129 in front of us near the Calderwood overlook. That one was running – not screaming. It was long with a very long tail.
Maybe that “very long tail” you saw was “The Dragons Tail!”
Here’s a Barn owl Screaming. I’ve Heard them a lot at night here in West Texas.
https://youtu.be/uTu0a1wd9-M?si=zk3ERl8Rx9nq9YSd
Wyatt-thank you for the link! My the owl has a loud scream too 🙂
I haven’t ever heard a “painter” scream but a couple of years ago there was a fox coming around our neighborhood of a night and it made these strange screaming/wailing noises too. I couldn’t figure out what it was for a while until I started looking up recordings of animals that scream in the night and it matched perfectly with a certain fox. Mama also used to tell me stories that her parents told her about their grandparents. They said that back in the horse and buggy days panthers would sometimes stalk folks traveling home of a night and spook their horses and that there was a couple that had a baby pass away and while it was laid out in the house with someone sitting up with it’s little body during the night a panther got up on the roof and tried to come down the chimney to get it! Could you imagine?! Scared me half to death hearing those tales as a child!
I’m sure your Daughter knew exactly how she heard that Mountain Lion,
But there is another intimidating scream. A Barn Owl in the middle of the night will make you soul jump right out of your body. I’ve run into several Owls out here in West Texas even a Great Horned Owl. They are absolutely beautiful birds. The Horned Owl has beautiful Yellow Eyes! A barn Owl is beautiful snowy white. Anytime an owl is around the Barn or Field, they relax our worries of rattlesnakes. Owls eat them.
Living close to the Border and traveling to Mexico . Many people think seeing an owl is a bad omen, that death is near and they fear any owl. But I absolutely love Owls! My grandma used to collect owl figurines ad decorations she loved Owls so much.
but when they are agitated they make the most intimidating, blood curdling. scream they almost sound like and “Aztec Death Whistle”
living in northern california, memories of camping at Eagle Lake, on many weekends. We would leave after work on Thursday night, camper packed, boat in tow for a weekend of fishing for Eagle Lake Trout. One particular evening we were late leaving on the hour and half drive, getting to the area near the lake just as dusk was falling, when across our path a deer came bounding. My husband slowed down, saying–there will be something chasing the deer, and at that point a Large Mountain Lion was leeping across the road in front of us. That has been over 15 years ago now, but I will never loose the image of seeing such beautiful wildlife in their habitat instead of a zoo somewhere.
A buddy and I were camping out in the Davis Mountains. There was an increase sitings of Mountain Lions that year in the Park. We were walking to the bathrooms at night. Pitch black sky was dripping with stars.
I told my buddy as we walked, about staying still if he was ever to run into a cougar. Sure enough as we were walking back to camp we heard something in the grass. I shined my flashlight over and we saw a Mountain Lion and her cub crouched down in the grass.
What was the first thing my buddy did? He high tailed in a sprint. And I just stood staring at those glowing eyes frozen in fear. I thought for sure the Mountain lion was going to React and pounce. Thank God it didn’t though. She and her cub slowly backed away and walked up the mountain.
We weren’t the only ones who had seen the Cougar. Another camper called the Park Ranger out and I thought for sure he would react worriedly as we told him what happened. I thought I was a gonner.
He just smiled and said that Mountain Lions usually don’t attack unless provoked. I was like but she had a cub! I really thought she was going to react especially when Edward took off running.
The Ranger said she probably thought you couldn’t see her because she thought she was well hidden in the grass. But even then he did say that Mountain Lions in the Park had gotten used to human activity and only come into the campground looking for leftover food. He said for them to come into the campground at night was normal.
There’s never been reports of anyone getting killed by Mountain Lions in the Davis Mountains, but In the tent I couldn’t sleep at all that night and sure enough in the distance on the mountain face we could hear mountain Lions screaming. It was Intimidating.
Those big cats can scare the bejeebers out of people with those awful screams. I’ve heard them. I’ve also made sure all our pets were safe and secure come sunset because those predators will snack on your dogs and cats.
I remember my Daddy telling me a Painter had a terrible scream like a woman screaming but also he had heard bobcat’s scream like that in his growing up years in NE MS. My husband and I were in a park in Utah and had started walking through the large shrubs when he had to run back to the car to get an item. I didn’t hear anything but I knew I was in their territory and had the gut feeling that I was in the perfect area to be ambushed by a Mountain Lion. Thankfully my husband returned about that time and the hair on the back of my neck laid back down.
I think it was 2004 or 2005 that I was down south and had gone up to meet my Cousin near Savannah, TN. I was going to spend the night at their cabin overlooking the TN River. We had been to town and heading back to their cabin, I was driving the ridge enjoying the views. All of a sudden, a rabbit exploded out from under a line of dense shrubs on the right side of the road about 70ft in front of me. Right behind that rabbit was a bobcat running full speed stretched out. I said to my cousin, ” ‘A Bobcat’ can you believe what we are seeing!” They ran across and disappeared under a long line of dense shrubs on the left side of the road. Having heard stories about them in my growing up years, now I had actually seen one on a mountain ridge in TN. I can replay that scene in my mind’s eye and I’m still amazed that I was able to see it; but I didn’t hear the bobcat scream and I’m glad I didn’t hear it:)
Folks in Patrick County, VA have sworn for years that they have mountain lions there; I for one can believe it. All the critters are coming back.
I came home one night and my dog was barking at something in the field next to me. when I stepped out of my truck I heard an ungodly scream. I shined my spotlight on it and it was a bobcat. My dog started toward it and I called him back, told him “you don’t want none of that.” The bobcat stayed there several minutes screaming and then walked into the woods.
I remember my brother talking about hearing an awful sound like that in the woods. He said he thought it was a bobcat and he got out of there quick because he thought it was following him. Said he’d never been so scared in his life, and he wasn’t one to scare easily.
I grew up hearing the old timers talk about “painters” and “painters screams”. Growing up in a national forest or at least the inside the bounds, people might imagine all sorts of game, but that wasn’t the case growing up where I lived.
Even in the early parts of 1900s in Alabama when game such as deer and turkey were practically extinct (I’m talking populations in the low 100s and zero in some areas), but there were always isolated pockets where a few managed to escape the fate of the fire and pot. It was during this time that restocking efforts began. These restocking efforts were sponsored and carried out by both private outdoorsman and government officials. William B. Bankhead is the name of the forest where I live, but back in those early days it was known as the Alabama National Forest. In 1936, FDR had the name changed to honor Sen. Wm. B. Bankhead (father of Tallulah son of Confederate Capt. John H.). I came from a family that hunted and enjoyed the outdoors. In those days, deer hunting could be done here with dogs or by stalking and only antlered bucks were legal to be killed. I have hunted entire seasons and never see a buck and only a couple of does. Deer were so scarce, I have covered tracks with leaves so I could bring my friends back and show them this rare sight. In the early seventies there were not any coyotes or armadillos here. Now, they are EVERYWHERE. Like the remote areas that concealed and nurtured turkey and deer there were some that fostered the big cats. Today, game is fairly plentiful. Our conservationists and outdoorsman have done excellent work managing local populations. I saw my first big cat when I was deer hunting with a friend in 1979. It crossed the road were walking on about 75 yards from us. It was a large black cat with a long slender body and tail. I did not get a good look at the head. Keep in mind all this time, people were still talking about hearing big cats “holler” (scream) so, I know they were here before our levels of population returned to “normal” levels. I have seen another large black while turkey hunting. It too was crossing the road and wasn’t in a big hurry. I used my binoculars to get a very good look at this sleek killing machine which I estimated to weigh less than 100 lbs but more than 60 . I have seen one “cougar” in the woods. Both my son and daughter got to see it. I would guess it’s weight at 160 lbs, 30″ tall, and maybe 2.5′ long (I was probably 250 yards away). It was crouched down preparing to pounce a nearby fawn. We could see the fawn and it’s mother (35 yards past the little one). The big cat slowly turned and looked right at us as my son excitedly declared “look at the size of that bobcat”. I said look at it’s tail and color (it was brindle with only patches of white around it’s head area) it is NOT a bobcat. In a couple of bounds, it was well into the brush and gone. Another time, I was turkey hunting when I saw and heard a big bobcat. It was in the southern part of my county and I was in thick hardwoods adjacent to a clearcut. It was very cool, a little misty, and just getting daylight when I heard a “cat” scream several times. I eased closer to the wood line and scanned the huge clearcut until I located the cat sitting upright on it’s haunches and yelling to the top of it’s lungs. We’ve got plenty of bobcats. When I was 13 I and man who was trapping our land caught a good bobcat in a #1 1/2 steel trap. That was about 1977/78 and that hide brought $165! That was a lot of money at that time!
Fast forward to the nineties and it is getting where you can’t drive down a road without seeing a deer. Nowadays, you are lucky to drive in and out of my road (2.4 miles) off the main throughfare without seeing a deer or God forbid hitting one. I think the rise in deer population is a direct correlation to the increase in big cat sightings the NFS denies are here. The forest service (USDA) denies the presence of cats along with bears which sightings of those are becoming more frequent. My DIL saw a bear that was passing through about a mile and half from my house. I later learned from the FS biologist that it was wearing a tracking collar and had ventured from near Columbus, MS to north GA during mating season and was returning to it’s home. That bear was killed by an automobile just outside Columbus. Such is life.
