Creepy experiences in the backcountry

I had a weird one happen last weekend. Was hiking half to get into shape half to hunt. It had just finished raining and still had those wet clouds/mist in the air that you could see floating around in your headlamp. I was hiking up to a point in a popular trail where I’d leave it in hopes to set eyes on a new spot I’ve never been to before. The blueberries looked ripe and the bear hunting should be getting good soon and I wanted to get my scouting of new places out of the way early on in the year. I need up hiking a ridge where one side transitioned into a steep meadow that I sadly couldn’t see into, the other side was a cliff that overlooked a large valley and a lake. Would have been quite the views if I could see past 100yds. After another mile off trail I decided to make breakfast and then if no signs of clearing make my way back to the main trail and call it a day. I had located an old abandoned trail that would get lost in the tree patches and I’d have to pick it up later, I read once that the main trail I was on was made in 1999, and made me wonder if the trail I was on was the old one that took it down to the lake. This was an old mining area also and I came across a large hole in the rocky ground that was about 10’ across abs 6’ deep. A large Boulder had been set which looked like intentionally, which made be think an old mine shaft? On my way out I kept checking my onX map to track my progress, and one side of the ridge being a cliff and one side being a meadow it should be fairly straightforward. About halfway back I hit a patch of small trees (things don’t grow fast about 5000’ and in snow half the year) and followed the trail into the trees. Lost the trail and picked another one up and started following it, hiking along as come across another hole in the ground that looked oddly like the first, so I looked at it a bit and thought to myself I didn’t remember how steep the hillside was coming in here…as I start climbing a long hill I get to the top and something doesn’t feel right. I check my map and I am currently farther down the trail than I had been the first time. How I got turned a 180 and didn’t realize it is still a blur. It’s almost like that portion of my memory isn’t there. I’m generally very good with directions and natural self awareness of where I am, but for some reason this one gave me the weirds. I kept that map in hand the whole way back to the main trail! Still perplexed by it…maybe the eerie silence and fog added to the experience?
 
Not creepy but interesting, a few years back my dad and I were late muzzle loader season hunting, there was about a foot of snow on the ground and we parked the truck at the bottom of the mountain and took our time going too our regular hunting spots, he hunted the first bench of the mountain so we get him situated and I head too the top on a old logging trail, it was still dark out and at places the trail is kind of over grown with fox grape vines and such, ( note as I am familiar with the area I hunt very seldom do I use a light moving around in the dark) as I top out on the area I hunt I always stop and look around the area and listen a bit before going too my spot, My next step there was a eruption of fluttering wings I could feel them flapping on my chest and face, it took everything I had too maintain my clean long johns that morning and am sure the grouse was not too happy either. My dad has since passed and now I hunt that mountain bye myself but early in the morning on my way in I still stop at that spot and chuckle too my self.
 
Buddy and I took a “shortcut” off the mountain and stumbled across a fresh campsite with 4 tents, maybe two miles from the truck, next to a river.

Weird thing about the camp was that all the tents were set up, open, shoes out front, clothes here or there, water filtering, knife hanging on a belt in a tree, packs nearby. All the gear, shoes, clothes, everything in camp - and not one person around. Our “shortcut” had cost us 2 hours and we ran out of water, so we were hollering for people cause we didnt want to just help ourselves to their water without asking. Nothing. Went down to the river nearby, nobody. Made a good 100 yard circle around the camp and even my buddie’s german shepard never picked up on anyone.

Best guess is we disturbed some naked hippies doing psychedelic drugs in the woods and they were probably hiding, scared sh!tless, of the two “official looking” guys in full camo carrying guns with a “police dog”. Im open to other guesses but thats mine lol.
 
DuckDogDr said:
Wib ..I agree I would think not that common myself..but the veterinary world in the big city gets stranger every year.
I live in the country but commute to the big city of Birmingham (not that big).

