Woman Reports 1987 Encounter with Strange, Haunting Melody in Arkansas

The Singular Fortean Society was contacted recently by Angela Nichols, who said she and her family encountered "the most beautiful sound" one afternoon during the summer of 1987 while fishing on the Saline River in Arkansas.

According to the initial report:

It was [1987]...I was just a girl. My mom and dad took my sister and I up stream in a flat bottom fishing boat on the Saline River in south central Arkansas.
The idea was to motor up where people didn't go, and tie off in the middle to fish. We went a mile or more from the camp and tied off where a tree was laid over the river.
As soon as a hook was dropped in the water the boat began vibrating. Not harshly, just subtly, and we could hear song. By song...I don't know how to explain. There were no words, and it was the most beautiful sound I ever heard in my life. The boat vibrated with the melody. Three of us thought it must be coming from under the water.
My dad was not so sure. He pulled over to the east bank and got out looking around the woods. Then we went to the west bank. He climbed up the embankment to see an open field but he never found anything to explain it.
The longer we were there the more profound the vibrations became...again it was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. We may have been there 10 to 15 minutes. Just long enough for Dad to be afraid of the unknown, not finding [an] explanation...we never went back.
I have never experienced anything else like it. Never heard anyone else describe anything like it. It may always remain a mystery what happened, and it was so long ago.
I just happened across one of your stories and decided to share.

Investigator Tobias Wayland followed up with Nichols, who added more details through a series of emails.

Nichols described the sound as "steady flowing with melody. No breaks in the sound or the boat vibrations but it did get stronger/louder the longer we were there.”

"It was higher notes. Maybe mid to high. No low notes. No distinct sounds...flowing like a song. no pauses just awesome and scary and intriguing. If there was a way to know I would choose to know," said Nichols.

"I have never heard anything else like it," she added. "Most beautiful thing I have ever heard. Not like scary music in a movie. The sound alone was not threatening in any way, it was not a sound someone would want to run from, but rather that you could listen to forever."

Whatever its origin, the sound made a strong impression on her and her family.

"Everyone that was in the boat that day are still living and all of us remember," she said. "It's not a forgettable thing to encounter."

"We were in a very remote location," Nichols continued. "A gravel road that trailed off in places. It's gated now and you have to be a member of a hunting lease to get the key. Back then only a few people knew of the river access point. Most of them didn't even bring in boats because the fishing was so good from the bank. Many nights extended family camped there and we would go visit during the day. I was [seven years old] at the time. That may be young but I remember plenty from back then."

"My sister and I used to talk about it growing up. It’s not easy to leave something alone that you want to understand," she added.

Nichols explained that she and her sister considered mermaids and sirens as possible explanations, but now she entertains the idea that "maybe it was something new, and by that I meant something that had not been encountered or at least recorded in history."

She added that her mother thought that it must have been an angel, since the sound was so beautiful.

"Our parents told us we shouldn't talk about it because people wouldn't believe it anyway, but we could talk about it as a family," she said. "Anyway, when I think of it, even though it was beautiful...I think it must have been a warning. It didn't start until we dropped a hook in the water. In the recesses of my mind I think of a mother protecting her babies. Trying to scare off danger."

Wayland didn’t have many definitive answers regarding the phenomenon, but did say it reminded him of stories regarding faerie music.

"The sound described—especially the effect it's had on the witness—reminds me very much of faerie music," he said. "For centuries, people have reported hearing enchanting melodies in lonely places that they later struggle to describe or remember. Much of the lore surrounding faeries overlaps with other areas of the paranormal, including UFOs, abduction phenomena, and hauntings; so, I can only guess what the sound's origin might be. All I can say is what it reminded me of."

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