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Ten Hikers Heard the Same Voice in the Appalachian Woods | Horror Stories · Appalachian Horror | Horror Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to Park Ranger Files.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, and today we're diving deep into the
• 0:04
  Speaker 2: shadowy heart of America's most infamous hiking trail, the Appalachian Trail.
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  Speaker 2: Before we begin, if you're new here, we document the strange,
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  Speaker 2: the terrifying, and the unexplained from America's wilderness areas. Make
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  Speaker 1: Story one. My name is Marcus, and I've been an
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  Speaker 1: experienced backcountry hiker for over 15 years.
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  Speaker 2: I've walked trails from the Pacific Crest to the Continental Divide.
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  Speaker 2: But nothing, and I mean nothing, prepared me for what
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  Speaker 2: happened in the Appalachians. During October of 2019, I was
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: doing a solo section hike through Tennessee, specifically through a
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: remote stretch near the North Carolina border.
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  Speaker 1: The weather forecast had been perfect.
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  Speaker 2: Crisp autumn air, clear skies, and that beautiful foliage that
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: draws photographers from all over the world. I'd planned a
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  Speaker 2: five-day trek, staying at established shelters along the way. The
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: first two days were exactly what I'd hoped for. The
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: trail was moderately challenging, the views were spectacular, and I
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  Speaker 2: only encountered a handful of other hikers. On the third day,
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  Speaker 2: I decided to take a detour. There was an old,
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  Speaker 2: barely-maintained side trail marked on my map that led to
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  Speaker 2: a series of limestone caves. The notation said they were
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  Speaker 2: worth seeing, and since I had extra time, I figured,
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  Speaker 2: why not? The side trail was overgrown, clearly not used
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  Speaker 2: much anymore. Branches scraped against my pack as I pushed
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  Speaker 2: through dense underbrush. After about two miles, the forest opened
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  Speaker 2: up to a rocky outcropping, and I could see the
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  Speaker 2: dark mouths of several cave entrances carved into the hillside.
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  Speaker 2: They weren't large, maybe six feet high at most, but
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  Speaker 2: there were at least a dozen of them visible from
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  Speaker 2: where I stood.
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  Speaker 1: I approached the nearest cave, pulling out my headlamp.
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  Speaker 2: The entrance was partially obscured by vines and moss, giving
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  Speaker 2: it an ancient, forgotten quality. As I stood there deciding
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  Speaker 2: whether to explore, I heard something that made my skin crawl.
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  Speaker 1: Singing.
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  Speaker 2: It was faint, almost like a whisper carried on the wind,
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  Speaker 2: but it was definitely singing. Female voices, maybe three or
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  Speaker 2: four of them, harmonizing in a way that sounded both
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  Speaker 2: beautiful and deeply wrong. The melody was unfamiliar, not quite
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  Speaker 2: a hymn, not quite a folk song, but something in between.
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  Speaker 2: And it was coming from inside the caves, My first
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  Speaker 2: thought was that other hikers had set up camp inside,
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  Speaker 2: maybe a group of women enjoying the acoustics. But something
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  Speaker 2: about the sound didn't sit right. It was too perfect,
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  Speaker 2: too synchronized. And there was a quality to it that
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  Speaker 2: I can only describe as inhuman. The voices had a
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  Speaker 2: resonance that human vocal cords shouldn't be able to produce.
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  Speaker 2: I called out, hello, anyone there? The singing stopped immediately.
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  Speaker 2: The silence that followed was absolute. No birds, no wind,
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  Speaker 2: no insects. just dead air that pressed against my eardrums
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  Speaker 2: like I was underwater. Then one by one I heard footsteps,
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  Speaker 2: not from one cave, but from.
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  Speaker 1: All of them. Slow, deliberate footsteps that.
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  Speaker 2: Echoed in perfect unison, moving toward the cave entrances. I
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  Speaker 2: counted the rhythm in my head, step, pause, step, pause.
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  Speaker 2: Whatever was making those sounds was coordinating their movements. I
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  Speaker 2: didn't wait to see what emerged. I turned and ran
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  Speaker 2: back down that overgrown trail, faster than I've ever run
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  Speaker 2: in my life. Branches whipped across my face, my pack
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  Speaker 2: bounced painfully against my spine, but I didn't slow down.
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  Speaker 2: Behind me, the singing started again, but this time it
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  Speaker 2: was angry. The harmonies had become discordant, clashing against.
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  Speaker 1: Each other in a way that physically hurt to hear.
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  Speaker 2: I burst back onto the main trail and kept running
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  Speaker 2: until my lungs felt like they were going to burst.
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  Speaker 2: When I finally stopped, gasping for air and checking behind me,
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  Speaker 2: there was nothing. No followers, No singing, just the normal
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  Speaker 2: sounds of the forest returning. Here's the thing that really
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  Speaker 2: terrifies me. When I got back to civilization and looked
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  Speaker 2: at my map more carefully, I couldn't find any notation
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  Speaker 2: about caves.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing.
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  Speaker 2: I even went to the local ranger station and asked
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  Speaker 2: about limestone caves in that area. The ranger looked at
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  Speaker 2: me confused and said there weren't any significant cave systems
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  Speaker 2: along that section of trail. According to him, the geology
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  Speaker 2: was all wrong for it.
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  Speaker 1: But I know what I saw. I know what I heard.
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  Speaker 2: And sometimes late at night, I still hear those voices
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  Speaker 2: in my dreams, singing that wrong melody that no human
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  Speaker 2: throat should be able to produce. I've never gone back
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  Speaker 2: to that part of the trail, and I never will.
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: If you've made it this far, you're clearly as fascinated
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  Speaker 2: by these stories as I am. But before we continue,
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  Speaker 2: I need your help. We're trying to reach 1,000 subscribers
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  Speaker 2: here on Park Ranger Files, and every subscription helps us
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: continue documenting these incredible accounts. So if you're enjoying the content,
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  Speaker 2: please hit that subscribe button now. Also, drop a comment
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: below and tell me, have you ever heard unexplained singing
• 5:02
  Speaker 2: or music in the wilderness? I read every comment, and
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: your experiences might be featured in a future video. Now
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: let's move on to our next story, story two. This
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  Speaker 2: account comes from a woman named Jennifer, who was through
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  Speaker 2: hiking the Appalachian Trail in the spring of 2016. She
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  Speaker 2: was traveling with a hiking partner named Melissa, and they'd
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: been on the trail for about three weeks when this
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  Speaker 2: incident occurred. Jennifer's written account reads, Melissa and I.
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  Speaker 1: Had developed a good rhythm by our third week.
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  Speaker 2: We'd wake up at dawn, hike until early afternoon, then
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  Speaker 2: set up camp and relax for the evening. We weren't
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  Speaker 2: trying to break any speed records. We just wanted to
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  Speaker 2: enjoy the experience and take in the scenery. One particular night,
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  Speaker 2: we'd set up our tents near a shelter in Virginia.
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  Speaker 2: There were a few other hikers there, a couple from
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  Speaker 2: Vermont and a solo guy who was doing a section hike.
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  Speaker 2: We all shared dinner together, swapped trail stories, and turned
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  Speaker 2: in early. The shelter was full, so Melissa and I
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  Speaker 2: had pitched our tents about 50 yards away in a
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  Speaker 2: flat clearing. Around midnight, I woke up to the sound
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  Speaker 2: of footsteps.
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  Speaker 1: Crunching on leaves. Not unusual.
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  Speaker 2: People get up to use the bathroom all the time.
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  Speaker 2: But these footsteps were different. They were fast, almost jogging pace,
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  Speaker 2: and they were getting closer. I unzipped my tent flap
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  Speaker 2: slightly and peered out. What I saw defied his explanation.
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  Speaker 2: There was a figure moving along the trail, but it
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  Speaker 2: wasn't walking normally. It was moving in this strange, jerky manner,
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  Speaker 2: like a video that's skipping frames. One second it would
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  Speaker 2: be 20 feet away, the next it would be 10
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  Speaker 2: feet closer, but I never saw the actual movement between positions.
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  Speaker 2: It's like my brain couldn't process the transition. The figure
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  Speaker 2: looked human-shaped but wrong, too tall, too thin, with limbs
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  Speaker 2: that bent at angles that didn't match human anatomy. It
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: was dressed in what looked like hiking clothes, a backpack, pants, boots,
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  Speaker 2: but everything about it was just slightly off. The proportions
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  Speaker 2: were wrong. As it got closer, I could see its
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  Speaker 2: head turning, scanning the area like it was looking for something.
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  Speaker 2: When it faced my direction, I saw that where its
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  Speaker 2: face should be, there was just darkness. Not shadow, not
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  Speaker 2: a mask, just an absence of features. Like someone had
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  Speaker 2: erased that part of reality. It stopped directly between my
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  Speaker 2: tent and Melissa's. Just stood there, perfectly still, head slowly rotating.
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  Speaker 1: Like a security camera. I was frozen, not even breathing,
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  Speaker 1: praying it wouldn't notice me. Then it did.
