Creepy experiences in the backcountry

[Cdroot89]

I had a weird experience once while hunting. A few weeks before the experience I remember waking up from sleeping in my bed at home to a loud cracking noise. I didn’t know what it was and couldn’t remember a dream. A few weeks later I was hunting beside a creek and walked across a large frozen puddle. When I was in the middle of the puddle I heard a loud cracking noise. At that very instance I had a flashback/out of body experience to the cracking noise that woke me up from my sleep a few weeks prior. At that moment I was able to recall my dream and in the dream I was looking down from the sky on the exact scene I was in reality. I mean exact everything, exact bend in the creek, exact amount of snow, wearing the exact clothing, and carrying the exact gun. It is the only out of body experience I have ever had and it was likely just my brain retroactively filling in a gap in memory but it was pretty creepy to me.

 

[Antarctica]

aka 'deja vu'

 

[Nickofthewoods]

A few weeks before the experience I remember waking up from sleeping in my bed at home to a loud cracking noise. I didn’t know what it was and couldn’t remember a dream.

Deja Vu from Exploding Head Syndrome?

Exploding Head Syndrome

When you imagine loud noises as you're waking up or falling asleep, that's exploding head syndrome. It's a real disorder, but it's not as painful as it sounds.

www.webmd.com

 

[Cdroot89]

aka 'deja vu'

To me Deja Vu is a feeling like you have been here before or experience it before. To me I had the feeling like I was out of my body looking down on myself. Like the camera angle of my vision was switched and in addition it was the dream that I had previously had. To me I didn’t look at it as Deja Vu but more a a dream that predicted what happened followed by an out of body experience...maybe that is Deja vu or exploding head syndrome?

 

[Voyageur]

Pheasants in my neck of the woods

Nothing unexplainable, but how many times have you jumped out of your skin after nearly stepping on a grouse while quietly moving locations? Every. Damn. Time.

 

[Troubleshooter406]

Recently watched a movie available on Amazon Prime Video called Missing 411-The Hunted. It is about a series of unexplained missing hunter stories from different areas in the US. It was actually pretty good...and a little creepy. Based on a book from a series of missing person stories by investigative author Dave Paulides. He is a former police detective and has researched hundreds and hundreds of missing person cases in depth. I was googling each of the missing hunter stories as I was watching the movie and they are all bona fide unsolved cases. If you’re a twitchy person when it comes to stuff like this, I don’t recommend watching it until after your upcoming solo hunt...

Key is to watch this before your set to head out solo for a few days, then see how freaked out you can get while walking back to camp each night in the dark, lol. Anybody else see what I call the flashers in the sky? They twinkle like a star but if you put glass on them you can see distinctly what looks similar to cop lights. Thatd be the end of it for me but they move around, up down and side to side, if you landmark them and watch it is interesting. I was actually backpacking with some friends the first night I ever noticed one, they are all over in MT though not just the wilderness.

 

[Squamch]

Nothing unexplainable, but how many times have you jumped out of your skin after nearly stepping on a grouse while quietly moving locations? Every. Damn. Time.

You think that's exciting, try hiking in at night through the blueberry meadows waking up bears...after the third one woke up, huffed and crashed away I started singing while I hiked. Well, I only know all the words to one song....
"Three German soldiers crossed the rhine, taboo, taboo...."

That would have made for a creepy experience for someone else

 

[NDGuy]

I'm trying to decipher the Paper Plate Message. Naked Happy Camper is obvious, but what the heck does "60 Barefoot All Over" mean.

Is it simply a warning that there's a 60 year old naked person ahead who walks around barefoot all over the place?

Or, maybe "Naked Happy Camper" is the Business Name, 60 is a dollar figure, and "Barefoot All Over" was that day's special. Like for 60 Dollars you get a Barefoot Massage or something?

You really should have stopped in to check it out.

