Outdoorsmen Share Their Most Chilling Encounters In The Wilderness
There is so much about the great outdoors that is breathtakingly beautiful. Although it's easy to take one's own surroundings for granted, they're only the tiniest fraction of what the world has to explore and appreciate. But as beautiful as nature is, they're still quite the dark side to it.
That's not only because the wilderness is full of potentially dangerous animals but also because anything (or anyone) can enter those settings as easily as we can. We never know what's going to be out there and what intentions it'll have when we cross paths with it.
A mysterious warning that must be heeded
While Reddit user Withthisaccountican was camping with their friends, they woke up at 4 am one night to feel someone running their hand down their arm from outside their tent. Naturally, this led them to proclaim in their deepest voice that this intruder needed to leave.
However, all they heard in response was a voice calmly saying, "You should pack up your stuff and leave." They didn't have to be told twice but once they finished packing and stepped out, all they saw was an incredibly large man silently staring at them from a rowboat in the middle of a nearby lake. Understandably, they got out of there as quickly as they could.
Sometimes, nature itself is the scariest thing
As Reddit user BrunoGerace explained, there was once a time when they were camping with 11 friends in a canyon, with five of them sleeping at the canyon's bottom. Under normal circumstances, that wouldn't be worth noting but those positions became the most important thing in the world when a nighttime flash flood hit.
Despite how much this scenario sounds like a recipe for a tragic catastrophe, the Redditor was pleased to report that there were no fatalities from this incident. As they said, however, "That was 32 years ago and I still sleep lightly and always pack clean underpants."
At least it was a false alarm
While Reddit user Ocksu2 was hiking through the woods with some friends when they were 14, they saw a lump of clothes underneath an old deer stand. To their horror, they soon discovered that the clothes had limbs and boots on, which made them think that they had com across the remains of a hunter.
Naturally, they were terrified at the prospect of coming across a corpse but couldn't resist going toward it for a closer look. It turned out it was a dummy. This confused them until they realized they had wandered onto a Christmas tree farm that used that dummy as a decoration.
From bad to worse
When one user with a now-deleted account was in the Boy Scouts, they discovered that their campsite was full of scorpions. That's already enough to terrify a lot of people but it was only the beginning of their experience.
Naturally, the Redditor's troop ran screaming upon making this discovery but in an instant, they were stopped in their tracks. Why? Well, lightning suddenly struck a tree about 20 yards away from them. As the narrator said, "We turned on our heels and ran straight back to the scorpions." Scorpions can at least be killed, if necessary. Lightning can only be avoided. What awful luck.
Whatever it was, it wasn't a deer
When Reddit user jubstep45 was walking out to their deer stand, they described their surroundings as pitch black. That meant that at no point could they get a good look at what they eventually encountered. Indeed, they still don't know what it was.
What they did know, however, was that it was circling them. Although that's not typical deer behavior, they still thought that's what it was until it suddenly stopped and let out the most blood-curdling howl they had ever heard. Although this meant the hunter needed new underwear, they were lucky that some howling wolves in the distance scared it off.
More questions than answers
While one person was wildcamping out in the middle of a forest, they were awoken by the sound of a girl crying at 2 am. Although the sound was close, they were hesitant to do anything so they just silently lied where they were.
After about 15 minutes of constant crying, all the camper heard was a male voice saying, "Oh come on now, let's go home." Since there was only silence after that, it was hard for the person not to feel like they just avoided walking into a trap.
They were not people anyone wanted to approach
Reddit user Legomilk told a simple tale of what they discovered in the middle of a desert but it made for one of the closest calls ever. That's because they saw two men in full military garb, with the notable exception of their footwear. Instead of combat boots, they were wearing sneakers.
It's worth noting that this desert is in Mexico, which means those sneakers had a more dangerous context than they normally would. As Legomilk explained, those sneakers suggested the two men they saw weren't military personnel but rather members of a cartel. They likely had the weapons to match the military gear, as well.
Sometimes, nothing is the scariest thing there is
Amid all the grisly discoveries, brushes with natural disasters, mysterious figures, and dangerous wildlife, Reddit user darthrio's experience may seem pretty tame. Yet, while it's certainly preferable to some of these other experiences, it's easy to underestimate how disorienting it can be.
