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Speaker 1: Me and my best friend, who all called James for privacy,

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were down in Oklahoma for a camping trip together almost

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ten years ago. Now, we lived further north, but would

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go to different nearby states on weekend camping trips whenever

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we had the chance. This was just another trip where

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we found a somewhat uncharted place to go, and we

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planned on staying for a night or two before heading home.

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We had been doing this for most of our lives

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at this point, and grew up hiking and camping all

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the time. Both of us enjoyed making our own trails

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and finding relatively unexplored areas to stay. That being said,

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we should have been more careful. It was our first

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night staying there. We had hiked out four hours from

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where we parked the truck, which was already deep into

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the forest. On a poorly made path. Along the hike,

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we found it destroyed, an abandoned structure made of wood

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and mud, with an overgrown trail leading to it. It

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was a pretty cool find and we thought it might

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have belonged to someone years ago. Something strange about it, though,

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was that it looked like it had been burned down,

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with char all around the wood. We passed it and

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continued until we found the very small lake. Then we

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set up our campsite along the tree line up the

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hill from the beach. We made a fire pit and

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even dragged some small logs over to sit on, then

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talked for hours while enjoying the scenery. Once full darkness

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settled in, we decided it best to let the camp

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fire die out then go to bed for the night.

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We talked a bit more while the fire slowly got

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smaller and dimmer, until James stopped in the middle of

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his sentence and went silent. James, I said his name

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and looked up, seeing him looking behind me. He told

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me to be quiet. Then I turned and looked behind me,

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seeing nothing. You see, I asked, getting a little shaken

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by the way he was acting. I don't know, he responded,

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looking around. He was starting to make me uncomfortable, which

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was not a usual feeling I got around him. If

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I'm being honest, he was usually the one that didn't

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scare easily. The fire continued to get softer, making the

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forest around us darker. James grabbed a few sticks beside

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him and tossed them in, keeping the flame up a

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bit longer, not long after that, James locked his eyes

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over my shoulder. Again, what's going on, man, and you're

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starting to freak me out. He stayed silent for a second,

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then spoke, I think there's someone watching us. I turned

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to look behind me again, but this time I saw

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something too, A small person partially crouched down next to

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a tree, staring an hour to I turned back to

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face James, and a few yards behind him, I saw

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another person standing behind a tree. I felt a sense

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of shock and fear, like this was some sick nightmare

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I was living in. James felt it too, I could

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see it in his eyes as we both looked around

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and noticed more and more people standing and running between

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the trees around us. What made it even more creepy

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and fear inducing was you almost couldn't even hear them moving,

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like their footsteps didn't exist. We both stood up and

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looked around, watching these ten to fifteen unknown people surround us.

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James called out asking what they wanted, but they didn't respond.

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I held my hunting knife, but it didn't make me

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feel any safer than a few of them started making

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their way closer, with them becoming more visible in the

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faint light. They were holding long sticks, likely some sort

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of hunting spears, and were barely clothed. Seeing these people approach,

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though they looked angry and feral, James grabbed my arm

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and started pulling me back. We backed up slowly and

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grabbed our bags, then moved away from them and into

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the other side of the trees, where it seemed none

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of them were anymore. As we slowly backed away, checking

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our surroundings, often the whole group seemed to be more

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interested in our camp spot than they were in us.

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We walked as far as we could in the general

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direction we came, then found a small place to hide

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for the rest of the night, though neither of us

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were able to sleep. In the morning, we could see

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smoke coming up from around the area where we had

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our tents set up. We assumed that that was them

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burning the tents, and it also came across our minds

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that they may have been the ones to burn the

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abandoned structure that we had seen as well. We started

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back for the truck, then drove straight home. At the time,

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research wasn't the easiest thing to do, so we kind

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of just left it as a horrifying experience that we

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may never understand, but recently we've gotten some answers. James

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found out that there are actually tribes that live not

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far from civilization in many territories around the country. Most

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often they do not like any outsiders or unknown people

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traveling or living in their territory. There are stories of

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them attacking campers or burning their campsite to force them away.

