Last night, under a bright half moon here in NE Ala on Lookout Mt, I heard a call completly new to me, and so loud it awakened me at 12:30. We live right on the edge of a crest with a 800-900 ft drop off to the valley below and our deck extends over this steep descent. We are surrounded by mature hardwoods and the area is very rural.
The call , being loud enough to be heard for miles, was mistaken by me at first to be that of an animal death scream and had that intensity. Sound wise it started loud and got louder: EE YOWLLLL!!!!EE YOWLLLL!!!EEYOWLLLL!! The call was repeated with the pattern of a braying donkey, over and over. I got up on hearing it start under the deck and scaned the area with a 2 M CP search light, but the follage is too dense, and the call/scream never slackened. This went on for 1 1/2 hours as the animal slowly moved up and down the slope , then toward the state park lands. It never really stopped, but just got faded by distance.
The call/scream was more feline than dog/yote, but was certainly not a feral cat.
Any ideas? I am rally old, but I have never heard such before.