r/BackwoodsCreepy

My friend and I were driving in the woods listening to music at night and we noticed a car on the side of the road. It wasn't on but there was something in the driver's side. At first it looked like a white headrest cover or something like that. My friend who was driving suddenly speeded up away from the car, terrified. He said it looked like a face under a white cloth and he could see some facial features underneath it. Soon we laughed it off thinking maybe he was just imagining things. After a little while we decided to turn back to take a better look of it. It was still there. Now i could see the face too but not as well. My friend again speeded up and was even more terrified. He saw it now for sure, a face. There wasn't just a cloth on top of the face, it was wrapped around the head tightly. He could see the face had it's mouth fully open under the fabric. We drove off and tried to come up with an explanation, but it still creeps us out.

My first thought was that it was someone having a migraine trying to relieve it, but it seems odd to wrap your whole head up. I really don't know, any thoughts would be appreciated.

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.

Originally posed on r/nosleep

I was born and spent my formative years in the Bronx, but when I was 10, my mother moved me and my brother to northern NY because my father's killer was released from prison and she had family up here. after a few years, my grandfather sold his property in the Bronx and followed us up here, and bought a house by the river on the north side of our new town, and we moved in with him.

it started almost immediately upon moving to that property. the house itself was a nice double wide prefab home with an extension and garage added, the backyard had a cement padio you could access through glass sliding doors, with a wooden roof built overtop to block the weather. past the padio was about a half acre backyard with a above ground pool that had a wooden deck, and behind it was a large tool shed that held our riding mower, and the edge of our property was surrounded by woods.

the activity wasn't anything crazy at first. but whenever I was outside at night, I felt like I was being watched. as I got older, things would slowly escalate and get a lot weirder. during the winter months I would find footsteps in the snow that would surround my house and stop facing every window. at the time I thought we had a stalker, but nothing was too out of hand yet. in highschool, met my best friend to this day, Chris (not his real name).

I didn't have any other friends, most of the people in my town are racist and hated me at the time because I was Hispanic and from NYC, but Chris always stood up for me.when we first started hanging out we would explore the woods outback, and it always gave us a weird vibe, but we made it home. we build a really shitty wooden structure from fallen logs and dubbed it "the fort" and would hang out there, sometimes larping. one day while exploring we stumbled upon a very odd pit in the ground. for some reason we decided to dig it out and see how deep it went. after getting about 3 feet down, we found a buried shopping cart, that seemed to be blocking a makeshift tunnel. we freaked out and left. we decided to come back the next summer but we either couldn't find the same spot or it was buried in.

when we were a bit older we would get into the stereotypical teenage guy shenanigans, including on occasion sneaking a beer or two from the fridge and drinking them in a second shed my grandfather had built in the backyard on the opposite side of the first shed by the edge of the woods for us to hang out in. right outside of our hangout shed, that we just referred to as "the shed", I dug out a fire pit in the dirt and circled it with rocks. this is when the activity started picking up. one night while we were in the shed, it sounded like someone was walking around the shed. Chris noticed it too and we got quiet and gave each other the "wtf is that" look. after a short while, the footsteps and rustling stopped, and was immediately followed with pounding on the walls. we practically shit our pants, but stayed quiet for I can't even remember how long until the banging stopped. when we felt the coast was clear, we booked it to the house and locked all the doors. you would think that would keep us from spending time out there, but I think we were gluttons for punishment, or were just extremely morbidly curious, because we would keep hanging out in the shed.

this would continue for a long time, most nights we were out there, we would hear the rustling and footsteps, some nights the banging, but eventually it would feel normal. but one night, while having a fire out front of the shed, we saw it for the first time.

it was probably midnight or later, and we were sitting with our backs to the backyard, shed to our right, house to the left and the tree line that separated the property from the neighbors in front of us. as we were sitting there I could hear rustling right in front of us. when I looked up, my heart sunk and I froze. there was a really tall and gaunt figure standing in the tree line, facing us. at first I thought I was going crazy, but it slowly leaned forward, and I could see its face (or lack there of) pointing right towards us, it was tall, thin, and naked (I think). it had absolutely no facial features, and it's skin was so dark you couldn't see texture whatsoever, it was as if it was made out of a 3D void. I thought I was going insane, but that's when I noticed Chris had already started booking it to the house, so I followed suit.

as I said, that was just the first time. there were many other sightings after that. most of them on nights we would have a fire, although we moved to having fires in an old rusty intricate chiminea the previous owners of the house had left for us on the stone padio.

