Latest / True Horror Stories / 3 Unnerving Forest Hiking & Camping Horror Stories That Will Keep You Paranoid

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3 Unnerving Forest Hiking & Camping Horror Stories That Will Keep You Paranoid · True Horror Stories

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: My brother Jason, and I moved out to Colorado several
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: years back. We both wanted to live by the mountains,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: but neither of us could afford to on our own,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: so we split the rent on a town home in
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the suburbs right outside of Denver. This worked out perfectly
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: because we were only ten to fifteen minutes away from
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: a huge line of mountains. One thing I will mention
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: about these nearby hiking and camping trails, though, is that
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: they're pretty packed. It's so accessible to everyone around and
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: to tourists that almost any time of the year it's
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: hard to find solitude. Because of this, me and my
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: brother decided to plan a three day backpacking trip that
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: would take us away from the crowd of people and
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: hopefully give us some peace in quiet. I trusted him
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: to route our trip, and a couple weeks later we
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: drove down to the trailhead. Only one other car was
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: parked there when we arrived. It was some old looking
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: suv covered in dust, looking like it had been through
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: a rough drive. Seeing as it was likely only one
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: other person was hiking this route, we went in with
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: a positive attitude. The first day of backpacking was an
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: eight mile hike. Most of the terrain was actually flat
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: until we got to the last couple miles, where we
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: started up a mountainside. It was pretty tiring, but Jason
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: promised that the camp site would be worth it, and
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: it turned out he wasn't lying at all. About three
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: quarters up the mountain, there was a small flat area
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: right on the side of the cliff with a view
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: of the whole valley. It was stunning, especially with the
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: sun starting to set. After taking in the view, we
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: started pitching our tents, then gathered up some sticks and
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: stones to make a fire pit with. Once the fire
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: was going, we sat down and just talked. I don't
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: even have any idea how long. We were talking for
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: at least two hours or something. When we both heard
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: something from the trail. We instantly went silent, listening as
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: footsteps started making their way up the trail in toward
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: our campsite. A minute later, a man came out of
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the dark and into the far light coming from our fire.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: He wasn't wearing a headlamp, which every hiker and camper
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: knows is an absolute must when there's even the possibility
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: of being out in the dark. As he walked up,
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: I think. Both Jason and I knew something was wrong.
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: He had a grin on his face just as he
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: approached the campfire. Hey, did you need something, Jason asked,
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: standing up. The man looked at Jason, then at me,
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: keeping his grin as he started to explain himself. He
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: said he was a park ranger and had been following
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: our trail for a while. He said this section had
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: been closed off for the season and we couldn't be here.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Something was really off, though, because we knew this park
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: was open, and we had even gotten permits from the
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: state the day prior to camping out there. We also
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: knew that park rangers would not be out here in
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: the middle of a mountain trail at night. But if
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: he wasn't who he said he was, then what was
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: he doing out here? I could tell Jason's mind was
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: racing two as we both looked at the man and
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: started asking questions, but he cut us off quickly. You
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: both need to leave with me right now. Pack up
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: and follow me. I'll lead you guys back to the trailhead.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: We stood there in silence for a moment, taking in
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: what he just said and realizing that there was something
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: seriously wrong. Here. The man still stayed by the fire,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: with that same grin on his face. No, we're staying here,
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Jason said. The man looked at him again, then at me,
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: keeping that same eerie grin, as he just turned around
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: and walked away. Terrified, we didn't even speak for a
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: few minutes, just listening to make sure he didn't come back.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Then we grabbed some more dry sticks and rekindled the fire.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: Neither of us were sleeping. We stayed up the entire night,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: sometimes hearing what we thought were footsteps again, but never
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: seeing the man. Once the sun was up, we packed
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: and left, cutting our trip short and retracing the trail
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: back to our car. When we got back, that same
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: dusty suv was there, which got us both wondering if
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: that hiker had run into the same man as us,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: and what happened to them. We notified the police, but
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: ultimately found nothing out of it. There was no doubt
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: the man was lying about being a park ranger, but
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: the fact that he tried to lead us out into
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: the woods in the middle of the night means he
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: was likely trying something horrible. What that was we don't know,
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: but it seems like the other hiker may have been
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: unfortunate enough to find out. I used to go camping
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: all the time with some of my buddies from college,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: but once we graduated, we could never find time anymore.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: Everyone's schedules were different, so I ended up going out
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: on my own. There was a camping ground that we
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: used to go to a lot, so I played it
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: safe and went to that same place. It was somewhat
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: far out and not the easiest to get to, but
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: that's why I liked it. Nobody would ever be there
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: because there were a lot of easier options nearby to
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: camp at. Knowing the route, I got there no problem
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: and set all of my stuff up. Not long after, though,
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: a man showed up. He looked like any other hiker,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: but he only had a small backpack, so definitely no
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: tent or camping gear. The only thing that had me
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: questioning why he was here was that this wasn't a
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: very scenic spot or anything. It was a nice place
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: to camp because it was an open area with trees around,
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: but if you're not camping, then there would be no
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: reason to hike all the way out here. I didn't
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: think all that much about it at the time because
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: the man seemed normal enough. Maybe he just wanted a
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: quiet space to relax for a bit. I stayed by
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: my tent and the man stayed on the other side
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: of the campgrounds. Around six I walked away from my
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: tent to cook my food, and it was around this
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: time that I saw the man finally leave. I thought
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: it was a little late to be walking back, because
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: it was going to be completely dark in less than
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: an hour and the hike was probably three hours. Other
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: than that, I was just happy to be alone now.
