r/BackwoodsCreepy

Hey there,

I recently posted a story here about a horrifying night while home alone, and it got me thinking about another horrible memory from my childhood that I thought I would share as well. This story really creeped me out, and I feel like I must have coped with it by trying to suppress the memory.

Anyway, here goes nothing. Just to let you know, it is a long read.

This happened a while ago, in my childhood, as previously stated. It was around 1999 or 2000, which would have put me at about 10 or 11 years old. I cannot remember exactly.

Back then, my family and I would often go camping in the summer or fall as a tradition to try and reconnect with each other while soaking up the nature around us. Since this was 1999/2000, video games and the internet were not as popular yet. I was already more of an adventurous, outdoor type of kid, and I always appreciated a little journey into the woods to explore deeper. Plus, it was always a great opportunity to share moments with my father, my mother, and my sister.

We would often stay at the same campsite every year. We really liked it because it was not too far from home, had well-maintained spots, and featured a pretty big public area with a pool, a park, water fountains for the kids, and general activities to spend time doing during the day.

That year, the summer was absolutely beautiful with unbelievable weather, so the camping season ended up being much busier than usual. Sadly, we were told this campsite was at complete capacity, and no spots were available for the weekend we had planned to go.

We were all packed up and dead set on camping, which left my younger sister and me seemingly upset about the cancellation. So, my father decided to look for another spot as fast as possible to ensure we would still have great memories of the trip.

Without being too precise, we were located in Canada, very close to the U.S. border. The region was extremely vast with pretty dense forest all over. My father figured he would easily find something else. If no other official campsite was an option, we would simply explore the woods until we found a secluded spot that looked comfortable enough to pitch a tent and grill some marshmallows over a fire.

It surprisingly took a very long time to find a good spot that seemed like actual wilderness—meaning not land from a private property—and the general terrain was pretty rough, too rough to set up tents. My father had recently purchased a new truck that allowed him to easily maneuver through these deep wood trails, but this meant we ended up deep in the woods. In his opinion, it was the perfect occasion to try camping in an actual wild setting, but I remember my mother starting to get uneasy being so far into unknown woods. Being very far from the main roads at this point, she started to press my dad to settle on the next acceptable spot.

No more than 10 to 15 minutes later, we stumbled upon a weirdly clean clearing that almost seemed out of place because the spot was so perfect. The sun was hitting it in a scenic way, as if we had just found a small piece of paradise. My sister and I jumped out of the car giggling and immediately started to run around while my father and mother unpacked the car and set us up for the next few days.

My sister and I quickly ended up a bit further down the woods, but we remained aware of how far we were from the campsite. Also, it was still broad daylight, so nothing felt risky. We started to play a sneaky game of hide-and-seek in a patch of woods we had never visited before. It was thrilling, and it also had me scanning the area much faster than I usually would. All of a sudden, while looking through the dense trees for hints of my sister, I spotted what looked like a person far away, slowly walking behind a big tree. They weren't necessarily hiding, just casually walking behind a tree and not reappearing. It felt really weird to see someone that deep in the woods, but the thing that really caught my eye was this person's appearance. It seemed to be a woman, but pretty small and frail, wearing what looked like a sleeveless dress made of either really cheap or rough fabric. Also, from the fraction of a second that I caught a glimpse, she seemed to have a shaved head. I don't know why, but this detail really stuck with me.

I was obviously creeped out and quickly thought I should get my sister, who was still hiding, and head back to the campsite. I used a different path to cut more directly toward the campsite, calling out for her. Maybe 5 minutes later, when I was about 500 meters away from our tents, I found what looked like an ancient well. It was made entirely of stone, sticking out from the ground by about four feet. I got closer to take a peek inside and found that it was closed off with what looked like a manhole cover with a crudely shaped handle welded on top of it, with a big rusted chain looping through to secure the cover in place. It looked really out of place, as it was the only man made structure you could see for miles upon miles at this point, and stuck out like a sore thumb in these dense woods. Really weirded out, I called out my sister's name even louder. I heard my mother yelling that my sister was already back at camp and told me to come back immediately.

My sister was visibly upset, her eyes red from what I assumed was a recent crying session. This was confirmed when my mother started to ask me what had happened and why I would scare my sister like that. I was really confused, tried to explain myself, and even tried to tell her that I was a little scared because "I think I saw a weird woman with her head shaved wearing dirty rags." This got my sister even more worked up instantly. My mom, at this point, simply scolded me for making up stories and teasing my sister with big brother shenanigans. I tried to plead my case, but quickly just shrugged the whole thing off, convincing myself I had imagined things and that my sister was just spooked by something mundane.

