The following is my story of my encounter with what I believe to be some unknown predator. This story is 100% true and not a work of fiction. I have no idea what I encountered but I believe it was some animal unknown to science currently. This was in the late 2000s in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Late summer, Around 4 or 5 months into our tour.
A mission we were supposed to deploy on was changed the day before due to an operational incident and it was completely changed. So I find the odds of a security leak incredibly unlikely.
We were dropped of at the far end of a mountain range and had to hike our way up while it was dark and wait up the top. It took us around 2 hours to reach the top of the mountains if I recall correctly. The mission was to wait on top over night and sleep for several hours and before sunrise head down into the green zone deep into enemy territory in order to gain the element of surprise and in order to assault Taliban positions.
This was a very rural area and off the track. It would have been an incredibly difficult place for a civilian to reach. We were incredibly fit and robust yet found it hard going . At some point during the night, I have no idea what time but it was dark, my friend who was next to me nudged me awake and was looking in front of him at a cave entrance not far in front of us.perhaps 10 to 15 feet in front. I listened closely in order to hear what was going on and noticed that I could hear the sound of what appeared to be a baby crying. This absolutely perplexed my brain given the location but several moments later the really scary thing happened.
I noticed that the sound that I was hearing of the baby crying was on a loop, like maybe a 5 or 6 second loop. Repeating over and over again. Suddenly a rush of terror came over me and I immediately thought of some strange animal impersonating a vulnerable human, much like the way cats and birds can mimic human sounds. It repeated for maybe 5 to 10 minutes before stopping. Then nothing but eerie silence. No movement no voices. Nothing.
To this day I have no idea what it could have been. I really doubt it was the enemy forces as the odds of them knowing we would be there given the last minute change is incredibly unlikely. Plus it would have been much easier to just attack us.
I genuinely believe this was some undiscovered attempting to lure us down into the cave. I have no idea for what purpose but I don’t it was anything friendly. I’m also happy to answer any questions you may have. It was over 10 years ago but I will do my best to recall the details.