5 Terrifying TRUE Search and Rescue Stories - Darkness Prevails

in the wilderness searching for the lost you might just stumble upon something far more terrifying this world is a strange one it's all too easy to get lost or to make a clumsy misstep and end up somewhere you shouldn't be our planet is huge there are forests and caverns all over the globe completely untouched by people places where man turns a blind eye these are the locations where people disappear sometimes they're found usually dead in the strangest circumstances others are never found left to horrific unknown fates so tonight I'm going to share with you five allegedly true search-and-rescue scary stories but first if you want to hear your story on this channel I'm looking for creepy stories from paramedics and firefighters any sort of first responder if you've got a story send it to us at death by fear calm now I hope you didn't forget to bring a map or else we might get lost in these stories number one my volunteer brother submitted by Ingenix 67 before my older brother Gregory passed due to complications not concerning this story he was an avid volunteer in many different practices he volunteered at our local junior high whenever they hosted a Special Olympics he often went down to the shelter to help serve food to the homeless I wouldn't call it a soup kitchen because we serve sandwiches around these parts many people thought of my brother is a good person and I would most certainly agree as his little brother I don't remember many negative moments with him he never started fights with me I'm sorry to say that any fights we did have I was usually the one starting them always something about what he had that I wanted I had a bit of a gimme streak as a child well Gregory once had what he called an experience of a lifetime it happened when he volunteered to be part of a search party for a missing child in the nearby woods now this forest surrounded our little community we live in the suburbs and I grew up in a small backyard overlooking an intimidating treeline I was always scared of those woods even when my mom told me to stay away there was no need to tell me once I wasn't going near those trees but a younger child had a different idea because a little boy went missing in the forest just beyond his home he had been gone for about three hours by the time we got out there the parents were panicking and the police and firefighters worked together to search the forest they welcomed any and all volunteers who were able of course my brother jumped in without hesitation they gave him an orange vest so he was easier to spot in case he himself got lost then he went in and my parents and I waited at the edge of those woods in suspense my father would have joined him but he had a very bad heart murmur and he was currently at leave from his work until he had work done for his condition anyway and I watched my brother walk into those woods confident and eager to help we waited there for maybe two hours before we needed to go home to get my dad back indoors and to get some food in our bellies before we left though we text my brother to let him know to call us when they were done hopefully they would find the boy and we could drive my brother back home in no time midnight that same night we stayed up for my brother all together he had been gone for about eight hours now and we were already beyond worried but the door opened at the last minute and we all got up to greet Gregory we had questions to ask and we needed to know if he was okay well everything seemed off I mean my brother isn't the type of person to ignore texts he never called for a ride though and when we asked him how he got home he simply said I walked he stood there at the front door he was quiet and he wouldn't look any of us in the eyes something was wrong with Gregory not once in my life had I ever seen him act like that after warming some food up in the microwave he carried his late dinner to his room shut the door and he did not come out until evening the next day and only then did he come out to eat again we tried our best to get answers from him but he was just blatantly ignoring us my mom was worried and my dad was sort of pissed I don't think any of us really knew how to handle this situation Gregory was never a problem child and I could tell that my parents didn't know what to do we ended up getting most of our answers from the news which my mother watched avidly until we had updates on the missing boys story the boy hadn't been found just yet and the police were still investigating that poor family my mother said unto her breath as she continued to watch the report but I was honestly more worried about my brother I figured if he didn't talk to our parents then maybe he would talk to his little brother it couldn't hurt to try right I knocked on his bedroom door but there was no reply being a stubborn kid I checked the doorknob and it wasn't locked I walked in and saw him lying on his bed facing the wall he obviously heard me walk in but he didn't seem to care I made sure to close the door behind me and then I sat down in his little oval chair what happened out there I asked him but he didn't say a word I persisted though Gregory talked to me what happened I was both curious and worried it was hard to hide those feelings in my voice we didn't find him he said in a monotone voice we know I replied we just saw it on the news we found parts of him though he said in that same emotionless demeanor parts of him my stomach turned at the thought what had my brother seen he continued though blood pieces of meat that's what I saw around the same area where he had entered the forest then he began to sound more emotional he was only four then he set up in his bed and faced me that boy's parents must be devastated either that or they're in denial