Talking? Cats?

I need some of you more experienced people to shed some light on what this may have been.
This happened late at night about 1am.
Three of my friends and I were walking past a house that had big bush trees trimmed to look like walls of the property.
Right where the outdoor 'garage' spot entrance was we saw a black cat and a black and white cat.
When we got to about 20 feet from them, the blacknwhite cat ran off into the property just behind the bush fence, out of sight.
The black cat remained there staring at us as we approached its direction.
At about 10 feet away, the white cat made a really weird noise and the black cat immediately ran towards it.
As we were walking by the garage entrance, I peered into the property to try to get a glimpse of the cats out of curiosity.
I looked and it was really dark, could only see something moving in the darkness. A second later I heard what sounded like a child (2/3/4year old) saying something I couldnt make out.
although this sounded like a litle kid, it sounded like it came from the cats (the kind of sounds cats make).
My hairs stood on end immediately and I quickly walked away.
As I was walking away, the cats sounded like little children crying/ babbling aout something inaudible.
By this time I asked my friends if they had heard it and they freaked out asking 'wtf' that was. Before I could tell them that it was the cats, one of my friends actually thought it was kids and thought nothing of it.
I have never in my life ever heard cats make such noises... I dont actually think they were speaking english or anything, but I sure as hell sounded like they were trying to say something.
I have never heard cats modulate such articulate sounds with their little mouths.
Naturally, the hairs on my arms and neck stood on end and my adrenaline was pumping the whole time. I was walking a little ahead of my friends and I was the only one to walk a little into the property to look at the cats (my friends were very close by, but they were goofing around and did not hear the initial noises).

Can anyone shed some light on this experience? Heard of similar?

[edit on 27-1-2006 by Unplugged]

[edit on 27-1-2006 by Unplugged]

Being an owner of two cats, I can guarantee you that these little creatures can definitely make weird sounds once in a while...

I found a website with lots of cat sounds which may contain one similar to what you've heard... check it out:
www.kessels.com...

.

Sounds like you and your friends need to stop poking smot.

Also, as the owner of a cat(s), they have the intelligence of a scratch and sniff.

Originally posted by Barbadel
Being an owner of two cats, I can guarantee you that these little creatures can definitely make weird sounds once in a while...

I found a website with lots of cat sounds which may contain one similar to what you've heard... check it out:
www.kessels.com...

.

Thanks for the link. I listened to the clips, and none of them reproduce the exact kinds of noise the cats were making. There are a couple of the clips that if mixed together would sound a little like what I heard.
Under "Kittens" , the "Distressed Kitten" clip, and "Clip 2" under the "Angry" sounds. Under "Meows" -- "Clip 2" & "Clips 2".
These sounds a little similar to what I heard...Whew! Now I know cats can make similar types of noises, and that I didnt have an encounter with...DEMON CATS thanks for the link.
I still really want to find some sound clips of the sounds I heard... sounded like they were trying to speak , was quite the mindF-er.

[edit on 27-1-2006 by Unplugged]

I'll have to say that cats do make very weird sounds every once in a while. I've had/been around cats my entire life. Have you ever heard the meow a territorial cat makes when it see's another cat? It's very weird to say the least.

A few nights ago a stray showed up on my back porch, and my cat was meowing at it through the glass door. It freaked me out at first, because I had never heard a cat make that sound before. The only way to describe it would be a very loud, almost screaming, raspy meow. Also, for the past month or so my cat has been meowing very weirdly. It's hard to describe, all I can say it's not your typical meow.

Originally posted by rancid1
Sounds like you and your friends need to stop poking smot.

LOL, don't worry, ganj does not cause auditory or visual hallucinations.

Ever seen the video of the cat that says "No"? It really sounds like he's saying it.

I asked a question like this laast year sometime..

At work...Our friendly Human resources know-it-all,
Send an e-mail to ourcompany..sort of a fun fact thing, he did once a week..

The e-mail read:
Did you know, Cats have 100 vocal chords...

I challenged him on that..I called 4 of five local vets...they assured me it was not true...but what WAS true, is that they have about 100 VOCALIZATIONS..
100 different sounds...very cool...compared to a dogs 10 or 12..

I e-mailed him back, telling him that I had followed up...HE said.."NO, I got it right from Snapple.com....LOL"

Anyway, with 100 sounds, I believe a cat can talk..especially to other cats..

