BFRO #10800: Campers hear loud vocalizations in Sam Houston National Forest

📍 Location

📝 Description

It was the evening before thanksgiving and as we have done for many years our extended family went camping near our parents retirement home in Coldspring. There had been very bad weather the day before, bad enough that we considered not going; it was very cold, very wet, the power was out....the firewood was wet, yuck. This camping area is in the Sam Houston National Forest near Cleveland; it feels as though you are right in town because it's only a few minutes drive to the grocery store, but it's a very small store, and it takes a good half hour to get there on little country roads (sorry, I don't know their numbers). There is a small lake and a lot of marsh in the area. We set camp in the afternoon and then drove to pick up some family members at IAH at about 7pm; we then cooked dinner, sat by the smoky fire for a bit and decided to retire to our tents since it was quite cool and we had a bit to do the next day. My daughter, my dog, and myself waited up a bit in our tent for my husband to come in. After about 10 minutes of waiting and talking about how cold it was we turned off the tent light (yes, we have one of those battery powered clamp-on lights), the dog laid down on his dog bed and we were quiet.Within the next minute or less there were heavy footsteps quite near the tent, then a very quiet mis-step in some loose gravel; there followed a quiet grunt/growl. I said, "oh, there he is finally," and my daugheter said "uh huh." Well, nothing happened. No husband unzipping the tent, no dog looking up expectantly, nothing. About twenty minutes later my husband came in and we went to sleep. Some time later, minutes or hours I can't honestly tell, we were wakened by a very loud cry, exactly like the "whoops" on the BFRO page. Most of the folks in camp that nite didn't hear anything as it only occured once; something however woke up myself and the two other adult women in the camp and was followed by the "whoop"; as we were fairly far apart there was no talking between the tents. My daughter reports being wakened and hearing a "mechanical" sound the same night but did not hear the cry.

🔍 Circumstances

Myself and the two other adult women in the camp. Making camp, cooking dinner.

🌤️ Weather Conditions

11pm, cold and wet

ℹ️ Additional Details

11pm, cold and wet

🔗 Sources (1)

👥 Community Contributions

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