The screams seem to have first come to public attention in July of 1972 when Marlin Ayris, a resident of Forest Green (at the time a brand new subdivision), wrote to the Tacoma News Tribune. He spoke about hearing loud screams for a couple of nights coming from the woods behind his house. His neighbors claimed they did not hear the sounds and some of them thought he was making it up. When it began to happen again the next year, Ayris made several recordings but didn't make any particular effort to properly care for them. He even reused some of the tapes for other things. One that did survive is a recording made during the day by hanging a microphone for the recorder out a window of his house. The original of the recording was not kept, but copies made from it exist.

On many of Ayris's recordings that people listened to you could hear the creature screaming, accompanied by the neighborhood dogs. The sound of the frantically barking dogs muddied the sound of the screams. Although the screams were louder, the dogs were closer to the microphone.

On the "Daylight Tape", the dogs are silent, but at that time in the morning, the birds were out with their morning chirping and chatter. The call recorded was not an "eeeeeeee" scream, but more of a high-pitched, long-sounding "whoo ooo ooo ooo" or what some say is a "whoop whoop whoop". This was made with a high pitch but at an immense volume. (This recording is exclusive to Oregonbigfoot.com)

Although there is no proof the creature taped was a sasquatch, it is assumed to be due to the number of sightings reported from the same area. Also, a set of 14-inch footprints crossing a dirt road in January of 1975 just a few hundred feet from the Forest Green area seems to also support that theory.

Two of the sightings of the creature were by  Mark Pittenger, a State trooper, on patrol in the area at night. In August 1972, the patrolman watched something walk across the road in front of his patrol car while he was pulled over on the shoulder of the road. It came very close to the vehicle despite his lights being on. The other time he saw one, it ran across the road while he was driving.

Charles Challendar, at the time, lived at the end of a road about a mile from Forest Green. He also taped screaming from the woods several times. On one occasion, when he heard the screams coming from an area close to his house, he ran down a trail in the woods trying to get even closer. Partway down the path, he almost ran into a creature he estimated at 9 or 10 feet tall as it stepped across the trail.

Some attribute the screams to coyotes. However, some researchers said the screams are not normal coyote noises and that it is hard to imagine a coyote having that much volume to its calls. Others say that sometimes the screams seem to deliberately imitate the coyotes.

Mark Pittenger had a tape that appeared to confirm that theory. On the recording was what seemed to be a genuine coyote and a response to them that was very like them, yet different. The two seemed to come closer and closer to each other but moved further away from the recorder. Then suddenly there was a distant outburst of frantic sounds and then silence. Pittenger went out the next day to search the area where the sounds had come from. He found the remains of two coyotes that appeared to have been smashed against the trees.

Washington sasquatch screams