I wouldn't blame them he stared down at the floor and said one more thing what the hell is in those woods that would do that to a child we grew up here and I've never seen something like that happen I was stunned seeing my brother like this I didn't know what to say so he turned layed down again and remained silent for the rest of the night the boy's body was never found and eventually my brother came out of his state of trauma and depression he was someone who wanted to help more than anything but he walked into those woods only to see the gore of the person he was supposed to save it was hopeless from the start the weird thing is we've never had as much as coyotes in those woods so it really makes me wonder what happened to that child who or what took him what was it that tore the boy apart what scares me the most to be completely Frank with you is the idea that whatever did this is still out there number two I was lost in the woods submitted by Brendan Barnes a long time ago I experienced the most horrifying thing it was something I wish I could take back or unsee something that I didn't think I would have ever gotten myself into my family went on a camping vacation to the Ouachita National Forest about ten years ago I was a child back then and a very curious one at that my poor parents were always having to tell to stay close to them and to stop wandering off whenever we'd go to Walmart for example I'd be gone in seconds exploring all the items and goods in each aisle needless to say I had plenty of good scoldings in my time but my curious behavior stuck with me but I know now I should have listened to my parents anyway the first day we went camping after we'd set up our tent my family and I decided to hike some of the trails in the area the place was beautiful and breathtaking trees taller than life I was having the time of my life just walking past the wildlife there were birds chirping all around it seemed like nature didn't care that we were there it kept going with its own rhythm the same as it did before and after we were there the trails were longer than I thought they'd be too we were walking for 20 minutes and never once circled back or turned towards the camp I was fine with that there was so much to see I had a hard time grasping just how big these woods were I was young and I didn't think so much land could be so uninhabited during our walk suddenly I heard the strangest bird call I'd ever heard it reminded me of a whippoorwill but deeper with a much longer duration and at the end of the call the sound seemed to reverberate or wiggle if I had to describe it in different words the more interesting parts this sound is a little kid it was the fact that it seemed to be coming from a bush on the side of the trail and I had to see this I had to see this weird bird that sounded like an especially fat whippoorwill I ran over to the bush not thinking that I might scare it away and of course my obnoxious steps forced something to fly out of the bush it didn't flow into a bush maybe a dozen feet behind it but I was determined I tiptoed this time and continued toward that bush I never saw it fly out of that Bush though but when I searched for it I didn't see the bird anywhere I searched the bushes nearby as well just in case I missed it evading me but still there was nothing I gave up and decided to get back to the hike yet when I turned around I couldn't see the trail within what must have been 90 seconds at most I had not only lost sight of my parents but I'd completely lost the trail instantly my heart began to go crazy pounding in my chest at the thought of what I just done of what might happen to me the first thing I did was call out to my parents they couldn't have gone far right apparently I was wrong no matter how much I screamed there was no answer how could that be possible even if they were a mile away wouldn't someone hear me out there I soon found that I was crying uncontrollably running in directions that I guessed were the correct ones but all in all I must have made my situation far worse maybe I should have just stayed put I'm not sure everything around suddenly began to look menacing no longer a dream world the forest had turned into a nightmare my nightmare it had been five o'clock in the afternoon when we first set out on the hike but ours must have passed by quickly because before I knew it before I wanted it to the Sun was setting and soon I was immersed in darkness this experience already sounds like a horror story but what I'm going to tell you next will take a turn for the bizarre and unexplained when I thought all hope was lost the full moon suddenly revealed a figure in the distance a silhouette that looked like a human I was overjoyed I was being rescued someone was there someone had found me whoever it was stood about 25 yards away but then I heard them speak are you hungry that's when my joy turned right back to dread and fear filled my heart because the voice wasn't right it wasn't a person's voice at all it was this deep guttural grumble that somehow formed audible words it spoke words but didn't seem to understand what it was saying as if it was only repeating what it had heard before then whatever this was it started to walk towards me I turned and ran with all my might but after all the crying and stress and thirst I had experienced I was exhausted still the thoughts of what might happen to me if that thing reached me it pushed me past the pain I wasn't even looking ahead of me I kept my eyes on the tall dark figure that seemed to be catching up fast suddenly I was forced to a stop I had run into something I've been running so hard that hitting whatever this was had knocked the breath out of me I looked up standing above me was a man I'd never seen before he shone a flashlight in my face slowly I began to hear the