Latest / True Horror Stories / 3 True Unnerving Camping Horror Stories (With Rain Sounds) That Will Keep You Up

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3 True Unnerving Camping Horror Stories (With Rain Sounds) That Will Keep You Up · True Horror Stories

0:05
Speaker 1: Me and my best friend, who all called James for privacy,
0:08
Speaker 1: were down in Oklahoma for a camping trip together almost
0:12
Speaker 1: ten years ago. Now, we lived further north, but would
0:16
Speaker 1: go to different nearby states on weekend camping trips whenever
0:19
Speaker 1: we had the chance. This was just another trip where
0:22
Speaker 1: we found a somewhat uncharted place to go, and we
0:25
Speaker 1: planned on staying for a night or two before heading home.
0:29
Speaker 1: We had been doing this for most of our lives
0:30
Speaker 1: at this point, and grew up hiking and camping all
0:33
Speaker 1: the time. Both of us enjoyed making our own trails
0:37
Speaker 1: and finding relatively unexplored areas to stay. That being said,
0:42
Speaker 1: we should have been more careful. It was our first
0:45
Speaker 1: night staying there. We had hiked out four hours from
0:49
Speaker 1: where we parked the truck, which was already deep into
0:52
Speaker 1: the forest. On a poorly made path. Along the hike,
0:56
Speaker 1: we found it destroyed, an abandoned structure made of wood
0:59
Speaker 1: and mud, with an overgrown trail leading to it. It
1:03
Speaker 1: was a pretty cool find and we thought it might
1:05
Speaker 1: have belonged to someone years ago. Something strange about it, though,
1:10
Speaker 1: was that it looked like it had been burned down,
1:12
Speaker 1: with char all around the wood. We passed it and
1:16
Speaker 1: continued until we found the very small lake. Then we
1:19
Speaker 1: set up our campsite along the tree line up the
1:21
Speaker 1: hill from the beach. We made a fire pit and
1:25
Speaker 1: even dragged some small logs over to sit on, then
1:28
Speaker 1: talked for hours while enjoying the scenery. Once full darkness
1:33
Speaker 1: settled in, we decided it best to let the camp
1:36
Speaker 1: fire die out then go to bed for the night.
1:39
Speaker 1: We talked a bit more while the fire slowly got
1:42
Speaker 1: smaller and dimmer, until James stopped in the middle of
1:45
Speaker 1: his sentence and went silent. James, I said his name
1:49
Speaker 1: and looked up, seeing him looking behind me. He told
1:54
Speaker 1: me to be quiet. Then I turned and looked behind me,
1:57
Speaker 1: seeing nothing. You see, I asked, getting a little shaken
2:03
Speaker 1: by the way he was acting. I don't know, he responded,
2:09
Speaker 1: looking around. He was starting to make me uncomfortable, which
2:13
Speaker 1: was not a usual feeling I got around him. If
2:16
Speaker 1: I'm being honest, he was usually the one that didn't
2:19
Speaker 1: scare easily. The fire continued to get softer, making the
2:24
Speaker 1: forest around us darker. James grabbed a few sticks beside
2:28
Speaker 1: him and tossed them in, keeping the flame up a
2:30
Speaker 1: bit longer, not long after that, James locked his eyes
2:35
Speaker 1: over my shoulder. Again, what's going on, man, and you're
2:39
Speaker 1: starting to freak me out. He stayed silent for a second,
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Speaker 1: then spoke, I think there's someone watching us. I turned
2:51
Speaker 1: to look behind me again, but this time I saw
2:53
Speaker 1: something too, A small person partially crouched down next to
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Speaker 1: a tree, staring an hour to I turned back to
3:02
Speaker 1: face James, and a few yards behind him, I saw
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Speaker 1: another person standing behind a tree. I felt a sense
3:10
Speaker 1: of shock and fear, like this was some sick nightmare
3:13
Speaker 1: I was living in. James felt it too, I could
3:16
Speaker 1: see it in his eyes as we both looked around
3:19
Speaker 1: and noticed more and more people standing and running between
3:22
Speaker 1: the trees around us. What made it even more creepy
3:26
Speaker 1: and fear inducing was you almost couldn't even hear them moving,
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Speaker 1: like their footsteps didn't exist. We both stood up and
3:34
Speaker 1: looked around, watching these ten to fifteen unknown people surround us.
3:40
Speaker 1: James called out asking what they wanted, but they didn't respond.