The day went on normally. We had a lot of fun after my sister calmed down and forgot about it all. Being 1999/2000, there were no phones in sight—just us together enjoying ourselves and taking in the great outdoor air. After we cooked dinner, we made a pretty big fire and eventually went to bed.

We had two tents set up, both big enough for two people. It was me and my mom in one tent, and my father and sister in the other. Everyone was pretty tired from the unexpectedly long journey to get there, so we all fell asleep pretty fast.

I suddenly woke up in what looked like the middle of the night. It was pitch black, with only a very faint moonlight shining through an unexplainably open tent flap. Still dazed, I just looked at it, puzzled, and felt my mother's arm propped on me, slowly shifting toward my shoulder and gently grabbing it. I was still very groggy and confused waking up in an unfamiliar place, trying to get my bearings and not even knowing if I was still dreaming or not. My mother slowly started to sit up and, without a word, guided me toward the tent flap that was already half unzipped. I also sat up and followed her, maybe out of reflex from being so sleepy, not questioning my mother. I saw her silhouette very slowly crawling out of the tent right in front of me, and I then opened the flap completely to get out easier, quickly pulling the zipper.

And then, from the back of the tent, I heard my mother groggily call out, "ludoludoludo, what are you doing? Everything alright?"

I completely froze, paralyzed with fear and confusion. I just sat there, completely still, looking in her direction with shallow breath. Kind of worried, she pulled up her flashlight and clicked it open in my general direction. The light beam on my face snapped me out of my stillness, and I started to look around in panic, trying to figure out what had just happened, having trouble putting together a string of words that made sense. When she shone the flashlight inside the tent, I noticed that it was super messy, with dirt and leaves surrounding me.

My mother reached out to me and tried to calm me down. I just blurted out that she had been right there on my left side trying to guide me outside, and that I had seen her exiting the tent. The commotion woke my father and sister up, and they came over to see what was going on. Because I was visibly upset and freaking out, my sister welled up again since she was still on edge from the day before. It made for a hectic night out in the woods; we refused to go back to sleep, and we were generally too frightened to enjoy ourselves anymore.

After a quick breakfast and failed attempts to calm us down, we packed up the next morning and made our way back to the main road.

As mentioned in the beginning, I sort of automatically suppressed that memory pretty fast. I convinced myself that I had still been dreaming and woke up without knowing it—maybe sleepwalking barefoot around the tent and making a mess coming back in, even though I have never sleepwalked. But I still don't know for sure what happened that night out in the forest, during our yearly family camping tradition.

Title is self explanatory. I don't know if he lives out there somewhere or if he's actively moving around, but I have seen a masked man wondering around in the woods on multiple occasions. I've lived in and around the woods myself since I was very young, so I've always loved taking walks, going on hikes, camping, etc. The night time never used to bother me and I've even enjoyed midnight walks or spontaneous trail traveling whenever I couldn't sleep.

That was until the first time I saw him.

It was the summer of 2024 and I was out on what should've been nothing but a routine walk at night. The day time was hot and horrible so I had no desire to go out during the day, but the evening cooled everything down enough for me to get the motivation to actually go out for a bit. The area I live in has a route I used to take quite frequently that went around in a bit of a loop, which made it easier to actually get out since it only takes about 45 minutes to complete. From where I live it takes about 15 minutes of walking before you come across a small clearing which leads to a decent set of hiking trails, ones I've been up and down on multiple occasions.

I headed out of my house around 9pm, headphones in, Redbull holstered in my pocket alongside a pocket knife I always tried to carry around with me. Nothing seemed unusual or off-putting in any way as I made my way down the road, really getting into the zone and enjoying the nighttime woodsy vibes while listening to some shitty indie band I used to be into back then.

At the 15 minute mark I started to come up on that clearing, and for whatever reason my earbuds had randomly disconnected. I had them for awhile at that point so something like that wasn't very unusual. As soon as I took them out though, trying to reconnect them, I heard something off in the distance. Instinctively I tried to focus on what it was. I slowed down once I realized it was rustling of some kind, and I stopped dead in my tracks when I realized it was the sound of something walking. Whatever it was sounded heavy so I assumed it must've been a black bear or something since those are fairly common where I live. No big deal, right? A little nerve wracking sure but it wasn't anything I wasn't already used to.

As the brushed thudding got closer though, I began to grow a little more unsure. The rhythm sounded off somehow, and at some point I realized it sounded much more bipedal than what a black bear would've been able to do. I half expected to spot Bigfoot or something. It happened to be a full moon so I figured I'd wait a little longer to get a good look at what or whoever came out from the clearing. I stood by the immediate treeline a little ways away so I felt safe to catch a look if possible.

