Alex (11:38)
The story happened a while ago, but it still messes with my mind. I live in a quiet countryside where nothing is usually happening. I'm an 18 year old girl who can easily walk around my hometown alone without even being scared because it's really safe here. Basically, no crimes. So, as usual, me and my dog went for a walk one evening. It was nice weather outside, so I decided to go to a nearby field. I usually let my dog out of her leash there, so it was fun for both of us. She's a nice dog and always comes when I call for her. We get to the field and everything's going really, really well and nothing seems off. Except I have this kind of odd feeling in my gut that I never usually have. The last time I had that same feeling was when I was 8 years old and we were driving at night with my family. I had the same feeling then and told it to My parents. I feel like something is wrong. You should be careful, I said. Or something like that. They slowed down because I was oddly serious at the moment. A minute after I said that, a deer came out of nowhere and we could have been crushed if we'd gone by the same speed as a minute before. We were all shocked and my mom thanked me. I still remember it like it was yesterday. However, in the field 10 years later, I get the same gut feeling, whatever I think and just keep going, completely ignoring it. We roll around the fields in a nearby forest until the sunset starts to set. I put my dog back on her leash and decided to leave from one of the tiny paths that go through a small forest. It's the quickest way to my home. It's not a popular way to go, but it's quick. As I'm walking along the path, I suddenly spot a silhouette in the end of the road just before the forest starts. I think nothing of it at that point and just keep walking. But after a little while, I have a strong gut feeling and I stare at the silhouette for a while. It's then that I notice that the silhouette is staring at me without moving. I just think that maybe they were waiting for someone. Because at first the silhouette looked like a child's. But as I got closer, I noticed that it wasn't a child, but a grown man who was riding a child's bike with difficulty. It was a blue green young boy's bicycle. His legs were way too long for it and his whole body looked like he was forcing himself to ride it. It was really an unsettling sight. Still, my dumb self didn't want to turn around and have a couple of kilometers waste of time. And even though it was creepy looking, I still thought maybe he's waiting for someone that comes from my way. But every step I take, he follows me with an intense expression. I'm only like 20 meters away from him when he starts to do these weird jumps on his bike. Smiling the ugliest and most unsettling smile I've ever seen. Just staring at me with wide eyes. He kinda just looks like he was expecting something and is so excited about it that he needs to jump. He looks like he's in his 50s or something. Very long and thin legs and arms. He was also bald. And that unsettling, creepy smile. I glanced behind me and no one was there. It was just me, an 18 year old small girl with her fluffy dog. I turn around a full 360 and start to jog where I came from. Just in case. I glanced at him and sighed in relief when I noticed that he wasn't following me or anything. I thought that maybe he wasn't waiting for me after all and called myself stupid and a scaredy cat. I was so wrong. My adrenaline starts to slow down again as I'm in the middle of the fields and I still see no sign of him following me. I let my dog out of release again and she started to run around. I'm nearly at the end of the field when my dog spots a rabbit or deer or something interesting and flies towards it. I panic because she's never done that before and I yell for her. I yell plenty of times for her loudly and finally she comes back. I'm very relieved that nothing had happened to her. But as I put her leash back on, I notice something from the corner of my eye. The long legged old man is now biking towards me. He's not looking at the ground when he bikes, but at me. Freaking out wasn't enough to express my feelings at that moment. I have never seen a human who looks so crazy. More than crazy. What really surprised me the most was that he was biking through a field. And I can tell you it's not an easy field to even walk. Sometimes it has muddy ponds that you need to jump over, but that psycho just biked right through them. He was struggling a lot to bike there, but somehow he still managed to do that. I didn't watch for another second behind me, but because I just started running. I ran with so much speed that I saw black and nearly collapsed. My lungs hurt so bad that I thought I was dying, but the adrenaline kept my blood running and my legs too. I glanced behind me and he was there, struggling