Send me the coords I will take one for the team in the name of science..unless it's a 60 year old hippie granny

 

[Wib]

In the middle 1990’s my brother and I spent 2 weeks bow hunting elk between Ovando and Lincoln MT. We kept camp at the base of the mountain range as far as the road went. South Gate of the Bob Marshall. On one of the first nights there my brother was sound asleep in our tent. I woke up for some reason, and heard something moving around very quietly. I listened for a bit, and located the .44 mag pistol we had in the tent with us. We had all of our dishes stacked on a table alongside the outside of the tent. I heard dishes clinking, very quietly, but being moved. I thought at first maybe a mouse, but they were moving a bit more than a mouse could do, A coon maybe, but I also envisioned a bear. Blackie or Griz. A little later as I listened I ruled out coon, the footsteps were too heavy. Whatever it was it was moving slowly and with deliberation, trying to be quiet. The more I listened, the more it sounded more like human footsteps. I thought about waking my brother who was lightly snoring, but I let him sleep. After a while it got silent, and I fell asleep. I woke early in the morning and went out expecting dishes to be tipped over, the noise was enough that they had to be in disarray. Not one cup, not one bowl, not one piece of silverware was out of place.
I said nothing to my brother.

We hunted hard all the next day and I slept like a rock the next night. Never woke. Got up in the morning and started getting ready to move out for the day and my brother stopped me. Funny look on his face. He asked me if I heard anything last night. I said no, slept like a rock. He said in the middle of the night he was awoken and he sat with the .44 in his hand for near an hour. He then relayed to me he having the same exact experience I had the previous night. Remember, I had said nothing to him about it. I then told him about that previous night.

I think back to that time period and area now and wonder if possibly it was a person. We weren’t all that far from where a man lived by himself, and he travelled these mountains by himself all the time. Makes me wonder if Ted the unabomber might have paid our campsite a visit.

 

[rclouse79]

Reading the last one just jogged my memory. Two summers ago I took my son for a one night backpacking trip near Wallace Idaho. The trip itself was enjoyable and uneventful. When we got back to the truck I opened the door and found that someone had eaten the rest of an almost full bag of sunflower seeds. They had neatly stacked a mountain of spent shells on the center console. Before leaving I inspected the rest of the vehicle with a fine tooth comb. My mind was running wild thinking that I would uncover a turd or a dead animal around each corner. As far as I can tell nothing else was disturbed or stolen. Still gives me the willies. I now triple check to make sure my doors are locked before leaving.

 

[bwidrick]

Send me the coords I will take one for the team in the name of science..unless it's a 60 year old hippie granny

Hereabouts...37.07344, -106.49147. Good luck; I bear no responsibility for what you find!

 

[wildtrader]

Hunting a spot in Eastern Nev and bumped into a loonatic in the woods. Seriously. We found out His family dumped him out there in a POS trailer and would bring him food once a month or so. Heard him screaming one night. Walking around in shit soaked clothes a knife and barefoot. This guy was certifiable. The guy was dangerous.... both from his attitude and the Cholera he was wearing.

We finally had to intimidate him not to pester us.

..

scary

 

[Opah]

 

[deerhunt1988]

Pheasants in my neck of the woods

Quail or roosted turkey here in the southeast. They have caused me to squeal like a little girl on many occasions!

 

[EastHumboldt]

Not creepy but nasty, this spring while turkey hunting in SE Missouri. I came sneaking up a log road no less than 4 miles from a gravel road. I rounded a bend and there was a skinny guy getting busy with a 350 pound land whale. they were between me and where I wanted to go, so I backed off, gave a few yelps then walked back up the road. He had put his clothes back on, and she was strutting around w no shirt on. As I walked past and gave the good morning, both asked if I was turkey hunting. I responded with Well yes I was. He offered me a beer and she wanted to know if I needed a ride. I responded with no thank you and went on my way.

How insensitive of you. Whale shaming.

 

[EastHumboldt]

This is one from a good friend in Oregon.

