A listener writes “On August 17th, 2023, I was camping with a close friend In Stephen’s state forest in south central Iowa, not far from the Missouri border. It is very remote for the Midwest in that area. There are no electrical lines in this particular forest, so no lights.
My friend and I got into the forest at dusk and set up camp. We saw no vehicles as we drove through the forest and the campsite we stayed at was completely empty.
Twenty minutes or so after setting up camp, we heard an incredibly loud sound from the northwest corner of the camp. It was so loud it made us both jump and all of my hair immediately stood on end. The sound was like a howler monkey whooping, but it sounded like it was the size of a minivan.
Immediately after this, about 150 feet south of us in the tree line, another noise happened. It sounded like Babe Ruth was in the forest slamming a bat against a tree. There were 6 whacks or knocks. They came in 3 successions of twos. Knock knock. Knock knock. Knock knock.
That night we got chased out of the campsite by 3 or 4 of these creatures. It kept me out of the woods for a long time.
I would love to tell you the whole experience.”