15 Scary Park Ranger & National Park Stories

it's been a while since I've done some search-and-rescue stories but I finally got enough again to be able to do it and these ones are pretty strange if you have a story that you would like to share in a future video where there's the search-and-rescue story or something different be sure to submit it as swamp dweller net or the email you could find in the description down below I would love to share your story with everyone here in the swamp it's stories like yours to help keep this channel going now without any further hesitation let's dive right into these creepy strange and downright spine-tingling stories of search and rescue operations gone terribly wrong I've always believed in monsters they're human well that's what I've always believed that said I had a part in a search-and-rescue mission a while back that changed my beliefs to a degree you ever just go to work one day and feel like something is off to get to the point we had a man go missing in the woods in Mississippi now I know I'm not being specific and if you live in Mississippi he may be thinking woods that's like 3/4 of the state well you're right and it's intentional I don't right understand what happened during this search but shortly after this man went missing we got reports of at least 12 more missing individuals all seemed unrelated except that they went missing in the same area the time spam was rather short all went missing within a couple of weeks at most of this man we'd done a few other searches as well we found nothing to really go on I should mention I am a sheriff as such when the actual search and rescue was lifted on some of these I was still working some of the cases unofficially we were still searching of course but publicly we had to let go of the search in other words we had to let go of many of the resources used in the early stages of a search a few more weeks go by and I get a phone call about the missing man someone swears they had seen him walking around near their cabin an hour ago I get the address and head up to the location and figuring it will likely be a dead end or a case of mistaken identity that said I'm not going to simply let Lee die though if it were one of my own family members I'd hope law enforcement was doing all it could to find what happened to them I reached the location a rather remote area in the woods just on the edge of accessibility I walk up and knock on the cabin door an older gentleman greets me and he looked shaken the man is sweating and shaky I call him down and make sure he's okay but as I'm doing this he asked me if I saw the man I tell him I just got here and I haven't seen anyone once he's a little calmer I have the guy walk me through what he saw prior to my arrival the man explains to me that a man that is definite match for my missing-persons case came by and asked for help he explained he looked ragged and like something had tried to eat him alive the man then shows me a picture he took the picture at Shusher match of the man I'm shocked and it takes me a second to compose myself before I ask him which way the man went or what happened to him the older man looked at me dead in the eyes and mentioned that he went to grab his phone and make a call and when he looked back the man was gone I asked what he meant by that at which point he simply said gone as and he just vanished I wasn't sure what to make of this so I thank the man and left his cabin beginning a search of the area I searched for the better part of four hours before it started to get dark I informed the man in the cabin that I'd be returning around Sun up the next day to continue my search and I bring back things in the process if I needed to just so he was aware we may be roaming his property a few minutes later I get in my truck and started up I look up and standing before me was the missing man I look at my door and open it and by the time I shed it the man isn't around anymore I'm of course thinking that's what one Sam how is happening I decide he couldn't go on too far and decided to have a thorough look around the area to make sure that he wasn't there just to make sure I wasn't seeing things you know because people don't just vanish as I'm searching I'm finding no footprints and no real sign of anyone having been around considering there was dirt everywhere you would think something would turn up I take my flashlight and continue on over a hill and that's when I see the man again he looks ragged pale and bloody I tell the man stay where he is and I'll help him out I'm about to make a phone call as I'm heading toward the man when he lets out two words help me I look at the man in a form whom are going to make a call and I'll assist him momentarily I just need to get an ambulance out here and we'd have a look at him as I'm about to make the call the man gives me an empty expression and points toward the horizon I ask him what he is trying to tell me and all he says is help me he's still pointing toward the horizon so I had that way just over the hill I see something that shakes me to my core the man is now further down the hill still repeating the same two words I looked behind me and notice he isn't there anymore I'm confused but I figure I'll keep following and as I do he continues pointing into the distance and asking for help it is a half hour later when I crest a peak and look far below there's a man pointing down as something in the darkness I shine my light and notice there's a body bleeding and almost motionless on the ground I rushed down into my amazement it's the same man I look up and there is no one around just the man who seems like he is barely holding on I get a team to help me get the men out of the valley in a second we got him to the ambulance he is rushed off the man has a rough few weeks ahead of him before he is finally coherent and able to speak to us he explained how he was attacked by something he never saw what it was he had a look of terror on his face as he explained to hunted him and eventually incapacitated him through tears he explained how he never saw what attacked him but he could sense it was there he also explained while running from it he took a spill he explained how he kept trying to leave the woods but he got lost and was a bit uh a little bit out of it after the first attack he said he thought he was going to die and the closer he got to death the closer he felt this thing was he couldn't explain how he knew or why just that it was the worst feeling that he'd ever felt in his life the man went on to explain that he just remember praying that he'd get to see his family again and how he just kept focusing on that thought and praying to God for help the man is fine today and I'm no closer to understanding the miracle that led to his survival about six months after we found the man we found a cave and in it something I never forget they were flesh and body parts scattered all over it from several human remains I'm not sure what is out there but something clearly killed these people the man was found and is lucky to be alive and I firmly believe some kind of higher power had to be looking out for him I'm not sure how to explain the man appearing and leading me to the body perhaps it was his guardian angel perhaps there's some other explanation I'll probably never know for sure still he's alive today because of this and while I'm perplexed as to the intricacies of how he is alive and what led us to him I'm grateful he is home with his family most searches specifically ones that go into long searches like this don't end as happy as this one day I've been with the Forestry Service in Colorado for a good 27 years now the story I'm going to share isn't really mysterious I know a lot of you you know like those kind of stories on this channel most of the stories on this channel are strange and mysterious stories but this one just isn't that I'm sorry this is more about a search and perhaps the will of humanity to live on we had a woman go missing in the Rockies a mid-february of 98 now we found her relatively quickly but due to the weather we were unable to get to her she was wedged in a hole inside the mountain range the woman was missing for a day and had no real food and was surviving off a couple of bottles of water and the snow around her by the time we found her it felt as though everything could go wrong went wrong I'm not saying anything otherworldly was happening it was simply that the snow and windy weather were extreme and made any attempt to reach the woman almost impossible for a time the first day I spoke with her and reassured her we could see her and we will get to her as soon as the weather permitted the woman was grateful but you could hear the doubt in her voice I suspect she knew what the weather was doing and that it wasn't gonna cooperate and that she would be probably there a good while longer day two since finding the woman and the weather only got worse the snow was intense and the wind was cold I continued to speak to the woman whose voice was now getting raspy from shouting I informed her over a bullhorn to save her voice and hang in there I told her we'd get her home but she needed to hang on a little longer I kept a firm assurance in my voice but I was starting to get worried internally checking the forecast didn't delay and he worries either there was an even bigger system set to roll in later that night and it'd be even colder the blizzard-like conditions didn't look like they'd be ending for the foreseeable future it was around evening that the search team had to go save for my I couldn't leave this woman down there to the elements I went back to my truck got some gear and prepared to do the unthinkable I was going to go down there and try to get this woman out it was against all rules but in my mind at least this woman was likely going to die if we left her down there much longer the snow was blinding but I knew the general direction to head in I attempted to call out to her but I got in a response the wind was too heavy and the snow was heavier I didn't think it would be likely that I'd be able to hear her but I kind of hoped I'd get lucky and get a response as I put in an anchor and grab my rope I made my way down as I tried to slowly make my way down into the crevasse I slipped almost immediately and was blown around hanging on for dear life the situation was dire but I tried to focus on the mission at hand and did my best to ignore the danger surrounding me the cold cut through my gear like a knife and my skin froze the further down I got I kept thinking about how dangerous what I was doing was but every time I thought about giving up I thought of the woman and how she had hung on for this long although I had no confirmation that she was okay but I still felt I had no choice but to continue the night was harsh and my descent was harsher it took me several hours to simply make my way down to this woman despite the distance not being that long honestly when I reached her I wasn't sure if she was sleeping her dad still I could see her leg was wedged and it did my best to keep her warm while I devised a method for getting her out I had some gear and decided I take part of my axe and try to chisel around the area her leg was in hoping that with time I could get her out I chilled for most of the night and by morning I was exhausted it was many hours that I chipped away unsure if the woman was alive finally after what felt like an eternity I felt her leg slit free I grabbed a woman and strapped her body before beginning my very long and very cold trip back at the mountain I'm not entirely sure how much longer I spent trying to climb back up but I had to take several