There are two sounds that I hear people talk about repeatedly, proclaiming them to be the vocalizations of cougar or mountain lion.

The first sound is what people describe as a woman screaming as if she were being killed. And the second sound is that of a baby crying, or the “cry baby” sound.

So what is that sound coming from the woods that sounds like a woman screaming? Almost every reference I have seen explains it as being from a large cat in heat. Now, I am not saying cougar do not scream, what I am speaking of in particular is the “woman screaming” type sound.  It is typical human thought to ascribe unknown sounds to known animals. If some one sees large cat tracks or even a cougar in the woods and later hears the screams it is easy to see where they would put the two together.

To be 100% sure of any sound there needs to be a publicly available video showing the said animal making that particular sound. Is that the case with a cougar “screaming like a women”? I can not find it. Perhaps a reader can send me a link to a video showing a cougar making this particular sound. There are any number of websites with cougar sounds but none with videos showing the sounds being made.

Are there other animals in the woods capable of making these sounds? I think the sasquatch is one of these animals. There are reports of sasquatch sceaming and there are sound clips. But alas, just as in the case of cougar, no videos are publicly available showing a sasquatch making a vocalization.

In about 1952 my older brother hiked to our neighbors across the canyon in Northern Idaho. On his return trip home he heard what he described as a cougar screaming. Cougar had been seen in the area. When I questioned him recently about it his reply was, “Well of course it was a cougar, what else could it have been.” However in 2008 my wife and I found and cast humanoid looking footprints not far from my brother’s incident.

The area in N. Idaho where my brother heard loud screams.

Not far from where I live in Central Illinois neighbors complained for years about the screams they kept hearing coming from the woods. And then again, their explanation was it “had to be cougar, what else could it be, it sounded too big to be bobcat.” And once again this area has had lots of both cougar and black panther sightings over the years. I have seen two black panther and two tawny cougar in this area since 2004. However, what about sasquatch? I know of two daylight sightings and I have found six set of humanoid looking footprints at this location.

Large 14 x 5 inch footprints found in the snow in Central Illinois.

Conclusion:

So what is the final answer? Until someone comes up with a verifiable video of either a cougar or a sasquatch “screaming like a woman” there will be no conclusion to this question.  However, I think there is just as much reason to believe that it is from a sasquatch as a cougar.