What I saw made me wish it really was Bigfoot or even a fucking werewolf.

The silhouette of a man made itself apparent, trudging out of the trails and into the moonlit clearing. Initially I thought it could've been some other random person who happened to enjoy night walking as well, only that thought was immediately shattered when I caught a glimpse of his face.

At first I thought the guy might've just been impossibly pale, only amplified by the moonlight, but soon enough I realized he was actually wearing a mask. It was human with incredibly sharp features, pure white but dirty and dingey. He was wearing a flannel of some kind alongside some boots and jeans, and he walked with a slight hunch that went back and forth between straight postured and almost crouched down. I watched him walk into the middle of the clearing with my heart in my throat, and it only felt worse when he actually stopped moving.

He turned his head back and forth like he was looking around, then turned his head up towards the sky and just seemed to stare. It was almost like he was star gazing, meanwhile I'm trying not to piss my pants while I watch some Jason Voorhees knockoff contemplate the meaning of life or some shit. After a few minutes he began walking again, leaving the clearing completely and walking down the middle of the road.

I waited until he was completely out of sight before I immediately made my way back the way I came. I was too scared to run because I thought he might hear me or something so I just speed walked the entire way back. I locked every door and window I had, cranked the AC, and barely slept the rest of the night until the sun finally came back up.

That was only the first "encounter" I've had with him. It fucked me up in a big way for a long time, but weirdly enough that one time alone was the most outright terrifying. Every other time I've seen him has been this weird mixture of both immensely confusing and somehow really sad.

Still incredibly disturbing though.

The next time I saw him was during the fall of the same year, I wanna say October? I made it a point to avoid going out on anymore night walks after the first time and even took a hiatus from going out in the woods whatsoever for a few months. I've always loved Autumn though, so one day I finally went back out for a walk, then a hike, and so on and so forth until practically nothing had changed except for the fact I didn't stay out past dark anymore.

Eventually I ended up going back to the trails a couple more times once I chalked up that encounter to a one time occurrence, though obviously I tried not to stay out too late or go in as deep as I would've before.

Keyword: Tried.

One time I was not as careful as I should've been. I was already riding the shot of adrenaline I got from being in there in the first place, but that adrenaline was quickly losing it's charm as the sun began to set, especially once I realized I had somehow gotten turned around. What started off as a relaxing enough walk on a cool autumn day was quickly turning into something much more akin to the intro of some indie horror game. I was on a trail I didn't even recognize the name to, deeper than I should've been, my steps hurried and uneven as I tried to make my way out. I guess it was already too late because a little ways down the trail, I saw what looked to be someone kneeling down in the middle of the path.

They were faced away from me, and at first I thought they were kneeling down because of a sprained ankle, fucked up knee, whatever.

When I got a little closer I instinctively called out to ask if they were okay, but found no response back. I got a closer and asked again, asking if they were hurt. Once again I got no response, and if anything the forest itself seemed to grow a little quieter. Desperate for some kind of way out of here, I asked if they knew where we were or how to get back to the main trail.

No response. They remained knelt down on their knees, arms to the side, almost like they were in some kind of trance.

At this point I was maybe about 50 feet away from where this person, very obviously a man, was kneeling. I felt my heart begin to sink as I tried to close some more distance just from desperation and concern. The ground beneath my feet was incredibly soft and seemed to muffle each step I took until I closed 20 feet between us. I guess I stepped on some secret twig or something because the single loud snap that erupted from the ground was what finally got a response.

Before I could even react properly the man stood up completely and turned to face me.

It was him. It was the same fucking guy from summer, only this time I wasn't hidden by a convenient shadowed tree line. I was face to face to some random psycho, frozen in place from sheer dread and fear. I couldn't move whatsoever, I felt like a deer in headlights, and confusion joined alongside my utter horror once I realized he looked the same way I did.

He stood with a weird gait, his boots planted in the ground shoulder length apart and his arms to the side. He was completely still with the only exception being his hand which seemed to subtly shake or even quiver.

From this distance I got a much better look at him; He was big. Not necessarily tall, maybe somewhere between 5'8-5'10, but he was stocky and broadly built like the trunk of a tree. He had messy, possibly curly blonde hair that framed the same exact mask from last time, adorned with various cuts to it's hard plastic alongside dirt, grime, whatever else it was. Most startling was the fact the mask didn't even hide his eyes which were this deep shade of blue that seemed to look not at me, but through me.

