Just one question to the Op... Is is possible that the laughter you heard came from elsewhere in your neighborhood? Taking one look at your backyard
reveals that there is no solid fencing between the houses that would otherwise deflect or muzzle such sounds from other properties. Given the correct
wind conditions, sounds could travel quite a distance and sound much closer than they actually are.
IRM
[edit on 14/5/09 by InfaRedMan]
This is my very first post here. I stumbled on this web site, trying to find this area called the "seven gates of hell" in York PA, in which I just
moved to.
Anyway, that being off-topic.
This here was my very frst thoughts when he said there was a woman laughing with an echo, and a fog moving in.
Well, I have very very good experience growing up as s child with the way sounds travel in different weather conditions. In my bedroom, in my parents
old house, there was a traintrack that was about 8 miles away. At night time, you can hear the train whistle. Some nights it sounded much closer than
other nights. And indeed, on those very rare nights, you could actually here the individual cars running on the tracks, even with the window closed.
My favorite night were those nights where there would be a light rain that would last briefly, making everything sort of wet outside, and the fog
rolling in immediately thereafter. When the train would go by, it's whistle was a bit lower sounding, and was...low and behold....echoey sounding as
well. It was the most pleasanst sound to me....both reassuring and lonely at the same time.
Also, just like your neighborhood nobody had any private fences (there were a couple of those regular metal fences). The only barriers that would
change/muffle the sound would be the houses and/or trees themselves.
The point: If there was someone in your neighhood, not a too far away, that may have had their window opened, and maybe had some guests over and they
were telling jokes or something, judging by what the weather looks like in your photos, it would sound much closer than it really is, and perhaps sort
of give off an "echo."
Think about it. Sound is carried through the air in waves. When the air is much "heavier," there are more particles of water in the air, and so the
waves would be bouncing, or echoing, through all those extra particles of water. Fog happens to be water particles.....in other words, when it is
"foggy out" it is, essentially, raining.
You can do an experiment yourself to confirm how water changes sound. Take a blowhorn or something that is fairly loud. Stand outside of a pool or
other body of water, and blow the horn. Jump into the water, and go under the surface, and have someone blow the horn while you are under water. It
will sound much more echoey, and possibly closer, with a lower tone than it did when you were above the surface. That is because the sound waves have
more particles to "bounce" off of to travel to your ears. Likewise, when you are in an empty room with no carpeting or other furniture, the echos
when you talk are sounds bouncing off of walls.
Sorry for that long-winded explanation.
As for the photos themselves: I did immediately see the outline of a cat-like thing against the foundation of your house, but had no idea what this
"face" heyo was talking about, because I knew right form the start that was just a clump of grass and/or dirt against the house. It was even more
clearly seen that was so from other photos.
As for the toy starting up itself: Judging from this fog, which was fast-moving, which usually follows some sort of misty light rain, I would have to
say that the toy did, indeed, start up on its own due to the increased moisture in the battery casing, as someone explained a while back. Those
"orbs" in the photos are also the moisture from this obviously thick, humid, weather. You're house was probably quite a bit cooler, and certainly a
lot driers, and so moiture/condensation would have accumuated.