Around 12 years ago he was archery elk hunting on the coast. He was perched in some cover overlooking a meadow for a a while cow calling. A 150lb lion walks out 10 yards in front of him focused on his scent, it was stalking him. They locked eyes for a few seconds before he sent an arrow at it, cat did the old freak out jump, he manged to fling 2 more arrows at it that hit, cat disappeared a little ways. Gave it a little time and found the cat, the first arrow spined him and the cat was paralyzed waist down. As he approached the cat it was wildly pissed, screaming at him and swiping at him even 10 or so yards away. For some reason he only had 4 arrows on him that day, one left and no sidearm. He put another arrow in him but somehow didn’t get solid vitals as the cat was still going nuts. He decided to leave for 5 or 6 hours and come back, the cat had expired at that point. His first year bow hunting and first ever kill with a bow. I’ll never forget he said the sounds and crazy fight out the cat was the scariest thing he had ever witnessed. He did a full mount on the cat and it was absolutely enormous. He wanted to recreate the look on the cats face when it wanted to kill him. Shot another cat a few days later with a friend.

View attachment 196190

And a slightly embellished local news story. They added 25lbs to the cat, fake news lol.

View attachment 196194

Can you blame him? Put three arrows in me and if I have any wind left I’m gonna want to kill you too. That was meant to be funny... not judgemental. I once spent 7 shells murdering an elk to death. (4 of them missed). He also looked like he wanted to kill me when I got in close for the coup de grace.

 

[EastMT]

How insensitive of you. Whale shaming.

And passed up a free ride! Shameful!

 

[EastHumboldt]

Summer before senior year of high school I took a trip to Germany. On mountain overlooking Berchtesgaden a friend and I were wandering, heard some drums, left the trail and followed the sound through the forrest. We found ourselves over a clearing where boys, aged roughly 10-18 were marching/drilling in plain white tees, khaki shorts, with broomsticks and plain white flags. Given the history of Berchtesgaden, their secluded location, and general vibe, we assumed they were some modern version of the Hitler Youth. We watched for a bit before quietly backing out. That was pretty freaky especially since we had just visited Dachau a few days before.

Along the same lines I have seen skulls and other bones washing out of shallow graves in the Khmer Rouge Killing fields.

I’ve had my share of things in the dark woods happening, eyes shining things crashing through brush nearby, a sixth sense of unease.... Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately, the stories aren’t as good as others have shared. However, even when in the woods, if I’m worrying, it’s generally about what people can do to other people slightly different people.

1stGen, you are so right. I’ve startled bears, got between a sow and her Cubs, walked right into a fresh cougar kill, and none of those things has scared me the way people do. Most dangerous animal on the planet? Yer talkin to one right now. One thing that has me very concerned is like you mentioned, we get on opposite sides of a political issue and start dehumanizing the other side. That’s step one. Step 2 is concentration camps, and step 3 is genocide. Talk to your enemies... chances are you have more in common with them than with the talking head who has you convinced they are evil.

 

[lyle_destroys]

1stGen, you are so right. I’ve startled bears, got between a sow and her Cubs, walked right into a fresh cougar kill, and none of those things has scared me the way people do. Most dangerous animal on the planet? Yer talkin to one right now. One thing that has me very concerned is like you mentioned, we get on opposite sides of a political issue and start dehumanizing the other side. That’s step one. Step 2 is concentration camps, and step 3 is genocide. Talk to your enemies... chances are you have more in common with them than with the talking head who has you convinced they are evil.

This applies worldwide. Most of the people I met overseas just wanted to live their life, not much different than us. Afghans, Russians, Koreans. The government and media does one hell of a job making us hate each other though.

 

[robby denning]

not really a backcountry story, but hunting with @Ryan Avery on one of the ranches I manage, one of the old trailers has indoor plumbing. He faced-timed from the back bathroom me while taking a dump and had his mic at full power.

Definitely creepy (and other emotions)