Horror Stories

00:05 Hello everyone and welcome back to Horror Stories. 00:08 I know many of you use these episodes to fall asleep so before you drift off, I'd love it if you could leave a comment letting me know where you're listening from around the world. 00:17 Also don't forget to like and subscribe if you're enjoying the episodes. 00:26 Story 1 I have always preferred solitude. It is almost a requirement for my work. 00:34 I am a wildlife biologist, focused mostly on ungulates, bighorn sheep, elk, and mountain goats. 00:42 That fall I was on a two-week solo assignment in the Bitterroot Mountains, collecting data from trail cameras and logging movements along a known goat corridor. 00:52 I was alone up there, me, my gear, and miles of ridgeline scree slopes and pine-choked valleys, where most people would not last a night. 01:02 I have worked in harsher terrain, Alaska during sleet season, Utah under summer heat. 01:09 But the bitter roots have a particular stillness. 01:12 You hear every footstep, every turn of the wind. 01:16 It is the kind of place where silence becomes a sound of its own. 01:21 I like that. 01:22 It let me think. 01:24 I was coming off a bad breakup, and the idea of disappearing into a place with no signal, no people, and no obligations was the only thing that felt logical. 01:35 Mid-September is perfect for me. Cool days, crisp nights, and most of the summer tourists have already scattered. 01:44 I packed fairly light. My ultralight tent, stove, freeze-dried meals, my field notebook, and a .357 that I keep holstered on long treks just in case of bears or mountain lions. 01:59 Never for people. 02:01 My satellite beacon is always clipped to my vest. 02:04 And I had three trail cameras that I plan to rotate every few days. 02:09 I keep my routines very fixed. Get up with the sun, hike my lines, take notes, pull camera data, and be back before dark. 02:19 That is the rhythm. 02:20 You do not break it unless you want to get lost or something worse. 02:25 Nothing exciting on the hike in, which was exactly what I wanted. 02:29 I followed a narrow game trail into a basin shaped like a natural amphitheater. 02:35 Steep rock walls on three sides, thick pine forest, and only one good way out. 02:41 I set camp beside a small stream and got to work. The first two days were textbook. Plenty of fresh scat, a few secondary go trails with overlapping tracks, and a decent sighting near dusk. 02:55 Nothing out of the ordinary. 02:57 I saw no one. I did not expect to. 03:01 There is no reason to be that deep in unless you are a researcher or incredibly lost. 03:07 By the third night I had slipped into that strange half-wild state of mind you fall into when it is just you in the wilderness. 03:15 I was no longer talking out loud. 03:18 My thoughts slowed down. 03:20 I started noticing the small details. 03:23 The way light caught spiderweb stretched between branches, or how the raven seemed to favor the same flight path along the ridge every morning. 03:32 That night I made a camp stew, the kind where you throw whatever is left into the pot and pretend it tastes different from the night before. 03:40 I sat with my back against a rock wall, the fire burning low, my jacket zipped to the throat, my headlamp hanging from one of the tent's guy lines to give me a pool of light overhead. 03:52 I was scraping the last of it from the bowl when I saw something across the ravine. 03:57 At first I thought it was a stump I had not noticed before. Just a vertical shape at the edge of the tree line, about 200 yards of open space away. 04:07 But something was off. 04:10 I grabbed my binoculars, stood slowly and focused. 04:14 it was a man just standing there arms at his sides no fire no flashlight no visible gear just watching and the worst part he was not even dressed for the cold not the way you would expect no down jacket no hat just the dark outline of a man perfectly motionless I waited, thinking he would wave, call out, or turn away, but he did not move. 04:40 Not even a flinch. 04:42 I stood there for a long time before finally backing away and zipping up the tent. 04:48 He had no business being there, and I had no reason to sleep easy after that. 04:53 The next morning I checked the ridge before coming out of the tent. 04:57 Nothing. 04:58 No figure, no tracks that I could see. 05:01 Even so, it stayed buzzing in my head. 05:04 I convinced myself I had imagined it. 05:07 The fire. The shadows. 05:10 The way your eyes play tricks when you are tired. 05:13 I packed for the day's hike and tried not to dwell on it. But when I came back that evening, exhausted, dirty and hungry, I looked across the ravine again. 05:25 And there he was. 05:27 Same place, same posture. 05:30 That night I kept my headlamp off. 05:33 I sat in the dark, wrapped in my sleeping bag, looking through a small slit in the tent mesh. 05:40 I wanted to see if he moved, if he went anywhere, but he did not. 05:45 He just stood there. 05:47 It went on like that night after night. 05:50 He never came closer, never lit a fire, never set up camp. 05:55 He was just there, watching. 05:57 The temperature dropped into the 30s, and still I never saw him wearing anything warmer. 06:03 No gloves, no hat. 06:06 I never saw him crouch or rest. No sign of life around him. Not even breath in the air. 06:12 I started thinking maybe it was not a person. 06:16 Maybe a cutout. Something put there to scare off hikers. 06:20 But it was so remote. 06:22 Too remote. 06:24 Who would go to that trouble? 06:26 On the sixth night, I pulled the camera cards to start reviewing data. 06:31 Most of the captures were deer and goats, just what I expected. 06:36 But one camera set about 50 yards from camp showed something else. 06:40 A moving blur low to the ground. 06:43 A crouched figure, human-shaped. 06:46 It crossed the edge of the frame around 3.47am and disappeared behind a rock. 06:53 The timestamp was from two nights earlier. 06:56 That camera faced the stream, not the ravine. 07:00 I stayed up the entire night after that. 07:03 The next morning I checked the camera lines more carefully. 07:06 Nothing was missing, but one had been turned slightly, just enough to change the angle. 07:12 I had not done that. 07:14 And no animal would do it like that, not without knocking it over. 07:19 Back at camp I found something else. A shoe print. 07:23 Not mine, not a boot print, but the mark of a flat-soled, worn-out kind of shoe. 07:29 The kind you buy at a surplus store. 07:32 It was near the fire ring almost covered by dry pine needles, and when I looked across the ravine that evening, he was gone. 07:40 The absence made it worse. 07:43 That night the forest fell tighter. The normal sounds, wind, creaking trees, owls were gone. 07:50 Just silence, thick and complete. 07:54 I sat with my headlamp off, my hand on the .357. 07:59 At 2.39am I heard it. A slow crunch of gravel behind the tent. 08:04 Not the snap of a twig or a squirrel. 08:07 One slow steady step. 08:09 Then another. 08:10 And silence. 08:12 I did not unzip the tent. I did not move. 08:16 At first light I came out. The fire ring looked different. Two new stones had been added to the circle. 08:23 I checked my cameras again and that was when I found it. 08:27 One of the cards had images from that night, in the early dark just before dawn. 08:33 It showed the man crouched beside my tent, but he was not looking inside. 08:38 He was facing the woods, his head tilted like he was listening to something. 08:43 He stayed that way for almost 10 minutes. 08:46 Then without looking back, he stood and walked back toward the ravine. 08:51 I left the camera playing on loop while I sat outside. I did not eat, did not write in the notebook. 08:58 I just sat there in the cold, watching that grainy clip over and over again. 09:04 His posture was not threatening. 09:06 It was reverent, almost like he was waiting for an answer. 09:11 I could not stop thinking. 09:13 What was he listening to? 09:16 That evening I stayed awake again. 09:18 No fire, no light. My back against the tent wall and my ears straining into the dark. 09:25 At 3.06am something changed. 09:28 I did not hear a footstep or a voice. 09:31 The forest changed. 09:33 It was as if everything had been holding tension and suddenly let go all at once. 09:38 The kind of pressure drop you feel in your teeth. 09:42 And then I heard something. 09:44 Not words, not music. 09:46 A whistle, one long note, and then silence again. 09:50 I waited until sunrise, packed everything fast and clumsily, and hauled back over the ridge without stopping to rest. 09:59 I did not bother rotating the last camera or checking the final GPS tag. 10:04 I got out directly, 12 miles with 70 pounds of gear, no brakes. 10:10 When I finally got to the truck and had signal, I sent my supervisor a message saying I was cutting the trip short, that I would explain later that I was sick. 10:21 They did not press. 10:23 I uploaded the data when I got home. 10:26 All of it except the card. The one with the crouching man. 10:31 I kept that one. 10:33 I still have it. 10:35 Sometimes I watch that clip again trying to catch something I missed. 10:39 A gesture, a sound, a clue. 10:42 But there is nothing new. 10:44 Just him, always facing the woods, listening. 10:49 I never told the full story. Not to my supervisor, not to the other researchers in the group chat, not even to my sister. 10:58 And we usually tell each other everything. 11:01 I did not want the looks, the questions, the logical explanations that always sound like they are trying to fix your memory instead of simply hearing it. 11:11 A few months later, I was in an outfitter store talking to another biologist who had just finished a project farther south. 11:19 Casual conversation. 11:22 I mentioned the bitter roots, and he nodded slowly and said, That place has a strange silence, you know what I mean? 11:30 I just nodded back. I did not add anything else. 11:34 What really eats at me is that I never knew what he was listening to. 11:38 He was not watching me. 11:41 That much is obvious. He did not approach, did not threaten me, did not even acknowledge me. 11:48 He came to that ravine for something else, something deeper in those woods. 11:54 Sometimes I wonder if he was warning me, if crouching beside my tent was his way of saying, stay still, do not make noise. 12:05 As if I was in more danger than I could understand. 12:08 I have not gone back to that basin. 12:11 I have built entire studies around avoiding that part of the map. 12:15 I still cannot get that image out of my head. 12:18 The way he listened like something was going to answer him. 12:22 He did not come for me. 12:24 He came to wait. 12:26 I just happened to be nearby. 12:33 Story 2 I have been hunting solo ever since I left the service. 12:39 It is the only thing that has given me the same kind of stillness I used to find on night patrols. 12:45 When the mind narrows down to movement, sound, and keeping your senses sharp. 12:51 Some guys get that from fishing. 12:54 I find it walking through the woods with a rifle. 12:57 That year I chose Oida National Forest. It is quiet, thick with pines and remote enough that you can walk for hours without seeing another bootprint. 13:07 October is my confidence month. Cold enough for the brush to start thinning. 13:13 Mild enough that you will not freeze if you end up bedding down unexpectedly. 13:18 I left the truck by a fire road and hiked about six miles in. 13:22 I did not bring a tent, just a tarp, a sleeping bag, a small stove, and those awful military rations you only eat when you still have all your teeth and your standards are set low. 13:34 I knew what I was doing. 13:36 I had a compass and no phone. There was no signal out there anyway. 13:41 The first two days went fine. 13:44 I spotted three white-tailed deer and a bobcat that bolted the moment it caught my scent. 13:50 The nights were cold but manageable. 13:53 I camped beside a fallen tree, kept the fire small and turned in early. 13:58 No problems, until the third night. 14:02 I was about a mile from camp, crouched on a rise with a clear line of sight to a meadow below. 14:08 I had been scanning through binoculars for around 40 minutes when I heard it. 14:13 A scream. 14:14 Not an animal. Human. 14:17 Loud panicked and close. 14:20 It bounced through the trees, frantic, broken, like someone running from something. 14:25 I stood up fast, turning toward the sound with my hand already on the rifle. 14:30 It came again. 14:32 Same words, same voice, same pitch. 14:36 But here is the strange part. 14:38 It did not change. No stumbling, no snapping branches, no shift in direction. 14:45 It just repeated. 14:48 help me again the exact same tone like hitting play on a cassette i started moving toward it slowly rifle low ready i have heard people call for help for real it is chaotic desperate this was not it sounded too clean I walked maybe 200 yards. 15:11 The voice stayed the same. Same place. Same volume. 15:15 That is not how sound works in the woods. 15:18 It should have faded or bounced differently. But no. Every few seconds. 15:24 Help me. 15:25 Then suddenly it cut off. 15:28 Stopped in the middle of the scream. 15:30 I held my position for a while. My breathing steady, but my hands freezing cold. 15:37 I made a slow 360 with the rifle, checked the tree line, listened. 15:42 Nothing. 15:44 I waited about 10 more minutes before backing out. 15:47 I took a different route back to camp, just in case. Nothing followed me. Nothing startled the birds. 15:55 Back at camp, I barely slept. 15:58 I kept the fire going in my back against a large rock. 16:02 Every noise made my ears twitch, but I did not hear the scream again. The next morning, I decided to hike back toward where I had heard it. Not right on top of it, but close enough to get a better look. There were no signs of a struggle, no tracks. 16:18 Then I saw something strange. 16:20 A cord stretched low between two trees. 16:24 Camouflaged paracord, shin height. 16:27 Easy to miss if you were not looking for it. 16:30 I followed the cord. It led me to a tree about 15 feet farther ahead. head, and there, duct taped to the back of the trunk, was an old portable cassette recorder, still running. 16:43 I moved closer. 16:45 It clicked, rewound, and started playing again. 16:49 Help me. 16:50 The same voice over and over. Then I looked behind the tree, boot prints, fresh. 16:57 Only one set going in. 16:59 I did not touch the recorder. 17:02 I left it playing and backed out the way I had come. 17:05 The farther I got, the more I kept looking over my shoulder. 17:09 Something was wrong. 17:10 There were no animals around. Even the insects were quiet. 17:15 I got back to camp by midday. 17:18 I packed up in under five minutes. 17:20 I left the fire ring cold and the tarp stuffed in the bag. 17:24 I hiked out in one shot. 17:27 I did not eat. 17:28 I did not stop even to piss. 17:31 I just moved. 17:33 I reached the truck near dusk. The engine started on the first try, which felt like a miracle. 17:39 When I finally hit pavement again, I felt that strange pressure in my ears lift. 17:45 I did not sleep when I got home. 17:47 I locked every door, turned on every light, and sat on the couch with the shotgun. 17:53 For days I kept thinking about those prints, that there had only been one set. that they led to the tree and stopped there, as if whoever or whatever had set that up had not walked back out the same way. 18:07 A few days later, after I had gotten at least some sleep and started convincing myself I had just spooked myself over something explainable, I went into the garage to clean my gear. 18:19 And there it was. The recorder in the bed of my truck wedged behind the cooler. 18:25 The same model, the same duct tape on the sides. 18:28 I had not touched it. 18:30 I know that. I did not take it with me. I left it strapped to that tree. 18:36 I stood there staring at it for a long time. 18:40 I did not want to touch it, but I had to know. 18:43 I pressed play. 18:45 Help me. 18:46 The same voice, the same loop. It was still running. 18:51 I put it in a trash bag and shoved it down into the curbside bin. 18:55 I threw another bag on top of it. 18:58 It was trash night anyway. 19:01 The next morning the bag was on my porch. Not torn, not dented. 19:06 Just sitting there, as if someone had carefully set it down in front of the door. 19:12 Someone was messing with me or sending me a message, but what bothered me most was the voice. 