His clothes were similar to the last time I saw him, but the flannel looked like it might've been a different color. This time it was a dark plaided green, his jeans still dark blue and his boots still mud toned brown. They were dirty but looked as if they had only recently been covered in dirt.

I stood there in complete shock, the tension worsening as he slowly cocked his head to the side. The gesture was reminiscent of the way an animal might study you, curious yet immensely cautious. I watched his eyes dart around me up and down, possibly sizing me up. His head went back to normal but something changed. The stillness between us didn't seem to last as his hand began to shake and twitch, his body visibly tensing up while his eyes widened.

I was terrified, so much so I could cry, but more than anything else I was just confused, and for a moment it looked like he might've been just as confused as I was. In a single second something shifted or changed. I don't know what it was exactly but once we locked our eyes, for a single second, he looked like he was even more terrified than I was.

I watched his gaze harden as he began to make some weird low, rumbling sound adjacent to some kind of growl or something, and it sounded a lot closer to an actual animal than I would have ever been comfortable with. He tensed up even more and I prepared for the worst... only the worst never came. He turned and full on sprinted off in the opposite direction down the trail, and I waited until the heavy thudding faded in the distance before turning tail and running myself, basically crying the entire time. Thankfully I found my way back to the main trail and eventually back to the main road. Once again when I got home, I locked every door and window shut and was barely able to get any sleep.

The only difference this time was that my lack of sleep wasn't purely motivated by fear. Fear was most definitely involved but so was utter confusion and a growing curiosity about whatever this was. For the next couple of months I couldn't stop thinking about it. It was horrifying in a way that felt so primal and real, yet at the same time felt so different than how that sort of encounter should've gone. It seemed too ridiculous and cliche and yet every time I thought about it, about him, something inside of me wanted to know more.

I saw him again in March of 2025 via a drone I had recently bought off of Amazon. Instead of going out in the middle of the night myself, I hunkered down in the garage and decided to fly the thing around to see if I could spot anything interesting or at least some pretty night time scenery. Midnight winter vibes and all that, I even had some hot coco for the occasion. I paid decent money for what seemed like a ridiculous flying range so I went a little ways down the road.

As I'm nearing the end of it, who else do I see except the same masked man from last time.

This time he's literally lying down in the middle of the road in the dead of winter. Surprisingly he's dressed somewhat appropriately for the weather, wearing an open plaid coat with some kind of hoodie underneath it. He even had the hood up, obscuring everything above the shoulders aside from the same mask he's been wearing this whole time.

He's just laying there. I fly a little closer just to get a better look, honestly checking whether or not he was dead or something, but my suspicion is immediately crushed once he notices the drone. He sits up from the snow covered road and stands up fully, turning to face "me" while I'm still up in the air. Once again he cocks his head to the side, just staring up at the camera as I draw in closer. I was feeling a little more confident considering I was within the safety of my own home so I fly closer and closer even as he begins to move out from the road and briefly into the brush. At this point I'm maybe 25-30 feet from the ground, and suddenly he pops back out of the woods holding a stick of some kind. He reels his arm back and before I realize what exactly he's doing he throws it up at the drone, hits it, and makes it come crashing down on the road. A few seconds later it shakes a whole bunch before going completely black as the feed cuts out.

I didn't dare try to retrieve it until the next morning, this time actually driving down to where he knocked the drone out of the sky. I parked on the side of the road, hopped out, and it didn't take me too long to find the wreckage of the drone I only got to fly once. It was totaled beyond repair so I guess whoever this is REALLY does not like being seen. Nearby was the imprint he'd left in the middle of the road lying down, though at this point it was faded probably because of the occasional car driving down over it.

The one thing that stood out to me was the handprint left by the drone wreckage, more than likely his own. It was pressed down in a way that looked intentional, like he was trying to send some kind of message. For reasons I still don't know how to put into words, I pressed my own hand against where his had been. Immediately I was flooded with such a weird sense of isolation. The entire world seemed to stop for a second as I felt where he had been, where he had purposefully placed his mark, possibly trying to show someone he was, in fact, here.

I felt sad. I don't know why but the fact he left something so deliberate didn't feel very malicious at all. It was handprint. No message, no scribbling, no doodling, just a single spot where this masked man intentionally pressed his hand into the snow long enough for the indent to keep until this moment. It very well could've been some kind of warning considering it was right by the corpse of half my paycheck. It could've been a lot of things.

I didn't see him again for the rest of that year. There were a few times I thought I might've caught a glimpse of him but it always ended up being just another person who was at least outwardly normal taking a walk down the road.