That's because all of a sudden while they were in the woods, they heard total silence. One second, their natural surroundings were full of little of little sounds but in an instant, it all stopped at once. In their words, "Lasted for a few seconds that felt like an eternity."
A true nightmare scenario
As Reddit user Psychological_Put395 explained, they work in the bush and can stay out in the wilderness for months at a time. However, there was one incident where everything seemed to go terrifyingly wrong for them. It began with sleet plummeting down, which meant that the helicopter pilot they were waiting for would be delayed in reaching them.
Of course, that was the exact moment when a bear decided to show up. As they explained, "This was in the late fall, so the bear probably hadn't put on enough fat for the year and was looking to supplement it." So until the pilot could finally return, they were stuck in inclement weather, clutching their shotgun while in a tense standoff with the bear trying to flank them.
A discovery that only makes a bad situation more worrying
Reddit user notTomHanx explained that a few years prior to their post, a teenager in their rural area went missing. The family said the teen was autistic and ran away on foot, which heightened their concerns about his safe return. Although the Redditor wasn't familiar with the end of the story, their discovery only made the situation more grim.
The summer after the teen disappeared, notTomHanx discovered a jacket, a knife, some empty soda cans, and a lighter at the base of a tree in the woods at the edge of their property. Although the police investigated and found nothing else, the jacket was confirmed to be the teen's.
That's just a weird situation
While Reddit user BionicGimpster was camping with their dog, they were awakened by the dog growling lowly. Once they turned their headlamp on, they understood that the reason was the sound of footsteps circling their tent. Since everything a bear would want was in a tree, it wasn't that. Since moose don't circle like this, it wasn't that either.
After they leashed their dog and stepped out with a can of bear spray, they didn't see or hear anything. After getting back in the tent, the circling resumed until the footsteps wandered off. The next morning, they found human footprints, feces, and toilet paper. An uncomfortable encounter, to be sure.
A beautiful place that can be just as deadly
When one Reddit user woke up to an unseasonably warm day in February, he decided to skip class and go bouldering at Kentucky's Red River Gorge. He also didn't bring anyone with him, which could either be a surprisingly good or a predictably terrible idea, depending on how the events that followed sound to people.
While he walked below the cliff line, a block of ice he described as the size of a car exploded about four feet behind him. While the shrapnel from it cut his leg, he marveled at how easily he could have died if he had been just a little slower. Just because the weather's warm enough for bouldering, that doesn't always mean it's a good idea.
An understandable ultimatum
When a Reddit user who has since deleted their account went hunting with their father as a teen, the father's friend and his son came along as well. The other kid was about the same age but it's safe to say he was also of an entirely different disposition.
That's because he would make comments about killing them all to the Redditor when their fathers weren't around, which the uploader's dad initially dismissed as bullying. However, that perception changed when the kid was caught loading his rifle and pointing at his own father. They never hunted together again.
Some very meaningful curse words
To set the scene, a Reddit user explained that he and his father were moose hunting in British Columbia, Canada when he was 14 years old. His feet got cold, so he got out of the tree stand to walk around when his dad abruptly said, "Mike, get back up in the stand."
He didn't think about why, so he was defiant, which led the father to repeat himself with some harsh curse words. Since his dad never cursed, Mike finally listened and when he returned, his dad showed him that a massive silvertip bear was charging toward his position. As he said, "Another 10 seconds, and I could've been chow, depending on how good a shot my dad would've been."
If there's another explanation, they don't know it
While Reddit user SkyTheGreat and three friends were camping under a tarp on the Appalachian Trail (specifically the Maryland/Pennsylvania section), they heard some rustling at around 2 am. At first, the Redditor thought it was a bear, but that didn't match the steps they heard as they got closer.
Yet when they looked, they could see leaves shift like someone was walking through them but didn't actually see anyone there. Nonetheless, the walking got closer and circled their temporary shelter while the SkyTheGreat lay there in petrified silence. It was only when their friend asked if they heard it too that they realized they weren't hallucinating. They still don't know what that was, though.
