When New Hampshire resident Duke Smith first heard the cry of a Fisher cat he thought he heard a baby dying slowly. The shrieks were constant, high pitched and their resemblance to human voice was really eerie. Several nights and a few missing cat notices later other residents of the neighborhood confirmed that these were the sounds of a Fisher cat.
Fisher cats are ferocious predators belonging to the weasel family and are known for their eerie screams and liking for house cats.
The sound of a Fisher cat is very shrill and resembles someone calling for help. The shrillness lends a certain high pitch to the sound and makes it sound like a woman or a child. Most people who hear the Fisher cat call for the first time are fairly convinced that they are hearing a human calling out for help.
The Fisher cat is a nocturnal animal and the fisher cat cry is sometimes a hunting cry and at others the Fisher cat call is just a mating call. It is well established that the Fisher cat makes the sounds to mate and attract other Fisher cats but people have also noticed the Fisher cat animal scream out just before or after a kill.
There is a lot of eeriness associated with the Fisher cat call and most of it is to do with the ferociousness of the animal and the creepy sound of the Fisher cats screech, compounded by the fact that it is found in the wilderness and can be heard mainly during nights. For example picture yourself in the place of this family that are going through this lonely wooded area in the dark and hear this lady like screech in the distance.
While you can’t be sure whether this is a person or the fisher cat animal, you can be sure that being in such environs and hearing such a scream will run a chill down your spine.
Fisher Cat sounds are usually constant and you can hear them at a regular interval like in this video
In the video you can notice that the animal screams out every few seconds and the pitch and the volume is constant. While the animals do not prey in the day time they can still be spotted moving about. The sounds are much more prominent during the night and people have witnessed these animals screeching on for hours and hours together. More often than not the Fisher Cat sounds are going to be constant and it will become a haunting experience. The Fisher cat sounds especially weighs on the minds of people who have pets like rabbits or cats. This is because Fisher cats are really dangerous and have the reputation of pretty much killing all small animals in the surrounding areas that are not kept indoors. While much of this sound like old wives’ tales the incidents that happen every year across United States give real evidence that the animals are deadly predators.
Usually the one off sound means that the Fisher cat animal is either closing on a hunt or has already killed its victim.
Next time you hear these haunting sounds make sure that all your pets are indoors and that you comfort your children and not let them get too scared by the sound.
Are these sounds from a Fisher Cat or Red Fox screech?
Fisher cat screeches are often mistaken for red fox cries. Here are two different examples as pointed out from one of our readers:
whenever I have a question I simply Google my question -and in a split second I find that dozens of others have already asked my question. I want to thank everyone that submitted the audio and video clips. I am certain now that the hair-raising noise I’ve been awakened by lately was a red fox. I wondered if it was a fox, since I have been seeing them sculking around my property. One day at 3PM I saw a pair together. I lost two guinea hens to those beautiful red menaces. Thanks again for your contributions.
I don’t know “Woodsman” Tom, I’ve heard these same sounds for a few years now and there hasn’t been a living Bobcat seen or heard by anybody in the state of Rhode Island for almost 60 years. The last one was shot and killed in the 1950′s. There are many Fisher Cat sightings however. Speak for your own woods.
After listening to these statements its clear I have both living in my woods my biggest fear is my pair of mallards will be lunch to either. But also the fisher cats are the scareyest sounding animals ever and I fear they will wipe out all the wildelife living in our area. We have wild turkeys, deer and our neighbors probably don’t even know to keep there pets safe from these evil menaces.
I heard one of these things last night outside my house…i thought it was someone being murdered!!! It kept me and my dog awake all night. I’m really nervous to take my dog outside at night now..she’s small..about 20 pounds..is there anything that will scare it off?
There’s no need to be alarmed. Just take precautions: keep pets indoors at night (cats, dogs, rabbits–whatever goes or stays outdoors); lock up your chicken coop if you have one; NEVER approach a wild animal, even if it seems tame–they’re often rabid when they seem tame and will attack without warning; if you see a wild animal in your yard or in close proximity to you, and it does NOT flee within 10 seconds, turn around and walk away slowly. It will sense you’re neither predator nor prey: a predator would stand its ground or advance; prey would run. But no need to get dramatic about it. Be sensible.
Human activity outside will probably keep them away during the day, and just take precautions at night. I’ve only seen one, and it took off the minute it saw me peering out the window. I don’t have pets, but we get a lot of wildlife here: deer, coyotes, raccoons, foxes, possums, turkeys, hawks, owls, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, and other wild birds and rodents. In 20 years, we’ve never had a problem with any of them, aside from the coyote chorus that woke us at 1am one wintry night, and the squirrels getting into the birdfeeders.
Coyote pee might deter them from coming into your yard. I don’t know. I can’t find anything online, either.
was down by the connecticut river with a fire goin… noticed some noises that continued on for a good while… at first we thought it was a bird or something but as the noises got closer they got louder and more screeching…we continued about our business until we heard the rustling in the bushes, then shined a flashlight into the bushes where the noises were coming from…i saw 2 small green glowing eyes, said holyshit its RIGHT THERE!!!! then it ran away and the noises continuted for afew hours on and off… i really believe i saw the elusive fisher…
i have been hearing this sound for a while. the only reason i can think of is because we have some cats at home. once i heard this cry i put out one of my traps and put dead fish guts in it. after about a week i went in the wood to find a fisher cat in it. i didnt no what to do so i called fish and game and they told me to let it go so i did. little did i no was that i was going to come back. about a month later one of our cats went missing and there and then i new that it was a fisher cat. now that i no that they are back i put my traps back out and i hope i will catch it again.
