Latest / True Horror Stories / 1 Hour of Rainy Alone at Night Camping Horror Stories | Vol. 1 (Compilation) That Will Keep You Awakened

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1 Hour of Rainy Alone at Night Camping Horror Stories | Vol. 1 (Compilation) That Will Keep You Awakened · True Horror Stories

0:16
Speaker 1: Last year, I went out on my own into the
0:18
Speaker 1: forest about an hour from my house to go camping
0:21
Speaker 1: for a night. I wasn't planning anything special. I just
0:24
Speaker 1: wanted to spend some time outside for a day and
0:27
Speaker 1: then go home, and although inexperienced, I didn't see the
0:30
Speaker 1: harm in being out for just a day. When I
0:34
Speaker 1: got to the camping trail, there were three cars parked
0:36
Speaker 1: on the road right next to it. I really didn't
0:39
Speaker 1: want to talk to anyone or spend the day around
0:41
Speaker 1: other people, so I kept driving until I found a
0:44
Speaker 1: different trail down the road. There were no places the park,
0:48
Speaker 1: so I had to go further down and then walk back.
0:52
Speaker 1: This trail was very thin and was all dirt, no
0:54
Speaker 1: gravel or anything, so it definitely wasn't a popular spot.
1:00
Speaker 1: Started down it, going through relatively flat terrain with nothing
1:03
Speaker 1: but trees and bushes around. As I got about two
1:06
Speaker 1: hours in, the trail slowly started thinning out until it
1:10
Speaker 1: was getting difficult to even tell if I was still
1:13
Speaker 1: on it or not. I had a feeling this could
1:15
Speaker 1: happen at the beginning, but I was two hours in
1:18
Speaker 1: so I wasn't even worried about it by then and
1:20
Speaker 1: had completely overlooked it. I turned around and started to
1:25
Speaker 1: make my way back, trying my best to find the
1:27
Speaker 1: more defined portion of the path. But just five minutes
1:30
Speaker 1: later I saw something that made me stop in my place,
1:35
Speaker 1: a cabin sitting right in the middle of the forest.
1:39
Speaker 1: My first thought on seeing it was that I was
1:41
Speaker 1: one hundred percent lost because I hadn't seen it on
1:44
Speaker 1: the way up. But then my thoughts shifted toward the
1:48
Speaker 1: eerie feeling it was giving me. What was a cabin
1:51
Speaker 1: doing way out here? I approached it slowly, and, seeing
1:56
Speaker 1: as it had no door, I looked inside. It was
1:59
Speaker 1: a full of old garbage. The longer I stayed, though,
2:04
Speaker 1: the more creeped out I got. I turned around and
2:07
Speaker 1: started going back to the trail, but was interrupted by
2:10
Speaker 1: a loud thump from behind me. I looked back at
2:14
Speaker 1: the cabin and through the doorway, I saw a man
2:17
Speaker 1: appear from behind the wall. He was middle aged and
2:21
Speaker 1: wearing torn up clothes, pretty much looking like he lived there.
2:25
Speaker 1: He looked at me with a creepy, emotionless face. I
2:29
Speaker 1: nervously said sorry, then quickly walked away. I looked back once,
2:34
Speaker 1: seeing him staring at me. As I got further away.
2:39
Speaker 1: I spent the next hour on edge, looking everywhere for
2:42
Speaker 1: the trail, while also making sure I wasn't being followed.
2:46
Speaker 1: As the sun began to set, I got increasingly more worried,
2:50
Speaker 1: but thankfully, just before the light was gone, I found
2:53
Speaker 1: the middle of the trail. I debated just going back
2:56
Speaker 1: to my car, but chose to stake out the night
2:59
Speaker 1: just to be sure I didn't lose my way again.
3:02
Speaker 1: I unloaded my bag and got my tent set up,
3:04
Speaker 1: then went inside and laid down. I had planned to
3:08
Speaker 1: get a fire going and do a bunch of other stuff,
3:10
Speaker 1: but at this point I wasn't even in the mood
3:12
Speaker 1: anymore and just wanted to rest. I closed my eyes
3:16
Speaker 1: and drifted into sleep. When my eyes opened, it was
3:22
Speaker 1: pitch black, and all I heard was the forest creaking.
3:26
Speaker 1: I tilted my head and my eyes locked on the
3:29
Speaker 1: entrance to my tent. Staring back at me was the
3:33
Speaker 1: shadow covered face of the man, with his head sticking
3:37
Speaker 1: through the half opened entryway. I jumped back, and the
3:41
Speaker 1: man did the same. I heard his footsteps hurrying away
3:45
Speaker 1: as I got out, and looked, only seeing the back
3:47
Speaker 1: of him running into the woods. With my heart still racing,
3:52
Speaker 1: I undid everything and shoved it into my bag, then
3:55
Speaker 1: carefully followed the trail all the way back to my car.
3:59
Speaker 1: I hadn't even begin to think of what that man
4:02
Speaker 1: was about to do while I was sleeping, but his
4:04
Speaker 1: eyes looking back at me through the dark was a
4:06
Speaker 1: horrifying sight that has yet to leave my head. I
4:10
Speaker 1: of course never went back, and have mostly refrained from
4:13
Speaker 1: talking about it, just because I know I won't ever
4:17
Speaker 1: get any answers. I was taking a summer hiking and
4:32
Speaker 1: camping vacation a year ago to a small river near
4:35
Speaker 1: my parents' house. I was visiting them for a few days,
4:39
Speaker 1: then going out alone to camp along the river for
4:41
Speaker 1: a night or two and head back home afterward. I
4:45
Speaker 1: don't live in the most adventurous state, so I always
4:47
Speaker 1: try to get out in nature whenever I'm in my
4:50
Speaker 1: parents town. After visiting them, I set out on my hike.
4:55
Speaker 1: The trail I took to get to the river was
4:57
Speaker 1: around four hours at a steady walking pace, But the
5:00
Speaker 1: best part about it was that nobody else ever used it.
5:04
Speaker 1: The river wasn't huge or anything, and there were plenty
5:07
Speaker 1: of trails that were more scenic and actually labeled. This
5:10
Speaker 1: one was just some thin dirt path that wasn't very defined.
5:15
Speaker 1: When I got to the river, it was basically dark,
5:17
Speaker 1: so I pitched my tent and got a fire going
5:20
Speaker 1: so I could relax before bed. As I sat there
5:24
Speaker 1: for a few minutes, I started hearing footsteps coming toward me.
5:28
Speaker 1: I looked over, and after a minute a man appeared
5:31
Speaker 1: from the trees. He waved at me and came over
5:34
Speaker 1: to my campsite with a smile. He looked like a
5:38
Speaker 1: normal man in his early thirties, though a bit dirty
5:41
Speaker 1: and unkempt, like he'd been camping out here for a while.
5:46
Speaker 1: After introducing himself as John, he made small talk with me,
5:49
Speaker 1: telling me that he was camping not far from here.
5:52
Speaker 1: I went along with the talking just to not be rude,
5:55
Speaker 1: but the whole thing felt off. Eventually, the man said
6:00
Speaker 1: good night and walked away. I watched as he went
6:04
Speaker 1: along the river with his flashlight, but after a minute
6:07
Speaker 1: the light shut off and there was nothing else after that.
6:11
Speaker 1: I didn't think that much of the encounter initially, but
6:14
Speaker 1: the man definitely had something off about him. What worried
6:18
Speaker 1: me the most was how he had come up just
6:20
Speaker 1: a few minutes after I got the fire going. He
6:23
Speaker 1: had to have been really close by, like he was
6:26
Speaker 1: following me or something. I chalked it all up to
6:29
Speaker 1: my nerves and told myself it was just dumb luck
6:32
Speaker 1: that he was out here. After all. He came up
6:35
Speaker 1: and introduced himself, which I assumed he wouldn't have done
6:38
Speaker 1: if he had any bad intentions. I smothered the fire
6:42
Speaker 1: and stayed up in my tent for a while, then
6:45
Speaker 1: fell asleep. I woke up at sunrise and spent the
6:49
Speaker 1: day hiking along the river. Strangely, I never saw any
6:54
Speaker 1: other campsites, though, no signs of fire or tents being
6:57
Speaker 1: set up, not even in the direction i'd seen the
7:00
Speaker 1: man walk in. I figured he must have been further
7:03
Speaker 1: into the forest, but it only made me slightly more nervous.
7:08
Speaker 1: I got back to my tent just before dark and
7:11
Speaker 1: was surprised to see John sitting next to my unlit campfire.
7:17
Speaker 1: Can I help you, I said. He smiled and said
7:21
Speaker 1: he was waiting for me to come back because he
7:23
Speaker 1: had found something down the river. He got up and
7:26
Speaker 1: started walking, urging me to come with him and see
7:29
Speaker 1: for myself. I hesitated, I'm gonna stay here, John, I'm
7:35
Speaker 1: just a bit tired. He turned around and looked at
7:38
Speaker 1: me with that same smile and asked me again to
7:41
Speaker 1: go with him. We looked each other in the eyes
7:44
Speaker 1: for a long couple seconds, and I knew for sure
7:47
Speaker 1: that something wasn't right. His smile began to fade, and
7:52
Speaker 1: he asked me one more time in a less friendly tone.