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  Speaker 2: Something that still gives me nightmares. It leaned down, not bent,
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  Speaker 2: but leaned, like its spine was made of rubber, and
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  Speaker 2: pressed that featureless face right up against the side of
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  Speaker 2: Melissa's tent. I could see the fabric indent where its
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  Speaker 2: face should be touching. It stayed like that for at
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  Speaker 2: least 30 seconds, completely motionless, Then, just as suddenly as
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  Speaker 2: it had appeared, it straightened up and continued down the
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  Speaker 2: trail in that same jerky, impossible way. Within seconds, it
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  Speaker 2: had disappeared into the darkness. I didn't sleep the rest
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  Speaker 2: of that night. I just sat there, clutching my knife,
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  Speaker 2: waiting for dawn. When the sun finally came up, I
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  Speaker 2: immediately went to check on Melissa. She was still asleep,
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  Speaker 2: completely unaware of what had happened. I told her everything
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  Speaker 2: over breakfast.
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  Speaker 1: She believed me.
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  Speaker 2: She could see how shaken I was, but She hadn't
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  Speaker 2: experienced it herself. We asked the other hikers if they'd
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  Speaker 2: seen anything, but they all said no. The couple had
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  Speaker 2: slept through the night, and the solo guy said he'd
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  Speaker 2: gotten up once around midnight to pee, but hadn't seen
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  Speaker 2: anything unusual. We seriously considered getting off the trail right then,
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  Speaker 2: but we'd invested so much into this hike already.
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  Speaker 1: We decided to continue, but with a new rule. We'd
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  Speaker 1: only camp at.
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  Speaker 2: Popular shelters with lots of other people around. We finished
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  Speaker 2: the trail without another incident, but I never felt truly
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  Speaker 2: safe again.
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  Speaker 1: The worst part?
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  Speaker 2: Two months after we finished, I was scrolling through an
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  Speaker 2: online forum for Appalachian trail hikers, and I found a
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  Speaker 2: post from 2011. Someone described seeing the exact same thing.
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  Speaker 2: A jerky, impossibly tall figure with no face, moving along
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  Speaker 2: the trail at midnight. Same location, same description, everything. And
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  Speaker 2: in the comments, three other people said they'd seen it too,
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  Speaker 2: all at different times, all in that same section of
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  Speaker 2: Virginia Trail, Whatever that thing was, it's still out there,
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  Speaker 2: still walking that trail at midnight, still looking for something.
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  Speaker 1: I just hope it never finds what it's searching for.
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  Speaker 1: Story three. This story was told to me by an older.
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  Speaker 2: Gentleman named Robert, who had been a trail maintainer for
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  Speaker 2: a volunteer organization in Pennsylvania during the 1990s. He's since
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  Speaker 2: passed away, but his daughter gave me permission to share
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  Speaker 2: his account. Robert wrote, In the summer of 1997, I
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  Speaker 2: was responsible for maintaining a 15-mile stretch of trail in
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  Speaker 2: central Pennsylvania. It wasn't glamorous work. clearing fallen trees, marking paths,
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  Speaker 2: maintaining water sources.
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  Speaker 1: But I enjoyed it.
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  Speaker 2: It got me out of the house, kept me active,
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  Speaker 2: and I felt like I was contributing something meaningful. There
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  Speaker 2: was this one spot along my section, though, that always
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  Speaker 2: made me uncomfortable. It was a sharp bend in the
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  Speaker 2: trail where the path made a 90-degree turn around a
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  Speaker 2: massive old oak tree. The tree had to be at
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  Speaker 2: least 300 years old, with a trunk so wide that
• 10:26
  Speaker 2: three people couldn't have linked arms around it. Someone had
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  Speaker 2: carved initials into it decades ago, but the letters were
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: so old and overgrown that they were barely legible. The
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  Speaker 2: area around that tree always felt wrong. Temperature would drop
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  Speaker 2: noticeably when you got close, even on hot summer days.
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  Speaker 2: Animals avoided it, no birds nesting nearby, no squirrels, not
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  Speaker 2: even insects. and hikers would often mention feeling watched when
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  Speaker 2: they passed it. One August afternoon, I was doing my
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  Speaker 2: regular maintenance rounds when I came across a hiker sitting
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  Speaker 2: beneath that oak tree. He was young, maybe early 20s,
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  Speaker 2: with a full pack and expensive-looking gear. But something about
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  Speaker 2: him seemed off. His clothes were muddy and torn. His
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  Speaker 2: face was scratched up pretty badly. And he had this wild,
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  Speaker 2: desperate look in his eyes. I approached him and asked
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  Speaker 2: if he was okay. He looked at me like he.
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  Speaker 1: Hadn't seen another person in weeks.
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  Speaker 2: Even though there's a popular shelter less than two miles
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  Speaker 2: from that spot, where dozens of hikers pass through daily.
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  Speaker 1: I can't leave, he said. His voice was hoarse, barely
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  Speaker 1: above a whisper. It won't let me leave. I asked
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  Speaker 1: him what he meant, and he told me the strangest story.
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  Speaker 2: He said he'd gotten lost three days earlier, went off
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  Speaker 2: trail to pee, and couldn't find his way back. He'd
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  Speaker 2: wandered for hours before ending up at this tree. When
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  Speaker 2: he tried to continue hiking, he'd somehow ended up back
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  Speaker 2: at the same tree, Over and over again, no matter
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  Speaker 2: which direction he walked, he'd always end up back here
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  Speaker 2: within 30 minutes. Now, I've been in those woods my
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  Speaker 2: entire life. It's not a particularly confusing area. The trail
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  Speaker 2: is well marked, and even if you get turned around,
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  Speaker 2: you should be able to find your way back or
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: at least reach a road within a few hours. But
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  Speaker 2: this kid seemed genuinely terrified. I told him I'd lead
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  Speaker 2: him back to the main trail myself. We started walking,
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  Speaker 2: and I was very careful to mark our path and
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  Speaker 2: keep track of our direction.
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  Speaker 1: But here's where it gets strange.
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  Speaker 2: After about 20 minutes of hiking, I looked back to
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  Speaker 2: check on him, and he was gone.
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  Speaker 1: Just vanished.
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  Speaker 2: I called out for him, searched the area, but there
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  Speaker 2: was no sign of him anywhere. I figured maybe he'd
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  Speaker 2: sprinted ahead or took a bathroom break without telling me.
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  Speaker 2: So I continued to the shelter to see if he'd
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  Speaker 2: shown up there.
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  Speaker 1: He hadn't.
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  Speaker 2: I reported the missing hiker to the rangers, gave them
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  Speaker 2: a description, but they never found anyone matching it. No
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  Speaker 2: missing person reports came in. No abandoned vehicles at nearby trailheads.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing.
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  Speaker 2: A week later, I was back at that same oak
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  Speaker 2: tree for maintenance, and I found something that made my
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  Speaker 2: blood run cold. Scratched into the bark, fresh enough that
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: sap was still oozing from the cuts, was a message.
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  Speaker 1: The tree takes one every seven years. It took me.
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  Speaker 1: Don't make a trade.
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  Speaker 2: I immediately reported this to the rangers, but they dismissed
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  Speaker 2: it as vandalism or a prank.
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  Speaker 1: But I knew better.
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  Speaker 2: I did some research at the local library, looking through
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: old newspaper archives.
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  Speaker 1: And I found a pattern.
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  Speaker 2: Every seven years, going back to at least the 1940s,
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  Speaker 2: someone would go missing in that exact area. Not just
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: any disappearance. These were experienced hikers. People who knew the woods.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Who had proper equipment and supplies. And they all vanished
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  Speaker 2: near that oak tree. The cases would always go cold,
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: with no body ever found.
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: 1947, 1954, 1961, 1968, 1975, 1982, 1989, 1996.
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  Speaker 2: The pattern was consistent. In 1997, when I met that
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: young hiker, would have been the next cycle. The most
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  Speaker 2: disturbing part?
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  Speaker 1: In 1989, the missing hiker was eventually found.
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  Speaker 2: Not alive, but his body was discovered eight years later
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: in 1997. Leaning against that oak tree, like he'd just
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: sat down for a rest. The coroner determined he'd only
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: been dead for a few hours, even though he'd been
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: missing for eight years. The explanation was that animals had
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: preserved the body, that it was a cold-weather phenomenon. But
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: anyone who saw the body said it looked like he'd
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: died that same day. I stopped maintaining that section of
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: trail after that summer and told the organization I was
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: too old, needed to cut back on physical activity. But
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: the truth was I couldn't go near that tree anymore.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: And every seven years, I check the news reports. 2004, 2011, 2018.
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Each time, someone disappears in that same area. We're coming
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: up on 2025 now. If the pattern holds, someone will
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: vanish near that tree this summer. I've tried warning people,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: tried getting the trail rerouted, but.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: No one listens. They think I'm just a paranoid old man.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: But I know the truth. That tree is hungry, and
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: it's patient.
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  Speaker 2: It'll wait another seven years, and another seven after that,
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: Feeding on whoever is unlucky enough to be in the
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: wrong place at the wrong time. Whatever you do, if
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: you're hiking in central Pennsylvania and you come across a
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: massive oak tree with a sharp bend in the trail,
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: don't stop.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: Don't rest. And for God's sake, don't make a trade.
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Story four.
• 15:33
  Speaker 2: This account comes from a hiker named Thomas, who had
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: this experience in 2018.