We live in RI and I DID see a Bobcat in our backyard (wooded area of S. Tiverton) about 5 years ago, perched on his hind legs, under our bird feeder. Recently, and about this time every year, we have the “screamer” as it’s called locally. Not sure if it’s a bobcat, red fox or what. Today, I saw what I believe to be a fisher crossing on the road, about 1/3 mile from our home. All of the above animals are indigenous to our area. I did check w/ DEM of RI and they don’t know of any bobcats (some suspected) but, I KNOW it was a bobcat I saw. Very cool!!!
The screams are blood-curdling and freaked me out when we moved in 12 years ago. Used to it a bit more, but still wakes us and our 3 dogs up at night. Wise to bring in small dogs and cats. Part of living in the woods is the nature that surrounds us! Like Judy, we have so many animals in our yard.
I heard a Fisher cat in my backyard. I live in the woods in Massachusettes, and I can honestly say that I have NEVER heard something so frightening in all my life. I thought at first that I was dreaming….It was evening and I am so apprehensive about venturing out in the woods alone now.
the fisher is mostly a noctural animal he starts hunting when the sun goes down usualy but i saw a few hunting during the day specialy in fall time. they hunt more cuz of protein reserves. Here in northern quebec winters are long and cold. they need this extra fat to get them thru winter. I walk a lot in woods around my place it is very quiet and calm and during the past few years i saw that there was almost no squirrels, rabbits, and partridge. thats why the fisher is comming towards our houses and looking for food. A cat a small dog, tame ducks or anything he thinks he can get at will do for him.Its a matter of survival. i heard this loud cry many times at night and i can tell you it still gives me the creep .
the best way i found to get them away from my house is to let a radio (music) play outside all night and sometimes when i hear one crying i press the panic button of my truck lol they dont stay around . I leave lights open all night outside ( motion detector lights would work good ).
this is the sound of a fisher attacking an animal no doubt about it .
foxes as almost the same sound as a fisher cat they use it to call one another. when a fox hunts he doesnt make a sound.
These sounds are great. Just heard this horrible screaming, like something shredding another animal and we wondered if it was a fisher…wonder no longer
Essex county in MA
thats a weisel
Yah, its around 11:47, about 15 or so minutes ago i heard a scream like a young woman screaming as if being attacked and mutilated..sorry to go into detail, but thats exactly how it sounded..and I have heard that there are fishers and red foxes in the woods behind my house, but..have never seen or heard any before tonight..my hearts racing honestly..
and later on, maybe not tonight..but some other night, i might be walking my dog and hear one again..if I’m not exactly close to the house..anything I should bring with me incase i happen to run into one?
i saw what i thought were three long black cats crossing the street from my neighbor’s yard to my yard then to a small wooded parcel adjacent to my back yard. i saw them at dusk, and then at 11:00 am the following day. early in the am on the same day, i smelled a skunky type odor. after searching online, i discovered these were fisher cats. i’ve lived in se mass. my entire life and had never seen them before, creeepy!
Our cat of three years is missing. He’s always near our home and comes in before the sun goes down. We looked for him everywhere and asked neighbors. One lady told me her cat has been missing for a few weeks and she heard a screaming sound one night and her cat never came home. Since I’ve never seen these animals, only one red fox two years ago, I was awakened one night two days after our cat was missing with a horrible screaming sound around 3:00 in the morning followed by a hollowing sound from a coyote. In three years since living in our home, there has never been any problems till this week. We are still upset our cat is gone and even more at the thought he might have been killed by some strange screaming animal we didn’t know was around these parts till now.
Just heard a fisher scretching. I didn’t know what it was but my neighbor did. Both my cats were out and after reading this information I’m freaking to know it was probably closing in on one of them. (read it will scretch before or after a kill). Thank God I was able to finally get my cats!! I will not be letting them out anytime soon now that the fisher knows they are here.
I heard these horrible sounds almost directly in front of my back door a few weeks ago. I didn’t know what they were at the time(I described it to friends as a cat either dying or destroying something), but after speaking to my brother and doing some research, it was definitely a fisher cat. There has been some speculation about them being a nuisance in my area on the local news(Central MA), as I have a relatively small range of woods behind my house, but was never certain until recently. Not long after the screeching incident, two of my cats disappeared within approximately ten days of each other. One was seven years old and another was a very loyal stray that we saved three years ago, so I’m positive they didn’t run away. Another cat had disappeared almost exactly a year prior, and several others have gone missing over time. My cats are like our children to my family, so it’s pretty devastating, but the majority of them have been outdoor cats for their entire lives so it’s difficult to keep them inside though I try. This fisher cat, or however many of them there are, apparently aren’t afraid of coming extremely close to human population, so I have no idea what to do. I saw the radio suggestion but I can’t exactly do that at night with neighbors on all sides. I wish there was some way to get rid of these nasty things.
Heard a red fox in the woods behind us last night. Very haunting sound. FYI, a bobcat was recently caught in our town (Simsbury, CT) after attacking a dog. Was euthanized after being found positive for rabies. We also have fishers, fox, coyotes and more bear than we care to count. Thank you to all for posting the audio clips. I was not sure what I heard, but the red fox clip confirmed it.