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.