19:18 It sounded familiar. 19:21 I listened to it again. 19:23 Really listened. 19:24 I played it a dozen times. 19:27 Whoever set that up wanted me to find it, and they knew exactly how to make sure I paid attention. 19:33 I ruined the lives of some pretty bad people when I was in the service. 19:37 The only thing that makes sense to me is that someone came back for revenge. 19:42 I never went back to Washington. 19:45 I have not hunted alone since then. 19:47 Now I stick to shooting at the range and hiking trails with friends. 19:52 I still like silence, but I do not trust it the way I used to. 19:56 A few months after the recorder showed up the second time I moved. Different town, different job. 20:03 I thought maybe I had finally gotten away from whatever had been following me. 20:08 For a while it seemed like I had. 20:10 Then last week I got a package. 20:13 No return address, no postage, just left on my doorstep while I was at work. 20:19 Inside was a USB drive. I plugged it in. 20:23 Probably should not have, but I did. 20:25 There was a single file, audio only. 20:29 It started with the same scream on a loop, over and over, but then something different. 20:35 After about 30 seconds the recording shifted to static, and then I heard breathing, not panicked, close, like someone holding the microphone an inch from their mouth. 20:48 I closed the file and pulled out the drive, but I swear sometimes I still hear that voice at night, when everything is quiet and I am lying there trying to sleep. 20:59 I swear I hear it again, not from a speaker, but from somewhere just on the other side of my bedroom wall. 21:07 And what really breaks me is this. 21:09 It no longer sounds like a recording. 21:12 Someone wanted me to find it, and they knew exactly how to make sure I heard it. 21:22 Story 3. 21:24 I work in forest services in northern Minnesota, almost always within Superior National Forest. 21:32 My job covers everything from monitoring soil erosion to inspecting firings and checking permits. 21:39 Basically, making sure people do not do stupid things on protected land. 21:44 It is pretty straightforward work, but it keeps me outdoors. 21:48 And I love the calm. Empty trails, creaking trees, and that peaceful atmosphere that clears your head. 21:57 Every fall when nighttime temperatures start to drop and the leaves are completely gone, we are assigned to close and inspect the backcountry campsites for winter. 22:06 That means hiking out to the most remote sites, making sure there is no trash, that nothing has been left behind and confirming that they are actually listed in the records. 22:18 Most of these places get almost no visitors once the summer crowd is gone. 22:23 By late October you are more likely to run into deer than campers. They are almost always completely empty. 22:31 Every now and then we find abandoned gear. Old tarps, half-burned logs, maybe a broken folding chair. 22:39 I have found rusted knives, moldy granola bags, and once even a shredded teddy bear on the ground like it had been dragged through a windstorm. 22:48 But in November 2022, I came across something that still makes my skin crawl every time I remember it. 22:56 It was a Tuesday. 22:58 It had started snowing the day before. 23:00 Not a full storm, but enough to cover everything in a white crunchy crust. 23:06 The air was completely still. 23:09 No birds, no wind. Just the sound of my boots and the scrape of my hiking pole against a tree when I lost my balance. 23:18 That day I had been assigned five sites, all spaced about a mile apart along a poorly maintained trail network. 23:25 The fourth was supposed to be an old scout camp that had not been officially used in years. 23:31 It was not even on the public map anymore. 23:34 It only remained as a coordinate in our internal GPS database. 23:39 In my previous notes I had marked it as probably abandoned, but I still had to go out and check it. 23:45 As I approached the clearing I knew something was off. The underbrush looked trampled. 23:51 There were footprints in the snow, fresh ones, and then tucked against the tree line I saw it. 23:58 A tent. 23:59 It was a faded orange two-person dome tent, perfectly staked and intact. 24:05 The snow around it had been recently cleared away. 24:08 The fire pit in the center of the site was black with ash the snowfall had not covered. 24:14 Beside it, a stack of firewood had been neatly piled under an improvised tarp. 24:19 The footprints went back and forth between the tent and the fire pit. 24:23 Just one set, deep enough to suggest an adult walking to and from the two spots. 24:29 There was no extra gear outside the tent. 24:32 No food wrappers, no clutter. 24:35 Everything looked very deliberate. 24:38 I called it in and told the dispatch I had found an active, unregistered campsite. They asked if anyone was present. 24:46 I said no. 24:48 It looked like someone had only stepped away for a moment, but had not taken anything with them. 24:53 They instructed me to document it, take photos, and wait for a follow-up call from the district ranger. 25:00 I took pictures from a distance, uploaded the coordinates, and stood there in that stillness, watching my breath form clouds that quickly vanished. 25:10 The forest was quiet in a way that did not feel peaceful. 25:14 It felt watchful. 25:16 I walked slowly toward the tent. It was zipped shut. 25:20 No signs of movement inside. 25:23 Hello, I called. Forest Services, is anyone in there? 25:27 Silence. I tapped the fabric lightly. 25:31 Nothing. 25:32 I unzipped it halfway and leaned in. 25:35 Inside was a single sleeping bag, adult-sized, fully zipped, bulging with something inside it. There was no flashlight, no sleeping pad, no backpack. Just the bag in the center of the tent, as if it had been placed there on purpose. 25:52 It was not moving. 25:53 It made no sound, but it was clearly full. 25:57 I stood there staring at it, not knowing what to do. 26:01 I have opened dozens of abandoned sleeping bags. 26:04 Usually they contain dirty clothes, maybe an old foam pad. But this one made my stomach turn. 26:12 I could not explain why, but I did not want to open it. 26:16 I stepped back out and called the dispatch again to request backup. They told me it would be at least two hours before anyone could reach my location. 26:26 Cell service was spotty so they said they would radio the rangers and get back to me as soon as they could. 26:32 They ordered me to remain at the site, stay safe and not touch anything else until someone arrived. 26:38 So I waited. 26:39 I paced around the site for a while, trying not to stare at the tent. 26:44 The footprints were already starting to harden in the cold, and I noticed something strange. 26:50 They were all the same depth. 26:52 There was no sign that anyone had knelt or sat down, just the same path back and forth between the tent and the fire pit. 27:00 I sat on a rock at the edge of the clearing and tried to work the knot of tension out of my chest. 27:06 I thought about walking back to the truck and meeting the Rangers halfway, but the last thing I wanted was to leave the scene if it turned out to matter. 27:15 So I stayed. 27:17 Two hours passed, then three. 27:20 The sun started dropping behind the trees and the temperature fell fast. 27:24 The whole place sank into long shadows. 27:27 My phone still had no signal. 27:30 No one had called back. 27:32 I did not want to spend the night there, and I could not leave without knowing what was inside that sleeping bag. 27:39 So I forced myself to go back into the tent. 27:42 The zipper on the sleeping bag was stiff, like it had not been used in a long time. 27:48 I pulled it slowly. 27:50 The sound of the zipper seemed unnaturally loud in the stillness of that enclosed space. 27:56 The first thing I saw was fabric, soft child-sized fabric, the kind used for onesies or small fleece pajamas. 28:05 Then more layers of tiny clothing, different colors folded in strange ways. 28:11 Then I saw the head of a doll, then another and another. 28:15 There were five of them, each about the size of a small child, packed tightly side by side inside the sleeping bag. 28:24 All of them were dressed in real children's clothes, some with ruffled collars. 28:29 One had a cartoon bear on its chest. 28:31 Another had a pacifier in its mouth. 28:35 Another had crude eyes drawn on it with black marker. Large ovals staring upward, and the air inside the sleeping bag was warm. 28:44 I backed out so fast I nearly tore the flap off the tent. 28:48 I grabbed my pack and moved about 20 feet away, breathing hard. 28:53 I stayed frozen there until I saw lights through the trees. 28:56 Finally a ranger had arrived, middle-aged, quiet, serious. 29:01 He walked the site with me, looked at the tent and went inside. 29:06 He did not open the bag, he just stood over it for a long time, staring. 29:11 Then he came back out, met my eyes and said, ''We'll take it from here.'' I filed my report that same night. 29:20 Photos, GPS data, everything. 29:23 The next morning when I followed up, my supervisor told me that site was not in my assigned region. 29:30 He suggested that maybe I had gotten turned around in the snow. 29:34 I could not sleep for days because of what was inside that sleeping bag. 29:43 Story 4 We were not doing well when we took that trip. I think we both knew it, even if neither of us wanted to say it out loud. 29:54 Seven years of marriage, no kids, too many silent dinners and separate routines. 30:00 It was like we had turned into polite strangers who shared a bed. 30:05 So we did what couples do when they are not ready to admit something is broken. 30:10 We booked a weekend in the woods and told ourselves nature would help. 30:14 Forced intimacy. No distractions. Just trees and time. 30:20 Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri. 30:23 We had been there once before, back when things were better. 30:27 Early in the relationship. when everything still felt exciting. 30:32 I think we were both clinging to the idea that going back might fix us. 30:37 Rekindle something. Fresh air, no phones, sleeping under the stars, all that. 30:43 We got there late Friday afternoon, set up the tent in silence, ate in silence. 30:49 Every conversation felt like it was right on the edge of tipping into a fight. 30:54 It did not help that we had already been snapping at each other during the drive. 30:58 Stupid things. Missed turns, the wrong playlist, me driving too fast, her criticizing the snacks. 31:07 Small things that, added together, became too much distance. 31:12 Saturday morning we did a short trail loop, barely speaking. 31:16 By lunchtime everything was worse. 31:18 One of those petty arguments that somehow turns meaner than it should. 31:23 I do not even remember how it started. 31:26 I just know she ended up inside the tent with the zipper shut, and I walked off without saying where I was going. 31:33 I grabbed my day pack and left, pretending I had a plan. 31:37 The plan was to cool off, clear my head, get out of earshot, think about what I wanted and whether there was anything left worth saving. 31:46 I did not take a trail. I just moved through the trees, following the slope until the campsite was out of sight. 31:54 After about 20 minutes I slowed down and let myself breathe. 31:59 The woods were still holding that early autumn dampness. 32:02 It smelled like leaves, wet bark, and the last traces of summer burning off. 32:08 Then I realized something I had not registered at first. 32:12 The forest was quiet. 32:14 Not peaceful. Not calm. 32:17 Quiet. 32:19 No wind, no birds, no insects. No scurrying squirrels or chipmunks moving through the undergrowth. 32:27 I stopped and turned in a slow circle. 32:30 The feeling crept in gradually. The one you get when you walk into a room where people had just been talking about you. 32:37 The sense that something unseen was very aware of your presence. like the forest itself was watching you, listening. 32:45 I scanned the trees. Nothing. 32:48 No movement. 32:49 But the silence felt heavy. 32:52 I turned around thinking maybe I should go back. 32:55 When I did, I saw a white flash on what had been ahead of me. 32:59 If you could even call it a trail. 33:02 A polaroid lying face up in the dirt. 33:05 I stepped closer and picked it up. 33:08 It was us, my wife and me, laughing, sitting beside the firing at our campsite. 33:13 I was wearing the same clothes I had on at that exact moment. 33:17 She had her hand on my knee. 33:19 Her hair was tied up exactly the way it had been that morning. 33:23 The same hair tie, the same silver ring on her right hand. 33:27 We had not brought a camera. No Polaroid, no disposable. We had agreed to keep our phones put away and disconnected. No screens, no technology. 33:38 The whole point was to disconnect. 33:40 But there it was. 33:42 Real, sharp, developed. The kind you have to take, shake, and wait for to appear. 33:49 My legs reacted before I did. I turned and started walking fast. Not quite running, but close. 33:57 My heart was not pounding but my stomach had tightened. 34:01 Every few steps I looked back. 34:04 The trees seemed denser, as if the space behind me were closing in. 34:09 When I got back to camp the light had changed, that strange amber tone that comes late in the afternoon when the sun drops just enough to make everything look lit from the side. 34:20 the tent was still there her water bottle our packs the food bag hanging from a branch untouched but she was not i called her name once twice louder nothing i checked the tent her phone was inside still on airplane mode her sweatshirt was lying on the sleeping bag folded with the sleeves tucked in the way she always did and on the pillow, another Polaroid. 34:50 In this one, she was alone, standing in the woods. 34:53 Same sweatshirt, same ponytail, looking straight into the camera. 34:58 Her face was pale, her eyes wide, like she was scared but trying not to show it. 35:04 Like she was not alone behind the lens. 35:07 Behind her in the picture, the trees were shadowed and blurred, as if something were moving or hiding there. 35:14 I do not remember what I shouted. 35:16 I think I repeated her name until my throat hurt. 35:20 I searched in circles, ran the trail, checked the ridge, climbed nearby rocks, scanned the trees. 35:27 Nothing. 35:29 The forest was still deathly quiet, but the silence was no longer peaceful. 35:35 It was aggressive. 35:37 By the time the rangers found me it was fully dark. 35:40 I must have looked half feral. 35:43 Barefoot. I had lost my pack somewhere. My hands were scraped up and I had no voice left. 35:50 I was stumbling through the brush near the campsite with one of the photos in my hand. Shouting like that could somehow change anything. 35:58 They calmed me down enough to talk. and we organized a grid search. 36:03 Half a mile from the tent, deep in a tangle of scrub oak and thorn brush, one of the rangers called over the radio. 36:11 They had found her. 36:12 She was curled up at the base of a tree covered in scratches, shaking, barely able to speak. 36:20 She did not cry, did not ask questions. 36:24 She just clung to me like she had been underwater too long and had finally come up for air. 36:30 Later, after the paramedics checked her and the sheriff took our statements, she told me what she remembered. 36:36 A man had grabbed her inside the tent, pinned her down, and covered her mouth with his hand. 36:42 She tried to scream, but he was too strong. She said he never spoke a word. He just dragged her quickly and silently out of the campsite and into the woods. 36:53 She did not know how she escaped. 36:55 She said he stopped, maybe thinking she had passed out. 36:59 And when he turned his back for one second, she bolted, running blind until she could not anymore. 37:05 She could not describe his face. She said she never saw it clearly. 37:11 Just dark clothing, cold hands. 37:14 No voice. 37:15 The Rangers never found the man. No tracks, no gear, no trace. 37:21 She started therapy the next week. It took months before she could talk about it without shaking. 37:28 We still do not really talk about that trip, but she still remembers his smell. 37:33 And now, every time she catches something even remotely similar out in public, she panics and just wants to get away fast. 37:46 Story five. 37:48 We were on the fourth day of a week-long trek whose goal was to explore an untouched and isolated stretch of wilderness. 