I'm going to be perfectly honest––I'm a city boy. I'm not a huge fan of hiking or camping. I happen to be a huge fan of running water. Have you heard of it? It's great. Highly recommended.
I've also, on a more humorous note, watched far too many horror films over the years and don't particularly like idea of running off into the woods only to piss off some demon that was perfectly fine until I arrived. I also have immense respect for our friendly neighborhood serial killers and demonstrate this regularly by staying out of their territory.
Those who love the great outdoors had plenty to share after Redditor spasticpat asked the online community,
"What's the creepiest experience you've ever had while camping?"
"It's pretty funny now..."
"When I was a kid, we used to go on camping trips in the summer with my parents' caravan. One year, my sister and I decided that we wanted to sleep in a small tent instead, which was set up directly in front of the caravan. We didn't even make it one night.
Every now and then the both of us clearly heard the sound of something rubbing against the tent. We were scared sh******, because we thought someone was walking around our tent. I don't remember how we got out of the tent, I guess we started screaming for our parents at one point or something. My father took a look around and we tried again but after a while, heard the same sounds again. We ended up sleeping in the caravan anyway.
A few days later we still didn't want to sleep in the tent, so my father started to disassemble it. Turns out, some animals built tunnels directly under the tent and in doing so, rubbed against the bottom wall. We didn't notice anything, because we were lying on inflatable mattresses, we only heard the sound of them, rubbing against the wall.
It's pretty funny now, but damn were we creeped out at the time."
"When we were exploring..."
"When we were exploring the Australian Outback as university students, my friend and I found an old, tightly wrapped plastic bag with five or six damaged wallets along shrubbery at the base of a cliff.
The only reason we opened it up was because we were so remote - hundreds of kilometres from any town or tourist attraction - that it was strange to see garbage out there. All the cards were in female names and birthdates placed them in their late teens to early 20s. Some lived in the Northern Territory but one was in Sydney and another from Queensland. At the time we figured rock climbers must have stored their valuables in the bag and then lost track of it. I'll never forget the strange look the police officer gave us when we handed them in."
"A recliner on a small hill..."
""A recliner on a small hill with a hole dug out in the middle and water bottles all over the place."
"...do you report..."
"A trashed campsite complete with the tent cut open...
...do you report these things, or what?"
Probably.
But the creepy forest spirit would probably get you first.
"I was walking in a thick forest..."
"I was walking in a thick forest and came across an opening. In the center, there was a shack made of lumber, with a bench built into it that was slightly leaned back.
The walls were completely plastered in porn."
People Break Down The Best Purchases They've Ever Made | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
"When I got up in the morning..."
"I was camping in the woods one weekend.
When I got up in the morning someone had made a cup of tea and partially drank it and left it out next to my fire.
It was a solo camp."
You see?
That's just unnerving.
I wouldn't be able to shake the feeling of being watched.
"My friends and I..."
"I was backpacking with a few friends. A few days in the middle of nowhere, a man approached our camp as we were cooking dinner to say hi. We talked about our routes for a few minutes. Out of nowhere, he told us that he had had a vasectomy in his 30s after his 2nd child. Then somehow his wife had gotten pregnant with his 3rd child. He didn't believe this was possible, so he demanded a DNA test to see if he was actually the father. He was. Still, he explained that he had his doubts and thought that his wife must have fixed the DNA test.
My friends and I were in our 20s and had no idea why this guy was telling us this. We all just nodded and smiled.
The man stopped talking and then just walked away into the night."
dring157"
Yeah... no.
The idea of running into random people out in the middle of nowhere is not my idea of a good time.
"It was a bright..."
""I stepped in and fell over a cow carcass on a night hike. It was a bright moonlit night but I didn't see it in the shadows. Thankfully it was mostly dry."
"Later on..."
"I was in the woods with three friends at night. A friend's house was nearby and I was getting hungry so I went inside to find some food. Another friend came inside with me. Two friends were still outside.
Later on, one of the two who outside came in and sees the indoor friend on the couch next to me. They panic and immediately run back outside.
I poke my head out the door asking what's going on, only to hear them yell as loudly as they can, "THAT'S NOT KEVIN"
Everyone comes inside and calms down a bit, and the story comes out. They thought the friend who was indoors with me (Kevin) had been outside with them this entire time. Why? Because in the darkness of the woods they saw a silhouette about the same height walking alongside them silently, then at some point it ran away and they were chasing it thinking Kevin was running off for some reason. The reason my friend yelled, "That's not Kevin" was to stop the last outdoor friend from chasing whoever was out there deeper into the woods.
We still have no idea who that was or why they didn't even speak."
"Had she slid down..."
"Went hiking with my dad one day over a ridge. A girl from the group in front of us tripped and slid down one side and was just able to hold on to the tiniest branch from the only tree around. Had she slid down all the way she certainly would be dead or massively injured!"
Noooope.
Nope.
Nope.
Nope.
You see, this is why I don't go camping.
Have some creepy stories of your own? Feel free to tell us about them in the comments below!
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
@nyknicks/X
@RaqiThunda/X
@SLCLunk/X
@thegodshow.com/Bluesky
