What's the SCARIEST THING that Happened to you while in the WOODS? - Reddit Podcast

hikers and park rangers what's the scariest thing you've run into in the woods a few years ago my brother and I were camping in Colorado he heard a twig snap somewhere nearby and he wakes me up we scan with our headlamps and see a huge pair of eyes staring at us through some Willows I figured it must be a bear it kept staring at us for about 5 minutes until we turned off the lights we were going to move Camp back towards some other groups all of a sudden a massive moose comes charging out of the Willows luckily it veered off before it collided with our tent another time I was hiking a trail I hike regularly with my dog but it was totally deserted because of some rain she was ahead of me maybe 20 yards when she comes to a dead stop and beelines it back down the trail completely ignoring my CA as I chase her I notice an unmistakable Mountain Li print I was hiking the aderan Dex with my ex on a trail that was a loop around a lake with one trail head exit early spring so a lot of Trail cleanup hadn't begun yet we're walking about halfway to check out this waterfall and I hear the this rumbling sound that sounds like an animal stomping the ground towards us I then hear this bizarre rapidly increasing growl that sounds like what Hollywood uses for alien noises and freaking booket my boyfriend tells me to hold up but I'm crapping myself I'm out of breath and refuse to go back the way we entered the trail we have to March through this thick bog that was pulling our boots off to get through the other side to exit the loop we get to the car and I'm crying at this point the previous day was spent vomiting and eating bad food next vacation we're going to a city I we had been in the aderin deck for the past four vacations and honestly this experience beat me down years later I was listening to Nature Sounds on the internet and I hear that growl a chill went up my spine I learned that's a real thing it was amazing call of a rough grow bearing its wings on its chest yep I freaked out because of a Randy bird I was in archaeological Field School living in a tent for 6 weeks at 7,500 ft and the closest paved Road was 10 Mi away one night I woke up to a huffing snorting kind of sound right outside my tent next thing I know whatever it was was bumping my head I froze for a second then on pure Instinct I did an overhead punch definitely felt contact whatever it was it went away this was on the US forests service grazing land so it could have been a cow with insomnia but it could have also been a mountain lion or black bear wasn't even tempted to go out and see what it was I preferred the safety of my tent I was hiking in a national forest with my wife and dog the first couple of miles of Trail led to a waterfall and swimming hole so it was fairly well populated with people we decided to hike past the waterfall which involved a bit of a climb enough at least to keep most people from going past the waterfall we hiked another mile or two without seeing a single person this whole time my dog was having a great time happy to be in the woods and happy to walk 30 mil if we let her suddenly in a particularly dense part of the trail she stopped suddenly and stared Straight Ahead she absolutely would not move another inch forward we stopped and listened but couldn't hear hear or see anything unusual the dog though started whining and trying to pull us on the leash back up the trail toward the swimming hole I had never before or seen since my dog act this way but I believe she was legitimately afraid of whatever was ahead of us maybe there was a bear on the trail or a coyote or maybe a serial killer was hiding in the woods I'll never know because we listened to our dog and decided to get the freck out of there as fast as we could who knows maybe we avoided some gruesome death deep in the woods I'm beginning to think that a good proportion of these will either be bare related or people being scared by the possibility of bears place your bets below for what percentage rate of the stories will contain wi the Pooh's distant cousins Desert Park Ranger here volunteers at one of my Parks called us to report a still smoldering smoking car in one of our remote campsites it was normal for stolen cars to get abandoned and burned we went to look and gawked a few minutes while waiting for the fire department after a couple of minutes standing there it became very apparent there was a body in the front seat after an additional look around food WRA ERS rope numerous other strange items were found it seems like whoever was in the front seat had been bound and shot police came and cleaned it up didn't find any answers we refer to that as the haunted site now it's the most popular in that tiny Park one of our cubicle Farm Chiefs got a call from a guy threatening to take his own life he said he had a lot of weapons and was going to end it then gave the location close to our Park two of my co-workers got sent out to investigate by the time they got there another rangering entity had the scene first they told my co-workers to leave before there was a ton of complicated paperwork that they'd have to do the guy had shot himself semis successfully and then tried to walk for help large cleanup scene felt bad for the responding park ranger she wasn't with us but had just dealt with her husband another Ranger taking his own life the month before she also found his body but by far the scariest thing I ran into I just moved out there and was taking care of two parks by myself both closed these parks are about 30 mi from the nearest occupied houses and even then those couple of homes are usually empty in the summertime I decided to hop in my car and drive to the darker Park to take in a meteor shower and learn to play my banjo because that is totally normal and not creepy at all I'm out there on a picnic table plucking away terribly under the stars and got this really uneasy feeling was that a shadow what if someone shows up what if someone's listening and starts singing This is the burned car park what if they came back as I'm drowning in the Silence with occasional string plucks to distract myself I hear muffled voices in the Rush quick mumbles then rustling my heart dropped and my neck grew cold there is no way this will be a normal interaction my eyes struggle with the dark scanning bushes trying to find the shapes The Sounds grow closer and seem eerily high pitched children what the freak park ranger dies of a heart attack found 3 days later still clutching banjo will be a good headline that is the day I learned that coyotes have the run of the desert and don't worry about being quiet three of them bound through the cot bushes with a Yip or two passed close by me no Fricks given this is the last time I ever played my banjo there the Trailside killer in Northern California late 70s hiking with a friend and I came across him at a rock outcropping on Mount Tam he gave off a very discomforting Vibe and we didn't hang around we both independently recognized him when he was finally captured a few years later and his picture was in the paper if I'd been with my girlfriend we might not be alive he was a creepy looking dude a Charming looking fellow I worked as a treat planter in Northern Ontario living in tents and very remote parts of the forest like hours away from civilization only accessible by logging roads strangest was from a fellow planter who found a backpack in the middle of this area with shoes clothes a wallet with a school ID and a film camera how it ended up there is a total mystery because this is no place for hiking or camping scariest for myself was waking up to my tent vestibul collapsed and a large bear claw rip which I apparently slept through as well as turning a corner to a large wolf about 10 ft away and returning to a spot I'd planted about 5 minutes earlier to Fresh mama and bear cub PRS realizing a bear family had sauntered behind me while my back was turned was very unsettling because you do not want to mess with a bear and her Cubs Canadian Wildlife is scary Yo the most surreal experience I had was during an off trial hike in the Rockies in Colorado I was extremely depressed and spending a day away from an awful ex I wasn't really sure what my plan was but I fell on my butt through ice into a shallow stream and I was Crossing and just said freck it I'm not going back to my car well just near the top of a steep hill I almost stepped on some sort of leg bone I was like oh crap that's cool until about 3 ft away I saw several more limb bones and most of a spine between a couple of Mounds I didn't see fresh blood but was certain it was regular territory for something that could freck me up I kind of froze and looked around me since I didn't hear anything so far I decided to get a few picks and then slowly left down the hill about halfway down I turned back up the hill cuz I figured I was overthinking it and I really didn't didn't want to go home about five steps back up and I definitely heard some sort of animal walking around the top of the hill and I didn't stick around to see it I slipped in the water again on my way out though bears were just chilling out in our campsite in New Mexico in the middle of the night making sounds one random guy not in our group literally just gets out grabs a stick and chases them out while screaming man that guy was wild didn't see but heard my husband and I were hiking in a state park in the East Coast it was Midday during the work week so we maybe encounter two other people the 3 hours we were out and about the only sounds we heard were from ourselves our dog and some birds or animals all of a sudden I hear mild chanting I asked my husband if he heard it too and he nodded but signaled for me to be quiet my dog's ears were at full alert and the hair on his back was standing straight up we continued walking and the noises turned into full-blown monk chanting think Halo Gregorian chant it was clear as day like I was standing right next to to a speaker to make myself feel better I convinced myself some teens were hiding down there somewhere playing it on their phones after 5 minutes of hearing it it disappeared and we barely spoke a word for the last 3 miles back still creeps me out there was an episode of paranormal witness that had this exact thing happened to some people in the Woods by their house there was absolutely no one around nope nope nope nope nope nope nope I live in a Beach Community with a maritime Forest nearby and while hiking about 40 years ago I found a huge sea turtle hanging by its neck from a tree I bet the shell was 4 ft across I figured someone was hoping to recover the shell after the flesh had rotted away but I don't think the neck was going to hold up for that long definitely weird I mean surely that violates some sort of Environmental Protection Law I just hope that someone found an already deceased Turtle to do that to rather than killing one surrounded by Crystal heads in an Australian national park at night with no signal they stopped us in our car at the gate maybe five of them hopped out and surrounded at the car asked us if we knew where they could get any I had my big Becca BK knife by my side thankfully they left working in a rainforest in Southeast Asia many years ago one of the things we did was trap moths at night you would sit in front of a big white sheet with a lamp in front of it powered by a generator and then periodically go and see what insects had attached to the sheet incidentally the insects attracted frogs which attracted snakes which attracted bigger things due to the noise and light the Trap was about a mile away from camp so you'd be there at 3:00 a.m. all alone in the middle of a jungle one cloudy night there wasn't much happening at the 1:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. shift I heard a rustle in the woods beside me this wasn't unusual but it was a bit bigger than I was used to hearing the Russell came closer and I started getting tense it got closer still and I was starting to think I was going to get mauled by a tiger suddenly a disembodied face broke out of the tree line screaming in an unintelligible language I practically crapped myself screamed a little and the disembodied face disappeared back into the wood issuing high pitch to Giggles it was only after my heart slowed that I realized one of the local Lumberjacks had given me a jump scare using a torch under their face for spooky lighting I wasn't even mad it was hilarious you can submit your own stories to be featured here on the channel the story submission link is in the description below and if you want to listen to some viby music in the background check out easy mode also linked below and subscribe it was 3:00 a.m. and everyone was koed in their tents I was awoken by the sound of someone or something walking around my tent I hear a distant but blood curdling scream for the next 30 minutes I see a light waving around outside I thought about going out to investigate but didn't want to die it took me a few hours to fall asleep the next day it turns out a cub was poking around our campsite my friend was Hammock Camping which probably Peak the Cub's curiosity it poked a claw through the hammock and left a sizable gash on his elbow my friend said he didn't fall asleep for 2 hours and kept shining his flashlight around in case the Cub returned with its mother or something this happened about 6 ft away from me was on a camping trip in The Boundary Waters in Minnesota and we woke up in the middle of the night to this incredibly loud slap and a splash out in the middle of the lake sound carries really well across water our first fear was that someone was shooting at us and that was absolutely terrifying then we heard it again a bit closer and one of the guys realized it was a freaking Beaver slapping its tail on the water before it Dove below my last trip up there I was awoken from a midday nap by my buddies sing sily screaming bear turns out we had made camp in the middle of a berry patch and a bear was having a feast about 10 ft from my head was camping with my boy scout troop at the time and woke during the middle of the night to footsteps and breathing it got louder and more footsteps started my bunk mates were up too at this point then we start to hear huffing and animal noises turns out the field our campsite was at was in the middle of an apparent cow Crossing had to be at least 30 of them walking by at once definitely a scary moment to wake up to in the middle of the night hearing a million footsteps and animal noises FYI cow pies were everywhere the next morning a pack of dogs ran up on my wife and I while hiking out of the Grand Canyon at about 3:00 a.m. very very dark outside her and I had headlamps we stopped they stopped all I saw was a bunch of glowing eyes and bushy tailed Silhouettes after a beat I realized they were working dogs for the reservation so I just went hey peppers in the same voice I use for my dog and they immediately went on their way ended up not being dangerous really but I almost crapped myself was in the Big Bend National Park about 20 years ago prepping for a backpacking series presentation for REI Big Bend is the Western portion of Texas that dips downward along the bend of the Rio Grande that forms the border with Mexico it's mixed High Desert and smaller mountains gorgeous place with a great history I was hiking the area near s Elena Canyon probably a couple of hours before Sunset to try and get picks for the presentation this area of the park opens into the comparatively flat sections of the Basin where the river broadens and the wildlife tends to be more diverse and obvious there hence there I was I was several hundred meters away from my van which was parked in a designated lot at what passed for a trail head at the time as I approached the River Basin near the mouth of the canyon I saw something really unusual so unusual in fact that it took a few seconds for my brain to sort the puzzle something was moving on the other side of the river and it was big man-sized but low to the ground the color of a ear maybe and shuffling along it looked for first impression to be a medium-sized white tail dough lying on its side and moving like a snake but that's not a thing that happens so I moved closer to improve my line of sight it was a mountain lion a big cat a big cat it was creeping along low slung hunting something that was probably no more than a Stones toss from where I was standing I'd never seen one before and when the visual information finally passed I think my blood froze then it looks at me I'll probably never forget that bit you could see the little calorie calculator turning on in its eyes I've never been so thankful for a river in my life granted at this time and maybe still the river was very low due to drought and unauthorized unlawful irrigation practices upstream and you could likely cross at several points at this location with minimal risk but it was still quite Broad and definitely looked the part of a potent water barrier death kissy does a series of double takes head shifting from me to whatever the preise location is back and forth rapidly said calorie counter and risk calculator trying to get a fix on this evening's menu I die a little maintain my facing and begin slowly and quietly moving away not sure if I wasn't worth it if the river was too much of an x- factor or if the bigun just really wasn't that into me but no chase was given and after breaking line of sight I was able to get back to the van just fine with no sign of pursuit and some mild tacky cardia that was the longest short walk I've ever taken later that night I was parked off the main Park Road in an area where big cats commonly hunted I'll always remember being parked there in the middle of nowhere munching on slightly stale Oreos and a bottle of water listening to the occasional growl or scream of a big cat peel out of the darkness and being thankful for my relatively fortunate position on the food chain also one night I hallucinated on NyQuil a side effect I regularly experienced