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Given these possible actions, I think James and I actually

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got lucky with our encounter. Nowadays we do a lot

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more research in the areas we plan to explore, making

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sure that the uncharted territories we camp in don't belong

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to someone else. I'm a twenty nine year old male

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and was out last year in northern Washington or a

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solo vacation. None of my friends enjoy camping at all,

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though I probably wouldn't want to be out camping with

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them all the time even if they did. It was

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something I'd been doing alone all my life, and I

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found it to be my way of enjoying life stress

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and worry free. Washington was one of my favorite camping states,

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as it had tons of forest areas and mountains and

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was overall just an amazing state to be in. For

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this trip. I decided on a three day to night

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camping trail. Basically, I would hike during the day, then

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camp at night, and repeat that over the course of

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the trail. The first day and night went well, nothing

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significant at all. I hiked a good portion of the path,

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then set up camp off the side. I woke up

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early in the morning, right at sunrise and crawled out

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of my small tent. I started repacking everything I had

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taken out, then started pulling the rods from the tent

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and folding it up. As I did this, though, I

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noticed the grass behind the tent was pushed down. Walking

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up to it, it was a footprint. I looked at

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it for a second, then looked up and around at

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the trees. It had clearly been made recently, most likely

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last night while I was sleeping. Not seeing anyone, I

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looked back down and started following the prince. They were

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pretty well defined prints, and they led straight to the path.

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It was confusing, especially since I was on a camping

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trail and my camp site was a good distance away

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from the main path. From the tracks, though, whoever it

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was seemed to just walk away after noticing my tent.

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After packing my tent, I did a quick perimeter check

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around the site to make sure there were no other footprints,

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then got back on the trail and continued along. Most

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of the trail was beaten dirt or gravel, All footprints

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showed up well. Strangely, though, there were no footprints all

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the way along the trail. As I walked the second half,

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I wondered where that person could have gone, knowing this

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was really just a one way trail. After a while, though,

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I had forgotten about it and was just letting my

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mind wander to other things. This portion of the hike

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had amazing views, so I took my time and just

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took in the nature around me. Eventually the sun started setting, though,

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and I had to set up camp again. I chose

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to go deeper into the forest this time, hoping no

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one would pay me a visit like they had the

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previous night. Once I got the tent set up, I

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made a small fire pit and sat on the ground

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next to it. Watching the sunset by a campfire is

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one of the most calming things. It really brings your

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mind to a better place. But that didn't last for long.

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Once the sun was almost fully set, I heard something

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walking towards me. From the trees behind the tent. They

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were slow, soft footsteps, and the closer they came, the

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more recognizable they were as a human's footsteps. I quickly

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grabbed my bag and pulled out my heavy flashlight along

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with my handgun, shining a beam of light into the

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dark forest. The footsteps stopped. I moved the light around,

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scanning the whole area. For nearly thirty minutes, I was

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standing by the fire, looking in every direction. I was terrified.

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I never heard the steps departing, which made me really

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scared and nervous that someone was watching me. Still, I

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didn't know what to do. I was alone and helpless,

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with nowhere to go for safety. I thought about going

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back to the path, but I was too terrified to

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go away from the campsite while it was so dark outside.

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I decided it had been long enough, though, and backed

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into the tent. Tried to come up with every possible

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explanation of what it could have been, just to get

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myself to calm down. I only lasted a couple minutes

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in the tent, though, before I got really panicked and

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paranoid due to not being able to see around me.

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I unzipped the tent and stepped out, and before I

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could even turn on my flashlight, heavy footsteps sprinted away

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towards the forest, coming right from the back of my tent.

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I turned around and frantically turned on the light, seeing

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nothing but footprints in the dirt and grass. I was

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breathing heavily and my heart was racing as I stood

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by the campfire and stared at the trees in silence.

