Daylight encounter in a strip mine gully near "Big Brutus" (tourist attraction) witnessed in Cherokee County, Kansas

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This happened about 25 years ago but I will remember it forever. I live in southeast Kansas. My husband and I were driving around looking for a fishing spot. We went down a dirt road to a strip pit (from strip mining coal). I was ahead of Michael and I was being very quiet. Michael was behind me and I could hear him walking through the weeds. I came to a small break in the brush with a game trail on it and I followed it . I walked about 20 feet and came out into a small clearing. I was looking straight ahead at the water and from behind and higher up in the air a screeching screaming sound started. It was so loud that I crouched down and covered my ears and I had my eyes closed. The scream would go for a few seconds and then it would pause and suck in some more air and scream again. This went on for several seconds. I finally could tell that the thing was running away and I stood up and opened my eyes. When I looked up the thing had jumped the creek in front of me about 10 feet an...