badly to keep his full speed on the ground with that ugly white smile and that way too little bike. After that I just ran like crazy until I found a house. I hid in their yard without even minding that I was in someone else's yard. It didn't matter at all to me in that moment. I waited a while with my breathing stuck in my throat, but he didn't come. I was planning to yell as loudly as I could if he found me, but he never did. At some point the adrenaline had started leaving my system and I left my hiding spot. I ran again until I reached an area which had multiple people in their guards. I did this so I would have help in case I saw him again. But I didn't. I typed 911 into my phone, but I couldn't bring myself to call. Mostly because I had no proof and I didn't want my parents to find out because they're overprotecting. So I probably wouldn't have been able to leave my house anymore. I've been pretty paranoid after this incident. My dog was frightened, too. I guess she noticed something was really off, too. I swear to God that I will always listen to my gut whenever it's telling me something from now on. I'm still scared of that man. I've expected to randomly see him again, and I've also thought about what he could have done to me. I can't forget his awful smile. I feel like he's gonna jump on my window one night and do what he wants to me. I feel paranoid and helpless. I'm still thinking about calling the police, but then again, I don't have any proof, so that would probably be pointless. My name is Garrett, and this happened to my friends and I. This experience took place in Arkansas, in a small country town. It had really just started out as a fun idea. Me, Jeff, and Hunter, all in our 20s, wanted to escape the usual routine and boring monotony of our basic lives. We were tired of the city and we wanted to get away from everything. Work, school, the noise. You get it? So we decided to go camping in the woods for the weekend. Just the three of us, a tent and a campfire. It was gonna be a perfect chill night with my friends and I just chilling and enjoying the nighttime nature. We found a nice, pretty quiet spot deep in the forest. As far as we could tell, at least at the time, there were no other campers around. Okay, this is our spot, I told them, which Jeff and Hunter agreed to as well. We set up our tent in a small clearing surrounded by tall trees. The sun was setting and the sky turned dark. It felt peaceful and serene, like we had the whole world to ourselves. We built a campfire and cooked some hot dogs and burgers. It wasn't anything fancy, but it really felt good just to be out there with my friends. We were laughing and telling stupid stories, just enjoying the night. The cool air and crackling fire made everything feel calm. But as the night went on, things started to change. I was sitting by the fire, poking at the logs when I heard something. At first it was just the usual sounds of the woods. You'd expect twigs snapping, leaves rustling. You know, the normal stuff that you'd expect to hear out in the woods. I didn't think much of it, but then I heard something else. It was footsteps, and not animal footsteps either. These were heavy. I knew right away it was a person. My heart jumped and I turned to Jeff and Hunter. Did you guys just hear that? I whispered. Jeff looked up from his phone, his face tense. Yeah, I heard it. That's definitely not an animal. Hunter had squinted his eyes in the darkness. It's probably just some hikers, guys, I wouldn't worry about it, he said, though I could tell he wasn't sure himself. Why don't we go check it out? I said. Before we could do anything though, the sound of footsteps got closer. Suddenly, before we could even blink, three rather large figures had emerged from behind the trees. I froze. These weren't hikers. These were men. Rough looking and dirty. They looked like straight up hillbillies, like you'd see in some backcountry horror movie. If I had to guess, they were all between the ages of their late 40s to mid-50s. One of them had rotten teeth and the two others had no teeth at all. I'm not kidding when I say that. Now look, we were in the south, but I'm serious. I've never seen anything like I saw that night. Literally never. They had long unkempt beards and wore torn clothes. They didn't say anything at first, just stared at us like we were intruders in their home or something. Then the biggest of the three spoke, but not before looking us all up and down and licking his lips, then turning to his friends and saying, alright boys, which one do y'all want? I want the blonde one with the glasses, which was Hunter. I felt my heart drop into my throat and I wanted to vomit right there. When I turned to my friends, Hunter was petrified, but Jeff, he was standing straight up with a serious expression. No fear whatsoever. See, Jeff was a little