Blood curdling screams, Dark Woods, And Monsters…in Bethany???

Mornings are for coffee and catching up with the news. Some people go right for the sports section. Others turn to the horoscopes. And if you’re in a rush just you probably just glance over the front page. But when strangeness is your business I look for the tidbits that are often lost among the newsprint. This morning the Bethwood Patch was my “hot sheet” for the latest in weird leads with a story of a strange creature attacking pets (see ). This time the “nonexistent” Connecticut Mountain Lion (which is about as nonexistent as the base at Area 51) was not the culprit.

Instead a different creature was to blame. One that has a history of striking fear into the hearts of man! One that is frequently described as “an evil little devil,” complete with the essential sharp teeth, glowing eyes, frightening sounds… all the necessary ghastly characteristics. One that stalks the dark woods late at night seeking its next victim. Bring in your pets, secure your chickens and ducks, and warn your kids, there’s a monster afoot!

The kills weren’t from Coyotes. The sightings were too small to be bears. And, of course, there are no Mountain Lions in Connecticut. So what devilish thing could this be? The offender in this case seems to be the Fisher Cat (not to be confused with the New Hampshire minor-league baseball team, or a cat) which is a member of the weasel family and grows to be about 3 ½ feet in length and 11 pounds or so. It’s also not as ravenous of a monster as its reputation suggests. In fact, most of the reason why it’s considered so wicked is because it has been known to kill domestic pets, and anytime a cat goes missing, the mobs are ready to hunt whatever it was down. This is also one reason why it went nearly extinct.

But Fishers need not be feared. Like many woodsy creatures, they are nocturnal and don’t tend to travel in very open areas. You might see one darting across a back road late at night, or wondering through your backyards, but for the most part they’re not commonly sighted. They also climb trees to rest so they are often hanging out on a high branch, or if they are on the ground they hide between outcroppings of rocks or in caves. If you do happen to spot one, rather than running to grab your pitchfork and kill the beast, you should count yourself lucky. They normally avoid people, and conceal themselves in thick brush. And while they are known to attack small pets, generally they go after mice, rats, squirrels, and birds.

And now you’re asking “what’s so weird that would make a paranormal guy care about this?” These little creatures have been known for causing quite a fright, even dating back to the colonial era here in Connecticut. There are references to people being woken up in the dead of night by blood curdling screams from an unknown origin. And at times when peering into the dark woods, people would see glowing eyes “floating” in the air that would then suddenly disappear, which became the clear work of “devils in the woods,” stories that spread like wildfire and gave birth to a monster. In Bethany, where the most recent of these encounters took place, there are several stories of a creature lurking near the reservoir that has been known to “screech” in the night. It’s seldom seen, and when it has been, it’s been described in many different evil ways.

The call of the Fishers do, in fact, sound like someone’s getting murdered out in the woods. And they are enough to give any person flashbacks of the Blair Witch Project or any other number of lost-in-the-woods horror flicks. Their screams have even caused residents to call the police thinking that someone was being assaulted nearby and needed help immediately. There are a number of listings on YouTube and other sites where you can find recordings of Fishers screams, but rest assured, this is no devil, only a wayward furry creature – not even much of a “beast” – that has to deal with people setting roots in its territory. Remember, as much as we like to think differently, there were animals here long before our houses were built and properties were marked.