It is mating season for wildcats. Cougars and bobcats make different yet similar sounds. The male and females can both do this although the female is more vocal. A bobcat can sound more like growling/moaning, but can make a high pitched scream that sounds similar to a woman or a full fledged “painter”. This is just my opinion, but I believe the smaller black ones are similar to the Jaguarundi found in south FL. Some people call them “painters” too. Others call them pumas, or cougars. The golden brown or brindle larger cats seen around here I believe are Eastern Cougars. Sorry to have been so long, but that was a great story and please let your girls know it is mating season (mid-winter through early spring) now till about March. So, set up some sort of listening/recorder device and they might be lucky enough to hear and capture that sound.
What you wrote about deer and turkey could be said about most of Upstate SC. There were no deer or turkeys until the SCDNR begin restocking them in the 70’s. Now that is all you see and no quail, very few rabbits but plenty of squirrels, deer and turkey. The wildlife department gives a little bit of lip service to the lack of quail but their pride and joy is for the deer and turkeys. I know there is only so much to be done for quail, one huge problem in my area is due to developments namely housing developments. Deer and turkey are their bread and butter among the hunters of today. They are beginning to show concern for the turkey because of a decreasing population. Just a few weeks ago around sundown I saw 14 deer in three different spots within a half mile of home. The roads are full of dead deer hit with vehicles. We are also seeing a lot of coyotes and more and more armadillos.
My grandson says the bobcat is one of the most elusive animals in the forest but I’ve got one that proves him wrong. There’s at least one, maybe more, that loves to have its picture taken in broad daylight. I had tenants in the old farmhouse who heard a woman screaming more than once when they went out on the porch to get firewood late at night. I’m glad I have only seen the bobcat and never heard him.
Quail were/are my favorite game to hunt and eat, have all but disappeared. Three of us and a good bird dog had no problems killing our limit before mid-afternoon when I was a young teen back in the 70’s. Now, it is rare to hear a bobwhite “whistlin’ up”. Neither I or the conservation folks in Montgomery have a clear answer as to what happened to the quail in north Alabama.
Yep, critters are reclaiming old ground these days. And some, like the coyote and the armadillo are new arrivals. If the habitat is suitable, they are there or on the way. I’ve heard the story of “painters” sounding like a screaming woman but have never heard one myself. Don’t want to scare anybody, but the old timers said they would follow you, especially at night. But whether that was curiosity or something else I never heard said. For sure it would be scary. We are having to re-learn what sharing the country with predators requires. One example is bear-proof containers.
You got that right.
I’ve never heard a painter or what we call a panther, however one of my sisters has. She was visiting our cousin Patty that lived back in the country holler of WV. Back in them days they didn’t have an inside bathroom they had an outhouse. My sister said it was bed time and they had gone out to use the outhouse when they heard what they thought was a women’s horrifying scream. She said it scared them to death. They ran back into the house and our aunt Ellen told them it was a panther. If they had to go they were to use the bed pan but not to go out to the outhouse till morning. My sister has told us this story many times since then. She said she would never forget that horrible scream.This happened about 60 years ago since she is now 70 years old and still remembers that night and that blood curdling scream.
I remember hearing those sounds as a child growing up. It would definitely make the hair on your head about stand up.
I can’t imagine how terrifying that sound must be ! But it brings to mind a movie that came out years ago and that I liked so much. It’s called the Song Catcher and it’s a wonderful movie about saving the old songs of Appalachia. The main character has the experience of hearing a painter and the reaction is much the same. Terrifying.
You can hear the mountain lions scream here in North Idaho. Even ran into a big cat one evening. Had one lick the drippings off our BBQ! If we let our little dog out at night, you can bet my husband goes with him. Too many small pets have been carried away. Living in a heavy forested area here, the echo of that scream is amplified. It is a sound you definitely will never forget.
Just recently people in our community have posted on the community page of a couple sightings. As I read those posts, I thought oh great, it’s bad enough I have to worry about the bears and coyotes when I walk my dog, now I have to be concerned about mountain lions???? One summer night my husband & I heard what sounded like a woman screaming. It sounded like she was running up the ridge toward our house. I finally told my hubby, I’m calling 911. They came out & we told our story. He said, well he wasn’t sure but would check in some residents down below us. Well, a few days later I was reading an article & this lady described the woman who she knew was being killed under her window. The screams were horrifying. She said it was a fox. Well I googled fox sounds and there was my sound. So maybe yours was a fox too???
January 2020? Can’t help but wonder if the poor Deer Hunter didn’t have an early run of Covid. Something awful went through this area in January and February that year. Folks were so sick. Then when the pandemic started in March, nobody seemed to catch it. I have to wonder if we hadn’t all had it.
This is one of the best blog posts! I laughed out loud several times. I must have missed it the first time.
My ex in-laws live in the ozark mountains and have had a few encounters with animals. Her don’t have anything so exciting in Aurora Illinois. We do have a car theft ring… I might rather have the mountain lion…..
