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3 True Disturbing Camping at Night Horror Stories That Will Make You Fear the Outdoors · True Horror Stories

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This happened just this summer. My best friend Jonah and
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: I are both in college and our outdoorsy kind of people.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: We'd go on hikes and sometimes camping when we had
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the chance. So this year, when classes were out for summer,
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: we made plans to go camping by a lake that
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: was a couple hours from us. Now it's fair to
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: say we weren't experts at camping, but we also were
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: not clueless either. We knew what we were doing and
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: didn't stay longer than what we knew would be safe.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: We set out on the trail in the morning, prepared
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: for two full nights. The hike took a bit longer
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: than it was supposed to, but we got to the
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: lake around midday. From what I know, there's hundreds of
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: trails leading to this lake because of how big it is,
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: and there were so many places to camp at that
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: it would be unlikely to run into anyone else. We
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: didn't want to have to talk to other people, so
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: when we arrived and saw that nobody else was here,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: we were feeling good. The first hour we just sat
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: down and rested from the long hike. Then we put
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: our tents up in the tree line, just outside of
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: the beach. By then, the sun was setting, so Jonah
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: got a fire going and I went out to collect
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: some more dry sticks to keep it running. I picked
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: up a few, not going too far from our tents,
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: but I suddenly heard a noise from just in front
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: of me. I lifted my eyes and looked ahead. It
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: was getting dark, but I could still see most of
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: the woods, and pretty far back there looked to be
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: a person. After looking for more than a couple seconds,
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: I was able to see them walking and confirmed that
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: it definitely was a person out there in the woods.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: I quickly walked back to the campsite and told Jonah
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: about it. We weren't afraid or anything. It was just
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: a little weird to have seen someone out here in
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: the exact place we were at at I think it
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: also would have been different if they were walking along
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: the beach, but they were just going straight through the woods,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: not even on a trail. Fifteen minutes went by, and
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the sun was now past the horizon, covering the woods
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: in darkness, and that's when we heard footsteps approaching. A
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: moment later, a man appeared in the light from our campfire.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: He looked to be in his thirties with a beard
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: and shoulder length hair, but I immediately got a bad
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: feeling about him. He smiled at us from across the campfire,
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: then asked us if we knew the way to a
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: specific place. I didn't recognize the name, but it sounded
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: like a trail name.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: Sorry, I'm not sure where that is, I said softly.
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: The man kept his smile, but just looked at us
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: for another moment before turning around and walking back into
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the woods, not saying anything else. I looked over at
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Jonah and both of us were equally unnerved and confused.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: After we were sure he was gone, Jonah asked me
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: if that was the same person I'd seen, but I
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: wasn't sure. It probably was, though we spent the rest
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: of that night by the fire trying to think of
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: reasons for the man coming up to us like that.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: The only thing that would somewhat make sense was if
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: he got desperate for help once the sun went down,
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: But the man didn't seem desperate at all. He asked
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: for directions like everything was normal. If he were desperate,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: it probably would have been noticeable, and he wouldn't have
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: just left after asking one question. Both of us were
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: getting a little freaked, so we let the conversation die out.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: Once it was getting closer to bed, we let the
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: fire burn out as well, then got in our tents.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I tried to sleep, laying there for at least an hour,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: just listening to the sounds of the woods. But there
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: was just this weird feeling I had that wouldn't even
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: let me close my eyes for too long without getting nervous.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: And then after somewhere around two hours, I heard it again,
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: footsteps coming toward our tents. I yelled Jonah's name, then
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: rushed out of my tent and looked.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Into the woods.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: A figure was standing only ten feet from me, and
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: just a second later they turned around and ran back
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: into the woods. Being covered by the darkness. Jonah came
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: out only in time to hear the footsteps running away,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: but he said he knew exactly what was going on
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: as soon as I yelled his name. We packed up
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: that night, then waited tiredly for dawn to make our
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: way out of the woods. We don't know who that
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: man was or what he really wanted. If I hadn't
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: stayed awake, though, we might have never.
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: Left those woods. I live out by the.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Rocky Mountains in the Northwest. I don't go camping all
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: that often anymore now that I'm older, but I'd say
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: i'd go out there maybe once a year. I'm more
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: of a sitting in the backyard kind of person, but
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: going out into the mountains was always worth the hassle
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: when I did go out, this was a couple years ago,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: when I'd gone out in the early.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: Weeks of fall.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: The trail I chose was only a twenty minute drive
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: from me. I parked off to the side in a
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: small dirt parking lot, then grabbed my bags and started walking.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: It was a little colder than I was anticipating, but
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: the trail was a really nice walk. When I got
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: to the campsite, I set everything down and got my
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: tent top. It was a very small, open area with
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: nothing but trees surrounding it, no other tens or anything,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: so it looked like I was the only one camping
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: out there. The sun was still pretty high up, so
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: after a quick break, I set out on a thin
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: side path that went to an overlook of the mountains.
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: I saw online before i'd left that it was only
• 6:17
  Speaker 1: a ten minute walk from the campsite, so I didn't
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: bring much other than a water bottle in my basic backpack.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: When I got there, I sat down and enjoyed the
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: view for a half hour. Again, it didn't look like
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: anyone had been out here, which, seeing as it was
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: starting to get colder out I guess it made sense.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Once I was ready, I got up and walked back
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: to the campsite. When I walked up to the open area,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: something felt wrong. Nothing that I'd left behind looked like
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: it did when I left. Everything was just slightly off.
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: I checked around for anything missing or obvious things having
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: been moved to, but everything was there. Part of me
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: wondered if I was just being paranoid. Everything that I
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: felt was off were things that I could have just
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: remembered wrong, Like I was pretty sure that I'd zipped
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: up the tent before leaving, but it was unzipped when
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: I got back. That's not something an animal could do,
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: and there were no other signs of people having come by,
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: so the obvious answer would be that I just didn't
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: zip up the tent before leaving, even though I thought
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: i'd remember doing it. I tried to relax, putting my
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: chair up and moving some stones around to make a
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: fire pit. As the sun was going down and the
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: cold was setting in. I warmed up some water to
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: make some tea with and just kind of sat there
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: in my own thoughts. After some time, probably an hour,
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: I heard someone walking. I turned toward the sound, seeing
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: it was from where the trail was, but it was
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: too dark now to see anything beyond the open area.
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: While I watched and listened, it sounded like they were
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: coming in toward the campsite, but then there were a
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: few seconds where I didn't hear anything. I almost felt
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: like they were looking at me from somewhere out on
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: the trail. But then the footsteps started again, walking away
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: from the campsite, but not back on the trail. It
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: sounded like they were walking off the trail, kind of
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: off to the side of the campsite.
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: I don't know.
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: I was getting a little creeped out now. The thought
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: of everything seeming off before had started to come back
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: to mind now that I knew someone else was out here.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: I didn't know if they were out here before or
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: if they had just arrived. But that's just why it
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: was so unnerving. I didn't know what was going on.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Then the footsteps started to get louder again, coming toward
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: the camp site from the other side. I shifted my gaze,
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: but not even a second later, I heard another set
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: of footsteps from behind me. Both were quiet and subtle,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: but given everything now, it was very clear that they
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: were trying to not be seen. As they moved in closer,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: I quickly unzipped my bag and pulled out my handgun
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: that I had only for desperate needs. I stood up
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: and held it toward the trees, where I could hear
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: one of them approaching from I didn't say anything, afraid
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: to show the fear in my voice, but I knew
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: they could see me in the light from the campfire,
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: and I was just hoping that the gun would be
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: enough to make them second guess whatever they were trying.
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: It went quiet, both footsteps stopping. I turned all around,
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: looking for any movement. After a minute of no sounds
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: at all, I started to put things back in my bag,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: being careful to not put down my weapon for more
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: than a few seconds at a time. I still hadn't
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: heard them leave, so I knew they had to be
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: watching me from somewhere out there. Once I got what
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: I could fit in my bag, I started to make
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: my way to the trail, leaving only the tent behind.
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: From what I could hear, they didn't follow me out.
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Once I got a decent distance away, I turned on
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: my flashlight and made it the rest of the way
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: to my car. To sum it up, the police were
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: useless in this kind of scenario. Whoever the two people
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: were that were out there had never shown themselves or
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: really did anything at all. Don't get me wrong, it
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: was very obvious they were planning something horrible, but there
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: wasn't enough to go off of. But after my counter
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: and seeing a lot of these situations happened to others
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: as well, I don't think I'll ever be going out
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: there on my own again. My brother owns a really
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: nice RV that he lets me borrow sometimes. We lived
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: fifteen minutes from each other and in a state that
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: is known for camping, hiking, and just outdoor activities in general.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: It was last fall when I asked if I could
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: borrow his RV to go camping out by a small
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: fishing pond. The weather was getting too cold to comfortably
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: camp in a tent, so the RV was perfect. I
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: really just wanted to spend a few days fishing out
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: there while enjoying the time to myself. I went over
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: and picked up the RV, then drove it down to
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: the pond. The trail definitely wasn't made for driving on,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: being narrow and only made of dirt, but I'd usually
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: see tire marks all over it, so I knew that
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: other people did the same as me. This time, though,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: the trail was clear of any other vehicles, and when
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: I got to the pond there was nobody else around.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: I parked off to the side in case anyone else
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: did show up. Then I pretty much got everything ready
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: and went out to fish right away. I had a
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: couple beers and just sat back. It was really nice.
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: By five o'clock, I started cleaning up and getting all
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: my gear back by the RV, and as I did,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: a pickup truck pulled in from the trail. It was
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: an older, rusty truck that looked like it had been
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: through a lot over the years. There was no camper
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: attached to it, it was just the truck. It had
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: tinted windows, though, so I assumed they were just using
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: the truck to sleep in as well, which isn't the
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: most uncommon thing I've heard of. They parked on the
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: other side of the field and turned off their headlights,
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: but stayed inside. I finished packing my things back into
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: the RV and went in for the night. I looked
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: out a few times to see if the truck was
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: still there so I could maybe introduce myself to keep
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: things from being weird, but nothing seemed to have changed.
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: It was a little strange to not say hi when
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: you drove out into the middle of nowhere and happened
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: to be in the same vicinity as someone else. But
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: I just went on with my night, getting in bed
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: and falling asleep by eight. At some time during the night, though,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: I woke up for a minute after hearing a car
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: door open and close. I remember checking out the window
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: and not seeing anyone, and then going right back to sleep.
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: In the morning, I got up and made breakfast, then
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: went back out to fish. The truck was still in
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: the same exact spot as before. It didn't look like
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: they'd done anything or even left the truck at all.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: I sat out there fishing for well over three hours,
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: not seeing any movement from the truck. It was actually
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: getting really unsettling. Either someone was in there and for
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: some reason not leaving at all, or they had left
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the night when I heard the
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: door open. Both were not normal and made me feel uneasy.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: I ended up spending the rest of the day in
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: the RV. I couldn't help but feel like they were
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: watching me from inside their truck the whole time I
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: was out there fishing. While in the RV, I looked
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: out the windows multiple times, checking for any change in
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: the truck. But then, at just about seven pm, I
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: heard the engine to the truck start. I looked out
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: the window and watched as they pulled around and slowly
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: drove up to the trail like they were about to leave,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: But then they stopped right in the middle of few
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: seconds passed before the truck shut off. Seeing them blocking
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: off the trail immediately made my stomach drop. A man
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: stepped out, clearly in a rush, running up to the
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: bed of his truck and grabbing something out of the back.
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: Then he faced the RV. I left the window and
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: locked up the door, hearing footsteps running toward it. As
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: I did, the door started shaking aggressively as they tried
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: pulling on it from the other side. My mind at
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: this point was almost in this foggy state where I
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: just had no idea what to do. I ran to
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: the driver's seat and started up the RV. As it
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: sounded like the man was trying to pry the door open.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: I pressed on the gas and went toward their truck,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: slowing down as I approached the back of it, hearing
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: the man chasing me down though, I pressed the RV
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: against the truck and pushed it as the man ran
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: over and tried to get back in. Before he could,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: it slid off the trail and opened up a path
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: for me to get around. I drove out of there
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: and didn't look back until I was on the road.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: I went a little ways down before I called the
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: police to report what had happened. By the time they
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: got there, though, the truck and the man were gone.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: I can't be sure as to what the man was
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: intending to do. The obvious answer is that he was
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: trying to rob me, both of the RV and everything
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: in it. But then, why did he spend so long
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: watching me and setting up a whole trap? Why not
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: just block it off right when he arrived and do
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: everything quickly. It felt like he was watching me seeing
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: if I was alone, as if you were planning to
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: do more than just taking the vehicle and leaving.
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: I think that if
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: Things had gone differently, I would have never been seen
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: after that night.