Geographical Index > United States > Massachusetts > Hampden County > Report # 28667
(Class B)
Submitted by witness on Friday, December 31, 2010.
Resident hears possible early morning vocalizations near Westfield
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YEAR: 2010
SEASON: Winter MONTH: December DATE: 30 STATE: Massachusetts COUNTY: Hampden County LOCATION DETAILS: Calls came from south west of Westwood Dr. NEAREST TOWN: Westfield, MA NEAREST ROAD: Westwood Drive OBSERVED: Westfield , MA 3am
Couldn't sleep and went outside to have a cigarette. Heard howls in the distance that I never heard before. I've worked as a wilderness counselor for the past 10 years and heard all sorts of animal noises in the night foxes, coyotes, owls etc.. This sound had a lack of clarity but power in its voice. I knew that it came from a long distance away. I remember listening to Bigfoot calls years back and on a hunch ran inside found the EXACT same howls on the net sounded like the Snohomish, WA 1978-79 calls. I woke up my friend who has been hunting western mass for 30 years and he said he never heard anything like it. He heard it and he said it gave him the chills. The howls trailed off as if he creature was moving. Incident lasted for about 10 minutes. I google mapped the area the sound came from and its a huge swath of wilderness that stretches into Vermont and south into Connecticut. ALSO NOTICED: None OTHER WITNESSES: 1 other witness. Sleeping OTHER STORIES: None TIME AND CONDITIONS: 3am ENVIRONMENT: Diciduous forests
Follow-up investigation report by BFRO Investigator D.A. Brake (PhD):
The (primary) witness and his friend were independently interviewed during a thirty minute phone call. Both sounded credible and recounted their experiences in specific detail. Several pieces of additional information were obtained during the interview.
The witness stated he was standing on the front landing of his house facing southwest, and observed a mainly clear night sky with no wind. His recollection of the weather is consistent with local archived meteorological records.
The witness described the vocalization as an “undulating scream that reverberated and echoed loudly through the distant hills.” He stated the sound was similar to a girl screaming but with a significantly stronger and more powerful tone. The witness stated that the vocalization was similar to the Snohomish 1978-79 screams, but upon further questioning it was determined that screams the witness heard occurred approximately every twenty seconds and thus had a longer vocalization cycle frequency compared to the Snohomish recordings. He reported hearing five or six distinct screams before the vocalizations slowly became fainter and fainter over a total period of approximately ten minutes. Upon further questioning, the witness reported that the screams were from a single point source estimated at least five miles away.
The friend described hearing three distinct vocalizations that he described as a “woman screaming in the distance.” He described the sounds as “starting as a high pitch and ending with a bellow tone.” and added that the screams echoed off the distant hills and appeared to be coming from a location beyond a nearby reservoir. The reservoir is approximately 4 miles from the witness’s home.
The witness and his friend have spent considerable time outdoors throughout their teenage and adult life and both are familiar with numerous, nocturnal animal sounds, including moose, bear, and owls. Both were adamant that the vocalizations were distinct from any heard in their past experiences in the woods and forests of western Massachusetts.
Interestingly, approximately one mile from the location of this report there is a local YMCA camp with campfire lore of "Wild Willy, a half-man/half-beast that lives nearby near Alligator Rock.”
This early morning incident occurred approximately fifteen to twenty miles northeast of a large unbroken forested area of southern Massachusetts, which includes Granville State Forest and the adjacent Tunxis State Forest in Connecticut. This region was once the hunting and fishing ground of the Native American Tunxis tribe. The entire area is sparsely populated with numerous large areas of open farmland and pastures dotted by small villages and towns. It is comprised of rolling terrain with large tracts of northern hardwood-conifer uninhabited forests and contains abundant sources of water and wildlife.
About BFRO Investigator D.A. Brake (PhD):
D. Brake holds a PhD in Immunology and attended the Maine 2008 expedition.
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