when we were a bit older, Chris started dating a girl I'll call Vanessa. Vanessa would come to hang out with us on the property all the time, but there's one night that's hard to forget. I was alone in my room, Chris was in the shower across from my bedroom, and Vanessa was in the dining room which was out my bedroom door to the right. right next to the bathroom door off of the dining room was a small laundry room that had a second back door that led to a small wooden porch that had steps that led to the stone padio. we always kept that door locked. as I'm sitting in my room. I hear a huge crashing sound, and Vanessa screaming. when I ran out to see what was going out, she looked pale as a ghost and yelled "something busted it open!" I looked in the direction she was staring and the back door in the laundry room was wide Open. I know this part was reckless looking back, but in the heat of the moment being freaked out and knowing it was probably the thing that's been watching us, I grabbed the little 22 rifle my grandfather owned and I shot into the woods away from the properties, yelling at whatever it was. Chris was out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel at that point and he yelled at me "what the fuck are you doing?! IF that's a person you can kill them." he was right, but the way he worded it was telling. saying if that's a person, implied he had the same thought that I did, it wasn't a person at all.

years later after I graduated and Vanessa left Chris, I started dating a girl I'll call Nicole, that's important for a little later. one night towards the end of the winter I decided to stand on the steps outside of the sliding doors to smoke a cigarette. as I'm standing there, I hear what sounds like a musket go off and I watch as snow from the tree line flew as if something large was shot through it. I ran inside, and like an idiot, instead of calling the cops, I called Chris. he came right over, we grabbed some rifles and flashlights and went to search the woods. we found no one, but what stood out the most was there were no footsteps in the snow anywhere near where the blast came from. he stayed with me for the night to ease my mind, but I thought about it often.

a few months later, me and Nicole got closer, and I told her about all the weird stuff that happened on the property, thinking she would think I was absolutely insane. she told me she in fact didn't think I was crazy, and that she wanted to see it for herself. I explained that the thing would often come out when I had fires, and she suggested having her two best friends over for a fire that night on the padio.

that night, we were sitting on the padio, fire in the chiminea, chairs facing the tree line, and were having a good time, laughing and chatting. at some point as I glanced at the shed, I noticed the creature as it walked straight along the tree line from the shed towards the house. I actually cracked a smile this time, thinking to myself that this is the moment I know if I'm actually crazy or not. it finally made its way right in front of where we were facing, it turned it's head in our direction, then kept walking past the edge of the house. without saying a word I turned to look at Nicole.

she had a look on her face like she just witnessed a murder, pale, jaw dropped , eyes wide, just staring in the direction I saw it. and before I could say a word she yells "NOPE!" and ran inside. we never had a fire together again.

a few weeks later, we went to a civil war reenactment that happened every year at a local state park in the town. while I was there I stumbled upon a book I had never seen about local history. In the book I read a story about the natives that lived in the area before the town existed. as the story went, there was a tribe that had land in that precise area, and one night French soldiers made their way down the river, and burned down a long house with everyone in it. on the page after the story there was an old map of the area the natives lived at the time and the approximate location of the long house, and as I looked at the map I recognized the area, the river was the same river across the road from my property, and the long house was practically in the same area I lived.

At that moment, it was like everything clicked. I'm living on a property that was once the site of a massacre of indigenous peoples. the massacre included a lot of people burning. my property was being stalked by something that is described in detail in Native American folklore, and it always seemed to be most active when there was a fire happening.

how this all ends is telling in itself. a few years later after I failed out of college, living back with my grandfather, I was in a rough patch and drinking a little too much. one day I drank a lot and passed out. I feel like this would be a good time to say we didn't have working fire alarms. I woke up out of a dead sleep, stone cold sober with a weird feeling. I walked out of my room and saw my grandfather in the kitchen fighting a huge fire on the stove. as I ran up he was about to throw water on it but I stopped him knowing it was a grease fire and grabbed the salt. as I put out the flames, I looked up in horror.

I noticed the inside of the vent fan was glowing, and the fan was still on. I yelled to my grandfather that we had to leave now, I grabbed the wireless house phone, and I ran him out front. when we got out there I went to call 911 and I realized the phone was dead.

that's when I did something stupid. I thought to myself about how our neighbors are never home, and we lived practically in the middle of nowhere, and I knew where the other phone was. so I ran back in. when I got inside I had to use muscle memory to get to my room cause the smoke was too thick to see through, all I could see was the kitchen glowing through the smoke. when I made it to my room, I grabbed the blanket and shook. I saw a glimmer that had to be any remaining light reflecting off of the phone screen, and caught the phone. I ran back outside and called 911.

I barely was able to get out what happened before the phone line went dead from the fire. I found out later that our house was made with plastic ventilation in the stove fan, so even though I put the fire out it was too late, the plastic melted and the insulation caught. they said we had 2 minutes total. if I didn't wake up when I did we would both be dead.

we haven't been back to the property since that day, but there's something disturbingly and morbidly poetic that I almost burned to death in that very house. and I too this day feel that it was all connected to the Windigo.