3:45
Speaker 1: I held my hunting knife, but it didn't make me
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Speaker 1: feel any safer than a few of them started making
3:53
Speaker 1: their way closer, with them becoming more visible in the
3:56
Speaker 1: faint light. They were holding long sticks, likely some sort
4:00
Speaker 1: of hunting spears, and were barely clothed. Seeing these people approach,
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Speaker 1: though they looked angry and feral, James grabbed my arm
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Speaker 1: and started pulling me back. We backed up slowly and
4:15
Speaker 1: grabbed our bags, then moved away from them and into
4:17
Speaker 1: the other side of the trees, where it seemed none
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Speaker 1: of them were anymore. As we slowly backed away, checking
4:24
Speaker 1: our surroundings, often the whole group seemed to be more
4:28
Speaker 1: interested in our camp spot than they were in us.
4:32
Speaker 1: We walked as far as we could in the general
4:34
Speaker 1: direction we came, then found a small place to hide
4:37
Speaker 1: for the rest of the night, though neither of us
4:39
Speaker 1: were able to sleep. In the morning, we could see
4:43
Speaker 1: smoke coming up from around the area where we had
4:46
Speaker 1: our tents set up. We assumed that that was them
4:49
Speaker 1: burning the tents, and it also came across our minds
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Speaker 1: that they may have been the ones to burn the
4:54
Speaker 1: abandoned structure that we had seen as well. We started
4:59
Speaker 1: back for the truck, then drove straight home. At the time,
5:04
Speaker 1: research wasn't the easiest thing to do, so we kind
5:06
Speaker 1: of just left it as a horrifying experience that we
5:09
Speaker 1: may never understand, but recently we've gotten some answers. James
5:14
Speaker 1: found out that there are actually tribes that live not
5:17
Speaker 1: far from civilization in many territories around the country. Most
5:22
Speaker 1: often they do not like any outsiders or unknown people
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Speaker 1: traveling or living in their territory. There are stories of
5:29
Speaker 1: them attacking campers or burning their campsite to force them away.
5:34
Speaker 1: Given these possible actions, I think James and I actually
5:38
Speaker 1: got lucky with our encounter. Nowadays we do a lot
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Speaker 1: more research in the areas we plan to explore, making
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Speaker 1: sure that the uncharted territories we camp in don't belong
5:50
Speaker 1: to someone else. I'm a twenty nine year old male
6:04
Speaker 1: and was out last year in northern Washington or a
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Speaker 1: solo vacation. None of my friends enjoy camping at all,
6:10
Speaker 1: though I probably wouldn't want to be out camping with
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Speaker 1: them all the time even if they did. It was
6:16
Speaker 1: something I'd been doing alone all my life, and I
6:19
Speaker 1: found it to be my way of enjoying life stress
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Speaker 1: and worry free. Washington was one of my favorite camping states,
6:26
Speaker 1: as it had tons of forest areas and mountains and
6:29
Speaker 1: was overall just an amazing state to be in. For
6:33
Speaker 1: this trip. I decided on a three day to night
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Speaker 1: camping trail. Basically, I would hike during the day, then
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Speaker 1: camp at night, and repeat that over the course of
6:42
Speaker 1: the trail. The first day and night went well, nothing
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Speaker 1: significant at all. I hiked a good portion of the path,
6:50
Speaker 1: then set up camp off the side. I woke up
6:54
Speaker 1: early in the morning, right at sunrise and crawled out
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Speaker 1: of my small tent. I started repacking everything I had
7:00
Speaker 1: taken out, then started pulling the rods from the tent
7:03
Speaker 1: and folding it up. As I did this, though, I
7:07
Speaker 1: noticed the grass behind the tent was pushed down. Walking
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Speaker 1: up to it, it was a footprint. I looked at
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Speaker 1: it for a second, then looked up and around at
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Speaker 1: the trees. It had clearly been made recently, most likely
7:22
Speaker 1: last night while I was sleeping. Not seeing anyone, I
7:26
Speaker 1: looked back down and started following the prince. They were
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Speaker 1: pretty well defined prints, and they led straight to the path.
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Speaker 1: It was confusing, especially since I was on a camping
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Speaker 1: trail and my camp site was a good distance away
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Speaker 1: from the main path. From the tracks, though, whoever it
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Speaker 1: was seemed to just walk away after noticing my tent.
