Spring is fast approaching. And with that, we’re gonna be seeing more warmer weather around (whether or not it’s climate change-induced). This can only mean one thing—camping season.
Heck, even folks on Reddit are already talking about it. Albeit, it’s camping horror stories, after Redditor r/Liversojunmy asked the campers of Reddit, what's the most disturbing thing you have seen while camping? But hey, consider this a bootcamp, both for your physical prep as well as your mental one.
#1
A friend of mine wild camped and found a nice spot.
When the sun came up she found out that she was in someone’s backyard and the family was sitting there eating breakfast and watching as she quietly packed up and left. .
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192points
#2
Arrived at a campsite around 3 pm in Val Verde, CA area to camp one night with my boyfriend (who is a Black man.. and that is important detail for later) in 2012. Maybe one other family in the whole area, but felt just like us. We set up and we’re chilling until Around 7 pm when like 10 pickup trucks arrive and maybe 30 people congregate. They are immediately loud and obnoxious and too close, but whatever… we only staying for one night so whatever. The huge group start to stack big pile of wood to make a huge bonfire and we start to notice.. hmm, they are all men. White men. Most of them are bald. Hmmmm…
Then one younger guy comes over to us and offers us a beer! How nice.. he says hey sorry if we are loud but here’s a peace offering!
Then just before he turns back to his group he says “you and that n-word better get out of here before dark”….. it was an Aryan brotherhood meet up. We got out of there so fast.
Then one younger guy comes over to us and offers us a beer! How nice.. he says hey sorry if we are loud but here’s a peace offering!
Then just before he turns back to his group he says “you and that n-word better get out of here before dark”….. it was an Aryan brotherhood meet up. We got out of there so fast.
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112points
#3
Went to an empty campground in the mountains in california. The weather was bad, January of ‘16 or ‘17. We were set up near a small river cooking a late dinner in the dark after night fell. My old dog, a huskie, starts absolutely losing his mind. He was screaming and barking at a place beyond our lantern light away towards the river. I flipped on my headlamp, and it was a mountain lion. It stared back at me for a second or two, then turned and I lost it in the brush.
Those eyes staring back at me… bring your dog camping with you!.
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108points
So, folks on Reddit have recently gathered to share some disturbing camping stories around a virtual campfire that is this thread right here.
The thread got a modest amount of attention, racking up just a few hundred shy of 2,000 upvotes, but the audience was engaged leading to nearly 1,000 comments.
#4
Went camping on the Mendocino coast of California in 80’s/90’s, the first night at the campground we hear what sounds like a woman screaming like she’s being murdered. It terrified us all awake, after a sleepless night we learned that there was a peacock sanctuary nearby and that’s how they sound.
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108points
#5
A forever ago my friend and I were camping in a horse pasture (with the owners permission) with my friend's horse, it damn near crushed me when it decided that he wanted to be in the tent too and see what we were doing.
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94points
#6
Not my story, but my childhood friend wandered off with a buddy on a scout trip and found a corpse in the woods. Had a .22 caliber hole between its eyes. The two of them were 13-ish.
He went to the trial, and had been advised that he might have to testify, since he discovered a murder victim. But, they ended up not calling either of the kids.
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90points
Now, some find camping scary and that's OK. Who wouldn’t be anxious about treading into grizzly country with poor reception and intrusive thoughts of randos roaming about, looking for fresh meat or something.
But, a little bit of planning and prep can go a long way to keeping you sane during camping: pitch your tent during daytime, get familiar with your surroundings, try to drown out the noise (e.g. camp near water), plomp your tent against something so you’re not exposed, or simply bring more friends (animal companions included).
#7
Was at a campsite in rural Buffalo, NY, when a family of about 5 showed up and unpacked at the site next to us. Seemed like nice people, exchanged pleasantries, and went about our separate business setting up camp.
The next morning, when we unzipped our tent and went to prep breakfast, we realized they were all still asleep, ON THE GROUND. No sleeping bag, no tent, just lying down, fully clothed, like they had been raptured. Remember, this is Buffalo, NY - even in the summer, it gets cold at night.
That was spooky, but we decided to leave them be and get packed up. Once we got back from a breakfast run, they were up and packing. Seeing that we were back, the father came over to us and introduced himself. Said we seemed like nice people, and that he wanted to warn us about the imminent collapse of the US Economy. He eyed our car and said that it’ll be the only type of currency available once the banks shut down, and that we should be careful, since someone will want it more than our money when “China invades”. He pulled out his phone to try and show us a YouTube video that explains the whole thing, but we somehow extricated ourselves, and booked it. Packed up and left faster than we ever have before. The disturbing thing was not just what he said - it was how calm and genial he was while saying it, as if he was talking about the weather.
TL;DR: went camping, saw another family sleep outside with no tent or sleeping bags - just flat on the ground. They then warned us about China invading the US.
