The great outdoors can be beautiful, but it can also be dangerous as heck. Seasoned hikers and campers know – the moment you step into the woods, you have to be extra careful. A strange sound, a suspicious-looking person, or a surprising encounter with the wildlife – anything can be on the table.
Some reports show that around 4,661 people in the U.S. get lost in the woods per year and need some kind of assistance. That's roughly 13 people a day. Search and rescue teams also perform around 50,000 missions each year, so even the most knowledgeable never know what's going to happen.
We recently came across a thread where people shared their scariest experiences while out in the woods. When one netizen asked, "Rangers, forest workers, hunters, and other woods-people of Reddit, what is your scary experience in the woods that you still can't explain?", people flocked to share their creepiest and most unsettling forest experiences. So, we're sharing the most unhinged with you below!
#41
I used to work as a fire spotter in a remote tower deep in the woods, on any given day I would be the only human being for miles around, TLDR at the bottom.
For a couple of weeks every time it approached sunset when I’d finish for the day, everything would go eerily quiet, almost like clockwork, it stood out as it wasn’t normal, there’s usually more noise around that time of day, along with this every time I left the cabin to climb down there was the unnerving feeling of being watched, but for a while it was only while climbing down.
After that i started getting the same feeling while on the ground, and it somehow felt much closer and more menacing, can only liken it to knowing you’re being hunted/stalked, not overly great when it’s a 100 metre walk back to the car with nothing to put between you and whatever else might’ve been out there.
This continued on for another few weeks, but started hearing sort of chirps & calls, they stood out as everything was dead quiet, then one day walking back across the clearing to the car there was a long, low guttural growling somewhere behind me, and I noped the f**k out as fast as I could, and afterwards started parking the car at the base of the ladder, because f**k walking on open ground with angry sounding probably bitey things lurking about.
A few days later I was driving back out and spotted a movement on the upside of the road, looked again as it disappeared into the treeline, large, long & dark, it seemed to hang around until the end of the fire season as the quietness and eerie feelings were gone at the start of the next.
TLDR: worked alone in forest in buttf**k nowhere, got stalked by large nope for a couple months.
For a couple of weeks every time it approached sunset when I’d finish for the day, everything would go eerily quiet, almost like clockwork, it stood out as it wasn’t normal, there’s usually more noise around that time of day, along with this every time I left the cabin to climb down there was the unnerving feeling of being watched, but for a while it was only while climbing down.
After that i started getting the same feeling while on the ground, and it somehow felt much closer and more menacing, can only liken it to knowing you’re being hunted/stalked, not overly great when it’s a 100 metre walk back to the car with nothing to put between you and whatever else might’ve been out there.
This continued on for another few weeks, but started hearing sort of chirps & calls, they stood out as everything was dead quiet, then one day walking back across the clearing to the car there was a long, low guttural growling somewhere behind me, and I noped the f**k out as fast as I could, and afterwards started parking the car at the base of the ladder, because f**k walking on open ground with angry sounding probably bitey things lurking about.
A few days later I was driving back out and spotted a movement on the upside of the road, looked again as it disappeared into the treeline, large, long & dark, it seemed to hang around until the end of the fire season as the quietness and eerie feelings were gone at the start of the next.
TLDR: worked alone in forest in buttf**k nowhere, got stalked by large nope for a couple months.
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9points
#42
So I live in the pacific north west, I spend most of my time outside. Usually I hang around what me and my friends call, “the island” it’s in the middle of a river, and can be traveled to when summer rolls around and the water goes down. One day I was out on the island, and I was hearing some strange noises, I knew it wasn’t a deer because you get to know the noises animals make after a while. I was getting pretty freaked out by the fact that it was moving around me like a predator would. When you spend a lot of time in the woods you learn when an apex predator is on the hunt, they seem to control every aspect of nature, the wind stops blowing, trees stop creaking, and time stops. This began to happen when the creature was moving around me. Something felt wrong about this creature, I had heard story’s of nez perce legends, and never really took them to heart until I began to spend time outside. There are things you experience out in the woods that can’t, or shouldn’t be understood. A lot of nez perce tried to explain those things. When I looked around me I couldn’t see a thing but trees and brush, but I could hear the movement of something around me. When you know something it’s superior in strength it’s a law of nature to treat it with respect, so I began to walk away from the area. When I left the sound followed, this is never a good thing, it means that YOU are the object of there hunt. I began to fiddle with my pocket knife even though I knew it would do anything against a predator that would want to hunt a human. At this point it was getting dark and I was moving faster, that’s when I herd it, the screech. Now there’s no way I could explain it it just was wrong, I started running and anyone who knows anything about wildlife knows that you never run. I don’t know what would’ve happened if I didn’t make it to my little row boat. I would rather not know.
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9points
#43
Lived the majority of my life in the mountains of Sweden.
1. This one is my dad's. But he was out hunting, and he and the dog came upon a concrete house that had two storeys. A week later or so, one of the storey's where gone, and the house was just one floor. Like it had been like that allways. Further more, concrete is not used for the buildings up there. Its always wood, not concrete. That house should not be there.