7:48
Speaker 1: After packing my tent, I did a quick perimeter check
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Speaker 1: around the site to make sure there were no other footprints,
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Speaker 1: then got back on the trail and continued along. Most
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Speaker 1: of the trail was beaten dirt or gravel, All footprints
8:00
Speaker 1: showed up well. Strangely, though, there were no footprints all
8:05
Speaker 1: the way along the trail. As I walked the second half,
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Speaker 1: I wondered where that person could have gone, knowing this
8:11
Speaker 1: was really just a one way trail. After a while, though,
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Speaker 1: I had forgotten about it and was just letting my
8:17
Speaker 1: mind wander to other things. This portion of the hike
8:21
Speaker 1: had amazing views, so I took my time and just
8:24
Speaker 1: took in the nature around me. Eventually the sun started setting, though,
8:29
Speaker 1: and I had to set up camp again. I chose
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Speaker 1: to go deeper into the forest this time, hoping no
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Speaker 1: one would pay me a visit like they had the
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Speaker 1: previous night. Once I got the tent set up, I
8:40
Speaker 1: made a small fire pit and sat on the ground
8:42
Speaker 1: next to it. Watching the sunset by a campfire is
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Speaker 1: one of the most calming things. It really brings your
8:48
Speaker 1: mind to a better place. But that didn't last for long.
8:53
Speaker 1: Once the sun was almost fully set, I heard something
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Speaker 1: walking towards me. From the trees behind the tent. They
9:04
Speaker 1: were slow, soft footsteps, and the closer they came, the
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Speaker 1: more recognizable they were as a human's footsteps. I quickly
9:14
Speaker 1: grabbed my bag and pulled out my heavy flashlight along
9:16
Speaker 1: with my handgun, shining a beam of light into the
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Speaker 1: dark forest. The footsteps stopped. I moved the light around,
9:25
Speaker 1: scanning the whole area. For nearly thirty minutes, I was
9:29
Speaker 1: standing by the fire, looking in every direction. I was terrified.
9:34
Speaker 1: I never heard the steps departing, which made me really
9:37
Speaker 1: scared and nervous that someone was watching me. Still, I
9:41
Speaker 1: didn't know what to do. I was alone and helpless,
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Speaker 1: with nowhere to go for safety. I thought about going
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Speaker 1: back to the path, but I was too terrified to
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Speaker 1: go away from the campsite while it was so dark outside.
9:54
Speaker 1: I decided it had been long enough, though, and backed
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Speaker 1: into the tent. Tried to come up with every possible
10:01
Speaker 1: explanation of what it could have been, just to get
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Speaker 1: myself to calm down. I only lasted a couple minutes
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Speaker 1: in the tent, though, before I got really panicked and
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Speaker 1: paranoid due to not being able to see around me.
10:14
Speaker 1: I unzipped the tent and stepped out, and before I
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Speaker 1: could even turn on my flashlight, heavy footsteps sprinted away
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Speaker 1: towards the forest, coming right from the back of my tent.
10:25
Speaker 1: I turned around and frantically turned on the light, seeing
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Speaker 1: nothing but footprints in the dirt and grass. I was
10:32
Speaker 1: breathing heavily and my heart was racing as I stood
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Speaker 1: by the campfire and stared at the trees in silence.
10:40
Speaker 1: I sat by the campfire with my gun in hand
10:43
Speaker 1: for the rest of the night. I flinched at every
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Speaker 1: small sound, but eventually the sun came up and I
10:49
Speaker 1: felt a sense of safety. Looking at my tent in
10:53
Speaker 1: the sunlight, there were footprints again right behind it where
10:56
Speaker 1: I had heard the footsteps. I don't know how now
11:00
Speaker 1: I didn't hear them walking up to the tent, but
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Speaker 1: I knew I needed to go. I packed everything up
11:06
Speaker 1: and finished the hike before the sun went down. I
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Speaker 1: have no idea who was there, why they were watching me,
11:15
Speaker 1: or what they wanted. My husband and I took a
11:26
Speaker 1: road trip across the Pacific Northwest a few years back.