So a just last year around october i heard this odd whistling around my apartments, i took a look outside to see if it was just someone random person but there was no one out. It went on for about 1 more minute and then stopped completely for the rest of the night. It was SO WEIRD because it never paused for a few seconds, it just went on.

Friend and I were traveling to camp the Grand Canyon about 10 years ago. I can’t remember if it was our Grand Canyon or Havasu trip but it’s equally a similar drive. I do remember we were on the I40 for a minute really late at night. We eventually had to turn off the freeway to head north on a state-road. Immediately our GPS got turned about n we 180ed back towards 40. GPS configured. Wasn’t making sense so we just pulled over in a dirt lot to read the map and find our bearings. As we figured things out and where to go, we could see a fire going about less than 100 feet away. We both asked what’s going on over there… all the way out here…in the middle of nowhere?! As we looked closer, it was a bonfire. But no, it was a car on fire. Two cars on fire. N there were semi trucks in the area. I could see there were tons of men drinking beer. Then two topless woman were mud wrestling without the mud. At first I said this looks interesting, we should go over there. My friend was like maybe we shouldn’t. I thought about it. Yeah this is really fucking weird we need to leave!! So we navigated our route once more and left! Wish we had better cameras back then. Likely lost the video on an old phone. Has anyone else seen such a thing in the desert like that?!

So, for context, I don’t live in the woods right now, but I did growing up. I was born in a busy mid size city but then when I was almost 3, we moved to a rural small town in my state. I lived there from that age to 18, then moved to a suburb right outside of the city. Then, for 10 months, very recently I stayed with my best friend and her family in the same small town I’d grown up in. I’d go back and forth from both houses.

If you know anything about living in a rural town, it can be very creepy at night. I have always found a beautiful comfort in the woods during the day time but they terrify me at night, because I’m very superstitious and god knows what’s out there. Can’t possibly just be animals, dude. Anyway…so I always loved exploring the woods behind my childhood home during the day. It was so beautiful. I never felt unsafe or had a bad feeling about the woods behind my childhood home.

But the woods behind my best friend’s house…now that’s a completely different story. Again, during the day they won’t bother me, but at night, you could not pay me enough to go into those woods. There’s just…the noises that come from those woods, they are downright creepy. I’ve heard screams and yells and my best friend will say it’s just animals (very well could be) but I don’t always buy that. They sometimes sound extremely human. And I work with kids, so I know what a damn scream sounds like. I hear them all day.

So, my best friend’s bathroom toilet (they only had one bathroom of course) was out of commission for a while and they had to set up a porta potty outside in the meantime. It sucked having to go outside at night in those creepy woods even for just a minute or two. I always had to bring my phone with me of course and play videos. But I’ve just had a few experiences I can’t write off as just a stray animal or someone messing with me.

So a few months ago, I was outside using the bathroom, and I started to hear these awful scratching noises. They were right against the door to the porta potty and they didn’t sound very human. I thought maybe it was their dog but I knew he was inside sleeping because I had seen him. Then I thought it was an animal, but as I’ve lived in the woods almost my whole life, I was very aware an animal wouldn’t just come up near the porta potty if they knew a human was in there. The animals we have around here like deer, Bob cats, and coyotes are skittish. They won’t really approach humans, especially not at night. Anyway, so I was scared absolutely sh!tless because like WTF was that. And I I was so scared to leave the bathroom. So scared I’d get snatched. Then I started to hear whispering and laughter and I really got scared. I left the bathroom and absolutely no one was around and everyone else was asleep.

I ran right back in the house and didn’t feel better until I got to bed beside my best friend because I was too scared to sleep alone that night.

This used to happen a lot too. So like genuinely wtf. I think it’s really those woods specifically. My best friend will want me to stay over now and again now that I’ve moved completely back into my house here in the suburbs but I just can’t. I’m way too uneasy. I can’t even say why. I didn’t used to be when I would be at their house even like 4 years ago. It’s just now…it’s like I’m being watched.

I’m posting this here, but if there’s a better or more fitting sub I could post this under please let me know.

In July, 2025 myself and my group of friends went on a camping trip together at Bear Brook State Park in Allentown, NH. In total there were 7 of us, being myself and my friends Joe, Danny, Mitch, Nate, and Mac all aged 18-20, and Mac’s dad Ben in his mid 50s. It was the last night of our trip around 12:15 am, I was half asleep in my tent while Mac and Ben were at the campsite waiting for my other friends to come back from the bathroom so they could take one more person with them to go out as a group to take out our full trash bag to the garbage up the road. The bathroom was just across the road from our site, visible from all our tents, and took like 30-45 seconds to walk to so it was very close.