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: While doing a section hike through North Carolina. Thomas' statements.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: I'd been planning my Appalachian Trail section hike for months.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: I'm not a novice.
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: I'd done plenty of backpacking trips before. But this was
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: my first time on the AT. I was excited and
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: maybe a little overconfident. My plan was to hike from
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: Hot Springs, North Carolina to Irwin, Tennessee over the course
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: of five days. It's a beautiful section with some challenging
• 16:03
  Speaker 2: elevation changes, but nothing I thought I couldn't handle. I'd
• 16:07
  Speaker 2: plotted out where I'd spend each night, memorized the locations
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: of shelters and campsites, and packed everything I needed.
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  Speaker 1: Day three was when everything went wrong.
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  Speaker 2: I'd been making good time, maybe even better than expected,
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  Speaker 2: and I reached what I thought was my planned shelter
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  Speaker 2: around four in the afternoon.
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  Speaker 1: The sun was still up. I had plenty of daylight left.
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  Speaker 2: But I was tired and figured I'd just settle in early,
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  Speaker 2: enjoy a hot meal, and get a good night's sleep.
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  Speaker 2: The shelter was empty when I arrived, which wasn't unusual
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: for a Wednesday in September. It looked like a standard
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: AT shelter. Three wooden walls, an open front, a raised
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: sleeping platform. a fire pit out front. There was even
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: a trail register book, which I signed with my trail
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  Speaker 2: name and the date. I set up my sleeping bag
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: on the platform, cooked dinner, and watched the sunset. Everything
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: seemed normal. As twilight faded to darkness, I climbed into
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: my sleeping bag and dozed off. I woke up around
• 17:02
  Speaker 2: midnight to the sound of voices, muffled conversation, like people
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: talking quietly so as not to disturb other sleepers.
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  Speaker 1: I figured other hikers had arrived late and were trying
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: to be considerate.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't open my eyes, just tried to go back
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: to sleep. But the voices didn't stop. They kept talking,
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: the same low.
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  Speaker 1: Murmur, going on and on.
• 17:23
  Speaker 2: After about ten minutes, I realized something strange. I couldn't
• 17:26
  Speaker 2: make out any actual words. It was just sound, vocal
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: inflections without language. Like listening to a conversation in a dream,
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: where you understand the meaning without comprehending the words. I
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: opened my eyes and immediately knew something was very wrong.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: The shelter was full of people.
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: At least a dozen figures were crowded onto the sleeping platform,
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: all facing away from me, all having the soundless conversation.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: They were dressed in old-fashioned hiking clothes, canvas packs, leather boots,
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: wool shirts, the kind of gear you'd see in photos
• 17:57
  Speaker 2: from the 1950s or 60s. I tried to move, to
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: sit up, but I was paralyzed. Not sleep paralysis, I
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: was fully awake and aware. I just couldn't make my
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: body respond. All I could do was watch as these
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: figures continued their silent conference. Then, one by one, they
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: turned to face me. And where their faces should have been,
• 18:16
  Speaker 2: there was just smooth skin.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: No eyes, no nose, no mouth.
• 18:21
  Speaker 2: Just blank expanses of flesh that somehow conveyed they were
• 18:24
  Speaker 2: looking directly at me. They all stood up simultaneously, in
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: perfect synchronization, and began walking toward the edge of the shelter.
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: Not toward the open front, but toward the back wooden wall.
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: And they didn't stop. They walked right through the wall.
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: Like it wasn't there, disappearing one after another, until I
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: was alone again. The moment the last figure vanished, I
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: could move again. I grabbed my stuff, didn't even bother
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: rolling up my sleeping bag properly, just stuffed it into
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: my pack and ran. I used my headlamp to follow
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: the trail markers, hiking through the night until I reached
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: the next shelter around dawn. There were two other hikers there,
• 19:04
  Speaker 2: and I must have looked like absolute hell because they
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: immediately asked if I was okay. I told them everything,
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: and they exchanged glances that clearly said they thought I'd
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: lost my mind.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: But then one of them, an older.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: Guy who'd been hiking the AT for years, asked me
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: to describe the shelter I'd stayed in.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: I gave him details. The shape, the fire pit, the
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: trail register book. His face went pale.
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: He pulled out his phone and showed me a photo.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: It was the same shelter, but the photo was dated
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: in 1983. According to him, that shelter had been torn
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: down and replaced in 1985 by... after it had become
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: structurally unsound. The new shelter was built a quarter mile
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: down the trail. I'd somehow spent the night in a
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: shelter that hadn't existed for over 30 years.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: The worst part?
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: When I went back later that day with the other
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: hikers to show them where I'd been, there was nothing there.
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: Just empty forest. No foundation. No fire pit. No trail register.
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: The only thing that proved I'd been there was my
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: sleeping bag, which I'd left behind in my panic. We
• 20:06
  Speaker 2: found it lying in a pile of dead leaves and
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: right where the old shelter's sleeping platform would have been.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: I finished my section hike, but I never felt comfortable
• 20:14
  Speaker 2: in any of the shelters after that. I'd pitch my
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: tent instead, always making sure I was with other people.
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: Because if I could spend a night in a shelter
• 20:23
  Speaker 2: that didn't exist anymore, surrounded by hikers who'd been dead
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: for decades, what else was possible out there?
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: Story 5.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: This story comes from a solo female hiker named Amanda.
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: who experienced this terrifying stalking incident in 2020. Amanda recounts,
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: I want to start by saying I'm not someone who
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: scares easily. I'm a seasoned hiker. I've traveled alone through
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: remote areas all over the world and.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: I know how to take care of myself. I carry
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: bear spray and knife and I took self-defense classes. I
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: thought I was prepared for anything. I was wrong.
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: In October 2020, I was doing a week-long solo hike
• 21:03
  Speaker 2: through a remote section of the AT in Maine The
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: weather was perfect. Crisp autumn air, gorgeous foliage, and the
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: trails weren't too crowded since it was late in the season.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: I was in heaven.
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: On my third day, I stopped at a shelter for lunch.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: There was one other person there, a man, probably in
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: his 50s, wearing dirty clothes and carrying an old external
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: frame backpack. He didn't say anything when I arrived, just
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: watched me with this intense stare that made my skin crawl.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: I've encountered weird people on trails before. So I just
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: gave him a polite nod, kept my distance, and ate
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: my lunch quickly. The whole time, he didn't take his
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: eyes off me. Didn't say a word, didn't eat, didn't drink.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: Just stared.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: When I finished eating, I packed up my stuff and
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: headed back to the trail. I looked back once and
• 21:53
  Speaker 2: saw him standing at the shelter entrance, still watching me.
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: I picked up my pace and put.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Some distance between us. Here's where it gets scary.
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: About an hour later, I stopped to take a photo
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: of a particularly beautiful view As I was lining up
• 22:06
  Speaker 2: the shot, I caught movement in my peripheral vision.
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: It was him. The man from the shelter.
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: He was maybe 50 yards behind me on the trail,
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: moving at the same pace I was. At first I
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: tried to rationalize it. Maybe we just happened to be
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: hiking in the same direction. The AT is a linear
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: trail after all, but something felt off. I decided to
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: test it. I took a break, pretending to adjust my
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: boot laces, and waited to see if he'd pass me.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: He didn't.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: He stopped about 30 yards away and just stood there,
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: partially hidden behind.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: A tree, watching.
• 22:39
  Speaker 2: My heart started racing. I got up and continued hiking,
• 22:43
  Speaker 2: moving faster now. Every time I glanced back, he was there,
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: maintaining that same distance. Never getting closer, but never falling
• 22:50
  Speaker 2: behind either.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: Just following. I tried everything.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: I stopped abruptly and turned around, calling up to ask
• 22:57
  Speaker 2: if he needed help. He didn't respond, just stood motionless
• 23:01
  Speaker 2: on the trail. I took a long break at a
• 23:04
  Speaker 2: water source, thinking he'd either pass me or take a
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: different route.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: He waited.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: I even tried hiking faster, practically jogging at points, but
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: he somehow kept pace without seeming to hurry. This went
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: on for hours. The sun was starting to set, and
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: I was getting genuinely frightened. I was in a remote
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: section with no cell service, miles from the nearest road,
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: and this stranger had been following me all afternoon.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: I made a decision.
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: There was a blue blaze side trail coming up that
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: led to a remote tent site. It wasn't on my
• 23:36
  Speaker 2: planned road, but I thought maybe I could lose him there.
• 23:40
  Speaker 2: I took the turn off and hiked quickly to the site,
• 23:41
  Speaker 2: which was empty. I set up my tent as fast
• 23:43
  Speaker 2: as possible, putting it behind some trees so it wasn't
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: visible from the trail.
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: I didn't make a fire. I didn't cook dinner. I
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: just got inside my tent, fully clothed with my boots on,
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: and held my bear spray and knife. And I waited.
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: Around 9 p.m., I heard footsteps. Slow, deliberate footsteps.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Crunching through the leaves. They circled my tent once, twice,
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: three times. Then they stopped, right outside my tent door.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: I could hear breathing, heavy, raspy breathing.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: And then, in a voice that sounded like it was
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: being forced through gravel, he spoke.
