Visitors in the Night

Last night at 3 in the morning I heard a noise outside my window. I figured it was probably a frog. I get frogs down there a lot and they jump up and stick to the window. The outside is pretty streaked thanks to them.

The sound didn't stop and turned into a rustling. I could tell it was a much bigger animal than a frog. At first I figured it was a cat. My bedroom is in the basement and there is about a three or four foot deep metal well around the window, and our cats have been known to jump down in there from time to time.

Then I had a thought that was not so pleasant. What if it was a skunk? There is a skunk that lives near our home, and every once in awhile it sprays somewhere near enough that it stinks up my room, even though the window is almost brand new and tightly sealed. I was afraid that somehow the skunk had fallen down into the well and would get freaked out and spray, and my room would be stunk up worse than it ever had before.

I was wrong on both guesses. I looked out the window and I could see the weeds being rustled around, so whatever had gotten down in there was running around. I had the light on so I couldn't see out very well, but I thought I saw a cat. It was a small fuzzy body the same size and color as one of our cats, and with the reflections on the glass, that's what I thought it was. Then it turned and looked at me with a masked face. It was a raccoon! It was still kind of small, not fully grown, and it had gotten itself down in the well, and it couldn't get out due to the slippery metal of the well.

Then I saw more movement behind the raccoon and I realized that there was another one back there! They started to run around in circles, and tried to climb out. I watched them for a minute and I realized that there were three out there. One managed to escape, or had seen the others jump in and was looking down into the well, trying to get the others to come out.

I tried to take some pictures, but the flash didn't work well on the dirty glass. I think the sudden flashes of light freaked them out even more than the sight of me watching them, and they got desperate and started trying to climb the bricks of the house. After multiple attempts they finally made it up and out. I did manage to get a couple of semi-decent shots of the last one before it managed to escape.

I don't believe I'd ever seen a raccoon that close before. They are much cuter than they look in these pictures. They make the cutest little purring, chirping noise too. I have decided that I want one for a pet. :p