breaks to recover my strength there were several times I felt as though my body was going to give up completely but every time I was about to give in I kept thinking I need to get this woman out of here I couldn't give up not just for her sake but for my own it wouldn't do a lot of good for both of us to die down here hanging off the mountain I had a family at home to return to including a three-year-old son I knew this woman had a family as well and I didn't want her family to have to live life without her a wailing determination pushed me forward it felt as though the higher I got up the worse the weather got I grit my teeth and continue climbing eventually we made it to the top and I slowly pulled myself onto the edge of the mountain I collapsed and stared up at the sky before I heard the first signs of life and the young woman she coughed and asked where she was I explained to her she'd soon be at a hospital we had just to make it to my truck I asked her if she could hop on her leg and she nodded yes together we hobbled and hopped to my truck where I got her inside of that moved inside the truck myself I felt like I was dying as I started my truck up and headed out a path down the mountain and toward the nearest hospital I don't remember much is when I got there I collapsed shortly after walking through the doors the woman lived and we are still friends today as for me I lost a couple of toes to frostbite but I'm doing well today I'm getting ready to retire soon but that is a rescue I'll never forget I'm grateful that I'm alive today and I haven't been near as adventurous since that day if I had to do what I did again I wouldn't change anything about it I'm a retired law enforcement officer who spent well over 20 years on the force from Washington and I'm female and I've had many memorable experiences in my career none of these experiences were as memorable that was a search and rescue I was involved in midway through my time on the force I and my team were tasked with the cave rescue it's a dangerous type of search and rescue as things are often dark and you usually can't see far in front of you it leads to easy slips falls and other things that can quickly kill you if you're not careful that isn't even mentioning all the tight spaces involved in such a search you have to do a lot of training to be certified to do this type of search as well this was actually my seventh time conducting such a search in my career right off we found evidence of a broken line and we felt fairly certain we would find someone dead or alive shortly after our entry into the cave looking back I wish it had been that simple the further we went into the cave the less sure we were about ourselves we had been searching for two individuals on the search who had been missing for a couple of days a few hours into the search we found a couple of rucksacks full supplies most of the contents were scattered and much of that had been inside the sacks were either scattered or missing altogether pushing forward we called out but all we heard were our own echoes increasingly concerned we were looking for bodies instead of living people we pushed through several narrow passages before we coming across another unnerving sight there was a piece of clothing soaked in blood laying on the ground we followed a dry bloody trail deeper into the cave the trail eventually faded and was washed out by some water draining a sliver of an opening in the cave itself deciding we would continue in the general direction the trail was headed before it faded we pushed onward calling out we still received no response from anyone who may have entered the cave we decided to push forward and probably an hour later we came across a bloody knife and another trail of blood following it I announced my team and myself and listened closely for a sound there was nothing the search was growing more frustrating as time went on we once again hit a loss in the trail there was a lot of blood and then there simply wasn't my team and I regrouped and we debated if we should continue the search it was agreed we would go for another couple of hours if we found no one we would mark our spot on the way out and come back the next day we figured knowing where we were headed we'd be able to cut our time in a half as we would have a sense of direction a couple of hours go by we find no one so we do as planned marking our way through the cave and eventually exiting the next morning we started as early as possible and make quick headway on returning to where we left off we'd gotten there in less than half the time it took us to day before because of this we were able to make it much deeper on the second day of the search the day was coming to a close quickly we hadn't seen much sign of anything I was discussing what our next move was with my team when we heard a very faint howl I called out and listened closely and after a good 30 seconds we heard the faint hell once again we moved forward spurred on by the hope that someone was still alive in the caves I continued calling out and as I did that I can hear the faint call for help grow louder we were getting closer to the spot where the voice was coming from I remember a huge rush of excitement welling up within me as we got closer to the voice and it continued to get louder that excitement lasted up until the point we crawled through the tightest pathway we could encountered yet and came out on the other side a young woman sat crying her eyes out she had blood all over her and was chewing on something and while crying she was saying I had to eat she seemed out of it and almost in a trance as she continued repeating I had to eat those words would never leave my mind again never with the son of that woman's dead husband who is she she had been feeding on oh that was the man was dead and she had been eating the parts of him to survive I did my best to comfort the woman just holding her and assuring her it would be okay now and I remember thinking how stupid that must sound considering the situation this woman would never be the same again but I had to reassure her and convince her to come with us after an hour of holding this woman in my own arms and trying to convince her to come with us and that we were there to help the woman voluntarily came with us it took quite a while and we didn't rush as we wanted to make sure the woman could keep up with us eventually those the Sun was setting we came scrambling out of the case we got the woman to a hospital and I'm not entirely sure what happened to her after that I've done plenty a search and rescue of my career and I've seen all sorts of things in my career with law enforcement but I've never seen anything like this before or since I've been retired for a few years now and I'll never forget finding that poor woman in those words she spoke through tearful eyes I had to eat I've been part of mountain search-and-rescue for 30 years in that time I've seen all manner of things both messed up and miraculous the search I'm about to discuss had strangeness about it I haven't been a part of through my life since I live in Alaska and we have a lot of tough people living out this way the search wasn't the strange part of this story no and it's actually what happened after we were looking for a man who had been missing for 48 hours and it didn't take much time at all to find him he was a bit out of the way but he was in an area that was hard to get to or anything upon getting to the man I asked him if he was able to walk and he shook his head no he appeared to be in a lot of pain and I also seemed pretty shaken at first I thought maybe it was the cold but it became quickly apparent that that was what was bothering the man looking closer at him he seemed to have claw marks and bites on him I was concerned and asked him what happened he told me it attacked me I asked him what but as I did I was quickly greeted with the sound of loud growling it sounded more like a roar and as I looked over there was a large bear staring down I went for my knife but before I got to it the bear already reached my side and bit me thrashing me about for a moment before throwing me to the side with such force I fell down the side of the hill and didn't stop until I hit a large group of rocks I remember reeling in absolute agony I didn't have a lot of time to think about the pain though as I heard screaming from up the hill I stood up and rushed up the hill adrenaline keeping the knife in my hand the bear was biting into the man's stomach I'd come to the rescue I was pissed and in pain I threw myself on the back of the bear started stabbing anywhere I could connect I heard the bear growl again and it threw me from its back my knife was still in the Bears hind side as it turned its attention to me I stood and ran bear but the bear was much bigger than me as burly and big as a guy as I am I'm still no match for a bear it quickly turns him and took me to the ground the thing feasted on and tore at my arm like I was a rag doll blood was everywhere I kicked the thing in the gut as much as possible eventually I got it good as the dizzy blood poured out the bear dropped on top of me and I felt part of my bones are breaking in my ribs as all this weight on top of me was literally crushing me to death I reached with my free arm as my mangled arm prevented the thing from taking a chunk of my neck the bear shook my mangled arm violently and I felt my bones snap I cried out in English and I finally felt a grip on my knife I pulled it out stabbing a few times before stabbing the bear in the eye this finally got the bear off of me and I screamed for help hoping one of my team members would hear me the bear was pawing in its eye trying to get it out and what sounded like pain grunts I couldn't move as the bear ran off I faintly heard the sound of my team members as I passed out from exhaustion and blood loss when I awoke I was missing most of my right arm the doctors had to amputate my arm and I spent a good month in the hospital the man I fought to protect sadly died of a heart attack mostly due to his injuries in the shock Eden door I would never forgive myself for being unable to save the guy he was older in his late 50s and I literally gave part of myself to the man sadly things don't always turn out the way we like them in life his family was more forgiving of me than I will ever be at myself I don't have the words to convey the guilt I still feel even to this day about not being there soon enough and not being able to offend the bear off long enough to save the man it's a burden I will carry with me for the rest of my life I know I gave my everything to save the man but that doesn't make me feel any happier about how you know this all ended I have an interesting story to share about my time in search-and-rescue in Montana it was the dead of winter in 1992 my team and I were on the hunt for several missing persons you have to understand we had several odd missing persons happen over the course of that year people were hiking sometimes even on the trail and simply running and never returning so we had a bit of a busy year as we had been called out to search for several people more than usual for the year this time though it was different while we were searching for several missing persons or at least evidence of their whereabouts our priority was the latest missing person a two-year-old who while his family was on a hike went missing the mother and father of the child claimed they looked a way to get some snacks for maybe three seconds with her son and then all of a sudden he was gone he was right next to them one second and then gone the next they asked him if he wanted a snack and noticed he wasn't giving a response when they turned to look back at him he was nowhere to be found they immediately contacted law enforcement we put a team together to look for the child while the police continued to question the family search and rescue can be a tough gig but it's infinitely worse when you're tasked with finding a child as a father myself I would be inconsolable if my child went missing with no trace all I would do is search non-stop for him so needless to say finding this child was a priority the first day was a long one but we didn't find anyone the day turned into a week the week turned into two weeks by this point the majority of the search and rescue resources were feeling the grim air and the likely nature of the situation we all knew it two weeks a child is definitely not you know gonna make it especially only two years old that said we weren't willing to give up and continue to press on with our search a month into the search and we had to relinquish the majority of our resources I continue with a small group to look for this kid we were very well looking for a body at this point we were just looking for closure for the family the grim likelihood of mine would continued our search we found a pair of clothes that seemed like it would fit a two year old we showed the family the clothing and the reaction said at all the wife was understandably shaking and crying and we all feared the worst but we hadn't found a body just yet after a month that gone by and the search was officially closed still I couldn't let it go so I continued looking for the child the family continued to hold out hope but you can see in their eyes they believed it was a false hope wanting to bring this family closure and answers I kept looking I eventually happened upon a small toy bulldozer again I brought this to the family and then confirmed it was his I told them I continued my search and I wouldn't give up until I found out what happened this meant I was putting a lot of my off-duty time into searching this I no longer had a team to assist me feeling for this family and wanting to bring them answers I decided to take a weekend to continue my search at night it was on a Saturday night when I camped the area and brought all the gear and lighting I could carry with me I searched through the night to no avail decided to get some sleep at around 2:00 in the morning I turned in feeling defeated and upset that I still had no sign of this kid at about 4:40 in the morning I was woken to a bright flash of light there was only visible for a split second it was bright enough to make me wake up but it was gone as quickly as it happened stepping out of my tent tired and groggy as well I heard out from the woods not far from me it sounded like crying the crying was very easy to hear as I walked forward I had to rub my eyes a few times to make sure I wasn't seeing things standing before me in a diaper with a child that looked to be about two years old and matched the description of the child who was missing I couldn't believe my eyes and part of me thought I was still dreaming I slapped myself and rubbed my eyes again before it was apparent I was definitely awake and the kid was definitely standing there I crouched down his arms out and tried to get the kid you know come to me reassuring them that it would be okay after some coaxing he came with me and I carried him to my truck where I drove him to a hospital called the family the family came down and confirmed it was their son I'm still in shock to this day that the kid was relatively unscathed and seemed well-fed I don't know how to explain it and the kid wasn't very forthcoming about where he had been still none of that mattered at that moment what mattered is that the kid was okay what mattered is that he was reunited with his family once again the strange nature of this reappearance will likely never be solved and I'm not sure what that light was maybe someone found the kid and brought him back to the area maybe there's another explanation entirely but I'm just grateful that he is back where he belongs his family couldn't be happier either I joined them every Thanksgiving you consider them family [Music] my name is Daniel and I live near the Sequoia National Forest in California I've lived here most of my life and I've been to this forest many times it's a beautiful place and nature is a wonderful place to be I prefer it to the humdrum nature of my office job I travel quite a bit for work and having an office job well anyone with one understands how monotonous it can be even if you actually love your job I say this to explain how wonderfully freeing it is by getting a chance to go hiking through the forest during the weekends and even on vacations I have a family now but back in 2006 I was single and I was 24 years old this is also when my story takes place as I stated earlier I have lived out here for quite some time and I've enjoyed many a hike I enjoyed it more however around this time it was around this time I met an older man who called himself Walt Walt looked to be in his 70s or 80s but he was quite spry for a guy that age very off and while on my hikes I would talk to Walt he'd approached me on his jog and slowed down to keep pace and talk about the beauty of the forest sometimes we talk about woman this was a subject he had many stories about life or even just the forest around us to give a few examples as time went on I saw Walt more frequently in fact one Saturday he asked me point-blank if there was anyone around the office that I liked I explained to him that I did have my eyes on this beautiful redhead in our office she was very shy very sweet it had a lot of respect for her all that said I was afraid to ask her out Walt told me I needed to tell her how I felt he then explained how he'd lost out on someone he loved very much because of his inability to say something this was quickly followed by a hearty laugh and an explanation about how many woman need been with it was weird seeing someone his age laugh off something that clearly affected him but he seemed to put it all in the past and said you can't hold on to such feelings forever his exact words were there's a time to move on you can remember but you need to let it go it was those words he smiled then told me rain was coming and sped off into the forest Walt was a fast guy every time he sprinted off like this when I finally made it over the hill he'd be gone many months went by and Walt and I continued to chat he'd appear on my jobs pretty regularly and at pretty random points we chatted quite a bit and it was nice to have the company since when I jogged there was usually not much of anyone around one Sunday morning I was jumping with joy and nerves because I finally asked a girl I liked out and as luck would have it she accepted I was nervous at the time but I wanted to say thank you to Walt it wasn't long before wall showed up and began laughing I asked him why he was laughing he told me son you're smiling from ear to ear I seen that look before you asked her out didn't you I felt my heart jumped from the sudden loudness and enthusiasm but I nodded yes Walt laughed and told me how happy he was for me he then said something that I didn't really think on at the time upon reflection was a bit odd he told me she would make me a very happy guy as with my three kids I laughed as the way he said it it seemed like he was joking or at least that's how my mind interpreted it all that said though looking back there was an oddish earnest in his eyes as he smiled Walt soon changed the subject and told me he knew it would work out as he was old and the elderly could sense things like that he laughed further as he said he could feel it in his bones he then said he had to go and sprint it off again I was a static in the following Friday I had my first date with Emily and it went off wonderfully and I invited her on a hike the following day she gladly accepted and I said with a smile I can't wait for you to meet my friend Walt I can't wait for you to meet my friend Walt he's a kind old soul and he often meets up with me at my hikes she seemed enthusiastic and the next day when we went on a hike we spent about half the day up there I never saw a Walt it began raining so he went back to the car and got out of the rain as I was driving home Emily told me she had a great time and she hopes she can meet Walt sometime so she could thank him for giving me a courage to ask her out I smiled and told her I wanted to thank him too I brought Emily home and we agreed to have another date the following Friday Sunday morning I got up and went on a jog as I usually do the other weekend I was jogging along the path when from another path Walt came up to me with his usual smile and laughs I told him about Emily and how she hoped to meet him someday he kept smiling and then apologized for missing us the day before he wasn't feeling himself but he hoped to meet her some day as well we talked quietly for a bit before walks booked up it really renews me with cheer and energy to see someone your age finding someone for them I laughed and told him it was still early but I really liked Emily and we seem to be getting along just fine Walt simply smiled and patted me on the back reassuring me it would work out the rest of the walk was quiet until he told me he'd talked to me again soon he had to go get some dinner he sprinted off with a smile and I waved goodbye before taking another trail back toward my car the following weeks date went wonderfully with Emily we spent the weekend hiking each day once again Walt wasn't there I felt worried and I believed Emily could sense this as she told me that she sure he is fine I nodded my head in agreement and enjoyed the rest of our hike a few months went by and it was around Christmas when Emily said she wanted to meet her parents I was super nervous about this for obvious reasons this meant things were getting serious which I was quite happy about but also meeting the parents was a big step I agreed though as I was becoming quite sure this woman could be the one it was on my last solo hike when I ran into Walt again I asked him if he was okay and explained how I'd feared the worst as I hadn't seen him in a bit but at the same time I hadn't had a chance to hike as often as work and kept me stay in the past few months Walt laughed and said he was fine and then with a slight look said so when are you gonna pop the question I remember almost tripping before we're getting my balance and stopping I was so taken aback by the question and I wasn't even sure how to answer Walt continued to jog into place and as he laughed I told you son us elderly we could feel it in our bones I told him about how I was going to meet her parents soon and then I explained how I was ring shopping but I hadn't told Emily that for obvious reasons while smiled and said be here the next Sunday you are available and I'd love to meet her so I did just that a couple of weeks after meeting Emily's parents we made a hike through the forest it was them walk came up to us in laughed he spoke about how it was a pleasure to meet the woman who brought so much joy to his good friend she seems shy but I was happy she finally got to meet Walt we all chatted as we jogged and although I hadn't said anything I had planned to pop the question that day I had bought the ring for Emily after meeting her parents went so well I asked her family for permission and they granted me their blessing it was as I was about to go to a high point in the forest where her family would meet us at that Walt pulled me to the side I asked him if he was okay he said of course he then handed me an address with a smile he also gave me