37:55 The idea of leaving the main trail and entering a protected, restricted area had been Danny's, a place where the maps barely showed shaded regions with vague markings of mountain ranges, rivers, and dense forests. 38:09 It was the kind of adventure you plan only once in a lifetime, promising a true escape from the noise of everyday life. 38:17 At first, the idea of isolation thrilled all of us. No signal, no people, just pure, untouched nature. 38:26 But as the days passed, that excitement started to turn into an unspoken tension. 38:31 There was something unsettling about being so far from civilization. 38:36 The sun was starting to go down and we had already hiked about 10 miles. 38:41 Our backpacks felt heavier with every step and when we found a clearing just below the ridge we were more than ready to make camp. 38:49 The place was nearly perfect. It gave us a full view of the valley and the forest stretching out beyond it. 38:56 Silence and calm ruled the place. 38:59 We pitched our tents and settled in for the night. 39:02 Sitting around the campfire, we laughed and relaxed, letting the exhaustion of the day melt away in the warmth of the flames. 39:09 Just as the sky shifted from a warm amber to a darker shade, Danny froze, staring toward the ridge above us. 39:17 Hey, look at that, he said, pointing upward with his chin. 39:22 We followed his gaze and my stomach tightened at what I saw. 39:26 A dark figure was standing at the top of the ridge, silhouetted against the sunset, watching us. 39:32 It was too far away to make out details, but close enough to be disturbing, still motionless. 39:40 Do you think they're camping up there? I asked. 39:43 There was something about that silhouette that didn't sit right with me. 39:48 Could be, Zoe murmured, but why just stand there watching? 39:53 Danny shrugged, though I noticed he felt it too. 39:56 That strange weight in the air, as if we had broken some unspoken rule by camping there. 40:02 We kept our eyes on the ridge. The figure remained motionless, barely shifting posture as if it didn't want us to know that we had noticed it. 40:12 At last, when the light fully faded, the figure turned and slowly disappeared into the darkening forest. 40:18 We all exhaled almost at the same time, and Danny tried to brush it off with a laugh, but I noticed he kept glancing over his shoulder while poking at the fire. 40:28 I guess they weren't looking for company, he said, though his voice lacked its usual lightness. 40:35 Night fell quickly, bringing with it a cold that seeped through our jackets despite the crackling embers. 40:41 The clearing felt strangely empty, as if our laughter and stories could not pass beyond the circle of light. 40:48 I kept looking toward the ridge, expecting to see the figure again, watching us from the shadows. 40:54 but the crest stayed dark, its summit swallowed by the night sky. 40:59 When the fire died down, we decided to call it a day. 41:03 Danny put out the last embers and each of us crawled into our tents. 41:07 I lay there for a while, listening to the soft sounds of the mountain, trying to shake off the unease from earlier. 41:14 The night was quiet, almost in an irritating way. Then I heard a faint rattling sound, like little stones rolling down the slope. 41:23 It started lightly, a couple of loose rocks here and there, but then it grew, as if someone were dropping them on purpose, letting them roll toward our camp. 41:34 I sat up. Each stone seemed to fall with intention, landing close enough for us to notice, but never close enough to be a real threat. 41:43 I unzipped the tent and peered into the dark, meeting Zoe's wide-eyed stare. She had heard it too. 41:50 You hear that too, right? I whispered. 41:54 She looked toward the ridge. 41:56 There's someone up there. 41:58 Danny stuck his head out of his tent, squinting into the dimness. 42:02 It's probably just loose rocks, he muttered, though he didn't sound convinced. 42:08 But the stones kept coming, each one falling with a deliberate air. 42:13 I didn't want to admit it, but it felt like a warning. 42:17 Danny, always the brave one, grabbed his flashlight and stood up. 42:21 I'm going to see what's going on. I can't sleep with all this noise anyway. 42:27 Zoe and I looked at each other, but we didn't argue. 42:30 We watched Danny climb the narrow path toward the ridge, the beam of light bouncing with his steps. 42:36 He called out a couple of times, but no one answered. 42:40 When he was close to reaching the top, the figure appeared again, only for an instant, barely touched by the edge of his flashlight beam, and then it vanished, blending into the shadows. 42:52 Danny turned around and came back down, visibly shaken. 42:56 Anything, I asked, though his face already told me he hadn't found what he was looking for. 43:02 He shook his head, glancing back again. 43:05 Nothing. 43:06 But I swear there's something there. 43:09 I saw someone. 43:10 Just watching. 43:13 As he spoke, another stone rolled down from the ridge, this time landing right at his feet. 43:18 We fell silent, staring upward, waiting for the figure to emerge from the shadows. 43:24 But the ridge remained empty, wrapped in darkness. 43:28 We gathered around the fire pit, trying to decide what to do. 43:32 Part of me wanted to pack up and leave, but hiking out at night didn't sound good either. 43:37 Then we heard a faint voice carried by the wind, like a whisper drifting down from the ridge. 43:43 Too soft to make out any words, as if it were meant for us but without wanting us to understand. 43:50 The voice faded but the dread lingered in the air. 43:53 We have to get out of here, Zoe finally said. 43:57 Danny nodded. His earlier confidence had completely disappeared. 44:02 We packed in a hurry. 44:04 Every so often I looked up, expecting to see the figure standing over us, ready to attack. But the ridge stayed empty. 44:12 Once we got on the trail, the feeling of being watched grew stronger. 44:16 It felt like we were disturbing something that did not want to be disturbed. 44:21 I kept looking back, nerves completely shot, convinced that at any moment I would see the figure following us. 44:29 Suddenly, a crashing roar shook the forest. A huge rock, much bigger than the others, came tumbling down the slope and slammed into the ground with a heavy thud right behind us. 44:40 We froze, staring at it, realizing it could very well have been meant to hit us. 44:45 We didn't waste another second. 44:47 We broke into a run, our flashlights bouncing as we stumbled down the trail. 44:53 I could feel the presence behind us, a large, relentless, silent shadow. 44:59 By the time we realized we were lost, we had already spent hours stumbling through the forest in the dark. 45:05 The trail had vanished behind us, swallowed by the endless sea of trees, each one identical to the last. 45:12 In the deep silence of the night, only our ragged breathing and the pounding of our boots broke the oppressive stillness. 45:18 Every time we stopped to get our bearings, we sensed it. 45:22 A presence, always just outside our field of vision. 45:26 We didn't know where to go, but we knew we had to keep moving. Stopping was not an option. 45:33 The night dragged on and with every step our legs grew heavier and our minds foggier. 45:38 We were exhausted, running low on water, our stomachs twisting with hunger, but no one even thought to suggest resting or eating. 45:47 The forest had taken on a sinister stillness and every snapping branch or rustling leaf made us speed up, afraid to stay in one place for even a second too long. 45:58 By dawn, the ridge was far behind us, replaced by a thick undergrowth and towering pines that seemed to close in around us. 46:06 Sunlight barely made it through the green canopy, casting strange shadows that danced and twisted as we passed. 46:14 I kept looking over my shoulder, certain I would catch sight of something in the distance, a dark figure moving just behind us, driving us deeper into the woods. 46:25 We barely slept that first night adrift, taking turns keeping watch. Even so, the weight of exhaustion crushed us, blurring our senses and distorting our thoughts. I remember waking to a faint whisper, only to realize that Zoe and Danny were fully awake, sitting in silence with their eyes fixed on the blackness between the trees. 46:47 No one said anything, but we all knew that whisper had not come from any of us. 46:53 On the second day we were still lost. Hunger clawed at us, making our heads spin and our steps uncertain. 47:00 We tried to eat, but the forest was so quiet that every bite seemed to echo. 47:06 Every now and then we heard footsteps that were not ours following us. 47:10 We never saw anyone, but the sound stayed with us everywhere, like a ghost stuck to our heels. 47:16 By late afternoon on that second day, panic had sunk into us. 47:20 We had no idea where we were, and every path led us back to the same cluster of trees, the same grove, as if the forest were folding in on itself. 47:31 With nightfall, the mountain filled with sounds again, whispers dragging leaves, branches cracking as though they were bearing something moving just out of sight. 47:41 We walked hunched over, barely speaking, forcing ourselves forward. 47:46 I don't know how long we wandered like that, but when I felt my legs were about to give out, I saw a flash of hope, the gleam of headlights between the trunks. 47:56 Our car was exactly where we had left it, half covered with fallen leaves and twigs, as if it had been waiting for us. 48:04 We stumbled out of the forest and practically collapsed against the vehicle, dropping our packs and leaning on the doors. 48:11 Only once we were inside, with the doors locked and the engine running, could we breathe again. 48:16 No one said a word on the drive back. Our eyes stayed fixed straight ahead, too shaken to look behind us. 48:24 It took us two days to find the car again, and during that entire time I am sure we were not alone. 48:30 Whatever we saw on that ridge did not want us there, and for those two days we were nothing more than intruders, prey in a forest with rules we did not understand. 48:41 Once we got home, it took us a few weeks to recover. 48:44 Somewhat dehydrated and low on vitamins, but grateful to be safe and back. 48:49 That was two years ago, and I still have not gone hiking again. 48:58 Story 6 Going on solo hikes was kind of my thing. 49:04 My friends used to say it wasn't safe to go alone, but for me it was the best way to clear my head. 49:10 Just me, the trail, and the sounds of the forest. 49:14 No distractions, no noise. 49:16 My life was so fast-paced that getting away felt like pressing the reset button. 49:22 Late October had always been my favorite time of year to go out. The trails were emptier, the air was crisp, and the leaves turned vibrant shades of orange, red and yellow. 49:32 This time, though, it was different. 49:35 I just didn't know it yet, but I would never set foot on those trails again. 49:40 The plan was to spend three days in the woods, alone with my gear. 49:45 I picked a route a friend had recommended. 49:47 Supposedly quiet and lightly traveled, the perfect place to disconnect. 49:53 I packed light but brought the essentials. 49:56 A tent, freeze-dried meals, water, a small flashlight, and a few basic tools. 50:02 Nothing fancy, a simple peaceful getaway, and I wanted to keep it that way. 50:09 The first day was exactly how I had imagined it. Serene, peaceful. 50:15 I didn't run into anyone. 50:17 Birds chirped, squirrels darted through the underbrush, and the sun filtered a golden glow through the foliage. 50:24 It felt like I had the entire forest to myself. 50:27 As the hours passed, I found a small clearing just as the sun was starting to set. 50:32 I pitched my tent, boiled water for dinner, and settled in as night closed around me. 50:38 I lay inside the tent, listening to the soft rustle of the leaves. 50:43 I was almost asleep when I heard a faint snap, like a twig breaking. 50:48 Then another. 50:49 It sounded too deliberate to be an animal. 50:52 I stayed still, trying to catch any other sound. 50:56 After a few moments, it stopped. Just as I was convincing myself it was probably deer passing through, I unzipped the tent just a little and looked out into the clearing bathed in dim moonlight. 51:08 And there he was, a man stood at the edge of the trees half hidden by the darkness. His clothes were dirty, torn in places, and he looked like he hadn't showered in months. 51:20 His face was pale, his eyes sunken and dark, fixed on me without blinking. 51:26 He didn't move or make a sound. He just stared, as if studying me from the shadows. 51:32 I wanted to speak, to ask if he needed help or something, but the words wouldn't come out. 51:38 My heart pounded in my chest as I lay frozen, trying to make sense of that disturbing figure in the middle of the forest. 51:46 He tilted his head slightly and without making a single sound, stepped back into the trees until he disappeared. 51:53 I zipped the tent shut in a panic, praying he had gone for good, even though the snapping twigs and the heavy silence of the forest told me otherwise. 52:03 The next morning I tried to shake off what had happened the night before. 52:07 Daylight has a way of making everything seem normal, even though I still couldn't fully get rid of the uneasy feeling. 52:14 I packed up camp and got back on the trail, covering more distance than I had expected. 52:20 By mid-afternoon I could already feel that pleasant burn in my legs, that good kind of exhaustion. 52:27 I found another campsite, this time beside a small stream. 52:31 The sound of the water slipping over the rocks calmed me like natural white noise. 52:36 I sat for a long time just watching the current. 52:39 When the light faded, I pitched the tent and started a fire to keep warm as the temperature dropped. 52:45 I cooked, lay back, and watched the stars come out. 52:49 I even remember thinking how grateful I was for moments like that. 52:54 But that night, the feeling came back stronger. 52:57 I lay in the tent, staring at the nylon ceiling, certain that I was being watched. I tried to ignore it, telling myself it was just the darkness in my imagination playing tricks on me. 53:09 Still, just as I was drifting off, a sound snapped me fully awake. 53:14 A soft crunch outside, footsteps circling my tent, slow and measured. 53:19 I held my breath and gripped the flashlight, not daring to turn it on. 53:24 Every instinct told me to stay still, to make no sound. 53:28 The footsteps stopped right on the other side of the tent wall. 53:32 I waited, tense and motionless. 53:34 After a while, they moved away into the trees, leaving me with the silence and the lingering feeling that I was not really alone. 53:42 I don't know how I managed to sleep after that, but somehow I did. 53:47 When I woke up, sunlight was already filtering through the treetops and the world felt normal again. 53:53 Almost. 53:55 This time I packed up in a hurry and kept moving along the trail. 53:59 I couldn't shake the idea that someone was watching me. 54:03 Every so often I looked over my shoulder, expecting to see someone, but there was never anything there. Just shadows and tree trunks. 54:12 Without realizing it, I started walking faster. 54:15 I was no longer enjoying the hike or finding the peace I had come for. 54:19 My senses were on high alert. 54:22 My nerves stretched tight. 54:24 An hour later, something moved in the corner of my eye. A figure slipping between the trees keeping pace with me, but always just outside my focus. 54:34 I stopped and squinted into the woods. 54:37 When I looked directly, I saw nothing. 54:40 Just trees, shadows, and the wind brushing through the leaves. 54:44 I started walking again, faster this time, hoping that if I kept going, whatever it was would leave me alone. 54:51 But it didn't. 54:52 No matter how quickly I moved, the feeling stayed with me. 54:56 It was as if the forest were closing in around me. 55:00 I couldn't shake the impression that I was being hunted, as if something were tracking me and waiting for me to let my guard down. 55:07 The sun was already dropping and I knew I had to find a place for the night, but the idea of stopping, pitching the tent, and leaving myself vulnerable filled me with dread. 