The sound you heard, reminds me of the sound my cats make, when they see something they want, but can't get to it...Like a Bird, viewed through window.
A chatter-meow thing, their lower jaw even vibrates when they do it..

My cat does that spacedoubt. It's one of the funniest things I've heard. I hadn't heard my other cat do that before, so the first time this one did it I couldn't believe it came from her.

Zaphod58,

The first time my cats did it, my wife called me at work.
She thought they were freaking out, which in turn freaked her out..
She had never seen a cat do that either.
It's funny to see and hear..but a pretty rare sound..

Some cats are alot more 'vocal' than others and some quite talented at unusual vocalizations.

A few years ago, after having had or lived with cats most of my life, I was amazed to hear one of my cats mimic a bird. It caught my attention because I couldn't imagine a bird singing right at the window my cat was staring out of but the bird was across the yard and the cat was the one 'singing'.

She went on to show me 4 different bird types, from sparrows to parrots, that she 'sang' to. The funny thing was she had no interest in hunting them but enjoyed calling them from inside the house...untill she had kittens, and they were ready for hard food.

After they were weaned, she quit hunting birds again and just went back to singing to them.

Two of her kittens showed her surprizing talent and a few others of the family (we had generations of this 'family' of cats) were quite 'chatty and chortley' but what got me with 'the original and the best' was the way she would grind her teeth, cough/bark and meow, all at the same time, to produce these sounds. It took effort and concentration to put all these noise making abilities together and come out with the sound that matched the bird.

It's all still wierd to me and it took alot of hunting but I did find one Oriental Cat breeder who said she had heard cats 'mimic birds' so at least I know I wasn't going mad and my family weren't just humouring me when they admitted to hearing it to.

P.S. Just saw your post Spacedoubt, thanks for explaining, I'm not mad. I was the only one in the family who actually saw the grinding and vibrating jaw when she did some of her best bird calls.

No problem..
I never knew what that was, until The Discovery Channel told me..

Also, I didn;t mean to knowck Dogs, by saying they only have about a dozen vocalizations. I think they use Body language much better than cats...
I am much better at interpreting what my dog is trying to say, based on his pasturing..

Oh I don't know. My other cat, who only vocalizes when she's hungry, has NO trouble whatsoever at getting her mood or feelings across using body language or even facial expressions.

My friend has one cat that says "Hello" when it meows on a regular basis. It peeks out from around the corner and does it to me all the time. I think it says 2 or 3 other things too, but I forget what. And then he has another cat that says nothing at all.

I don't think it knows how to 'talk' though, it just happens to vocalize in a way that makes human, english words. If I recall, there is a Huskie out there with a 75+ word vocabulary. I forget if I saw it on Guiness or Ripleys.

Sometimes I hear cats out the back yard crying like babies and mumbling like kids. It scared the hell out of me until I actually saw them doing it. Well, it still scares the hell out of me.

As far as I know, the cats make these sounds before mating. Cats are generally solitary creatures and you tend to find groups of them when a female is in heat. I'd say you came across a group of male cats around a female. Hence the strange human sounds.

Just the other day I watched a video clip where people had taught their cats how to say words like hello, I love you, I'm hungry and such, kinda like parrots would speak. I am having some trouble finding it again, but I will keep looking.

talking dogs

Couln't seem to find the cat clip but here are some dogs doing similar things.

I live out in the country and have a number of barn cats. We used to have this female that had a litter, and when she would teach them how to be a productive adult cat, she could command them to do things with vocalistions. These are things I had never experienced when I lived in the city. I never thought they could do what they do, but to see her give them certain vocal commands and then see them follow through was very cool.

Couln't seem to find the cat clip but here are some dogs doing similar things.

That last dog is especially crazy. I definately feel that dogs must be evolving and slowly becoming more and more intelligent/human-esque.

I used to get really freaked out when i was laying asleep at night / just about to go to sleep and I would hear a small childs voice calling out

"Help....help.....help..."

It wasnt until my dog got under the house and i heard the unearthly voice go

"pfffffffffffffffft!"

That i figured out it was a cat under my house and not a ghostly child =)

Yeah I can confirm that Cats can and do mimick birds. One of my cats Red does it while sitting in the window sill. Trying to mimick blue jays as they are the most audible inside the house with the windows closed.