There were even times I went out at night thinking I heard the same distinct rustling or thudding, but the only sign I ever had that he was still around was a torn piece of plaid hanging off a branch. The feeling of unease never left me but it was less about my personal safety and more about simply not knowing what the fuck was up with this guy.

I only recently saw him again in July on the 27th, which is actually what led me to write all of this down in the first place. Considering how long it'd been since I've seen him or anything else even remotely strange, I felt secure enough to return to my night time walks. I didn't do it very often, still don't, but at this point I've stopped being outright terrified of him and more so just immensely cautious. I was making my loop around as per usual with the major difference being that I never wear my earbuds at night anymore. I was about to complete the loop in it's entirety, maybe a few houses away from my own, when I realized that up ahead I was actually catching up to somebody, and since it happened to be a full moon that night, I could see an unsettlingly similar silhouette walking about 100 feet or so ahead of me.

I almost stopped walking entirely but I thought the sudden stop may draw his attention, so I fell into the curse of curiosity and caution as I kept my own pace behind him. He had such a weird slow stride, it seemed so uneven yet self assured. Occasionally he'd hunch his back slightly before straightening it, walking with an occasional limp of either leg. The longer I followed him the more he looked almost dazed and confused, adamantly on high alert but also in some sort of trance.

Out of nowhere he stopped moving entirely and just stood there in the middle of the road, making me quickly duck off to the side and crouch down. Ironically it felt like I was the one stalking him, which considering our respective appearances, felt like it should've been the other way around. Maybe it already has been before and I just had no idea.

He stood there for a solid minute before he started to shake. Out of nowhere I heard him start coughing which led to an absolute fit of it. Each cough sounded more strained and painful than the last as he fell to his hands and knees. I kept wondering if maybe I should try to help him or something but what if he just ran away again? Worse, what if he really did attack me this time? I could swear he was about to puke but the coughing fit ended as quickly as it began. He remained on the ground for a second before he stood back up, loudly cracking his neck to the side before he began to look around.

I crouched down further hoping to God he didn't see me as he turned his body completely. Once again he was in some sort of flannel, this one looking a little more blue, wearing the same mask of course. He turned back and for whatever reason took a turn to the right, going down some new backroad.

I thought about just going home but this was already maybe 3 houses from where I live. I just didn't feel safe going back inside with him so close, and at the same time there was a part of me that wanted to find out just what the fuck he was doing out here all this time if anything at all. I felt so stupid but for whatever reason I turned down the same road as my curiosity overrode any rational thought I had at the time. If curiosity was killing any cat that night, it was probably going to be me.

The road turned out to actually be an unfinished driveway which led into some sort of construction site, which I had somehow missed despite it being so apparently new. Up ahead there looked to the foundation of a house that was being built, so like any good horror story protagonist I proceeded up that way. I made it to the foundation easy enough despite the terrain being a work in progress, looking around for anything of note if not the masked man himself. I didn't find anything but the foundation did have a single concrete wall put up. I went up to it and slowly peaked my head around it, and to this day I'm so thankful I didn't just rush out.

There was a hill a little ways away with a decent amount of trees cut down from the construction, and I want you, dear reader, to take your best guess at who just so happened to be up there.

The moon perfectly lit up where he was, giving me a clear shot to examine him even further. He was sat down up against a tree, his head looking around for a second before he just tilted his head back and looked towards the sky the same way he did the first time I ever saw him.

I was obviously incredibly nervous with sweat running my face and everything but I wasn't necessarily scared. If anything I was becoming more and more absorbed in watching him, studying him, and have since found myself almost enamored by his mere existence. Despite looking like such a cliche Jason Voorhees knock off or something, I had the feeling he was really just lost. In a way he looked almost lonely, and that was only further intensified by the way his hand reached up towards the sky, towards the moon, almost like he was genuinely trying to grab at something before it fell back down to his side.

I watched him for another 10 or 15 minutes before ultimately deciding to just go back home. He didn't move or do anything that entire time. It was almost like he just fell asleep or something. I guess I just didn't want to disturb him, let alone be so close by if he woke up or had another coughing fit.

Slowly I moved away from the wall and made it a point to be as quiet as possible walking back up the driveway and into the road. Once there I made my way back home and did the same thing I always do whenever I see him around, only this time I stayed by the window in case I could see him walking by or something. I saw somebody walking by about an hour later but I don't think it was him, not that I could tell that good anyways.

As of writing this (8/17/26) I haven't seen him again since last month, and as weird as it is, I can't help but almost look forward to the next time I do even if it does still scare me a bit.

I realize this entire thing sounds incredibly far fetched and totally insane, so I'll use this last segment to clear up some possible questions I know people would rightfully have.