55:18 I found a small rocky outcrop and decided it was as good a place as any. 55:24 I set up camp quickly, keeping the flashlight within reach and listening to every noise, every rustle in the brush. 55:31 I sat beside the tent and watched the darkness slowly swallow everything, feeling like a cornered animal. 55:38 The silence was unnerving. 55:40 While I was sitting there, I saw him again. A figure standing at the edge of the clearing, watching me. 55:47 I narrowed my eyes, trying to make out his features, but he was too far away, covered in shadow. 55:53 I thought about shouting at him, about saying something, but something stopped me. Instinct, maybe, or pure fear. 56:01 The figure took a step back and vanished into the trees. 56:05 I grabbed the flashlight and aimed it where I had seen him, but the beam only cut through empty air, lighting nothing but trunks. 56:12 That was when I knew I couldn't stay. 56:15 I grabbed my gear without worrying about packing it properly and started down the trail. 56:20 I didn't care about the darkness or the possibility of getting lost. 56:24 All I wanted was to put as much distance as possible between me and that. 56:29 That person, that thing, whatever it was. 56:32 The path was barely visible. 56:34 The moon cast only a pale glow through the canopy. 56:38 I moved as fast as I could, my eyes jumping from shadow to shadow and my ears straining to catch the slightest movement. 56:45 Then I heard footsteps behind me, steady, unhurried, as if whoever it was knew I had nowhere to go. 56:54 I didn't look back. 56:56 I just kept going, quickening my pace. 56:59 The footsteps matched my rhythm, always a few yards behind. 57:03 close enough for me to hear every crunch of leaves, every snapping twig. 57:09 I felt trapped, as if the forest itself were conspiring to hold me there, to keep me from ever leaving. 57:16 At last, after what felt like forever, I saw a faint light ahead, the parking lot. 57:23 I lunged toward it, my legs burning and my lungs on fire. 57:27 When I broke through the tree line, I allowed myself one last glance over my shoulder, expecting to see him there, standing at the edge of the forest. 57:36 But there was nothing, just the silent trees watching me escape. 57:41 I threw my gear into the car, got in and locked the doors. 57:45 My hands were shaking as I started the engine. 57:48 As I pulled out of the lot, I couldn't help checking the rearview mirror, expecting to see that figure standing at the edge of the woods. 57:57 Nothing. 57:58 Just darkness stretching behind me, following me all the way home. 58:03 After that experience, I stayed away from hiking for a while. 58:07 Even months later, when I finally went out again, I still couldn't sleep in a tent. 58:17 Story 7 I have hiked alone more times than I can count. 58:22 It is my escape, a break from the noise of the world. 58:26 I prefer lightly traveled trails, the kind where you are more likely to come across a deer than another person. 58:34 It was late October, and the dry, cold autumn air had already settled in comfortably. 58:40 The perfect weather for a three-day trek on a route I had never tried before. 58:45 I was about 12 miles into the first day when I saw him. 58:49 He was sitting on a fallen log off to the side of the trail, as if he had been waiting there. 58:54 He was a couple of decades older than me, probably in his 50s, with grey messy hair and an old frayed jacket. 59:03 As I passed, he looked up and our eyes met with a kind of silent intensity. 59:08 Hey, he called. 59:10 You wouldn't happen to know these woods, would you? 59:13 I stopped more out of courtesy than anything else and shook my head. 59:18 It's my first time out here, I replied. 59:21 He scratched his neck as if thinking. 59:24 I lost my campsite. He admitted. 59:27 I went out to gather firewood, and when I turned around, I couldn't find my way back. 59:32 I looked around, but there was nothing. Just trees and more trees stretching endlessly in every direction. 59:39 All right, I said. 59:41 I can help you look. Where did you last see it? 59:44 He vaguely pointed behind him in a direction I had not come from. 59:49 Over there, I think. 59:51 We started walking together, and as we moved he told me he had been out there for a couple of days, although he had run out of food the night before. 59:59 I offered him a granola bar from my backpack. He took it gratefully, tore it open and devoured it as if he had not eaten in days. 60:09 We walked for a while, maybe an hour, almost in silence. The deeper we went, the thicker the trees seemed to become, blocking much of the afternoon light. The terrain was rough, but I kept telling myself he would know how to orient himself, that he would remember something at any moment. 60:27 Still in the end, it became obvious that he was just as lost as I was. 60:32 We had not seen any sign of a campsite. I could not even tell where we had come from anymore. Just a blur of endless forest. 60:40 Are you sure it's this way? I asked him. 60:43 He scratched his head, looking around absentmindedly. 60:47 I could swear that. 60:49 His words trailed off as if he had forgotten what he was going to say. 60:53 That was when I started to feel uneasy. 60:56 There was something odd about him. Not danger exactly, but his behavior was strange. 61:02 I got the impression that he did not want to find his campsite, but to keep moving forward, deeper and deeper into the woods. 61:10 Look, I finally said, stopping to catch my breath. 61:14 I think we are going in circles. 61:17 Maybe we should head back. 61:19 He did not answer. He just stared at me, his eyes distant and unfocused as if he had not heard me. 61:27 Hey, I repeated more firmly. 61:30 He blinked coming out of that trance-like state. 61:33 Sorry, he muttered. 61:35 I guess I got a little turned around. 61:38 By then the sun was already sinking. I had no interest in spending the night wandering around with him, so I made a decision. 61:46 I need to get back to my route, I told him. 61:49 If you are still lost tomorrow, maybe we will run into each other again. But right now I need to head back. 61:56 As I turned to leave, I felt his hand grab my shoulder, firmly enough to stop me cold. 62:02 Wait, he said, his voice tense. 62:05 Please, just a little farther. It has to be around here. 62:10 I hesitated, noticing his desperation, but everything in me was screaming to leave. 62:15 I really have to go, I stammered, trying to pull his hand away. 62:19 He loosened his grip but stayed close behind me, following as I tried to find my way back to the main trail. 62:26 No matter which way I turned, he was right there behind me, saying nothing. 62:31 Simply there. 62:33 His presence was suffocating, like a shadow I could not shake. 62:37 I began to lose my sense of direction, but I did not dare ask for his help. 62:42 There was something in his silence, in the stubborn way he kept following, that killed any urge to speak. 62:49 Hours passed. The light had almost disappeared. 62:53 The trees, thick and dark, surrounded me. 62:56 I could feel my pulse racing with every step, panic creeping up my spine. 63:02 In the end, I could not take it anymore. 63:04 I stopped and turned around to face him, hoping to make some sense of what was happening. 63:10 But he was gone. 63:12 I looked around, straining my eyes in the dimness. He had been right there, practically on my heels. 63:18 There was no way he could have vanished without me noticing. 63:22 Hello, where did you go? I called out. 63:26 Only silence answered me. 63:28 Nervous, I quickened my pace in what I hoped was the right direction, but even as I moved, a feeling gnawed at me from the inside. The certainty that he had not left, that he was still close, hidden somewhere. 63:42 It took me hours to find the main trail again. 63:45 By the time I did, the moon was high. 63:48 I barely stopped to catch my breath before starting back toward my original campsite. 63:53 With every familiar landmark I found, I felt relief. 63:58 I was almost there when I heard a twig snap very close behind me. 64:02 I spun around searching the darkness but saw nothing. only the endless line of trees and shadows. 64:09 When I turned back toward the trail, I caught movement from the corner of my eye, a figure a few yards away watching me. 64:17 It was him. 64:18 Hey, I said, my voice trembling but firm. 64:22 What do you want? 64:23 He did not answer. 64:26 For a second I considered walking toward him, confronting him, but a cold instinct held me back. 64:32 I turned around and kept walking, maintaining a steady pace and resisting the urge to run. 64:38 Even so, I knew he was following me, matching his steps to mine. 64:43 His presence was a dark weight pressing against the back of my neck. 64:47 I reached my tent and climbed inside, zipping it shut, repeating to myself that I was safe, that there was no way he could get to me now. 64:57 Hours passed. I drifted in and out of uneasy sleep. 65:01 I dreamed of footsteps circling my tent, of eyes watching from the darkness. 65:07 And every time I opened my eyes I thought I could see a shadow outside, just beyond the thin walls of the fabric. 65:14 When morning finally came I packed up at record speed. As I hiked down the trail I kept my eyes forward, refusing to look back. 65:23 I thought about cutting the trip short and returning to the car. but I was not going to ruin it because of some strange guy. 65:30 Luckily, I did not run into him again, and I was able to continue without any further incidents, although I never fully got my calm back. 65:38 I could not shake the feeling of being watched, and more than once I caught myself looking over my shoulder. 65:44 On the last night while I was breaking camp I found something at the edge of my sight that made me go cold. 65:50 A small pile of stones carefully stacked. 65:54 A kind of marker like the ones I have seen other hikers leave. Except this one was there, only a few feet from my tent. 66:02 I knocked the stack down and left the forest. 66:04 I do not hike alone anymore. 66:11 Story 8 It was supposed to be a simple weekend hike with friends. 66:17 I had gone out with Danny, Laura, and Tom countless times, always finding our way along the trails even in unpredictable weather. 66:25 But this time something was different, something I can barely explain without sounding crazy. 66:32 The trip started without any problems. 66:34 We planned to climb a familiar trail, camp near the summit for the night, and then complete the loop on the way back. 66:42 We checked the forecast before leaving, and everything looked fine. 66:46 However, on the second day, just as we were beginning the descent, a sudden storm came out of nowhere. The sky darkened, thunder rumbled overhead, and within minutes we were caught in a downpour that soaked us to the bone without warning. 67:01 The rain was relentless, almost like a wall of water crashing down. 67:07 The path, clear and well marked when we started, was now unrecognizable, muddy and covered in debris. 67:14 Trees I could have sworn I knew looked strange now. 67:18 We tried to keep going, but the storm forced us to stop, huddling beneath a cluster of trees to find shelter. 67:25 We waited, hoping the downpour would ease up, but it only grew worse. Soon the air filled with a thick fog rising from between the trunks and settling all around us. 67:35 What are we going to do? Laura asked. We could barely hear her over the rain. 67:41 Danny pulled out his map, but it was soaked through. The ink was running and smearing, making it almost unreadable. 67:48 We were disoriented, stranded in what felt like an endless maze of trees and mist. 67:54 Let's just follow the trail back, Tom said, though doubt was written all over his face. But when we looked around, we realized we were not even sure where the trail was anymore. 68:05 After about 30 minutes, the storm finally began to let up, and the rain faded to a light drizzle. 68:11 The forest, however, seemed completely changed. 68:15 Branches and leaves covered what little trace of the path we could still make out, and a slow uneasiness crept into us as we started moving again. 68:24 Night began to fall. We kept going, hoping to find some landmark, some sign that we were heading in the right direction. 68:32 That was when we saw her for the first time. 68:36 Ahead of us, standing on the trail just beyond a bend, was a woman. 68:40 She was wearing a long white dress that almost glowed in the dim light. 68:44 She stood completely still with her back to us, looking out into the forest. "'Who is that?' Laura whispered, clutching my arm. "'No idea,' I replied, feeling a strange mix of curiosity and apprehension. "'Maybe she's lost, too.' Danny raised his voice. 69:03 Hey, are you okay? 69:06 But the woman did not move, did not even turn her head. 69:10 She just stood there, silent and still. 69:13 We approached cautiously and every step felt heavier than the one before. 69:18 The closer we got, the stranger everything seemed. 69:22 Her dress was spotless. 69:24 not a single mark of the mud and dirt that covered us. 69:27 And on top of that, she was barefoot, her feet resting on sharp stones and twigs without the slightest sign of discomfort. 69:36 When we were only a few feet away, she suddenly began to walk, moving slowly along the trail. 69:42 We called out to her again, but she ignored us. 69:46 Her pace was steady, unhurried. 69:49 Maybe she can't hear us, Tom said, his voice shaky. 69:53 We should follow her. Maybe she knows the way back. 69:57 Reluctantly, we lined up behind her, watching her disappear around a bend. 70:03 But when we reached the curve ourselves, she was gone. 70:07 There were no side trails and nowhere she could have hidden, just an empty stretch disappearing into the darkness. 70:14 Confused, we looked around, trying to understand what we had just seen. 70:19 Dani examined the ground for footprints. 70:21 There was nothing, not a single sign that anyone had passed through. 70:26 We stood there without saying a word, letting the weight of what had happened settle in our chests. 70:32 The forest felt even darker, and I felt a strange pressure building around us. 70:38 Let's keep moving, I finally said, eager to put some distance between us and that place. 70:44 As we walked, an ominous silence followed us. 70:47 No birds, no rustling animals, only our footsteps sinking into the mud. 70:53 That night we made camp in a small clearing, too exhausted to talk much about what had happened. 70:59 We tried to settle in, but I could not stop replaying the scene in my head. 71:04 The image of the woman in white had burned itself into my mind. 71:08 In the middle of the night I woke to a faint sound, quiet crying, soft and distant, as if it were coming from deep in the forest. 71:18 Danny, Tom, and Laura were still in their tents fast asleep. 71:22 The crying continued, a low mournful sob that sent a chill down my spine. 71:28 I unzipped the tent just enough to look outside, scanning the dark trees around us. 71:33 Nothing. 71:35 But the sobbing did not stop. It seemed to come from everywhere at once, echoing off the trunks, rolling through the clearing. 71:43 In the pale moonlight I could make out something at the edge of the campsite, a figure standing just beyond the circle of light from the fire. 71:51 It was her, the woman in white. 71:54 I froze, staring at her motionless form. Her gaze fixed on some point that was not us. 72:00 And then, as suddenly as she had appeared, she dissolved into the darkness, leaving me alone with the echo of her soft crying among the trees. 72:09 The next morning I told the others, expecting them to dismiss it or even laugh. 72:14 To my surprise, Laura admitted that she had heard the crying too. 72:18 Danny and Tom said nothing, but for the first time since the trip began, I saw real fear in their eyes. 72:25 we packed up in a hurry determined to get as far away from that clearing as possible even so every now and then we thought we caught flashes of white between the trunks and when we looked directly there was nothing there hours passed and the trail became endless twisting and curving in ways that made no sense it felt like we were walking in circles always ending up in the same place desperation caught up with us and we started shouting for help hoping someone would hear us at last by late afternoon we stumbled onto a familiar path relief washed over us when we recognized a landmark the fallen tree we had passed on the way up we followed the trail downhill too exhausted and shaken to speak we did not stop until we reached the place where we had left the car we drove back in silence Story 9 I worked as a park ranger on the Appalachian Trail for two years and I thought I had already seen almost everything. 