Have to get this story out
This may be a little long winded but I'll try to keep it as brief as possible as to not bore anybody. However this is something I just need to get off my chest.
I'll start by saying I'm a skeptic when it comes to practically anything supernatural. I fully believe there's a natural explaination for things that seem unexplainable. Even now.
The problem is I just can't seem to think of a logical explaination (not that there isn't one) so I'd like other people to hear it and maybe someone can come up with a rational explaination.
I live in the UK and it's currently 4:58AM. I just can't sleep thinking about it.
So this past weekend, me and a couple of friends had decided to venture into some local woodland like we had done a few years prior. Life had gotten in the way and this past weekend was a rarity where we were all free so we decided for old times sake we'd make the most of it and do it again.
The plan was like usual... Head in the woods, get a fire going, have some beers, have a laugh with no distractions and camp until daylight. Head home.
Since the woodland was within walking distance we headed into the trees... I'm the most experienced in the outdoors and was carrying all the camping gear, axe, knife, cooking tools etc... Another pal who's strong as an ox was carrying all the beers, and my other buddy was just carrying a backpack of snacks and BBQ food.
Long story short, I know this stretch of woodland relatively well and I had a place I'd camped at on my own during COVID and I had planned to take us all there. (I'd found an old wheelbarrow and turned it into an awesome little makeshift fire pit and wanted to get it going again)
However even though I'd followed my previous path I couldn't seem to find my last little camp spot. It wasn't just the wheelbarrow I was looking for, there is a distinctive Y shaped tree and patch of clear flat ground in front of it. Pretty unusual in a woodland full of bushes.
Anyway after a while I gave up, it was getting to nearly 6pm so we didn't have loads of daylight left and I wanted us to set up camp and get some wood cut before we hunkered down.
We found a reasonable spot, nothing like my last camp site but it would do.
Got the fire going, cracked the beers. The night rolled in.
We had agreed to keep off our phones, but kept them switched on just incase of emergencies. However phone reception was practically non existent.
At around 11pm or so. We had a decision to make. Camp or go home. I was happy to stay, so was my other pal (the beer carrier we'll call him) but my other mate wanted to head home he didn't fancy roughing it by a fire. Fair enough.
I agreed to navigate him out of the woods and come back to my other friend who I'd told just keep the fire roaring so it'll be easier for me to get back.
Off we went... It took us a while but I managed to get us out of the woods, granted a little ways from where we entered but enough for my friend to go alone as he could see the road. Now I just had to turn back and go back to my friend by the fire.
As I was walking back, I figured I was maybe half way back I couldn't see any flickering of a fire but I heard a male voice make a sort of beckoning sound over to my left... It kinda sounded like my friend by the fire but not 100%...Sure enough I heard it again.
Something told me not to shout back, the voice didn't seem right. I wanted to just get back to my friend by the fire but at the same time what if he got nervous being alone and he tried to follow us out and got lost?
I kept pushing forward towards where I know our fire was, every now and again turning off my head light just looking for the flickers of the fire In the distance.
Sure enough I managed to see the faint flickers of fire and my friends torch beaming towards me. His massive frame soon came into view and he just said my name with an obvious distress in his voice.
I said "Yeah it's me were you just shouting?"
By this point we're both by the fire and I can see he's shaken up.
He said he wasn't shouting but he thought he heard someone laughing... Strangely enough from roughly the direction I heard the half beckoning shout.
I just told him to relax, we've got an axe, a knife/machete... He's build like a tank and I'm 6ft 1 and fairly broad... Nobody is going mess with us on purpose surely. It's likely just the wind. Mind plays tricks on you.
Just as we were about to crack open some fresh beers we heard a loud metallic clang. Same direction. We both bolted up. He had his knife I had a hand axe and we both just froze looking at eachother.
Now it was obvious. That wasn't wind.
We decided enough was enough filled our backpacks with everything of value....once we were sure we had everything we doused the fire and started heading out.
I decided the best way would be go the way I just came from... A bit further from our initial entry point but I've just come from that direction so it'll be easy. Even in the pitch dark.
So we're heading back the way I literally just came from perhaps 10 minutes before... Then it was just there... The wheelbarrow I'd used years before during covid. Same rusty hole near the bottom corner... Inside charred black with the fire I'd had roaring over 4 years ago. My friend didn't react because he hadn't been this way yet.
I'd been looking for this wheelbarrow so I definitely would have noticed it before and it was definitely not the camp site I'd been at prior. Then I noticed a black glove just below the wheelbarrow. Looked almost new and had rubber finger tips just like my friends who I'd escorted out no more than 30 minutes ago at this point.
None of us touched the glove we just marched now...My original path out didn't matter I was just straight-line booking it until we got to a clearing.
Just as the trees thinned an almighty metal bang was heard behind us and I've no shame in admitting we both ran. It sounded like a sledgehammer smashing against something metal.
We got over a field and didn't bother finding the exit we just climbed the fence. Neither of us are small or super athletic so this really wasnt something we'd choose to do usually.
We found ourself practically the other side of the woods which we'd entered. We just headed to the nearest streetlight and none of us really knew what to say. It was obvious we were both shaken up.
I'd camped alone loads of times, I'm used to funny noises and your mind playing tricks. This wasn't that.
Not only that, these woods aren't exactly popular. You never see litter, there's no actual paths or dog walking trails through there. Infact the only foreign item I've ever seen there in over 10 years is that wheelbarrow.
The first thing I did was call my friend who I'd escorted out originally. Now he was not experienced in the woods. He didn't even have his own headlamp or torch he'd been using my torch(flashlight for Americans) before... So the likelihood of it being him playing a prank was non existent but I called him anyway.
He was at home, I could hear his girlfriend even talking in the background. When I told him what happened he couldn't believe it. He asked me if I picked them up and I said what... He said his gloves.
He'd accidently left them at our camp when I escorted him out but just figured we'd grab them in the morning.
I've been meaning to go back and see if the wheelbarrow is there in the daylight but something just feels off.
Even writing this it feels like something was seriously wrong with that whole ordeal. My friend who experienced it with me is equally as troubled by it. How did that wheelbarrow appear in a path I just was, how did my friends glove get there. Who was making the noises and why. If it was people playing tricks, how were they moving about in the dark with no light?
Sorry for the long story. I'm not sure how I could have made it any shorter.