"Why didn't you ever call the cops?"

Truthfully I just didn't think to do it the first time. It was horrifying but I live in a fairly small, rural town. By the time I actually thought to do it, it was already the next day and I figured if someone else saw him, they would've already done it themselves. We do have our fair share of weirdos up here too so if I'm completely honest, running into some masked maniac still isn't what I'd consider a worst case scenario. I got pretty close to calling the second time but only hesitated because of the fact he looked just as scared as I was. By the time I got home I was already too overwhelmed with fear and confusion to think about it.

Even with that all being said, I know I haven't done a whole lot to justify not calling anybody about this. That's because I don't actually have good justification for it. Truthfully I just can't bring myself to make some sort of report on it.

I don't have any good reason for this but I figure it must have already been done by now since I doubt I'm the only person who's ever seen him, and when I say he has a unique outline, I mean that in the most literal way possible. I've left out certain physical traits that would otherwise immediately give away this man in particular, mostly just in case somebody else sees him and mentions said traits, so I know it's genuine.

"Have you talked to anybody else about this?"

Not at length, no. I don't know a lot of people in town well enough to bring it up. The most I've done is occasionally ask if someone's seen anything weird going on the woods. Usually I'll get nothing in return except maybe a ghost story or a supposed cryptid sighting but other than that, nothing.

"Are you sure nobody else has seen this?"

Not in the slightest. I've even made it a point to go on google and search up any kind of article or posts talking about masked men in the woods but nothing has come up aside from a singular post from like 5 years ago on some discussion site from a town about an hour's drive away from where I live. It was from an older woman who described seeing a masked individual roaming around the local cemetery in the late evening a few days before Halloween but she didn't describe anything about it. She deadass just said "spooky!" and left it at that. I'd link the site if it didn't so conveniently vanish from existence.

"Why is this the first time you're ever talking about it?"

Honestly I don't really know. Like I said I don't know a lot of people in my town to talk about it with and I can't say I've ever kept up with many other people who've been in my life, even my parents. I only recently decided to talk about this whole thing after obsessing over how outright bizarre it all is. I hardly ever use Reddit anyways and I decided to post about it in horror themed subreddits because lets face it, this is fucking horrifying at face value. Worst case scenario is that nobody believes any of this and gets a somewhat interesting story out of it. Maybe somebody else will see this and know what I'm talking about, maybe somebody else has even seen the same guy, who knows.

This whole ordeal started off as something genuinely terrifying and has since turned into something much more fascinating and even somber. Logically I know I should still be so much more scared of this than I actually am, but something about this masked man seems almost innocent and depressing. Whenever I see him he just looks so lost and alone, more like a wild animal trying to find some sort of shelter than anything else. He walks around like he has no idea where or even who he is, like he's lost in some kind of trance or possibly even some sort of psychosis?

I have no idea who he is or what he's been doing out here. Part of me thinks maybe he's just some weird guy playing out a fantasy but it feels so much deeper than that. I don't know for sure that he lives in the woods but he has to live somewhere in the area for me to have run into him more than once. I can't help but wonder if this masked man is really someone going through some sort of mental health crisis. DID maybe? I don't know. I can't help but want to figure out what else is going on here, who this guy even is and if he even knows this is happening.

Any thoughts, theories, criticism, advice, etc. are always welcome. Honestly I doubt this will get a lot of attention, if any, but I'll write up any more updates or encounters should they come up.

Thanks for hearing this.

Very recent experience… We were camping in Southern Maine in a non-touristy area in the woods just up from the Kennebec River. The “sound(s)” I’ll be referencing refer to the specific sound(s) of something heavy (85 lbs ish or heavier) snapping a twig underfoot. This alone sounds like nothing, but the fact that these sounds started out farther away in the woods, and got incrementally closer over the course of 1-2 hours until it was coming from close to the path that we would take to get back to the camper (at that point I rushed inside because I had a gut twisting feeling my route to safety was going to be blocked) was too atypical for my taste. I grew up camping in the woods in the ADKs of NY. Wood sounds don’t normally bother me because I know it’s almost always an animal. BUT, when you grow up in the woods, you know what sounds are typical “wood sounds” and what are not. There was no huffing or puffing from an animal, no other sounds of brush being crunched under foot or anything else you’d expect from an animal… the path taken by whatever it was was strategic and seemed designed to get close and potentially block us from getting back inside. This happened both nights we were by the fire (I went in much sooner the first night, before it got too close). I’m so sure it wasn’t an animal (unless it was a mountain lion strategically stalking us, which is highly unlikely since there supposedly are none in ME and they aren’t proactive abt tracking humans), because there were no other indications of it being a critter (see above… also, we left some food out by the fire after that because weren’t about to go outside again, and in the morning it was completely untouched. If it were an animal, it likely would have gone for it), and I had the distinct feeling that something was off (which means something coming from me, who is very at home in woods). My only other conclusion was it was a person, but wtf they were doing I have no idea… also worth noting my husband and I heard the exact same sounds and our stories line up completely so I know it wasn’t my mind playing tricks.