Not long after hurricane Michael hit Florida my mother heard one in her yard near Marianna. Fish and Game says there are no big cats in the area, but I played a few videos from YouTube and mom pegged it right away. She said it was a truly horrible sound that will jar your soul.
We’ve heard a bobcat and that is exactly what it sounds like, a woman screaming. Like to have scared me to death. You never forget that sound. Our oldest brother, that passed last year, lived next to the river and heard it one night walking from his barn to his house and said the same. It liked to scared him to death too!
Our youngest daughter also lives next to the river and there have been sightings for years, but her family has not seen them. They have trail cameras up so if they are around it might catch them.
Tipper, do y’all ever hear tails of Bigfoot sightings? I met a man in his 70s and said when he was in his 40s he was in the hills and saw one. He was a level headed, godly man and swore to it. Said it was the scariest man type beast he ever saw. He said for years he and his brother looked again but never saw it. He said it was huge and smelled really bad. He even went on a talk show speaking about it. Most thought he was making it up, but he said he would go to his grave knowing what he saw.
Debbie-I haven’t heard of any here 🙂
I went online and listened. They do sound like someone screaming in pain.
I tell you if I ever heard that I would high tail it out of the woods!
This read is all too funny and brought up lots of like type memories. Looking forward to Friday’s offering. God Bless you guys and prayers for Granny.
I’ve heard it in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan staying at a deer camp. This place was remote, about 10 miles into the forest on a two-track. Sitting on the back porch of a camp cabin I heard a loud, terrifying scream or growl, and it was coming from up in the trees. I actually thought it must have been a big cat and immediately went inside, because the growl was loud and very close. I learned that day there were cougar/mountain lions and Canadian lynx in the area, but others heard it, too, and all thought it was a mountain lion. What stood out to me was the volume; it was so loud it about knocked me off my feet, but it sure got me in the house right quick! On that same trip, one of my children and I crossed paths with a pack of four wolves, but that is another story!
What is a two-track?
I don’t live in Michigan but from things I have read a two track is some type of off road vehicle. I have a series of paperback books wrote by a Michigan game warden that mentions two track roads, they are one lane dirt roads, that have only two vehicle tracks, think dirt driveways. This game warden also writes in his books about Michigan Yuppers and Trolls. A Yupper lives above the Mackinaw Bridge and a Troll lives on the main land below the bridge. We have a long time newscaster in our area and also another dearly loved church member that say they are Yuppers. Our church member jokes with us and says he is no longer a Yankee, he even eats grits now. Pray for this man known to us as Mr. Zigg, he had to have his voice box removed before Christmas and can no longer talk. As I already said he and his wife are dearly loved, they are in their 80’s.
a dirt road with two parallel tracks on the ground
Thanks, that’s what we call logging roads. When you said tracks I was thinking railroad tracks. Sometimes railroads abandon a line, take up their rails and ties and leave the base as a hiking road or for motorcycles, 4-wheelers, side-by-sides and such.
The SCDNR swears there are no panthers in SC. I know a trapper friend that is a modern day “Daniel Boone” and knows this country as well or better than anyone else. He said he has saw two in this area, a male and female that had a few little ones. I also know of some full grown horses being killed by a large animal in a very isolated area close to me. I personally saw some large cat tracks years ago that were larger than a man’s hand. I said this to say I have never knowingly heard a panther scream but have heard bobcats scream many times and they do sound like a woman screaming. One of our good friends from the north wanted to call the law and get up some men and go search for this lady, the first time he heard a bobcat scream. Now with all of the housing developments and the destruction of the woods and farm land going on around around here you seldom hear a bobcat or see a lot of other wildlife that was once common around here. A lot of these people, not all, are down on hunters but don’t think about how much wildlife habitat their housing development destroyed and do not seem themselves as contributing to the loss of wildlife.
I heard that sound but not since I was a kid , it is scary, it don’t happen round here anymore , construction and population has taken their habitat, God help!!!
Norman, I read your weather report yesterday, I have a weather rock on my deck that I go by. If it is wet it means rainy day, if dry it will be a dry day, if it is cold, it will be a cold day, if hot it will be a hot day. Unlike today’s weather forecasters, it is always correct! Today it is soaking wet, it almost float if not for the cracks between the porch flooring.
I hope and pray you have a good day and things are getting better for you.
Randy, I saw a weather rock here in Florida that hung on a cord. The sign added: if the rock is swinging, it is a windy day and if it is gone, it’s a hurricane or tornado.
Hey Gene, I just now saw your comment, I have added this to my weather rock since the cold weather last week, if ice or heavy frost on the rock, it is cold as a well diggers butt.
God bless Granny Louzine Wilson with healing and health in Jesus name
Randy – Love your weather rock – thanks for starting my day with laughter.