I tried hiking the AT years ago, and there were these awesome abandoned campgrounds that came with running water and nice pretty friendly camping locations. We joked around about the place being haunted, and if there was any place we were going to be murdered, it was most definitely that place. Well, at about 2 in the morning. I wake up to what sounds like cackling monkeys off in the distance. You’d hear one wind up, and then like another dozen follow suit. Raised the hair in the back of my neck up. We listened for another 10 minutes as they got closer and closer until they were directly on top of us. And WE FREAKED OUT. Turns out it was a massive group of young barred owls that were just goofing around late at night. I had a tough time sleeping the rest of that night, but we ran into an arborist the following morning that knew exactly what they were.

I hear them all the time now off in the woods around our house. Awesome little owls.

The sounds: https://youtu.be/DzhSxhhAYbE