When I was in girl scouts, at around 9 years old, we went on a group camping trip. We would go hiking, make dinner, sing songs around the fire etc. After dinner I remember our group had set up a giant tarp where we laid all of our sleeping bags down in a row. Maybe 50 ft from our tarp was a slope downhill which led into the trees. I climbed into my sleeping bag which was in between my 2 best friends, listened to stories and fell asleep.

Im not sure what time it was, but it was still dark. I woke up suddenly, looked around in a panic noticing I didn’t see any of my group. I was alone, still in my sleeping bag laying next to a tree. Terrified, I got up and realized I had somehow ended up at the bottom of the nearby hill. I grabbed my sleeping bag and ran as fast as I could back up the hill and luckily found my group…who were all still sleeping. I placed my sleeping bag down, and laid there waiting for everyone to wake up. I ended up telling the group counselor who brushed it off that maybe I was dreaming and imagined it.

I think about it still to this day. I don’t understand how I ended up there, perfectly in my sleeping bag. I never sleep walk so I don’t think that was the case either. Anyone else have weird experiences like that?

I wanted to post about this somewhere in case anyone has had a similar experience. So basically, I have a friend who lives about an hour and a half away from me in another state, and whenever I visit we usually do day trips to famous towns we've never seen before. I decided to invite him to where I live this time and suggested we go check out the Pine Barrens, which I'd never been to. It's funny, I remember telling my other friend where I was going two days prior, and in response he said "The pine barrens? You know their haunted right". I knew the stories about it but I guess you could say I wasn't going there expecting to see anything weird, I was more focused on experiencing how different the surroundings were for the first time (I did know about the Jersey Devil though so I was curious if I'd see anything like that, haha)

We arrived at Wharton State Forest at around 12:30 yesterday and took the tour of the Batsto Village ghost town, and after that was over, we decided to go down one of the forest trails. I'd say we were about 10 minutes into the trail when I saw something moving a few feet away from us in the forest. I was convinced I was looking at another tourist who was ahead of us on the trail at first, but they were standing off to the right in the woods, not on the actual path in front of us. I could make out a torse and legs, but I have no memory of seeing a face, like it was either too far away to see or it was being covered by branches, and they were wearing a white shirt. This next part is gonna sound a little weird, but does anybody remember those plastic Star Wars lightsaber toys that kids play with? They could retract and extend, and when they weren't lit up they were white, I hadn't thought of them in years until I saw this person in the woods, because what made me look in that direction in the first place was the fact that I saw them swinging one around, like they were playing with it out in the trees. It wasn't lit up though, it was white, I guess it could've been something else but that's what my mind immediately jumped to when I saw it, and it's weird that it looked like something so specific. My friend was still walking behind me so I said "Hey do you see that?", but right as I said it, it was like whatever it was dashed behind the trees, in my memory it just turned into a white blur and vanished. My friend asked what I was talking about so I rushed ahead to see where it went, but no matter where I looked there was no sign of it, and thinking about it, it didn't make any noise, you'd think you'd hear it running away.

We walked for about another 10 minutes before turning around since it was starting to get hot, and for the remainder of that time I didn't see anything strange or see any sign of the person I saw before. It was just business as usual for the rest of the day but I couldn't stop thinking about it, I swear my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, I saw something out there

Has anyone from around that forest seen anything similar or know if it aligns with any legends of the area? I'm genuinely curious

live on a little patch of family land just outside Kountze, right where the houses thin out and the Big Thicket starts. Single-wide, couple acres, woods starting maybe thirty yards from the back steps. Nothing special. I’ve been out here most of my life. Work construction in the refineries like most around here, come home, mess with the truck, sit on the porch with a beer or similar. Same as always.

About a month ago the nights changed.

It was after that stretch of heavy rain we got. Everything was still soaked and the air felt thick. I was outside late, just smoking, and I realized I couldn’t hear the frogs. Or the cicadas. Nothing. In summer around here that’s not normal. Those things never shut up. You get used to the constant noise so much that when it’s gone it feels like your ears are ringing.

I figured it was just the weather. Told myself that for a few days.

