Spooky Hanging

[Iafte]

Last year, I had a hiking trip set and we had planned on leaving on Friday and doing 4 miles to start the trip. Well, I had to work and my hiking buddy had a wedding to go to. So we tell the other 2 who are going that we will meet them out there and jockey the cars then do the 4 miles.

So after a overheating radiator and jockeying the cars(had to move other friends car to the 49 mile mark.) we started hiking at 4am. I started seeing things soon there after. Multiple times I thought I saw a tent off to the side but when I would look that way there would be nothing there.

So, 5:30am rolls around, first day of (insert small bird here) hunting. So there I am, trucking along when I glance up and see two silouetts(sp?) standing on the trail. Now, by glance up I mean I lifted my head for 1 sec then dropped it right back down to watch the trail. It took a second or two to register what I just thought I saw so I looked up. Man, I almost crapped myself right there. Standing 10 feet in front of me where two hunters heading out to their hunting spot. We all got a good laugh out of that one.


Last trip I woke up to lights flashing all around my tarp. Sitting there for a minute I thought it was a bunch of kids coming into the camp to scare or take stuff. Because I kept hearing someone speaking. When I realized it was my youngest trying to wake up my oldest, I stumbled over to him in the dark and told him to go back asleep. That's when I realized the light show was lightning bugs blinking like crazy all around us. There where so many it was lighting up the area's they where by. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen. Oh, a little earlier I got snorted at by a dear. Good thing I knew what it sounds like, might have needed to clean my hammock in the stream otherwize.

[phaserrifle]

not spooky, but it was at the time.

about this time last year, before I got a hammock, i was on camp with the rest of my explorer group. as we had access to the campsites various facilities usualy reserved for staff (because the group is attached to the site) we where able to use the tv in the staff lounge area. each year the group film our own short film (about 20mins long) and we decided to watch the first of these (from before I had joined) for Ideas for our next endevour. the film was a horror based movie entitled "duct tape" and centered around a group of explorers who go camping (in the woods on site) and then get picked of one by one by a person who's face is never seen due to a mask made out of duct tape (hence the name) the others then began to watch a film that I had seen before and hated, so I decided to turn in early. we where all sleeping on a platform we had constructed in the trees, and so after climbing up I began to set up my sleeping bag ect. my torch failed leaving me navigating by the light of my phone screen. then I start to hear someone approaching. I have never managed to produce a knife so fast in my life (not that iv'e tried)

Apparently I looked like a right wally, as I was semi-crouched, with my phone held extended straight out infront of me, a swiss army knife in my right hand, and a look of bladder trembling fear on my face.

[Cannibal]

Worst day/night on the AT; spooky too. The night I fell.

Most of you know about the night I tied to a "rafter" that turned out to be a board with two nails in it. The result was predictable other than the fact that I walked out the next day.

Now, the rest of the story. My back hurting very bad and it being 12:33 am, I didn't want to make even more noise trying to get my hammock set back up (because everyone knows I don't sleep on the ground and you've got to climb back up when you get thrown). So, I had a fellow hanger (sleeping on the ground) help me set it up on the porch outside the tarp wall of the shelter.

About an hour passes and I actually fell asleep when this God-awful noise comes from the direction of the blue-blazed shelter trail. I have no way to reproduce this sound, in fact, I believe my brain is actively trying to forget the sound all together. It was kind of a cross between bird and mammal and straight out of a King novel, or worse. It had a cadence; three bursts of sound followed by two longer cries. The bursts were actually composed of about 3 different octaves each. This sound was beyond scary. I layed in my hammock trying to will myself invisible when it came again...closer. If I had to guess, I'd say it was about 50yds from the shelter. It sounded out again 4 or 5 times from the same location, then nothing.

Again, I'm outside, alone, and injured. I know outside is a relative term, I mean a tarp wall is hardly a barrier, but I sure felt outside. I first tried to rationalize the sound as being somebody just messing with us. However, I don't think it possible for a person to make the noises we were hearing. It was a full shelter (about 10 or 12) and from the other side of the tarp I hear whispered voices "What the hell is that?" - "I don't know, but it sure is creepy." - "Yea, tell me.".

My response ... yelled: "Try sleeping alone out here you A-holes!" Once everybody stopped laughing we slept the rest of the night with no creature paying us visit or singing to us anymore.

We had a couple of hardcore outdoor types in the shelter that night who spend more time in the woods hunting/hiking/fishing than the rest of us put together and they didn't have a clue what it was. I asked everybody that would listen for the next 2 weeks and got all kinds of crazy answers, but none of them seemed to fit. I'll be avoiding that shelter in the future. Not because I fell, but because of what I heard.