older than us. Hunter and I were both 21, whereas Jeff was 23. I really hate saying crap like this, but if I had to describe us, I'd definitely say that Jeff is the alpha of our friend group. He's a lot more stern than Hunter and I and he's had our backs countless times in crazy situations. I could really tell that Jeff was analyzing the situation and thinking on what to do next. My mind, on the other hand, was racing. What were we supposed to do? I tried to sound calm, but they basically just made it known that they wanted us for something, like we were dogs or something. Then one of them stepped forward. Ya boy's got two options. Come willingly or you can try and run. But I guarantee you you won't get that far out here. Just then Jeff Turned around and took off running just a few feet behind us, near where our tent was. He went inside the tent and grabbed his bag. As you can imagine, this terrified both Hunter and I. Did my friend really just leave us here with these hillbilly nutcases that want to do God knows what with us? But then, just as quickly as he ran off, he returned. He had his bag, reached his hand inside, and then he pulled out a firearm. It looked like a Glock, if I had to guess. Sorry, guys. I didn't mean to leave y'all like that, but this was the only way. We're getting the hell out of here, Jeff said. Now, I don't know what the hell you guys thought you were gonna do here to my friends and I, but here's what's gonna happen. We're gonna leave here, and we're never gonna come back. And if you have a problem with that, I'll kill you three right now, right where you stand. My mind was going crazy. Where the hell did that gun come from? But then again, whatever. I didn't care. I'm glad he brought it. At least now we're safe. But then it just got worse. The three men then simply smiled at us and laughed. You think there's only three of us out here? One of the men said. We were now officially crapping bricks. I don't know if they were bluffing or not, but either way, I was absolutely checked out at this point. I then screamed at Jeff to do something. Shoot them, shoot around them, Anything to get us the hell out of this situation, man, I said. That's when one of the hillbillies, no joke, pulled out a duck call, blew into it, and the next thing we hear is running footsteps approaching us. It sounded like there had to have been at least another five people or so now coming to join us. Just then, Jeff started shooting at the ground near the men's feet and demanded for Hunter and I to follow him and get the hell out of here. We ran off, leaving all our crap behind. It took a while to finally get to our car, but we eventually made it. At some point during our escape, Hunter had actually tripped and fell, losing his glasses in the process. So, yeah, that was real fun. We got in the car, and luckily it started. I was genuinely expecting the car to have slashed tires or something, you know, like something straight out of a horror movie. But no, it started just fine, and we got the hell out of there. During the drive home, I had asked Jeff about the gun and why he didn't tell us that he brought it. I didn't want you guys to freak out when going in the woods at night. You never know what could happen. And if I didn't bring it, we might not be here now, he said. And he was right, I have to admit. We ended up deciding to go to Jeff's apartment for the night and crashing. We stayed up all night so freaked out from the night's events. We have no clue who those men were or what the whole thing was. We all theorized that they were some kind of cannibal hillbilly colt, but that sounds ridiculous. I mean, come on. But I mean they did say they wanted us for something, so I really don't know what to think. We tried doing some research, checking Google reviews for the forest. We didn't really find anything at all that matched what we experienced. We basically all just made Facebook posts about it. We also told our families, other friends and co workers about it, and warned people to never go there. A lot of people didn't buy it and hell, maybe you guys won't either. But this really did happen to us and had Jeff not acted fast and held his ground, my friends and I might be dead right now. Or who knows. Like I said, we kinda think they were cannibals or something. In any case, I'm glad I'm still alive and I'm definitely glad I didn't end up in someone's stew. I grew up in the wooded country in Illinois on a short dead end street ten miles plus from town and there were seven houses in the area spread out on two and a half acre wooded lots or larger each. There were no large animals and people didn't meander there or show up lost. Actually, lost folks or large animals wandering around never happened in the 20 years I lived there, so please keep that in mind. When I was a young girl in my early teens, I had