Screaming in the woods is what now
I grew up in a small logging community in Oregon, and it wasn't unusual to hear women screaming in the woods. Several animals can sound like humans, but the most well known are mountain lions
Sounds eerily like a screaming woman, right?
Bobcats and bears also make calls that sound human, although they sound less like screaming and more like someone shouting "help!" which is somehow worse. I couldn't find a good video clip on youtube, but trust me that if you ever hear those calls, they will absolutely make your hair stand on end.
And those are just the animals that can fuck you up if you go looking for them at night. Who knows what else is out there in the dark?
It's like this out there, what can we say? Unless you are 100% sure it's human you don't want to go investigate when it's dark, trust us.
I live in the confluence of the Mojave and Great Basin. We have a ton of rugged mountains with Cougars, Bears, Bobcats, Foxen and Coyote. Every single one of them makes a call that sounds like a human in distress.
