DATE:           07/23/99
 

TIME:         11:00 P.M.
 

LOCATION:    West Des Moines, Iowa, Dallas County
 

TERRAIN:       Wooded
 

OBSERVED:     I was sitting on my grandfather's porch late at night listening to the usual  night sounds.  I could hear crickets chirping and coons squabbling off in the distance.  Suddenly the night sounds stopped and an eerie silence occurred.  I heard the German Shepards start barking wildly in front but he wouldn't venture out back.  I notice a musty, skinky smell but just thought a skunk was in the area.  Suddenly I heard a stick snap and something was moving around not far from the porch.

This porch sits high off the ground.  Suddenly I heard a loud scream fairly close and two more that seemed to trail away.  I also heard a crashing sound as the creature moved through the forest.

The scream was really loud.  At the time I rushed in and my parents said they have never seen me so pale.  They said I had heard a turkey or a coyote.  I have heard hundreds of coyotes and this was not one.  The scream cannot be explained for it is unlike any sound I have ever heard.
 

ACTIVITIES OF WITNESS(ES):  Sitting on the porch late at night.
 

DESCRIPTION OF CREATURE:
 

OTHER NOTES:  Only heard it, and my cousins who live nearby say the German Shepards attack coyotes regularly.  These are 120 pound dogs, but I could hear the way they were barking apprehensively, There have been other reports of experiences near the Raccoon River.  Last summer I was fishing at  night with a friend.  All of a sudden my hair stood up and I could feel something was wrong.  My friend said he felt it too, and then we heard a large splash across the river.  Instantly we both ran to the car without looking back.
 

Follow up: fa
 

OTHER SIGHTINGS IN THIS AREA?: