30 Scary Park Ranger & State Park Stories

[Music] [Applause] [Music] in the summer of 1987 I was a Fred Harvey employee at Grand Canyon National Park who after my summer contract was up I signed on to work over the winter for Fred Harvey right after New Year's Eve of 1988 I was moving into a company housing with my roommate he was a very evangelical Christian guy named Dave he was pretty weird and used to cast practically everybody except him into hell he would stand and miss a walk Lodge and pronounced that 98% of the people we could see were going to hell but not him never him after moving to company housing on the second floor and on the west end of the building facing the Grand Canyon there was a knock at the door and I answered it I found a deputy sheriff and two SWAT cops in full body armor the deputy sheriff inform me if they had a crisis situation and we had to evacuate the building immediately after putting on my boots and going outside I saw a sharpshooter across the street on the balcony of another company housing for employees building I could see him sighting something or someone and then not anymore they appeared to be on hold your fire stands for the moment freaking out and wondering really wondering what's going on Dave and I thought it was a major drug bust back in 1986 and 1987 if you didn't use drugs you were in the strong minority everybody used recreational drugs at the Grand Canyon and I mean everybody that's why I and super religious Dave were roommates neither one of us used drugs debut Stu but he stopped and got sober and super religious everybody was going to hell but me and him he was certain anyway after leaving the building and seeing what I thought was a sharpshooter on hold your fire status we went down to the end of the street and since it was cold out we were told that we could sit in the emergency police vehicles nearby so Dave and I did and we could hear the radio traffic going back in as they were getting ready to storm one of the employee apartments in the building we just evacuated on orders there was a roll call to see who was in position and if they could see anything radio traffic kept coming back that it was negative they couldn't see anything and the Sharpshooter didn't have a shot he could take because the curtains were closed was why now both of us were really really freaking out and wondering what the hell is going on super religious Dave thought that the devil was in control and mown during around the Grand Canyon it was obvious totally obvious no kidding and I thought he might be right super religious Dave this time anyway after roll call and everyone was in position the Sharpshooter came over the radio and said he still didn't have a shot there was a countdown in the signal and then radio silence absolute radio silence not another word came over the radio for several long minutes the devil was in control it's clear it's real clear super religious dave was sure of it no [ __ ] I felt like saying but it's super religious Dave so I didn't want to curse or use profanity then I'd also be going to hell too that would make it clear now in conclusion it was not a major drug bust the Grand Canyon to employees at the time of Fred Harvey had kidnapped an 11 year old girl in Phoenix brought her back up to the National Park and were holding her in their room on the east side of the building and the floor below us means super religious Dave were pretty freaked out the police got the girl back but one of the kidnappers had briefly gotten away and was on the run for a little while before he was captured super religious Dave and I were shocked and surprised but we adjusted to it by the way that happened right as I was taken at knifepoint briefly from one of my other employees in the residence by a drugged up employee at Fred Harvey who kept telling me that I need to pay him $80 he needed $80 or he was going to stab me and cut my eyes out I guess it's just another day at Grand Canyon National Park over the winter of 1987 [Music] for as long as I can remember I've loved to be in the woods at the time this story happened I was 18 and had just convinced my parents to let me go camping alone keep in mind that I am around a 5:5 woman in shape but I like to think that I'm not an idiot I have planned the trip to be about four days long and I packed accordingly and let my family know which general area I would be in back then I didn't have my concealed carry and my only weapons were a small pocket knife and a machete looking back I'm seriously questioning my 9 idiot assertion I don't care who you are but going on a lone camping trip of no guns is a stupid thing to do anyway I was about two days into my hike and decided to set up camp beside an outcropping of rocks at this point I had seen some signs of other people but they looked pretty old and I wasn't really concerned as I'm setting up I keep getting the feeling someone's watching me but when I go to check I never see anyone unsettled but undeterred I settle in for the night I woke up abruptly at what seemed to be only a few minutes later to the sound of people walking around my campsite I froze and listened it sounded like at least three men and from their crazed speech I thought they were probably on drugs I quietly put on my jacket and boots gathered up my courage grabbed my machete and unzipped my tent and threw myself out they all turn to face me and I could tell they had all been in the woods for a while there were thin dirty and almost feral looking and they were terrifying I don't know if it was instinct or God that told me to run should not try to scare them away but I just know if I stayed I would have died there they lunged at me and one managed to grab the back of me my jackets I screamed and hacked at his arm and he yells and dropped me I ran and they chased me nearly catching up multiple times as I tore through the brush getting more cuts as I went somehow I was able to escape them and hid under a fallen tree rumbling and crying silently at dawn I started making my way towards civilization and luckily my jacket had some power bars in a small water bottle in it I walked about a day before stumbling into a camp of a couple I must have looked like a fright and after explaining what happened they called the Rangers for me the Rangers got there and took me back to my campsite and of course most of my stuff was gone after searching the area thoroughly and finding the blood from one of the guys arms they took me back the Rangers never caught the guys and apparently that kind of attack happened to single hikers quite a bit in that area I'm older and wiser now and though I still go on camping trips I rarely go alone and I always bring a gun now one year a group of us went camping in Kearney Ontario where we always go camping whenever we go we always form our tents in a big circle with the fire pit in the middle of us we've been drinking smoking a few joints and a few of us tripping balls on shrooms the first night we were there this guy randomly walks into our circle introduces himself I can't remember the name you gave that he was in the military and decided to take some vacation to camp out a bit he asked if he could join our fire as it was getting late and he didn't buy any firewood being the friendly stoned people we are we let him join our fire he even pitched in some money for the firewood the night went on and we all were having a good time one by one our group started heading off to bed me being either the second or third I remember waking up to the sound of someone talking and the fire being started it was 4:00 in the morning I peeped out my tent and saw the random just sitting on the log by the fire talking to himself still tripping on shrooms I thought to myself I am in no condition to deal with this and chalked it up to me just tripping out I wake up the next day and everyone is still alive thankfully and the fire is smoldering we look at the campsite where the random guy was staying and it was spotless no garbage no tracks in the trail around the site no nothing we all started talking about him just to be sure we all saw him through talking we managed to figure out that he must not have slept at all in the last two of our group passed out at 3:30 a.m. the first person got up just after 6:00 a.m. and noticed he was gone the rest of the camping trip went well and we all went home fast for maybe 4 to 5 years I flip on the news and there's this picture of someone I could swear recognize he was arrested for a bunch of crimes including rape and murder guess who it was it was the Ranma guy who joined our fire I don't know why I remembered his face but I guess it was just a weird situation where my brain right clicked saved as a JPEG in my brain now I have no way of proving it was the same guy we didn't take any pictures of the random but the picture jump-started my memory and made me instantly remember the weird random fire Joyner either that or they looked identical to the same person [Music] I'm a 20 year old male this story takes place in Australia and happens sometime in January I was starting my new year's resolution of getting into shape and started to go for 20-minute jogs around my neighborhood every night I was on day 20 or so of my jog and was getting used to the trail that I took every time it was a concrete path that goes along a big lake and around outside of my suburb most of the path is surrounded by trees in a park land I would usually run at night at around 9:00 p.m. because it's a lot cooler at night and I like the solitude I would never see anyone at this time and I've only seen one or two people the whole time I've been doing it it does get a little bit creepy at times as it is so dark usually the only light source being the moon but I never felt scared while running but this night was different I was running through part of the trail the Haslam public exercise equipment off the side of it so I decided to stop and use it to burn some extra calories I would do this often during my run this particular exercise machine was for exercising your chest and was attached to a machine for exercising shoulders after I had done my first set I had to take a little break to get my breath back still sitting at the machine it was deadly quiet all you could hear or the insects from the nearby lake after a second I heard someone sit down on the shoulder machine directly behind me it scared me and I suddenly got an overwhelming feeling of dread and anxiety I never get scared or nervous easily but this creeps me out as I did not see anybody ahead of me on the trail before I sat down I could see a good 50 meters ahead so I would have seen someone coming I also wondered why they wouldn't say hello or make themselves known to me at this point I noticed that all the insects in the area had gone quiet this in itself creeped me out I look back to make sure someone was actually there in there was a bald-headed man around 40 or 50 with perfect posture just sitting in the shorter machine facing the opposite way me he wasn't wearing workout clothes and looked like he was wearing an old blazer he kept looking forward and didn't acknowledge me at all I'm a really logical person and something about this situation didn't add up in my mind I thought to myself but this guy was a serial killer and that there was no reason whatsoever why he would just be sitting there there is also a park bench about five meters away that he could have sat on if he wanted a normal seat so it wasn't because of that I turned around and did one more set has not to look freaked out when I finished I casually stood up and went to continue my jog and I noticed the man was gone I looked all around and he wasn't anywhere to be seen there were a few treads scattered around the park but other than that there was nowhere else he could have gone at the time I continued to jog up the path partly hoping I could catch up to him mainly because it would be better of him being behind me I ran for five minutes and didn't see anyone there was literally nowhere he could have gone unless he was hiding behind a tree or disappeared into thin air after that I had home to this day I have no idea who the man was but I have three theories one the man was a weirdo trying