I grew up in isolation on a homestead in the Alaskan bush, entirely in the wilderness, my family went without electricity for most of my childhood until we got a generator and because of the nature of our lifestyle, we grew up without many modern conveniences and out of touch of civilization. As a young adult I moved to Washington, but now with my mother passing I have come back to live at my family’s cabin while renovating it and I wanted to document a series of unsettling circumstances that have happened recently and reminisce about similarities to past events that I’ve been recalling since moving to this isolated cabin in the Alaskan bush.
This first story happened the first Friday I moved back in the beginning of November: in the middle of the night the generator died (which was my only source of power). This wasn’t unusual, infact it was entirely normal. The generator that we used did not have a large enough tank for a full night and normally I would fill it up hours before sleeping for the last time of the day. I usually slept through this and started it in the morning, because of the utter pitch blackness and freezing temperatures at night. However it almost always awoke me because the faint buzz of electrical devices dying is something you just subconsciously pick up and when they cease it can be uncomfortable. As someone who has been living in a city on city power for years, pure silence is unusual for me, there’s no sound in the Alaskan winter. And in such a remote location the snow blankets and softens sounds.
However upon waking for a mere seconds when the generator died and attempting to return to sleep I heard an bone chilling noise. It sounded like a piercing howl as if a woman had screamed with her dying breath. I should remind the reader that I am currently at a cabin approximately 80 miles from the nearest city, a vehicle passing by -let alone someone in the woods at night is completely abnormal. I do have neighbors, I won’t pretend I’m entirely alone but they’re mostly older folk and live miles away. The sound appeared to be coming from the far side of my lot in the woods/devil’s club patch.
Despite hearing this sound I immediately rationalized it as an owl as my mother had told me that before I was born and when the house ran on propane lights they were in the cabin in winter and heard a bone chilling scream and being adamantly religious she believed it was a demon. My father went to investigate and reported he found a moose, which was entirely common sight as we have a pond on the lot that is commonplace for moose to bed at. But that wasn’t responsible for the noise. No. What he told my mother was making the call that sounded like a woman being cruelly murdered was an owl. Supposedly mimicking a moose call. Atleast that was the prevailing theory he spooked it off and neither of my parents could recall a similar experience following that.
Being confident in this theory and needing to spook off the owl for my own closure and for peace and quiet as the loud screech in the otherwise dead silent night made it unbearable to sleep. I followed the sound. I went to the edge of my lot and shined my flashlight into the woods which were blanketed with snow. No sign of moose or any other animals. So I climbed over the snowbank and went further past some spruce and birch trees. The sound was coming from somewhere ahead of me. I scanned the branches for an owl and made noises to stir any animals. I continued towards the noise which sounded surprisingly distant for how loud it was, but my cabin is in a bit of a valley and sound does tend to echo.
I walked probably only 50 feet into the woods in the direction of the sound with only the flashlight for light. I had not turned on the generator so I did not have any lights in the distance such as a porchlight. It was pitch black besides my flashlight. Upon taking another few steps I looked down in shock to see a large owl. Laying on it’s back wings splayed out at it’s sides with no disturbed snow around it and no evidence of injury. I reached for a branch to poke it and just as I made contact with the owl I heard the same screaming/wailing noise from behind me and whipped around immediately looking back towards the cabin. Then I heard the sound of brush moving ahead of me. I turned back around. There was no owl or evidence of an owl. I could not see any signs of movement. Immediately I turned around and speedily walked away trying to keep my composure as if something was watching me and I needed to appear like I wasn’t afraid. Not looking over my shoulder and only keeping the flashlight pointed ahead of me towards the cabin. I went inside, grabbed my phone and keys and made the nearly 2 hour drive into town to stay with a friend.
It was a scary event but nothing abhorrently abnormal or fear inducing. I was unsettled and since the cabin has no internet connection and almost no cell reception I had no real incentive to stay so I decided to leave for the night. I’m posting here today because of the events that proceeded this event primarily the one that occurred yesterday 12/1/2023 that I will detail in further posts.