Then I started catching movement at the tree line. Not animals. Something taller, thinner. Standing still between the pines. I’d look, and it would be there. I’d look away for a second and it wouldn’t be, or it would be a few feet over. Never close enough to really see. Just a shape that thought maybe it was just a tree and I was over thinking it,

I checked the property the next morning. Found some tracks in the soft dirt near the fence line. Long and narrow. Not deer, not dog, not hog. I don’t know tracks that well, but they didn’t look right. A couple days later there were two dead armadillos laid out neat, side by side, like someone placed them there. Not scattered or torn up the way coyotes leave things.

My dog quit going past the edge of the yard. Used to run the whole property every evening. Now he just stands at the tree line, staring, and then turns around and comes back under the trailer. Won’t even take a piss out there after dark anymore.

I tried to write it off. Trespasser. Homeless guy. Somebody’s kid messing around. I walked the line with a flashlight a couple times. Called out once. Nothing answered. Neighbor down the road said he hadn’t seen anybody. Sheriff’s deputy I know from high school told me to call if anything actually happened, but he didn’t sound interested.

The quiet kept coming and going. Some nights the insects would start back up like nothing was wrong. Other nights it was dead silent from sundown on. Those were the nights I’d see the shape again.

One night last week the motion light on the back of the trailer kicked on by itself. I looked out the kitchen window and it was standing right at the edge of the light. Closer than before. Maybe fifteen or twenty feet from the steps. I couldn’t make out a face. Just the outline. Too tall, arms hanging wrong. I grabbed the shotgun and stepped out on the porch. The second the beam hit it, it moved. Not like a person turns and runs. It just wasn’t there anymore. No sound of feet in the leaves or branches breaking. Just gone.

I stood there a long time. Wondering if im losing my mind.

I haven’t stayed the night out there since. Been crashing on a buddy’s couch in vidor or at a hotel.... Told him the A/C went out. Went back once in daylight to grab clothes and everything just seemed odd. Even then the woods felt off. Too still.

I keep telling myself it’s stress, or lack of sleep, or my eyes playing tricks in the dark. But the dog knows something’s wrong. And I can’t shake the feeling that whatever it is doesn’t need to come any closer. It’s already where it wants to be.

I’m writing this from the Whataburger parking lot off 69. Thinking of trying one more night home but not reqlly wanting to I don’t know what to do with the place. Can’t sell it easy, and I can’t keep paying for a motel every night. But I also can’t go back out there after dark and pretend everything’s fine.

If you’re from around Hardin County and the woods have gone quiet on you lately… maybe just stay inside.

I visited the Eifel national park in Germany. I noticed feeling a bit weird and low energy walking through the forests of the northern region of the park. On one walk I even felt this urge to get out of there as soon as possible.
Usually I would put this towards anxiety or whatever, but I truly had no reason to not love this area as forests are my favorite place to be. I was wondering if anyone else experienced something similar in this area? Bad energy, bad vibes, darkness...

Hello all. So, about 10ish years ago, I was on a part of my grandparents property with a girl and we were laying on top of my car stargazing. We were there for all of maybe 15 minutes when we heard a low growl about 100 feet off. For reference the part we were on was a small chunk of open field sandwiched between a strip of woods and a swamp. We hear the growl and dont think much of it and go back to looking at the sky. Not 30 seconds later, we hear it again, but like 50 feet closer. Now, im starting to look around to see if I can see SOMETHING moving. Nada. So me, wanting to be the billy badass decides to stay there with the girl thinking "Yeah, im tough." 2 minutes later we hear it again and it sounds like its 6 inches away from our heads. We both look at each other and immediately jumped through the sunroof of my 98 Blazer and hoped right outta dodge. Now, ive spent my life growing up on every inch of that property. Daytime, nighttime, you name it. Ive hunted any type of animal you can think of out that way and have yet to find something even remotely close to what we heard. Ive gone back with the same car to see if it was the suspension maybe. Nope. Ive watched thousands of videos on any sort of logical animal thats native there. Nope. The closest thing I could maybe equate it to is maybe an old gray wolf. It was extremely deep and gutteral. But, wolves are not a tangible suspect being that they are really only prevalent in the U.P.. Cougars have been sighted as far south as Allegan in recent years but not that far back in time. I dont know what we heard, all I know is that its something that maybe doesn't belong there. Ive never heard it again and I dont think I ever will. Any suggestions are welcome if anyone has any ideas. Thanks in advance.

Anyone have any scary experiences in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, or PEI national or provincial parks? Unexplainable creatures, noises, shadows, etc. Looking for stories to share anonymously on a podcast I am starting!