We have a beautiful Bur Oak tree outside our bedroom window. At 3 a.m. this morning it sounded like a horror movie was taking place inside its branches.
I’m pretty sure I incorporated the first few minutes of screaming into my dream, but I eventually woke up with a start and realized the noise was real. My husband got up and walked around the house looking out various windows for signs of anything.
The sound was truly frightening—shrieking and screaming and growling and sometimes even barking. It echoed throughout the still neighborhood. We’ve heard rabbits being attacked before at night and cats fighting, but this was different, and much much louder. The barking made me think of coyotes. I pictured them killing the neighbor’s cat. My heart was pounding.
My husband couldn’t see anything out any of the windows. The noise continued. I opened the bedroom window and we quickly realized the sound was coming from the oak tree. One of the branches was swaying wildly.
We both grabbed flashlights and shined them into the tree. Looking back at us were the two biggest raccoons I’ve ever seen. One of them was huffing and snorting like an angry bear. It was hard to tell if they were attacking something or fighting each other, but they were certainly big enough to take on any number of animals.
I kept the flashlight on them. All I could see was two sets of yellow eyes peering back at me. The angrier one paced for a bit so I tried waving the light around and then talking to them. They finally settled down. After a few minutes, I turned off the flashlight and closed the window. The noise started up again almost immediately. Obviously they were fighting each other.
I put some clothes on. My husband said “What are you doing, are you nuts?” I told him to stand at the door in case I had to make a quick retreat. After shining the flashlight in the yard to be sure there weren’t more angry raccoons on the lawn, I stormed outside and shined the light on the crazy pair in the tree. I told them they were being WAY too noisy and needed to go somewhere else and fight. They looked at me, but the snorting and panting continued. It was creepy.
The mosquitoes zeroed in on me, and I couldn’t stand outside any longer. I went back in the house and my husband and I climbed into bed. Just as our heads hit the pillow, the screaming and growling started again. I was trying to think of something else I could do to scare them away. Perhaps a nice shower with the garden hose would do the trick. Fortunately I didn’t have to resort to that because moments later they were silent.
This morning the only evidence of the brawl was a bunch of leaves and twigs below the tree:
And I was quite relieved to see the neighbor’s cat in one piece!