a number he explained that he had been living alone for years and he had something for me being such a good friend I taught him his friendship was enough but he insisted I visit his cabin and gave me instructions on where to find a safe he'd buried he asked that I come alone on whatever day I choose to come by he said he wouldn't need a heads up and also thank you it was after this that he sprinted off having congratulated us both on a relationship and also saying he was very blessed to have met Emily I took Emily to the spot I wanted to propose to her and upon getting there her eyes teared up at seeing her family I think she suspected and after getting down on one knee and proposed to her as the sunset was in the distance she agreed and it was soon after that we set a date a week later I went to Walt's cabin and knocked on the door I called for a wall and didn't hear anything I tried the door and it was unlocked soon walked around calling for Walt worried I searched the cabin it's when I went upstairs that I found Walt passed out a smile on his face and sadly no longer breathing next to him was a note addressed to me I felt myself tearing up and feeling horrible as i called 9-1-1 they showed up soon enough and i spoke with them about everything i knew eventually it would come out that he passed away in his sleep peacefully his body had simply let things go in the note he had given me he explained how much joy his final days of life had been after meeting me he explained his own life and having met Emily had really brightened his last days he told me to hold on to her and he also mentioned I needed to check the safe he'd buried I did eventually go back to his cabin when it was ok to go again and I dug up an old safe I input the code he had given me and in the safe was a watch it was an old watch he had apparently kept in his family for generations he didn't have anyone else to pass it on to he wanted me to have it I kept the watch in a couple of years after marrying Emily she and I had our first kid it was a little boy who we named Walt in honor of our old friend we now have three kids and not a day goes by when I'm not thankful to have met the older gentleman in Sequoia National Forest Thank You Walt for everything I work with the Forestry Service in Black Hills National Forest I've been doing so for only five years and in that time I've grown to love my job I meet a lot of interesting characters at this job and work with even more interesting ones I suppose I should start by saying you can call me Tom although that's not my real name about three years into my job I met a homeless man by the name of Jean who came up to me one morning complaining about his head he said things in the sky gave him headaches every night I didn't think much of this and asked if I could get him an aspirin or something I also double checked he hadn't been drinking to which he scoffing Lee told me he doesn't drink anything outside of water Jean wasn't the friendliest guy but he didn't feel dangerous either I suppose I could be partly to blame as although I helped him I think he could tell I wasn't buying the story about things in the sky giving him a headache I probably wasn't the first person to act this way toward him either and thinking on that I began to feel somewhat guilty I asked him to tell me about the things in the sky so I gave him some aspirin and some water he eyed me for a moment clearly suspicious that I was looking to make fun of him but I kept it straight in syria's face in an attempt to reassure him I had no such plans after a minute or two of awkward silence he finally opened up to me Jean explained that he tried to sleep where he could at night but generally he was near or around a forest every night he would say he would see these things in the sky he likened them to black orbs and explained that they would follow him he then went on to tell me as he would try to sleep he would hear them whispering things to him it was always something negative he explained they knew things about him and his life and they shouldn't know these things so they would they would constantly like to sperate him over his past mistakes he was haunted by these things I looked on with genuine concern as he continued to speak on these things stalking him every night in the forest the way Jean explained it he lost his family in a car accident many years ago in which he was a bit drowsy these things knew this and they'd constantly remind him of this in any and all other mistakes he had ever made down to the tiniest now I wasn't sure what to believe in jeans story but the look on his face seemed to be of genuine concern over whatever had been stalking him I told him I'd look into things and maybe I could watch him at night I'm pretty sure he didn't believe that I'd look into this and he probably thought I was just trying to get rid of him I don't blame him for thinking this as part of me was quite skeptical of the whole debacle but I was already so intrigued so I figured I would look into it what was the worst that could happen that it wasn't real and that he was maybe just schizophrenic so it was I came back later and to check on Jean I told him to meet me at the station and we could wander the forest and check things out together I wasn't stupid I brought a weapon in case Jean tried to pull something or we found something out there that might attack us but I wanted to give Jean the benefit of a doubt so we met up that night at first glance Jean looks shocked probably because I actually showed up as we walked and chatted however he seemed to come a bit after a few hours he asked me what time it was I looked at my watch and told him it was around 11 p.m. his response just one word soon we walked until we reached an open space it was there we waited we waited here for about two hours and I felt myself dozing off when I heard whispering he opened my eyes and saw something that left me in complete disbelief floating above us were these strange black or black figures I'm not even sure how to define them completely when I awoke a bit more I noticed there was a strange whispering from them I won't share what was said it was deeply personal and no one could have known about it Jean was already shouting into the sky and seemed to be trying to shoo these things away it obviously wasn't working and I soon asked him to follow me we ran as fast as we could back to the station and I let him inside before locking the door behind us I tried the light but they were having issues the power in the station was all over the place and I wasn't really sure what to think of it all soon enough I shut the lights off and waited looking out the window we could see these orbs just floating around the station they defied explanation and while they remained in the area I could hear them whispering horrible things not only about my past but just in general they were very antagonistic saying I die alone and cursing at me the strangest part was is when I heard them it sounded like they were whispering inside my own head I was unnerved and spent the remainder of the night in the station with Jeanne the next morning I let him out and I headed out for my truck waiting for my boss to arrive when he finally did act as though I just arrived but I explained I wasn't feeling the best I left early that day on the grounds that I was sick I later spoke with Jeanne and explained that maybe he should have voice leaping in the forest at night I know this wasn't the most exciting story in the world or the scariest but I wanted to share it as it was a very strange thing that happen to me I don't know what those words were and I haven't stuck around the forest at night ever again I'm not even sure I ever want to know what those things were but it was odd to say the least I would like to share a quick few stories about some things I and some of the others working in the Forestry Service and White River National Forest have seen in our time on the job they concern everyone's favorite big-footed wanderer of the woods now I won't pretend to know what is or isn't out there but I will say I do believe in Bigfoot why do you ask well I am some of my compadres have seen some things that have us all thoroughly convinced of their existence believe us or not I just want to get some of our info out there coming into my job with the Forest Service I had heard from some of my co-workers about a Bigfoot that was spotted the previous October I laughed this off until one October while on the job I'd heard something weird myself at first I didn't notice much in fact I just saw trees and assumed it was a tree for a moment as it was very still and I was a waste from it then as I turned to clean up some trash and look back I caught it darting off into the distance it was then I realized it wasn't a tree at all the thing was fast - like one second was there and the next it was over the hill and there was no way I was going to find it again after that another time a few of my colleagues and I were prepping for Christmas break when we felt like we were being watched now I get it that happens out in nature and when you are being watched generally you can write it off as a deer or something like that look over there my supervisor shouted I looked and as I did I caught this at least nine foot tall hairy looking creature turning and making a run for it it was once again gone in just a few seconds time I don't know what to say about either of these incidents honestly other than I saw this with my own eyes I know how that sounds and I'm sorry if I didn't have a camera on hand to record any of it but these are a couple of incidents I had while working with my team there are plenty of other incidents they've reported one of our workers who we will call Jimmy told me about a time he was working a little late and was patrolling the forest he saw a couple of Bigfoot throwing rocks around he noticed them and they left Dyanne another one of my co-workers said she saw one while driving out to her parking spot there also have been reports by some of the locals about supposed sightings but no one really has a camera on them when it happens or if they do they can't get sufficiently close enough to really record anything worth showing I have other stories I could tell I just wanted to share some odd sightings while on the job and I'm a bit of a hurry so I'll just keep it short I know how silly it all sounds and if I were you I'd be like Hirai Bigfoot you say really sure thing buddy all that said and I know what I witnessed at the very least and I used to think the way I'm sure some listening to this may believe me or not that's fine but Bigfoot is definitely out there at least in the White River National Forest that is I'm a female who lives near Klamath National Forest I'm 32 but this happened to me when I was 29 I'm a very unique happy individual and I absolutely love both hiking and camping in the mountains some of my favorite moments are at night when I can look up and see the stars and just forget all the problems that come with life well at the time this happened I was between jobs and trying to find myself I know how that sounds but hey a girl has to find herself from time to time otherwise we'd be lost Klamath National Forest is an area that I've always been able to come to when I wanted to get over things or do some deep thinking it was a Saturday afternoon when hiking that things went very wrong for me very quickly I was hiking through the forest when I tripped over a tree root and went face-first over the edge of a steep drop-off I'm not sure how far I fell but I was knocked out cold initially when I awoke it was dark and I had a bad headache feeling the back of my head I