7:57
Speaker 1: I chose to not say anything, and after a moment,
8:00
Speaker 1: he turned around and started walking toward the river. As
8:04
Speaker 1: I watched him, I saw the outline of a small
8:07
Speaker 1: gun poking out of his shirt, like he had shoved
8:10
Speaker 1: it in the back of his pants. While not uncommon
8:13
Speaker 1: to bring a firearm out in the forests, I'd never
8:16
Speaker 1: known any hiker or camper to have it uncomfortably in
8:19
Speaker 1: the back of their pants belt with their shirt on
8:21
Speaker 1: top of it. The only reason would be to have
8:24
Speaker 1: it concealed from other people's view, which as far as
8:27
Speaker 1: I know, shouldn't be the main concern when going deep
8:30
Speaker 1: into a forest. After seeing that, I started getting everything
8:34
Speaker 1: together and was walking back within the hour. Thankfully, I
8:39
Speaker 1: was able to stay on the path in the dark
8:41
Speaker 1: and made it back to my car after four and
8:43
Speaker 1: a half hours of walking. The more I think about
8:46
Speaker 1: it now, the more terrifying that encounter was. I'm almost
8:51
Speaker 1: sure he had followed me to my camp site, but
8:54
Speaker 1: I don't know for how long or if he was
8:56
Speaker 1: stalking me the entire time I was there. Him trying
9:00
Speaker 1: to lure me out to the river was almost surely
9:03
Speaker 1: an attempt at something awful, and I think that if
9:06
Speaker 1: I hadn't left when I did, he probably would have
9:08
Speaker 1: come back later in the night and I never would
9:11
Speaker 1: have been seen again. Me and one of my good
9:32
Speaker 1: friends I'll call him Jesse, would go on camping trips
9:36
Speaker 1: once or twice a year. We used to more when
9:39
Speaker 1: we were roommates in college, but we both work full
9:42
Speaker 1: time now. Jesse was the one who actually got me
9:46
Speaker 1: into camping, having done it his whole life. I hadn't
9:50
Speaker 1: even been camping once before I met him. This happened
9:55
Speaker 1: two years ago on one of our yearly camping trips
9:58
Speaker 1: that we went on in the summer. To specify, we
10:04
Speaker 1: didn't go far out or anything. We basically went down
10:07
Speaker 1: a trail maybe two hours out, then set up our
10:10
Speaker 1: tents and everything. The whole point of it was to camp,
10:14
Speaker 1: not to hike, and usually for around four to five days,
10:20
Speaker 1: When we got to a good spot, Jesse and I
10:22
Speaker 1: put everything together and relaxed. The next three days were
10:27
Speaker 1: just as you'd expect. We sat at the campfire and
10:30
Speaker 1: had some drinks and just talked. We went for some
10:35
Speaker 1: walks and played some board games as well. But to
10:37
Speaker 1: sum it all up, we really just relaxed. I mean,
10:41
Speaker 1: that was the whole point of it. Anyway. On the
10:45
Speaker 1: fourth day, we agreed to wrap it up and head back.
10:48
Speaker 1: The next morning, as the sun was starting to set,
10:53
Speaker 1: we prepared to get the campfire going again. Jesse said
10:56
Speaker 1: he'd go for a short walk and collect some dry sticks,
11:00
Speaker 1: and he asked me to get the food out and
11:01
Speaker 1: prep it for cooking. I did as he said, but
11:05
Speaker 1: as the sun faded out, Jesse still wasn't back. It
11:10
Speaker 1: had been maybe thirty minutes, which wasn't a long time
11:14
Speaker 1: for a walk, but it was a long time to
11:16
Speaker 1: be collecting sticks. I figured he must have meant he
11:20
Speaker 1: was going for a walk just to walk and not
11:23
Speaker 1: necessarily for the sticks. I waited another thirty minutes. The
11:30
Speaker 1: sun was now fully set and it was getting really dark.
11:35
Speaker 1: I had turned on our heavy lamp for a light source,
11:38
Speaker 1: but I knew it would run out of batteries if
11:39
Speaker 1: I left it on too long. I was getting really
11:43
Speaker 1: worried about Jesse. He was the one who was experienced
11:46
Speaker 1: in everything, so it just didn't make sense for him
11:49
Speaker 1: to get lost like this. I figured it best to
11:53
Speaker 1: at least start the fire, so that if he was lost,
11:56
Speaker 1: maybe he'd see the flame and to find his way back.
12:00
Speaker 1: I took the lamp and collected a bundle of sticks
12:03
Speaker 1: and started the fire with some matches. By the two
12:07
Speaker 1: hour mark, I was really losing it. I didn't know
12:11
Speaker 1: what to do. I was trying to decide between looking
12:15
Speaker 1: for him, or going back and calling for help, or
12:18
Speaker 1: just staying put. Every scenario was running through my head.
12:23
Speaker 1: What if he'd gotten hurt and wasn't far away, then
12:27
Speaker 1: looking for him would make sense. But if he was
12:30
Speaker 1: far away, then me getting lost would only burden everything more.
12:37
Speaker 1: Two hours and thirty minutes after I'd last seen Jesse,
12:41
Speaker 1: and two hours after nightfall, I heard a gun shot.
12:49
Speaker 1: It was far off, somewhat in the direction Jesse went in,
12:53
Speaker 1: But what really scared me about it was that neither
12:56
Speaker 1: of us had brought a gun. I stood up and
13:01
Speaker 1: paced around the camp site for a minute, before grabbing
13:04
Speaker 1: the lamp and going out to try and find him.
13:08
Speaker 1: It didn't take long before I heard steady footsteps running
13:12
Speaker 1: toward me. My hand was trembling holding up the lamp,
13:17
Speaker 1: but the light only reached a few feet ahead. I
13:21
Speaker 1: saw a figure getting closer, and I barely recognized them
13:25
Speaker 1: to be Jesse. His eyes were wide open and he
13:30
Speaker 1: looked horrified. I'd never seen anyone's expression be that visibly
13:36
Speaker 1: scared before. He told me, in a sharp, hushed voice
13:41
Speaker 1: that we needed to leave right now. We ran back
13:44
Speaker 1: to the camp and got our backpacks, but left the
13:47
Speaker 1: rest behind. I questioned him, but he refused to answer
13:52
Speaker 1: until we made it out of the woods. He said
13:57
Speaker 1: some one else was there and approached him on his walk.
14:01
Speaker 1: They held him at gunpoint, making him be quiet and
14:04
Speaker 1: follow them somewhere. Before they reached wherever it was they
14:09
Speaker 1: were taking him, Jesse tried for his escape, and that's
14:13
Speaker 1: when I found him running. That's all he told me,
14:17
Speaker 1: and ever has told me every time I ask. I
14:23
Speaker 1: can tell he's purposefully leaving out some important details, but
14:27
Speaker 1: he still refuses to share them. One he specifically leaves
14:32
Speaker 1: out is the gun shot. He never mentioned it personally.
14:39
Speaker 1: I know Jesse is a capable guy, and it wouldn't
14:42
Speaker 1: be far off to assume he tried to overpower the
14:45
Speaker 1: man holding him up. Maybe he got the gun away
14:48
Speaker 1: from him and did what he had to do to escape.
14:53
Speaker 1: It would explain Jesse's traumatized state and why the man
14:57
Speaker 1: didn't chase him. Know what happened back there, but ever since,
15:03
Speaker 1: Jesse hasn't wanted to go camping again. Honestly, neither do I,
15:08
Speaker 1: but I just wish I could know the truth about
15:10
Speaker 1: what went down that night. I owned an RV that
15:23
Speaker 1: I would use all the time as a camper in
15:25
Speaker 1: the woods behind my house. It was a piece of junk,
15:28
Speaker 1: but I would only drive it out a couple miles,
15:30
Speaker 1: then park it and hang out for a few days,
15:32
Speaker 1: so it didn't need to be anything special. Around four
15:36
Speaker 1: years ago, I took this RV out into the woods
15:39
Speaker 1: for a normal weekend of camping. I drove out on
15:42
Speaker 1: the dirt road about a mile, then pulled off into
15:44
Speaker 1: a small plot in between all the trees and set
15:47
Speaker 1: up camp. I made a small fire and brought out chairs,
15:51
Speaker 1: then sat back and had some drinks. I'd take friends
15:54
Speaker 1: out with me a lot but they weren't always able
15:57
Speaker 1: to spend several days away, so this was just some
16:00
Speaker 1: time I was spending with myself. As nights started coming in,
16:04
Speaker 1: I put some more fuel in the fire pit. Just
16:08
Speaker 1: after the sun had fully gone down, I heard something
16:11
Speaker 1: moving around outside my camp. It didn't sound like any wildlife.
16:17
Speaker 1: It sounded more like a person walking somewhere out in
16:20
Speaker 1: the trees. I looked out in that direction, but didn't
16:24
Speaker 1: see anything. This went on for around twenty minutes. Hearing
16:28
Speaker 1: what sounded like someone walking around my camp, I put
16:33
Speaker 1: out the fire and went inside the RV, locking it
16:36
Speaker 1: up for the night and checking out the windows over
16:38
Speaker 1: the next hour, but still never seeing anything. From all
16:43
Speaker 1: the times I'd come out into the woods, I'd never
16:45
Speaker 1: once had someone come across my camp, so this was
16:48
Speaker 1: not a normal occurrence. Also, knowing that they were wandering
16:52
Speaker 1: in the dark without a flashlight was even less normal.
16:57
Speaker 1: I double checked the locks before going to bed, and
17:00
Speaker 1: thankfully I got a good night's sleep. In the morning,
17:04
Speaker 1: I got up and made coffee ate breakfast, and spent
17:07
Speaker 1: a couple hours in the RV before going outside. I
17:11
Speaker 1: wanted to take a hike around, but I wasn't too
17:13
Speaker 1: comfortable with leaving my RV there knowing that someone else
17:16
Speaker 1: was out here, so instead I went for a short walk.
17:21
Speaker 1: I went out where I had heard the person from
17:23
Speaker 1: last night, looking for any shoe prince to confirm that
17:26
Speaker 1: I was actually a person. But from my quick search
17:29
Speaker 1: I didn't find anything helpful. I don't know if it
17:33
Speaker 1: made me more or less uneasy, but when I got
17:36
Speaker 1: back to the RV, I brought out my handgun and
17:38
Speaker 1: strapped it to my waist just to be safe. When
17:43
Speaker 1: it was night again, I started up the fire pit
17:45
Speaker 1: and tried to take my mind off of things. I
17:49
Speaker 1: sat outside for a while, I want to say probably
17:51
Speaker 1: an hour, and was relieved to have not heard anyone.