73:41 During that time I dealt with lost hikers, encounters with wildlife, the usual nighttime camper who thinks no one will notice them, and even a couple of pranksters. 73:53 But there is something about patrolling the trails at night that always keeps me on edge. 73:58 It is not the usual animals or the rugged terrain. It has more to do with the way the forest seems to come alive after dark. 74:06 Some co-workers say the trail becomes another world after sunset and I never fully understood what they meant. 74:13 Until one strange and unforgettable night last fall. 74:17 The Appalachian Trail can stretch for days without any sign of civilization, but there is one section in particular near my usual patrol area where we enforce strict rules. 74:28 No camping, no campfires. 74:31 That part of the trail runs beside a ravine, and over the years we have seen enough accidents to keep the area off limits at night. 74:39 If I found anyone there, part of my job was to tell them to leave. But that night it was not a stray camper that caught my attention. 74:47 It was something no training manual had ever prepared me for. 74:51 It was a little after midnight, and I had been patrolling alone for a couple of hours. 74:57 I was making my rounds when I noticed, among the trees and a little way off the main path, a faint flickering glow. 75:04 At first I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. The light was weak, more like an unsteady shimmer, and the forest was completely silent. 75:14 Usually you hear leaves crunching or some nocturnal creature moving through the underbrush, but there was nothing. 75:20 I kept moving forward, thinking maybe someone had broken the rules and set up camp. 75:25 That was not unusual, especially with the kind of people who think they are above trail regulations. 75:31 But the closer I got, the stranger it felt. 75:35 The light did not have the typical color of a campfire, nor did it look like the beam of a headlamp. 75:41 It flickered and swayed like an old lantern. 75:45 But who uses lanterns out here these days? 75:48 I stepped off the trail, pointing my flashlight toward the ground so I would not give myself away. 75:54 The glow seemed to move deeper and deeper into the forest as if it wanted to lead me somewhere, and I found myself following it without thinking too much about it. 76:04 The light filtered through the trunks, always just far enough away that I could not make it out clearly. 76:11 And every time I thought I had lost it, it would flicker again a little farther ahead. 76:16 I consider myself a rational person, or at least I like to think so, but none of it made sense. 76:23 No one should have been out there, much less carrying an old-fashioned lantern, and every logical part of me wanted to turn back. 76:31 Still, there was something about that light, about the way it pulled me forward without mercy. 76:37 I told myself I would just take a closer look, confirm that no one was setting up some illegal campsite, and head back to the main trail. 76:46 Simple. 76:47 As I moved deeper into the trees the air grew thicker, heavier. 76:52 My own breathing sounded far too loud in that stillness. 76:56 It felt as if something were pulling me forward. 76:59 Then suddenly the light vanished. 77:01 I stopped short, scanning the trees, wondering if whoever it was had finally noticed me and put out the lantern. 77:09 But as I listened I noticed something else strange. There was not a single sound around me. 77:15 No insects, no whisper of wind moving the leaves, nothing. 77:19 It was as if the whole forest had gone mute. 77:23 I kept walking more slowly now, straining my eyes and ears for any sign of life. 77:28 Then, just as suddenly as it had disappeared, the light came back, farther away this time, almost as if it were testing me to see whether I would keep following it. 77:39 I hesitated, but by then I had already gone too far. 77:42 The ranger part of me, the part that always needs answers, overpowered any lingering fear. 77:49 I had to find out what was going on. 77:52 The closer I got to the glow, the more the forest seemed to close in around me. 77:56 Branches reached out of nowhere and brushed against me. 78:00 The undergrowth grew thicker and thicker, and I had to move carefully, stepping over roots and ducking under low branches. 78:08 Without warning the light stopped moving. 78:11 It hung there in the darkness flickering faintly as if inviting me closer. 78:17 I approached trying to stay calm but when I got within a few feet of it the glow vanished again leaving me in absolute blackness. 78:26 The sudden darkness made me jump. 78:28 I turned my flashlight to its brightest setting and swept the beam through the trees hoping to catch whoever was carrying that lantern. 78:36 Nothing. 78:37 Just trunks and shadows. 78:40 I muttered to myself, trying to keep my composure. 78:44 Alright, whoever you are, you got me. 78:47 My voice sounded far too loud in the stillness, but no one answered. 78:51 I decided to make one last sweep before heading back. 78:55 I took a few more steps, turning slowly as I moved the flashlight in a circle. 79:00 I was just about to retrace my steps when a faint glint caught my attention. 79:05 I moved a little closer and froze. 79:08 In the beam of light, hanging from a low branch only a few steps away, was an old rusted lantern. 79:15 It looked like it belonged to another era. The glass panels were coated in grime, and the handle looked as though it had not been touched in years. 79:24 There was no sign of the person who had carried it. No footprints, no broken branches, nothing to suggest anyone had been there. 79:32 The lantern simply hung there, swaying ever so slightly, as if stirred by a soft breeze, except there was no wind. 79:41 I do not know how long I stood there staring at that lantern hanging from the branch. 79:46 Everything in me was screaming to get out of there, but I could not turn my back on it. 79:51 My sense of duty as a ranger kept me rooted to the spot. I was terrified. 79:57 Every shadow around me seemed to be closing in, but I also could not ignore the danger. 80:03 The thought of an unattended flame in the middle of the forest kept me from just walking away. With little hesitation, I stepped forward and reached out to grab the handle. 80:13 The lantern was heavier than I expected. 80:16 It was cold and covered in rust. 80:19 After casting one last look around, I turned the knob to put out the flame, plunging everything into darkness. 80:26 I hung it back on the same branch, wiped my hands on my pants, and started backing away. 80:33 On the way back to the main trail, I kept glancing over my shoulder every few steps, expecting to see that unsettling glow come back to life behind me. 80:43 By the time I finally reached the trail, dawn was just beginning to break. 80:48 I do not think I have ever felt so relieved to see the sun climbing over the horizon. 80:53 I did not tell anyone about the light right away. 80:56 I did not even know how to explain it. 80:59 and I assumed no one would believe me. 81:01 Still the whole thing kept gnawing at me. 81:04 The next day I returned to that part of the trail, looking for any sign that someone had camped there or passed through. 81:11 I found nothing. No firing, no trash, no footprints. 81:16 Just an empty stretch of forest that looked as though it had not seen a human being in years. 81:22 I still work in the same area and keep doing my night patrols, though I have not seen the lantern again. 81:28 But every now and then, when I am alone in the dark, I catch a glimpse of something flickering between the trees. 81:35 Just a wink, a blink, as if something is still out there, waiting for me to chase it. 81:42 And now, whenever I notice a glow or a shimmer deep in the forest at night, I keep my distance. 81:49 I tell myself it is nothing more than the reflection of my own flashlight, or maybe another ranger. 82:00 Story 10 After 25 years in the fire service, you would think I had already seen everything. 82:07 Accidents, rescues, truly strange things. 82:11 But nothing shook me like what happened that morning on the Appalachian Trail. 82:16 I headed out early just before dawn, planning to take a long hike and get some fresh air. 82:22 The mountain fog was thick that morning, rolling in so densely it almost seemed to have a weight. 82:28 covering everything like a blanket. 82:30 But fog was nothing new to me. 82:33 I grew up around these trails, learning how to find my way on those milky damp mornings. 82:39 And at 45, after getting through more than one close call on the job, a quiet walk through the mist did not seem like much of a risk. 82:48 I parked at the trailhead just before 5 a.m., hoping to catch some of the sunrise if the fog lifted. 82:54 The car's headlights barely cut through the haze, and everything sounded muffled, muted. 83:00 When I started up the trail, I could barely see a few steps ahead of me. 83:05 Normally, the forest comes alive early in the morning. Birds chirping, branches cracking, squirrels darting around. 83:12 But that day, an unsettling silence hung over everything. 83:16 About a third of a mile in, the path opened into a wider clearing, and that was when I saw a dark figure standing perfectly still right in the middle of the trail. It was about 130 feet away, completely motionless. 83:30 My first instinct was practical. 83:33 Probably another hiker who had stopped to rest, or maybe someone who had gotten turned around in the fog. 83:39 I kept walking, expecting the figure to step aside or make some kind of gesture, but it did not. 83:45 It simply stood there. 83:47 Good morning, I called, my voice sounding dull in the mist. 83:51 Nothing. 83:53 I stopped, narrowing my eyes to make out some detail. 83:57 It was too far away to see clearly. Just an outline, a tall, thin silhouette, its head tilted slightly, as if it were watching me. 84:07 There was something strange about it. It did not move even an inch, did not fidget, did not shift its posture completely still. 84:17 I hesitated between getting closer or turning back, but I let it go, telling myself maybe the person was lost in thought or, who knows, wearing headphones. 84:28 I took a couple more steps and stopped again, watching. 84:32 Nothing. 84:34 Is everything okay over there? I shouted again, louder this time. 84:38 Silence. The fog shifted slightly, thinning just enough to give me a better view. 84:44 The figure was not facing me directly, but with its head turned slightly to the side, like someone listening. Or waiting. 84:52 A chill ran down my spine, but I shook it off. Surely it was just the strange lighting, the fog playing tricks on my eyes. 85:01 I took a few more steps, and then it disappeared. 85:05 Just like that. 85:07 One second it was there, as solid as anything. 85:11 The next, the fog passed over it and it was gone. 85:15 I have seen fog do strange things, distort shapes, move shadows, make objects seem as if they are moving when they are not. 85:24 But this, this was nothing like anything I had ever experienced. 85:29 I hurried to the spot where I had seen it, looking for any sign. 85:33 Movement, footprints, maybe a dropped object. 85:37 Nothing. 85:39 Just fog and silence. 85:41 Even the air felt different. Too still, too quiet. 85:46 A little while later I stopped to take a drink. And while I stood there, I heard a scream, high-pitched, chilling. 85:54 It cut through the fog like a knife. 85:57 It sounded close, maybe around 330 feet away, more or less, along the same trail I had come from. 86:05 My reflexes kicked in, that old firefighter training snapping to life. 86:10 Someone could be in serious trouble. 86:13 I turned and shouted, Hello, where are you? 86:17 There was no response, only silence. 86:20 I waited, listening hard, but the scream did not come again. 86:25 I did not like the idea of ignoring what I had heard. It could have been an animal, a fox, even a bird. 86:32 But to me it had sounded human, trembling, desperate. 86:37 Against my better judgment, I left the trail and moved into the forest, heading in the direction where I thought the scream had come from. 86:44 It was risky. Wandering off the path in that fog could mean getting lost, and I knew that danger far too well. 86:52 But that scream had lodged itself in my mind, and I could not turn my back on it. 86:58 As I pushed through the thick undergrowth, I kept calling out, hoping someone would answer. 87:03 The fog made me feel trapped in a maze. Every tree looked like the last, and before I knew it, I had completely lost sight of the trail. 87:13 Then I heard a crack farther ahead. 87:15 The sound was getting closer, branches snapping under footsteps, as if someone or something was coming toward me. 87:24 But in that white sheet of fog, I could not see a thing. 87:28 I called out again. 87:29 Is someone there? 87:31 Silence once more, then another snap. 87:35 I stood still, trying to make sense of the noises. 87:38 The rustling through the branches grew louder, and now it seemed to be coming from different directions, almost as if there were several sets of footsteps moving around me, circling me. 87:50 I backed up a few steps, searching for some sign of movement, and then nothing. 87:55 The sound stopped all at once. 87:58 I stood there, my heart pounding in my chest, waiting. 88:02 Alright, I muttered to myself. 88:05 Time to go back. 88:07 I turned around, thinking I would retrace my steps until I found the trail again, but saying it was easier than doing it. 88:14 The fog seemed even thicker now, swallowing up the landscape around me and making it impossible to see more than a few yards in any direction. 88:23 I started walking, trying to stay calm and keep my pace steady, hoping to recognize something, a tree, a rock, that might guide me back to the trail. 88:33 Just when I was starting to get my bearings, it came again. 88:37 Another scream, sharp and desperate, bouncing through the mist. 88:42 This time it sounded closer, and my instincts urged me to move faster, but I could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. 88:50 The scream sounded identical to the first one, the same pitch, the same tone, as if it were a recording being played back. 89:00 It did not feel real. 89:02 I moved forward more cautiously and then through the fog I saw the figure. only a few yards away, barely visible in all that thickness. 89:11 It was the same one as before, motionless, its outline blurred and distorted, once again facing me. 89:20 My first thought was that maybe it really was someone lost, someone who needed help. 89:25 But as I squinted, trying to make out some detail, a cold certainty came over me. There was no color, no features, only a pale, faint outline, almost like the shadow of a person. 89:40 I took a step back, and the figure seemed to come apart again, blending into the fog until it disappeared. 89:47 Every part of me was telling me to get out of there, but I could not find the trail. 89:52 I could not even be sure which direction I had come from. 89:56 In the end, I managed to find a slight opening between the trees that looked familiar. 90:01 I followed it, hoping it would lead me back, and after a few minutes, I found the trail again. 90:08 Relief washed over me from head to toe, but I still did not feel safe. 90:14 As the sun climbed higher, the fog began to lift and the trail became clearer. 90:19 I picked up my pace, eager to put as much distance as possible between myself and whatever I had run into. 90:26 I did not stop walking until I was well past the stretch where I had seen the figure. 90:31 Out in the open air, where the mist was beginning to thin, I turned around and looked back over the empty trail. 90:38 Nothing. 90:39 No one. 90:41 I wanted to convince myself it had just been the wind, a trick of my tired mind. 90:46 But deep down I could not shake the feeling that I had run into something beyond my understanding. 90:52 I did not let myself stay there any longer. 90:55 The sound of my own footsteps steady and rhythmic comforted me in its own way, and I clung to it to erase the memory of that desperate scream and the figure watching me through the fog. 91:06 By the time the sun was high enough to light the whole trail, almost everything started to feel normal again. 