noticed it was bleeding it wasn't pouring blood but I had a cut on my head I tried to get up and that's when I looked and noticed my left leg was facing the wrong direction it makes me sick just typing this out right now but it was at the point so that I was unable to control my cool I scream my lungs out for hours calling for help and begging for assistance but I had gone far off the trails something I regularly did at the time and I wasn't even sure where I was after the fall itself I had my canteen by sheer luck for what water I had left but I'd lost the rest of my things like my phone my backpack full of food everything I wasn't sure if it had been drugged off by an animal or I just lost it during the fall but I was betting on the ladder I remember laying there my throat hurting in my body in pain I had decided to save my strength drink a few sips of water and do my fast not to focus on the fact that it was beginning to get very cold out the minutes went on by and felt like hours and as the hours went by it felt like days I didn't have the strength to get up and was beginning to get very cold I remember scrounging up what I could with some leaves and trying to make a makeshift blanket over my body I knew it wasn't going to do much I didn't have a lot of options and made sure to keep my head visible and while I couldn't do much to move every time I tried to drag myself I was in extreme pain I figured I could try to hang in and just focus on anything other than being cold or the pain in my body I was afraid to sleep but after a while my body didn't give me a chance and I slipped away when I awoke I was half shocked I was alive and half terrified as it said and I was still in the same spot and no one had found me figuring it couldn't hurt to try I went ahead and called for help as long as I could much to my dismay I was left fearful realizing no one had heard me or even seemed to be around so there I lay as night turned a day in day to night I would drink water sparingly where I could and remember passing out here and there I'd attempt to get help again and no one would hear me calling out her screaming I would pass out drink water and repeat until one night I realized I drink the last drops of water I had at this point I began to felt myself begin to cry I would pass out and then I'd wake up again and I knew I shouldn't as I should be retaining every bit of strength I could but I was hungry weak and it was becoming more apparent that I could die here the idea of dying alone knowing knowing what happened to you or even finding you until it is too late if they find you at all was terrifying now I've never been so afraid in my entire life I say it is terrifying but the word doesn't accurately reflect the fear I felt in that moment I don't think it's possible to accurately reflect that sort of fear either unless you've lived through a similar situation yourself or had a near-death experience all alone out in the wilderness it's something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy and it's something that terrifies me just from reflecting upon it I stayed awake for as long as I the last thing I saw before passing out again was the Sun beginning to come up as the area around me was growing brighter once again I tried to breathe I tried to remain calm I tried to keep awake and I didn't have the energy to scream much anymore the next day went by and I had no help I just lay there and tried to keep halfway there I tried to scream anyway but I had no voice and my throat was parched so I basically had a very low crackle for a voice nothing anyone would hear from far away I thought about my family as I lay there that night I prayed that it God existed he would take care of my family and have them gain closure by finding my body sooner or later I knew it would hurt them initially but I also knew it would hurt worse never knowing what happened to me I apologize to all I have ever wronged even though they weren't around to hear me I reflected on the things I was sad that I never got to do I always thought I'd find a guy get married and travel the world that's sort of fanciful dream that you know you know everyone has but it looks like it may or may never happen I believe every woman has had or thought in some manner at some point that this would be a perfect life I began reflecting what it would be like and before I knew it I was passed out again there was a strange comfort in that moment part of me truly believed I was going to die and I had accepted it in that moment another part of me wasn't even aware of while thinking that I'd passed out I remember during the dream I had about my potential life with my imaginary future husband during the vows a loud voice overtook everything it was like a worrying mixed with talking and there was a strange gust of wind I remember trying to scream in the dream but no one heard me over the wind and worrying I remember being strangely mad that my imaginary dream wedding was being a ruined by this weird noise and strange wind then and I remember waking up in shock and thrashing my arms around a strange men and woman were trying to hold me down and call me down they were trying to reassure me I'd be fine it took me a second but then it dawned on me I was in a helicopter and he strange men and woman were able to help me as they had found me I kept thinking it was a dream and I was dead and I was asking if I was dead they kept laughing and holding my hand and assuring me that I wasn't going to die it was at that moment I broke down completely crying my eyes out and uncontrollably saying thank you again and again I remember one of the medics smiling and telling me you're welcome and they were glad I was awake alert and aware I spent the next month in the hospital just being checked on and regaining my fluids rehabbing and getting food back into my body I was pretty skinny when they found me and I was dehydrated so they had to monitor me pretty closely I'm alive today because these brave men and women searching for me found me my family had reported me missing when I hadn't returned to work after my vacation and I was out almost a week in the wild I will never forget the fear I felt just before accepting that I was going to die I will never forget that piece I felt in the acceptance and wait for death and I'll never forget the elation I felt when I woke up to find my saviors who ruined my dream wedding smiling at me and reassuring me that I would live and it would be okay most of all I would never take any day of my life for granted ever again my name is Charlene and I'm a 20 year old woman who lives near Payette National Forest in Idaho yeah that's right we have forests too anyway I would like to share with you a story about a terrifying experience I had when I was 18 and jogging the trails of the forest now I am NOT an outdoorsy type of girl I only really started visiting Payette National Forest on my own when I was 18 and wanted to improve my physical fitness I'm not a heavyset girl but I wasn't the most active at the time either before doing a morning hike in the area I rarely wandered outside my apartment it would only be in this area when visiting my family when I was younger so to get to the point I wasn't expecting to wind up in the situation I wound up in my first day jogging was in late October I don't love the heat so I don't really want to do any heavy jogging during the summer months the day went beautifully and something about being out there and maybe also my runner's high or joggers high depending on if you want to look at it that way made me think I'm going to make this a regular thing for sure well that's just what I did I spent every morning jogging except for Sunday's Sunday was my break day every single morning I found something to appreciate or love entirely about the forest it was a truly beautiful area in a place that despite my experience I'd highly recommend people to visit it was around the beginning of December that my jogs became less relaxing so jogging my normal route at this point I hear something weird it's a snapping like something stepping on a twig or a stick I stop and look behind me while jogging I don't see anything so I just keep jogging a few minutes later I hear a very loud snapping sound again this makes me jump and I almost lose my balance regaining my balance I look into the woods and again I see nothing I'm feeling uneasy but I haven't seen anyone or anything so I'm assuming it could be a stick falling or a really well camouflaged animal of some kind I go through the rest of my morning jog without a hitch soon enough I find myself brushing off the earlier sounds I mean I was jogging through a national forest so any number of things could have caused the sound to be safe I changed my schedule up a bit and took the rest of the week off the following Monday I was up excited and back at it again it was around this time I began to feel like I was being watched I couldn't shake this feeling and it didn't help that once again I'd hear sticks and twigs snapping every now and again determined not to let it ruin my run I continued jogging day after day until finally it was Saturday it was my last day of jogging for the week and nothing weird had happened since the previous Monday feeling rather comfortable I began to jog while jogging I felt my phone vibrate it was chilly so I wore a hoodie and as such I had my phone on me anyway checking my phone and realized I had an email I didn't have the best reception so I figured I would check it later and continue jogging for now my phone went off again this time I stopped and checked the phone I had barely any signal and didn't think I'd be able to check my email but I was able to it was at that moment I felt myself freeze in fear I had been sent to videos the first it was me jogging the prior Monday the second was a video of me sometime during this jog I freaked out and turned to look around but there was no one around who ever recorded the videos have been following me from close behind I look closely and after seeing no one I grew afraid and tried to sprint back down the trail and toward the direction of my car I also dialed 9-1-1 and didn't stop running when the dispatcher answered I tried to calmly give my situation but I needed to stop and breathe so she could understand me I caught my breath and began to explain my situation again right around that time I heard whistling in my direction I turned around and jumped as a man in heavy amounts of camo and face paint how on a knife and smiled at me just before sprinting toward me I screamed and ran as fast as I could I lost my phone as the man tackled me to the ground I remember throwing an elbow back and busting him in a note before scrambling to my feet I saw a knife fly by me and off bounced a rock and into the ditch I screamed to continue to run with the energy I still had I felt my lungs burning and my body fell over perhaps out of fear or maybe just exhaustion didn't take long for the man to catch up and while I tried to kick him in the nuts he cut my leg and took me to the ground he put his weight on top of me and I'll never forget a smile he whispered shh-shh-shh into my ear before pulling an even longer knife out than the one that he had thrown at me you put it at my neck the man smiled and told me to quiet down he said he was going to rape me and then he was going to take me away cut on me and rape me some more until I died or he got bored of me and then he would feed me to his pigs I tried to fight but he had a very distinct weight advantage over me I remember him working one hand towards his pants while holding my hands with his other arm he's kept his weight on me the entire time but I kept