to get a rise out of people and purposely snuck up on me and sprinted away behind a tree - he was a ghost haunting the area which is why he was wearing old clothes also the park is really old and was one of the first places settled in Western Australia I don't believe in this one that much 3 he was a normal guy out for a walk that stopped for a seat who didn't want to talk then so happened to walk off trail through the park perfectly being covered by each tree as I ran creating a continuous blind spot where I couldn't see him I never went to that park again I now run to the gym and won't be going back to that trail anytime soon [Music] this happened when my dad was 16 all the way back in 1976 him and my uncle Nigel were very outgoing and liked to explore to keep themselves occupied when the summer of 76 came around my dad finished school he wanted to do one big bit of adventuring before he began work the penny way for those who do not know the penny way is a 270 mile walk way in Britain that depending on which way you walk starts in just south of Scotland and basically cuts through the middle of England and finishes in the Midlands it usually takes around a three to four a week walk with a long summer to fill my dad and 15 year old uncle Nigel and my dad's friend Russ were dropped off in Scotland by my great-grandfather to begin their hike the first week went swimmingly they met some nice locals who even cooked them food and gave them a room to sleep in and generally enjoyed this whole new level freedom and trusted upon them they mainly camped in clear areas but one day they decided to cover an extra five miles in order to reach a village as they needed to buy some more food and get spare tents they stumbled into a village around 6:00 p.m. and saw the local pub was opening after relaxing in the pub with some drinks my dad tells me that the owner probably knew they were underage but wanted all the business they could get the owner offered to let the guys camp out in the back field of their pub the landlady says wife said the owner seemed oddly hesitant at first looking a bit concerned and having a bit of a war with her husband in private however York Shire hospitality seemed to override any doubt she had after a night of heavy drinking with the locals they resided to their tent my dad says they were using an oil Lancer hooked to a centre of a tent as a light source and when they turned it off they left a hanging which is important not only for what happened next but also what happened the next day my dad woke up and turned off the oil light while debating to get up and having a piss in the field soon as the owners have been nice and letting them camp out there when he heard a door creak open from the creek shots there were no footsteps so my dad had to put it down to an old shed or something after a few seconds however the sound of feet landing on grass became progressively audible until they stopped right outside the tent my dad thought it was the owner checking in on us and he went to unzip the tent the owner full the unzipped it my dad said the weird thing about this was that he didn't have a shirt on just some slippers and night trousers after my dad asked what was doing he stuttered out some excuse about hearing a growl and when the check if the boys were okay and safe there was no growl as the only sound the last five minutes was the door the footsteps in the unzipping of the tent the guy weirdly emphasized the need for a good sleep before hiking and intrusively tapped on the oil light asking for it to be turned off he walked off letting off a frustrated sigh and nearing the house and closed the door behind him morning comes in the owner's wife makes the boy some breakfast while they pack up their stuff the owner takes down the tent for them and takes off somewhere in his 4x4 without coming back to the house they think the woman had tell her husband thank you as well she says that when she figures out when he comes back that he will tell her they come to their designated camping spot just next to a small stream around an hour and a half early and decide to have a longer rest after walking around 130 to 140 miles over the past eight to nine days they pulled out the tent and find lots of small holes all about appends width and wide what's weird about this is my dad described the size of it as holding a pen while telling me this everyone looks confused and my dad rationalizes this by the man telling him about an animal last night it must have come back and nibbled on the tent yes that explains it sure Russ suggests they walked back to a different village around two miles back and try to get another tent they leave the now useless tent as a marker for their size and walk back to the village there look a shop clearly targeting walkers is open unfortunately they didn't have any tents but they decided to buy tape and cover the holes for tonight and hope to find a new tent somewhere soon I'm walking back the Sun had begin to set and it was quite dark moonlight mainly guiding them back down the path when they returned to their sites they couldn't believe it their tent was set up for them but it was on fire completely engulfed in flames they threw the water and their bottles over the tent and used the stream water to fill them and eventually doused the fire when they looked inside the tent the oil lamp and glass had been smashed and someone had followed them set up their tent and waited for them to return before smashing the oil lamp and in turn lighting up the tent of flames my dad told me that there really is an explanation except with the pub owner he was stopping doing whatever he was planning on doing with my dad being awake and decided to take some fucked-up form of revenge by sending a message at first I totally didn't believe my dad and thought he was trying to scare me but upon referencing the burning tent incident in a phone to my okhla Nigel he instantly started rambling about how weird it was my uncle Nigel does not lie background we're at an air B&B in Washington State not far from Mount Rainier National Park our Airbnb host was outside on her horse pasture feeding her horse we all went outside to greet her and thank her for accommodating us she lived across the street so she offered to show us her other property with more horses and a few other farm animals we passed her house and now in her backyard our host let's call her Michelle gets us in a circle and whispers so do you guys want to go back home with a story intrigued we said yes we had no idea what we were in for she takes his past one of her two barns and we walk into a wooded backyard along with a foot trail that she takes her horses on daily about 100 feet in she stops us look down she says we see what appears to be a footprint yet wider and longer than that of a human's it was especially long so whoever left the print must have slipped in the mud there were toe imprints as well she then began to tell us that this imprint was made by none other than a sasquatch while huddled around the imprint she tells us how she got her house and that her second property across the street our Airbnb you might think I'm crazy but if I knew about their existence I would have never moved here do you want to see more of course we a group of for 20-something year olds do so Michelle takes us further down the path at this point I was feeling a bit uncertain about what was coming or about to happen hair stood up on my arms and I got the chills I kid you not seconds later Michelle says to us right about this point here's where you might feel some chills or your hair sticking up she was spot on there and I was feeling uneasy and I didn't really want to go forward yet we walk a little bit further down the path they had asked me to bring you guys here they wanted to say hello Michelle told us I've never brought any of my guests back here before but it seemed important to show this to you guys we had no idea if we were going to see anything as it was getting darker and darker ow we stopped for some more conversation when Michelle stopped us from talking Shh we didn't hear anything we're all still quiet when Michelle asked us something peculiar have any of you lost a brother recently or had any of you experienced psychic abilities we all say no I felt a little awkward and we moved on we go to the last point in our walk and she was astonished she laid some sticks down earlier in the day and the arrangement of sticks had changed they're always mischievous and like to move things around and mess with us Michelle explained she also says saying how she left a deceased chicken right at that spot and it was gone sasquatch people must have taken them she said she often leaves them gifts usually food and then they're gone before she knows it at this point I'm feeling skeptical about all of this I'm not a believer but I also didn't have any reason not to believe any of this we were all quiet out of nowhere we hear a noise far back into the woods it sounded like an owl suit but very very far away Michelle said oh that's just an owl then she took it back when we heard the next noise I can't recreate the noise in person nor can I recreate it in my head I'll do my best to describe it it sounded like a monkey's who are mixed with the laugh of a hyena Michelle shirred us that they meant no harm and that that was definitely them talking to us she else back in English to greet them because they can understand our language as well we head back to the air PMB and talk about nothing other than our experience for no less than two hours while drinking of course I'm with my best friends and one of them makes it their mission to go back to to the woods to search for the Squatch himself the other tags are long but I stay back because I didn't really want much to do with it they leave and I go grab a joint to smoke it go out on the day it was silent nothing but me the cabin of the beautiful Washington State wilderness then I heard it again the same owl who the distance followed by the eerie sounding monkey noises I was alone and stayed up there for an hour - my friend returned and told him I heard again yet strangely they didn't [Music] I was backpacking in Arkansas the Eagle Rock loop in the Ouachita National Forest there's a section of the trail that goes through an area called the Albert Pike Recreation Area in June of 2010 a flash flood killed 20 people including men women and children there's a ton of stories online about this event if you want to look it up so I start my trip at little Missouri Falls going counterclockwise it's 26 miles with some pretty good climbs you can find a map of the loop on Google images so I hiked a fairly long day if you Google Eagle Rock loop map you will find a basic sketch map not the topo map just one of the basic ones with the labels of the trails mountains and water crossings on Pinterest at the bottom of the map there is a single water drop with a yellow circle around it this just means it's always a wet crossing there are several yellow circled water drops the single one at the very bottom right next to the vials branch trail that is exactly where I was cams so anyone can go there if you want to look it up and see what I'm talking about so that is the Little Missouri River the water is flowing away from Albert Pike I may be four to five miles downstream from where the flash flood occurred I don't know if this is significant or not to my story but I'm not ruling it out either I set up camp at about 4:00 p.m. for the day this was November of last year fairly cold nights it was about 26 degrees the night before I was expecting another cold night in the high 20s not a lot of movement around there that night when it was cold most animals hunker down I use a tarp where both ends are open I have an inflatable sleeping pad and my 35 degree sleeping bag now I'm set up on completely level ground on my pad on the tarp inside my sleeping bag I quickly fall asleep around 10:00 p.m. after sitting around the fire everything is normal all evening and all night for the most parts now you know when you're asleep and you fall in your dream you get the sensation like you're falling in your life when you tense up and always wake up on impact okay well I was asleep