17:56
Speaker 1: I had a beer and listened to the calming sounds
17:58
Speaker 1: of the woods at night until I got sleepy. I
18:02
Speaker 1: stood up and went to put out the fire when
18:04
Speaker 1: I saw a figure in the corner of my eye.
18:08
Speaker 1: My head quickly shifted to look at them. They were
18:11
Speaker 1: standing between the trees, maybe twenty five feet away, glowing
18:15
Speaker 1: in the faint light of the fire pit, and just
18:17
Speaker 1: watching me. Only a moment passed before they turned and
18:21
Speaker 1: walked away, leaving the light. I was really creeped out
18:26
Speaker 1: and not hearing any more footsteps or movement only made
18:29
Speaker 1: me more paranoid about where they could be. I picked
18:33
Speaker 1: up everything I had outside and put it in the RV,
18:36
Speaker 1: then put out the fire and locked myself inside again.
18:40
Speaker 1: I was even thinking about fully packing up and heading
18:43
Speaker 1: home in the morning, because this just wasn't going to
18:45
Speaker 1: be a nice time anymore. Whoever was out there had
18:48
Speaker 1: now come by my RV twice, and neither time did
18:51
Speaker 1: they say anything or introduced themselves. I stayed on watch
18:56
Speaker 1: for a couple hours, checking the windows multiple times and
18:59
Speaker 1: listening intently. It was during the third hour, while I
19:04
Speaker 1: was knotting off in my chair, that I heard footsteps
19:06
Speaker 1: approaching the RV. They were walking quickly, going right up
19:10
Speaker 1: to the door. I stayed quiet, clutching my pistol and
19:15
Speaker 1: hoping for them not to do anything. There were a
19:18
Speaker 1: few odd seconds of them not making a sound, but
19:22
Speaker 1: just standing on the other side of the door. Then
19:25
Speaker 1: they slowly walked around the RV, then quickly ran away.
19:34
Speaker 1: I stayed awake until the sun came up, and as
19:36
Speaker 1: soon as it was clear enough to drive, I got
19:39
Speaker 1: the RV ready and drove home. Whoever was out there
19:43
Speaker 1: had to have some sick plans for them to be
19:46
Speaker 1: coming up to my RV like that in the middle
19:48
Speaker 1: of the night, and I knew that if I stayed,
19:50
Speaker 1: it would likely have ended up really bad for one
19:53
Speaker 1: of us, and I wasn't going to take my chances
19:56
Speaker 1: for it to be me. I was on a camping
20:15
Speaker 1: trail in the Northern Appalachians, I believe five years ago. Now.
20:21
Speaker 1: It wasn't anything special, just some new trail I was
20:24
Speaker 1: going along. I'd done many trails on this mountain range
20:28
Speaker 1: before and was confident in camping and hiking them based
20:33
Speaker 1: on my research beforehand. I planned to be on trail
20:36
Speaker 1: for three days, camping the two nights. The first portion
20:42
Speaker 1: was a decently beaten path, but the further route I got,
20:46
Speaker 1: the less apparent the path became. I continued still until
20:52
Speaker 1: a few things caught my attention and I started to
20:54
Speaker 1: wonder if I was even on the right path anymore.
20:58
Speaker 1: I checked my mapping compass, as well as some directional
21:01
Speaker 1: notes I made on my phone when I was researching.
21:05
Speaker 1: After looking into it, I was ninety percent sure I
21:08
Speaker 1: was on a different path. However, the map showed and
21:13
Speaker 1: no alternative paths on the route, so I was really
21:16
Speaker 1: unsure where I was. I turned around and followed the
21:21
Speaker 1: path back to try and get on the right trail again,
21:23
Speaker 1: but it was starting to get dark and I was
21:25
Speaker 1: worried that I'd venture off and get further lost, so
21:30
Speaker 1: I set up camp where I was. I didn't go
21:33
Speaker 1: through the effort of doing a full setup. I just
21:36
Speaker 1: put down my tent and that was about it. I
21:40
Speaker 1: bundled up in my sleeping bag and fell fast asleep.
21:45
Speaker 1: A few hours into the night, I woke up. To
21:49
Speaker 1: the best of my knowledge, it was for no other
21:52
Speaker 1: reason than having to use the bathroom, But when I
21:56
Speaker 1: unzipped the tent and went out to the trees, I
21:59
Speaker 1: noticed a glow in the distance, an unmistakable flickering glow
22:03
Speaker 1: of a campfire. My first thought was maybe someone had
22:08
Speaker 1: coincidentally followed the wrong path as well, but as I
22:11
Speaker 1: thought it over, I realized the chances of that were
22:14
Speaker 1: extremely low. It was also around two am, so having
22:19
Speaker 1: a fire going in the middle of the night like
22:21
Speaker 1: this was very unusual. I knew I wouldn't be able
22:25
Speaker 1: to sleep knowing someone was nearby, and I wouldn't feel
22:29
Speaker 1: safe unless I knew they were just fellow campers. My
22:34
Speaker 1: big idea was to start a fire of my own,
22:37
Speaker 1: hopefully showing them that I was nearby. If they didn't
22:40
Speaker 1: already know, and if they were planning something, then it
22:44
Speaker 1: would show them that I was awake and aware. I
22:49
Speaker 1: burned up a flame big enough for them to see,
22:51
Speaker 1: but only a minute or two later they put their
22:54
Speaker 1: fire out. My face went numb. There was no way
23:00
Speaker 1: this was a coincidence too. I waited the night out,
23:05
Speaker 1: checking frequently for any sign of whoever was out there,
23:08
Speaker 1: but there was nothing else. In the morning, I rolled
23:13
Speaker 1: up my tent and got my gear ready, but my
23:16
Speaker 1: curiosity got the best of me. If they were just campers,
23:21
Speaker 1: maybe they'd know the way back too. I had my
23:24
Speaker 1: handgun holstered to my chest just in case, and I
23:28
Speaker 1: approached the site. It was empty, but there were clear
23:32
Speaker 1: signs of a fire. There were also multiple shoe prints
23:36
Speaker 1: all around, and not far off a small hut or
23:41
Speaker 1: maybe a cabin, not something temporary. I approached with caution
23:47
Speaker 1: and looked inside the open door. The place was old
23:52
Speaker 1: and musty smelling, but inside there was tons of camping gear, tents,
23:58
Speaker 1: hiking sticks, everything. A camper or hiker would need expensive
24:05
Speaker 1: gear too, not just some cheap junk. The way was
24:09
Speaker 1: piled up, though it didn't seem like it was from
24:12
Speaker 1: one person or even from one time frame. Some of
24:16
Speaker 1: this stuff was new and some of it was older.
24:21
Speaker 1: I turned away and started quickly going back. By some miracle,
24:26
Speaker 1: I happened to stumble by a boulder that I remembered
24:29
Speaker 1: passing on my way up, and from there I found
24:32
Speaker 1: my way to the right path. I took it back
24:36
Speaker 1: to the way I came and got out asap. I
24:40
Speaker 1: notified the police just in case, but nothing came of it.
24:44
Speaker 1: I don't think they ever searched the area, but I
24:48
Speaker 1: think whoever was out there was stealing people's camping equipment
24:51
Speaker 1: by getting them to go off the main path. I
24:55
Speaker 1: don't know how they did it, or if anyone who
24:58
Speaker 1: fell victim was able to make out, but I think
25:01
Speaker 1: I was extremely close to finding out firsthand. Every year
25:17
Speaker 1: as a kid, my family would go on these big
25:19
Speaker 1: camping trips. I was always really excited because we lived
25:23
Speaker 1: in Arizona, where there's pretty much nothing, and we'd camp
25:27
Speaker 1: in Washington. Seeing trees and grass was my favorite part,
25:31
Speaker 1: but I also got to see all my cousins, and
25:33
Speaker 1: even though we only saw each other a couple times
25:36
Speaker 1: a year, we were really close. My favorite cousin, who
25:40
Speaker 1: was more like a brother to me, was Luis. He
25:44
Speaker 1: was a year older than me, and we were inseparable
25:47
Speaker 1: when together. Because of what happened, we became even closer
25:52
Speaker 1: after that camping trip. I think it took us both
25:56
Speaker 1: a while to understand what really went on and what
25:59
Speaker 1: more could have happened to us. It started when we
26:09
Speaker 1: had been there for two days. Already most of our
26:12
Speaker 1: family was either in the lake or by the campfire talking.
26:17
Speaker 1: Louis didn't like to swim, so we decided to play
26:19
Speaker 1: in the woods instead. We played a version of tag
26:23
Speaker 1: called Bandit. We'd switch off being the cop and chase
26:27
Speaker 1: the other one who was the bandit until we'd catch them.
26:31
Speaker 1: We would play for hours, but in the woods it's
26:34
Speaker 1: easy to just keep running and not know where you're going.