a good guy friend a few years older than me who lived next door. Terry. Terry was allowed to go out with his friends much later than I was and he would sometimes tromp over to my yard after getting home late and throw rocks from the gravel area outside at my window to chat. My bed was right next to the window. I'd open the window and we'd whisper stories and generally just talk for a bit. My second story window faced our backyard and his house was to the side. I could see his house from my window over the shrub trees and walking path to his driveway. I'd often know if he was out or already home. One time during the summer when My window was open. I heard a car in his driveway dropping him off. I was probably 14 years old and it was around midnight. I heard Terry get out of a car and was talking to his friends. Soon his friends pulled away. I softly called out as loud as I could without waking my parents, asking Terry to stop by and chat. He didn't respond, as he probably didn't hear me. Then I came up with the not so brilliant idea to sneak outside and scare him. I had spent many years in the woods learning how to blend in and be silent. As kids, we'd often sneak around and scare each other. So I silently sneaked down from the second floor and out my bad garage door, which led to our backyard below my window, which led to Terry's house off to the side through our gravel area, then through a well worn path through the woods, about 25ft long. My parents had put in a gravel pit around the back of the house, probably because nothing much grew due to the shade of the oak trees. There were 14 inch oak rounds set out as an uneven stepping path in the gravel, and if you stepped off of the rounds, the crunch of gravel and rocks would give you away. I picked my way expertly and silently across the log grounds facing Terry's house. My eyes got accustomed to the dark and I didn't see him. Also at that time, I had heard the door of his house close and the light going off signaling that he went in, likely to bed. I waited a bit as I had thought I saw something move in the woods between our houses, but not on the path that we'd always use. If you didn't use the path, there were wild rose and raspberry plants that had thorns and they were really painful to walk through if you weren't careful. So I thought it was odd that he'd be out in the woods, but maybe he wanted to scare me like I was planning to do to him. But I saw something human sized and dark moving through the woods slowly and then pausing every once in a while, just like I was. It was coming closer and I definitely saw it. But it was strange in that it wasn't walking directly to my window to talk. Therefore, I hunched down and waited in silence, wondering if I could still startle him. I still thought it was Terry and that he saw me sneak out and he was trying to scare me. I watched a dark outline of a human figure moving, but then I would lose sight of it in the foliage. It seemed to be stalking slowly and listening and checking every few feet while hiding. So I whispered after losing patience one last time for Terry, but he didn't answer. I got bored of hiding and crouching so I quietly tippy toed back to my garage door and then went back inside silently locking up as I went. I snug back upstairs to my room above the area where I was just standing and crouching. My window was open and I definitely heard someone or something walking around in the yard. I whispered again for Terry out my window but got no answer. Then I heard someone or something fall and grunt and moan pretty loudly in the window well right below my window. It wasn't enough to wake my parents, but definitely loud enough that I didn't mistake it and it sent a shock of fear through me. If you aren't familiar with the window well, it's a semi circle hole connected to the house, dug out about three or four deep and reinforced with metal. It allows a basement window to be put in below ground level and the hull allows some natural light in. There is no way Terry would have fallen in our window well. We had been playing hide and seek in many outdoor games for years. Since we were young. Around the whole neighborhood, we knew everyone's window wells and house footprints like the back of our hands. The grunt sounded like a human and not like an animal. It also pulled itself out quietly without a lot of thrashing. That's when I realized this wasn't a fun game and that someone or something was out there and it wasn't Terry. I tried to look outside my window as best I could, but there was a screen on my windows to keep the bugs out so I couldn't lean my head out of the window to see next to the wall of our house directly below me. I then heard the crunch of rocks as whatever was stepping in the noisy gravel again. Terry would know where the log rounds were and would not step in the gravel. He knew