and I get the sensation sort of where I feel like I'm being dragged out of my tarp on my feet except it wasn't about my feet I was being pulled on my sleeping bag like my whole pad with me in it suddenly being dragged out quickly I woke suddenly as it startled me keep in mind it was really cold low 30s - high 20s at this point and I have a 35 degree sleeping bag so I'm inside my bag all the way with the top closed off by a shock cord I'm completely inside my bag covered to stay warm now I'm wide awake and listening for any movements everything is still in quiet except for the river next to me obviously that is the only sound I can hear I didn't peek out my head I just laid there awake and listening I sat there for a good 15 minutes listening for any sound outside of the river I never heard anything granted the river is pretty loud being right there but there was no movement around my camp at all so I chalked it up to having that falling sensation when you dream I figured I must have been dreaming about something and it made me feel like that I fell or something I went to sleep for 30 or 45 minutes longer still keeping my ears open but figuring I was probably just dreaming so for the most part I just shrugged it off and put my mind off of it and got back to sleep morning comes and I got up and put my shoes on roll out of bed I had straight over to the fire to put it in stoke at the fire for first thing because it's definitely cold outside at 6:30 a.m. this morning I turned back towards my tarp and head over to get my food hanging close by that's when I noticed it and I froze my pad is sleeping bad the foot end sticking out from under my tarp by a good foot in half at least I can think about how now is I felt being dragged out from under my tarp the night before staring at how my bed is from under the tarp I slowly approached the tarp and look for any sort of footprints the problem is I don't even see my own because the ground is so compact around there I double check and I'm not in any sort of slope at all the ground is completely flat I really have no idea how this happened and I know I was startled awake by that sensation of swiftly sliding down the hill towards my feet my pad with me and it was being dragged out I quickly have breakfast packed up and headed out I was supposed to spend one more night on the trail but the longer I hiked the more I thought that what would happen the next night these thoughts running in my head the entire day as I walked could it have been another person I didn't hear anything why would anyone do that to anyone else how could I have slid down so far maybe it was an animal it couldn't have been there were no punctures in my mattress and there were no footprints anywhere I just wide throughout the night with restless sleep it doesn't make any sense I normally sleep on a slight incline and I've never slid outside of the chart before why is this paranormal I'm not far from Albert Pike because it's been as some sort of ghost trying to save me from a flash-flood horror that it was reliving over and over all day long the same things were running through my head I ended up hiking to my car and sleeping in there that night the Athens big4 trail was very tough going up over six mountains it was almost dark after I descended to the last one I hiked the last three or so miles by headlamp in the dark I wasn't keen on sleeping on the trail another night after that truth is I've been on that trail a ton and will for sure go back I've been all over Texas Oklahoma Arkansas New Mexico and Colorado around 750 miles and countless nights spent in the woods all over the place I almost exclusively hike solo I never carry a gun or bear spray I don't carry a SAT phone and a GPS transponder that is the only weird and unexplainable thing that has ever happened to me regarding camping backpacking in the outdoors [Music] it started several years ago my and my friends interest in urban exploration I was a junior in high school at the time which was when everyone started to earn a lot more freedom so we took the chance to be out late whenever we could now keep in mind that I live in a major city in central Colorado so the nightlife is never lacking we could always find something to do and we're especially drawn to the element of danger we wouldn't always plan these trips but we made sure as hell that if we were going in any old building in the dark that we would have a knife and a flashlight for safety but we never really had to defend ourselves but we came very close one evening it must have been around November because there wasn't yet snow on the ground but it was really chilly directly across the street from the abandoned Hospital which we have hypothesized is still round from the TV era is a hospital that is newer and in years the two are connected by an underground tunnel which I could only assume was a way to move bodies without alerting the patients this is common featuring among old hospitals we have been inside there quite a few times what was picking our interest that night was the abandoned library next door to the hospital and was connected to only by exterior walls to get inside you could not cut through the hospital but instead had to hop over a tall wall and climb over a very high fence a few of us had backpacks containing the Afra mentioned safety precautions and a couple bottles of water so nothing too heavy for valuable that would get damaged when we toss it over the obstacle before us a little ways off the road it was dark if you clung to the building's you did it for a while before stepping behind a patch of shrubbery which we determined was an easy way to the first wall and the only way to gain access was by a chain uncountable gate at the bottom of a set of stairs facing away from the ledge both were parallel with the library so when tucked back in the corner behind the bushes no one could see us from the street I don't believe I went first but I did not remain to be the last over that wall it was too high up for me to jump in haul myself over so I restored to stepping on a pipe jutting out somewhere lower among the wall it gave me a bit of a needed boost and soon I was up and over moving into the library's courtyard another girl and I waited for our two friends to get over and join us upon an initial glance over the courtyard there was no obvious way in to our right was a dilapidated fountain which I took joy and imagining spring forward a spray of water from its detailed stonework in the brighter summer months people laughing and talking and the surrounding trees bringing them shade now however had been in long disuse and the earth at our feet was cold and hard there were no signs of another soul for years save the 15-foot chain-link fence directly in front of us separating the courtyard in half I could tell you it hadn't seen the same weather at the rest of the courtyard because the mental showed no signs of rust that must be our way in we agree because with a fence like that someone obviously wanted to keep us out we rolled our bags over the fence hearing them Clank on the ground and rather silently due to their lightness I was the third one over because I have a slight fear of climbing in it took me a bit to mentally prepare myself I made it to the top of the fence in short time then I sat atop of its trodden wing it with my leg on either side I was thinking that had to been to one of the scariest things I've ever been done in a while because I tend to avoid climbing at all cost of course this is an irrational fear as I've never fallen but that phobic fear did never compare to what happened next last girl's feet hit the ground and all four of us split up in a smaller half of the courtyard looking for any kind of entrance we decide that breaking the window would be too loud and draw unwanted attention not to mention we could really get cut up so that wasn't an option searching for a little longer we didn't find anything that looked remotely plausible until we found a gating of the base of where the walls met I couldn't believe we hadn't noticed it before and upon closer inspection the grate was already moved slightly from its resting place so it would be easy to lift the rest of the way the smallest and least fearful of our group went first after moving the grate there was a small drop down it was no more than three feet down and two feet wide but inside there was another drop down where we could see into the library basement she hopped down into the small squares landing only to almost immediately freeze we looked among ourselves wondering what was wrong there's a guy down here she said wait where I can see his outline she said I leaned forward and tried to take out a step but I leaned forward and tried to make out a shape but it was further down than my line-of-sight permitted and too dark hello she called out he responded the same asking who we were just a couple of chicks she spat out bluntly well he said next sent chills down my spine and it was as if the feel of darkness raiding out of that hole in the ground all of a sudden it was very still in quiet and the darkness had spilled out and weighed all over us he said and what I can only describe as a lustful tone dripping with all intents I'm addicted to following the sound of woman's voices my friend looked over at us blankly but there was nervousness underneath unease and something in his voice sounded like it wasn't an empty threat like he wasn't just saying something creepy to get us to leave she looked back to where he was and said lowly that's not cool the man under the dark earth began laughing maniacally and not in the kind of way a really good actor does in the way that you could feel his utter insanity it is like stale air we looked at each other for what felt like hours in the gloomy courtyard but I knew it was only a couple of seconds because we all exchanged without even speaking that we had to get out of there in now I was not about to risk some nutcase coming after us even if we did now the French scrambled up out of the landing and I was never over a fence faster in my life 15-foot potential fall and I didn't even take the time to think about it we didn't stop running and so we were halfway down the streets down the block and out of breath I can still hear that laugh about two years ago on a summer day my dad and I went for a quick hike on the hills to overlook our city on the hills there are many reservoirs many of which are surrounded by this woods of fir trees and are places of great beauty and quiet usually the particular reservoir we were hiking to provided us wonderful views of the city and we knew the route Wow however since we had been hiking in the late afternoon we only had an hour or so before dust set in we decided to walk fast we trekked up the pebble path from the bump gate that loops around the reservoir you can't actually see the water until you've scaled a small mound in front first well dad and I were nearing the mound heading towards the water when things got really strange this man probably in his 20s was running barefooted and shirtless along the mound from one side to the other back and forth back and forth over and over again huh I thought that's odd yes it was summer but where I live summer is not a guarantee of warmth so even though it was August there was still a sharp chill in the air plus we were quite a few feet up to the rush of winds and have made it too cold to run half-naked like this maybe he was doing it all for a thrill or maybe he was hammered we didn't stay long enough to find out as we approached the water a good distance from the odd runner we could see the remnants of a fire ahead of some fir trees then ashes sands were littered in strips of burnt foil and realized there must have been some drug use here we thought that might explain our Runner friend over there the man was utterly oblivious to us so we passed by and he seemed harmless enough but when we were behind the woods climbing over the rocky pathway we saw another man stumbling and blinking like a drunk his clothes were filthy his general appearance was untapped he looks rough and he probably been sleeping that way too perhaps he'd even been camping on the hills I was a little uncertain to be honest this man stank of alcohol seemed to be doused and stuff and he was grumbling to himself as he lumber by I worried that he was drunk enough to give us a hassle perhaps even follow us about he looked at me oddly in a way that made me extremely uncomfortable and I just wanted him to get away from me thankfully he passed us slowly without any issue I started to breathe normally again but I was still on high alert when we came around the reservoir through another bump gate we noticed that if the runner was gone didn't understand this is only seen him five minutes ago or so so I looked around and tried to spot the man himself or his clothes as I was curious about him he'd been acting really weird like he was completely out of it so I was peering through trees trying to peek over the reservoir mound I even looked behind me up onto the hill in case he had snuck by us it was climbing up and I didn't see him we were passing through the gap between some trees and I was looking into the woods to see if I could find the runner between the firs but then I saw something in stop and not just something but someone someone sitting amongst the trees with dark eyes and face he said glared at me what the hell I was close enough to see that the lure was a man his clothes were baggy and his hair was long I couldn't see his face too well but I could see his mouth open and I stared closely it was like he was snarling at me like a vicious animal I was thinking to myself what the [ __ ] is he doing in the trees he was crouching about fifty feet from us quiet and alone it occurred to me that he may have been the runner but I soon realized that it couldn't have been the runner is the runner returned jogging along the mound about a minute later the drunk we have passed had gone in another direction and I hadn't seen anybody else up there so it was really creepy to just see this person sitting there lurking amongst the trees I tried to pretend that I hadn't seen the creeper in the woods and continue walking my heart rate was accelerating in my head gathered a cool sweat the thought of him just watching us made me shiver at least my dad was with me walking back seemed to take an age miners made it difficult to move I was tempted to look back round but I didn't want him to know that I'd seen him in case he'd panicked and took action it was getting pretty dark now and mr. lurker about twice as scary so I wanted to get away from them all all the weirdos even the seemingly harmless ones back in the car told my dad about the man in the trees he hadn't seen them I don't know if my dad truly believed me perhaps he felt like I was exaggerating in the supposed malicious intent on the creeps face but I swear he was scowling it's not only slightly at me it was freaky I'd never gone to this part of the hills late again due to this experience it is truly a beautiful spot and I loved going there but I guess you could say it's pretty dodgy around dusk [Music] on August 5th 2001 on US Highway 287 which is 31 miles west of Palestine Texas I was traveling westbound at 65 miles per hour when I saw what looked like a bear cub where a very large dog sitting in the middle of the road I slowed down to 15 miles per hour I hit my high beams and stopped about 20 yards away from the animal I put all my four-way flashers turn on my interior spotlight as I looked up I saw a huge bipedal creature that I will call Bigfoots it walked from the soft shoulder of the road to the animal in the road as he I am pretty sure it was a male walked in front of my tractor he shielded his eyes not seemingly out of shyness but more as an effort to protect his eyes from the bright lights I reduced my headlights to a low beam but decided not to turn them off as I was in the middle of the highway I was doing my best to protect them by blocking the road with my tractor-trailer the big man went over to what I realized was a toddler he grabbed his shoulder and attempted to grab the little ones arm the little one scooted away like a child trying to get away from a parent that wants the child to go somewhere and the child doesn't want to go the little one had greater agility than the big male the little ones squirmed scrambled and scooted further up the road where they were then something caught my eye and ear directly next to my driver's window I casually looked over and within two feet of my face was a female no doubt female she had nursing breasts and extended nipples her eyes were almost even with my eye level I measured it from where the top of her head came up to my mirror it was seven foot four inches tall the male was at least one foot taller than her plus some she had a gamey smile but it didn't stink immediately upon seeing her I smile with all the teeth I have from the interior spotlight which was pointed down toward my lab I am sure she was able to see me clearly I certainly saw her clearly so clearly I could smell her and feel her breath I particularly noticed the volume of air that she breathed not out of breath or even heavy breathing just a large volume of air with each breath I again smiled at her and asked is the baby okay she slowly smiled back at me I noticed a dental anomaly either she had a double row of teeth or the Crown's of her teeth were split on the top center to give the impression of two rows of teeth she then reached into the tractor and stroked my beard like I do when I'm thinking my beard is mid chest length and multicolored it was then I realized the large male's head was identical to mine although his beard was shorter the female had thin facial hair on her chin the rest of his fur was dark brown with traces of grey and white on his shoulders back and chest she was a mixture of brown and reddish fur mostly reddish brown as she took her hand off my beard and took her hand out of my tractor I extended my hand out to her she sandwiched my hand between her two hands and her two hands were easily two to three times bigger than mine her hands felt like roughneck work gloves or rough leather at this point she gave me a soulful look from her facial expressions in her watery eyes I took what she was saying thank you for not running over my baby the eyes were not dead eyes they were bright and moist just very dark brown but not black the large male had the child under his arm like a sack of potatoes he never looked directly at me as I watched him walk back into the tree line I know some least three more I suspected even more at the tree line they range from the height of a female to slightly shorter but none came close to the size of the male I have been a ranger in the United States Forest Service for almost 15 years but this takes place about three years after I joined we were getting calls about a lone wolf with a collar on hanging around camp sites which was weird since wolves aren't known to be in the area but when you work in the field long enough you start to realize anything is possible no calls have mentioned violent behavior from the animal thank God I departed from the station around noon to check out the places that had been sighted at I wandered around for about three hours no further calls during that time until I took a break for water I sat down had a snack and drink some water and was getting ready to go again when the thing was about 20 feet out trotting near the tree line it seemed friendly and had the caller so I whistled to it and he came over to me getting a closer look I could see it wasn't a wolf it was huge but it was dark and didn't have the right body structure though I could see why it would be confusing from a distance i radioed in and reported that I had the dog with me but as I soon as I said I'd bring it in the dog [ __ ] took off like he was playing to see how far he could get me to chase him typical dog behavior I went after it and I swear it was a game of chase for at least five minutes as we were steadily running through the forest please don't go around her and through woods unless you know the area like the back of her hand the dog finally slowed down near Rock banner creek area and started pacing around a spot I drew closer and didn't see anything off at first then I noticed it the overgrowth had almost disguised what appeared to be bones I called it in immediately and another team was sent to recover the remains when I went to retrieve the dog he was just gone but honestly it wasn't a priority at that point he was friendly enough and I figured he would catch up later the bones were identified as a teenage males died by self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head he'd been reported missing in the area long before I became a ranger and there had been pretty much no hope of finding him I spoke to his mom on the phone she called to thank me personally and she asked how I found her son I mentioned the black dog then thought I said something wrong since there was a pause on her side of the line after I gave her a couple of details about the dog she quietly explained that her son who struggle with making connections and had a sunken into a deep depression after the death of his best friend the very dog that led me to him I think I spent the rest of that day stunned and I continue to be in disbelief in a way but I know what happened to start things off I am 14 now but this took place a week before my 14th birthday my parents were divorced and my dad just moved into his new house a few months prior he moved into the rottens from the plains of Colorado so he could be closer to work you see before this he had to take a two-hour drive every day up the mountains to get to work where he would have an 11 hour shift then drive back he was a cop and had just gotten back to work after 8 months from his second major back injury he ended up suing workers comp and got a decent sum of money from that so after a few months when Christmas rolled around he got me and my brother ar-15s I know what you're thinking but we have grown up around guns and wouldn't think twice about seeing guns laying around the house we enjoyed Christmas day and when the night time rolled around we went to our rooms and had the guns in our rooms as we slept now before I tell you the next part you must know that there are a lot of jobs up here in the mountains also my room has two windows one to the left of me and one on the other end of my bed anyway I'll walk in the middle of the night and mind you that I am a deep sleeper and it is almost impossible to wake me up without shaking me immediately something felt off so I just stayed still and tried listening to what was going on while pretending I was asleep I was facing the window to the left of me where I could see the forest out my window when I heard it the lightest half on the window I was facing if I wasn't listening I wouldn't have heard it I couldn't see anything that could be making that sound so I just watched and listened about a minute later I hear the tap again followed by the crunching of compact snow then I saw it behind a tree about 20 feet from my window I saw two glowing eyes pure out about 30 seconds later I saw the arm of someone break off a branch and throw it at my window not wanting the person to know I was awake I slowly slid off the other end of my bed and grabbed my a ar-15 and loaded a magazine into it my adrenaline was pumping because the nearest house was at least a quarter-mile away and we were deep in woods not wanting the intruder to know I was awake I didn't charge the handle because of how loud it is I put my phone in my shirt and texted my dad that someone is to the east of the house and immediately after I heard the sliding glass door above me slide open and the flashlight on my dad's a are light up the area the guy ran and I could see he was wearing nothing but underwear in boots my dad gave chase but after going a mile into the woods and searching for about an hour barefoot and in his shorts in the snowy woods of the Rockies he gave up after he texted someone on duty at the time and searching the surrounding woods all they found was a shirt and a candle on a tree branch okay so I'm about 14 years old and I'm a male and this story happened about two years ago I was staying in my family's country house which is some sort of farm like every other summer so this