The most awkward hunting experience
As Reddit user godp1301 explained, they were hunting in a rustic cabin environment that had space for two small hunting groups. This was a fine arrangement at first but soon turned uncomfortable when one of his temporary neighbors started violently crying.
As the Redditor put it, "He was crying really loudly like he lost some family member or like his wife left him. I started to feel really bad and did not know what to do." They decided to make some noise to indicate that they could hear the man, but he responded to this knowledge by loudly having intercourse with a woman. A weird hunt, to be sure.
A sudden, screaming mystery
Reddit user Vast-Celebration-717 was hoping to rest up for a good start to the next day's hunting when they camped out in their hammock, but they only lasted 10 minutes before they heard a blood-curdling scream. Although bobcats and foxes can make similar sounds, it didn't feel right so they scanned the area with their binoculars.
The discovered the shape of a woman running at full speed 200 yards away, but didn't see any wildlife chasing her when they looked through their rifle's scope. Nonetheless, the hunter confirmed their mind wasn't playing tricks on them the next day, as they found her footprints. There's no telling what happened there.
The snakes aren't the creepy part
As Reddit user GTP2023 explained, they're an ecologist in Australia who regularly goes around looking for the most venomous snakes in the country, which is saying something. However, the most unnerving part of one of their excursions was another person.
While driving on a bush track in complete darkness, they came across a man walking barefoot, holding a hammer. He had no light and was nowhere near the entrance of a state park that didn't connect to anything, but nonetheless walked around with his hammer like he didn't stick out like a sore thumb. They never found out what his story was.
What was he doing out there?
While a couple and their daughter were touring their 100-acre property, they noticed that someone had been hunting on it and while they were hiking a new trail, Reddit user worthlesscommotion noticed how eerily quiet the forest had become. This made them want to turn back.
This turned out to be a good idea, as they noticed someone crouching on their property wearing a ghillie suit like this. The couple readied their weapons in preparation for a confrontation and left. After contacting the police and checking their trail cams, they discovered this trespasser had been lurking on their property in view of multiple cameras. How long had he been watching them?
A grisly discovery
When Reddit user Inevitable_Shift1365 was in their 20s, they were admittedly taking part in some illicit activities in a Californian mountain range. In all likelihood, that's why they didn't summon authorities when they came across a horrifying discovery.
They came across a partially-buried trash bag but its contents were something nobody should ever see. It was a human torso that was missing its hands, feet, and head. Since there's no non-criminal explanation for why that was there, the Redditor stayed away from that side of the mountain for the rest of the year.
A terrible time to hold precious cargo
As Reddit user GoThinkOutside said, they were walking through their woods with their 18-month-old son strapped to their body and in the company of their dog. Although they heard some heavy movement in the bush about 30 yards away, they figured it was either a deer or a hog.
It was neither. Instead, they encountered a full-grown mountain lion staring right at them while they froze with fear. Thankfully, the dog somehow missed the lion and never spooked it, but the parent slowly backed away while the lion turned its head away and then rushed out immediately as soon as they were out of the beast's sight. It took months before they returned there.
They were grateful they had already used the bathroom
While Reddit user NofapperLapser was on a canoeing trip in northern Ontario, Canada, they heard a deep, human-like scream before they went to bed. They described it as the war cry of a fantasy barbarian is it were a couple of octaves lower, meaning that a fearsome presence had made the noise.
They had just finishing relieving themselves when they heard it, which was good luck because they were sure it would have caused that effect. Although they were somehow able to sleep that night, they're still not convinced they heard a moose that night, as others have suggested.
The turkeys weren't the only clueless ones
While Reddit user Independent-Low133 was hunting turkeys, they set up a decoy and spent about an hour trying to call real ones over while crouching with their shotgun. However, soon after they heard the turkeys respond, the hunter realized those weren't the only animals their calls had attracted.
Before they caught sight of the turkeys, they glanced to the side and realized to their horror that a cougar had sneaked about 15 feet next to them. Thankfully, the wildcat hadn't noticed the hunter either and instead focused on chasing the turkeys the Redditor had called to their position. The hunter was just glad they weren't suddenly the prey.