91:13 The birds began to sing, the trees seemed to relax, and the sinister silence that had haunted me earlier dissolved. 91:22 The fog thinned into patches until it vanished completely, leaving the forest clear and calm under the mid-morning light. 91:30 Even so, my nerves never fully settled. My original plan had been to spend the whole day hiking and reach a scenic overlook farther up the trail, but that no longer seemed like a good idea. 91:42 I could not shake the impression that something had been watching me, something that did not want me there. 91:48 So I cut the hike short, turned around much earlier than planned, and headed straight back to the car. 91:55 When I finally came out of the woods and stepped into the open parking area, I let out a long breath. 92:02 I still go hiking from time to time, but I have not gone back to that stretch of trail. 92:08 And every time I think about it, I can still hear that scream echoing in my ears. That desperate, bone-chilling sound. 92:16 I do not know what it was that I saw, or whether it was real or just some strange trick of the light. 92:22 But whatever it was, I am in no hurry to find out. 92:31 Story 11 I had been planning this hike on the Appalachian Trail for months. 92:37 This trip was supposed to be my escape after a long and exhausting school year. 92:42 As a teacher, I get that valuable summer break, and every year I try to do something different. 92:48 This time it was the trail. I wanted to lose myself in nature, maybe clear my head before the chaos of the next school year arrived, and hey, being able to say I had hiked part of the Appalachian Trail sounded pretty good. 93:03 During the first few days, I covered a few miles each day, setting my own pace and enjoying every stretch of wildlife. 93:11 Every now and then, I would pass another hiker, but for the most part, it was just me, my backpack, and the trail. 93:20 At night I would pitch my little tent, read for a while, and fall asleep under the stars. 93:26 It was peaceful, almost like stepping back in time to a place where everything felt simpler. 93:32 On the third day, I came across a narrow, unmarked trail off to the side. 93:37 It was tucked between two large trees, with the branches arching overhead, almost like they formed a threshold. 93:45 I would not even have noticed it if I had not stopped to adjust my backpack. 93:50 It did not look like part of the main route, but I could not help myself. 93:54 Curiosity got the better of me. 93:57 I figured maybe it was a shortcut to an overlook or something worth checking out. 94:01 I mean, I had come all that way to explore, right? 94:06 As soon as I stepped onto that side path, the dense forest seemed to close in around me. 94:11 It was quieter there somehow. 94:14 The canopy was thicker too, blocking out most of the sunlight. 94:18 I convinced myself the landscape would open up soon and that I would reach a nice view, maybe a clearing. 94:25 After a few minutes I started to notice the trail was narrowing. The trees on both sides seemed to be creeping closer. The bushes were crowding the path and forcing me to duck and squeeze through branches. 94:37 The packed dirt beneath my boots turned into patches of mud with strange roots sticking out like cables laid there to trip me. 94:45 Half an hour later, I began to question my decision. 94:48 It did not seem to lead anywhere. It just twisted deeper and deeper into the forest, becoming less defined with every step. 94:57 I had noticed it before, but now it was impossible to ignore. 95:02 The trail was fading, almost as if the forest were swallowing it. 95:07 It did not even feel like a path anymore, just a gap between trees. 95:12 What unsettled me was that I could have sworn I heard footsteps behind me. 95:17 Every time I stopped to listen, the sound stopped too. 95:21 I thought maybe it was the echo of my own footsteps, but after a while it became clear that it was not. 95:28 Someone or something was matching my pace, and it seemed to know exactly when I was paying attention. 95:34 I tried to shake off the thought as if it were just my imagination, but that only worked for a little while. 95:41 Eventually I turned around expecting to see a deer or some other animal wandering nearby. 95:46 But there was nothing. 95:48 Just trees and shadows. 95:51 I took a deep breath and kept going, forcing myself to focus on finding my way back to the main trail. 95:58 I had had enough of that little detour. 96:01 About an hour later it hit me that I was completely lost. 96:05 I had tried to retrace my steps, but everything looked the same. Trees brushed shadows. No landmarks, no clear trail. 96:14 My phone had no signal. and the GPS was as confused as I was. Every time I thought I had gotten my bearings back, I came across the same fallen log or the same twisted tree, as if I were walking in circles. 96:29 The footsteps came back and this time they did not stop. 96:33 I could hear them clearly. 96:35 Leaves crunching, twigs snapping. They would get closer then fade away, only to start again a few minutes later. 96:43 i shouted a couple of times hoping it was another hiker but there was no answer just that unsettling silence broken only by those footsteps panic started to rise i was miles from the main route hours away from anyone who might hear me if i called for help and daylight was fading the last thing i wanted was to be stuck there all night especially with whatever it was watching me. 97:09 I kept moving, telling myself I just had to keep going and I would eventually find my way back, but with every step that hope faded. 97:18 The footsteps continued and I could have sworn I saw movement between the trees, shadows slipping between the trunks. 97:26 I could not shake the feeling that someone was following me, matching my pace. 97:31 Just as the sun was starting to sink below the horizon, I stumbled into a small clearing. 97:37 I felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders. 97:40 It was the first open space in the forest I had seen in hours. 97:44 I dropped my backpack and took a moment to catch my breath, hoping I might spot some marker or clue that would help me get back on track. 97:53 That was when I saw a faint trail leading out of the clearing. 97:56 It did not look like much, but it was something. 97:59 I grabbed my backpack and started down it, moving quickly, my eyes scanning the surroundings, expecting to see those shadows closing in around me. 98:09 But the trail disappeared again, swallowed by the forest. 98:13 I stopped trying to get my bearings when I heard a low whisper. 98:18 Soft and almost melodic, it drifted through the trees. 98:22 I could not make out the words, but it sounded inviting, as if it wanted me to follow it. 98:28 I took a step forward drawn by the sound. It led me deeper in, winding between the trunks, taking me farther from the main route, farther from anywhere safe. 98:39 And then it stopped. 98:41 The silence was deafening. 98:43 I was alone, completely alone. 98:46 The reality hit me like a brick. 98:49 I had no idea where I was or how to get back. 98:53 And now, with the sun gone and the forest wrapped in darkness, I was at the mercy of whatever was out there. 99:00 I do not know how long I stood frozen, listening to the nothingness, but eventually I forced myself to move, to keep walking, even though every instinct was screaming at me to run. 99:12 The forest seemed alive, shadows shifting and twisting. 99:16 I could feel it, something watching just beyond the edge of my vision. 99:21 I stumbled, fell, crawled my way through the darkness. 99:25 Hours I do not know. 99:27 I lost all sense of time. The forest felt endless, stretching on forever like a maze. 99:34 And then, just when I was about to give up, I saw a faint flash of light barely visible through the trees. 99:40 I pushed forward, desperate to find a way out. The light grew stronger, clearer, closer, until I finally broke through the line of trees and found myself back. 99:51 Back on the main trail. 99:53 I do not know how I got out. I do not know what led me back. 99:58 But as I caught my breath I knew one thing with absolute certainty. 100:03 I would never ever set foot on that side trail again. 100:07 The forest had shown me its true face, had let me glimpse the darkness hidden beneath the trees, and I knew deep down that I had been lucky to escape with my life. 100:18 I cannot shake the feeling that whatever lives in those woods let me go, almost as if it had decided to. 100:25 Since then, whenever anyone asks me about hiking on the Appalachian Trail, I tell them the same thing. 100:31 Stay on the main trail, do not go wandering onto unmarked paths, and do not go looking for a better view. 100:39 That forest has a will of its own, and trust me, it is better not to find out what happens when you dig too deeply into it. 100:47 The Appalachian Trail may be beautiful, but it keeps secrets. 100:56 Story 12 After a long week of shifts in the emergency room, I desperately needed fresh air. 101:04 The night before, I had picked up an extra shift at the last minute, and my body ached from pure exhaustion. But the idea of being outdoors, surrounded by trees instead of fluorescent lights and monitors, sounded exactly like what I needed. 101:19 I was not planning anything intense, just a short solo hike through one of the quieter parts of the Appalachian Trail in Maine. 101:27 I packed a light backpack, grabbed my water bottle, and headed out early to get ahead of other hikers. 101:34 That stretch of trail was remote, barely used by anyone, perfect for clearing my head. 101:40 The first hour was pure peace, and I lost myself in the beauty of the surroundings. 101:46 The golden light filtering through the canopy, the earthy smell of damp soil, the sounds of nature. 101:53 It was exactly what I needed. 101:55 I was well into the route, maybe another hour from the trailhead, when I first noticed that something was not quite right. 102:03 To my right about 50 yards off the trail stood a figure. 102:08 At first I did not think much of it, assuming it was another hiker who had stepped off the path to get a little solitude. 102:15 But there was something unsettling about the posture. It was completely motionless. 102:20 I slowed down, squinting through the trees to get a better look. The figure seemed to be facing me, though it was hard to tell because of the shifting shadows. 102:30 The sunlight filtering through the branches gave it a strange, almost unnatural glow that made its skin look ghostly pale. 102:37 It was odd, and for some reason I felt a tingling sense of unease. 102:42 Hello, I called, trying to shake off the bad feeling. 102:46 Are you okay? 102:48 There was no response. 102:50 The figure remained still, staring in my direction. 102:54 I could not even tell whether it was a man or a woman. It was simply there, blending into the shadows, and yet somehow standing out. 103:03 I took a hesitant step forward, hoping a little movement might provoke some reaction, but it did not move an inch. 103:11 I hesitated between getting closer or keeping my distance, but something deep inside me said no. 103:18 Even so, I took another step, looking for a clearer angle, and then it turned. 103:24 It was not a normal turn. It was too fluid, almost as if it glided, moving deeper into the forest without making the slightest sound. 103:34 The hair on the back of my neck stood up. 103:37 I shook my head, trying to convince myself that nothing was wrong. 103:41 Maybe it had not hurt me, or maybe it was just enjoying its own solitude. 103:47 But as I kept walking, the feeling stayed with me, that dragging sense that something was off. 103:53 I told myself it was all in my head, that I was still rattled from the kind of week I had had. 104:00 Another half hour passed and I tried to get back into a rhythm, focusing on the cadence of my breathing, but the unease never completely went away. 104:09 I kept looking back, convinced I would see that figure lurking among the trees, and then I saw it again. 104:17 This time it was much closer, maybe 30 yards away, again on my right. 104:22 Same pale skin, same stillness facing me. 104:26 I froze, a cold feeling spreading through my whole body. 104:30 How had it managed to get ahead of me without me noticing? 104:34 Hello, I shouted louder. Are you okay? 104:38 Nothing. 104:40 Not a gesture, not a sound. It was just there, watching. 104:45 I could feel my pulse speeding up as I stared at it, waiting for any reaction. 104:50 I took a step backward without taking my eyes off it. And again, just like before, it turned. 104:56 It glided into the forest until it disappeared from sight. 105:00 It was almost as if it wanted to lead me somewhere. 105:03 By that point I was officially rattled. 105:06 There was something deeply wrong with that person, and I did not want to find out what it was. 105:12 I got back on the trail and picked up my pace, keeping an eye out for any landmark that would lead me back to the parking lot. 105:20 I walked faster, repeating to myself that I was overreacting, that it was just a strange hiker with an odd way of moving, or maybe someone playing a prank. 105:30 But deep down, I did not believe it. 105:34 There was something too unnatural about the way it kept appearing and disappearing, as if it were part of the forest itself. 105:42 The path sloped down into a hollow, and as I descended the air grew colder and the sunlight dimmer. 105:48 I had to slow down because the incline got steeper, but I kept looking over my shoulder. 105:54 When I reached the bottom, I stopped to catch my breath and looked around. 105:59 The trail was silent except for the soft whisper of leaves in the wind. 106:03 For a moment I thought I had lost it, but then out of the corner of my eye I saw it again, just a glimpse of pale skin peeking out from behind a tree. 106:13 I froze staring at that spot, but there was nothing there anymore, just shadows and trunks. 106:20 I forced myself to keep moving, quickening my pace, desperate to put distance between myself and whatever it was. 106:27 Finally, after what felt like forever, I reached a familiar clearing. 106:32 The relief was immediate when I recognized the trail marker just ahead. 106:37 I was close to the parking lot, maybe 10 minutes away. 106:41 I practically broke into a jog for the rest of the way, but as I burst into the parking area, I could not help looking back. 106:49 There, standing right at the edge of the forest was the figure. 106:53 Farther away now, almost swallowed by the shadows, but still watching me. 106:58 As I hurried to my car, fumbling with my keys, I looked over my shoulder one last time and saw the figure take a few steps in my direction. 107:07 That was enough to send my heart racing. 107:10 My hands were shaking so badly that I struggled to get the key into the ignition, and the engine seemed to take forever to start. 107:18 It finally came to life, and I got out of there as fast as I could without looking back. 107:24 Even now, lying in bed, I cannot get that moment out of my head. 107:28 My logical side tries to convince me it was just a lost hiker, but deep down I know it was not. 107:35 I have not gone back to that stretch of trail since then, and I cannot shake the feeling that whatever I saw was not supposed to be there and definitely did not want me there. 107:45 If I had hesitated for even one more second, if I had not managed to start the car, I would rather not think about it. 107:54 One thing I am sure of, whatever was out there is not something I would ever want to run into again. 108:05 Story 13 This happened about 10 years ago, give or take. 108:11 My friend Craig and I had absolutely nothing to do the next day, so we thought about going over to our friend Eric's place. He had just started seeing someone new, and the idea was to spend a quiet night hanging out, having a few drinks, spending some time together, and just relaxing. 108:30 Eric was staying temporarily at his mom's apartment complex. 108:34 Behind the building there was a pretty dense wooded area. 108:38 It was not just a simple row of trees or anything like that. 108:42 It was a real forest, the kind that gave the impression of stretching on for miles and miles. 108:48 This was in upstate New York, and it was one of those perfect fall days. 108:53 Cool air, colorful leaves everywhere, and just the right amount of afternoon light to make everything feel cozy. 109:00 We cracked open some beers and started walking through the woods behind the apartment. 