26:38
Speaker 1: We tried our best to stay within viewing distance. But
26:41
Speaker 1: when Louise started chasing me with a huge stick, I
26:44
Speaker 1: guess my adrenaline kicked in the hyperspeed. I don't know
26:48
Speaker 1: how long I ran for, but eventually I ended up
26:51
Speaker 1: at an old looking trailer. Louise wasn't far behind, but
26:56
Speaker 1: I remember him throwing the stick down his folk now
27:00
Speaker 1: on what we both assumed was an abandoned trailer. We
27:04
Speaker 1: discussed investigating it further, and I'm not really sure why,
27:07
Speaker 1: but we decided not to. We started walking back, but
27:12
Speaker 1: we didn't really know where we were going. Probably about
27:16
Speaker 1: ten minutes into our walk, we saw a couple coming
27:19
Speaker 1: towards us, pushing a shopping cart full of stuff. The
27:24
Speaker 1: woman approaches us and is really nice, while the man
27:27
Speaker 1: stayed back. She asked if we were lost, who we
27:31
Speaker 1: were with our names and ages, and I remember when
27:35
Speaker 1: we told her how old we were. She looked back
27:38
Speaker 1: at the guy and then to us again. She told
27:42
Speaker 1: us we don't have to be scared, and she'll help
27:44
Speaker 1: us find our way home after they drop off their
27:46
Speaker 1: stuff at their campsite. She said we could also make
27:50
Speaker 1: s'mores if we wanted. Louise and I were hesitant, but
27:54
Speaker 1: she seemed really nice, and it was still daytime, so
27:58
Speaker 1: for some reason, that made everything way less suspicious in
28:02
Speaker 1: my seven year old brain. Bad people only do things
28:05
Speaker 1: at night, so we were fine. We walked with them
28:09
Speaker 1: for a while, following them back to their camp. While
28:13
Speaker 1: her and Luis were talking, I glanced over at the
28:16
Speaker 1: shopping cart. It was filled with a bunch of rusty
28:20
Speaker 1: metal things in what looked like to be nothing new.
28:23
Speaker 1: Nothing was in bags. Everything just looked like trash they'd
28:27
Speaker 1: found somewhere. I started to get really uncomfortable, and I
28:32
Speaker 1: could tell Luise was too. Every time I'd look over
28:35
Speaker 1: at the guy, he was never smiling, and sometimes he'd
28:39
Speaker 1: be staring at me with a blank stare. This was
28:43
Speaker 1: eighteen years ago, and I still remember how creepy he looked.
28:49
Speaker 1: We walked a bit further until the trailer came back
28:52
Speaker 1: into view, and the woman grabbed Louise in Mine's hands
28:56
Speaker 1: and asked if we were excited for s'mores. I heard
29:01
Speaker 1: Louise's name being called, and then mine. We all stopped
29:05
Speaker 1: for a second, and the lady squeezed my hand a
29:08
Speaker 1: bit tighter. She asked something to the guy along the
29:12
Speaker 1: lines of what they should do. He responded, but I
29:15
Speaker 1: don't remember what he said. The lady started to turn
29:19
Speaker 1: us toward the trailer while holding us tighter and tighter.
29:23
Speaker 1: She started to speed up as well, into sort of
29:26
Speaker 1: a fast walk. I looked back and saw my sister
29:30
Speaker 1: through the trees without hesitation. I yelled her name, and
29:34
Speaker 1: the lady immediately let go of my hand. Louise and
29:38
Speaker 1: I ran to her. As she made her way towards us,
29:42
Speaker 1: my sister yelled to the others that she'd found us.
29:46
Speaker 1: My mom and dad thanked the couple who had told
29:48
Speaker 1: them this elaborate story on how they've been trying to
29:50
Speaker 1: find our parents for a while now, and that were
29:53
Speaker 1: such sweet boys and everything. I remember my parents inviting
29:57
Speaker 1: the couple over for burgers, but thankfully they declined. I
30:01
Speaker 1: think because the lady was so nice and that we
30:04
Speaker 1: were found safe that my parents didn't think twice. I
30:08
Speaker 1: do recall my dad and uncle talking about how creepy
30:11
Speaker 1: the guy was, though my cousin and I ended up
30:14
Speaker 1: telling my sister who found us, that the couple was weird,
30:18
Speaker 1: but I don't think she understood what we meant. It
30:21
Speaker 1: wasn't until my cousin and I were old enough to
30:24
Speaker 1: understand that some people have really bad intentions. We talked
30:28
Speaker 1: about it again in depth, and we both came to
30:30
Speaker 1: the conclusion that by the looks of it, they were
30:33
Speaker 1: tied on money and were probably going to sell us
30:36
Speaker 1: or something. For years growing up, I had kept this
30:40
Speaker 1: from my parents because I was supposed to be the
30:43
Speaker 1: strong man of the family, and thinking about that time
30:46
Speaker 1: made me feel gross and preyed upon. Luis also felt embarrassed,
30:51
Speaker 1: as he was older than me and felt he had
30:53
Speaker 1: failed to protect me. We eventually told our parents a
30:57
Speaker 1: few years ago, but I wish we had told them
31:00
Speaker 1: immediately and maybe something could have been done. Nowadays, I
31:06
Speaker 1: never let my kids out of my sight and always
31:08
Speaker 1: let them know that they can tell me anything without
31:11
Speaker 1: fear of being judged, especially my son. I went on
31:38
Speaker 1: a camping trip with my buddy from college. I'll call
31:41
Speaker 1: him Andrew to keep both of our identities private. We'd
31:44
Speaker 1: been friends for a little less than a year and
31:46
Speaker 1: both enjoyed the forest and going for hikes, but really
31:49
Speaker 1: hadn't ever stayed overnight in nature before. This was during
31:53
Speaker 1: spring break at our school and we'd been planning this
31:56
Speaker 1: for a while. We chose a trail we were familiar
31:59
Speaker 1: with and even and got a basic idea of the
32:01
Speaker 1: area we would set up at, and come the day
32:04
Speaker 1: of we headed out without thinking twice. We were happy
32:08
Speaker 1: seeing that nobody else was on the trail in fact,
32:11
Speaker 1: we had chosen this trail for that very reason, knowing
32:14
Speaker 1: it was never a busy attraction. The trail took us
32:18
Speaker 1: about six miles into the forest before we got to
32:20
Speaker 1: the general area where we wanted to set up and
32:23
Speaker 1: pissed our tents, then had a small meal. Just before
32:26
Speaker 1: the sun was about to come down, Andrew and I
32:29
Speaker 1: collected some large stones and sticks to make a fire
32:32
Speaker 1: with and got it going just as it got dark. Irresponsibly,
32:36
Speaker 1: we'd brought a pack of beers and started drinking while
32:39
Speaker 1: talking and just hanging out by the fire. We had
32:42
Speaker 1: some good conversations and had fun, but a couple hours
32:45
Speaker 1: in we were ready to call it a night. We
32:48
Speaker 1: put out the fire, then got in our tents to
32:51
Speaker 1: go to bed. I actually fell asleep really easily because
32:54
Speaker 1: of the calm sounds of nature. But throughout the night
32:57
Speaker 1: I kept waking up. It wasn't due to any noises,
33:01
Speaker 1: but I would just jerk awake for some reason. I
33:04
Speaker 1: assumed it was just me being unfamiliar with being out
33:07
Speaker 1: in the forest at night, but it still gave me
33:09
Speaker 1: an uneasy feeling. Then, on maybe my fourth or fifth
33:14
Speaker 1: time waking up, I heard Andrew's tent on zipping. I
33:19
Speaker 1: thought he was probably going out to use the bathroom
33:21
Speaker 1: or something, but he only took a few steps until
33:24
Speaker 1: I heard him open up his backpack and start searching around.
33:29
Speaker 1: Another thirty or so seconds went by with no other noises.
33:33
Speaker 1: It was like he was just standing right outside of
33:36
Speaker 1: his tent. I sat up and eventually unzipped my tent
33:40
Speaker 1: and looked out. As soon as the sound of my
33:43
Speaker 1: zipper began, I heard Andrew's footsteps rush away from the
33:47
Speaker 1: front of my tent, and by the time I stuck
33:49
Speaker 1: my head out, Andrew was ducked down and quickly shoved
33:52
Speaker 1: something back into his backpack, then turned and looked at
33:56
Speaker 1: me with a concerned face. Is everything okay? He looked
34:01
Speaker 1: at me for a moment, then nodded his head. Something
34:04
Speaker 1: about this immediately felt off. I climbed out of my
34:09
Speaker 1: tent and stood up, asking what he was doing out here.
34:12
Speaker 1: He responded by saying he was having trouble sleeping and
34:15
Speaker 1: just came out for some fresh air. But while he
34:17
Speaker 1: was talking, I looked down at his backpack. Sticking out
34:22
Speaker 1: of the top was the back end of a handgun.
34:26
Speaker 1: I felt my face turn white as I looked back
34:28
Speaker 1: at Andrew and tried my best to hide my reaction,
34:31
Speaker 1: but he already knew what I saw. We stared at
34:35
Speaker 1: each other for a strange few seconds before he turned
34:38
Speaker 1: and went back inside his tent, not saying another word.
34:43
Speaker 1: I'd never seen him act like that before, and his
34:46
Speaker 1: face gave a way that he was guilty of something.
34:49
Speaker 1: It was already strange that he never told me he
34:52
Speaker 1: was bringing a gun, but the way he was acting
34:54
Speaker 1: just made it even more unsettling. I stayed up for
34:59
Speaker 1: the rest of the night, sitting on the ground outside
35:01
Speaker 1: the tents and waiting for the sun to come up.
35:04
Speaker 1: When it did, I packed everything up and left. After
35:09
Speaker 1: that day, Andrew never contacted me, which I guess proves
35:13
Speaker 1: that something was going on that night. I don't know
35:16
Speaker 1: for sure what would have happened or why it would
35:19
Speaker 1: have happened, but I know that I was lucky to
35:21
Speaker 1: get out of there before finding out. I'm twenty nine
35:36
Speaker 1: and I live along the Appalachian Range in lower West Virginia.
35:40
Speaker 1: I've been going backpacking and camping for years, exploring different
35:44
Speaker 1: trails all around the nearby mountains. My best friend, who
35:48
Speaker 1: lived just a few miles from me would often join
35:51
Speaker 1: me on these hikes. We usually planned one big trail
35:55
Speaker 1: every year in the fall, being anywhere from a few
35:58
Speaker 1: days to a whole week of backpacking and camping. In
36:03
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, we planned to take a trail across the
36:06
Speaker 1: range to a small lake at the top of the mountains.