My friends Joe, Danny, Mitch, and Nate were in the bathroom brushing their teeth getting ready for bed and stuff. They might’ve been fooling around a bit maybe, but nothing too crazy. Apparently, my friend Nate unplugged my friend Danny’s phone, and my friend Danny was kinda jokingly yelling at him, nothing too loud or crazy, but definitely some obscene name calling and yelling.

Suddenly, a man who looked to be in his mid to late 30s or 40s comes and walks into the bathroom. My friend Mitch was kind of in the way of the man, so when Mitch noticed he was in the guy’s way, he moved out of the way and said “oops, sorry” and the guy ominously said nothing. He went to the urinal and went pee and then flushed, washed his hands, and walked out saying nothing. Nobody really thought much of it, except that the guy looked kind of dead inside. My friends said he had a kind of “thousand yard stare” in his eyes, which was definitely a bit creepy, but nothing too weird I guess especially since it was late anyways.

The bathroom had this row of windows at the very top of the walls that were way too high up to look through, but they were open so you could hear something if it was immediately outside the bathrooms there. All of a sudden after he left, from the windows my friends heard footsteps pacing back and forth on the gravel outside the bathroom. My friends said they stopped dead and just listened, totally freaked out thinking maybe it would be that guy, because to continue back on the road to return to a campsite you wouldn’t have any reason to be on the side of the building like that. Then, the same guy returned to the bathroom again and went back to the same urinal, like he was pretending to use it but wasn’t actually doing so. At that, my friends were super creeped out, and together decided to get the hell out of there and go back to the campsite.

As they were walking out, they thought they heard something behind them. They got to the campsite to reunite with Mac and Ben and very quickly told them what happened in the bathroom. That’s when they turned around and shined their flashlights back out in that direction, and I could hear Nate suddenly say “look there he is behind that tree”. To their absolute horror, they saw that same man from the bathroom had followed them back to our campsite, illuminating half of his body still sticking out from behind the tree with their flashlights. When he noticed the lights being shined on him, it looked like he kinda tried to like walk away and play it off or something, but then when he realized he was like in too deep and was definitely spotted, he stopped and then said “put the light down little boy and go to bed”. That when Ben, Mac’s dad, said “stop following my boys!”. That’s when the man replied “I was going for a walk when I heard them hooting and hollering in the bathroom being super loud this late at night” Ben then said something kinda calling him out for what he believed was a BS lie saying something like “yeah right, totally” because he didn’t believe the man’s story at all. Then the man turned around and left, walking off completely into the dark without turning on a flashlight or anything at all.

The whole time I was in my tent, so I only heard the conversation exchanged once my friends shined their flashlights at him, but the one thing I experienced that nobody else really did was that my intuition made me feel like he actually veered off the little road and actually cut across the open field next to our campsite instead, which doesn’t lead to other campsites or anything it just leads to a pond. It was like that feeling you get when you can like physically FEEL when someone is looking at you, from the mattress in my tent it felt like I could FEEL someone passed by behind us and cut through that open field instead of continuing on that road like someone normally would if they were to return to their campsite back that way or something.

We were definitely pretty spooked and called the ranger but nobody picked up. Then we called the cops and they took a bit to get there. An officer finally got there and we told them what happened, he said that this isn’t as uncommon a thing as we might expect, and he’s not saying this is exactly what happened but he said there are times when homeless people come by, get into peoples sites and take some supplies and things.

They searched the area but didn’t find anything. We ended up just packing up and leaving that night. The next day we called the campground people and reported everything, giving as full an accurate a description of the guy as possible. They let us know that to their knowledge there was no camper presently there who matched that description.

To this day, we have no idea who this guy was, why he was following us, or what his intentions were, especially if it was just us kids that hadn’t noticed he followed us back. My friends and I to this day talk about how creepy it was and try to come up with what was going on in this guys head, and would love to hear what other people might have to say, if others ever experienced something similar especially in that area, or if people really think something more sinister could’ve potentially occurred and we dodged a bullet by noticing him hiding behind the tree.

Hey everyone! My husband and I are both avid outdoors people and wanted to do a camping trip for a mini vacation. We landed on GWNF. It took us a couple hours to drive to, but once we got there the campsite we wanted to stay at was full (weird bc it’s a weekday in early spring but I totally understand). We had a backup plan and found one of the dispersed camping sites a couple miles down the road.

When we first started setting up our tent I had a very uneasy feeling that I chalked up to just being in a new place. I decided to check the immediate area out just to be safe. I did find what looked like a gravesite/memorial(?) it was very close to our camp. There was a small glass cross on it that looked very new and someone had put a “merry Christmas” message on the top of it. I brushed it off. I overall just had a very uneasy feeling during the day that I didn’t mention to my partner but we both discussed only camping the one day in this spot and finding a better one the next day. (Truthfully after a long drive we were just hungry and ready to set up our camp for the night lol)

We noticed our dog wasn’t settling down during the day but again we tried brushing it off bc he is a rescue and had never been camping before so we just gave him lots of love and reassurance.

once the sun started going down is when things got worse. I felt like I was being watched and I couldn’t shake that feeling. My dog wouldn’t stop staring in one direction towards the woods and wouldn’t relax. He didn’t bark or growl at any point…just looked straight ahead and was scared. We shined lights around the area and never saw anything.