with the quills after getting a respiratory illness and I woke up screaming at a mountain at 3:00 a.m. at the public campsite but that's someone else's scary camping story oh no yeah I don't care that big cats normally don't bother attacking humans if I saw one of those I would be sprinting for my life sorry kissy you shall not taste the Flesh of YouTube narrator today not really a park but we were camped on a remote beach in Northern Australia on an Aboriginal Reserve we had special permits when we woke up in the morning we noticed a huge Trail drag and footprint where a Croc had walked by our tent during the night The Croc was on the other side of the bay assuming it was the same Croc and must have been at least six M long we packed and moved I went running through a trail near my house one afternoon headphones in and my mind elsewhere just because I knew the path really well I came around a band through the Gap in the trees about 20 ft in front of me I locked eyes with a dead and rotting deer somehow it was postured in a way that made it look as though the corpse was staring through me I turned and bolted out as fast as I possibly could you should watch the movie the ritual Frick that movie still creeps the crap out of me that there are these kinds of Woods where it's some kind of curs and of being guarded by some not of this world kind of Beast I'm not a ranger but I've harked parts of the appalation trail this occurred in West Virginia I believe happened about 8 years ago was hiking with a group we spread out naturally based on hiking speed I was in the middle-ish group of four of us and one person had to stop to pull a tick off other two one leader stayed with them but I decided to hike on ahead and see if I could catch up with the lead group The at is extremely well marked with white blazes so so I wasn't worried about getting lost I knew the next Landmark Was An Old Logging Road and sure enough I hit it about a mile later I decided I should wait for the rest of the group to catch up so while waiting I hiked a bit down the old overgrown road which ran perpendicular to the trail there was a low stone wall along oneide and I was strolling along it checking for anything interesting like artifacts and stuff when it was like I crossed an invisible line all of a sudden it was like sound cut off no birds or insects called when seconds ago there had been multiple birds singing even leaves on the trees around me stopped rustling it was just this sudden unnatural deafening silence for whatever reason I took a few more hesitant steps forward until I hit this invisible wall it was like suddenly I was barraged by this feeling I can only describe it as an intense unwelcome as if ID entered the house of someone I knew hated me but multiplied by about a 100 all of the hairs on my body stood straight up I stopped dead in my tracks the feeling was so strong that I didn't even want to turn my back I couldn't see any anything down the road threatening or otherwise that would give me this feeling but I knew I had to leave immediately I just knew I was not meant to be there and if I stayed something bad would happen so I walked backwards slowly never turning away from the road and trying really hard not to even blink finally I crossed that invisible line again and I could hear birds singing and the leaves rustling I didn't turn around until I heard the leader I'd left earlier asking me if there was anything cool down the road I was like nope let's keep on going looking back I figur it was a bear or a cougar or something just out of sight that my instincts managed to pick up on but at the time damn it just felt creepy and almost paranormal the silhouette of a massive humanoid figure roundhead no snout at dusk moving through the foliage at ridiculous speed it was extremely loud branches swinging sticks snapping instinctively I fled by foot even though it wasn't coming in my direction left my ATV behind in the process I was driven back later with others to retrieve it never saw it again still don't know what it was I was working at a remote Mountaintop microwave radio site near Prince Rupert BC in January the road to the site was impossible even by snow cats due to deep snow drifts I had to be dropped off by helicopter in the morning and get picked up at the end of the day the building was small single story maybe 30X 40 ft windowless with a metal front door I'm puttering away with music on but otherwise not making a lot of noise when there's a knock on the door I thought it was a bit odd that someone else would be up here with me but I go to answer the door nobody there I go out and look around nope nothing no prints or tracks I figured maybe some ice had fallen and made a knocking sound I go back inside and resume what I was doing a couple of minutes later there's a knocking on the door again but longer duration this time I open the door nobody I go out and look around nothing go back to work a minute later knocking again this time it sounds like someone is angrily pounding on the door to be let in this time I opened the door with my crowbar in hand there was no doubt someone was there opened the door and nobody what the freak prick step out and look around no sign of anyone again I get the feeling someone is watching me I'm peering into the bush around me and I see nothing something compelled me to look behind me and that's when I met the amused gaze of a raven perched on the roof Edge centered above the front door they squark a happy and flapped off to the tree line butthole when you subscribe make sure to hit the Bell to turn on notifications put the playlist on in the background to finish listening to all the stories or if you want some viby music to put on in the background check out easy mode if you like am I the genius give am I the jerk a shot everything Linked In the description

Channel: Am I the Genius?

Views: 10,966

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Id: 5U0TjEZNNd8

Length: 21min 40sec (1300 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 21 2023