Eerie quiet - not a sound outside

Night time around where I live is usually full of sounds of various animals, from birds to insects, it's like a symphony of repetitive sounds. There is also the usual sound of cars passing on the main road which at this time of night usually has a fair amount of traffic for 2am as it is a main road between fairly major population centers and there are often trucks passing or people driving home from the bars. A gentle breeze causes sound of the rustling of leaves on the trees and bushes.

So tonight there is dead silence with absolutely no wind. It feels more like I'm inside a room with fake trees and bushes. Not one of the usual crickets or insects that makes their repetitive sounds. Not one flying insect is attracted to the lights, where just last night at this time there were hundreds per minute flocking towards the light from gnat size to moths. Now nothing, it's like a sterile environment. The bushes and trees are like fixed in time, paused, and no detectable breeze can be felt or heard. No birds or bats are out, no owls, no sign of any wildlife where normally I see at least something in a few minutes. Even the traffic on the road is basically non existent, where 10-15 mins can pass with no traffic where before (at this time, esp on Sat night) at least a couple cars a min would be seen/heard.

There was a really big storm earlier today, it got REALLY dark and windy around 3pm, wind strong enough to pick up those 96 gallon wheeled trash cans! It was about as dark as it normally gets about 30 mins before total sunset, it was almost like an eclipse but there were extremely black clouds surrounded why unusually white and grey/purple-ish clouds. The wind was changing directions and would come from all different angles, ripping all the flowers & fluffy seeds off the plants in the field drawing them up in mini twisters (like dust devils). Then torrential rain started with no build up of approaching rain, just a front of torrents of rain dropping buckets. It didn't last real long and ended up with normal moderate rain, then quickly ended and became a beautiful sunny day the rest of the day. Fairly normal for this time of year but the wind wasn't so normal, the mid-day storm followed by sunshine.

So IDK if this previous storm has anything to do with why it is so eerily quiet now - about 12 hours later, it seems odd. There's no rain anywhere near me now (radar map) closest is about 250 miles or more. I really don't like the way it feels, I also have the feeling that someone's outside or watching to a degree, but that might just be b/c it's so quiet - but the animals don't get quiet when I go outside on normal days, but maybe that's because I'm normal to the environment here - I think animals can get used to things that are non-threatening to them and accept them - which makes me feel more uncomfortable when it's quiet like this.

A good way to describe the feeling is as if everything is holding their breath and paused in fear. There is a tension in the air that one feels when there is a predator around. Or another explenation is like I'm in a vacuum or sorts - as far as how the ambient pressure feels....

Looking forward to Chapter 2. You've got me hooked. This is .........great.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

I do not want to tell tails out of school.
So I will tell you it's normal.

I'm not saying it's not normal, but it's not normal here. I was up and out at the same time last few nights and it was nothing like this. I can't remember a night that was anywhere like this before and I'm a "nightowl".

I've checked outside about every 20 mins for about 10 mins each time and it's been the same each time until this last time. I can hear the tires of a truck leaving town about a mile away (they are only moving about 25-30mph there) until it moves behind the hill blocking the noise. Then the first noise of the night was a dog barking across the valley about 2/3 mile away. Then about 30 seconds later I heard my neighbors dog doing a very aggressive warning bark (same as my dog would do when unknown people appeared at front door). It's a large mastiff and I've NEVER heard it bark once in 10+ years and I could hear it barking inside their house. They are about 150 yards from me with bunch of trees in between. I'm guessing they are home b/c it stopped after about a minute.

At the same time as the barking the first rustling of the leaves started. It was so sutble it was creepy. It wasn't the entire row/block of bushes, just a small section making noise. It's more like the sound a slithering snake makes when moving through brush - only making noise in very small areas as it slides past.

I noticed that the waste water plant is completely silent as well, I can always hear that at night as they have VERY large motors driving blower/fans/pumps and it's especially noticeable when wind blows from there to my house. I can usually hear the low repetitive sound of the motors but tonight it's just total silence.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

So you really couldn't see us crouched down in the bushes??

Cool, it really works! Awesome!

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

On a serious note, you should try this sometime when all of a sudden the silence is broken by a long low guttural growl about 10' feet away!!

Yet you see nothing. And then your dog comes back with those wild eyes and the fur all the way down his back standing up, and hides behind you.

Yep been there. Cougar.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Perhaps you gone deaf?

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Paulides describes something like this in his book(s) about the missing. He experienced it once when he went to a site where numerous people had disappeared. Another guy was with him.

I don't know how reliable it all is, but I'd be very much on the alert if I experienced it...and hopefully armed.

Well when I was outside the second time, I felt like I had pressure on my chest and anxiety so I didn't go back outside again.

This morning though, ALL the animals are out, it's been crazy with how much they are banging around. I've got nesting birds in one corner and a squirel or bird trying to get into my kitchen fan mounting and about 4-5 different birds chirping by the window. Then I have a pair of falcon's or hawks screaming at the vultures over a dead carcass, so it's been a comparatively loud morning.

Well when I was outside the second time, I felt like I had pressure on my chest and anxiety so I didn't go back outside again.

This morning though, ALL the animals are out, it's been crazy with how much they are banging around. I've got nesting birds in one corner and a squirel or bird trying to get into my kitchen fan mounting and about 4-5 different birds chirping by the window. Then I have a pair of falcon's or hawks screaming at the vultures over a dead carcass, so it's been a comparatively loud morning.

Well when I was outside the second time, I felt like I had pressure on my chest and anxiety so I didn't go back outside again.

This morning though, ALL the animals are out, it's been crazy with how much they are banging around. I've got nesting birds in one corner and a squirel or bird trying to get into my kitchen fan mounting and about 4-5 different birds chirping by the window. Then I have a pair of falcon's or hawks screaming at the vultures over a dead carcass, so it's been a comparatively loud morning.