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: I know you're in there. I didn't respond. I just
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: gripped my bear spray tighter, finger on the trigger. You
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: can't hide from me. I can smell you. I've been
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: smelling you all day. My stomach turned. This wasn't just
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: some creepy hiker. This was something else entirely. The footsteps
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: started again, but this time they sounded wrong. They weren't
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: walking in a circle anymore. They were pacing back and
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: forth right in front of my tent, but the rhythm
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: was off.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: Step, step, pause, step, step, pause. Like someone walking on
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: two legs but not quite getting the motion right. Then
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: came scratching. Long, slow scratches against the fabric of my tent.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Not like fingers. like something harder, sharper. The sound sent
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: chills down my spine. Come out, the voice said. I
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: just want to see you up close. I want to
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: smell you up close. That's when I lost it. I
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: screamed at him to get away, that I had a weapon,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: that I'd called for help. All lies, but I was desperate.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: The scratching stopped. The footsteps retreated. And then, silence. I
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: didn't sleep at all that night.
• 25:26
  Speaker 2: I just sat there clutching my bear spray, listening for
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: any sound of his return. When dawn finally broke, I
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: packed up my tent in record time and practically ran
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: back to the main trail. I hiked the entire day
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: without stopping, pushing myself to cover 20 miles until I
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: reached a road crossing where I flagged down a car
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: and asked for a ride to the nearest town. I
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: was done with the hike, done with the trail.
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: I just wanted to get home. I reported the incident to.
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: The local authorities, gave them a description of the man,
• 25:56
  Speaker 2: but they never found anyone matching it. They checked the
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: trail register at the shelter where I'd first seen him,
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: and there was no entry from that day except mine.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: The ranger I spoke to did tell me something that
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: made my blood run cold, though. He said there had
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: been reports over the years of hikers, especially solo women,
• 26:14
  Speaker 2: being followed by someone matching that description. Always the same pattern.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: Following at a distance. Never quite catching up. Eventually circling
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: the victim's tent at night. But no one had ever
• 26:27
  Speaker 2: actually seen the follower in daylight. No other hikers ever
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: reported seeing him.
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: It was always just the victim's word.
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: If I were you, the ranger said, I'd count yourself lucky.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Not everyone who gets followed makes it out to tell
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: the story. I haven't been back to the Appalachian Trail since.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: I probably never will. Because now I know that there
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: are things out there that hunt, that follow, that wait
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: for the right moment. And if you're unlucky enough to
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: catch their attention, there's nowhere on that trail you can hide.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: Story six.
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: This unsettling account was shared with me by a man
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: named Kevin, who had this experience while hiking with his
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: brother in 2015. Kevin's written statement. My brother Ryan and
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: I have been hiking together since we were kids. We
• 27:16
  Speaker 2: know each other's habits, quirks, and rhythms so well that
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: we can basically predict what the other is going to do.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: That familiarity is what made what happened in 2015 so
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: absolutely terrifying. We were doing a three-day section hike through
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: a less-traveled part of the AT in Georgia. It was
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: early spring, still cold at night, and we had the
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: trail mostly to ourselves. Perfect conditions for what we thought
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: would be a nice brotherly bonding trip.
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: The first day went great.
• 27:43
  Speaker 2: We covered about 10 miles, set up camp at a
• 27:46
  Speaker 2: designated site, had dinner, and talked until we were too
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: tired to keep our eyes open. Standard hiking trip stuff.
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Day two started off just as well.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: We were making good time. The weather was beautiful.
• 27:57
  Speaker 2: We were both in high spirits. Around midday, we stopped
• 28:01
  Speaker 2: for lunch at a scenic overlook. Ryan said he needed
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: to use the bathroom and headed off into the woods.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: I stayed at the overlook, eating my sandwich and enjoying
• 28:08
  Speaker 2: the view. After about five minutes, Ryan emerged from the
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: tree line and sat down next to me. Nice view,
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: he said, pulling out his own lunch. We ate in
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: companionable silence for a few minutes. Then Ryan said, I'm
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: thinking we should push on to the next shelter instead
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: of stopping at the planned one.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: What do you think?
• 28:26
  Speaker 2: I told him that sounded fine, and we finished our lunch.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: As we were packing up, I heard a voice call
• 28:31
  Speaker 2: out from the woods behind us.
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: Kevin, you still there? It was Ryan's voice.
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: My blood went cold because Ryan was standing right next
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: to me. I turned to look at him, at the
• 28:41
  Speaker 2: person I thought was Ryan, and saw that he was
• 28:44
  Speaker 2: staring back toward the woods with an expression of pure confusion. Kevin,
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: the voice called again. Where'd you go, man?
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: The Ryan standing next to me grabbed my arm. What
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: the hell is going on? He whispered.
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: Then Ryan, the real Ryan, emerged from the woods looking
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: around for me. When he saw me standing next to whoever,
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: whatever that was, his face went white. Kevin, get away
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: from that thing, he said, his voice shaking. That's not me.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: I looked at the person next to me. It looked
• 29:17
  Speaker 2: exactly like Ryan. Same face, same clothes, same everything. but
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: now that I was really looking, I could see tiny differences.
• 29:25
  Speaker 2: The eyes were slightly too far apart. The smile didn't quite.
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: Reach the eyes.
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: The way it was standing was too rigid, too perfect,
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: like someone imitating a human without quite understanding how humans
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: naturally stand. Kevin, the duplicate, said, and his voice sounded
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: wrong now, like a recording played at slightly the wrong speed.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Don't listen to that thing.
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: I'm your brother. That's something trying to trick you. I
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: looked between them, my heart pounding. Two identical Ryans, both
• 29:55
  Speaker 2: claiming to be the real one.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: How was I.
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: Supposed to know which was which? Then I remembered something.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: When Ryan and I were kids, we'd made up a
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: code word for emergencies. Something that only the two of
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: us knew. That we'd use to verify our identities if
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: we ever got separated, or if someone was pretending to
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: be one of us. It was a dumb kid thing,
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: but we'd kept it up over the years as a
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: private joke.
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: What's the word?
• 30:20
  Speaker 2: I asked, looking at the real Ryan. He immediately responded
• 30:24
  Speaker 2: with the correct code word. I won't repeat it here,
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: that's staying between us, but I knew it was him.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: The duplicate's face changed. The fake smile dropped and something
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: else showed through. Something that wasn't human at all. Its
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: features started to shift, becoming less defined, like a face
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: made of clay that was melting. Then it turned and
• 30:44
  Speaker 2: walked into the woods, not in a normal human gait,
• 30:47
  Speaker 2: but in that same too-perfect, too-rigid manner. Ryan and I
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: didn't discuss it. We just grabbed our packs and got
• 30:54
  Speaker 2: the hell out of there. We hiked the rest of
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: that day without stopping, covering almost 15 miles before we
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: felt safe enough to make camp.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Even then, we stayed up all night, taking turns keeping watch.
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: The worst part?
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: The next morning, when we packed up to leave, I
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: found footprints around our campsite.
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Two sets.
• 31:12
  Speaker 2: One was Ryan's boots. I recognized the tread pattern. The
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: other was identical. Same size, same pattern, same everything. Like
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: the duplicate had stood outside our tent all night, watching us,
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: waiting for another opportunity. We finished that hike, but we've
• 31:26
  Speaker 2: never gone back to that section of trail. And now,
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: whenever we hike together, we constantly verify each other's identities
• 31:33
  Speaker 2: with that code word. Because if something could duplicate Ryan
• 31:36
  Speaker 2: that perfectly, what's to stop it from trying again? What's
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: to stop it from succeeding next time? Sometimes I wonder
• 31:43
  Speaker 2: if the duplicate is still out there, walking that section
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: of trail, waiting for the next set of hikers, watching them,
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: learning them.
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: Preparing to become them.
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: And I wonder how many hikers have come across their
• 31:56
  Speaker 2: own duplicates without realizing it? How many have followed the
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: wrong version of their hiking partner into the woods, never
• 32:04
  Speaker 2: to be seen again? These stories just keep getting more disturbing,
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: don't they?
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: And we still have four more to go.
• 32:10
  Speaker 2: But first, I want to remind you that Park Ranger
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: Files needs your support to keep bringing you these documented
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: accounts of wilderness horror. We're so close to hitting 1,000 subscribers,
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: and your subscription really does make a difference. Plus, by subscribing,
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: you'll be notified whenever we upload a new video. Also,
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: I'd love to hear your thoughts. What would you do
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: if you encountered a duplicate of someone you knew? Drop
• 32:34
  Speaker 2: your answer in the comments below. Now let's continue with
• 32:37
  Speaker 2: our next terrifying account. Story 7, The Cabin. This story
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: comes from a group of college students who had a
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: terrifying experience during spring break in 2017. The account was
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: compiled from interviews with all three survivors. Sarah, Mike, and
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: Christina were juniors at the University in Maryland who decided
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: to spend their spring break hiking.
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: A portion of the AT through West Virginia.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: They weren't experienced backpackers, but they'd done their research, bought
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: proper gear, and felt confident they could handle a four-day trip.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Their account.
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: On their second night, a severe thunderstorm rolled in around
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: 7 p.m. The planned shelter was still three miles away,
• 33:20
  Speaker 2: and the rain was coming down so hard, they could
• 33:22
  Speaker 2: barely see the trail markers. Lightning was striking close enough
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: that they could feel the static in the air. That's
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: when Christina spotted something through the trees.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: A cabin.