36:09
Speaker 1: In the days leading up to the trip, though my
36:11
Speaker 1: friend had to call it off because of an emergency
36:14
Speaker 1: at his work. I'd already taken the whole week off
36:17
Speaker 1: of work and had everything ready to go, so I
36:20
Speaker 1: decided to just go alone. On Monday morning, I drove
36:25
Speaker 1: to a nearby trailhead then started my route. This wasn't
36:29
Speaker 1: a regular recreational trail like you typically see on a
36:33
Speaker 1: four hour hike. These backpacking trails didn't have defined paths,
36:38
Speaker 1: so you have to use maps, compasses, and landmarks to
36:41
Speaker 1: navigate where you're going. Typically, there's a large landmark in
36:45
Speaker 1: the distance, like a specific rock formation, that you hike toward,
36:50
Speaker 1: and when you get there you could see your next
36:52
Speaker 1: landmark and so on. I spent the first two days
36:56
Speaker 1: hiking toward a ridge in the mountains. When I got
36:59
Speaker 1: dark on the second day, I set up camp several
37:02
Speaker 1: hours from reaching the ridge, I pitched the tent and
37:06
Speaker 1: got a fire going, then heated up some of the
37:08
Speaker 1: food I brought in my bag. The sun had already set,
37:12
Speaker 1: and it was around eight o'clock when I laid in
37:14
Speaker 1: my tent to rest and read. I left the fire going,
37:18
Speaker 1: planning to put it out before actually sleeping. Twenty minutes
37:24
Speaker 1: into reading and through the fire crackling outside, I heard
37:28
Speaker 1: the strong sound of a stick snapping right behind my tent.
37:33
Speaker 1: I joked it up. My first thought was a black bear,
37:37
Speaker 1: possibly having smelled the food I cooked earlier. I didn't
37:41
Speaker 1: hear anything else, though. I crawled out of the tent
37:44
Speaker 1: and shined a flashlight into the tree line behind my tent. Nothing.
37:50
Speaker 1: I called out aggressively to scare away any predators, but
37:54
Speaker 1: again there were no sounds of anything running away. It
37:58
Speaker 1: was really strange because the stick snapping was very distinct,
38:03
Speaker 1: definitely being from something stepping on it. I stayed outside
38:07
Speaker 1: the tent for a while, looking around constantly, before putting
38:11
Speaker 1: out the fire and going inside. I found it really
38:15
Speaker 1: hard to sleep that night because I was so focused
38:17
Speaker 1: on listening for more sounds. In the morning, I was
38:21
Speaker 1: almost surprised to have even slept through the night. I
38:25
Speaker 1: packed my tent and everything else at the campsite, then
38:28
Speaker 1: continued along until I reached the ridge. From there, it
38:32
Speaker 1: was a straight shot to the lake. I was moving fast,
38:36
Speaker 1: trying to get there before dark so I wouldn't have
38:38
Speaker 1: to move my campsite again. The next day. I arrived
38:42
Speaker 1: with about an hour despair before sunset. The lake was beautiful,
38:46
Speaker 1: very much worth the hike. I walked around it, enjoying
38:50
Speaker 1: the scenery, then pitched the tent and set out my
38:53
Speaker 1: camp on the tree line beside the lake. As I
38:57
Speaker 1: sat by the fire, I kept turning around, hearing soft
39:01
Speaker 1: noises somewhere between the trees behind me. I figured I
39:05
Speaker 1: was just being paranoid, but it was really creepy. It
39:08
Speaker 1: almost sounded exactly like footsteps. But I knew nobody would
39:12
Speaker 1: be out here. I would have seen their tent when
39:15
Speaker 1: I walked around the lake. It was too dark at
39:18
Speaker 1: this point to see anything further than a few feet,
39:21
Speaker 1: so looking around wasn't an option anymore. An hour later,
39:26
Speaker 1: I got in my tent and laid down. Every few
39:30
Speaker 1: minutes I would hear footsteps again. They were barely too
39:34
Speaker 1: quiet for me to tell for sure. What they were, though.
39:38
Speaker 1: Eventually I got so tired that I fell asleep, and
39:44
Speaker 1: what I think was only an hour after I fell asleep,
39:47
Speaker 1: I woke up to the sound of someone running away
39:49
Speaker 1: from my tent. I jolted up and grabbed my flashlight.
39:54
Speaker 1: Rushing out of the tent and looking in the direction
39:57
Speaker 1: of the footsteps, I saw the the bare back of
40:00
Speaker 1: them running away in the distance. My heart was beating rapidly.
40:07
Speaker 1: I looked down and saw footprints all around my tent,
40:10
Speaker 1: like they had been walking around me and searching the campsite.
40:15
Speaker 1: I tried to get the campfire going again as fast
40:17
Speaker 1: as I could so I could see better. I was
40:22
Speaker 1: terrified I had nowhere to go and nobody to help me.
40:28
Speaker 1: I sat at the fire all night, keeping my head
40:31
Speaker 1: on a swivel, but I never saw or heard anything else.
40:36
Speaker 1: In the morning, I snapped a few pictures of the lake,
40:39
Speaker 1: then started the hike back. I had planned to stay
40:43
Speaker 1: for a whole day. I wasn't comfortable anymore, feeling like
40:47
Speaker 1: I was being followed. I was able to make it
40:51
Speaker 1: back without any more trouble, thankfully, But along my journey
40:56
Speaker 1: I began noticing several things missing from my back small
41:01
Speaker 1: things like food, a few tools, et cetera. But I
41:06
Speaker 1: always had my bag with me. Even today, I wonder
41:11
Speaker 1: if whoever had been outside my tent that one night
41:14
Speaker 1: had actually snuck inside and stole from my bag while
41:18
Speaker 1: I was asleep. Even the thought of it makes my
41:21
Speaker 1: whole body shiver. My family owned some cabins in Oregon
41:38
Speaker 1: that all of us liked to stay in sometimes or
41:41
Speaker 1: have family get togethers there. But for this trip, I
41:44
Speaker 1: was going solo. I had just turned twenty, and I'd
41:47
Speaker 1: never been camping alone, and I figured camping somewhere near
41:50
Speaker 1: the cabins would be perfect in case something were to happen.
41:55
Speaker 1: I drove an hour there, then walked thirty minutes down
41:58
Speaker 1: a trail that led to the cabin I would be
42:00
Speaker 1: daying by. As I walked up to it, I noticed
42:03
Speaker 1: one of the windows was missing. There was no glass
42:06
Speaker 1: on the ground. It looked like the entire window had
42:09
Speaker 1: just been taken out, which was a very unexpected thing
42:12
Speaker 1: to see. I didn't plan on entering the cabin, but
42:16
Speaker 1: I had brought the key for emergencies, and this felt
42:19
Speaker 1: like something I should investigate. But I was even more
42:22
Speaker 1: confused when the door opened without me unlocking it. I
42:28
Speaker 1: walked in and right away it was obvious that the
42:30
Speaker 1: place had been broken into. There were muddy footprints all
42:34
Speaker 1: over the floors, and some more expensive stuff was missing.
42:38
Speaker 1: It was unfortunate to see, but there was no way
42:41
Speaker 1: of knowing how long ago it all happened. From what
42:44
Speaker 1: I knew, it had been months since anyone was at
42:46
Speaker 1: the cabins, and even then they may not have even
42:49
Speaker 1: come to this cabin. I tried to lock up the
42:53
Speaker 1: place as best I could and set out to find
42:55
Speaker 1: a spot to camp. I had no service, but I
42:58
Speaker 1: didn't feel it was absolutely necessary to let my family
43:01
Speaker 1: know right away, or even to call the police yet.
43:06
Speaker 1: I walked thirty minutes down the hill from the cabin
43:08
Speaker 1: and found the flat enough spot to set up. Rain
43:12
Speaker 1: started pouring down, and being new to this, it took
43:15
Speaker 1: me a couple hours to get everything set up the
43:17
Speaker 1: right way. Already being soaked, I sat outside on a
43:21
Speaker 1: nearby log under a tree and started eating some prepackaged food.
43:25
Speaker 1: Went out of nowhere, I started hearing someone talking. I
43:30
Speaker 1: immediately spotted a man walking behind me. He was drenched,
43:35
Speaker 1: walking up the hill toward the direction of the cabin
43:38
Speaker 1: and didn't seem to have noticed me. The way he
43:41
Speaker 1: was speaking was really weird because it made no sense
43:44
Speaker 1: and he was obviously talking to himself. Soon he walked
43:48
Speaker 1: out of sight, but something about seeing that gave me chills.
43:54
Speaker 1: An hour went by and I took a quick hike
43:56
Speaker 1: back up to the cabin to see if he was
43:58
Speaker 1: maybe staying there. But from i'm afar, it still looked empty,
44:02
Speaker 1: so I went back. Once it was night. I used
44:06
Speaker 1: a fire kit to start a small campfire and used
44:09
Speaker 1: it to heat up some of my food. The rain
44:12
Speaker 1: made it difficult, but once the fire was going, it
44:14
Speaker 1: stayed up pretty well. Not long into it, I heard
44:19
Speaker 1: footsteps coming from up the hill. I stared at the trees,
44:23
Speaker 1: seeing nothing but pitch black beyond the reach of my campfire.
44:28
Speaker 1: They continued walking until a man came into sight. I
44:32
Speaker 1: couldn't see much of him, but he looked similar to
44:35
Speaker 1: the man I'd seen earlier. Hey what do you want?