screaming and calling all around me people were calling my name the man yelled out to the others over here and footsteps began to rush toward me I looked behind me expecting that two tall silhouette figure to be only seconds away now but it was completely gone the trees were thin here so there was no way it could have hidden that fast but somehow it had vanished I was reunited with a crying mother and a relieved father they were handing me granola bars in a bottle of water asking me question after question they'd been so scared but I was fine just mentally scarred was all then another man walked over to me he had on some hiking gear and a backpack he was very fit and he had a very serious look on his face he kneeled down in front of me and asked me a few things things like if I'd been hurt and what had caused me to wander away from the safety of my parents then he asked me something weird he asked me if I had seen anything now I was a child a scared child at that so when he asked me this I got nervous I felt like I was in trouble for multiple reasons I knew I would be in some sort of trouble for wandering off but now this man was making me think that the figure that I'd seen wasn't supposed to be seen so feeling guilty for whatever reason I lied to him I told him no that I didn't know what he was asking but he went on to explain some things to me this is what he said as I've remembered throughout all these years always stay with the pack and never be the last person in line the moment you stepped foot on that trail you were lost it wasn't an accident there are things in these woods that know how to take people they know how to separate you without any trouble when these things want you there's no escaping it you're lucky we found you my mom and dad were beginning to look very worried that this man was speaking this way to a child who had just experienced the worst thing in their life but I was intrigued and horrified at the same time he stood up saw my parents confused faces and went on I've been doing search-and-rescue for the past decade he told them the stories I've heard the things I've seen sometimes I think it'd be safer to leave these forests to themselves then the man turned and walked away it was the most mysterious conversation I'd ever had to this day I'll never forget what I saw and I still wonder what might have happened to me if that search-and-rescue team hadn't found me when they did stay careful in the woods that officer's words might sound crazy to most people but now I believe I truly believe that there's something out there and it does not have the best intentions in mind for us number three haunted forest submitted by mr. nowhere I work for the National Park Service in a state I'd rather not say because I know that when Rangers share stories like these with too many people it gets the wrong kind of attention if anything I want this quick story to be a warning the woods are dangerous I just don't want this to be an invitation for thrill-seekers I've been working with the National Park Service for about five years now it's not very long in the big scheme of things but it's enough time to have seen quite a few oddities I've been on plenty search-and-rescue missions most of which I'm happy to say and in success people get lost in these woods but most of them don't wander off too far then again sometimes you get those people who don't stay put either their young get not afraid or they think they know what they're doing trying to save themselves after they've gotten lost well on one occasion a middle-aged man had gotten lost hiking some of the deeper trails we've been looking for him for three or four hours the helicopters had already done several flyovers with no success a co-worker and I impressed on and to the thicker woods going downhill towards a small creek our thought was that maybe the guy went downhill trying to find water only to end up getting more lost now the deeper we got into that small valley the more we heard these cracks in the woods behind us this was never a good sound because when sounds like that began to follow you through the woods it's something that wants to stay close to you the sounds kept coming and getting closer by the second soon we began to hear what sounded like a dozen different sets of footprints around us we didn't get a lot of sightings of wolves in the region and when we did it was usually coyotes or wild dogs mistaken as wolves usually all we had up here were mountain and the occasional bear but this wasn't either of those at that point even I was assuming that a pack of coyotes or even wolves were stalking us then it got worse we suddenly heard this screaming blood-curdling screams like someone was being torn apart they echoed throughout the woods in the mountains and I cannot say enough how loud this screaming was I was sure that we had found the missing man I was sure that by the time we got there he'd be dead we ran toward the noise going full-speed ignoring the footsteps around us running so suddenly like that was sure to trigger the predatory instincts of whatever animals were stalking us but we had to find this man and if it came down to it my coworker had a pistol holstered to his hip after running for about 70 yards in the direction of the noise the whole tying the screaming never stopped we stumbled upon a clearing and we saw a figure bending down by the creek the figure turns toward us hearing our obvious presence as we came bursting through the trees it's a man middle-aged sipping at the water in the creek he stands up walks over towards us saying over and over thank God thank God I thought I'd be lost out here forever we asked the man if he was hurt looking him over for any injuries but to our amazement he was completely fine he wasn't hurt in the slightest just thirsty and hungry then why did