squirming for dear life and screaming then I heard him unzip his pants and I lost it I don't know where I got this strength and I don't remember as much as I think I may have blacked out at least partially I came to with the man on his knees screaming I then remember realizing I consistently was kicking them in the nuts even upon realizing I couldn't stop my leg the reaction was practically automatic I then remember being told the fries and the police arrived not too long after that I gave them what I could remember of my story and explained how I didn't remember all of it I sent my blacked out I sent them the videos and you know they did the rest the man is in prison to this day I was terrified but I fought back with everything even when it seemed there was no hope left I now bring mace with me everywhere I go and I'm not I'm not like naive like I used to be I'm much more careful I recommend everyone have some form of protection on them when jogging especially in the early hours when a lot of people are sleeping or not out yet I still jog the trails but I'm a lot safer about it today the man who attacked me isn't a problem any longer and I'm grateful to be here today I'm going to get right into it and say when we found a body in the park it wasn't what we expected to find now every now and again you're prone to find a body dumped in a park not saying it's the most common thing in the world but when you're working around the state particularly in bigger parks these things do tend to happen the body wasn't the strangest part of any of this though it was the fact that there appeared to be no reason for it now allow me to elaborate when the body was found there were no marks on it whatsoever there appeared to be no puncture wounds that would denote a drug overdose no marks that indicated a fight no bites from animals nothing the most disturbing part of all of this the smile the woman's body we found wore a large smile it almost seemed unnatural that certainly isn't normal and after some time an autopsy was done and the cause of death was found to be unknown that's right they couldn't find a reason not even by natural causes it's as though the woman just laid down and passed away leaving a messed up smile on her face as she did that's impossible though right no one can simply will themselves to death right things get stranger from here though a few weeks after the first body a second body was found the circumstances were seemingly similar a body a smile and no seeming cause fast-forward a bit and it comes out at the seemingly young healthy man had the organs of someone nearing their hundreds if you can't wrap your head around that no worries I'm still unable to make any sense of the strange happening myself how does one have a seemingly healthy body but their internal organs show that they are well beyond the age they appear curious we started looking deeper into the area everything seemed fine we'd had these parks open with no problem for decades when we had seen no other deaths for a few months we had become a bit more comfortable park goers were at ease and we were confident that we'd seen the worst of things it was sometime around mid-february when we would be proven wrong one of our very home complained to being sick they were having breathing problems feeling dizzy and were having some significant trouble hearing among other symptoms we took the employee to the hospital and they ran several tests which seemed to indicate their organs were perfectly fine they weren't sure why they were feeling how they were but they recommended they rest for the next few days a couple of days went by and the same work who'd be given a couple of days off now came into work with their hair completely gray I'm not talking dyed gray I'm talking almost completely white as if they were ancient needless to say she was more than a little freaked out as were we i sat her down and asked her about it she explained she woke up one morning and it was like this that said nothing else seemed off and she was feeling better so she wanted to continue work we allowed it but we watched her for a time just to be safe it was about May when things got truly strange on a more personal level there had been no more reported deaths and no strange sickness of any kind around the park the whole thing was strange yes but we were grateful for some quiet I had to work late but I sent most everyone else home I wasn't going to be doing anything crazy just had some paperwork to take care of it's a long story short everyone went home while I stayed in the office and did some filing and finish some paperwork I'd been putting on as I hate paperwork I was the only person in the station at the time this happened I was working on my paperwork when suddenly the lights and the entire place began acting up at first it was a small flicker that was followed by a sudden large surge of power and the lights going off and on eventually they seemed to shut off completely it was probably about seven or eight so there was still light coming in from the window but it was waning quickly I went ahead and checked the fuse box everything had been tripped I checked to make sure nothing was wrong before flipping everything back on and just like that I had liked again sitting back down I continued my paperwork for a couple of hours before the lights went out again I was about to get up and check things when I heard a call for help I will admit it was a little strange but I figured I'd call out to see if I could determine where it was coming from as I thought it was rather a faint sound I caught out and then I heard screaming now to describe the screaming would be to say it was pained though whoever was screaming or doing so from a semi soundproof room or even the underwater we don't have a lake anywhere near us so that's really weird I know it was anyone in a lake still I was perplexed and slightly unnerved and as such I tried to find the source of the screaming I was eventually led to the front door of the station I walked slowly toward the door and put my ear to it it almost sounded as though the sound was coming from the other side of the door as I looked out the windows though I saw no one at the door still putting my ear back to the door itself I found that the screaming was indeed there I'll be it muffled I wasn't afraid at this point or at least downright terrified or anything but I did feel an unsettling feeling in my stomach the kind you get when you're on the verge of being slightly nauseous almost like you know something isn't right with your body but you haven't gotten completely sick or miserable enough as of yet to determine what the problem ultimately be figuring there was only one way to determine the source of the mysterious sound I decided to put my ear to the door again and listen it was definitely still there despite the fact that my eyes told me different just moments before I took a deep breath and open the door upon opening it I felt an unusually warm wind it was May yes but this was more like a mid summer heat and stepping outside everything seemed to almost slow down as I stared around the station I remember seeing what looked to be pollen floating through the air I could still hear the screams but they were becoming more drowned out by a strange almost underwater sound I clearly wasn't in the water but the sound was distorted in such a way that everything seemed to be coming through in the same sound as if you were underwater I walked forward and that's when I noticed my movements were slower it seemed as though time and also myself were barely moving it wasn't long after that I began to feel extremely hot I could hear faintly see the outlines and silhouettes of people but couldn't make out who they were things became very bright bright enough that I had to close my eyes but even then it was bright too bright I heard a voice calling my name and then suddenly I was awake feverish and laying in a hospital bed there were doctors and nurses standing around me who looked very concerned I was confused and asked what was going on they explained I had a 104 fever and had flatlined not too long prior they weren't sure what had happened but they had found me lying on the ground at the park by a jogger they got me an ambulance and long story short I had been in the hospital for two weeks I had been there for two weeks and had been unconscious until very recently I was in shock I could have sworn I had just been at the station and took me quite a while to even believe I'd been in the hospital at all much less for two weeks I thought I was dreaming and I kept waiting to wake up but I never did in the time I've been in the hospital I'd had every test known to man done to me ultimately they weren't sure what was wrong with me the thing is is I'd been sick but no tests showed any signs of actual sickness even when I was in a comatose the doctors had no real explanation for any of it and I even had fewer answers I spent another month fully recovering from my supposed sickness and I eventually went back to work since that day I've never had another problem and we've never had another problem at the park itself with deaths or sickness under such strange and mysterious circumstances I didn't appear to have any major aging signs but something strange did happen out there I'm not sure how to explain that strange thing or why it happened I'm even less inclined to understand why all the strange occurrences stopped 10 plus years ago I only know there are things out there for which we would never be able to explain I work with the Washington State Park Rangers I'm a male in about 40 now but I was 25 when these strange happenings occurred what happenings you might ask well it started pretty simply I had a few of my co-workers have been told there were sightings of strange things going on in the woods of our parks sometimes it was tales of people believing that they saw a Bigfoot or something other times people swore it was aliens or ghosts it was the usual tales and these tales have been passed on for generations there was always something strange going on out there according to the locals now I'm not wanted to meet people with such stories I don't intend to with my story I simply state the things I state with some sarcasm as at the time of the story and leading up to it I was a major skeptic if you told me about it I'd come up with all sorts of theories and natural explanations as to why this story was not true usually I could completely explain away just about any occurrence you could throw at me strange flickering lights well you clearly have an electrical issue seeing ghosts what you put in those brownies you were reading their son aliens probably just the military doing some sort of experimental flight test zombies bath salts more likely anyway you get my point I wasn't exactly a believer in much of anything supernatural or out of the ordinary I've always found our world as fascinating and unexplained mysteries sure but they all have an explanation and even if they haven't been found yet with logic you can solve almost anything eventually so being the stubborn skeptic I was my colleagues got together one October and thought it would be a great idea to have a little wager of sorts we'd all get together and investigate the parks at night we looked for any and all manner of things unexplained or supernatural an attempt to prove or disprove it now in order to do the we had to note any of the strange happenings around from our lovely locals on top of that we had to make a point to collect any strange experiences that had occurred to them be a day or night when it happened we took down all manner of things that sounded absolutely insane