44:40
Speaker 1: I yelled, trying to scare him off. He stopped and
44:44
Speaker 1: stared at me with a blank face, having rain dripping
44:48
Speaker 1: from his head. As he just stood there. I yelled again,
44:52
Speaker 1: but he didn't move. We were standing just ten feet
44:56
Speaker 1: from each other, and every second made me more and
44:59
Speaker 1: more scared of what it was about to happen. Then,
45:03
Speaker 1: through the rain, I heard the sound of a single
45:05
Speaker 1: footstep behind me. I instantly sprinted to the side of
45:10
Speaker 1: the hill and didn't stop until my legs gave out
45:13
Speaker 1: under me. I don't think they chased me, but with
45:17
Speaker 1: the rain and wind, it was too hard for me
45:19
Speaker 1: to hear while running. I found my way up the
45:23
Speaker 1: hill and walked the rest of the way to my
45:25
Speaker 1: car in the rain with only my phone light. Once
45:30
Speaker 1: I got in range, I called nine one one. In
45:34
Speaker 1: the days following, a team was sent out to investigate
45:37
Speaker 1: the cabin and my campsite. My campsite was gone, left
45:42
Speaker 1: with only a few useless pieces of equipment, but in
45:46
Speaker 1: the cabin they identified three unique shoe prints on the floor.
45:51
Speaker 1: It had me shaking for weeks, knowing that there were
45:54
Speaker 1: three unknown men out there hiding not far away. Nothing
45:59
Speaker 1: else was found, and it was all said to most
46:02
Speaker 1: likely just be a robbery because they didn't chase me,
46:05
Speaker 1: But who knows what they would have done to me
46:07
Speaker 1: if I had stayed there. I do a lot of
46:32
Speaker 1: small camping adventures throughout the year. I try to keep
46:36
Speaker 1: these adventures under three days long so that I could
46:39
Speaker 1: do them on the weekend and only have to take
46:42
Speaker 1: a day or two off from work. This was just
46:45
Speaker 1: another camping trip of mine that I'd set to go
46:48
Speaker 1: on one weekend in the middle of April. My plan,
46:52
Speaker 1: so to speak, was to hike and estimated five hours
46:56
Speaker 1: up to a small lake and set my camp right
46:58
Speaker 1: next to it, then stay a few nights before going back.
47:04
Speaker 1: On the morning of, I drove out there and started
47:07
Speaker 1: the hike at eight a m. This lake didn't have
47:10
Speaker 1: any trails leading to it, which was part of the
47:13
Speaker 1: reason I chose to hike there. It was only a
47:16
Speaker 1: five hour walk, so getting lost wasn't too concerning, and
47:20
Speaker 1: I wouldn't have to share my experience alongside a bunch
47:23
Speaker 1: of random people who also wanted to go camping at
47:26
Speaker 1: the same spot. Four hours into walking, though I thought
47:31
Speaker 1: I saw someone, I was just spacing out when I
47:36
Speaker 1: saw something far ahead rush past my view. I frozen place,
47:42
Speaker 1: trying to see what or who it was and where
47:45
Speaker 1: they had gone, but there was no more movement. I
47:49
Speaker 1: wasn't looking directly at it when it happened, so I
47:52
Speaker 1: didn't have a clear enough view to know for sure
47:55
Speaker 1: that it was a person, but I paid more attention
47:58
Speaker 1: for the final hour of the hike. When I reached
48:02
Speaker 1: the lake, I was taken back by its beauty. It
48:06
Speaker 1: was the perfect place to catch a break. I didn't
48:10
Speaker 1: spend long finding a spot to set up camp, being
48:13
Speaker 1: in the trees just off to the side of the lake.
48:16
Speaker 1: Almost as soon as I did, though, I saw someone
48:20
Speaker 1: this time for sure. They were on the other side
48:24
Speaker 1: of the lake, walking around by the trees. They had
48:28
Speaker 1: no backpack or anything, they were just walking. I looked
48:34
Speaker 1: around for their campsite but didn't see anything at all.
48:38
Speaker 1: After a minute, they walked into the forest and didn't
48:42
Speaker 1: come back. This definitely put me in a slightly nervous mood,
48:48
Speaker 1: knowing someone else was out here at a remote lake
48:51
Speaker 1: and making me wonder if I really did see a
48:54
Speaker 1: person before while I was walking. I chose to spend
48:59
Speaker 1: the rest of the evening at my campsite, and come nightfall,
49:03
Speaker 1: I started up a fire. I kept it small to
49:06
Speaker 1: not draw too much attention. It had been almost four
49:11
Speaker 1: hours since I seen the person, but I was still nervous.
49:16
Speaker 1: I heated up some food and ate, then took a
49:19
Speaker 1: book out to pass the time. I got through a
49:23
Speaker 1: few pages, but I couldn't ignore this feeling like I
49:26
Speaker 1: was being watched. I knew it had to be my
49:30
Speaker 1: brain being paranoid because of earlier but after a few
49:34
Speaker 1: minutes I couldn't even get myself to read anymore. I
49:38
Speaker 1: put the book down and packed my stuff in the tent,
49:41
Speaker 1: preparing to go to bed. Right before I put out
49:45
Speaker 1: the fire, I did one last look around. About fifteen
49:51
Speaker 1: yards away, there was someone standing. Although it was really dark,
49:58
Speaker 1: I knew they were watching me. They stood still, not
50:02
Speaker 1: moving or anything, and we both just stared at each
50:05
Speaker 1: other through the dark forest. We must have been like
50:10
Speaker 1: that for a whole minute. When the person started backing up,
50:14
Speaker 1: they still faced me, but walked back into the trees
50:18
Speaker 1: until they were submerged in the darkness. I was physically shaking.
50:26
Speaker 1: What were they doing and were they going to come back?
50:31
Speaker 1: I built the campfire larger and stayed up through the
50:34
Speaker 1: entire night. At the break of dawn, I packed everything
50:38
Speaker 1: up and moved quickly, making my way back. There wasn't
50:43
Speaker 1: a bone in my body that wanted to stay there
50:45
Speaker 1: a second longer. During my hike back, I swear I
50:51
Speaker 1: heard footsteps far behind me on multiple occasions. Even now,
50:58
Speaker 1: thinking back on it, I feel my body tents from
51:01
Speaker 1: the fear I experienced on that trip. I don't know
51:06
Speaker 1: what that person wanted, who they were, or what they
51:09
Speaker 1: were doing out there, but based on how they were
51:12
Speaker 1: stalking me, it couldn't have been good. If I had
51:17
Speaker 1: stayed there another night or had gone to bed in
51:20
Speaker 1: the tent, I'm almost positive I wouldn't be here today.
51:39
Speaker 1: Last year was the first time I'd ever had something
51:42
Speaker 1: happen on my camping trip. I'd go camping alone several
51:46
Speaker 1: times a year, usually going to the same spots, but
51:50
Speaker 1: sometimes I'd try and find somewhere different. For this trip,
51:54
Speaker 1: I decided on a four mile camping trail that I'd
51:57
Speaker 1: never been on before. I drove out two hours from
52:01
Speaker 1: my house to a remote location where I started the
52:03
Speaker 1: hike from. Right away, I was not enjoying the trail
52:08
Speaker 1: as much as I thought I would, mainly because some
52:11
Speaker 1: portions of it were wet and muddy. Still, I continued
52:15
Speaker 1: along and tried to avoid those spots. I went down
52:18
Speaker 1: for a while, and around forty five minutes in I
52:21
Speaker 1: saw something off the side of the trail. It was
52:25
Speaker 1: a tent, but very worn down and had a few
52:27
Speaker 1: rips in it. From afar, I could see that nobody
52:31
Speaker 1: was inside of it, so I walked closer. There were
52:35
Speaker 1: no signs of any intentional damage. It all just seemed
52:38
Speaker 1: to be weathered over a long period of time. The
52:42
Speaker 1: fact that it was still standing up was mind blowing
52:45
Speaker 1: to me. I looked around it and inside of it,
52:48
Speaker 1: but oddly enough, there was nothing else. I thought i'd
52:52
Speaker 1: find a bunch of stuff left behind, but there wasn't
52:56
Speaker 1: anything at all other than the tent itself. After a
53:01
Speaker 1: couple of minutes, I went back to the trail. I
53:05
Speaker 1: thought about it for a while, but couldn't come up
53:07
Speaker 1: with any good reasons to leave a tent like that.
53:11
Speaker 1: As I walked for the last hour and a half
53:13
Speaker 1: of the trail, I came across dozens of left behind objects.
53:18
Speaker 1: All of them were camping or hiking equipment. But seeing
53:22
Speaker 1: all of this stuff scattered around a four mile trail
53:25
Speaker 1: gave me an uneasy feeling. Who would leave everything behind?
53:32
Speaker 1: It was definitely not an accident, and I was pretty
53:35
Speaker 1: sure it was all from one person. When I got
53:39
Speaker 1: to the end, I set up my tent a good
53:41
Speaker 1: distance away from the trail, just to be safe. It
53:45
Speaker 1: was getting dark already, so I stayed at my camp
53:47
Speaker 1: site until I was ready to sleep. I felt a
53:51
Speaker 1: bit nervous to go to bed, but I was able
53:53
Speaker 1: to sleep through the whole night without issue. When I
53:58
Speaker 1: got up, it was early in the morning, around four
54:00
Speaker 1: or five, so the sun wasn't fully up yet. I
54:04
Speaker 1: unzipped my tent and stepped out, but right away I
54:08
Speaker 1: could tell something was wrong. I turned around and on
54:13
Speaker 1: the other side of my tent a man stood just
54:16
Speaker 1: a few feet away. He was tall and thin, wearing
54:20
Speaker 1: disgusting clothes, and his face was covered in dirt and grime.
54:25
Speaker 1: He looked at me with this empty stare. I stood
54:30
Speaker 1: there motionless. In the moment, I was so shocked and
54:34
Speaker 1: scared it almost didn't even seem real. Leave, he spoke,
54:40
Speaker 1: in a soft, yet creepy tone. I nodded and quickly
54:44
Speaker 1: started gathering my backpack, but he immediately rushed toward me.