house is in the mountains and is surrounded by a huge forest the nearest town is about a half an hour away by car to the west there is a valley with a trail that takes you all the way down to the bottom of the valley one foggy day I was going for a walk in the valley like I always do especially on cloudy days like this because walking around the valley while the only thing you hear is nature and the only thing you feel is little drops of water of mist is very peaceful so everything went well until I reached the bottom of the valley and I was about to turn back to my house it's then that I started hearing some sort of whistles now first I thought it was the birds but as I kept going up the road I began to hear footsteps I started freaking out a bit so I began to walk faster then I thought that my cousin who was staying in the house with me and my family who usually tried to scare me with things like this was there so I stopped walking and began to laugh and tell him that I'm not so dumb I expected him to appear from the Mist and laugh - but nothing happened I continue telling him stuff like that but still nothing occurred so I continue walking thinking that it was him who was doing it until I began to hear whistles not only from my back but from every direction at that point the fog was thick and I couldn't see the surroundings so I started to feel scared way more than before and I began to walk very fast I kept hearing the footsteps in the whistles and I started to turn back from time to time to see if anyone was there but I was seeing nothing then instead of walking fast I began to run and that's when I heard some sort of psychopath laughter and I started to run very very fast like I've never ran in my life I heard it running too in laughing and whistling he was doing everything at the same time I kept turning back but I kept seeing nothing I ran until I reached a house and when I did everything he just seemed to stop the footsteps there whistling the Laughing even the fog seemed to disappear I told everything to my family and they thought it was an animal maybe a deer because it is very rare to see people in the middle of nowhere like I said the house is about a half an hour away from the nearest town by car and the only road there takes you to our house and if someone had gone in the forest we would have definitely seen it I told them that it was a person because I heard laughing so we all stayed in the house for the rest of the day and left the next one I've had some pretty bad nightmares and I no longer go for walks alone in the forest but nothing was ever happening to me again however the reason why I tell you this story is because I recently discovered that on the other side of the valley lived a crazy man who hanged himself over 30 years ago my father says that he would randomly laugh so high that they would hear him from our house I'm not ensuring that he was the one that stalked me but maybe his ghost but I don't know back in 2010 I had just finished a wilderness leadership class and decided to go to Colorado to get some solo wilderness time I found out about some hot springs near the Colorado River that were only accessible during the winter during a summer the snow melts and it raises the water level of the river and they become submerged I decided to go spend a few weeks out there it was on BLM land and I had about a four mile hike from where I had parts to where I was camping the BLM lady who washed the land saw me and when I arrived she asked me to just write the date on my windshield every week to let her know I'm still alive out there anyways it was pretty pleasant out there but every night I was terrified of the Bears they should be sleeping but if they aren't it means they are hungry as [ __ ] and I'm for dinner for this reason I decided to set up camp close to a cliff it was about 40 feet down to a river and I figured worst case scenario I could jump and then get out of the hot springs to prevent hypothermia it's a crazy plan but once you're out there and you realize bear spray is kind of useless inside the tent so one early morning I hear those loud animal noises outside my tent they're getting closer and very loud accompanied by grunting and breathing noises I was too scared to open my tent I just froze and then I laid there it starts to move away from my tent but is still out there and now I hear more than one animal finally I poked my head out it was a few bear just slinging the lawn and then I heard of alch I swear though it was probably the most scared I've ever been out camping I'm a park ranger but I don't really have any scary stories on the job but I used to be in a group that's somewhat like the Scouts and we spent a lot of time than the woods and some weird [ __ ] happened often but most of the time it was easy to explain one thing happened though that to this day scares the ever living [ __ ] out of me I was a leader for the age group of 8 to 10 year olds and we were out on a camping trip it was the first year we stayed on that terrain and it was huge normally we tend to explore the majority of a terrain before the kids even arrive so we are aware of any of the possible dangerous spots this time that was impossible to do every camp we have what we call a night game it's usually a scary game in which the kids have to complete several tasks while the leaders scare the ever-loving [ __ ] out of them obviously we had one too many during that camp we mashed up as monsters and hid out in the woods close to checkpoints that they had to pass while running in between checkpoints I found an open stretch of forest with little to no foliage so it was ideal for chasing after them there was no real room to hide besides behind trees so I couldn't use my flashlight would they be able to see me from miles away it was dark like the unsettling kind of dark that plays tricks on your eyes and you start imagining things that aren't real during my stay there I saw a shadow that was around my size running past me a few times I couldn't see it very well so I just assumed I was imagining things because nothing was there when I turned my flashlight on the game was nearing its end and I saw the shadow again this time I could see it was vaguely standing near a tree not too far away from me I thought it was one of those other leaders hiding to scare the kids and decided to go over there as it was time to go back I ain't my flashlight towards the tree and while getting closer I noticed that there was indeed someone standing there dressed in what looked like a torn burlap sack and their head covered with a few white plastic bags that look like they were tied together I started to feel pure dread something felt really off I asked if everything was okay but they didn't respond the only thing I heard was this weird sound of what sounded like someone knocking on wood nevertheless I went a bit closer until I was about ten meters away from this person the knocking sound turned out to be that person smacking his head repeatedly into the tree and I noticed he looked like a male he was barefoot in his arms and legs were covered with crusted mud his hands were in a weird cramped position it was I just can't explain it I was convinced this was just one of those other leaders pulling a prank so I told him to knock it off he slowly turned his head and started walking towards me something inside me just told me to run it didn't matter if it was just a stupid prank and I ran away scared for nothing if this wasn't a prank it felt like I was in serious danger so I ran as fast as I could I heard him running after me but I didn't want to turn around and look as I probably run into a tree I arrived back at campsite and every single person that could be dressed like that was already there they couldn't have gotten there before me if they did they sure as hell didn't have the time to change into the regular clothes still I told them and they gave me a good scare with that they just looked weird at me thinking I was trying to scare them and we left it at that the next day I wanted to go check it out who knows maybe some weirdo ate some wrong mushroom in might be out there dying from hypothermia I took someone else with me just in case and there was nothing but endless trees we arrived at the tree where I saw the person banging his head and there was a dead skin decomposing rabbits nailed to the tree we called the cops they looked around quickly and brushed it off as just a prank from another scouting group or some kids from the nearby town and left it at that we didn't notice anything weird after that so it probably was a prank or something but seriously if it was somebody has a fucked-up humor I was in the ELA wilderness and a convoy of US Rangers were making the drive on the dirt road from Mongolian to Snow Lake when we spotted a force ranger guy pulled over looking in a ditch turns out some idiot tried to make a u-turn and didn't realize the loose Rock makes it hard to stop they went over the edge and they high centered we're miles from the nearest official campground in his early spring in the nighttime gets pretty damn cold we get a jeep with her winch in position and start to pull the guy out of the ditch off the hill comes a white dude in a purple velvet sweat suit he's got a walking stick fanny-pack and the purple velvet sweat suit that's it he's a blond dude a pretty skinny he comes up to us and tells us he's German and having a great time we could not get over the purple velvet suit it was like a real pimp sweat suit the Ranger is immediately suspicious wants to know where he's staying and where he came from it was around 9:00 in the morning and the only way he could have gotten there where he came from was hiking for hours the German guy is goofy as [ __ ] and just points off towards the other mountain when he asked where he's staying and going we all think it's funny but also question how the guy is getting along with no water no food and the Sun is intense over 5,000 feet even if it's only 75 degrees the German guy refuses water any help and just crosses the road and goes off into the woods the ranger told us he can't really keep the guy from doing that since he seemed okay he said he checked a few campsites in that direction later and see if he made it we got to Snow Lake and commenced drinking like fish and ordered a better catch fish that evening that Ranger pops by to tell us that nobody at that other camp had ever seen the dude he radioed around and no other Rangers had found abandoned camps or had any missing hikers and they surely hadn't seen a German dude in a purple pimps wetsuit that Ranger rode off-duty the next day and his replacement came by to make sure that the other Ranger was smoking something we gave him never heard a word about the German in the purple pimps room ever again but it does make for a good story kind of creepy kind of funny but at the same time kind of disturbing I was the lone recreation ranger in a small district in southern Idaho the nearest town from the guard station was about one and a half hours by car after moving into the guard station solar power was not working and I hadn't slept for about a month due to the various factors bats in the cabin and something walking on the deck at night the woods there always had an eerie feeling about them unlike the Southwest ponderosa forest that I was used to about two months into the seasonal job I started to hear something walking and scratching on the deck at night perhaps even on the door now this district was known for its Badgers and beavers so I didn't think much of it when leaving the cabin at nights I always had an eerie feeling like I was being watched one night I was returning from my grocery run always one on Tuesdays nights and I had a bad feeling at the time I did not have my shotgun in the vehicle after stepping out of the vehicle I looked to the right of the cabin about 50 feet from my front door all I could see were two eyes about three and a half to four feet in the air to say I freaked out was an understatement I started yelling get the [ __ ] out of here but the eyes only crouched down an inch closer at this point I could tell it was a large animal of some kind definitely not a coyote I tossed a piece of firewood