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: Not a trail shelter, but an actual cabin with windows,
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: a door, and a stone chimney. It wasn't on any
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: of their maps, but in that moment, they didn't care.
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: They needed to get out of the storm. They approached
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: the cabin cautiously. It looked old but well-maintained, with a
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: covered porch and Splitwood stacked neatly beside the door. There
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: were no lights on inside and no vehicles or signs
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: of recent habitation. Mike knocked on the door, calling out
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: to see if anyone was home.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: No response. They tried the door handle. It was unlocked.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: They pushed it open and called out again. Still nothing.
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: After a brief debate about whether it was okay to enter,
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: they decided the emergency justified it. They'd leave a note
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: explaining why they'd taken shelter and would happily compensate the
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: owner for any inconvenience. The interior was surprisingly cozy. There
• 34:28
  Speaker 2: was a main room with a fireplace, a small kitchen area,
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: two bedrooms, and a bathroom. The furniture was old-fashioned but clean.
• 34:36
  Speaker 2: There were books on shelves, photographs on the walls, even
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: dishes in the kitchen cabinets. It looked like someone's home,
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: just temporarily unoccupied. They made a fire in the fireplace,
• 34:46
  Speaker 2: dried their clothes, and heated up some of their freeze-dried meals.
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: As the storm raged outside, they actually started to feel
• 34:53
  Speaker 2: grateful for their good fortune in finding this place. They
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: looked at the photographs on the walls, family photos from
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: what looked like the 1960s and 70s. A husband and wife,
• 35:04
  Speaker 2: some kids, holiday gatherings, normal life documented in fading color photographs.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: Around 10 p.m., exhausted from the day's hike and lulled
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: by the warmth of the fire, they decided to sleep.
• 35:17
  Speaker 2: Sarah took one bedroom Mike and Christina, who were dating.
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: Took the other.
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: They agreed they'd leave at first light and find a
• 35:23
  Speaker 2: ranger station to report the cabin's location and their unauthorized
• 35:28
  Speaker 2: use of it. Sarah fell asleep almost immediately. But around
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: 2 a.m., she woke up to a sound.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: Humming. A woman's voice humming a tune she didn't recognize.
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: It was coming from the main room.
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: She got up and opened her bedroom door, peering out.
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: In the dim glow of the dying fire... She could
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: see a figure sitting in one of the chairs. An
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: elderly woman in a nightgown, rocking slowly back and forth,
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: humming that same melody.
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: Hello? Sarah called softly, not wanting to startle the woman.
• 36:00
  Speaker 1: I'm so sorry.
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: We took shelter here because of the storm. We didn't
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: mean to intrude. The woman stopped humming. She turned her
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: head towards Sarah, but the firelight didn't illuminate her face.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: It was just shadow. That's all right, dear.
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: The woman said, her voice crackling with age, I don't
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: get many visitors anymore. Most people can't find this place.
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Sarah felt relieved.
• 36:23
  Speaker 2: The owner was here, and she seemed understanding about the situation.
• 36:27
  Speaker 2: She apologized again and explained about the storm. Oh, I
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: know about the storm, the woman said. I died in
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: a storm just like this one. Back in 1972, lightning
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: struck the tree outside, sent a branch right through that
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: window there.
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: She pointed.
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: And Sarah saw that one of the windows was newer
• 36:44
  Speaker 2: than the others, obviously replaced. Sarah's blood turned to ice.
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: She must have misheard.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, what did you say?
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: I died here, the woman repeated, still not showing her face.
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: Husband died ten years before that. Kids moved away.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: I was all alone when it happened. It took three
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: days for anyone to find my body. Sarah wanted to run,
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: to scream, to wake up Mike and Christina and get
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: out of there, but she was paralyzed. unable to move
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: or look away from that shadowy figure. You shouldn't have
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: come here, the woman said, and now there was something
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: different in her voice, something angry.
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: This is my home, mine. You don't belong here.
• 37:25
  Speaker 2: The woman stood up and Sarah finally saw her face
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: in the firelight. It was rotted, decayed, the flesh hanging
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: from the bones and strips. One eye was missing entirely,
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: the other fixed on Sarah with a hatred that was
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: almost physical in its intensity.
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: Sarah finally found her.
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: Voice and screamed. She ran to Mike and Christina's room,
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: pounding on the door. They emerged, groggy and confused, asking
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: what was wrong. There's someone here! We have to leave now!
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: They grabbed their still-damp gear and ran for the front door.
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: Sarah risked one glance back and saw the figure standing
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: in the center of the room, watching them go. In
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: the flickering firelight, she could see other figures now, too.
• 38:06
  Speaker 2: A man standing in the corner. Children sitting on the floor.
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: all of them with the same decayed features, all of
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: them watching with expressions of rage and resentment. They burst
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: out into the night. The storm had passed and the
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: moon was bright enough to see by. They ran down
• 38:23
  Speaker 2: the trail, not caring about the darkness or the wet
• 38:25
  Speaker 2: conditions or the risk of getting lost.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: They just needed to get away from that cabin. They
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: hiked through the.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: Night, not stopping until they reached the planned shelter at dawn.
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: There were other hikers there who looked at them like
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: they were crazy, asking where they'd been, noting how terrible
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: they looked. The next day, they reported their experience to
• 38:43
  Speaker 2: a local ranger. They gave detailed descriptions of the cabin's location,
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: the photographs they'd seen, everything. The ranger listened patiently, then
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: pulled out a map. There's no cabin in that area,
• 38:54
  Speaker 2: he said. There was one back in the 60s and 70s,
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: but it burned down in 1972 when lightning struck during
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: a storm. Woman died in the fire. Her family never rebuilt.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: The foundation's still there if you know where to look,
• 39:08
  Speaker 2: but that's it. He showed them a historical photograph from
• 39:11
  Speaker 2: the ranger station's archives. It was the same cabin, the
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: same family photos they'd seen on the walls, the same
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: woman who Sarah had seen sitting in the rocking chair.
• 39:21
  Speaker 2: They'd spent the night in a cabin that had been
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: gone for 45 years. They'd made a fire in a
• 39:26
  Speaker 2: fireplace that no longer existed. They'd slept in beds. that
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: had burned to ashes decades before.
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: They were born. None of them ever went back to
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: finish that section of trail.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: Sarah transferred to a different school the next year, wanting
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: to get as far from West Virginia as possible. Mike
• 39:43
  Speaker 2: and Christina broke up shortly after, unable to discuss what
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: had happened without reliving the terror But the worst part,
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: according to Sarah, is that sometimes she still hears that humming.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: Late at night when she's alone, she'll hear that old
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: woman's voice humming that unfamiliar tune. And she knows that
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: somewhere out there, in a cabin that doesn't exist, that
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: angry spirit is still waiting for the next group of
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: hikers to seek shelter from the storm. We're getting into
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: some truly disturbing territory here, folks. But before we continue,
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: I want to take a moment to ask for your support.
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: Creating these videos takes a lot of time and research,
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: and the best way you can help is by subscribing
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: to Park Ranger Files. We're on a mission to hit 1,000 subscribers,
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: and we're counting on you to help us get there. Also,
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: if you have your own unexplained experiences from the Appalachian
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: Trail or any other wilderness area, please share them in
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: the comments. Your stories could be featured in future episodes.
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: Now let's get back to these chilling accounts.
• 40:44
  Speaker 1: Story 8.
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: This account comes from an experienced hiker named David, who
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: had this disorienting experience in 2019 while hiking solo through Vermont.
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: David's statement.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: I've hiked extensively throughout the Appalachians, and I pride myself
• 40:59
  Speaker 2: on my navigation skills.
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: I don't rely heavily on GPS. I can read a
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: map and compass.
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: I know how to identify landmarks, and I rarely get lost.
• 41:08
  Speaker 2: That confidence almost killed me. I was doing a solo
• 41:11
  Speaker 2: week-long hike through Vermont in September 2019.
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: Beautiful time of year up there. The leaves were just
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: starting to turn.
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: The weather was perfect, and the trails were relatively quiet.
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: I was following the long trail where it overlaps with
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: the AT, heading northbound. On day four, I came to
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: a trail junction. According to my map, the trail split
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: here with the long trail continuing north and the AT
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: splitting off toward the east. I was planning to stay
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: on the long trail, so I took the northbound trail
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: without much thought. After about 30 minutes of hiking, I
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: came to another junction. but this one wasn't on my map.
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: The trail split three ways, north, east, and west. There
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: were no signs, no blazes, nothing to indicate which way
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: I should go. I pulled out my compass and map,
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: trying to orient myself. According to my position, there shouldn't
• 42:01
  Speaker 2: be a three-way junction here. In fact, the trail shouldn't
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: split at all for another five miles. But here I was,
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: standing in front of three clearly defined trails, leading in
• 42:12
  Speaker 2: different directions. I decided to backtrack, figuring I'd somehow missed
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: a turn. But after hiking back for 15 minutes, I
• 42:20
  Speaker 2: came to another junction. Not the same one I'd just left,
• 42:24
  Speaker 2: but a different four-way junction. And once again, it wasn't
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: on my map. Okay, I told myself, trying not to panic.