54:50
Speaker 1: I fell back, and all I could give myself to
54:52
Speaker 1: say was okay, repeating it over and over. The man
54:57
Speaker 1: stood over me, still with that empty look in his eye. Leave,
55:03
Speaker 1: he said again. I understood what he meant. This time,
55:06
Speaker 1: and quickly got up and rushed away, leaving everything behind.
55:12
Speaker 1: I took one look back as I got out of there,
55:14
Speaker 1: and the man was rummaging through my backpack like a
55:17
Speaker 1: curious animal. I jogged as far as I could, then
55:22
Speaker 1: fast walked the rest of the way to my car.
55:25
Speaker 1: Thank god I kept my phone in keys in my pocket,
55:28
Speaker 1: or this situation could have been a hundred times worse.
55:32
Speaker 1: I drove out until I got service, then called nine
55:35
Speaker 1: one one. I found out that there was an almost
55:39
Speaker 1: identical case to what I experienced, but whoever filed it
55:43
Speaker 1: chose for it to not be publicly announced by the media.
55:48
Speaker 1: This was likely the person whose tent and belongings I
55:51
Speaker 1: found on the trail. After a week of talking to
55:55
Speaker 1: the police and going over everything, they were able to
55:58
Speaker 1: organize a small search party of officers. They went down
56:02
Speaker 1: the trail and came back with no sightings or evidence
56:05
Speaker 1: of the man, but they found most of my stuff
56:08
Speaker 1: nearby my campsite, tossed around like trash. After that, the
56:14
Speaker 1: case went stale, just like the previous persons. The thing
56:19
Speaker 1: I always come back to is how the man didn't
56:22
Speaker 1: keep anything, He just scattered it all around the forest
56:26
Speaker 1: with no intent of using any of it. Back in
56:41
Speaker 1: high school, my house had a huge backyard that was
56:44
Speaker 1: connected to a large forest. When we were kids, me
56:48
Speaker 1: and my friends would go and play games far out
56:50
Speaker 1: in the woods. There was always this small sense of
56:53
Speaker 1: danger being out there, which made things more fun. As
56:57
Speaker 1: we grew up, though, we stopped going out there because
57:00
Speaker 1: there was no point. But then one day me and
57:03
Speaker 1: my buddy Tyler were hanging out on the couch when
57:06
Speaker 1: he brought up this idea of going out into the
57:08
Speaker 1: woods late at night. Over the next few minutes, our
57:12
Speaker 1: idea evolved from just a simple walk in the woods
57:16
Speaker 1: to full long camping overnight. Tyler said his parents had
57:20
Speaker 1: a tent we could borrow, so we walked down the
57:23
Speaker 1: street and picked it up from his garage. Now's a
57:26
Speaker 1: good time to mention that neither of us had ever
57:29
Speaker 1: been camping before, so we had no idea what we
57:32
Speaker 1: were doing. Honestly, I don't think either of us thought
57:36
Speaker 1: anything of it though, because we would only be out
57:38
Speaker 1: there for a single night. After packing a bag with
57:42
Speaker 1: a bunch of snacks, water bottles, and a portable phone charger,
57:47
Speaker 1: we set foot in the woods. We found out within
57:51
Speaker 1: the first couple minutes that the flashlight Tyler brought was
57:54
Speaker 1: really shitty, barely lighting up more than a few feet ahead.
57:59
Speaker 1: It was enough to keep us from walking into trees
58:01
Speaker 1: and bushes, but we couldn't see much else. During the
58:06
Speaker 1: first fifteen minutes of walking, we talked about how excited
58:09
Speaker 1: we were and how creepy it was going to be.
58:13
Speaker 1: But then we walked for another fifteen minutes without really talking.
58:17
Speaker 1: I think we were both memorized and a little bit
58:19
Speaker 1: spooked by the eerie silence. A couple times I thought
58:24
Speaker 1: I heard something walking nearby, but the flashlight would never
58:28
Speaker 1: reach far enough to see anything. After our thirty minutes
58:32
Speaker 1: of walking, we found a place to set up. It
58:36
Speaker 1: was an open section of grass with trees around it.
58:40
Speaker 1: Tyler wedged the flashlight on top of a bush so
58:43
Speaker 1: that I lit up the area, and then we started
58:45
Speaker 1: setting up the tent. He said it was an easy
58:48
Speaker 1: assemble tent, but there was nothing easy about it. We
58:53
Speaker 1: probably spent an hour to get the tent to stand
58:56
Speaker 1: up without falling in on itself. It also didn't help
59:00
Speaker 1: that every time we'd hear something, we'd have to grab
59:03
Speaker 1: the flashlight out of the bush. And shine it around,
59:06
Speaker 1: then set it back up and start over on the tent.
59:10
Speaker 1: I don't know about Tyler, but at this point I
59:12
Speaker 1: was regretting coming out there. When we did eventually get
59:17
Speaker 1: the tent up, though, it was a lot less stressful.
59:21
Speaker 1: We sat inside and listened to the sounds of the woods.
59:25
Speaker 1: It would be completely silent sometimes then a minute later
59:29
Speaker 1: there would be birds chirping or some other animal making noises.
59:34
Speaker 1: It was a really cool experience until we both heard
59:38
Speaker 1: a more familiar sound. We stayed in the tent listening
59:44
Speaker 1: as these footsteps made their way around the trees. They
59:48
Speaker 1: didn't sound like they were getting closer, but more like
59:51
Speaker 1: they were passing by. One thing we were both sure
59:56
Speaker 1: of was that they were human footsteps, not any other
1:00:00
Speaker 1: their animal. After a minute, they were gone, but me
1:00:04
Speaker 1: and Tyler stayed quiet, staring at the inside of the
1:00:07
Speaker 1: tent as we listened carefully. Around ten minutes later, once
1:00:13
Speaker 1: we were sure whoever that was was long gone, we
1:00:16
Speaker 1: left the tent and sat outside instead. We both felt
1:00:20
Speaker 1: a little too vulnerable sitting inside there without being able
1:00:23
Speaker 1: to see what was going on around us. As we
1:00:27
Speaker 1: sat and talked for a while, that same sound started
1:00:31
Speaker 1: coming up in the distance. This time it was getting closer.
1:00:37
Speaker 1: It eventually got so close that we were worried they
1:00:40
Speaker 1: were coming directly at us. Tyler shined the flashlight in
1:00:45
Speaker 1: the direction of the footsteps, but the sound continued. They
1:00:50
Speaker 1: walked toward us slowly, and just when we thought the
1:00:53
Speaker 1: person would come into view of the flashlight, they stopped.
1:01:00
Speaker 1: They sounded so close enough for us to hear them breathing,
1:01:04
Speaker 1: but just barely outside of the light. Both Tyler and
1:01:09
Speaker 1: I were frozen, staring at the darkness beyond the flashlight.
1:01:15
Speaker 1: Then we heard them take one step back, and then
1:01:18
Speaker 1: they began walking away. A minute later, the footsteps had disappeared,
1:01:23
Speaker 1: and the entire woods was silent again. We undid the
1:01:28
Speaker 1: tent as fast as possible and immediately left. We were
1:01:33
Speaker 1: so shaken up we didn't even follow the right way home,
1:01:37
Speaker 1: and somehow ended up on a neighboring street. We walked
1:01:41
Speaker 1: down to my house and stayed up the entire night
1:01:44
Speaker 1: in my room, talking about what happened or what could
1:01:47
Speaker 1: have happened. We never stepped foot inside those woods again,
1:01:53
Speaker 1: and even today I stayed far away from anywhere, isolated.
1:01:58
Speaker 1: Whoever that person was out there alone in the woods
1:02:01
Speaker 1: at night had to be up to something awful, and
1:02:05
Speaker 1: I think we were really close to finding out. It
1:02:19
Speaker 1: was early March and i'd taken my camper out for
1:02:21
Speaker 1: a midweek camping trip. The woods right outside my house
1:02:25
Speaker 1: had plenty of dirt paths big enough to fit my
1:02:27
Speaker 1: truck with the camper attached, so I would often find
1:02:30
Speaker 1: myself staying out there for a couple nights a few
1:02:33
Speaker 1: times a month. My favorite spot was down a small
1:02:36
Speaker 1: trail that went out by a lake. The lake itself
1:02:39
Speaker 1: was huge, but the spot I always went to was
1:02:42
Speaker 1: secluded and far too random for most people to go to.
1:02:46
Speaker 1: When I got out there in the morning, I detached
1:02:49
Speaker 1: the camper from my truck and got my bag together
1:02:51
Speaker 1: for a hike. There weren't any trails out here from
1:02:54
Speaker 1: what I knew, but hiking along the lake was still
1:02:57
Speaker 1: a nice walk and assured me that I wouldn't get lost.
1:03:01
Speaker 1: Only a few minutes walk from my camper, though, I
1:03:03
Speaker 1: came across something really strange. It was a trailer wedged
1:03:08
Speaker 1: between a couple of trees, looking rugged and old, almost
1:03:12
Speaker 1: like it had been out here for years. But I
1:03:14
Speaker 1: had been this way before, and it definitely wasn't here
1:03:17
Speaker 1: last time, so someone had to have moved it recently.
