Speaker 1: This happened just this summer. My best friend Jonah and
I are both in college and our outdoorsy kind of people.
We'd go on hikes and sometimes camping when we had
the chance. So this year, when classes were out for summer,
we made plans to go camping by a lake that
was a couple hours from us. Now it's fair to
say we weren't experts at camping, but we also were
not clueless either. We knew what we were doing and
didn't stay longer than what we knew would be safe.
We set out on the trail in the morning, prepared
for two full nights. The hike took a bit longer
than it was supposed to, but we got to the
lake around midday. From what I know, there's hundreds of
trails leading to this lake because of how big it is,
and there were so many places to camp at that
it would be unlikely to run into anyone else. We
didn't want to have to talk to other people, so
when we arrived and saw that nobody else was here,
we were feeling good. The first hour we just sat
down and rested from the long hike. Then we put
our tents up in the tree line, just outside of
the beach. By then, the sun was setting, so Jonah
got a fire going and I went out to collect
some more dry sticks to keep it running. I picked
up a few, not going too far from our tents,
but I suddenly heard a noise from just in front
of me. I lifted my eyes and looked ahead. It
was getting dark, but I could still see most of
the woods, and pretty far back there looked to be
a person. After looking for more than a couple seconds,
I was able to see them walking and confirmed that
it definitely was a person out there in the woods.
I quickly walked back to the campsite and told Jonah
about it. We weren't afraid or anything. It was just
a little weird to have seen someone out here in
the exact place we were at at I think it
also would have been different if they were walking along
the beach, but they were just going straight through the woods,
not even on a trail. Fifteen minutes went by, and
the sun was now past the horizon, covering the woods
in darkness, and that's when we heard footsteps approaching. A
moment later, a man appeared in the light from our campfire.
He looked to be in his thirties with a beard
and shoulder length hair, but I immediately got a bad
feeling about him. He smiled at us from across the campfire,
then asked us if we knew the way to a
specific place. I didn't recognize the name, but it sounded
like a trail name.
Speaker 2: Sorry, I'm not sure where that is, I said softly.
Speaker 1: The man kept his smile, but just looked at us
for another moment before turning around and walking back into
the woods, not saying anything else. I looked over at
Jonah and both of us were equally unnerved and confused.
After we were sure he was gone, Jonah asked me
if that was the same person I'd seen, but I
wasn't sure. It probably was, though we spent the rest
of that night by the fire trying to think of
reasons for the man coming up to us like that.
The only thing that would somewhat make sense was if
he got desperate for help once the sun went down,
But the man didn't seem desperate at all. He asked
for directions like everything was normal. If he were desperate,
it probably would have been noticeable, and he wouldn't have
just left after asking one question. Both of us were
getting a little freaked, so we let the conversation die out.
Once it was getting closer to bed, we let the
fire burn out as well, then got in our tents.
I tried to sleep, laying there for at least an hour,
just listening to the sounds of the woods. But there
was just this weird feeling I had that wouldn't even
let me close my eyes for too long without getting nervous.
And then after somewhere around two hours, I heard it again,
footsteps coming toward our tents. I yelled Jonah's name, then
rushed out of my tent and looked.
Speaker 2: Into the woods.
Speaker 1: A figure was standing only ten feet from me, and
just a second later they turned around and ran back
into the woods. Being covered by the darkness. Jonah came
out only in time to hear the footsteps running away,
but he said he knew exactly what was going on
as soon as I yelled his name. We packed up
that night, then waited tiredly for dawn to make our
way out of the woods. We don't know who that
man was or what he really wanted. If I hadn't
stayed awake, though, we might have never.
Speaker 2: Left those woods. I live out by the.
Speaker 1: Rocky Mountains in the Northwest. I don't go camping all
that often anymore now that I'm older, but I'd say
i'd go out there maybe once a year. I'm more
of a sitting in the backyard kind of person, but
going out into the mountains was always worth the hassle
when I did go out, this was a couple years ago,
when I'd gone out in the early.