Once the sun was fully down I noticed my husband had his hand resting on the weapon we had brought and I finally kind of hinted at being nervous. He immediately agreed and told me if I wanted to leave, we could pack up and head out asap. I went into a sort of freeze state at that point and felt like my body wouldn’t move (probably just nerves but it was a very scary feeling). My husband started to pack up our things without a word. When we went to put our dog in the car we noticed his back legs were physically shaking in fear.

to clarify - we didn’t hear anything. No rustling, no animal noises, etc. I love to go birding so during the day I heard bird songs but never saw any birds. Not sure of the relevance, but just wanted to mention that I found it odd.

Once we got in the car and started driving my husband admitted to being equally as nervous even during the day time. He then told me he felt like he was being watched from every angle and the dog was what made him feel it was a valid fear. He also told me he has never seen me that scared in the 10 years he’s known me.

This is the one part I can’t vouch for. My husband made an audible noise driving and didn’t talk for a couple minutes. Once we got out of the woods he told me he saw 4 eyes and a flesh like semi circle in the woods moving quickly. I didn’t see it so I can’t speak to that.

We both agreed we’d rather be wusses than dead. I’m not quite sure if we are overreacting but we’ve both spent lots of time alone in other parts of Appalachia and have never felt that scared.

Not sure if anyone has any insights to that area. We were staying near Elkhorn Lake.

One spring night I went out with my camera gear on a mile long walk to good place to watch the stars. It was a long and wide trail I was very familiar with and walked that area without a flashlight often. I would like to not use a light because I had a higher chance of seeing a beautiful animal that would otherwise be startled away. I also love the darkness. Anyways, I arrive at the viewing location and set up my tripod and camera. I start taking some long exposure photos when I hear some rustling across the small body of water I was near. I am very familiar with the wildlife of that area and while there are a few bears and wolves the population was very small. It's an isolated island with more coyotes than anything. So hearing some noises in the woods didn't bother me at all but I tuned in to listen trying to figure out what it could be. Moments later whatever it was began to let out the most deep booming yells I've ever heard in my entire life. It sounded like both noises of distress and anger from what I can best describe. I have never felt unnerved out in the woods of that area at night but those noises made my blood run cold. It let out another series of yells and my body snapped from being frozen to scooping up my tripod and sprinting with it the mile back to my car. All the while I could hear that bone chilling yell although it was growing faint as I put distance between me and it. I will admit that the experience really shook me to my core and I haven't gone out for a night hike since then. My only explanation was it could have been a bear in pain or a really large badger (they can make some scary noises). Even though my logical brain knows it wasn't some giant unknown creature my inner feelings tells me it was something I had never experienced before.

The second story happened before the first so I was still in my night hike phase of my life. I was on a hike with my girlfriend at the time not far from the location in the first story. We were just going to walk down the straight path until we reached the end and then turn back. On our way in the forest was still and serene with deep blackness surrounding us in all sides. I can't fully explain why but we love this kind of stuff. We reached the turn around point and not too long into our return we notice this bright red glowing dot in a large tree. It was considerably bright and we definitely didn't notice it on our walk in. At first I thought it must be a light from building just beyond the forest. But as we approached we realized it was a coming from the center of a big oak tree. Almost like a reflector but much brighter and with no light sources around. I also have walked that trail at night with no flashlight many times and never noticed this. We kind of got creeped out and made our way back out. Not sure what that was but it was a bit eerie in the moment.

This last one has more to do with the first story but didn't necessarily happen out in the woods. I was out in the field behind my house that is surrounded by the forest. The same forest I had heard the noises my last night going out like that but on the opposite side of the woods. I was out with my tripod again photographing Orion when I heard these two loud thumps on the ground suddenly. Like the sound of someone purposely stomping their feet really hard to make as much noise as possible. I was kind of perplexed until a second later I heard, but could not see, those loud thumping steps coming quickly thundering in my direction across the field. I turned and ran with everything I could grab as fast as I could manage with heavy equipment. I was convinced I wouldn't make it from there to my back door. The entire run it felt like something was going to grab me from behind. I made it back and felt a strong sense of dread that night I couldn't really place.

I was always the most skeptical person in my group and had no fear of the dark forest etc. But after those few experiences I have a bit of a different perspective of the Northwoods. A respect for sure, but also a notable sense of fear.