11:29
Speaker 1: The trip itself was two weeks, going from Tahoe City, California,
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Speaker 1: to Olympia, Washington. It was spring, and we were super
11:37
Speaker 1: excited because we loved the rain. We lived in Arizona
11:41
Speaker 1: for most of our life, so when we moved to
11:43
Speaker 1: California for my husband's new job, we wanted to go
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Speaker 1: on a trip and experience something besides desert. We drove
11:50
Speaker 1: a new mar Bay Star, which is an RV and
11:53
Speaker 1: for its time, it was really nice. We stopped at
11:56
Speaker 1: an RV park in Upper Oregon, where we planned to
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Speaker 1: stay for a few days, because Oregon happens to be
12:02
Speaker 1: one of my favorite states. It was really late and
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Speaker 1: my husband was showering while I was making grilled cheese
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Speaker 1: when I heard a knock at the door. We've stayed
12:13
Speaker 1: at a handful of our V parks and this kind
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Speaker 1: of thing has never happened, not unless you talk with
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Speaker 1: your neighbors beforehand and become friendly. But we had arrived
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Speaker 1: only half an hour ago and didn't talk or introduce
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Speaker 1: ourselves to anyone. I peeked out the curtain and didn't
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Speaker 1: see anyone. Ten or fifteen minutes go by, and I
12:33
Speaker 1: hear another knock. I peeked out the curtain again, and
12:36
Speaker 1: again I didn't see anyone. I hear the shower turn off,
12:41
Speaker 1: and I go to knock on the bathroom door to
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Speaker 1: ask my husband to check outside. But as I'm right
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Speaker 1: outside the door, I see a light shining through a
12:49
Speaker 1: window that's in our bedroom. I told my husband through
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Speaker 1: the door about what was happening, and he quickly got
12:55
Speaker 1: dressed and headed outside with a bat. He did a
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Speaker 1: perimeter check and said he didn't see anything. We moved
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Speaker 1: our r V to a different spot, a good amount
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Speaker 1: away from where we originally were. We sat down on
13:09
Speaker 1: the couch to watch a movie and eat our grilled cheese.
13:13
Speaker 1: My husband fell asleep after a while, and I started
13:15
Speaker 1: to clean up. I was washing dishes when I heard
13:18
Speaker 1: the door handle to the r V move, as if
13:21
Speaker 1: some one were trying to get in. I kind of
13:25
Speaker 1: froze and then it stopped. I woke my husband up
13:29
Speaker 1: and he checked outside the door, and again there was nothing.
13:34
Speaker 1: The park we were at wasn't the biggest, so there
13:37
Speaker 1: weren't many more spots we could move to, but we
13:40
Speaker 1: did anyways. We were both incredibly tired at this point
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Speaker 1: and going to another park wasn't an option. We parked
13:48
Speaker 1: as close to the exit as possible and everything seemed
13:51
Speaker 1: to be okay. My husband was about to pass out,
13:54
Speaker 1: and my gummy I had taken two hours ago had
13:57
Speaker 1: kicked in, and all I wanted to do was sleep.
14:00
Speaker 1: We kept the kitchen light on and the TV on
14:02
Speaker 1: low volume as a sort of deterrent, and went to bed.
14:09
Speaker 1: I was woken up by my husband tapping me aggressively.
14:13
Speaker 1: I opened my eyes to see him sitting on my
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Speaker 1: side of the bed. Apparently he had heard some loud
14:18
Speaker 1: noises outside, and when he peeked out of the window,
14:21
Speaker 1: he saw two guys with what looked like knives in
14:24
Speaker 1: their hands trying to pry open the front door. He
14:28
Speaker 1: had called the police and they'd be here soon. I
14:31
Speaker 1: got dressed and we waited listening to the two men outside,
14:35
Speaker 1: still scratching and prying at the front door. A few
14:40
Speaker 1: minutes of this goes by, and we can hear them
14:42
Speaker 1: getting more and more frustrated as time went on, but
14:46
Speaker 1: then the noises suddenly stopped. It was silent for another
14:51
Speaker 1: few minutes before the police finally pulled up, but the
14:55
Speaker 1: guides were nowhere to be found. The police said they'd
14:59
Speaker 1: ask around, but obviously nothing ever came of it. Another
15:03
Speaker 1: camper had a similar thing happened to them. It was
15:06
Speaker 1: also one of the only other nicer looking RVs in
15:09
Speaker 1: the park, so I'm pretty sure we were scouted. We
15:13
Speaker 1: left around seven am after the police were done taking reports.
15:18
Speaker 1: Nothing was taken or significantly damaged, so it didn't affect
15:22
Speaker 1: us that much, but it was still a very scary experience.
15:27
Speaker 1: We wound up at a different RV part with better
15:30
Speaker 1: views and added an extra lazy day to our trip.
15:34
Speaker 1: I'm very thankful that our RV had a tight lock
15:37
Speaker 1: on it, seeing as how there's no way they couldn't
15:40
Speaker 1: have known we were inside. Tells me that they weren't
15:43
Speaker 1: just looking to rob us, and if that lock had broke,
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Speaker 1: I most likely wouldn't be here today. A