They weren't sure to what to say to this
While Reddit user Low-Weekend6865 was camping in West Virginia with a friend, a quad bike suddenly pulled up to their campsite and a large man with a long, gray beard appeared holding a chainsaw. Naturally, this is a nightmare scenario but the incident turned out stranger than anyone thought.
Apparently, the stranger said, "That ain't a fire, you need to build a White man's fire!" He then proceeded to wordlessly chop down a nearby tree with his chainsaw, cut the logs down, fed the fire, and left without saying another word. Definitely the strangest experience the Redditor ever had.
A perilous situation that nobody else could help with
While Reddit user theknifeofwoodsboro was fishing on the banks of the Missouri River, they suddenly realized dense, thick mud was keeping them stuck up to their waist. For all intents and purposes, it was like they were stuck in quicksand.
Thus, their only choice was to take a big risk. They knew they could either try to get out or call 911 but worried about making their situation worse. As they said, "I leaned back and basically made mud angels with my arms until I could push myself out."
They were just glad they weren't involved in what happened
While ericcccEE was camping with someone near Oregon's Crater Lake, they spent the night near a trail head in what they described as the middle of nowhere. However, it turned out that this remote spot was about to become a hotbed of unexplained activity.
At around 2 am, multiple pickup trucks pulled up to the area. Strangely, the new arrivals had spent much of their time in the area yelling and screaming unclear things at each other before they started firing their guns into the woods. Although the Redditor wasn't sure what happened that night, they were just glad the people in the trucks fired away from them.
The most curious bear
While Reddit user teabagalomaniac was camping with his girlfriend, they heard a bear come up right to their tent and start sniffing. This petrified the girlfriend but teabagalomaniac banged on the side of the tent and yelled loudly. This scared the bear off at first, but he returned a few minutes later to the exact same spot, and did it again when it was scared off again.
Since the couple's food was in a tree, they had no idea what the bear wanted. However, the Redditor was so fed up that he stepped out the tent to confront the bear with bear spray, despite being nude. The bear stared right at him but seemed to finally take the hint when he threw a stick at it while yelling some more.
She might have actually preferred a bear to this
While Reddit user Apprehensive-Ad4244 was camping out in a remote part of Queensland, Australia, she suddenly heard twigs snapping and birds reacting to someone's presence. Her dog happened to be a large hunting dog but she was chained up to her truck.
Thankfully, she was able to reach the truck in time and unchain the dog because when she glanced over, she saw a nude man standing there and smiling at her. The dog presumably cut whatever he had in mind short, and the woman was happy to never learn what it was.
It's worse when your attacker knows exactly who you are
While Reddit user popcornkernals321 and a friend were exploring a hangout spot someone left in the woods in fifth grade, she suddenly heard two boys her age screaming "he's trying to kill you" and "he's going to hit you" while running toward them.
Unfortunately, their warning wasn't understood in time before a kid who stared at her with a dead-eyed struck her leg with a three-wheeled motorcycle. After she was rushed to the hospital, she learned that this was the special needs cousin of a kid named Mikey, who was so enraged that she wouldn't go out with him that he sent his cousin to kill her. Mikey suddenly passed away years later.
A surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one
When Reddit user Worldly_Salamander_ went backwoods camping while in a previous relationship, they had spent their trip entirely secluded with their now-ex for a day or two. One night, that changed when they heard a noise one night while they were playing cards.
It was a rustling in the bushes and it only got louder and closer the longer it went on. Although they were worried at what they would find, they still opened the tent flap. What they found was a group of chickens making their way back to an organic farm they couple wasn't aware of.
Watching, waiting
Redditor u/Squarerigjack explained that his research ship stopped at a small, dark bay in Papua New Guinea and dropped anchor for the night. An annotation on the map said that there was a village reported in the area — strange, considering there were no lights or signs of habitation to be seen.
He could hear faint noises in the dark, but all was mostly quiet — but then he switched on an infrared camera to see that the ship was surrounded by about 50 native outrigger canoes, all sitting outside of the ship's pool of light, all quietly watching the ship and its occupants.
