My unexplained camping story from the Ozarks in arkansas
Sorry if the grammar is bad, I really just wanna get this story out as it's very weird and scary to me.
Back in around 2023 I was camping around the crows hole I think along the buffalo river. At the campground there's no service and I was 16 at the time, I wanted to text my friends so I walked probably half a mile up the road till I got service at this tree that had a right angle bend in it, and a small clearing behind me which I thought was pretty and unique. I sat there until sundown texting friends brain rotting etc. it got dark and all the sudden the bugs went dead quiet I know that's not a good sign growing up in the woods so I went quiet to muting my phone. And I heard what I thought was a person circling behind me so I used my phone flashlight (which was pretty shitty) to illuminate the clearing behind me. But whatever was back there was just out of the light of my phone. I heard the park rangers there were rude so I called out asking if anyone was there, the steps stopped, most definitely bipedal. Then continued maybe a minute later, I was spooked and ran down the hill to get my mom's now ex. I told him what happened so he told me to bring him to the spot and we'd bring the big flashlight. So we go back, and I sit at my bent tree again and text while he stands around impatiently probably thinking I was a dramatic teenager. Until maybe 10 minutes into sitting I heard the steps again and I looked at him, his face told me he heard it too. He used the flashlight that illuminated probably 10 feet past the clearing illuminating probably 20-30 feet into the woods. Whatever it was moved just in time out of the light all we saw was a single bush next to a tree moving suddenly as the light illuminated it. Like something jumped just out of the light and possibly behind the tree? I saw what I think was a yellow eye illuminated in the light for a second before there was nothing except the sound of something circling the edge of the darkness again. It was heavy my mom's ex thought it could be a park ranger toy so he called out but nothing responded again. I'm not sure if it was the eerie vibe overall or something else but my mom's ex told me to run suddenly and I did run, we both ran all the way back to the campsite I remember hearing something running in the woods alongside us, but that could've been an echo of us running. When we got back I begged my mom to take me home that night and apparently the other campers/ the family friends camping with us also heard something in the woods that night but of course it's the Ozark woods so who knows what animals it could've been.
If anyone has any idea or any similar stories I'd love to hear this still freaks me out today and I refuse to go back to that campsite, sorry for the long post I appreciate anyone who reads it!