Reports from the Void: 'We Heard This Weird, Howling Scream'

Reports from the Void is a repository to share those stories for which we do not have enough information to make a full report. This is usually because of little or no communication from the witness following their initial submission. The Singular Fortean Society will always provide as much information as possible regarding any correspondence during our attempts to speak with those involved.

This series is meant only to present you with the full breadth of the information sent to us and makes no judgments towards the veracity of any stories shared within it.

The Singular Fortean Society received the following email entitled “URGENT. Experience in Lebanon Hills 3/2/24” on March 3rd, 2024.

To whom it may concern, my 14-year-old daughter [and I] and our dog were walking in a heavy pine tree area at the park this early evening. We experienced some strange things and started to google [them] and then came across this site. We also have pictures and video of my dog reacting.
So, we came across some weird looking burnt logs placed in a circle with a giant one in the middle looking like they were used for some ritual and burned over and over again. There were four spots all within close range. There were also these man-made looking huts in some of the area; made of brush/sticks/logs and vines. In every one of these ritualistic looking circles there was green grass growing underneath them, and everything else was nothing but dead from the winter still and pine needles outside of it.
My daughter and I were creeped out and the air/energy felt very heavy. We felt like we were being watched and heard nothing but the pines in the wind. We walked a little more and decided to turn around since 5 PM dusk was approaching, and we were creeped out still. When we turned around to go back, that’s when our dog literally refused to go back. He dug his paws in and pulled back, his tail straight down, not wanting to come with me at all and we have this all recorded and you can even see it in his body language, and he is not the type of dog to ever pull you on a leash or not want to go forward.
I eventually coerced him that we had to go back that way because that was the only way to get back. As we started walking back, that’s when we started hearing what sounded like logs banging against each other across the pond. We stopped and looked around some more. Then all of a sudden, we felt a really icy cold chill around us. I joked around with my daughter, and I said, "It’s bigfoot, we better start running!"
So, we started walking faster and that’s when we heard this weird, howling scream noise. And we heard the log banging a few more times the closer we got back to our main path and also that howling scream. And it freaked us out because it sounded like what a bigfoot would sound like or just some type of creature, we weren’t quite sure what to make of it! But all I know is what we also came upon in the woods was not normal to go with it. We have pictures again of this and video recording. We ran all the way until we got more to the beach area again and bike trails.
My daughter also at the time felt very dizzy all of the sudden; and, like I said, we felt like we were being watched.
I didn’t know anything about this park, I’m newer to the area and that’s when I decided to google it and found you guys.
If you have any questions or need more information, please feel free to reach out on my email address that I put above; I am more than open.
Thank you!

Investigator Tobias Wayland replied that same day to ask for further details but received no response.

His initial inquiry included clarification on if the “Lebanon Hills” mentioned referred to Lebanon Hills Regional Park in Eagan, Minnesota.

Lebanon Hills Regional Park is nestled within the Minneapolis metropolitan area’s urban sprawl, sandwiched between Eagan and Apple Valley in Dakota County.

According to The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization (BFRO), none of the 79 sightings they have collected from Minnesota have come from Dakota County.

The nearest sightings reported to the BFRO come from a man who said he saw a large bipedal creature while bowhunting in Washington County, Minnesota, in 1972, and a man who said he drove past a seven-to-eight-foot-tall hairy humanoid in St. Croix County, Wisconsin, in 1995.

Eerie, unexplained howls similar to those described above are frequently reported.

Within the past several years, popular reports of the phenomenon include a July 25th, 2020, incident in which a man from Hyde Park, New York said he had heard strange screams and howls while out walking his dog. Also in 2020 were reports of eerie howls in Wisconsin and Ohio. And in 2019, Ontario hunter Gino Meekis was hunting grouse with his wife and grandson in early October when they heard a series of long, echoing, mournful howls emanating from the woods.

Skeptical explanations for the sounds include everything from wolves to elk to moose, while others attribute the sounds to something more paranormal, like Bigfoot or even Dogman.