Howl in the night stumps Liberty
By William G. Schmidt

For the Dayton Daily News

JEFFERSON TWP., Montgomery County | It is a sound that's likely to cause the hair on the back of your neck to stand up.

It's an eerie howl that has been waking some residents in a rural area just south of Liberty this summer. It's turned a few heads of residents coming home late at night.

The question in everyone's mind: what is it?

The source of the ghostly wail, at least, is pretty well pinpointed to between Liberty-Ellerton Road and Germantown-Liberty Road — a very natural area with a stream flowing from it into Bear Creek. It's a perfect wildlife habitat.

Rob Seiter, 55, who lives on the west side of the area, describes being awakened between 3 and 4 a.m. He and his wife, Mary, also have heard the sound earlier at about 11 p.m. — but always at night.

"We thought it was a bird," he said. "Then it sounded like something ripping something apart."

Bravely, Seiter decided to see if he could uncover the cause.

"I went out one night and there were two of whatever it is. I never saw them but they were definitely on the ground."

Being close to the source, Seiter said he heard the "call" end with a gurgle, even a 'baby growl.' "

Is it frightening?

"Oh, yeah!" Seiter said. Mary Seiter even obtained a copy of a tape, from a neighbor, with the shrieking sounds.

The Montgomery County sheriff's office reported no calls from residents frightened about the sound.

Doug Horvath, a naturalist at Germantown MetroPark Nature Center said he is stumped. It doesn't sound like any bird he's heard. He said there have been bobcat sightings in the area but it doesn't sound like that either.

Betty Ross, the director of the Glen Helen Raptor Center in Yellow Springs said, "Sounds human-like to me. The next closest would be coyotes, but even that doesn't fit, except for someone imitating them. It definitely doesn't sound like any birds I know, especially not raptors, and they are the ones I am most familiar with."

A neighbor to the east, Bonnie Maschino, 53, has heard it twice and thought it sounded like an injured animal. Still, although she's seen deer, raccoon, even a blue heron in the area, none seem to fit the bill.

Her next-door neighbor Bill Schlater, 54, says he thinks he knows what it is: a red fox.

"I got on the Internet and found a red fox warning sound. It was real faint but it's got the same sound," he said.

Schlater said he's seen young foxes in the area and even filmed them playing in his yard. He raises chickens for meat and that, he said, may explain some of the attraction to the area for the foxes.

While Schlater hasn't heard the wails since June 19, Seiter said he was still hearing them in early August, though fainter.

Schlater said even when the sounds were going full-throttle, he could go outside and clap his hands and get them to stop.

He took it all in stride as simply a hazard of living in the country.

"We get lots of noises."

http://www.daytondailynews.com/localnews/c...y/0816howl.html

It's probably a fox.....I woke up one time to what I thought was a baby crying right outside my door....it was a fox.....that was the most unsettling sound I've ever heard......

Creepy, makes you afraid to fall asleep at night!

*makes a mental note to howl out window tonight*

cats also sounds like babies sometimes

Could be alot of things.

Oh please people, we all know what it was, it was Michael Jackson trying to hit the high notes.

I knew it!