Speaker 2: Weeks of fall.
Speaker 1: The trail I chose was only a twenty minute drive
from me. I parked off to the side in a
small dirt parking lot, then grabbed my bags and started walking.
It was a little colder than I was anticipating, but
the trail was a really nice walk. When I got
to the campsite, I set everything down and got my
tent top. It was a very small, open area with
nothing but trees surrounding it, no other tens or anything,
so it looked like I was the only one camping
out there. The sun was still pretty high up, so
after a quick break, I set out on a thin
side path that went to an overlook of the mountains.
I saw online before i'd left that it was only
a ten minute walk from the campsite, so I didn't
bring much other than a water bottle in my basic backpack.
When I got there, I sat down and enjoyed the
view for a half hour. Again, it didn't look like
anyone had been out here, which, seeing as it was
starting to get colder out I guess it made sense.
Once I was ready, I got up and walked back
to the campsite. When I walked up to the open area,
something felt wrong. Nothing that I'd left behind looked like
it did when I left. Everything was just slightly off.
I checked around for anything missing or obvious things having
been moved to, but everything was there. Part of me
wondered if I was just being paranoid. Everything that I
felt was off were things that I could have just
remembered wrong, Like I was pretty sure that I'd zipped
up the tent before leaving, but it was unzipped when
I got back. That's not something an animal could do,
and there were no other signs of people having come by,
so the obvious answer would be that I just didn't
zip up the tent before leaving, even though I thought
i'd remember doing it. I tried to relax, putting my
chair up and moving some stones around to make a
fire pit. As the sun was going down and the
cold was setting in. I warmed up some water to
make some tea with and just kind of sat there
in my own thoughts. After some time, probably an hour,
I heard someone walking. I turned toward the sound, seeing
it was from where the trail was, but it was
too dark now to see anything beyond the open area.
While I watched and listened, it sounded like they were
coming in toward the campsite, but then there were a
few seconds where I didn't hear anything. I almost felt
like they were looking at me from somewhere out on
the trail. But then the footsteps started again, walking away
from the campsite, but not back on the trail. It
sounded like they were walking off the trail, kind of
off to the side of the campsite.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I was getting a little creeped out now. The thought
of everything seeming off before had started to come back
to mind now that I knew someone else was out here.
I didn't know if they were out here before or
if they had just arrived. But that's just why it
was so unnerving. I didn't know what was going on.
Then the footsteps started to get louder again, coming toward
the camp site from the other side. I shifted my gaze,
but not even a second later, I heard another set
of footsteps from behind me. Both were quiet and subtle,
but given everything now, it was very clear that they
were trying to not be seen. As they moved in closer,
I quickly unzipped my bag and pulled out my handgun
that I had only for desperate needs. I stood up
and held it toward the trees, where I could hear
one of them approaching from I didn't say anything, afraid
to show the fear in my voice, but I knew
they could see me in the light from the campfire,
and I was just hoping that the gun would be
enough to make them second guess whatever they were trying.
It went quiet, both footsteps stopping. I turned all around,
looking for any movement. After a minute of no sounds
at all, I started to put things back in my bag,
being careful to not put down my weapon for more
than a few seconds at a time. I still hadn't
heard them leave, so I knew they had to be
watching me from somewhere out there. Once I got what
I could fit in my bag, I started to make
my way to the trail, leaving only the tent behind.
From what I could hear, they didn't follow me out.
Once I got a decent distance away, I turned on
my flashlight and made it the rest of the way
to my car. To sum it up, the police were
useless in this kind of scenario. Whoever the two people
were that were out there had never shown themselves or
really did anything at all. Don't get me wrong, it
was very obvious they were planning something horrible, but there
wasn't enough to go off of. But after my counter
and seeing a lot of these situations happened to others
as well, I don't think I'll ever be going out
there on my own again. My brother owns a really
nice RV that he lets me borrow sometimes. We lived
fifteen minutes from each other and in a state that
is known for camping, hiking, and just outdoor activities in general.