Bored tonight so I will tell you about the first time hunting I've actually been unnerved like hair standing up on neck run to the truck.

Just some background to help understand the situation. I live for the outdoors and hunting. I've been outside my entire life and explored on foot and with a dirtbike alone before I was even a teenager. Hunting is life, idk how to explain it but even if it's terrible Hunting, terrible conditions I can't convince myself to stay home. I'll be irritable and upset the entire time..if its season and I have a tag, I have to be out there.

Opening day of whitetail season in the south snuck up on me and I had done zero scouting. I had found a place last year late in the season I really wanted to check out though. My wife and I got out the truck on this piece of public land got our bows and our stands and took off. I had a good idea where I wanted to go but had to try and find a place for her that I thought would work. I get her set up and head to where I wanted to be.

Climbed the tree abit discouraged because I had seen zero sign along the way. The conditions were the worst. 90 degrees and still. I'm getting hammered by mosquitoes as I had forgotten my thermacell. I was plumb miserable sweating and flailing about trying not to get west Nile. I had been hearing something off and on in the distance not paying any mind to it. Until I did... it was a long drawn out moaning. Atfirst I thought it was dogs in the distance. Heard it again and definitely not dogs. I thought oh yeah you can hear cows a pretty good ways away from here. Maybe a big bull. It did it again and nope. Not a cow. Then it sounded like it was actually 2 different loacations it was coming from.Not really sure what it was but I decided I sure didn't want to be there at dark to find out.

I got down hastily packed my stand a summit climber and slung it over my back. Sun was just started to set so plenty of light and definitely plenty of shooting light. I normally don't get down until I cant see the ground anymore. Not this time. When I got to the trail I set my stand down and slipped the almost 200yd away to where my wife was. No cell service in this area. I found her looking behind her in a tangle of a thicket no idea I was there.

Startled her when she realized I was there and with a puzzled look asked "tf are you doing here?" Knowing I normally wouldn't be there to get her until after dark. I made up something about no sign and the mosquitoes are miserable. (Not untrue).

See anything? I asked. No, but I kept hearing something in this thicket half circle around behind me and then I got an awful smell something. Almost like dog crap and wet dog. Ahhhhh man! It was probably a bear! Sucks you didnt get to see it I said.

So I get her packed out stand on her back and we set off to the truck. I picked up my stand along the way and if you remember I packed up quickly and didn’t have it situated just right and it would clank clank clank with each step. I didn't care. I was hot, ate up, frustrated, and somewhat unnerved. It was getting lower light now but still plenty of legal light. About 150yd from my truck which was parked off the dirt road I thought I heard a strange noise but it was during a stand clank. Heard it again also during a clank but I froze straining my ears and looking for the source of the sound.

Wife asked what I was doing I said I heard a weird noise. She said oh I heard that afew times. Its been doing that. But I have stand cranking 2" from my ear makes it hard to decipher. So after standing maybe a minute still I took off at my steady pace again. This time I heard it between clanks..... froze immediately. Heard it afew more times. It was a whooooooiiipppppp sound. It was normally in pairs. The second slightly different then the first in tone and duration.

Ok probably someone about to tune up some deer dogs before rifle season I thought trying to call their dogs. We walked quiet as possible the rest of the way to the truck. I held my stand still to keep from cranking. Got the dirt road and it was powder dry. No tracks over my tire tracks and no one in the road like I thought. All hairs standing up.

When we got home I wouldn't let it go. I looked up every native owl and bird I could think of vocals online and nothing was close. I said hahaha let's watch this and played some video along the lines of "sasquatch vocals". Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Then the Sierra sounds. Identical whoops. Wife cried it freaked her out so bad hearing the same thing but for ourselves only an hour ago.

Never forget that. No idea what it was.

The first series of strange things was when my buddy and I were hiking a trail in Southern Arizona. There was a series of small ridges surrounding the trail so we decided to hike up one to check out the views of the area. We were walking on top of the ridge when we stumbled across a tattered backpack filled to the brim with rusted out food cans. There was some other random garbage that definitely indicated someone was staying up on this ridge for a long while. We became a bit cautious but the stuff all looked like it had been left behind a while ago. We continue on our path towards the end of the ridge where we would climb back down. When we came to the top we found two more backpacks also filled completely with rusted cans. This time the scene was a bit different. In addition to the backpacks there was a mesh canopy (like the kind the US army would use in Afghanistan) setup covering a tarp with small smashed solar panels all over. Inside facing down into the valley were these big telescopic binoculars. I really don't know why but I picked up the binoculars and looked in the direction they were pointing. It was aimed straight at this fenced in property out in the desert and for some reason all of it kind of hit me at once that we gotta get out of their now. We got back to our car and put that area behind us. The only things I can really think of is some normal person living out there, some border agent lookout post, or some cartel lookout post. Whatever the case I wasn't interested in waiting around to find out.