Good call leaving things to the police
A Redditor was driving down an old, non-busy highway during a snowstorm at night. Driving carefully, they stopped when they saw a truck stopped in the road ahead of them, with the driver and passenger doors open, and two sets of footprints heading from the truck into the woods.
It was an ominous sign, and the Redditor decided to let highway patrol do their job and investigate rather than checking things out for themselves. Later on, it came out that the truck had been hijacked, and the driver marched out, execution-style, and shot. That explained the two sets of tracks.
When you have to take evasive action
A restaurant worker finished up around midnight, and had a short bike ride home through the woods in the dark. One night they noticed that a cyclist (with no headlight) was following them on the trail through the woods. Creeped out, they slowed down to let the other cyclist pass.
The other cyclist didn't pass, and instead matched speeds. Not wanting this mysterious person to know where they lived, the storyteller decided to make a quick move and dodge into the shadows. Nothing came of the experience, but it was certainly an unsettling one.
Probably a good call
A Redditor explained that they were camping solo and left their site briefly to go to the washroom and clean some dishes. When they came back, they saw a person rummaging around in their stuff. They watched from a distance and didn't let the intruder know they were there.
The intruder left without taking anything, and the person whose campsite it was decided to pack up everything and hike home in the dark. "There's zero good things that could come from someone else looking through your gear in the middle of the woods as nighttime approaches," they concluded.
They lost hours with no explanation
After sharing a few drinks in a friend's backyard one night, a Redditor decided to mosey back home. It wasn't a long walk, maybe fifteen minutes, but when they returned home they found their anxious roommate waiting for them.
The odd thing is that it turned out it was after 5 in the morning. This was a full seven hours after the backyard shindig had ended. No one could come up with a plausible explanation for what happened during what should have been a short walk home.
Stick to the well-known tourist areas
A family vacationing in Hawaii was driving back from Hana along the backroads of Maui late at night. The conditions were dark and treacherous, so they made sure to drive slowly.
After pulling off to the side of the road to take a look at the dazzling stars, the family found the night to be very quiet — until the silence was pierced by the sounds of a crying baby. Mind you, this is in the middle of nowhere. After calling out to no avail, the unnerved family returned to their hotel and never heard anything more of what might have happened.
Where did they come from?
Two friends on an overnight hiking trip were camping near the summit of a mountain peak in Alaska, more than a hundred miles away from the nearest civilization. When they arrived, they were the only people in the area.
As they tried to fall asleep, they heard human footsteps slowly approaching, along with raspy breathing. This mystery person was heard rummaging through their stuff outside. Eventually, the noises ceased. In the morning, there was evidence of the invasion, and both hikers decided to hightail it back home.
It must have been aliens
A young man was enjoying a solo road trip through the remote Nevada desert en route to Salt Lake City. He pulled over to sit on his tailgate and eat a snack one evening when a motorcycle with no lights on sped past at high speed.
It was a little weird, but was was even weirder was that two military-style jets flew by overhead, at low altitude, just a minute or two later. Then, a humvee drove past. All in all, it was probably some sort of military convoy, but the proximity to Area 51 made it an odd experience.
The slowly watching eyes are terrifying
A Redditor explained that they were walking their dog along a trail at Beverly Beach State Park in Oregon when they saw another kid their age (about 14) and decided to strike up a conversation.
Suddenly, without warning, his dog started panicking, barking, and freaking out. The kid on the path just watched and said nothing, just tracking the dog with his head. The person posting the story looked the other way for a moment, then back to the kid — who was nowhere to be seen at that point. There was nowhere plausible they could have run off to, either.
He shouldn't have pulled over
A man in El Salvador says that he decided to drive his car about 20 miles to the beach along a road that's remote, but generally safe. He saw a car pulled over to the side of the road and decided to help.
This turned out to be a bad idea. He was quickly ambushed by the driver of the other car along with a second man who emerged from the woods. After wriggling free of the ambush, he managed to get back into his car and speed off down the road. The last thing he heard was a gunshot behind him.
A sunny day ghost story
A guy who used to work at a massive, abandoned airfield was doing his rounds on a sunny afternoon when he decided to take a bathroom break. It was at this time that he heard a door open and close — no big deal, as it was likely his colleague.