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77points
#8
I was camping on a beach in Costa Rica. It was beautiful.
The first night. I could hear something moving around my tent. I peaked around through the top as best I could. Couldn't see anything.
The sound is non-stop. Something is right next to me. Moving all around my tent. After like an hour, I need to know.
Finally, I open the tent and look around. Thousands of crabs we're heading back to the ocean and were falling of this little 1' wall.
Laughed once I figured it out but damn I was terrified.
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75points
#9
This is a story about my grandma that I didn’t hear directly from her, but from my family. My grandmother (born in the 20’s) grew up in suburban Florida and didn’t really have any experience with wildlife. After she married my grandfather, they went camping in Yellowstone (possibly their honeymoon, not sure). They went for a hike and when they came back they saw a bear at the camp ground sniffing around the steaks my grandma was gonna prepare for dinner. My grandma ran up to the bear and smacked on the nose with the flat side of an axe (not recommended). Fortunately the bear ran off. Now, I have no idea how big this bear was, may have been a baby for all I know, but still makes for a good story.
She was also a real life “Rosie the riveter” during WW2. My grandma was a bad**s.
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71points
And, actually, knowing is half the battle with getting over the fear of camping. And there’s quite a bit to learn.
First, you gotta figure out your camping equipment. It goes without saying that sleeping bags, tents, flash lights, wet wipes, first aid kits and the like are a must. It also helps to have a camping stove, though some prefer going old-fashioned and setting up a fire using the wood they find on site.
#10
While hiking in Sweden I slept in a three sided shelter when suddenly at 11pm some people came up to me asking me what I was doing etc. (neighbourhood watch) and telling me, that there are strange people around. An hour or two after, I heard some more footsteps and an old man came close to the shelter - with no pants. Naked. Dong dingeling. Moon was bright. When he saw me sleeping there, he went away after a while….
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69points
#11
Went to the forest with some friends one winter. we were completely unprepared and ended up sleeping bunched in a tiny tent in the snow. I woke up in the middle of the night hearing these grunting noises next to my head. I thought it was my friend snoring but then realized there was this giant snout poking the fabric of the tent on the outside and literally breathing in my face. I barely held myself from screaming when the bear got bored of trying to get inside and left.
We went outside in the morning and there were massive paw prints everywhere plus the leftovers of our food were gone.
Lesson learned the hard way.
We went outside in the morning and there were massive paw prints everywhere plus the leftovers of our food were gone.
Lesson learned the hard way.
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66points
#12
My family had some land in a remote part of Colorado. We always had creepy nights up there where it felt like someone was watching us. My brother was up there once and heard footsteps around his tent and got so scared him and his fiancé left in the middle of the night. A few weeks later, 4 of us were up there and we found four rat tails nailed to the side of an old shed we had. We sold the land a few years ago.
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65points
Once you have the equipment sorted out, it’s time to decide on a location. While you can’t sort out all of the logistics without actually going to the site, you'd be amazed how much online maps, reviews and general inquiry online could help.
Whatever the case, always keep several things in mind, with the first one being water sources. While having a bit of a reserve is good, carrying enough water for the entire camping trip is not practical. So, setting up next to water and sourcing from there (boiling it too) is definitely a good solution.
#13
Went camping as a kid up in the Appalachian mountains somewhere in Virginia with family out there. In the middle of the night we heard a scream that woke us all up that sounded like a woman being murdered. I damn near peed myself. They told me it was some monster which only scared me more. YEARS later I came across a video of a fox screaming and it was the exact same sound.
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64points
#14
I went on a family camping trip in Austria as a kid. The camp site was in a forest, and my dad picked a nice spot between some trees. Unfortunately our tent wouldnt fit so we had to move along a bit. That night there was a massive storm and I remember my parents tying the tent to the car and spending most of the night holding the tent down.
In the morning we woke up and it was a bright sunny day. We opened the tent to find a 2 foot thick tree laying across the spot we originally picked. If our tent had fitted in that spot we would have probably been killed. My mum cut the trip short at that point.
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63points
#15
A couple came to the spot next to ours after we had been camping for a few days. They were there for about two hours after unpacking and setting up camp, just practicing knife throwing and cracking a whip. One of them cut their finger off and the other came and asked if we could watch their campsite until they got back. We did. We also played Indiana Jones for about 3 hours drunk off our a*s trying to swing from a broken branch of a tree with that whip. They never came back and we let the park ranger know to look after their stuff.
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62points
Setting up in an area that has trees is also a good idea. Trees provide shelter from the wind, the sun, and extreme weather conditions, all the while giving ample opportunity to use them for traps or hang things on them to deter wild animals from the camp. And if there aren’t any trees, bushes and bigger rocks are better than nothing. Oh, and make sure there aren’t any murderers around.