in the general area and the creature leads back a bit but did not make a sound I tossed four or five more pieces in the creature still inch forward at this point I fumbled with the keys and of course the [ __ ] solar power was out again I managed to get inside and grabbed my shotgun technically you were not supposed to have guns in government housing but the [ __ ] that I was not going to be living in this Hills Have Eyes backcountry and not carry a gun I went outside and the creature was a bit closer still I could not get a good look with my shitty headlamp I loaded the shotgun and continued to throw pieces of wood at it with one hand finally the creature walked back into the brush that night I drank about four IPAs and slept with my shotgun in the morning the trail crew came up and we found a mountain lion tracks all over the porch rocking bench and compound leading back to the creek and after that event I always heard the rocking chair move or someone or something walking on the porch but never found any tracks after that point considering that it was always muddy up there it was weird not to find any tracks I've been stalked by mountain lions before and never had that Jyri feeling like I did in those woods I have a friend who was a Trail Ranger basically a ranger who can't get you in trouble he told me about this time he was gathering illegally placed wildlife cameras and knocking down hunting Stan's feeders and blinds with another actual Ranger the other Ranger was a feeling well so he said he was going to head back as it's an hour ATV ride my friend finished up the last one when he heard voices keep in mind he's far off the beaten path he caught out and no one replied and as it's getting dark he started to head back and found that his ATV wouldn't start he then noticed that the battery was not connected anymore he reconnected it and started the drive but it wasn't going fast at all less than a half a mile later the whole thing died he radio back basically saying hey guys I need someone to come pick me up they already told him and they would but it would be an hour he asked if the other guy got back and they said no he settled down and started a small fire but before long he heard of voices again it's dark he's not happy and the voices sound like an argument now someone was angry and yelling at someone else who sound more scared he called out and asked if anyone needed help the voices didn't seem to care he guessed they had to be less than a thousand feet away he radioed again and they said they were having trouble finding what path he might be on and I haven't left yet he asked them just to get the other Ranger and to tell them where they are because he left with the iPad that had the map they said he started come back about three more minutes go by and he hears the voice to start up again he decides to walk to them hoping maybe they can stop being drunk [ __ ] and maybe have a map he walked in the direction but the voices seemed to be getting further as he got closer finally after 20 minutes he gave up walked back he got a radio call and they said the other guy was found passed out covered in vomit and was being taken to the hospital but he crossed off everywhere they found a stand so they have a general idea where he is then the radio died then the voices came back bored out of his mind he decided to listen to what they were arguing about picking up things like well it wasn't yours to take I don't [ __ ] care you better know and so on his guess was two hunters were arguing over a kill then he heard one of them shouts something unintelligible then silence then bang a gunshot he doused his fire and head after that he heard nothing just his breathing for the next half-hour until he saw a TV lights he told the guy picking him up at everything and they called back they had people looking for three hours and found nothing they came back the next day with police and dogs after about an hour a shallow grave was found and in it was a long dead man who had clearly been shot in the face thing was it was a skeleton who was there for years so either the argument he had just ended with a bang and both parties went home last night or he heard the murder of someone from years ago back in 2010 I was stationed away from home from military duty near a mountain range me and two of my equally bored buddies dedicated our weekends to explore the area we would randomly choose a peak or a valley and try to see the end of it we would usually hike off trails to experience total solitude it was one of those days and we didn't pack any camping gear because we expected to return back to base before dark it didn't go as planned as we sort of lost track and it was already nighttime way into darkness we were stuck in some random place we didn't know and we were in a tense mood we kept arguing about how we got lost how we should have taken another route and whose fault it was the typical stuff after some silent treatment we saw the light of a small village a few kilometers away it was a relief we decided to reach the village and sleep over there we rapidly heights lower from the hills and ended up in a dried Canyon the canyon would make turns to the right and left every 50 meters or so and we couldn't see what was ahead of us we kept walking under the moon without torches just before one of these turns I saw a couple of glowing eyes in the distance I didn't make much of it it could have been any random animal we were used to it so he kept walking in as we made the turn more and more eyes started popping out they were directly looking at us they were not making a sound and they were not moving as we walk closer the number of eyes multiplied there were maybe hundreds of eyes looking right at us large glowing green eyes they belonged to something possibly as tall as us I couldn't think of any animals at large we stopped where we were we froze right over there the canyon had two ways ahead of us were big [ __ ] alien eyes and behind us there was a big [ __ ] Mountain we had nowhere to go after a moment of total confusion one of my buddies took us Torche and directed it at the eyes as soon as the light reached them they started running around there was [ __ ] chaos the eyes were moving at every possible direction there were loud barks and we could tell some of them are running right at us we couldn't do [ __ ] and we [ __ ] froze all I could do was take out my torch and knife I accepted my fate and I was totally in to get to some of their blood then I started seeing them I could see who those eyes belonged to they were running right at us a pack of unbelievably huge Shepherd dogs were running towards us in the remaining set of eyes belonged to very large packs of cows it was a relief sort of we were not about to be killed by bloodthirsty zombies outer galaxies aliens or Chernobyl mutants but these dogs could definitely harm us and kill us very easy we quickly closed the ranks and directed our torches in their eyes the dog stopped at a three metre distance and they completely circled us we were stuck there for a couple of minutes and they kept running around us then a man with a hunting rifle appeared in the distance he shoot away the dogs and it was once again peaceful we walked back to the village with him and his brother took us back to civilization with his tractor we didn't die and Jesus those feral dogs are whatever were definitely creepy this is gonna be a little mundane to a lot of other stories I hear on this channel but I worked for a few months as a park ranger with the Florida Forest Service at my local State Forest the creepiest thing I saw was a poor young man who hung himself on my second week on the job the unexplainable though are obviously not as cut and dry we'd have children's clothes neatly folded up and left on trails pairs of shoes in the middle of our dense burn blocks and just a general sense of eeriness my first few weeks on the job I was easily spooked but after I got into my groove of spending hours alone in the woods it took a lot to shake me when the force goes silent pack up and move along there's a lot of creepy stuff that happens out here and the one thing that I think stands out from my local place is all these weird clothes that just show up all nice and neat and very odd areas places that these clothes should have never even ended up and there are real no camping areas out here in this State Park so it doesn't really make too much sense how they got there anyways it creeps the hell out of me and I'm glad I don't work there anymore this happened about three years ago in Western Maryland it was late September and three of my friends and I were at a camping trip at a state park outside of Cumberland we got there pretty early in the afternoon and set up camp because we wanted to hike around a bit before it got dark anyway after we got back to camp and the Sun had gone down we gathered some wood for a fire we were in the process of building the fire when we noticed a light suddenly appeared the top of the hill by our campsites we were down in a small valley with steep hills all around us and it was very dark because it was heavily forested we all kind of ignored it thinking it was either the moon coming up or maybe there was a building that we hadn't noticed before as time went on I became curious about the light like I needed to go up there and see what it was my friends didn't share my curiosity and had no desire to check it out they just kept telling me it was the moon coming up and I was being stupid to me the light didn't appear like anything moonlight and it wasn't really like moon so it was starting to creep me out I took off up the hill and put my mind at ease the hill was densely forested and full briars it was totally dark except for the light up ahead so I had to proceed carefully I was almost to the light when I heard something moving up ahead I stopped so I could hear it better assuming it was a deer or some other woodland creature however it didn't sound like a deer it sounded like something maybe a person sneaking in the woods moving slowly so as not to make much noise then I heard another sound coming from the other side of me I froze trying to get an idea of what was approaching me the footsteps got closer and I just stood there waiting for whatever it was to find me then I saw it it was the classic grey alien about five five and the light from ahead was reflecting off of its skin that is the only thing I remember about it I didn't get a very good look at it I was just kind of scared and I think I lost consciousness the next thing I remember I was picking myself up off the ground it didn't seem like any time had passed but there was a definite lapse of consciousness like I was taking out and reinserted into time I decide to go back to the campsite I could see the light from a fire from my friends had made but on my way back to camp I start hearing voices inside my head I have no history of schizophrenia and consider myself a very calm and controlled person I have never had anything like this happened to me before or since the voices were very subtle but they were definitely there at first I was kind of a static but I was actually communicating with what I thought were aliens this is the most amazing thing to have ever happened to me they tell me I am special and they chose me to make contact because I was open-minded it however they soon start mocking me and their tone gets very ugly and they begin to sound almost demonic they tell me I'm going to burn in hell and to kill myself they tell me to throw myself into the campfire and get it over with I am terrified at this point and I can't get the voices to stop I get back to the campsite and my friends are enjoying themselves like nothing had ever happened they talked to me but their voices sound different they sound like their voices like were the ones that I heard in my head and all I can understand is that they hate me and want me to die I pretty much have a panic attack and lay down on the ground crying the voices in my head continue to torment me and it just keeps getting worse finally my friend starts holding me and telling me everything is fine we are both atheists or at least agnostic but for some reason she tells me to