• 42:32
  Speaker 2: GPS systems can fail. Maps can be outdated. I'll just
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: pick a direction and follow it until I reach a
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: landmark I recognize. I chose what I thought was south,
• 42:42
  Speaker 2: based on my compass reading. After an hour of hiking,
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: I should have reached a road that crosses the trail. Instead,
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: I came to another junction. This one had seven different
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: trails branching off in all directions, like spokes on a wheel.
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: Now I was genuinely worried.
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: I'd been hiking the Appalachians for 20 years, and I'd
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: never seen trail systems like this. Multiple junctions and areas
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: where there should.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: Only be a single path. It didn't make sense.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: I tried calling for help on my cell phone. No service,
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: which wasn't unusual in this area. I tried my emergency whistle,
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: blowing three sharp blasts.
• 43:17
  Speaker 1: No response. I was completely alone.
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: I picked another trail at random and started hiking. This
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: time I paid careful attention to my surroundings, marking trees
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: with chalk so I'd know if I was going in circles.
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: After two hours, I came to yet another junction, and
• 43:33
  Speaker 2: I could see my chalk marks on the trees surrounding it.
• 43:36
  Speaker 2: I'd somehow looped back to where I'd been, despite hiking
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: in what should have been a straight line and marking
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: my path. That's when I started to seriously consider that
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: I might die out here. As the sun began to set,
• 43:47
  Speaker 2: I made a decision. I would set up camp right
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: there at the junction, wait for daylight, and try to
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: signal for help.
• 43:53
  Speaker 1: Maybe a ranger patrol would come by.
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: Or maybe I'd be able to see landmarks from a
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: high point that would help me orient myself. I pitched
• 44:00
  Speaker 2: my tent, made dinner, and tried to calm my racing thoughts.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: I was rationing my food carefully now, aware that.
• 44:06
  Speaker 2: I might be stuck longer than planned. As darkness fell,
• 44:10
  Speaker 2: I climbed into my sleeping bag and tried to rest.
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: Around midnight, I woke up to voices. Multiple voices, all
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: talking at once, but I couldn't understand what they were saying.
• 44:22
  Speaker 2: They seemed to be coming from all around me, from
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: all seven of the trail branches. I unzipped my tent
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: and looked out. What I saw made me question my sanity.
• 44:32
  Speaker 2: On each of the seven trails, there was a figure
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: with a lantern. Seven identical figures, all holding old-fashioned oil lanterns,
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: all standing motionless at.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: The head of their respective trails. Hello? I called out.
• 44:44
  Speaker 1: Can you help me? I'm lost.
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: All seven figures beckoned to me simultaneously, gesturing for me
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: to follow them down their trails. Their movements were perfectly synchronized,
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: like watching the same person reflected in seven mirrors.
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: I didn't move.
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: Something about this was profoundly wrong.
• 45:03
  Speaker 1: These weren't rescuers. They were something else entirely.
• 45:07
  Speaker 2: Follow, they all said in unison, their voices overlapping into
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: a discordant chorus.
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: Follow, follow, follow, follow.
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: The word repeated, echoing from all seven directions, building in
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: volume until it was almost deafening. I covered my ears,
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: but the sound seemed to come from inside my head.
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: Follow.
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: I closed my eyes and screamed at them to stop.
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: The silence that followed was absolute and immediate. When I
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: opened my eyes again, the figures were gone. The trails
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: were empty.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: I didn't sleep the rest of that night.
• 45:39
  Speaker 2: I just sat in my tent, holding my knife, waiting
• 45:42
  Speaker 2: for dawn. When the sun finally rose, I packed up
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: my gear and made a decision. I wasn't going to
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: try to navigate out anymore. I was going to pick
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: one direction and just walk, ignoring any junctions, ignoring any trails.
• 45:54
  Speaker 1: That branched off.
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: I would walk in a straight line until I hit
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: a road, a town, or something that made sense. I
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: picked south by my compass and started walking. I didn't
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: stay on any established trail. I just pushed through the woods,
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: going around obstacles, but always maintaining my southern heading. It
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: was exhausting, slow going, but I was committed. After six
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: hours of hiking, I emerged onto.
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: A paved road, a real, actual road with cars on it.
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: I flagged down the first vehicle I saw, and the driver,
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: a local farmer, gave me a ride to the nearest town.
• 46:27
  Speaker 2: When I described where I'd been, the farmer gave me
• 46:29
  Speaker 2: a strange look. That area's got a reputation, he said.
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: Locals don't go hiking there. Too many people get lost,
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: even experienced folks. Some say the woods themselves are wrong there,
• 46:40
  Speaker 2: that the trails move around, lead you in circles.
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: My grandfather used to.
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: Say it was ferry roads, paths that exist between this
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: world and another. He said if you followed those paths,
• 46:51
  Speaker 2: you'd end up somewhere you couldn't come back from. I
• 46:53
  Speaker 2: never did figure out what happened to me out there.
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: I've looked at satellite images of the area, and there's
• 46:58
  Speaker 2: no network of trails like what I experienced.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: Just the one trail, the long trail, going straight through.
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: I've gone back twice since then in daylight with other hikers.
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: I've tried to find that first junction where things went wrong.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: It's not there.
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: The trail just goes straight through. No junctions, no split paths, nothing.
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: But I know what I experienced was real. I have
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: the timestamps of my GPS unit showing me getting lost
• 47:22
  Speaker 2: for nearly 18 hours. I have the photos I took
• 47:25
  Speaker 2: of those impossible junctions. And I still have nightmares about
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: those seven figures with their lanterns. all beckoning me to
• 47:33
  Speaker 2: follow them deeper into those woods. Whatever was in those woods,
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: whatever created those impossible trails, it's still there, waiting for
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: the next hiker who's confident in their navigation skills, the
• 47:44
  Speaker 2: next person who thinks they're too experienced to get lost.
• 47:48
  Speaker 2: If you're hiking in Vermont and you come to a
• 47:50
  Speaker 2: trail junction that isn't on your map, don't take it.
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: Don't follow it to see where it goes. Just turn
• 47:56
  Speaker 2: around and go back the way you came. Because some
• 47:59
  Speaker 2: paths don't lead to anywhere you want to go, They
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: lead to places where the rules of reality don't quite apply,
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: where the woods themselves can trap you in an endless
• 48:09
  Speaker 2: maze of trails that shouldn't exist.
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: And whatever you do, don't follow the lanterns. Story nine.
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: This deeply unsettling story was shared by a woman named Rachel,
• 48:20
  Speaker 2: who discovered something impossible while reviewing her hiking photos from
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: a 2021 trip. Rachel's account. I'm an amateur photographer. One
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: of my favorite subjects is landscape photography. The Appalachian Trail
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: offers some of the most beautiful vistas in the eastern
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: United States, so I'd have been planning a photography-focused hiking
• 48:39
  Speaker 2: trip for months. In May 2021, I did a three-day
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: solo hike through a section of the AT in New York.
• 48:46
  Speaker 2: I brought my DSLR camera, multiple lenses, a tripod, the
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: whole setup. My goal was to capture some truly spectacular
• 48:53
  Speaker 2: shots from my portfolio. The hike was amazing. Perfect weather,
• 48:59
  Speaker 2: stunning views... and I felt like I was getting some
• 49:02
  Speaker 2: really good shots. I'm meticulous about my photography, so I
• 49:06
  Speaker 2: was taking multiple shots of each scene from different angles,
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: with different exposures, really trying to capture everything perfectly. On
• 49:15
  Speaker 2: the second day, I stopped at a particularly beautiful overlook
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: around sunset. The light was incredible. golden hour, with the
• 49:21
  Speaker 2: sun casting long shadows through the trees. I set up
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: my tripod and took a series of shots, probably 15
• 49:27
  Speaker 2: or 20 photos of the same scene, with slightly different settings.
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: I didn't see anything.
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: Unusual at the time, just the beautiful landscape, the trees,
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: the rolling mountains fading into the distance.
• 49:39
  Speaker 1: It was peaceful and perfect.
• 49:41
  Speaker 2: When I got home three days later, I uploaded all
• 49:43
  Speaker 2: my photos to my computer to start editing. That's when
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: I noticed something in the Sunset Overlook series. In one
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: of the photos, just one, there was something in the
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: background that shouldn't be there. It was a person, standing
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: in the tree line, partially obscured by shadows, but definitely
• 50:01
  Speaker 2: a human figure.
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: That wouldn't be unusual except for one thing.
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: I'd taken nearly 20 photos of that exact same scene
• 50:08
  Speaker 2: over the course of about 10 minutes, and the figure
• 50:11
  Speaker 2: only appeared in one single photograph. I pulled up the
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: series and examined them in sequence. The timestamps showed they
• 50:18
  Speaker 2: were all taken within minutes of each other, with no gaps.
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: The figure appeared in the photo taken at 7.14pm. In
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: the photo taken at 7.13pm, the spot where the figure.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: Stood was empty.
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: In the photo taken at 7.15pm, empty again. I zoomed
• 50:36
  Speaker 2: in on the figure, trying to get a better look.
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: It was humanoid in shape, but somehow wrong. The proportions
• 50:43
  Speaker 2: were off. The limbs too long, the head too large.