My technicians are pretty open about it..one brags about sleeping in a coffin and has a goat skull above her baby crib...
The other one who is really open about it brings her books to read during slow periods
Click to expand...

Or they've heard your pentagram and satanist stories at work and they've all decided to play you.. Sounds like something we would have done to a coworker back in my restaurant worker days in the 80's. Oh yeah, as kids we would always do stupid stuff like draw pentagrams and other things in abandoned buildings and similar places as jokes. lol
 
def90 said:
Or they've heard your pentagram and satanist stories at work and they've all decided to play you.. Sounds like something we would have done to a coworker back in my restaurant worker days in the 80's. Oh yeah, as kids we would always do stupid stuff like draw pentagrams and other things in abandoned buildings and similar places as jokes. lol
Click to expand...
I only have one person at work that I talk / go hunting with and he doesn't even know that story.

Sadly these 5 people are legit satanists. They may be egging some stuff on..but listening to their conversations..there is just some stuff that is creepy... the coffin girl has the devil tattoo'd on her calf ..and the other one is deep in the voodoo /witchcraft portion
 
DuckDogDr said:
I only have one person at work that I talk / go hunting with and he doesn't even know that story.

Sadly these 5 people are legit satanists. They may be egging some stuff on..but listening to their conversations..there is just some stuff that is creepy... the coffin girl has the devil tattoo'd on her calf ..and the other one is deep in the voodoo /witchcraft portion
Click to expand...
I know a man who died on a cross that can handle that kinda stuff All Day,…..PM me if you need a hand 😉
 
I will add a few, not that exciting, but still weird hunting situations.

One time pheasant hunting in high school, I was following the dog through some nasty thick weeds along a wind break. The old men were on the edges hoping to get clearer shots when the birds flushed (this place was always over looked, we always got quail or roosters out of it). A few feet in front of me I can see a bunch of clothes on the ground, some trash and what looked like luggage. My mind instantly went to great I just found a dead body. I didn't have the balls to get any closer and called the guys over. Turned out to be a large travel suite case and a back pack. The clothes were women's underwear and the bags were full of playboy/hustler type magazines/DVDs. We figured it had to be someone on the custom harvest crew that cut the wheat along the wind break that summer. As a teenage boy it was a no brainer to take a few of the magazines!
 
Alright last two stories I have and like I stated both are not related to hunting.

My wife and I were living in a townhouse shortly after her Dad had passed away. My wife likes to burn candles and forget to blow them out. This irritates me as I worry she will burn the house down so I get on her about it. Well one night she blew out the candle and went to bed. I got up and did my usual morning routine and headed off to school. My wife got up later and came downstairs and noticed the candle burning. She quickly blew it out, finished her morning routine and also headed off to school. On the bus commute to school she got thinking I can't believe I didn't yell at her for leaving the candle burning all night. Truth is I never seen any candle burning when I came downstairs and I certainly didn't light it. Then she also remembered one other weird detail. When she blew out the candle there was no melted wax indicating the candle had just recently been lit. Not sure what happened there but certainly makes you wonder about life after this place. She's certain it was her Dad messing with her.

