YEAR: 2022

SEASON: Fall

MONTH: September

DATE: 17

STATE: Wisconsin

COUNTY: Sawyer County

LOCATION DETAILS: It's a resort property on the south west side of Lost Land Lake off Brandt Road. The whooping noise came from the top of a small hill on the side of the lake. The faint chattering noise was Northwest towards Spider lake.

NEAREST TOWN: Hayward

NEAREST ROAD: Brandt rd

OBSERVED: Myself and two friends were on the dock night fishing. No fire, red headlamps. Dark and silent night, with a bright moon peeking through dense clouds.

Suddenly this humanoid/primate wooOOP. WooOOP. WooOOP. Repeated three times. My first thought was that it was a person messing with us, but as it continued it sounded less human and more ape. Insanely loud, and massive chest. I could feel the sound kind of like the bass at a concert. It scared all of us silent for awhile. It couldn't have been further then 100 yards, maybe much closer. It sounded like it was at the end of the dock, but was not.

I did look back but it was far too dark to see anything. A few moments later, we heard what almost sounded like children chatting from the other side of the lake. Humaniod/primate, but small and further away. On the edge of hearing. Very bizzare.

It wasn't until a few minutes after this event just when all the forest noises came back did I realize it was dead silent during the event.

We tried to recreate the noise the next evening, and we couldn't come close in volume and depth of the woops. It wasn't a threatening or violent tone, but exceptionally intimidating. Made me feel small and vulnerable, but it was not a hostile or aggressive call. Whatever made that noise was massive. It is very simular to the "Sierra Sounds" wooping.

OTHER WITNESSES: 3, including myself. We were all silent, night fishing off the dock. Not even really talking, no fire, the only noise was my buddy casting. No flashlights, we were using red headlamps but I believe they were off.

OTHER STORIES: Yes, I heard a bar story at Reel Living about a sighting on the side of the road. Reel living is about a mile away on the same side of the same lake.

TIME AND CONDITIONS: 2am. Mostly overcast with little moonlight poking through the clouds. Chilly, no wind. Very dark.

ENVIRONMENT: The Cheumonegon national forest, the exact spot was a cabin resort along the lake. There are some wetlands in the direction of the noise, but it sounded like it was at the treeline behind the cabins. The treeline is atop a small hill bordering the lake.

Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator Tom Norstrem:

On 17 September 2022, the witness (a mechanical engineer) and two friends were fishing from a dock of a lake at the western edge Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest around 2am.

At this time in September, they were one of only two groups on the resort campground. Quietly fishing, they carried only red-light headlamps, which were not turned on. The night was cold, mostly overcast, and still.

Suddenly behind them, they heard three whoops. The witness reported that the whoops were quite loud with a deep bass tone that vibrated their chests like speakers at a rock concert.

The whoops, lasted 5 to 6 seconds each, about 1 second apart. They were so loud the witness immediately expected to see the animal at the other end of the dock, but saw nothing.

While listening, the witness was shaken with the feeling that the whoops were directed at him and his friends. Though they would never see anything, they decided the calls were coming from the southeast, on a hill behind the nearby campgrounds/cabins. A powerline corridor runs east-west behind that hill.

After about five minutes of dead silence following the whoops, the witness and his friends heard what sounded like children chattering far away. The volume of this was much lower than the whoops, and off almost directly to the west in the area of an impassable swampy area that separates the lake he was on from another lake.

Though it was difficult to hear, the witness estimated that the chatter lasted between 2 and 3 minutes, and when that quieted, the witnesses noticed that suddenly the crickets and other night noises began.

The next night, the witness and his friends tried to duplicate the sounds and found that they could not duplicate the power or volume of what they had heard.

The witness has a long history of vacationing in this area, having traveled here since he was a child. As an adult he has spent long stretches of time in this area. He reports never having heard a sound like this in the past.

He has become very familiar with the sounds of people that travel across the lake at quieter times, and is certain that neither sound was that.

Another camper later suggested to the witness that perhaps he had heard an owl, after which the witness went online to search for owl sounds of the area. Nothing he found duplicated what he and his friends heard.

He did say that he found that the whoops sounded very much like a segment of the Sierra Sounds, which he found in his search for a similar sound.

About BFRO Investigator Tom Norstrem:

Tom is a retired high school English teacher with a Masters degree in school administration. A part of the "In Search of…" generation, Tom had a couple of Class B experiences many years ago in different years in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. His first official BFRO expedition was in 2021, and he continues to be a part of a number of group and solo outings around Wisconsin, especially in the North Kettle Moraine near his home.