• 50:47
  Speaker 2: And it appeared to be facing the camera, even though
• 50:49
  Speaker 2: it was several hundred yards away. I convinced myself it
• 50:53
  Speaker 2: was just a trick of light and shadow. Or maybe
• 50:55
  Speaker 2: a hiker who'd been passing through at that exact moment
• 50:58
  Speaker 2: and happened to be captured in just that one frame.
• 51:02
  Speaker 2: But something about it bothered me. So I posted the
• 51:05
  Speaker 2: photo to an online hiking forum. asking if anyone else
• 51:08
  Speaker 2: had seen unusual figures in their AT photos. The responses
• 51:13
  Speaker 2: I got chilled me to the bone. Dozens of people
• 51:16
  Speaker 2: replied saying they'd captured similar figures in their photos, always
• 51:20
  Speaker 2: in just one frame of a series, always standing in
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: the same basic position in the tree line, always with
• 51:25
  Speaker 2: those same wrong proportions.
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: And here's the really disturbing part.
• 51:30
  Speaker 2: When people compared their photos, the figure appeared to be
• 51:33
  Speaker 2: the same in every single image, regardless of when or
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: where the photo was taken. Someone in Virginia had captured
• 51:39
  Speaker 2: it in 2015. Someone else in Pennsylvania in 2018. Another
• 51:44
  Speaker 2: person in Maine in 2020. All different locations along the AT.
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: All different years. But the same figure. The same impossible,
• 51:53
  Speaker 2: too tall figure standing in the shadows, watching. One person,
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: a professional photographer who'd been documenting the AT for a
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: magazine article, said he'd noticed the figure in three separate
• 52:03
  Speaker 2: series of photos from three different days of his hike.
• 52:06
  Speaker 2: Always in just one frame. always in the background, always watching.
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: He'd reported it to rangers, suggesting there might be someone
• 52:14
  Speaker 2: stalking hikers. But when rangers investigated, they found nothing. No footprints,
• 52:20
  Speaker 2: no evidence of anyone being in those locations. The photographer
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: was told it was likely just pareidolia, the human tendency
• 52:27
  Speaker 2: to see patterns in the faces and random images.
• 52:31
  Speaker 1: But we all knew that wasn't true. This wasn't our
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: minds playing tricks.
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: This was something real, something that appeared in photos but
• 52:39
  Speaker 2: somehow avoided being captured in the moments before or after.
• 52:44
  Speaker 2: I made the mistake of trying to analyze my photo further.
• 52:47
  Speaker 2: I used specialized software to enhance the image, to bring
• 52:50
  Speaker 2: out details in the shadows. What I saw when I
• 52:53
  Speaker 2: zoomed in on that figure's face made me wish I'd
• 52:56
  Speaker 2: never taken a photograph in the first place. It had eyes,
• 53:01
  Speaker 2: dozens of them, covering what should have been its face,
• 53:04
  Speaker 2: all of different sizes, all looking in different directions.
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: And in the enhanced image, I could see that it
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: was smiling.
• 53:12
  Speaker 2: Not a human smile, but something that vaguely approximated the expression.
• 53:17
  Speaker 2: Like something that had seen humans smile, but didn't quite
• 53:19
  Speaker 2: understand how the mouth should move. I deleted the enhanced
• 53:23
  Speaker 2: version immediately, but I couldn't delete it from my memory.
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: I still see it when I close my eyes.
• 53:30
  Speaker 2: That thing standing in the shadows, covered in eyes, smiling
• 53:34
  Speaker 2: its wrong smile. I've received messages from other people who've
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: captured it in their photos. Some have tried to find it,
• 53:41
  Speaker 2: actually hiking to the spots where their photos were taken,
• 53:44
  Speaker 2: trying to figure out what it is.
• 53:46
  Speaker 1: None of them have ever seen it in person.
• 53:49
  Speaker 2: It only appears in photographs, and only in one frame
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: at a time, like it exists in a single moment
• 53:56
  Speaker 2: that cameras can capture but human eyes cannot.
• 53:59
  Speaker 1: The most disturbing message I received was from.
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: A hiker who'd captured the figure in a photo from 2019.
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: He said that after he posted his photo online, he
• 54:08
  Speaker 2: started seeing the figure in other places. In the background
• 54:11
  Speaker 2: of family photos taken at his house. In security camera
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: footage from his workplace. In the mirror when he looked
• 54:17
  Speaker 2: up quickly, though it would disappear when he focused on it.
• 54:21
  Speaker 2: He said it was getting closer in each appearance. In
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: the trail photo, it had been hundreds of yards away.
• 54:27
  Speaker 2: In his house photos, it was at the edge of
• 54:29
  Speaker 2: his property. In his workplace footage, it was in the
• 54:32
  Speaker 2: parking lot. In his mirror, it was standing behind him.
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: His last message was three months ago. He said he'd
• 54:39
  Speaker 2: taken a selfie that morning, and when he looked at it,
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: the figure was directly behind him in the frame, close
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: enough that he should have felt its presence. He was
• 54:47
  Speaker 2: going to try to photograph it again, to get proof,
• 54:51
  Speaker 2: to understand what it was. I never heard from him again.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: His social media accounts went silent. I tried to reach out,
• 54:58
  Speaker 2: but my messages went unanswered.
• 55:00
  Speaker 1: I don't know what happened to him. I don't want
• 55:03
  Speaker 1: to know.
• 55:04
  Speaker 2: I still have my photo. I can't bring myself to
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: delete it, even though every time I see it, I
• 55:08
  Speaker 2: feel watched. Sometimes I wonder if the act of photographing
• 55:12
  Speaker 2: it created some kind of connection. If by capturing its image,
• 55:16
  Speaker 2: I've somehow drawn its attention. I haven't been back to
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: the Appalachian Trail since. I don't take photographs anymore either,
• 55:24
  Speaker 2: because now I know that sometimes when you're trying to
• 55:27
  Speaker 2: capture a moment, you might capture something else instead. Something
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: that's been watching hikers for years, Decades, maybe longer. Something
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: that exists in the space between one moment and the next,
• 55:40
  Speaker 2: visible only through the lens of a camera. And if
• 55:43
  Speaker 2: you've ever taken photos while hiking, I'd suggest checking them carefully.
• 55:48
  Speaker 2: Look in the backgrounds, in the shadows, in the tree lines.
• 55:51
  Speaker 2: You might find that you weren't alone after all. That
• 55:55
  Speaker 2: something was there, just out of sight, watching you, waiting
• 55:59
  Speaker 2: to be seen. And if you do find it in
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: your photos, whatever you do, Don't try to enhance the image.
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: Don't look too closely at its face.
• 56:07
  Speaker 2: Because some things are better left as blurry figures in
• 56:10
  Speaker 2: the background, and some mysteries are better left unsolved. Story 10.
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: Our final story comes from an emergency dispatcher named Christine,
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: who received a series of calls that she says still
• 56:23
  Speaker 2: haunts her years later.
• 56:25
  Speaker 1: This incident occurred in 2022. Christine's account.
• 56:30
  Speaker 2: I've been working as a 911 dispatcher for 12 years.
• 56:34
  Speaker 2: I've taken calls about everything you can imagine, accidents, crimes,
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: medical emergencies.
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: I thought I'd heard it all.
• 56:40
  Speaker 2: But the calls I received on August 14, 2022, were
• 56:44
  Speaker 2: unlike anything in my career. It started at 11.47 p.m.
• 56:49
  Speaker 2: A man called, sounding out of breath and panicked. He
• 56:52
  Speaker 2: said he was hiking the Appalachian Trail alone, and that
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: he was being followed by the last hiker. He kept
• 56:59
  Speaker 2: repeating that phrase, the last hiker, the last hiker. I
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: asked him to clarify it, to describe who was following him.
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: He said he'd been hiking all day and had planned
• 57:10
  Speaker 2: to camp at a shelter, but when he got there,
• 57:13
  Speaker 2: all the other hikers were gone.
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: Not just gone. Their gear was still there, their tents
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: still set up, their food still in their packs. But
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: no people. He'd thought maybe they'd gone to get water
• 57:25
  Speaker 1: or use the bathroom, so he'd waited. An hour passed.
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: Then two.
• 57:30
  Speaker 2: The sun had set and still no one came back.
• 57:33
  Speaker 2: That's when he noticed something strange. There were footprints in
• 57:35
  Speaker 2: the dirt around the shelter.
• 57:37
  Speaker 1: Lots of them. All leading away into the woods in
• 57:40
  Speaker 1: the same direction. Like everyone had gotten up simultaneously and walked.
• 57:45
  Speaker 2: Off into the forest. He'd followed the footprints with his flashlight.
• 57:49
  Speaker 2: They led deep into the woods, off any established trail,
• 57:53
  Speaker 2: going in a straight line toward nothing in particular. After
• 57:56
  Speaker 2: about half a mile... The footprints stopped, just ended in
• 58:00
  Speaker 2: the middle of the forest, with no indication of where
• 58:02
  Speaker 2: the people had gone. He'd gone back to the shelter,
• 58:05
  Speaker 2: and that's when he saw it. Another set of footprints,
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: fresh ones, made while he'd been following the others. These
• 58:12
  Speaker 2: prints circled the shelter, walked up to each tent and pack,
• 58:15
  Speaker 2: then led back into the woods in a different direction. Someone, something,
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: had been there while he was gone, had examined all
• 58:24
  Speaker 2: the abandoned belongings, had walked right past his own pack.