but we kept professional and took it seriously we had all kinds of strange occurrences ghosts supposedly roamed our parks Bigfoot was definitely out there and he kept taunting our local herb man herb man or men when speaking of many was what we jokingly called those we knew were very Pro weed and did quite a bit of it the list went on for quite a bit and was every bit as amusing as it was creepy now all that aside what happened during the month is something even my skeptical but can't explain to this day our first night of investigation wasn't all that interesting or entertaining I think some of us yes more than just myself we're taking this as a fun activity that would lead to nothing the first night it was just that the second night though was a bit weirder on the second night while looking for proof of Bigfoot we caught strange crying on a recording now normally I'd have dismissed this as some kind of animal or audio interference in the woods but this was also something a few of the other Rangers reported hearing while out and about we searched the area as the crying was happening it sounded like what you would hear from a baby obviously we didn't want some baby out there abandoned or otherwise crying without knowing the cause or being able to help so we spent much of the night searching for the source we never found it this was compounded by the fact that as we search for it more than a few times it would get louder and after rushing to find the source it vanish and beginning farther away while everyone was perplexed I still wasn't entirely convinced there wasn't someone out there messing with me and my team I mean it definitely wasn't some crying superfast or teleporting baby so that made the most sense the third night we made a point of making sure the area was well equipped monitored and even blocked off to the best of our ability as we wanted no pranksters to mess with us during our investigation we went as far as the set of cameras and some of the trees were under certain rocks to monitor the area and catch anything we couldn't it was late in the night sorry don't remember exactly what time it was as it's been quite a while since these experiences when we heard that same crying again it was the sound of a baby and it was clear and distinct concern something may actually be wrong also someone might still be trying to mess with us we decided to attack the sound from multiple directions it was during this time that we all came upon the source from multiple directions the problem was when we got there everything was quiet there was no crying no sounds outside of nature and no one could have been messing with us at this point we searched high and low for a device of some kind a mic or anything but we never turned up anything of significance the next day we checked out all the footage it was a Friday and we turned up the sound but nothing the thing is the sound would move it would appear to jump from place to place but no one could hear anything from the sound nothing was physically seen and nothing was caught on the cameras figuring the weekend was coming up and intrigued by this mystery we decided to spend the weekend camping in the park we kept the area we had been searching cordoned off but it was also an area people weren't really using for camping anyway most of those areas were further out and the noises we have been hearing seem to be coming from the general area we had been searching anyway Friday night nothing happened Saturday nights always quiet Sunday we all decided to go home get some rest but keep everything running overnight just in case Monday morning when we came in we found the crying to be happening again the sound on several occasions would appear in one area before going silent and seconds later The Crying would pick up in a completely different area on the other side of the park from the first crying noise I will admit at this point I was intrigued and also at a loss for an explanation of any of this now Halloween was approaching and as such we would soon need to get the park ready for a celebration we were going to be having so we really only had another night or two to be able to set up properly and research what was happening deciding we couldn't do these things Monday because of schedules outside of work being fairly busy we all decided to meet up the next day for a final push at figuring out what was going on in the park Tuesday morning we come in to find the same noise again even stranger this noise was heard in our own station at one point no one has ever seen anything on camera but the noise was definitely there we kept our station monitored at all times and we do have sound to our security feed anyway we were all excited for the night to come I'll admit I was even more excited than I should have been and probably the most excited I've been in quite a while over anything strange or mysterious I still believe there would be some kind of logical explanation but I hoped we would discover it and be able to ease our curiosity and solve the mystery Tuesday night came and with it came the sound of a crying baby we spent most of the night searching the area but I had stayed behind in the station as we heard the strange phenomena there as well the sound kept disappearing until I heard it in a room with me it was very clear very distinct I felt something in the room I remember how cold things got and I remember turning around slowly as my hairs were standing on end the sound was so distinct It was as though I could hear right from behind me I felt a cold sort of breath and I heard a woman's voice help us she said I turned and to my shock there was a woman dressed in a black dress that didn't appear to be anything from this time period it looked like something straight out of the 1920s she had a baby swaddled in her arms and she looked just like you or me she didn't seem to be translucent I remember stuttering and stammering I wanted to ask her how it could help but all I could get out was the stammering I couldn't get words out she asked if I knew of any way to quiet her baby she seemed desperate and began to cry herself she kept holding and rocking the baby but it wouldn't stop crying then just like that the woman and baby vanished before my eyes I didn't know how to react and I remember sitting down perplexed for what seemed like hours before I heard a knocking at the door that shot me off my seat it was then I heard one of my co-workers asking to be let in I had forgotten I had locked the door I let them in and tried to explain to all of them what I witnessed I remember their hesitation to believe me but at first they felt like I was messing with them then we reviewed the footage into my shock the voice of the woman and crying were there but they weren't visibly seen on camera the entire crew looked around perplexed at one another before deciding to call it a night since this incident we've done some research looking for this woman we found nothing I'm not sure how to explain this moment or the series of odd events that we experienced over that month for once in my life though I have no logical explanation and since these experiences I've become less of a skeptic I do believe in ghosts but I'm still skeptical of most of the stories as many can be explained my natural causes and occurrences that night however that night still can't be explained at all my story is rather short but still unsettling for me I worked for the park rangers for about five years before having to quit the reason I felt like quitting was because of the strange occurrences happening around my workplace there were odd lights at night and strange bodies found I won't say where I was working as I'm scared if I do something may happen to me I know that sounds super conspiratorial and paranoid but that's how I feel after everything the first time anything weird or out of normal happened was in May of my first year on the job a strange light was reported from the sky at night around 11 ish what was stranger was the next day we found a body in the same exact spot as the lights the body was charred to a crisp but nothing else around the body was burned at all we're talking in the middle of the woods where a fire would have broken out easily strange as it was things settled down for like three more years after that before another incident happened this one was on the anniversary of the first and again strange lights had been seen then a burned corpse was left behind I was weirded out but still wasn't feeling threatened - per se it wasn't until my final year of working that I felt like I needed to leave the entire situation I was working late to help out some of my co-workers and for some overtime if you've ever worked government work you'd know for someone newer and in general overtime is rare and you should jump at that chance when you get it anyway I was meandering the parks and helping clean up when I saw something terrifying it wouldn't have been terrifying under normal circumstances but considering the strange happenings at the previous year's this freaked me out it was a light a very bright light and it seemed to beam down just over the hill ahead of me I could see nothing else in the sky just this beam I ran toward the top of the hill and when I crested over it I looked down to see someone screaming they were on fire and screaming but stranger still there was no sound I could clearly see them writhing in pain and screaming but I couldn't hear a single word from them I wanted to help this person and ran down the hill as fast as I could the light vanishing the person's body fully ignited in flames I'm talking huge flames the thing is though nothing around this person was even slightly burned it was now I could hear the screams clearly and I attempted to put the person out I radio to the station for backup and attempted to put this person out nothing stopped the flames no matter what we threw on it or sprayed on it the flame wouldn't recede eventually it died out on his own after what I would assume was probably a good half hour during that time period this person arrived and screamed but eventually they lay still the fire continuing to burn until a stopped the person was dead obviously but I remember being so shaken by what I had witnessed that I quit that night my department liked me and tried to keep me on but I refused I wasn't about to work in that area any longer much less that job soon after this happened there were reports of men in suits investigating the matter I got a knock on the door and was asked about what I saw and I said of that nothing ever came of it I told them I had no desire to go back to my job and I was done talking about what I had seen the guys seemed like normal guys showed FBI badges and I have no reason to believe they were an FBI sometimes you hear about men in black and they're supposedly strange air but these guys seems completely normal well at least they did till the night my house was lit up by a bright light I was a home actually I was pulling into my driveway when it happened it was the same light I saw burned that person alive I immediately left the area and I've since moved far far away I don't plan on ever going back to where I live previously why would I since my house burned to the ground I feel that the guys who visited me were probably FBI but whatever burnt those things the beam of light I feel it was some sort of government weapon they were testing you can call me crazy you can call me paranoid you can call me whatever but I'm telling you I know what I saw and I'm damn sure I don't trust the government after that I'm a man and I'm in my 60s I work in Nevada with the State Park Rangers back in the 90s we had a rush of