2. Me and my dad were deep in the mountains fishing. I start hearing whispers in the night, I can almost make out what they are saying. I look at my dad, who smiles, and says: "You hear them too, don't you?".
1. This one is my dad's. But he was out hunting, and he and the dog came upon a concrete house that had two storeys. A week later or so, one of the storey's where gone, and the house was just one floor. Like it had been like that allways. Further more, concrete is not used for the buildings up there. Its always wood, not concrete. That house should not be there.
2. Me and my dad were deep in the mountains fishing. I start hearing whispers in the night, I can almost make out what they are saying. I look at my dad, who smiles, and says: "You hear them too, don't you?".
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9points
#44
Used to live across from a large wooded area. One day some friends and I were exploring, and we came across a big pit (probably 6' deep and 8' across) filled with ashes and charred bones. Never went back...
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9points
#45
Background about where my dear stand is. To my back is woods, then field, to my front is a field that turns into a hill that I chose to kind of act as a berm in case I miss, to the left is more woods, right is more field. This area is my family’s farm and has been for a long time. Before that it was not really a forest, but slight wooded, the trees were planted by settlers, before that it was a clear area. I’m not a superstitious person, but it says can’t explain and I can’t.
I was sitting in my stand on a Saturday morning. I will never forget this, it was raining barely, sun just above the horizon. Suddenly I felt like I was being watched, I’ve never felt like that with deer. I looked into the woods and there were wolves on the edge of the woods, neat. Those d***s just stood there and watched me, you better bet I stared back. I know they take that as a challenge, but I’m in a tree, bring it. The wolves they just stood there, staring, watching. They stood there for three hours. I just started ignoring them, they scared away the deer anyways. All of the sudden they leave, double time and some big, black thing appears from the woods. Size of a black bear, skinny like a dog, head like a bat. It stood where the wolves were. I pointed my gun at it and shot into the ground (on purpose, I don’t wanna be the guy who k**led the last of whatever species). It looked at me, I chambered a new round, it ran. I have no idea what it was, but I asked my dad and uncles and they said they saw it too.
I was sitting in my stand on a Saturday morning. I will never forget this, it was raining barely, sun just above the horizon. Suddenly I felt like I was being watched, I’ve never felt like that with deer. I looked into the woods and there were wolves on the edge of the woods, neat. Those d***s just stood there and watched me, you better bet I stared back. I know they take that as a challenge, but I’m in a tree, bring it. The wolves they just stood there, staring, watching. They stood there for three hours. I just started ignoring them, they scared away the deer anyways. All of the sudden they leave, double time and some big, black thing appears from the woods. Size of a black bear, skinny like a dog, head like a bat. It stood where the wolves were. I pointed my gun at it and shot into the ground (on purpose, I don’t wanna be the guy who k**led the last of whatever species). It looked at me, I chambered a new round, it ran. I have no idea what it was, but I asked my dad and uncles and they said they saw it too.
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8points
#46
I grew up in a house that was surrounded by woods, so I’ve heard my fair share of different animal noises/howls/shrieks/etc.
It was the night before I was moving away to college. Everything was packed, except I realized I left my headphones out in my car. It’s around midnight, and I go outside to snag the headphones. I decide to give myself a moment to “take it in” and appreciate the peace and quiet of the woods I’d grown up in.
After 2-3 minutes, I hear this noise unlike anything I’ve ever heard in my life. It was a howl at first that sorta slurred into this scream / roar. I could tell directly where it was coming from, about 30 ft away just beyond the foliage but I couldn’t see anything.
I froze for about 15 seconds before sprinting back inside. Both parents and friend heard the noise too but nobody knew what it was.
It was the night before I was moving away to college. Everything was packed, except I realized I left my headphones out in my car. It’s around midnight, and I go outside to snag the headphones. I decide to give myself a moment to “take it in” and appreciate the peace and quiet of the woods I’d grown up in.
After 2-3 minutes, I hear this noise unlike anything I’ve ever heard in my life. It was a howl at first that sorta slurred into this scream / roar. I could tell directly where it was coming from, about 30 ft away just beyond the foliage but I couldn’t see anything.
I froze for about 15 seconds before sprinting back inside. Both parents and friend heard the noise too but nobody knew what it was.
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8points
#47
One time on a hunting trip we were in a tree stand when across the clearing we see someone standing just in the middle of the field we grabbed a scope to see what they were doin my buddy looked at me and said it was a kid we were in shock that a kid would be out in the middle of. The Montana woods in winter so we climbed down and started heading towards him. Well as soon as we got about 100 yards away the kid giggled and took off running the other way I yelled and started sprinting towards my bud right behind me but no matter how fast we ran we couldn't catch him when we started getting into thick bush we lost track of him and couldn't find a trace of him all we kept hearing was his child like giggle. That's when my buddy just turned and said we should go something ain't right. We got back to the tree stand and never saw him again. We stopped off in pray and asked some people if any kids were missing cause we saw a little boy in the woods but he ran from us, they said no one was missing from there. It was the closet town to us so who knows.
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6points