• 58:29
  Speaker 2: He'd packed up his gear as fast as he could
• 58:31
  Speaker 2: and started hiking, trying to get to a road or
• 58:34
  Speaker 2: anywhere with cell service. That's when he started hearing footsteps
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: behind him, always the same distance away, matching his pace exactly.
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: When he stopped, they stopped. When he ran, they ran.
• 58:45
  Speaker 2: I tried to keep him calm, asking for his location
• 58:48
  Speaker 2: so I could send help. He gave me a description
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: of where he thought he was, but it was vague.
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: He'd been panicking and wasn't sure exactly where he deviated
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: from the main trail. I dispatched park rangers to search
• 59:00
  Speaker 2: for him, keeping him on the line. He kept walking,
• 59:03
  Speaker 2: kept talking to me, describing what he was seeing. He
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: said the forest was too quiet. No insects, no animals,
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: no wind. Just his footsteps and the footsteps behind him.
• 59:14
  Speaker 1: Then his voice changed. Got quiet, frightened. He said he
• 59:18
  Speaker 1: could see something ahead.
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: A figure standing in the middle of the trail, illuminated
• 59:22
  Speaker 2: by his headlamp. It was wearing hiking gear, backpack, boots,
• 59:26
  Speaker 2: the works, but it was just standing there. motionless sir
• 59:31
  Speaker 2: i said can you go around it can you talk
• 59:33
  Speaker 2: to it he approached slowly as he got closer he
• 59:38
  Speaker 2: realized what he was seeing the figure wasn't standing it
• 59:41
  Speaker 2: was suspended hanging in midair with no visible support just
• 59:44
  Speaker 2: hovering about two feet off the ground it's one of
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: them he whispered one of the hikers from the shelter
• 59:51
  Speaker 2: i recognized his backpack i asked if the person was
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: injured if they needed medical help that's when he started
• 59:57
  Speaker 2: screaming His feet aren't touching the ground.
• 1:00:00
  Speaker 1: He's hanging in the air and his eyes are open
• 1:00:02
  Speaker 1: and he's not breathing, but he's still moving. His head
• 1:00:04
  Speaker 1: is turning. He's looking at me. The call cut off.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: Just dead air.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: I immediately tried calling back, but there was no answer.
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 2: The rangers I'd dispatched radioed in. They were still 15
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 2: minutes from the general area he'd described. Three minutes later,
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 2: my phone rang again.
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: Same number. I answered immediately. Sir, are you okay? What happened?
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 1: but the voice that responded wasn't his. It was similar,
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 1: but wrong.
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 2: Like someone doing an impression who'd never actually heard a
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 2: human voice before.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: I am the last hiker, it said. There are no
• 1:00:42
  Speaker 1: more hikers, only me. I am the last. Who is this?
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 1: I demanded. Where is the man who called?
• 1:00:50
  Speaker 2: He is with the others now, the voice said, waiting, walking.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: Soon I will be the last hiker here too. Then
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: I will move to the next trail. The next hikers.
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 2: I'm always the last. I make sure I'm the last.
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 2: The call disconnected. When rangers finally reached the area, they
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 2: found the shelter exactly as the caller had described. Tents
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 2: set up, gear everywhere, but no people. They followed the
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: footprints into the woods and found six hikers standing in
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: a clearing. Just standing there, staring at nothing. Completely unresponsive.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 2: They had to physically carry them out. The hikers were alive,
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: but catatonic. unable or unwilling to speak. They were hospitalized,
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 2: and it took days before any of them could communicate.
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: Even then, they couldn't remember what had happened. The last
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: thing any of them recalled was going to sleep in
• 1:01:41
  Speaker 2: the shelter. They had no memory of getting up, walking
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: into the woods, or anything that had happened after. The
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 2: man who had called me was never found. Search and
• 1:01:52
  Speaker 2: rescue teams combed the area for days. They found his
• 1:01:55
  Speaker 2: backpack hanging from a tree branch.
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: About eight feet off the ground.
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 2: His phone was inside, completely dead, even though it had
• 1:02:02
  Speaker 2: been fully charged when he called me. They found footprints.
• 1:02:06
  Speaker 2: His boots matched some of them. But there were other
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: prints too, dozens of them, all the same size, all
• 1:02:14
  Speaker 2: going in different directions, all stopping abruptly in the middle
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 2: of nowhere, like the people making them had simply vanished.
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 2: I listened to the recording of those calls hundreds of times.
• 1:02:25
  Speaker 2: The department brought in specialists, People who analyzed voice patterns.
• 1:02:30
  Speaker 2: They confirmed what I already knew. The voice in that
• 1:02:32
  Speaker 2: second call wasn't human. The patterns were wrong. The intonation
• 1:02:36
  Speaker 2: was off. It was something mimicking human speech without understanding
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 2: how humans actually talk. And here's what keeps me up
• 1:02:44
  Speaker 2: at night. I've received two more calls since then. Different numbers,
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 2: different hikers, different sections of the Appalachian Trail. But always
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: the same pattern. Someone calling to report that all the
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: other hikers have disappeared. that they're being followed, that they've
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 2: seen something impossible. And always after the call cuts off,
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 2: I get a second call. Always that same wrong voice
• 1:03:06
  Speaker 2: saying the same thing.
• 1:03:08
  Speaker 1: I am the last hiker. I've tried warning people.
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 2: I've reported it up the chain, contacted trail organizations, even
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 2: posted about it online.
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: But what can I tell them?
• 1:03:19
  Speaker 2: That there's something on the Appalachian Trail that makes hikers disappear?
• 1:03:23
  Speaker 2: That there's an entity that systematically hunts down everyone on
• 1:03:26
  Speaker 2: a section of trail until it's alone? That it calls
• 1:03:29
  Speaker 2: itself the last hiker and moves from area to area,
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 2: clearing out hikers like someone erasing marks on a chalkboard.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: Who would believe that? Even with the recordings, even with
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: the missing persons reports, it sounds crazy.
• 1:03:44
  Speaker 2: But I know what I heard, and I know that
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 2: somewhere on the Appalachian Trail, right now, there's a hiker
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: who's about to become the last, who's about to find
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 2: themselves alone with abandoned campsites and two quiet woods, Who's
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 2: about to hear footsteps behind them that match their pace exactly?
• 1:03:59
  Speaker 2: And I know that when their call comes in, there's
• 1:04:02
  Speaker 2: nothing I'll be able to do to save them. Because
• 1:04:04
  Speaker 2: you can't outrun the last hiker. You can't hide from it.
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 2: Once it's chosen you, once you've become aware that you're alone,
• 1:04:11
  Speaker 2: you're already gone. You just don't know it yet. So
• 1:04:14
  Speaker 2: if you're planning to hike the Appalachian Trail, I have
• 1:04:17
  Speaker 2: one piece of advice. Never, ever let yourself be the
• 1:04:20
  Speaker 2: last hiker in your group. Don't linger when others leave.
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 2: Don't stay behind at a shelter while your companions hike ahead.
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 2: And if you find yourself alone at a campsite, with
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 2: all the gear still there but no people, don't wait
• 1:04:35
  Speaker 2: to see what took them.
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 1: Just run. Run and don't look back.
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 2: Because the last hiker is always watching.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 1: Always waiting.
• 1:04:45
  Speaker 2: And once it has you, you'll end up just like
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 2: all the others. Standing in a forest clearing, staring at nothing.
• 1:04:51
  Speaker 2: With no memory of how you got there or what
• 1:04:52
  Speaker 2: you've become.
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: Or worse... You won't end up anywhere at all. You'll
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: just be gone.
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 2: And the only trace of you will be your backpack
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 2: hanging impossibly high in a tree and your voice on
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 2: a 911 call that no one will want to believe
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: is real. Those were 10 terrifying accounts from the Appalachian Trail.
• 1:05:12
  Speaker 1: Before we go, I want to ask for your help
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: one more time.
• 1:05:16
  Speaker 2: We're so close to hitting 1,000 subscribers here on Park
• 1:05:20
  Speaker 2: Ranger Files. And your subscription means everything to our ability
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: to continue researching and documenting these encounters. Please hit that
• 1:05:28
  Speaker 2: subscribe button if you haven't already, and click the notification
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 2: bell so you never miss an upload. I also want
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: to hear from you. Have you hiked the Appalachian Trail?
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 2: Have you experienced anything you couldn't explain? Do you have
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 2: a theory about any of the stories we've covered today?
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: Drop your thoughts in the comments below. Your engagement helps
• 1:05:46
  Speaker 2: this channel grow, and you might even see your comment
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 2: or story featured in a future video. And finally, if
• 1:05:53
  Speaker 2: you've enjoyed this content, please give this video a thumbs
• 1:05:56
  Speaker 2: up and share it with anyone you think might be interested.
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 2: This has been Park Ranger Files. Stay safe out there,
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 2: and I'll see you in the next video. Until then, remember,
• 1:06:07
  Speaker 2: some trails are meant to be walked alone, but some
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 2: should never be walked at all.