you scream like that I asked him he looked at me confused scream I stopped yelling hours ago my voice was starting to go for a minute there well didn't you hear that screaming my partner asked him what do you mean I didn't hear anything it was quiet here well until I heard footsteps bounding through the woods and then there you were my heart stopped flat how could anyone in the entire Valley not hear that scream it sounded like someone was dying there was whimpering in that scream you could almost feel the pain and tears in it how could anyone have missed it we got the man some clean water then we got into contact with the rest of the team to get them to our location everything was smooth sailing from there to this day I don't know what that scream was I've heard every sort of sound there is to hear in the wilderness I've heard plenty of mountain lions and Panthers in my time but nothing sounds even remotely like what I heard that day even if you think I'm wrong that scream lasted a good solid minute and echoed all over never pausing or stopping for a breath if it was a mountain lion how could that man not have heard it - better yet what was out there stalking us that night number 4 what my cousin saw submitted by Dixie my cousin Jeffrey was the kind of guy who didn't leave home to go to the woods he left the woods to come home he was camping constantly he'd often go to work after waking up in a tent by the creek he absolutely loved it out there ever since we were kids Jeff would always begged me to come outside to play with him though he had a bit of a hard time breaking me away from my GameCube so basically all his life Jeff lived out there I think if it wasn't so dangerous he would probably up and leave civilization for good to live in those woods once Jeff was asked to be a part of a search and rescue party you see some kid got himself lost in those very woods the woods that Jeff called home so Jeff decided to use his experience out there to help out this kid but he went about it all wrong you see Jeff thought he was doing the right thing by splitting up from the group to quote/unquote cover more ground because of this he ended up completely ditching the group looking for the kid throughout the night even though after about four hours or so the group had found the child yet they had no way of getting in touch with Jeff to tell them that the search was over he had good intentions but he could be a bit hard-headed well as Jeff searched the forest that night he soon found himself surrounded by weird noises he said it sounded like howling deep low-and-slow howls he was used to hearing coyotes most nights he'd fall asleep to them howling at each other in making the dogs in the nearby town bark but whatever was howling that night it was definitely different it didn't sound anything like a coyote not to mention he had gotten himself deeper in the woods than he was used to he'd been calling out the boys name but these howls got him spooked and he was afraid to make too much noise he began to feel like he was being watched and he saw silhouettes moving between the trees by then he had turned back towards town he felt that if he stayed out there any longer he'd be putting himself in danger it didn't take long for him to start seeing the eyes yellow reflecting eyes all around him the worst part though was apparently that these eyes were at his eye level these animals they were tall whatever they were he felt that he had no other choice than to run he heard steps around him in the woods but he ran harder than he'd ever run before until he was out of breath in the middle of the road ever since then he hasn't gone that far into the woods again he still camps though he just doesn't go without the gun he bought after that experience I know Jeff and I've never seen him as afraid as he gets when he retells this story and number five my creepy search-and-rescue story submitted by Danielle D I had this experience when I was very young and it has certainly left a massive impact on my life I was 16 at the time of this story now I'm about 5'4 and a hundred pounds and I've been walking and hiking all my life I live in a remote farming village in England and for the most part the place was boring and dull but one of the things I enjoyed the most was getting to join the local search-and-rescue unit I enjoyed learning and helping people and it gave me something to do besides going to school and coming home it was there that I met my one and only friend let's call him Luke he was a lad at the school which every girl drooled over but I never saw him as that he was about six and a half feet tall and a major gym nut who loved playing tricks on me it was the middle of summer and I'd been at the search and rescue headquarters all day studying maps of the local area my eyes were beginning to wake so I took a break and went over to the soda machine to get a drink I was about to sit down to have a drink when we got an emergency call over the radio but there had been a missing couple who had last been spotted going over Devil's Canyon which is the most dangerous place and is only for advanced hikers I should know I was out there before and I ended up breaking my arm we geared up and then we had a briefing and we were all out there in 25 minutes luckily for us they had left their phone on so we had the local police trace the call my father wasn't too happy with me going up there he's the chief of police for our town and he gave me a very stern warning to stick to the group when we finally reached the hills it was dusk and we were burning daylight we took the North route that set us through the backbone of the hills we have been for an hour walking and scanning our flashlights in every direction every Valley and behind every rock it's still there was nothing I was starting to panic and I was