109:05 There were three guys with Eric's girlfriend coming along with us. 109:09 We were all laughing, joking around and having a good time. 109:13 At some point we ran out of beer so we made a quick trip to the store for more and came right back. 109:19 What we really failed to calculate was how fast it was going to get dark by the time we returned. 109:24 It was that time of day when the sun drops behind the trees and you do not realize how much light has been lost until you are already deep in the middle of the woods. 109:33 We had talked about the idea of starting a campfire, but we had not even brought anything to light it yet. 109:40 We ended up in an open area, kind of like a small clearing where a couple of narrow trails split off in different directions. 109:47 Everything was quiet, calm, but there was something that just did not quite sit right with me. 109:54 While we were standing there joking around, I caught sight of something, or someone, a little farther beyond the trees. 110:01 At first I thought it was probably a strangely shaped tree, or maybe my eyes were playing tricks on me with the fading light. 110:08 But there was something about it that felt wrong. 110:11 I nudged Craig and asked if he could see it too. 110:15 At first he said, no. 110:17 Then he went quiet for a second. 110:20 Oh wait, yeah, what the hell is that? 110:24 And yeah, we were not imagining things. 110:27 There was a guy standing there, huge, still among the shadows, completely motionless, like he was watching us. 110:35 He was not close enough for us to make out his face, but he was near enough for us to tell he was not just passing through. 110:42 He was standing there staring and it felt deliberate. 110:46 I tried to get Eric's attention without making too much noise, hoping not to alert the guy that we had already seen him. 110:52 But Eric being Eric was totally in that party mode of nothing can happen to me. 110:58 I was trying to tell him to look ahead quietly, and instead he just yells, Hey, is it Bigfoot or what? 111:05 Like it was the funniest joke in the world. 111:08 I laughed nervously, trying to go along with it, but inside my stomach was completely twisted up. 111:15 By that point we had already gotten too close to just turn around and leave without making it obvious. 111:21 The guy was gigantic, not in a gym muscular way, but naturally tall and broad-shouldered. 111:27 And there was something disturbing about the way he stayed still, watching. 111:33 He did not move at all, did not show any expression. 111:37 He was just there, motionless. 111:40 We said hello cautiously, trying not to sound nervous. 111:44 And then Eric, this man really did this, walks straight up to the guy and starts talking to him like he was some lifelong friend or something. 111:52 He says something like, man, we thought you were an alien out there, like a real xenomorph, with the second mouth and everything, and then immediately starts imitating the creature from Alien, flailing his hands around like an idiot. 112:07 Eric's girlfriend, who was younger and had been pretty quiet all night, looked absolutely horrified. She barely said anything, but her body language made it crystal clear. 112:17 She was scared, and I do not blame her at all. 112:20 Craig and I were just standing there, trying to figure out how the hell we were going to de-escalate that situation without making anyone more upset. 112:29 We did not want to run and make it obvious that we were scared out of our minds, but we also did not want to stick around to find out what was going to happen next. 112:39 Then finally the guy spoke. 112:42 Are you guys drinking out here? He asked us, and we kind of nodded. 112:47 Then he said something like, that's cool, I brought some stuff too, and walked back toward the tree line, where he had an old beaten up backpack leaning against a trunk. 112:57 He pulled out a beer with one hand, but I noticed that with the other he reached in and discreetly slipped something into the front pocket of his hoodie. 113:05 I did not get a clear look at exactly what it was, but it gave me a bad feeling. 113:11 A really bad feeling. It looked to me like it could have been a knife or some kind of blade. 113:17 While he was opening the beer and walking back toward us, I casually glanced around the area, trying not to make it obvious. 113:25 And that was when I saw someone else farther back, among the trees, moving along the edge of the woods like they were circling around us. 113:33 I could not make out any details, but it was not a deer or anything like that. 113:38 It was a person, and they were moving quietly, like they were trying to stay out of sight. 113:44 That was when I knew we had to leave immediately. 113:47 I threw out a quick excuse, something like, oh shit, I forgot I have to get up early for work tomorrow. 113:55 Craig was the one driving me, so I said we were heading out. 113:59 Eric, of course, completely oblivious to everything goes. 114:03 What? But you told me you had the day off tomorrow. 114:07 I gave him a look that said, Dude, help me out a little, and answered, No, you heard me wrong. I really do have to get up early. 114:16 Eric shrugged and said, Alright, see you guys later. Drive safe. 114:22 As if we were not in a potentially dangerous situation or anything. 114:26 Craig and I started getting out of there quickly but without running, trying to stay calm. 114:32 Once we had gotten far enough away, I told him about the second person I had seen sneaking around behind us. 114:38 At that point we knew we had to get Eric and his girlfriend out of there somehow. 114:43 So, we improvised a plan. 114:45 Craig called him and said, Dude, your mom is outside in the parking lot looking for you, and she's pissed. 114:52 Eric might not have been afraid of suspicious strangers in the middle of the woods, but he was afraid of his mom. 114:59 And it worked. He grumbled, muttered a few curses under his breath, but in the end he decided to leave the woods. 115:08 I do not think his girlfriend minded being taken out of there in the slightest. 115:12 To this day I have no idea what exactly we walked into. 115:16 Some people think it was just a homeless guy with his friend hanging out in the woods. Maybe even getting ready to spend the night out there. 115:24 Others think we interrupted a drug deal. 115:31 Story 14. 115:34 This happened about four or five years ago when I was still living with my mom on a small quiet farm surrounded by dense woods. 115:42 We were pretty far out in a rural area though not completely isolated. 115:47 There were other farms nearby just not right next to us. 115:51 Each neighbor was about a third of a mile away, so we had a pretty good combination of privacy and safety. 115:58 That balance made me feel pretty protected, probably too protected looking back on it now. 116:04 I used to go out for walks at night like it was no big deal, sometimes around 7 or 8 at night, and there were nights when if I could not sleep I would end up walking down the back road at 2 in the morning. 116:16 Looking back, yeah, it was stupid. I had a regular walking route and I followed it almost religiously. 116:23 The first half was an open area that passed in front of the farms, including ours. So if something went wrong, there was a good chance someone might see me, or at the very least that I would have enough cell service to call for help. 116:37 But the second part that cut through a wooded section about 220 yards thick and ran behind all the farms for around 1.25 miles. 116:47 That was where the unsettling things happened. 116:50 One particular night, I do not remember the exact time, but it was completely dark except for the beam of my flashlight. 116:57 I was just about to reach the bend in the trail that would take me out of the trees and back into the open area when I heard something, or rather someone. 117:06 It was just a flat, emotionless voice saying, help. 117:10 It was not a scream or a shout. It was soft, almost mechanical. 117:15 Just that one word, over and over again. 117:18 Help! Help! 117:21 I ripped my earbuds out, turned off the music, and stood completely still, trying to figure out whether I was really hearing it right. 117:29 And yes, the voice kept repeating. 117:31 The same tone. No variation. No urgency. 117:36 No emotion. 117:38 For some reason, my first thought was, Oh no, someone is in trouble. 117:43 Like I was some little kid wanting to run out and save the day. 117:47 I was probably around 16 or 17. 117:50 That naive instinct kicked in before anything else. 117:54 Thankfully, my brain caught up almost immediately and basically screamed no. 117:59 This is how people end up going missing in true crime podcasts. 118:03 So I started backing away slowly, and this is where it gets worse. 118:08 My cat had followed me on the walk, like she usually did, but instead of backing away with me, she started creeping toward the place where the sound was coming from, with her ears pinned back, low to the ground, letting out a quiet hiss. 118:24 I whispered her name, trying to get her to come back without making too much noise, but there was no way to move her. 118:31 I did not want to leave her there, but I also did not want to stay in the dark wrestling with a cat while someone potentially dangerous was lurking nearby. 118:40 In the end, I ran toward her, picked her up, turned around and bolted back the way I had come, running as fast as I could. 118:48 And yes, I realized that turning my back on whoever might have been out there was probably not the best idea, but I was panicking. 118:56 Every cliché horror movie scene was running through my head, like at any second I was going to feel a hand grab my shoulder. 119:04 I did not hear footsteps following me or anything like that, but it did not matter. 119:10 I did not stop running until I was inside the house, with the door locked and the cat still in my arms. 119:17 Even so, even though I was completely shaken, I could not get that voice out of my head. 119:22 what if someone really had needed help and i had just run away like a coward so i told my mom what had happened and somehow managed to convince her to drive me back out there which looking back now was insane we stayed inside the car and called out loudly waiting for someone to answer but there was nothing except silence no movement no sound nothing we did not get out of the car thank god After a few minutes of eerie stillness we went back home, but the next morning I still could not shake the feeling, so I asked her to take me back to the same spot again, and this time we did walk around a little, though only in the immediate area. 120:06 I had this horrible feeling that maybe we were going to find a body or something. 120:10 I know that sounds extreme, but the voice had been so strange. It sounded like someone in shock or completely disconnected from what was happening to them. 120:20 But we found nothing. 120:22 Not a single sign that anyone had been there. And to this day I still have no idea what I heard that night. 120:29 There is no face to go with that voice. There is no explanation. 120:34 Just a memory that still gives me chills every time I think about it again. 120:38 Maybe it was someone playing a prank. 120:41 Or maybe I escaped something much worse than I will ever know. 120:45 Who knows? 120:51 Story 15. 120:53 This happened a few years ago on one of those perfect summer afternoons. 120:58 You know, the kind where it is not too hot, the sun is shining and everything feels peaceful. 121:04 I was driving home after spending time at a friend's house taking a more scenic route when I passed a small park tucked along the side of a quiet road. 121:14 I had heard that it had several walking trails leading to some amazing cliffside views, with panoramas of a valley and a forest. 121:22 I had only seen pictures online, but they looked incredible, like something straight off a postcard. 121:29 Since I had plenty of time and the weather was too nice to waste, I thought, why not go see it for myself? 121:36 When I arrived, the parking lot was completely empty, and honestly I liked that, because it meant I would probably have the trail to myself. 121:45 I parked the car, looked at the map at the entrance, and chose the path that seemed the least intimidating. 121:52 It was wide, fairly flat, and only had a few gentle inclines and some small rocks to step around or over. 121:59 The trail was pretty clear with little undergrowth, no sharp turns and not too many twists. 122:07 Basically the perfect hike for someone who just wanted to relax. 122:11 About halfway through the walk I passed a small rise that sloped down into an open clearing. 122:17 Just as I reached the top I saw an older man sitting alone on some rocks in the distance. 122:23 He looked like a kind grandfather, one of those harmless seeming types. 122:28 White hair, a calm expression, just sitting there facing the trees. 122:33 When I got a little closer he smiled at me and asked, Where are you headed? 122:39 I told him I was just trying to find the cliffs everyone talked about. 122:43 At first he seemed friendly but the expression on his face changed pretty quickly. 122:48 You should be careful, he said, still smiling, though in a way that no longer felt completely normal. 122:55 I thought maybe he was just being a concerned adult. 122:58 After all, I am barely five feet tall, and at the time I looked even younger, almost like a teenager, so I assumed maybe he thought I was not prepared for a hike involving cliffs. 123:11 I thanked him politely and kept moving to pass by, but he spoke to me again, the same words but in a completely different tone. ''No, you really need to be careful.'' Now he was staring directly at me, his eyes locked on mine and his voice totally flat. 123:29 Trying to lighten the tension, I told him that I had gone on plenty of hikes before and knew what I was doing. 123:34 But then he said something that made my stomach turn. A lot of teenagers come up here to see the cliffs. A lot of them never come back. 123:44 He paused and then added, almost as if he were describing something he knew far too well. 123:50 Like someone pushes them. 123:52 I wanted to convince myself he was joking. That he was just a strange old man with a dark sense of humor. 123:59 But there was nothing funny about the way he was looking at me. 124:02 His eyes were cold. And the way he said it did not sound like a warning. It sounded like a threat. 124:10 I tried to brush it off, telling myself I was probably just being too paranoid, which honestly does happen to me a lot, especially when I am in the woods. 124:20 I thanked him again, turned around and kept walking, but I could not shake the feeling that something was wrong. 124:27 I had only taken a few more steps when a sudden wave of terror came over me. 124:32 I stopped and turned to look back toward the clearing, and he was already gone. 124:37 He had completely vanished. 124:39 I did not hear him walk away, and there was nowhere logical he could have gone without me seeing him. 124:46 The trail ahead was open, and the brush was too sparse for him to hide there unnoticed. 124:52 At that point I was officially terrified. 124:55 I basically started jogging back the way I had come, with all my senses tuned to every tiny sound around me. 125:02 When I finally reached the parking lot, which was still completely empty, I realized something even stranger. 125:09 If nobody had been there when I arrived, then where had that man come from? And where the hell had he gone? 125:16 I got into my car, locked the doors immediately, and got out of there as fast as I could. 125:22 In the end, nothing else happened. 125:24 I did not find slash tires, I did not see strange faces in the rearview mirror, and I never crossed paths with that man again. 125:33 But the whole experience stayed with me. 125:36 I never went back to see those cliffs, and that is a shame, because I still think about the view. 125:42 But honestly, I could never shake the way he looked at me, or the tone of his voice when he said that last line. 125:48 Was he just a strange old man, overly cautious and socially awkward? 125:53 Maybe. 125:54 Maybe he was trying to save me from something I did not know was lurking out there. Or maybe he was the one I needed saving from. 126:02 I guess I will never know. 126:09 Story 16 Some time ago, I worked on a contract with a team that did field work for the United States Forest Service. 