[slowhike]

Cannibal... I'm surprised you don't know what made that sound... I just saw your post over on the Big Foot thread<G>.

And I'll bet I know who that ground sleeping hammocker was

[Cannibal]

Cannibal... I'm surprised you don't know what made that sound... I just saw your post over on the Big Foot thread<G>.

And I'll bet I know who that ground sleeping hammocker was

Nope, Nest was a few days in front of me at that point.

It was a character named Yazzie that I actually hiked with for about 80% of the time. He got his hammock back when it got warmer; he's a cold weather weenie.

[RonW]

Hi All: This story comes from my pre-hanging days. There are no appearances of the undead, zombies with a craving for freeze dried spaghetti, nor hockey-masked maniacs, nor Blair Witches, but I still hope you'll enjoy it.
I was backpacking solo on the WEST RIM TRAIL, along the PA Grand Canyon of the East, southwest of Wellsboro. Happily snoozing away in my Eureka Timberline, I was startled awake by a horrendous snort, not 6 feet away. Yes... it was a just a deer, wondering what was strinking up the forest from inside that tent, but it scared the hell out of me... all 100 decibels of it. When I jumped, it must have returned the scare of a lifetime to him, as he took off on a dead run, thashing, crashing thru the woods for the better part of a solid minute before he finally faded out. I just managed to get a glimpse of the raised tail with the beam of my flashlight. Thinking that was about all the excitement allowed for one evening, I checked my watch - 1:45 AM - and drifted off again.
4 AM - I'm startled awake again by a sloooow scratching sound beneath my head. I begin feeling around under the sleep pad, and slithering beneath me is a frickin' SNAKE! Separating me from the serpent was a ground cloth, tent floor, sleep pad, and sleeping bag. I initially felt and heard the slithering near my head..... I followed the slithering form's shape ALL THE WAY TO MY... FEET!!! This son of a gun was over 5 feet long and the diameter of a baseball bat. So now, I'm beating on this spawn of satan for all I'm worth, and he moves on more quickly - probably as confused as I was.
With my visitor gone, somehow I managed to fall asleep again, this time until morning. It took me about 10 minutes with a readied trekking pole and pile of large rocks at hand to finally get the nerve to lift the tent to stab and bludgeon this thing into oblivion. Luckily he was nowhere to be found, but you could easily see the furrow he made beneath the tent. He had apparently COILED RIGHT UP beneath me, no doubt enjoying the warmth of his host, right up until the moment where said host began beating on his head MAN, do I hate snakes! THE END

[gunn parker]

It was kind of a cross between bird and mammal and straight out of a King novel, or worse. It had a cadence; three bursts of sound followed by two longer cries. The bursts were actually composed of about 3 different octaves each. This sound was beyond scary.

Sounds like you found or he found you, MOTHMAN

[Cannibal]

Sounds like you found or he found you, MOTHMAN

"One of the early theories is that the Mothman was a misidentified Sandhill Crane, which, in the late 1960s had been a problem in surrounding regions. Sandhill cranes can reach a height of six feet, achieve wingspans of 10 feet, have the general appearance described, glide for long distances without flapping, and have an unusual shriek. Other recent theories suggest the possibility of the Mothman being a barn owl, an albino owl, or perhaps a large Snowy Owl (based on artists' impressions)."

It wasn't an owl and I don't think it was a Sandhill Crane (although I never considered it), so I'll go with Mothman.

[Iafte]

Again, I'm outside, alone, and injured. I know outside is a relative term, I mean a tarp wall is hardly a barrier, but I sure felt outside. I first tried to rationalize the sound as being somebody just messing with us. However, I don't think it possible for a person to make the noises we were hearing. It was a full shelter (about 10 or 12) and from the other side of the tarp I hear whispered voices "What the hell is that?" - "I don't know, but it sure is creepy." - "Yea, tell me.".
.

Did it sound like this??

[Cannibal]

Did it sound like this??

Who knew there were soooooo many owl calls! Whew.

These three each had an aspect that was familiar and maybe if they were combined it would be close, but there was something very distinct about the sound that night. I'd swear it was mammalian.

Bubo scandiacus - Snowy Owl
Typical Calls

Otus scops - Common Scops Owl, Eurasian Scops Owl
Typical Call

Strix varia / occidentalis - Hybrid Species
Hybrid Call Call of a Hybrid Barred / Spotted Owl (Strix varia / occidentalis)

Personally, I hope to never, ever, hear it again.