This next one is more interesting to me than unsettling. On another hike on that same trip we were walking in an area south of Benson, Arizona. Along our walk we came across a sheltered body of water with trees growing around it. Kind of an oasis looking deal. Immediately we noticed the area had big smashed speakers in addition to a crazy amount of shotgun shells. There were small baggies and other garbage strewn about and it was clear someone had a desert rager and brought every shotgun they owned lol. Hated to see all of the garage but it was definitely a strange scene to stumble upon.

This last one was startling at first but ended up being kind of beautiful. Again, on the same trip we were doing some light bouldering and rock climbing. We got up the top of the formation we were climbing when we came face to face with a huge male mountain goat. Our eyes immediately locked onto its big horns as it stopped and locked it's eyes onto us. If it decided to charge us we could very well go right off of a small cliff (which would not be good). Moments later it began to hobble past us slowly. It's front left leg was injured and it clearly didn't want to fight us. We stood as still as possible as it made its way wherever it was headed. Although it wasn't a threat we were definitely tense until it was out of sight. Having worked with male goats they are known to be a bit territorial. It may not have been so chill if he hadn't been injured.

That's all. Thank you to those who made it this far!

During a camping trip with friends years ago we witnessed something we can’t explain. I’ll tell the short story as this may not get viewed and I’m lazy. I’ll tell it more if people are interested.

We were sitting around the fire deep in the forest off a logging road in British Columbia. We weren’t drinking or smoking as it was a dry trip for a friend. I noticed my good friend go silent and perk up like he was listening. He told us to shut up and listen. The forest was dead quiet like zero noise. Before there was frogs, and birds and regular forest sounds. He said something like “guys there could be a cougar or bear around. The forest is silent. We might want to move to the cars.” Before anyone could react in the far tree line maybe 100 feet away we saw something that completely put all of us in shock.

It was a small red orb, glowing like fire producing its own light going between the trees. We just watched it flabbergasted. It was clearly passing behind and in front of trees. It lasted maybe 20 seconds then slowly faded. After about 10 seconds the forest sounds resumed. We all just sat there like wtf is that. We took a very quick look and no road or anything. It couldn’t have been cars or whatever. It freaked us out so much we left and found a campsite with people and stayed there. Fucking crazy. We still bring it up from time to time when we get together. It gave me nightmares for weeks after. No clue wha it could be. It’s 50/50 people believe it when we talk about it.

A couple additional points before more. We are all experienced campers and have done these trips for years. We’ve heard weird sounds, bright flashes in the sky and encountered some sketchy people out in the bush before. Nothing unexplained but just wild stuff so we know how to react and think in these situations.

The friend who noticed the lack of sound first is in the bush almost 6 months out of the year as he does forestry for work so he knows the woods more than anyone. He was terrified to go back to work for months after this experience. He never wanted to talk about it or mention it as he said it made his hair stand up.

So more about the light experience. When I say the forest was dead quiet I mean completely quiet. I could hear the fire crackle lightly but that was it. It was like the air was sucked out of the forest itself. I could hear my heart beating. To go from so much sound to nothing instantly kicked my fight or flight in. It was primal, something in the back of my head was like this is a bad situation. Then seeing that red light, it flickered and shined like a glass ball about the size of a beach ball filled with fire. It was too far way to see clearly but that’s what it was like. Not a light shining. It produced its own light, a faint glow passed onto the trees as it passed. It was travelling about walking speed in between the trees. It was a heavy bushed area so you’d hear someone walking through.

Once my eyes locked onto it my stomach turned, I felt fear like I never experienced. I’ll say this I almost died a couple of years back and that wasn’t as scary as that light. It was like my brain was trying to figure it out but couldn’t. Once it faded and the forest sounds returned everything in my body said RUN RUN RUN. We barely said anything to each other as we all got up.

We exchanged a few like what the fuck was that? Did you see that? We all confirmed what we saw. There was 6 of us. We decided to get a closer look I guess out of the hopes there would be an explanation. There wasn’t. We couldn’t explain it. That made it worse. We left and found a paid campsite about 20–30 mins away. It was probably 1 am?