pray for Jesus I start praying out loud and asking Jesus to help me I do this for quite a while and the voices finally died down and go away I go to lay down and try to sleep to forget about what just happened and I see the moon coming up over the hill [Music] one of my best buddies from college was a geologist major that ended up becoming a ranger in the Southeast United States we haven't spoken in years as is the case with age but I remember about eight to nine years back he was telling me about an old married couple that he had recently helped out he had seen them come to the park several days in a row and found out they were visiting from out west and they had gotten engaged there decades prior they had been searching for a spot they'd taken pictures of when they popped the question about having trouble after looking at the pics and figuring out roughly where they were trying to get to he escorted them in his vehicle then hiked them to where he thought that it would be they found it and he left them there and went back to his station at the entrance he said he got a weird feeling when she got back in felt like he needed a way to see them whenever they left well once it came time to lock up at night he still hadn't seen them leave so he reported it he left his assistant to wait up the shack at the entrance and wait for them where he left them he went back to try to find them he found them both they're laying down scooting along the bank of the river neither were alive he called the cops went through the nine yards and went home the police were able to disclose them to their identities but weren't sure of anything else initially later he learned that the wife was terminally ill cancer and they both committed suicide by ingesting some sort of chemical pill combination they just chose to do it where they had gotten engaged at my bud wasn't torn up about it he was obviously sad for them dying but said he thought that they wouldn't have asked for help earlier because they didn't want anyone to think that they helped kill them you just to give you a background on me I am a 29 year old and I have been researching and investigating the paranormal since I was the age of nine in 1998 I'm an extremely realistic and logical person and I am NOT easily excited over things that go bump in the night I have seen and experienced some things in my life which most people will not believe but that's okay because I'm not here to convince anyone of anything I'm just here to share my lights in the sky experience happened a few years ago in 2014 I was living in New York and had gone to Jones Beach State Park one fall night with a friend of mine it was a chilly night so we didn't plan on staying out long but it was nice to be able to walk along the boardwalk without doing of crowds of people we had stopped at a covered picnic area to sit down and chat the night was clear enough to see the stars which can sometimes be difficult with all the light pollution on Long Island we lost track of time with our conversations and as we got it to leave I glanced up at the sky I loved the Stars and noticed something it was a very bright light had appeared over the horizon that wasn't there a moment ago my friend seeing that I was staring off into space literally looked up and thankfully saw it as well of course we had two initial thoughts one it was an airplane or two it was just another star we watched it for a few solid minutes and it never moved from where I sat ruling out the possibility of it being an airplane side note my boyfriend is an airline pilot and I spent a lot of time watching airplanes this is definitely not a plane so a few minutes go by when we notice a second light just as bright as the first appear seemingly out of nowhere it manifested if you will right below the first light and just hovered there naturally we look at each other and exchange per pecks glances when we look back up again a third light appeared below the first - I don't know how long we stood there looking at these lights but we did verbally discuss all the possibilities that might explain what they were we tried very hard to be realistic in debunking this phenomena after a while the light shifted taking on a triangular pattern again we stood mesmerised and watched they did not change positions again after that it felt like forever we finally decided that we should leave it was starting to get late when we started to walk away assuming that when we looked back the lights would be gone they weren't they stayed right there in the sky in that triangular pattern for almost our entire walk back to the car only when we reached the park exit did they disappear we do believe what we saw were UFOs though I'm not a hundred percent comfortable labeling as an alien per se I was working as a prospectors assistant in central Manitoba one summer we were doing a helicopter assisted magnetic anomaly investigation best summer of my life there's nothing like ringing in your ears dissipating after that helicopter has dropped you off and slowly increasing volume of the bugs taking its place you know for sure you are in the middle of nowhere it was the last day of our campaign this was a little piece of the property close enough to a road that we didn't need a helicopter it was a low priority target and was saved until the end we had kicked so much ass during the high priority targets we decided to do this one on the last day just for an easy in and out of the bush around 9:00 a.m. we heard yelling in the bush which was odd nobody else should be out here we kept on grabbing samples and it's in the back of our mind around 11:00 we hear it again it's a little closer this time though we cut back and call out again but it was silence now through our travels of this 30 kilometer piece of property we came across many pieces of animal evidence deer moose in rabbit droppings were everywhere a few carcasses here and there bear tracks and bear feces were seen a few times but nothing prepared us for what happened next around noon we were in an old blast hoping the 80s prospector Dave told me he used to have a blasting license and that blowing [ __ ] up in the middle of nowhere is really fun while drinking beer is his favorite pastime as a prospector they changed the laws a few years ago though so now they can't do it because it caused way too many forest fires we were facing due west with our GPS on some rocks getting the most precise UTM it could when we hear an earth-shattering bone-chilling how I looked at Dave and he turned so white he was almost green I picked up the GPS and put it in my belt and unclutch my bear safety spray then at our 9 o'clock facing due west another wolf than another at our 10 in another all the way to our 4 Dave calmly said we need to leave but you cannot run if you run you die we left most of our sampling [ __ ] there we also carry these modified steel sledgehammers for breaking rock and scraping moss most useful durable thing I've ever had it's at the ready along with my bear spray and we walk Longest Walk of my entire life we didn't say a word and I didn't hear anything but I'm positive they followed us back to the road and into the truck we drove back to town proceeded to get thoroughly thoroughly drunk [Music] you in the 90s before everyone had cell phones my Girl Scout Troop was camping in a state park when a terrible thunderstorm came through the area with major flood warnings the Rangers at the park frantically came through every campsite and evacuated everyone to higher ground everyone that is except for us in the Boy Scouts in the site next to us we went to bed with light rain but woke up in the middle of the night to our tents collapsing from the driving rain in the water quickly rising the Boy Scouts they were 12 to 16 years old we were seven to nine years old in ours helped us quickly pack our sights into our cars unfortunately the roads were too dangerous to drive on because we couldn't see that how deep the water was and we didn't know if any sections of the road had been washed out we abandoned all the vehicles that used the map that Scout leaders had to find someplace that wouldn't be flooded a few miles away there were tree house cabins that were built around a tree and lofted 15 feet in the air it was decided that we needed to move quickly and that was our best shot the older boys in the adult carried the smallest girls when it became clear that the wind was preventing them from staying on their feet the wind and rain soaked everyone through the skin we made to the cabins and the adults broke in and rated the emergency supplies there for space blankets there was no way to build a fire because there was no firewood it had been an especially dry year and starting campfires was forbidden due to the risk of starting a forest fire I remember shivering for hours all of us girls in the middle of a huddle on the floor with the Boy Scouts on the outside trying their best to keep us warm one of the boys asked if we knew any girls cow songs either camp songs or more of a Girl Scout thing than a Boy Scout theme or they were just humoring us we sing every song we knew and the leaders taught us a few more that they had learned at some point we were convincing the boys to sing in rounds with us morning came and the rain slowed down to a light drizzle and a ranger showed up assessing damage to the park he discovered us and immediately drove us to get help they returned with a bunch of Struck's in all-terrain vehicles they drove us to a location where doctors were on site to evaluate us it was sheer luck that none of us had anything worse than the chills it could have been worse than it was and they were unbelievably lucky to have survived at all we could have easily died in our sleep at the flood had come through all at once instead of slowly rising if the Boy Scouts hadn't been there then us small girls would not have been able to hike out of there safely if we had to try to drive we would have been washed away I am a seasonal Ranger for my local forest district despite the fact that I live in a fairly suburban area the forest preserves still make up 12% of the county with much of the property being heavily wooded not far out wilderness but pretty secluded in some areas being a seasonal employee I have been on the job for a bit over a month now but in my short time I have found a creepy things here are three of those things one a dead man in a tree the rest of the Rangers say that they find about one suicide a year so here was the one for the year when we go around opening parks each day we drive through to make sure everything is okay I in this instance I was driving through and had just lost sight of the road when I saw a man hanging from a tree in a clearing he had hung himself I called the cops in the corn or freaking corner took about an hour to show up he was the only one with the ladder long enough to cut the guy down so I stared at a dead guy on a tree for about an hour to crazed drugged-up naked man running around the parking lot it took me and three other Rangers to catch him when we finally caught him found out they had multiple cuts across his body running through brush in had a rock ledge firmly up his ass three a headless deer normally when a pack of coyotes take down a deer yes we have a bunch of coyotes around here they leave bite marks all over the body along with torn flesh everywhere but the head was cleanly sliced off and placed directly off next to the body meaning this is something created by human intervention we still haven't figured out that one yet and I have only been on this job for five weeks so you can only imagine what a full time forest ranger has probably seen over a long career this happened in either 97 or 98 the memory came flooding back to me several years after my father passed in 2007 it was not a suppressed memory it was more like a decade or more of life got in my way and I forgot about it anyway I live in the Midwest and it was either December or January it was the time of year where high school was in season but college is not so just before Christmas or possibly early early January I know because my brother was home from college but I was cheering basketball games at the time my dad was driving me from home