praying that we would find them soon darkness had now fallen and we were surrounded by dark loom hils I stepped up to look at the waterfall where teens like to gather and drink beer but still they weren't there the wind seemed to pick up as I headed back down I hurried to catch back up with the group while I pulled my hoodie tighter to my body I wasn't worried I'd studied and walked the whole of this path a million times so I never felt scared or frightened the worst thing we had out here really was foxes they might jump out of nowhere but they would instantly run away from you I found a stick along the path I took it with me to help bean traverse the terrain I figured that the group must have been waiting in the clearing up ahead so I made my way and I was surprised to see that all the usual dead debris that littered the ground had been removed the whole area had been cleaned this was strange because no one was supposed to interfere with anything like that we were supposed to let nature take its course for example if a tree fell in the forest you're not supposed to move it unless of course it's blocking a road or trail but as I got closer I could see a faint glow of a fire and then I saw a clear circle had been made into the ground stones had been placed around the fire I didn't see anyone around and it was illegal to leave a fire burning unattended in these parts in fact doing so there would be a heavy penalty I was distracted by this and I was considering calling it in when I had something break me out of my thoughts I saw movement up ahead through the trees I saw four figures all wearing dark green hooded robes they were walking but as they walked they swayed - left and right and least seemed to be muttering but they were too quiet for me to hear exactly what it was I froze I couldn't run I raised my walking stick in front of me as if this tiny little stick would somehow save me from these men but I didn't know what they wanted from me just as I came to my senses and felt a very gentle tap on my shoulder I turned around to see an older middle-aged gentleman smiling down at me he had the most perfect teeth I'd ever seen they were brilliant white and he spoke tin a soft low tone why hello there he spoke my friends and I have been wondering where you were we've been waiting on you I froze I didn't know what this man was talking about I'd never seen him before in my life I would have especially remembered that smile of his I tried to sound brave and say stay the heck away from me but instead I ended up stuttering it out this made him grin ear to ear even more then he said something else we've been waiting for a girl who is young and pure who needs to be taught some amazing lessons he just wouldn't stop grinning I felt sick to my stomach he reached out to place a hand on my shoulder but I screamed and I kicked at him I think I hit him in the knee and then I took off running I didn't know what he was talking about but he gave off the worst vibes I sprinted down the slope of a river I slipped and grazed my knees and I stood there in the water until I heard the chanting getting closer and louder and soon I began to hear movement at the top of the slope I had just come down I picked myself up my knees shaking as I tried to move I knew every turn and every path but there were fastly gaining on me I was panicking but then I recognized the place I was in and I suddenly knew where to go I was able to retrace my steps that led me back to the beginning of the trail just as I turned the corner I saw blue flashing lights and my father leading a group of officers up the steps I jumped at him overjoyed to see him all I could mutter out to him was that there were bad men up there that I didn't know what they wanted to do to me I buried my head into his shoulder and he sent his men ahead he struck my head and calmed me down as he walked down the hill when we reached the bottom I calmed down enough to tell him what had happened I set at the back of his police car with my dog Arthur he was a retired police dog a German Shepherd and he made me feel safe and protected well I'm sad to say that they didn't find the men that I saw that night but they did found a bit of torn green material from their robes and they saw the place they had set up because they left the fire there to burn out unattended when I was old enough I moved away from that area I've got my own family now I ended up with Luke and we have two beautiful sons and I still will never leave his side when we go on walks humans aren't all knowing or all-seeing we might have a universe of knowledge at our fingertips we might have eyes everywhere all over the world even still there are things around us that we don't understand and there are things in the forests of this world that elude us still we might never know what's out there but one thing is certain there is beyond a shadow of a doubt something in the forests of this planet that is taking people and there are other things out there that wish to do us harm goodnight be sure to LIKE share comment and subscribe if you enjoyed the video and don't forget to send us your paramedic firefighter or first responders story soon a death by fear calm thanks you

Channel: Darkness Prevails

Views: 480,329

Rating: 4.7760682 out of 5

Keywords: search and rescue, true stories, haunted forest, missing people, missing 411, the forest, into the woods, national park, national park forest, forest ranger, scary stories, ghost stories, horror stories, darkness prevails, dark web, skinwalker, creepy stories, krampus, paranormal stories, monster stories, wendigo, bigfoot, scary monster, werewolf, goatman, creepypasta, craigslist, alien stories, mothman, witches, succubus, swamp dweller, clancypasta, are ghosts real

Id: Q6eT6NPA6JA

Length: 33min 54sec (2034 seconds)

Published: Sun May 14 2017