In the morning the owner came by and touched base with us (people don’t usually show up that late). We explained what happened sort of jokingly as it just seemed so strange. Her fucking face went stone. She explained that the forest we were in is extremely old growth. Which makes sense my province has some of the oldest forests still standing in the world. She said it’s not uncommon to hear stories like that. Asked a bunch of questions then said it could be something aboriginal, evil spirits or something. I have no idea what or why but it happened and idk what we saw but it was there. We have on multiple occasions talked about it. When ever we do I get nightmares. Even just talking about this and writing this out gives me the creeps.

i’ve lived in WNC my whole life, my house sits in front of the woods, although its not very secluded. i live right in the middle of my town so the woods aren’t very dense to my knowledge. my family and i would hike through the woods in our backyard occasionally and they seemed to go on for miles but knowing the surrounding area i cant imagine its very big. when i was a kid, in the 5th or 6th grade my extended family came to our house and stayed a few nights over the summer. my cousins and i decided to have a slumber party on our trampoline since the weather was nice and what kid in a rural town doesnt love camping. it was dark at this point but before we went to bed my whole family was outside hanging out and playing around. it was dark at this time and my mom thought it would be fun to show off her new night vision camera/goggle thing. she let everyone have a turn with it, looking up into the woods for animals. when it was my turn i looked up into the woods and saw something that terrified me. it looked as if these black shadowy figures with white glowing eyes were popping out from behind the trees. there were three of them, and they would poke out from behind the trees and then go back to hiding behind them. i cant say how long i was looking at them for but i remember i removed the goggle from my eye and immediately told my family what i saw. i looked back to see if whatever it was was still there but they were gone. my mom and uncle looked as well and didn’t see anything. nobody would believe me but i was terrified and refused to stay outside for the rest of that night.

i havent seen those creatures since but i dont go looking out into the woods at night anymore either 😭 i tried to see them again for maybe about a year after that initial sighting but i never could and eventually i just forgot about it. i went digging through ghost stories on the internet trying to find something that sounded at least a little similar to what i saw but i couldn’t find anything. im hoping this subreddit at least helps to point me in the right direction.

By early 2018, my family had bought a cottage in the rural Irish midlands. A few weeks after moving, the country was suddenly hit by a very heavy snowstorm, which had closed off all the country roads leading in and out of the village. The village we lived in just happened to be directly next to the Bog of Allen - the largest area of raised bogland in the country. With no school for a couple of weeks, due to the snowstorm, and still being new to the area, I took the chance to go exploring this bogland with my dog.  

After reaching the bog through the heavy snow, my dog and I followed along a trail path which led us to an artificial forest. Continuing along this trail through the forest, I then came upon a line of hoofprints in the snow. The prints clearly belonged to a deer, and judging by the size, were most likely a yearling. But what was strange about the hoofprints, was that they seemed to start directly in the middle of the trail, where further along it, they then stopped. The hoofprints didn’t start from within the forest, come onto the trail, and then went back into the trees. It was as though the deer that made them, appeared on the trail out of thin air, and then just vanished.  

Following these hoofprints to where they ended on the trail, there was no indication in the snow of the deer leaping into the trees - which could’ve explained why the prints ended so abruptly. Every print in the snow was more or less identical to each other. There were no lines, marks or anything to imply the deer leaped. I even went into the trees to see if I could find more deer prints, so to rationalize this leap theory - but by my best efforts, I couldn’t. I can also rule out the theory of snow drifts partially covering up the prints, as I don’t remember seeing any while on the trail. One theory I did have at the time, however, was that the continual snowfall had covered up parts of the deer prints - but there was no indication of that either. The prints clearly started and ended on the trail. 

Eight years later and I still don’t know what to make of these deer prints. Although I do believe certain things relating to the paranormal, I do think there is still a rational explanation behind - what I’ve come to call the “phantom deer prints.” I’ve heard of “not a deer” stories before, and even deer stories relating to Skinwalkers. But is there such a thing as phantom deer prints?... I have no idea.   

I did take some photographs on this day exploring the bog. However, upon viewing them recently on my dad’s old flash drive, I couldn’t find any pictures of these so-called phantom deer prints that I claim to have found. I don’t remember if I had taken pictures of them or not (which I know doesn’t help my validity). Maybe I did, but my dad deleted them and only kept the really good pictures I took (he used to do that) - or maybe the deer prints are in some of these pictures, but the camera just didn’t pick them up.  

I’m not trying to convince anyone that I really saw “phantom” deer prints in the snow, because I already know I saw them. But if anyone has any rational explanations that I may have missed – or even if you want to suggest a paranormal one, I’d really like to hear them. 

kids / teens. visiting a relative and go hiking to a spot that has abandoned bus or vehicle. end up with an extra entity/ mimic with them. I believe there is a other one outside while they are hiding. its been awhile since I read it. I believe it was alabama or georgia.

it was about a family camping trip, the father was with his children and wife and they found these weird worn out clothes around thr camping area, with worn out camping gears and tent and they got very scared and left the camp site

I’m moving to Nashville from New York. Obviously Nashville is a city, but if there’s any good stories, anyone may have in that region I would love to hear.

Preferably Powell county/red river gorge area, but I want to hear all stories though.

Has anyone had any recent cryptid sightings or strange encounters with something you couldn't explain? I've been noticing an uptick in sightings, especially with Spring approaching.