It was last fall when I asked if I could
borrow his RV to go camping out by a small
fishing pond. The weather was getting too cold to comfortably
camp in a tent, so the RV was perfect. I
really just wanted to spend a few days fishing out
there while enjoying the time to myself. I went over
and picked up the RV, then drove it down to
the pond. The trail definitely wasn't made for driving on,
being narrow and only made of dirt, but I'd usually
see tire marks all over it, so I knew that
other people did the same as me. This time, though,
the trail was clear of any other vehicles, and when
I got to the pond there was nobody else around.
I parked off to the side in case anyone else
did show up. Then I pretty much got everything ready
and went out to fish right away. I had a
couple beers and just sat back. It was really nice.
By five o'clock, I started cleaning up and getting all
my gear back by the RV, and as I did,
a pickup truck pulled in from the trail. It was
an older, rusty truck that looked like it had been
through a lot over the years. There was no camper
attached to it, it was just the truck. It had
tinted windows, though, so I assumed they were just using
the truck to sleep in as well, which isn't the
most uncommon thing I've heard of. They parked on the
other side of the field and turned off their headlights,
but stayed inside. I finished packing my things back into
the RV and went in for the night. I looked
out a few times to see if the truck was
still there so I could maybe introduce myself to keep
things from being weird, but nothing seemed to have changed.
It was a little strange to not say hi when
you drove out into the middle of nowhere and happened
to be in the same vicinity as someone else. But
I just went on with my night, getting in bed
and falling asleep by eight. At some time during the night, though,
I woke up for a minute after hearing a car
door open and close. I remember checking out the window
and not seeing anyone, and then going right back to sleep.
In the morning, I got up and made breakfast, then
went back out to fish. The truck was still in
the same exact spot as before. It didn't look like
they'd done anything or even left the truck at all.
I sat out there fishing for well over three hours,
not seeing any movement from the truck. It was actually
getting really unsettling. Either someone was in there and for
some reason not leaving at all, or they had left
in the middle of the night when I heard the
door open. Both were not normal and made me feel uneasy.
I ended up spending the rest of the day in
the RV. I couldn't help but feel like they were
watching me from inside their truck the whole time I
was out there fishing. While in the RV, I looked
out the windows multiple times, checking for any change in
the truck. But then, at just about seven pm, I
heard the engine to the truck start. I looked out
the window and watched as they pulled around and slowly
drove up to the trail like they were about to leave,
But then they stopped right in the middle of few
seconds passed before the truck shut off. Seeing them blocking
off the trail immediately made my stomach drop. A man
stepped out, clearly in a rush, running up to the
bed of his truck and grabbing something out of the back.
Then he faced the RV. I left the window and
locked up the door, hearing footsteps running toward it. As
I did, the door started shaking aggressively as they tried
pulling on it from the other side. My mind at
this point was almost in this foggy state where I
just had no idea what to do. I ran to
the driver's seat and started up the RV. As it
sounded like the man was trying to pry the door open.
I pressed on the gas and went toward their truck,
slowing down as I approached the back of it, hearing
the man chasing me down though, I pressed the RV
against the truck and pushed it as the man ran
over and tried to get back in. Before he could,
it slid off the trail and opened up a path
for me to get around. I drove out of there
and didn't look back until I was on the road.
I went a little ways down before I called the
police to report what had happened. By the time they
got there, though, the truck and the man were gone.
I can't be sure as to what the man was
intending to do. The obvious answer is that he was
trying to rob me, both of the RV and everything
in it. But then, why did he spend so long
watching me and setting up a whole trap? Why not
just block it off right when he arrived and do
everything quickly. It felt like he was watching me seeing
if I was alone, as if you were planning to
do more than just taking the vehicle and leaving.
Speaker 2: I think that if
Speaker 1: Things had gone differently, I would have never been seen
after that night.