Second story involves my brother. He was staying over at a friends house. This friend and their siblings had a rough life. Parents divorced and later found out their stepdad was sexually abusing the one girl. The place they could currently afford was an old church converted into a house which just happened to have an old creepy graveyard in the back. My brother was about 10 or 11 years old at the time and was playing in the dark basement when they knocked a glass jar or bottle off a shelf and shattered it on the floor. The kids then all went upstairs to get a broom to clean it up. When they returned the bottle was put back together and back on the shelf. Despite this my brother for some reason decided to stay. The kids all went to bed in the living room and in the middle of the night my brother awoke to a glow in a doorway. He describes a man in mainly white if I remember correctly whose legs were blurry or faded almost as if he were floating. The man appeared to have a clever or knife in the one hand. My brother thought he was seeing things or dreaming so he rubbed his eyes hard and opened them to see the "man" still standing there. My brother screamed and ran for the light switch and flipped on the lights. The "man" was then gone. The other kids woke up and asked what happened. He said he saw a ghost and then without describing him the kids gave the exact description of him and stated they have seen him multiple times in the past. My brother immediately called our house and I had to go pick him up at 2am. The family has sinced moved out and my brother's other friends have tried to get him to go back to the house since but he will not step anywhere near that place. One night he noticed lights on in the house and asked the kids who used to live their about it. They said the windows were all boarded up and nobody was living their and the power had been disconnected. To this day his story has never changed and he has a visceral fear of that place. He gets furious when I ask if he really seen what he saw that night. He says I know I seen a broken glass bottle which wasn't broke when I returned and I know what I seen in that doorway. Not sure how to explain his experience and I saw the fear in his eyes when I picked him up that night. I have a hard time not believing in ghosts and spirits with all these experiences and obviously others have had things happen to. I agree we're not alone out here.

All right hopefully others can keep the thread going as I have exhausted all my stories.
 
"Van Down By the River"

Trying to find an open fishing spot along the river, we went down to one of the access points we rarely used. A dead in road in the timber, that you had to walk about 50 yards to get to the river (not a lot of people used it because you couldn't back up to the water). About half way in there we saw a conversion van backed into the trees. It was out of place, you could tell it had been there for a while and it instantly creeped me out. I told my dad, that was weird and I didn't want to fish there. About a week later there was an article in the paper from the Sheriff, asking for info about a van down by the river. So he went down to talk with the sheriff. He found out that the guy in the van had been reported missing for quite a while and it appeared he had committed suicide in the back of the van. I now assume all creepy vans in the woods have dead people in them!
 
long hunter said:
My next step there was a eruption of fluttering wings I could feel them flapping on my chest and face, it took everything I had too maintain my clean long johns that morning and am sure the grouse was not too happy either.
Click to expand...

Grouse exploding out from underfoot is heart attack city. So many times those little buggers frighten the hell out of me.
 
Out coon hunting in HS we pulled into an old farm yard about a 1/4 mile off the road. When we came around the corner to the gate we would park at, there was an old POS truck sitting there. My buddy was instantly freaked out (he recognized the truck). He started to haul ass out of there. I new something was wrong because we were the only ones that could hunt that spot and it was like 2am. On the way out my buddy told me he thought it was two old dudes from town (known tweakers/thieves that had been in and out of jail). Pretty soon we can see there headlights behind us, before we know it they are right on our bumper. We assume they are just trying to scare us and will either go around or just ride our ass back to town. We were wrong, they started shooting at us, with some semi auto they had probably stolen. Thankfully their truck was such a POS we could out run them. We went to town and parked down the street from the house they were staying at, just to make sure it was them. We reported it to the proper authorities in the morning (not the cops), who caught up with them a few days later behind the local bar.
 
Skerhunter said:
Out coon hunting in HS we pulled into an old farm yard about a 1/4 mile off the road. When we came around the corner to the gate we would park at, there was an old POS truck sitting there. My buddy was instantly freaked out (he recognized the truck). He started to haul ass out of there. I new something was wrong because we were the only ones that could hunt that spot and it was like 2am. On the way out my buddy told me he thought it was two old dudes from town (known tweakers/thieves that had been in and out of jail). Pretty soon we can see there headlights behind us, before we know it they are right on our bumper. We assume they are just trying to scare us and will either go around or just ride our ass back to town. We were wrong, they started shooting at us, with some semi auto they had probably stolen. Thankfully their truck was such a POS we could out run them. We went to town and parked down the street from the house they were staying at, just to make sure it was them. We reported it to the proper authorities in the morning (not the cops), who caught up with them a few days later behind the local bar.
Click to expand...
You have me curious who the “proper authorities” were haha
Good story!
 
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