The Jersey Devil in My Backyard

Last night I was getting out of the shower at about 11:30 pm, when I heard a loud screeching/screaming, it was a loud, menacing, ear piercing sound. I wrapped myself in a towel, drew the blinds, slid open the screen and popped my head out the window to get a look at what I was hearing.

I have a lot of stray/feral cats around my home which fight and mate all the time, but this was nothing like I have experienced in the seven years I have owned the house. This was something different.

The sound continued as my eyes struggled to focus as the light from the window played tricks on me, I was unable to view what was creating the shrieking, I was hearing.

I scurried into the kitchen, flicked on the back deck lights and rushed out to see if I could get a better look. When the lights went on the noise stopped. Disappointed, I panned the yard to see if I could find the source of the noise but I was not able to see anything.

I went back into the house and the moment I flicked the light off and closed the door, the disembodied sound returned, louder and more menacing than before.

I headed back out to the deck, but this time I had my camera with me and I left the lights off. The noise was loud and my heart was pounding so fast it was difficult to concentrate on anything. I was frantically looking around as the noise seemed to skip around the yard not revealing its source.

I clicked off a few photos and as the flash reached out to the black night, the screaming stopped and a faint bark, then a low deep growl consumed my ears and triggered the hair on the back of my neck to stand on end.

The deep growl was like surround sound, starting in the front of me and rotating around, counter clockwise, till the sound seemed to be coming from the roof behind me, totally freaking me out enough to rush back into the house and close the door.

Once inside, I could hear a loud thump and faint sounds of scraping on the roof above me. The sounds lead me through my kitchen and into the dining room building speed with every step of thundering bounds. The noise stopped as I reached the far end of the room as if whatever was up there jumped off the roof.

I peered out the windows till about 1:00 am struggling with the fact that I was too frightened to go back outside.

I'm not sure what was in my back yard or on my roof last night, but it was an experience that will not soon evaporate from my mind.