that my parents were pretty strict and he was as good at being quiet as I was. Whatever it was stopped and I held my breath. I pretty much sat there with my face pressed against the screen two stories up for probably half an hour. I never heard whoever or whatever it was leave, but I grew tired and eventually fell asleep on my bed that was next to my window. There are a few things that I'm absolutely certain of. It wasn't Terry. I asked him later and he said that he went to bed that night right when he got home. He also would have no reason to lie. I'm pretty sure it wasn't one of our neighbors and I can't Think of any reason that a person would be there. We had a few neighbors and only two other houses out of seven had kids. Again, these houses were spread out in two and a half acres per home. There weren't any big animals in the area. As wooded as the whole area was. We only had some deer, but they were hunted and didn't come close to our homes. Plus our dog usually scared them away. So yeah, I really have no idea who it could have been. I normally go walking in the woods with a friend, but today nobody was available. So I went by myself. At about 7pm, I parked the car and went into the entrance. There was one other car there and a jogger had passed me on my way in. I decided to go off the main track. There's a smaller track about 10, 20 meters down that you can follow instead. It's a wooded area, but I can get back to the main track in about five minutes if I want to. I was debating if I should continue on the smaller track straight following the main track or go down to the more wooded area where there's a pathway. So I'm standing there. I see a man in the distance in the main track walking towards the main entrance. He notices me and stops walking. He's staring at me now with a huge grin for about 20 seconds. He seems to be in his 50s or 60s with an extremely creepy face. My guts drop. I'm thinking if I walk back into the main track, he'll be there. If he stops staring and continues walking the main track, we'll meet at a simpler time and nobody else is here. I'm thinking he'll continue walking on and I'll wait until he leaves and then just go. Because I'm feeling super unsafe. I'm really regretting coming here by myself. He ends up walking down the hill at a diagonal while I see he's staring straight at me. He's making a beeline for me. I'm now freaking out, but think maybe he's going down the other pathway. There's nobody walking the main track in the distance. I then walk up to the main track. I notice he's doing a C shape going down to where I was standing. And now he's coming up to the main track and is behind me. He's not running, but his eyes are fixated on me and he's been smirking since he spotted me. I'm freaked out. I get to the main track which is covered by trees on each side. He's clearly following me, right? Why else would you go down and up like that. Exactly where I'm walking up. He's about six meters from me. I'm getting ready to run the entrance which takes about five minutes. He's walking further to the right up the hill so he'll meet me on the main track. I'm freaking out. He could grab me, he could have a weapon. I'm too scared to take out my phone. The fact that he's been following me without a word, only the leaves breaking under his boots behind me in the woods, all while stalking me, is terrifying. A couple comes in and I'm extremely relieved. They're walking fast so I'm worried that once they pass me he could run after me. My car doors don't lock properly and the engine sometimes stalls so I'm freaking out that it might happen. Now he ends up stopping at the main tracks after seeing the couple. I walk so fast. He's now walking super slowly, still staring and staying in the woods and has been doing a predatory stare for 10 minutes. Totally fixated on me. When I got in my car I drove slowly to be able to identify him properly. He doesn't come out until I'm way down the road. I'm now wondering should I have stayed parked and got a picture of him or should I have recorded him on video and accused him of following me or told the couple I was being followed? I drove away super shaken up and he's gone forever now. I can't even describe that level of fear. All I remember is his really creepy smirking face and gray hair and thinking I'm lucky if I get out of here alive. I'm so angry that I can't even go for a short walk on a hiking trail without being in danger. I can't imagine what would have happened if I had met him further into the trail. This happened back in 2004 in northern Wisconsin. I was 16 at the time and out deer hunting with my dad and a friend of his. Frank, please don't turn this into anti gun anti hunting in the comments. I do remember this day though, like it was yesterday. The dialogue isn't word for word, but the idea of it is 100% accurate. As a side