But after investigating, there was no sign of this colleague, no cars, no nothing. At the same time, he could hear the floorboards creaking as if someone was there. All alone in an abandoned facility in the middle of nowhere, hearing ghosts, he felt terrified. In the end, no harm came to him, even if he could never explain what had happened.
It's hard to imagine a worse situation
A night watchman was doing his duties, which consisted of keeping an eye on a bunch of floating equipment tied up in a remote area overlooking the Mississsippi River. In an effort to tie up a small barge, he got on the vessel and quickly found himself adrift, in the middle of the night, going down the mighty Mississippi with no life jacket and no radio.
His small barge wound up hitting a much larger barge, partially going under it, before he was able to clamber up onto the larger vessel. All's well that ends well, but it was a terrifying experience.
What was it?
While driving home through the woods after band practice late one night, a Redditor saw something that he still can't comprehend. A pair of luminous eyes appeared to be watching him from the woods — probably a deer, he figured.
Slowing down just in case the deer decided to spring onto the road, he was completely unnerved when the position of the eyes shifted upwards — as if it was a massive beast that had been crouched over, but was now standing. Then, the big, shadowy beast became briefly visible in the darkness as it sprinted into the woods. It was clearly no deer.
Mind those international borders
A Redditor on a cycling trip in Thailand and Cambodia was checking out some old Khmer ruins. After parking their bike and starting to explore the area on foot, they saw signs warning for land mines.
It was at this point that they realized they'd mistakenly stumbled from Thailand into Cambodia. It turned out that this temple complex straddled the border, is patrolled by soldiers from both countries, and is full of unexploded land mines.
Louisiana can be a freaky place
A motorcyclist was making his way through rural Louisiana when he told a local that he planned to camp in the woods that night. The local begged him not to. Here's why.
He told the biker that there was a group in the woods that practiced dark arts. It sounded like an urban legend, so the biker decided to laugh it off and continue with his plan. While sleeping that night, he heard "a terrible guttural sound" — just once — but very close to his tent. No harm came to him, but he didn't sleep a wink that night.
When you spook yourself
A cyclist was completing an epic circumnavigation around Lake Michigan when they found a good place to camp for the night. It was close to some semi-truck trailers that seemed occupied.
Just after twilight, they heard some banging doors from the area with the trailers. They got a little overwhelmed thinking of the bad things that could happen, so they decided to leave. Later on, they realized that the sounds were probably just unlatched doors swaying in the wind — but it was still freaky.
Creepy dolls are never a good sign
Two friends were hiking at a national forest and decided to veer off onto an unmarked path. After a few hundred feet, they came across a bad smell and then found its source: A deer carcass hanging from a tree. There was also a creepy doll nailed to the tree.
"It was almost like a ritual," wrote one of the friends. Understandably, they both realized that it was a good time to turn around and head back. They never returned to the site and never found out what was going on there.
Like entering another world
Back in the early days of onboard GPS, a college student was driving in rural Pennsylvania, between Pittsburgh and West Virginia, when they encountered two men digging a large hole in a random small town. It was a weird sight, made weirder by the fact that all of the business signs and road signs were in French.
The driver said there's no way they could have wound up in French Canada (or France for that matter), and after about 15 minutes they seemed to slip back into reality. "Changed my GPS settings real quick after that," they wrote.
Was it a skinwalker?
On the bumpy, poorly maintained desert roads of the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico, a driver was looking for something to listen to on the radio when they heard a broadcast in one of the local native dialects.
The broadcast seemed to carry the audio of a tribal dance. Then, without warning, the undulations and bumps on the road smoothed out. The driver suddenly felt like they weren't alone. Mindful of tales of skinwalkers, they decided to keep driving and not look to the side. It was an eerie experience that's tough to put into words.
At least this has a good explanation
A hiker was up late one night, "just enjoying the terror of being alone in the mountains in the dark," during a trip to Rocky Mountain National Park.
They smelled a foul smell, like something that came from a large animal. Then, they heard movement in the trees off the trail. The hiker prepared their knife, expecting a confrontation with a grizzly bear. Then they heard a human cough. It turns out there was a fellow hiker going to the washroom just off the trail.