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: I boiled some water with my mini stove and made
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: one of my freeze dried meals, then went back near
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: my tent and sat down. The sun was just about gone,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: so I brought out a small lantern and hung it
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: on the side of the tent. As I stayed outside
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: and took in the atmosphere, it suddenly hit me that
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: I was alone out there, and that usually this is
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: when we'd all gather around and talk by a campfire,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: but by myself, I didn't really have anything to do.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: After a while, I turned off the lantern and went
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: inside my tent, laying down and turning in for the night.
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Sometime in the middle of the night, I woke up
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: to the sound of footsteps nearby. When I opened my eyes,
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: it was pitch black, and I had no idea how
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: long I'd been asleep for, but the footsteps came closer
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: and closer, until they stopped on the other end of
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: the campground. After a few seconds, I felt around for
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: my lantern and turned it on, then unzipped the tent
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: and looked out. Twenty or so feet from my tent.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: There was the shape of a man standing right by
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: where I'd seen the guy from earlier standing, and from
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: what I can make out, it was likely the same person,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: but they were just standing there, not doing anything. It
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: was far enough into the night that this was immediately disturbing,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: no matter the context, and having turned my lantern on,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: he definitely saw me. Hey, are you okay, I called
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: out to him. I waited a couple seconds, but he
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: didn't show any signs of acknowledging me. I couldn't even
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: tell which direction he was facing, but he was either
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: facing away from me or directly at me, and I
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: don't even know which way was more disturbing. I reached
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: for my pocket knife from my backpack, then did the
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: only thing I could do, which was stay sitting there
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: and wait. The most increasingly uneasy fifteen minutes of my
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: life passed as I looked at this man standing there
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: and barely move before he suddenly turned and walked off
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: in the same direction he had gone before. And I
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: could see from the way his figure moved when he
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: turned that he had been facing me, so that whole
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: time he was there, he was just staring at me.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: I felt chills run through me as the man's footsteps
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: got quieter and quieter, fading out in the distance. I
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: didn't know what else to do other than stay up
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: in case he came back, and as far as I know,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: he never did. I left in the morning and got
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: back safely. But since then I haven't been out camping.
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: I don't know what that man was doing, but there's
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: no world in which that wasn't extremely disturbing. Maybe I
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: scared him off by waking up and watching him to
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: make sure he didn't do anything, but that just terrifies
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: me to think about. If I hadn't woken up that night,
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: I was out camping in the back country near where
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: I lived. I'm not much of a hiker, so I
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: never take trails more than a mile or two. This
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: one was just over a mile from the camp site
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: to the trailhead where my car was parked. I'd been
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: spending the weekend there camping out by the lake and
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: was planning on staying for another two nights. On the
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: third day, I spent the morning hiking back to my
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: truck and grabbing my fishing rod and some spare food,
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: then hiking back to the camp. I thought i'd try
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: my luck at fishing while I had the time. When
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: I got back to the camp, though, there was another
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: tent set up. It was farther down on the edge
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: of the lake, and I didn't see anyone by it.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: Initially I didn't care, but then it came through my
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: mind that I hadn't seen anyone on the only trail
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: leading to this part of the lake. Then again, there
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: could be some other path that I just didn't know about.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: Whatever the case, I set up my rod and got
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: to fishing. Every twenty ish minutes, i'd glance over at
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: the tent on the side of the lake, but at
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: no point during the three hours I was out there
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: did I see anyone. Once the sun was starting to
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: get lower, I packed up my rod and went back
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: to my tent. I ate and got some sticks for
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: the campfire, then waited for it to get a little
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: darker before lighting it up. As soon as I did,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: I saw someone's shadow move in the forest ahead of me.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: They were just far enough for the light to not
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: reach them, so after that quick glimpse, all I could
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: see was total darkness. I made the assumption that it
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: was the person with the tent down by the lake,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: probably gathering sticks for a fire. It was weird that
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: just when I lit up my campfire, they were right
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: outside my camp but I chose to not overthink it.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: I leaned back in my chair and reli looking at
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: the fire, the sky, and the lake. It was so
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: calming I almost wanted to fall asleep in the chair.
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: But just a half hour later I looked past the
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: fire and saw several figures coming from the forest. Once
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: they were closer, I counted four men, all coming right
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: up to my campsite. There was a lot going through
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: my head, but I tried to suppress any nervous feelings
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: and hoped it was just a nearby camping group in
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: need of help or something. When they came into the light,
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: I could see that they were all in their thirties
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: or forties and had straight faces. Once they were just
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: a few feet from me and were still walking, I
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: got up from my chair and nervously began asking what
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: they needed. None of them responded, only continuing to walk up.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Two of them went behind me, going straight from my tent,
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: as the other two pushed me aside. There was no
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: doubt what was going on now, but I knew fighting
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: back would only make things worse. I watched the two
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: men start searching through my things as the other two
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: continued to push me further away. I tried saying anything
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: I could, but the men had an emptiness to their
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: eyes that showed they did not care at all. I
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: was telling myself in my head to just stay calm
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: and let them take what they want, but the two
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: men kept pushing and dragging me further and further out
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: away from the camp site and away from the light.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: After a minute, I could barely see where we were
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: going and couldn't hear anything but our footsteps in the
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: silent forest. Then we stopped. I turned and faced them,
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: and as we stood in the darkness between the trees,
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: all my fears just hit me. At once. One of
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: them reached for something and I instantly took off running.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: All I could hear were my footsteps pounding against the
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: leaves and grass. As I got further out, I still
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: had a general sense of direction, so I tried to
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: get back to the trail. When I did, I went
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: straight from my truck, and from what I could tell,
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: nobody followed me. I reported the case to the police,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: but in the end almost all my stuff was stolen
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: and no trace was left to help figure out who
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: they were. What they were dragging me out into the
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: forest to do is probably obvious, so I think I
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: was beyond lucky. I've made it out with my life.