126:18 We were basically like plant detectives. 126:21 We walked through wild areas in Southern California looking for invasive species, logged them with GPS, and when necessary, pulled them out. 126:31 Since we worked under official contracts, we had access to all kinds of remote areas that the general public could not even enter. 126:39 And believe me, the deeper you go into those forests, the stranger the things you can end up finding. 126:46 Now I have several unsettling stories from those surveys, but there is one in particular that has always stayed with me. 126:53 When I first started, every day we would pass by an old day use recreation area that was completely run down. 127:00 It looked like something straight out of a horror movie, overgrown, forgotten by everyone, and full of random objects scattered everywhere. 127:09 The vehicle entrance was blocked by a heavy metal gate, but people still kept going in anyway, driving up over the curb and entering like it was nothing. 127:19 Some people went in with dogs, others stopped to take pictures, but there were a few who would just park, carry things into the woods, and then never reappear while we were still there. 127:31 My boss always told us not to go into that place, insisting that no invasive plants had ever been recorded there, so for quite a while we just ignored it. 127:41 After spending a few months working in other parts of the forest, we were sent back to that same area. 127:47 One day we were assigned to survey a narrow road inside a canyon, about seven miles in total. 127:53 That old recreation area was right off the side of that road. 127:57 I volunteered to cover that side of the road with two co-workers, and we thought maybe we would finally get to take a look at that suspicious place. 128:06 We had our usual gear with us. Hose, saws, pulaskies. 128:10 And I also had a kukri knife on my belt just in case. 128:14 Fieldwork in the wilderness is not always exactly peaceful. 128:19 We entered the area and it was a disaster. 128:22 There were abandoned appliances, broken glass everywhere, and some metal shelves that looked like they had been lying there for years. 128:29 But the strangest thing was a series of perfectly square holes cut into the concrete, several feet wide and fairly deep. 128:38 I had no idea what they could have been for. 128:41 Then we came across a large mound of dirt covered with rocks, and beside it there were some stained rags. 128:48 Sticking out from the top of the mound was half a skateboard, and nearby there was a wooden cross. 128:54 There was something written on the skateboard, maybe diamond or maybe a name, but the dates were so worn down that they could not be read. 129:03 One of the guys thought maybe it was just a pet grave, but I could not stop staring at those rags that looked like they were stained with blood. 129:11 Even so, we let it go and kept moving. We were recording plant data when we found a hidden corner of that area that opened out into a completely different canyon. 129:21 The satellite map confirmed that it was in fact a real canyon that we had not explored yet, so we marked it down. 129:29 Near there, there was also a small structure, about the size of half a shipping container. 129:34 The door was hanging partly open. 129:37 I pushed it open a little farther with my hoe. 129:40 Inside it was completely dark. 129:43 One of my coworkers shined his phone flashlight inside, and right away we saw pornographic magazines scattered everywhere, children's clothes, and some bedding. 129:53 I did not even stop to process it. 129:56 I just turned around and started walking back toward the road. 130:00 As I got closer to the clearing I noticed a pickup truck that definitely had not been there when we first went in. 130:07 It had gone around the gate and was parked off in a secluded corner, well hidden. 130:12 There was nobody visible inside or anywhere near the vehicle. 130:16 I stood there, uncomfortable, waiting for my co-workers to catch up. 130:20 When they got there, I pointed out the truck, and one of them said the driver was probably inside the old bathroom building by the road. 130:28 The idea of going closer did not appeal to me at all, but I was not about to stay by myself either, so I went with them. 130:36 The building was V-shaped, men's restrooms on one side, women's restrooms on the other, and a storage room in the middle. 130:44 My coworkers went into the men's side, which already looked like it had been forced open at some point. 130:50 And inside it was more of the same, more adult magazines, children's clothing, and bedding. 130:56 But that was when everything got worse. 130:59 There was a hole broken through the restroom wall that connected to the storage room. 131:03 One of my coworkers leaned his head through it to look inside. 131:07 Then suddenly, while I was standing outside, I heard the doorknob to the storage room starting to rattle. 131:13 and right after that I heard my co-workers yelling. 131:17 One of them grabbed his pulaski and started smashing the door handle over and over again. 131:22 A few seconds later a man came barreling out of the restroom and took off running toward the back of the recreation area, straight in the direction of the small building we had checked earlier. 131:33 It turned out my co-worker had shined the flashlight into the storage room and saw the guy crouched in the corner of the dark room. 131:40 The place was packed with boxes, children's clothes, and blankets. 131:44 We did not stay there one second longer than necessary. We called for backup over the radio from a wildland fire crew that was nearby. 131:53 Several of the hotshots arrived right away, and they were not there to waste time. 131:58 They brought a chainsaw, tore that door open, and set up lighting at the site. 132:03 What they found inside was disturbing. 132:06 There were stacks of child pornography magazines, more children's clothing, and blankets everywhere. 132:12 We told them which direction the man had run. Then they went to that small structure in the back and discovered something none of us had experienced. 132:21 That structure was not just a shack. It extended into the hillside like a hidden bunker. 132:27 And that was where the investigation stopped involving us. 132:31 Nobody wanted to set foot inside that place ever again. 132:39 Story 17. 132:42 Back in 2007, I was working on my doctorate at the University of Florida and living alone in a small condo I owned in Gainesville. 132:51 Around that time, one of my friends, whom we will call Captain, was in the middle of a pretty crazy mission, walking across the country. 133:00 At one point, he decided to pause his journey and stay at my place for the winter. 133:05 I was hardly even there because I spent most nights at my boyfriend's house. But even so, having someone living practically rent-free in my space for months started to wear on me a little. 133:16 So when spring came and he asked if I could drive him back to the exact spot in Alabama where he had stopped his walk, I thought, yeah, sure, let's get you moving again. 133:27 the drive out there was not bad it was probably five or six hours more or less i dropped him off there at dusk in the early evening and then immediately turned around to head back to gainesville that was when things started getting strange instead of taking me back the same way i had come the gps suggested a supposedly faster alternate route through rural alabama And when I say rural, I mean truly deep country. 133:55 Almost no lights, tiny roads, and that classic middle of nowhere atmosphere. 134:02 It was already late, and I was winding along dark back roads I had never seen in my life. 134:08 It definitely had that unsettling deliverance kind of energy. 134:12 At some point I realized that a car had gotten behind me. 134:16 At first I did not think too much of it. I figured maybe they were just taking the same weird route the GPS had sent me on. But after a while they were still behind me through every turn. 134:27 Even when I made a mistake and missed the left turn I was supposed to take, ending up taking the next one instead of the correct one. 134:35 The car copied every single move I made. 134:38 That was when it really hit me. 134:40 It was not that they happened to be following the same route. Someone was behind me on purpose. 134:46 I called my boyfriend to help me look up the local police department's non-emergency number, but of course he thought I was overreacting. 134:54 He was distracted with something else and basically brushed me off, which only made me feel even more frustrated. 135:02 I did not want to call 911 unless I was completely sure that something was really happening. 135:08 But looking back on it now, I should have done it anyway. 135:12 The situation kept getting worse because I was running very low on gas and no gas station had appeared for miles. 135:19 So not only was someone following me, but I was also going to be forced to stop the car by myself in the middle of nowhere. And the worst part was that I could not even get a good look at the driver. 135:30 The windows were heavily tinted and the roads were completely dark. 135:35 I kept thinking that maybe it was some kind of weird local rivalry. 135:39 Like they had seen my University of Florida Gators license plate and were Auburn or Alabama fans trying to mess with me. 135:47 But even that did not really make sense. 135:50 Everything was way too intense for it to be a simple prank. 135:54 Whether or not they knew I was a woman, the way they kept following me felt calculated and honestly pretty sinister. 136:01 Eventually I managed to reach a town big enough to have street lights and open businesses, and there I felt just a little safer. 136:09 So I decided to send the driver a message to make it clear that I knew exactly what was going on. 136:16 At the next red light, I turned all the way around in my seat, stared directly at him, and pretended I was talking on the phone while giving his description. 136:25 I held eye contact for the entire red light, hoping that would make him back off or at least make him nervous. 136:32 Not long after that, I found a well-lit gas station, pulled in with the driver's side as close to the store entrance as possible, and ran inside. 136:42 I told the clerk that someone had been following me for over an hour. 136:46 He came out from behind the counter, looked out the window, and told me there was nobody out there. 136:52 I would have sworn the car was right behind me, but I guess seeing me run inside made them disappear. 136:59 Either way, it was chilling. 137:01 That guy followed me for nearly 100 miles. 137:04 That is not random. That is harassment. 137:08 I never found out who he was or what he wanted, but the whole experience left me shaken for weeks. 137:14 After I got gas, the clerk told me how to get back to the highway, and thankfully the rest of the drive was uneventful. 137:21 But I will tell you one thing. I was still trembling when I got home, and I was furious that my boyfriend had not taken it seriously. 137:34 Story 18 This happened not too long ago. I work in childcare and one of the kids I take care of had recently developed a pretty big obsession with hiking. 137:45 He would not stop talking about caves, trails and all that kind of stuff. 137:50 So one day I thought about taking him to a really beautiful trail I had been to before, at Salt Fork State Park. 137:58 There is a place there called Hosek's Cave, which honestly is not really a cave in the usual sense. 138:04 It is more like a large rock overhang, with a small waterfall gently spilling over the top. 138:10 It is a very pretty spot and fairly open. 138:14 The trail to get there is only about half a mile, and it used to be pretty heavily traveled, which is why I chose it. 138:21 Short and in theory safe. 138:23 Now here is the thing. 138:25 Several summer storms had passed through the area not long before, and I had not realized how much damage they had done to the trail until we got there. 138:34 What used to be a wide, comfortable path now looked more like a narrow ledge, only about a foot wide in some places, with a drop of around six feet down to a rocky creek bed. 138:46 It was not exactly ideal, but there was a small crew working on some bridge repairs not too far from the start of the trail, so that made me feel safe enough to keep going. 138:57 Besides, the kid was incredibly excited and completely determined to do it, so we kept going. 139:04 We managed to make it to an overlooked platform near the cave, but it was roped off with signs saying it was closed, probably because of all the fallen trees around it. 139:14 Still, we had already made it that far, and the cave was only a little farther ahead. So we carefully continued by going around that area and climbing down through tree roots. 139:25 We ended up staying at the cave for quite a while, mostly because getting there had been a bit of a challenge and the kid was having an amazing time. 139:33 He found a little pool full of baby salamanders and was completely fascinated. 139:38 Honestly, I had not seen him that happy in a very long time. 139:42 So I let him play and catch them for almost an hour. 139:46 While we were up there I did notice a few strange things. There was an old candle sitting on a rock with a heart carved into it. 139:54 It definitely had a weird vibe, though I assumed it had probably been left by some couple trying to make the place feel more romantic. 140:02 Farther up, near the edge, we saw two more candles and several stacks of rocks that looked like they had been arranged on purpose. 140:11 By that point I was already starting to feel uneasy, but I did not say anything. 140:16 I just stayed alert, watching. 140:19 Eventually we decided to head back, and that was when everything started getting really strange. When we climbed back up to the same platform area, the one next to the tree roots, we both saw a soaking wet wipe hanging right there in the middle of the trail. 140:35 That had not been there before. Of that I am completely certain. 140:40 The kid saw it too, but he did not understand how strange it was. 140:44 I, on the other hand, felt my stomach drop. 140:47 In that instant there were two things I knew immediately. 140:51 First, someone else was out there watching us. 140:55 Second, whoever it was had managed to get close enough to leave that wipe there without us seeing them at any point. 141:02 That trail was narrow and there was no real way to go back another way or circle around the area. 141:08 If something went wrong there was nowhere to run and I was not about to scare the kid. 141:15 So I told him to go ahead and lead the way back and I just kept encouraging him, telling him how great he was doing, trying only to keep us moving. 141:25 We did not see anyone the entire way back down the trail, but the second we got to the car I locked the doors immediately And just as we were driving out of the park, I saw a man step out from the woods not far from the road. 141:39 He looked like he had not bathed in weeks, probably in his thirties, and he stared at me in the most intense way, with that kind of deep eye contact that cuts right through you. 141:50 His face was completely blank, no expression at all, and he followed my movement with his head and eyes as we drove past. 141:59 In that moment I knew that man wanted me to see him, like he was confirming everything I had already been afraid of. 142:06 That look stayed with me for days. 142:08 I could not get it out of my head. 142:11 Part of me tried to come up with a logical explanation. 142:15 Maybe he was camping and did not want to scare us. 142:18 Maybe we had simply startled him by accident. 142:21 But the truth is, he had plenty of time to do whatever he wanted while we were distracted catching salamanders. 142:28 And the fact that he left that wipe after getting close enough to place it there, that felt deliberate, like he wanted me to know we were not alone. 142:37 The kid had no idea anything strange had happened. To this day, he still talks about that hike like it was the best day of his life. 142:45 Meanwhile, I was barely holding myself together through the entire experience. 142:51 Honestly, it was one of the most disturbing situations I have ever been in, and even now I still get chills thinking about that stare.