YEAR: 1992

SEASON: Unknown

DATE: unknown

STATE: California

COUNTY: Shasta County

LOCATION DETAILS: off 273 north to El Reno-To Howard-To Frances Dr. to the end.

NEAREST TOWN: in Redding

NEAREST ROAD: highway 273

OBSERVED: I was living in a pretty nice subdivision at the time. It wasn't overly remote, just a typical subdivision, it was located on a large green belt, and there was a lot of construction being done on expansion of the subdivision at the time. The area was primarily oak trees, and poisen oak, scrub brush, manzanita, etc. I was sitting shooting the bull with a friend outside on the curb. directly across the street a house was under construction.
We had been talking for quite awhile, when we hear VERY frightening screams. They sounded similar to sounds I have heard on bigfoot recordings, and very much like nothing I had ever heard before, very loud, and very erie. I hadn't ever heard certain animals scream before, so I honestly don't have a base of comparison. We never left, we just sat there sort of freaked, because it WAS a subdivision (albeit at the end of a street) and because we didn't know what it was. I figured maybe a fox, because I had seen the fox in the area in the days preceeding, and day of the even, strangely, I never saw the fox after that night). I am skeptical about what it was that made the noise, I don't think it was the fox, although, I haven't heard them yelp. I haven't heard owls before, but never have seen them in the area. It did scare me, and I haven't forgotten it, even though it was about 8 years ago. An interesting side note, there was a dead kitten in my gutter in the morning, near where I sat, And another kitten limping nearby, I hadn't seen the kittens around prior to the day either. The noise best sounded like something in a horror movie to scare the crap out of you.

ALSO NOTICED: see story

OTHER WITNESSES: myself and a friend

OTHER STORIES: no

TIME AND CONDITIONS: night around 11pm or so.

ENVIRONMENT: woods, oaks, manzanita, poisen oak, etc.

Follow-up investigation report:

I talked with the witness by phone and the following details can be added to the report:
--The area that he was living in has many trees and is near lakes and streams.
--The area is much more built up now.
--The scream was very loud, very "monsterish," and was heard twice. Each scream lasted for about one second; the screams were about 10 minutes apart.
--After the second scream, they went back into the house because they were afraid of whatever was making the noise.
--The witness felt the scream was not from a mountain lion or fox, because he felt the kittens would have been eaten.