from cheering at a varsity basketball game it would have been after around 10:30 p.m. and either a Tuesday or a Friday since that's when the games were we live in the country and I do remember it was cold in a brisk night that was snow on the ground and the moon was really bright and the snow was almost smarting we came down our country gravel road and came to a top of the hill where all of our mailboxes were dad wanted to stop and get the mail to the right there are the mailboxes and to the left is an expansive farm field there is no other way to put it but to the left there was a large cylindrical object hovering I had a slant over the cornfield the side tipped down where maybe five feet off the ground there weren't any lights on it and it made no sound I think we kind of gave doubt it for a while and then we were like what the [ __ ] is that I remember my dad saying that he was going to ask the farmer who owned the land if he had bought any new farm equipment mind you this was the dead of winter and no one would have been in the field with their farm equipment let alone one that floats middle in the air like that I remember saying to him dad that's no piece of farm equipment and he was like yeah I know let's get out of here and roared his little Ford Ranger off into the night down to our house on the very short rest of the way home we were like oh my god we have to tell my brother and mom when we get home however when we got home my mom was experiencing a severe gallbladder attack she had been having gallbladder problems for a while when we didn't have any health insurance so she had been putting off getting it checked out push came to shove and that night we had to take her to the ER and she had to have surgery and this whole crazy experience got lost and was never talked about again my dad passed in late 2007 and several years after that like I said above memory came back to me like a flood unfortunately now I can't ask him about it if he remembers it too I did work my way around to ask my mom if Dad ever mentioned anything to her over the years and she said no he hadn't I really wish that I would have remembered before he passed so I could have asked him more frankly that he was still here to ask today it really bothers me and I really want to know what he remembers from that night you this happened about a year ago I was 15 at the time camping with my family and also a good friend who we will call Zack who is the same age as me we were out camping in a campground called macquillan Lake which is a campground in central Alberta Canada the lake is basically drying up ship pile now but the scenery is nice and we know most of the staff at the park the campground is of modest size and is often filled to capacity there are a series of trails over by the park center that takes you through the forest we decided to walk down one of those in the evening after some walking we found an old trail that we had not taken before it was overgrown but you could clearly tell it was a pathway and so we took it to see where it would go after walking for about 15 to 20 minutes we heard some rustling in the bushes Zack figured it was a beaver as they were common around here but I looked into my horror I saw Cougars face peering at us from behind the bushes I could barely make out at yellowest eyes but it did seem like the Cougar was moving and yet we still heard the rustling in the bushes I pointed at it and told Zack and he began the panic Cougars often try to stay away from humans but they are getting more common so even though they are unlikely it is not impossible to find one I told Zack to remain calm and backpedal away with me and we began to backpedal I could tell he was scared shitless but I told him the rustling was probably as young and we probably stumbled upon his nest by accident I figured so long we made a point to backpedal away the Cougar would let us go we Beck paddled down the trail for some time when we felt we were safe we turned our backs and continued walking we rounded a corner only to find the Cougar standing there on the trail in front of us it was staring at us and obviously wanted to attack us I was shocked at how fast and quietly it was able to pass us at this point it was the Cougar was toying with us and that an attack is imminent I had a k-bar knife on me at the time in case the situation got worse and so I pulled it out truthfully a knife probably would not save our lives against such an amazing predator but it is better than having nothing it's a useful tool a weapon for hunting or defense so it was better than nothing I think Zack knew the Cougar was probably going to attack to give him my reaction to the situation in the Cougars op behavior we were both tall for our age and though Zack was scrawny I was quite muscular for my age even so if the Cougar chose to attack us we would be in trouble I told him to backpedal away once again and to stay close he did not listen though he booked it before I knew it the Cougar was running towards us it was fast I chose to fight as my natural response to danger it was probably also my best chance of survival at this point as running would be my only result in just being attacked and dismembered perhaps if I bought Zack sometime he would be able to get help from people walking the trails or there was always the possibility that he would rush to my aid the Cougar got close to me so fast that I barely had time to react I plunged my knife into its torso right as a jump towards me it growled in pain but the wound though it was deep was not lethal perhaps maybe I just hit a rib it shoved me to the ground clawed my right hand forcing me to let go of the knife and tried to bite my throat while sinking his claws into my shoulders Zack at this point was running away yelling for help to be honest I did not blame him yes he probably should have helped me out while screaming for help but some people which did it was too afraid and they don't know how to react I protected my throat with my left arm which was lucky by my chess before it clawed my shoulder so I was able to defend myself it bit my arm which was the worst pain I have ever felt I could hear the sound of his teeth puncturing my arm and ripping it to pieces I remembered advice some show stating that shoving your arm down a predators throat initiates its gag reflex forcing it to stop biting you at least for a moment remembering this I shove my arm further down his throat and the pain got worse but I was able to fight through it and thanks to my adrenaline rush the Cougar gagged and promptly let go of after the struggle this gave me a few seconds at the most to prepare for the next attack however I was still at its mercy and I knew my chances of survival at this point we're low suddenly I heard a loud bang and the Cougar let out a small whimper before falling on his side I stood up a saw a park ranger running towards me along with Zach at this point the pain in my left arm was starting to set in it was messed up bad and so were my shoulders both deeply scratched I did not realize it hurt me as bad as I thought it did until I looked up and felt the pain set in he explained that other hikers had reported the Cougar earlier and so he came to the trails to find it and heard Zach's cries for help after performing the first aid he took it to his truck which was quite a walk to get me to Zach to our sights and to get me to the nearest hospital if my wounds were serious it could easily become infected my parents ended up driving me there as the Ranger could not leave the campground on duty leaving Zach and the trailer at her sights Zach was shaken but he was amazed that I was still alive I needed stitches from my shoulders and my left arm which to this day is still damaged permanently but it could have been a lot worse it was a very terrifying moment of my life and I could have easily died there later after I was treated I talked to an expert from the park he told me that the Cougar attacked us because it was in pain and we approached its nest and had porcupine quills in his throat he said that it probably would have left us alone if we did everything right at least initially if it wasn't for the clothes in his throat we probably never would have been attacked at all I have an uncle that used to work as a ranger in Michigan he's gone through nights of tigers loose in a campsite without a working flashlight drunk guys drowning in the rapids and kids found dead from hypothermia cradled peacefully at the basis of tall pines but he never seemed disturbed when telling these stories he saw it as just a part of the job he took me and my middle brother on a walk through my grandparents woods one evening while all the adults made dinner the other two boys were completely occupied with a video game that was only two player and so our uncle decided that he would give us to some special attention especially to me as being the only girl I would get excluded from a lot we watched for maybe 15 minutes before my uncle stopped dead at the swamp area in the woods a place we went to often to hunt for mushrooms in the summer but right in the middle of the soggy forest fluke was a 10-foot spiral staircase that none of us could have remember being there before it was like someone had built our house and everything but the stairs had been swallowed up by the swamp at the top was a very small landing where a welcome mat and carpet set completely clean and untouched from what we could tell I looked up at my uncle in the look on his face struck me like a cold ice pick he was terrified shaking like it was winter and his eyes darting around on the tree line like he was looking for something he grabbed our hands and walked fast I have always been very short and unable to keep up I found myself being carried all the way back to the house he set me down only when we were in direct sight of the house and told us not to say anything about it to anyone especially the boys and to not go out of side of the house without him with us we were very confused and scared and as it sounded just insane we kept our mouth shut I recently went back home to visit and convinced my brother to come with me to see the staircase though it took a lot of convincing to get him to come along and he refused to go without our gun or a 200-pound Mastiff we got out there to the right spot and there was nothing just a clearing no bits of metal no carpet just an empty clearing and a nice big patch of mushrooms those mushrooms might have been our dinner if our Mastiff hadn't growled the moment we stepped towards them it was probably at a deer but we left quickly and I've never been back or told anyone what we saw when I was around 10 I was playing at a state park with my cousin who was a year younger than me it was a neighborhood park a few streets away from my house so we were allowed to go there alone as long as we were careful so my cousin and I were in this sort of crow's nest thing we were going up and sliding down this pole we were pretending to be firemen's at one point I noticed a white SUV circle around us a few times in the parking lots then I saw it again and again and again it weaved me out so I told my cousin we need to leave but I wasn't sure if the car would follow us and I didn't want them to know where I lived at a certain point during this car circuit around the park we would be obscured from its view by trees and buildings so I waited for the car to reach that point and then we hightailed it out of there it's kind of sad because I love going to that park it's a beautiful state park but a lot of really creepy reports have been coming in from the park recently from perverts and stuff I guess I could say pervert drew and everything while my story wasn't necessarily the creepiest out there I definitely do think that that van might have something to do with some of the missing cases that are coming from our local state park you [Music]

Channel: Swamp Dweller

Views: 654,566

Rating: 4.5748162 out of 5

Keywords: Park Ranger Stories, State Park Stories, Missing 411 stories, Search & Rescue Stories, Swamp Dweller, True Scary Stories, Deep Woods Stories

Id: M4xvxq-cyso

Length: 112min 46sec (6766 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 17 2018