unexplainable disappearances around our parks these are things that were kept rather hush but for which I'd like to share my experiences with you now the first one was on the outskirts of our park there was a man driving through the area around 10-ish a camper reported seeing him and watching his truck stop near the entrance thinking nothing of it he went back about his business the next day the truck was still there with no sign of the driver at all there was no sign of struggle no sign of anything really the truck was there and remained abandoned until it was eventually towed away a few weeks later the driver was never seen or heard from again no one tried to claim the truck nothing a year later in 91 a woman came to report her son missing he had been camping in our Park and was supposed to be home a few days ago she knew where he liked to camp and when he did camp he took her straight to her site we found a tent some extra food some shoes the man's clothes and everything looked relatively mundane aside from not finding the man of course we searched for weeks and never found the man six months later we had another missing camper this one was supposedly seen jogging and screaming while naked before not being seen again the next missing camper didn't occur until 94 this was a group of campers though it was a church that had summer camping trips they had made them every year most everyone returned home but it was noticed and reported that two of the counselors never made it back to the church they had left with them but had been following the church bus back in their own vehicle somewhere along the way they lost them but just figured they'd stop for gas or something and catch up when they never came back they were reported to the police who strangely found their vehicles in our parks parked and with no sign of the drivers this was stranger because the churchgoers knew for a fact that they left with them it was speculated that went back for something they forgot but we never had anyone come in looking for anything missing during that timeframe and certainly no one matching the description of said counselors the last missing person attached to the parks around our area it happened in 1998 this was a female college student that kept very close contact with her family who on the last day of her campout didn't report in with her family this naturally concerned the family and while they tried to remain calm and rational about things it didn't take them very long to contact the local authorities and our parks to report their daughter missing the young woman's car was found parked in the same spot it had been when she started her camping trip the area was searched and eventually her belongings in her tent were found abandoned there was no explanation as to what happened to the woman or any sign of struggle having been made much like the others who went missing during that decade there seemed to be no sign of anything having gone wrong it was as though they simply vanished into thin air now normally with these sorts of things you'd get some conspiracy going crazy about aliens or something but there were never any strange objects reported in the area or bright lights or any of that during this timeframe at least nowhere in the area where these people went missing I'm a matter-of-fact guy and I like to have hard facts before presenting any real theories no bodies have been found in regard to the missing and there's no evidence to suggest anything went wrong as such I can't even begin to speculate what happened to these people and my heart goes out to their families as they have no answers either I find these missing person cases rather strange and while I have no way of knowing if they are linked or what is going on for sure I hope the families can find closure one day no matter what happened no family should ever be without answers when something happens to a loved one I've seen firsthand how agonizing that is for a family and I pray for answers to come someday soon I know there really isn't a lot to go with these missing people's but I know there isn't a lot of information to go on with these missing persons but if you have any thoughts about what might have happened feel free to speculate but I ask you to do so respectfully with the thought in mind of how you would feel if you were one of the family members anyways thank you for listening to my story my name is Jonna and I've been with the Park Rangers for some time around six years my experience occurs in the Midwest I'm not comfortable saying exactly we're about three years ago in December the weather is very cold during the winter and if you're working out in the wilderness it can be very dangerous we have certain people who like to camp despite the cold and while we don't really recommend it we still have to search for scent people if they disappear there was a man in his 60s who went missing late November and was reported as such at the beginning of December we had a general idea of where he was going where he was camping and we even found his campsite rather quickly the problem was things weren't as easy after that we found wolf tracks and we found blood we did not however find a body or any other sign of the man at least initially anyway the search continued for quite some time until one day while patrolling we found a human arm the arm was being chewed on by a wolf which then ran off upon being approached this was rather strange the testing on the arm did eventually determine that it belongs unfortunately to our missing camper the man had been presumed dead at this point and the search was already caught off still feeling horrible for the family and being the type of person I am I went off and served to the man's body I drove back to his campsite and went off in the general direction we had seen the blood originally trailing I realized this wasn't the wisest move especially considering that there was quite a bit of snow following and worse weather expected later on that said I felt so bad for his family and I kept thinking if it were my family member I'd want closure and potentially the rest of the body to bury or at least answers so I continued my Trek until I heard something in the distance I can't describe the sound other than to say it was loud and like nothing I'd ever heard in my life it wasn't a wolf if it had been it would have had to have been the largest wolf ever known to man the sound was so deep and unnerving and the wind had gun to pick up the snow whipping my face I debated turning around but I couldn't bring myself to do it so I continued forward looking for any sign door hint of what had happened to this man or more specifically where the rest of him was it was assumed the Wolves have eaten his body or something along those lines I wanted to find confirmation though I needed to find bones or something more for the family it killed me inside imagining how they felt I've always been a caring person and I've always gone well out of my way to help others it's part of why I love this job so much I keep stressing this so I can justify to you why I was doing what I did as I know there were going to be a lot of people who may hear this story we're going to just think I'm stupid for searching for this man especially knowing he is likely dead anyway I continued my search until I found a cave turning on a flashlight I had brought with me I searched the cave his remains or what was left of them were sitting in the open in the cave I knew where his remains were and how to find them so I was getting ready to head back to get a better crew and maybe remove the remains when I heard what sounded like a loud and horrendous screech I was started at first but I got my wits about me fairly quickly and began to head out of the cave it was then I saw something I can't properly describe it was massive I couldn't even see the entire thing in the snow but what I saw terrified me stiff I felt an uncontrollable fear take my body and I went limp crying and praying I couldn't get my legs to move out of the shock of what I was seeing then I heard that loud sound again it was then I realized it was coming from this monstrosity the thing from what I can tell has flesh hanging from its bones and some of it looked human I wanted to get up but there was nothing I could do initially my mind was saying go but my body wouldn't move I kept thinking if I don't move I'm dead then I heard several loud howls and the thing appeared to turn its attention away from me I snapped back to it and began running with all the might my legs could carry I ran all the way back toward the direction of my truck the snow was growing heavier and the wind kept getting stronger I continued pressing on anyway and as I did I thought I could hear the yelping of Wallace it sounded like they were fighting whatever was out there after what felt like hours I made it back to my pickup and got in driving away and back to the station I explained everything to my supervisor who understandably chided me before organizing a search crew to head back out and grab the remains in the end what was found several Wolf's some of which had been ripped in half strung all over the snow there was a ton of blood and the entrails of many animals as well there was no sign of the monstrosity I had seen in the wilderness but I was grateful for that I felt horrible for the Wolves however as they were clearly all dead and if it wasn't for them I probably would have been dead as well I've never seen anything so large or terrifying in my life I mean I didn't even see the whole fight but crap this thing had me shaking in my boots it was easily the most terrifying and insanely unexplainable thing I've ever witnessed in my life we were able to recover most of the campers remains and the family was able to bury him properly for that at least I am thankful I'll never get nor do I wish to the answers as to what that much trosset he was but I can't even imagine the horror that camper must have felt I feel he more than likely ran into this thing and not the wolf's anyway thank you for using my story thanks for listening to these creepy strange and unexplainable Park Ranger stories if you enjoyed these stories please hit that like button as it helps me out a ton if you're new to the swamp why not join us hit the subscribe button and turn on notifications to never miss another park ranger video I upload Park Ranger stories that you'll never find anywhere else all the time if you have a story you would like to share in a future video whether it's a park ranger story or something else be sure to submit it at swamp dweller dotnet or the email you can find in the description down below I would love to share your story with everyone here in the swamp stories like yours that helped keep this channel going thank you guys so much as always for supporting the swamp once again we are getting very close to 150,000 swamp dwellers that's amazing and I never thought we'd get here if you're not aware you can download your favorite swamp dwellers scary stories on iTunes Spotify stitcher radio and just about every other major podcast platform out there I'll see you guys soon with another creepy video and if you made it all the way to the end of this video let me know by commenting flying Ranger it'll also confuse people who don't make it to the end and that's always fun thank you guys as always Tallyho

Channel: Swamp Dweller

Views: 210,809

Rating: 4.7788296 out of 5

Keywords: Park Ranger Stories, Missing 411, Search & Rescue, National Forest Stories, State Park Stories, Swamp Dweller, Scary Stories, Narration

Id: YvHpBilab3g

Length: 105min 30sec (6330 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 02 2020