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I sat by the campfire with my gun in hand

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for the rest of the night. I flinched at every

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small sound, but eventually the sun came up and I

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felt a sense of safety. Looking at my tent in

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the sunlight, there were footprints again right behind it where

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I had heard the footsteps. I don't know how now

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I didn't hear them walking up to the tent, but

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I knew I needed to go. I packed everything up

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and finished the hike before the sun went down. I

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have no idea who was there, why they were watching me,

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or what they wanted. My husband and I took a

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road trip across the Pacific Northwest a few years back.

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The trip itself was two weeks, going from Tahoe City, California,

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to Olympia, Washington. It was spring, and we were super

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excited because we loved the rain. We lived in Arizona

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for most of our life, so when we moved to

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California for my husband's new job, we wanted to go

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on a trip and experience something besides desert. We drove

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a new mar Bay Star, which is an RV and

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for its time, it was really nice. We stopped at

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an RV park in Upper Oregon, where we planned to

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stay for a few days, because Oregon happens to be

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one of my favorite states. It was really late and

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my husband was showering while I was making grilled cheese

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when I heard a knock at the door. We've stayed

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at a handful of our V parks and this kind

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of thing has never happened, not unless you talk with

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your neighbors beforehand and become friendly. But we had arrived

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only half an hour ago and didn't talk or introduce

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ourselves to anyone. I peeked out the curtain and didn't

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see anyone. Ten or fifteen minutes go by, and I

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hear another knock. I peeked out the curtain again, and

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again I didn't see anyone. I hear the shower turn off,

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and I go to knock on the bathroom door to

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ask my husband to check outside. But as I'm right

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outside the door, I see a light shining through a

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window that's in our bedroom. I told my husband through

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the door about what was happening, and he quickly got

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dressed and headed outside with a bat. He did a

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perimeter check and said he didn't see anything. We moved

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our r V to a different spot, a good amount

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away from where we originally were. We sat down on

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the couch to watch a movie and eat our grilled cheese.

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My husband fell asleep after a while, and I started

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to clean up. I was washing dishes when I heard

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the door handle to the r V move, as if

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some one were trying to get in. I kind of

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froze and then it stopped. I woke my husband up

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and he checked outside the door, and again there was nothing.

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The park we were at wasn't the biggest, so there

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weren't many more spots we could move to, but we

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did anyways. We were both incredibly tired at this point

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and going to another park wasn't an option. We parked

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as close to the exit as possible and everything seemed

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to be okay. My husband was about to pass out,

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and my gummy I had taken two hours ago had

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kicked in, and all I wanted to do was sleep.

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We kept the kitchen light on and the TV on

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low volume as a sort of deterrent, and went to bed.

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I was woken up by my husband tapping me aggressively.

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I opened my eyes to see him sitting on my

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side of the bed. Apparently he had heard some loud

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noises outside, and when he peeked out of the window,

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he saw two guys with what looked like knives in

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their hands trying to pry open the front door. He

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had called the police and they'd be here soon. I

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got dressed and we waited listening to the two men outside,

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still scratching and prying at the front door. A few

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minutes of this goes by, and we can hear them

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getting more and more frustrated as time went on, but

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then the noises suddenly stopped. It was silent for another

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few minutes before the police finally pulled up, but the

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guides were nowhere to be found. The police said they'd

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ask around, but obviously nothing ever came of it. Another

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camper had a similar thing happened to them. It was

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also one of the only other nicer looking RVs in

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the park, so I'm pretty sure we were scouted. We

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left around seven am after the police were done taking reports.

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Nothing was taken or significantly damaged, so it didn't affect

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us that much, but it was still a very scary experience.

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We wound up at a different RV part with better

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views and added an extra lazy day to our trip.

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I'm very thankful that our RV had a tight lock

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on it, seeing as how there's no way they couldn't

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have known we were inside. Tells me that they weren't

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just looking to rob us, and if that lock had broke,

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I most likely wouldn't be here today. A