#16
Not long ago, Me and my friend went camping together. It was a public trail, so other campers were expected. Though, I didn’t expect to wake up at 4am to a balding middle aged man squatting behind a tree about 3 or 4 metres from our tent with a trowel in hand; we locked eyes and he just said “I’d give it 5 minutes.”.
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60points
#17
My sons and I went camping in a very remote spot deep in the Idaho woods. We went for a two mile hike even deeper into the woods and came across a perfect circle about five feet in diameter made completely of bones with a smaller circle of bones in the center of the circle with a deer skull placed directly in the middle. On the way back we looped around and found ourselves in front of a dense group of birch trees that gave off the darkest vibe. My sons and I all had goosebumps. We bypassed the birches and eventually made it back to camp. I think that ninety percent of the creepy, paranormal, supernatural stories you hear about the woods have rational explanations including my story, but even though the ring of bones was odd; it’s the dark ominous feeling that we all got from the birches that really unsettled me.
57points
#18
Not exactly something I “saw” but heard and felt. My dad and I went backpacking in the Yosemite National park in California and stopped in a valley to camp for the night.
In the middle of the night i woke up to the sound of at least a dozen—what sounded like deer— sprint right past our tent followed by a loud thud behind our tent and the forest going DEAD silent..
Ive been camping my whole life and have NEVER heard silence like that in a forest, not even a leaf was blowing in the wind.
Something instinctively inside me made my whole body freeze, I couldn’t breathe, goosebumps, heart racing, literally PETRIFIED.
As I laid there frozen, I swear on my life I could hear whatever made that loud thud start “tiptoeing” around our tent. I say tiptoeing because the steps were so soft and careful that it felt intentional, like it was investigating our tent and i could feel its presence moving around the tent.
After what felt like a lifetime but was probably only 5-10 minutes a branch snapped somewhere in the forest followed by a loud whoosh of wind and the forest just went back to normal.
I wanna say it was a mountain lion just curious about our tent or something and thats what I told myself the rest of our trip so I could sleep at night
But the horrible horrible pit in my stomach and fear that washed over me was nothing like I’ve ever felt before or since and has me convinced there are things in the forest far worse than people realize.
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57points
Positioning is also key as, remember, you’re out in the wild. Your tent is your best shelter. And if a thunderstorm or a fog as thick as curdled milk comes about in the morning, you might not like the amount of excessive humidity.
Also, there’s this thing called altitude sickness—experiencing discomfort while camping each night in altitudes that differ drastically from each pitch—which happens with higher altitude locations above 8,000 feet. In that case, try to keep your elevation progression at around 1,000 feet between nights.
#19
I was looking on FreeRoam for a dispersed campsite near Eugene, Oregon last year during a road trip. There weren’t a ton of options, but it was starting to get dark and I had been driving all day so I went up a forest access road a couple miles to the one site that was closest (about 20 minutes). It was super thick forest then out of nowhere a narrow driveway that opened up to a bushwhacked spot with a fire pit. There was a good amount of garbage and some shotgun shells lying around. That’s not super out of the ordinary, but something just felt off. I opened up my door and let my chihuahuas jump out, they are usually pumped to run around and chase each other, but they both immediately stopped as soon as they hit the ground, stared into the bushes about 20 feet away, and growled. I thought maybe there was an animal back there so I hucked them back into the truck and began setting up my rooftop tent. My stomach started gurgling and I realized I had to do my business….i grabbed my shovel and wipes and started looking for a spot to go down the road. The forest was so thick, there weren’t any good openings so I came back to the site and started walking the perimeter to find a hole to duck into, as things were becoming urgent. I found an opening, right where my dogs were staring and growling, and just out of sight into the brush was a mattress with dirty sheets and a perfectly intact milk carton. I got chills, and I could just feel that someone else was there, just out of sight. It was pretty dark at this point, but I quickly ran back to the road and dug my hole and did my thing, came back and started packing everything back up. There was no cell service, and for all I know there could be multiple people in the bushes waiting for me to go to sleep….and the shotgun shells…we just went into town and got a hotel. Intuition was SCREAMING at me to not stay in that place.
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54points
#20
Was with a group of about 8 people. We were in a very isolated location, not a formal campground. We always preferred to hike in and get as far away from other people as possible. Around 9 or 10 it was pitch black and the woods were silent, no wind. We were all pretty buzzed off whiskey at this point and out of f*****g nowhere this dude with a hunting rifle on his back steps into the firelight. He wasn't wearing a shirt and basically looked homeless, kind of a blank stare on his face. Keep in mind, we were in the Rockies at like 10k feet, so it was not warm...and he wasn't wearing a shirt. The fact that we didn't hear him meant he had definitely snuck up on us. We went silent and just stared at him. He looked around, didn't say a word, and backed into the darkness. We slept in shifts that night and kept the fire blazing. We could hear him moving around our camp till sunrise when I guess he gave up. We got out of there at first light and I reported it to park service. Creepy mother f****r.
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50points