1:03:22
Speaker 1: I stayed for a little bit, keeping my distance, but
1:03:25
Speaker 1: trying to see if there was any sign of someone
1:03:27
Speaker 1: living there. In all honesty, taking just one look at
1:03:31
Speaker 1: it gave me the feeling that this was purposefully hidden,
1:03:34
Speaker 1: maybe to cover something up. From what I could see,
1:03:38
Speaker 1: it had no signs of being lived in recently, which
1:03:40
Speaker 1: only made my suspicions grow. Why would someone go through
1:03:45
Speaker 1: the effort to move a beat up trailer through the
1:03:47
Speaker 1: woods into such a secluded area. My gut was telling
1:03:52
Speaker 1: me to leave, but something about it pulled me in
1:03:55
Speaker 1: enough to get me to knock on the door to
1:03:56
Speaker 1: the trailer. Nobody he answered, and there was no movement
1:04:02
Speaker 1: from inside. I knocked one more time, with no more sounds,
1:04:06
Speaker 1: I left it and walked back to my camper. The
1:04:10
Speaker 1: trailer was on my mind for the next several hours
1:04:13
Speaker 1: while I sat outside and got my campfire going. Once
1:04:16
Speaker 1: the sun set and the stars came out, though, I
1:04:19
Speaker 1: was back to enjoying my night. I was sitting on
1:04:23
Speaker 1: a small chair and looking up, just taking in the peacefulness,
1:04:26
Speaker 1: when the unmistakable sound of footsteps crunched the leaves from
1:04:30
Speaker 1: somewhere out in the woods behind me. I turned and
1:04:35
Speaker 1: saw a light steadily going between the trees as whoever
1:04:38
Speaker 1: was out there walked through the woods. Seeing someone out
1:04:42
Speaker 1: here was really strange, so I kept my eye on
1:04:45
Speaker 1: them as they continued toward the lake, but then the
1:04:48
Speaker 1: light suddenly shut off. I stared off into the darkness
1:04:53
Speaker 1: for a while, looking for any movement, but couldn't see anything.
1:04:59
Speaker 1: Then the faint sound of footsteps started again, coming in
1:05:02
Speaker 1: my direction. They were subtle, clearly trying to be as
1:05:06
Speaker 1: quiet as possible. I stood up, Hey, what do you want?
1:05:14
Speaker 1: The footsteps stopped, sounding like they were just a few
1:05:17
Speaker 1: yards from me. I waited for a response or some
1:05:21
Speaker 1: kind of movement, but there was nothing for what felt
1:05:24
Speaker 1: like an entire minute, until they finally started backing up.
1:05:29
Speaker 1: I heard the steps fade out into the woods, and
1:05:31
Speaker 1: I put two and two together, realizing he was going
1:05:34
Speaker 1: in the direction of the abandoned trailer. After his really
1:05:38
Speaker 1: strange behavior. In thinking about the trailer some more, I
1:05:42
Speaker 1: was not going to risk staying the night. I packed
1:05:46
Speaker 1: up and reattached my camper to the truck, then turned
1:05:49
Speaker 1: my brights on and carefully drove down the path. It
1:05:52
Speaker 1: took a while, but I made it out and decided
1:05:55
Speaker 1: to call the police to report the strange behavior of
1:05:57
Speaker 1: the man as well as the trailer. In the morning,
1:06:02
Speaker 1: I took two officers out to where I saw the trailer,
1:06:05
Speaker 1: but it was gone, And to make it all even
1:06:08
Speaker 1: more crazy, there were clear trails on the ground showing
1:06:12
Speaker 1: the trailer having been dragged all the way up to
1:06:14
Speaker 1: the lake, where the marks faded into the waterline. Whatever
1:06:19
Speaker 1: that trailer was hiding now sits at the bottom of
1:06:22
Speaker 1: the lake, completely inaccessible, and no evidence ever came up
1:06:26
Speaker 1: to warrant the retrieval of the trailer, so everything is
1:06:30
Speaker 1: just left as a mystery. It's terrifying to think what
1:06:34
Speaker 1: that man could have done to me had he caught
1:06:36
Speaker 1: me by the trailer he was hiding, and unfortunately I'll
1:06:40
Speaker 1: always be haunted with the mystery of what was behind
1:06:43
Speaker 1: that door. I'm twenty eight and live in Ille. If
1:07:01
Speaker 1: you've ever been here, you know this state is completely
1:07:04
Speaker 1: flat and doesn't have much to do in terms of
1:07:07
Speaker 1: hiking or camping, at least not with scenic views. This year,
1:07:12
Speaker 1: I tried to go camping for the first time in
1:07:14
Speaker 1: a secluded forest. I thought it would be the perfect
1:07:18
Speaker 1: starter camping trip, since the land was flat and the
1:07:22
Speaker 1: trail was mostly a straight shot. At the end was
1:07:25
Speaker 1: supposed to be a small pond, so at least there
1:07:28
Speaker 1: would be somewhat of a nice view. The hiking part
1:07:32
Speaker 1: was short, being just under an hour, but the pond
1:07:35
Speaker 1: at the end was very underwhelming, to say the least.
1:07:39
Speaker 1: It was very small and surrounded by swampy mush, so
1:07:42
Speaker 1: I had to put my tent further down into the
1:07:45
Speaker 1: forest where the ground was dry. I'll admit though, after
1:07:50
Speaker 1: an hour or two I was really bored. I decided
1:07:54
Speaker 1: to get up and walk around the pond just to
1:07:56
Speaker 1: see what was around. I wandered to the side, and
1:08:01
Speaker 1: really there wasn't much to see. It was a peaceful
1:08:04
Speaker 1: and beautiful forest, but there were no defining landmarks of
1:08:07
Speaker 1: any kind, so it was kind of just the same
1:08:10
Speaker 1: forest all around. I started making my way back to
1:08:15
Speaker 1: my camp, and by then the sun was mostly gone.
1:08:19
Speaker 1: I brought a small fire starter, so I used that
1:08:22
Speaker 1: to get a campfire going and heat up some food.
1:08:25
Speaker 1: But not long after sunset, I noticed a light across
1:08:29
Speaker 1: the pond. It was in the trees, just outside of
1:08:33
Speaker 1: the pond, but it was right where I had walked earlier,
1:08:36
Speaker 1: and I knew there was nothing there just an hour ago.
1:08:41
Speaker 1: While it was uncomforting being out in a forest with
1:08:44
Speaker 1: some stranger or possibly strangers, I knew that this was
1:08:48
Speaker 1: one of few camping trails around here, so the odds
1:08:51
Speaker 1: of it weren't too crazy. I went about my night,
1:08:55
Speaker 1: looking across the pond every so often. As it got darker, though,
1:09:00
Speaker 1: this light that I thought was a campfire became more apparent,
1:09:04
Speaker 1: and I realized it was a flashlight or some sort
1:09:08
Speaker 1: of mechanical light. I wasn't sure what to make of it,
1:09:12
Speaker 1: but an hour more into the night, I saw from
1:09:15
Speaker 1: the corner of my eye the light started dimming, and then,
1:09:19
Speaker 1: after a few flickers, it went out. I stared at
1:09:23
Speaker 1: the dark and empty forest across the pond for a
1:09:26
Speaker 1: good ten minutes, waiting for the light to come back up,
1:09:29
Speaker 1: but it never did. It gave me chills, but again
1:09:34
Speaker 1: I had no idea what to make of it. The
1:09:38
Speaker 1: rest of the night was surprisingly quiet. I slept, and
1:09:42
Speaker 1: as far as I'm aware, nothing happened overnight. As the
1:09:46
Speaker 1: sun rose, I prepared for another walk. I was still
1:09:50
Speaker 1: thinking about that light I saw and really wanted some answers.
1:09:55
Speaker 1: I walked around to the other side of the pond
1:09:57
Speaker 1: where I saw the light coming from, and sir around.
1:10:02
Speaker 1: It didn't take long for me to find the culprit,
1:10:05
Speaker 1: a hefty flashlight laying in the grass. The batteries were drained,
1:10:11
Speaker 1: but it looked pretty new, no scratches or noticeable way
1:10:15
Speaker 1: and tear. I looked around some more and saw nothing
1:10:19
Speaker 1: else to indicate someone being here. After some thought, I
1:10:25
Speaker 1: decided to leave the flashlight where I found it and
1:10:27
Speaker 1: started heading back to my camp, but stopped in my
1:10:30
Speaker 1: tracks when I saw someone across the pond. They were
1:10:35
Speaker 1: standing by my fire pit in the middle of my camp.
1:10:39
Speaker 1: Then I saw another person come out of the trees
1:10:42
Speaker 1: and join them. It looked like two adult men, but
1:10:46
Speaker 1: that's all I could tell from where I was. I
1:10:49
Speaker 1: was too scared to yell or say anything, so I
1:10:52
Speaker 1: just watched as they walked around my camp and looked
1:10:55
Speaker 1: through my things. Then one of them stopped and turned
1:10:59
Speaker 1: to face the pond. He stood there, scanning the tree
1:11:04
Speaker 1: line where I was standing until he was looking right
1:11:07
Speaker 1: at me. He only looked at me for a moment,
1:11:11
Speaker 1: but it sent shivers through me. I watched the man
1:11:15
Speaker 1: leave the camp and start walking between the trees. I
1:11:19
Speaker 1: lost sight of him for a moment, until I caught
1:11:22
Speaker 1: a glimpse of him sprinting through the forest. I ran
1:11:27
Speaker 1: further into the forest, away from the pond. I knew
1:11:31
Speaker 1: the chances of them finding me were near zero, but
1:11:34
Speaker 1: I was too scared to think straight. I ran for
1:11:38
Speaker 1: probably fifteen minutes before I stopped and turned in the
1:11:42
Speaker 1: general direction of my car. Luckily I made it safely,
1:11:47
Speaker 1: but I lost everything I had to put it shortly.
1:11:52
Speaker 1: Nothing happened afterwards. I filed a report with the police,
1:11:56
Speaker 1: but it all turned to nothing. That flashlight a lot, though.
1:12:02
Speaker 1: Was it those men's or was it someone else's. I
1:12:07
Speaker 1: hope the flashlight was just a ploy they used to
1:12:09
Speaker 1: get me away from the camp. But if it was,
1:12:12
Speaker 1: then why would they come after me. I keep trying
1:12:16
Speaker 1: to convince myself that it was just a robbery and
1:12:19
Speaker 1: they had no other intentions. But in my gut, I
1:12:23
Speaker 1: know that I likely came close to never making it
1:12:26
Speaker 1: out of that forest.