note, it was one day after eight people were shot less than two hours away. I'll have the link to the murder for reference in the description. My dad and I had a few different stands in the area. He had been hunting there for at least 10 years and I'd been going with him ever since I was 5 up until I was 12 which was the legal age to hunt with a rifle. I had just been tagging along. This particular morning we had walked up my stand first. It was about 5am so it was still dark outside. I got situated and my dad and Frank went off to our other two stands over a ridge, maybe another 500 to 600 yards off. Sitting there in the dark is always a little eerie. Not long after my dad and Frank left, I see a flashlight from the general direction of where they headed, maybe 200 yards away, roughly moving in my direction. I figured they forgot something from the truck or something, so I radioed to see what they were doing. He says obviously this flashlight is someone else. This isn't super uncommon and it really isn't a big deal. Those woods get crowded sometimes and there's a spot to park in that general direction. I turn on my light so the other hunter can see that there's someone there. He stops. I see the light, turn and go a different direction. No big deal. I end up dozing off while it's still dark out. When I wake up, the sun is up. It's around 8am I sit there for a bit, radio my dad to see if he's seen or heard anything moving. Nothing yet. A couple of gunshots go off in the distance is all. I get up and go for a slow little walk to get my blood moving a bit. Not far, maybe 30 yards out and back, trying not to make a sound. I come back to my stand, sit down and take a real good look around. Nothing really going on. I finally look out to my left where I'd seen the flashlight before and see orange for anyone unfamiliar hunters have to wear blaze orange during gun season. I radio my dad and Frank to see if either one of them were moving around. Dad says no. I hear nothing from Frank. I grab the binoculars out of my backpack to see if it's Frank. It's definitely not. The guy is looking at me through a scope rifle aimed directly, freaking at me. This is a huge no, no massive rule we all learn in hunter's education is you never point your rifle at something you don't intend to shoot. Dumb people still do it though. It's few and far between, but it happens. This is why normal people use binoculars. My first thought was what a damn dick bag thing is. Even with me looking at him, he doesn't put his gun down. Now I'm starting to panic, thinking I'm going to be the next hunting murder victim. I slowly grab my rifle, get up, staying behind as many trees as I can. And walk down a little path to the side of my stand. My stand was on this kind of little knoll on the side of a much larger hill. I radio my dad and tell him what's up. He tells me to sit tight and to stay out of sight. Obviously as a 16 year old I couldn't do that and I had to keep looking. Every time I looked, the guy was still aiming in my direction but was always standing in a different spot. Like I would look, go back to hiding, look again, and he would be 30 yards from where he was the last time. About 10 minutes of this goes by when my dad radios me. How you doing bud? Everything okay? Looking back, he was very obviously trying to keep me calm. At the time I thought he just wasn't taking me seriously. Dad, he's still there, but he keeps moving. I don't know what his problem is. I told him dad told me to just keep hidden and he'll figure it out that he'll be coming up near him in a minute or two. That's when I hear the shot. I lost my crap trying to get a hold of my dad. Did he just get shot? Where the hell is he? Did he have to shoot the guy? What the hell's going on? These are the thoughts running through my head. I sat there for maybe two, three minutes, which felt like hours. Alright, come on out and head toward my stand, dad said. I peek up from the little knoll I was behind and see my dad waving from along the ridge the random guy had been on. I make the trek over to him to see what happened. Turns out Frank was feeling a little restless and took a little stroll. And he ended up on the other side of that particular ridge that the stranger was on, not even knowing he was there. He had knocked his radio battery loose while he was getting situated earlier in the morning and he had no idea anything was going on. The shot I heard was actually Frank shooting a deer. Dad said as soon as Frank shot, the guy walked off away from us toward the logging road. We helped Frank out with his deer and decided to call it an early day. Although I was extremely nervous. The rest of the week went on with no incidents. So did the idiot stranger in the woods with no common sense that had aimed his rifle at me. You truly are an idiot and I'm glad you didn't kill me.
