i heard her cry

a cross between a baby and a cat....heard this many times at night...it was a hedgehog.

Just wanna say to the OP, holy CRAP that description after your experience scared the hell out of me.

My mom and her friend (whose last name is Kavanagh) both grew up in Ireland, near Limerick, and when they were young, about 8 or 9 I'd say, they heard a cry that lasted hours throughout the night, only to discover that one of my mom's friend's uncles had died not long after. Additionally, my last name is O'Connor, and my grandfather (also grew up in Ireland) recalled that for several nights during World War II, when he served in the navy (not sure if it was Canadian or Irish...) he heard the banshee wail, sometimes during his dreams, to discover his friends from back home had been killed in the war.

Just thought I'd add a personal touch here - the Kavanagh and O'Connor thing scared me because I'd never heard that before...