Family experiences large rocks being thrown and hear an unknown scream outside the Shawnee National Forest witnessed in Hardin County, Illinois

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My in-laws own a couple hundred of acres that butt up against the Shawnee National Forest in Southern Illinois. There were about 12-15 of us gathered around the fire pit chatting around 9pm, it was completely dark at this time. My wife's uncle, myself and her cousin were helping set up a telescope to see the sky. As we were doing so we heard a large object in the woods near by, about 50 yards away. We were on alert because there had been a 280 lb mountain lion shot in the area just weeks before our visit to the family property. We kept shinning flash lights into the woods, but saw nothing. As we continued to set up this telescope, we had a big rock thrown in our direction. We all looked at each other and thought the people around the pit had thrown it, but then realized that none of them were dumb enough to do so, seeing that we were setting up a $10,000 telescope, and they wouldn't want to hit it. About 5 minutes later, another rock landed in our direction. We heard the sticks...