Anyone ever get the "There's something watching me" feeling?

Since you're all strangers I'll go ahead and admit I'm afraid of the dark, which is odd since I prefer to sleep in pitch black. Without a dog I'd never go out camping at night alone, not afraid of any animals, just because of all the weirdos out there and the you never know factor.

Two years ago in a campground I'm asleep and wife wakes me hears something outside the tent. She wakes me up, says she hears something. I get up and am going to go outside, when I hear a loud crash just up the hill from me in the campground. Then I hear what sounds like a large cat growl. I have a gun in my hand, am at the entrance to tent and ask my wife to go outside (I'm the shooter right, if there's a big cat it needs to be baited/focused so I can get a clear shot right? :) ) But as I'm listening the purring is very rythmic.

Turns out it was some guy a couple tents away that just snored so loud you could hear it 100' away where I was. the crash up the hill was because they were partying late.

I get creeped out in the dark all the time, never has been anything there yet but I still get spooked.

Red
 
A small get-together? But why the burned books? It was unsettling.[/QUOTE said:
probably some city folks partying and did not bring tinder or know how to build a decent fire used what ever they had with them to burn.
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My grandfather trained me from the time I could walk, he was a professional woodsman just as his father was before him. Spent most of my childhood in some training or another. Passed the time. Much like Grease said, "Size. Shape. Depth." Women tend to be lighter than men, and their feet smaller and more narrow. Several of the books were bibles, which is why it was strange.

Hehehe..wow..that man sounds like he could snore something fierce.. Doesn't sound safe for him to camp out..that snoring might send a big cat the wrong message..:eek: He might wake to find an amorous mountain lion in his tent!! :eek:
 
People shouldn't be afraid of the dark so much, but instead of what it hides. Yea, there are alot of weirdos out there. I've read many a report. One in particular gave me the creeps. I've read enough reports of campers being attacked/harrassed by weirdos that I won't go alone. I used to often as a kid,
hiking up into the mountains. Won't now. Times aren't what they used to be...
 
I feel more alert and threatened when it is just myself anf my daughter or wife. I have been in a few scraps and win lose or draw I am not overly worried for myself but having them and just me- there are now two people counting on me and two to pay the price if I am overwhelmed- plus the added draw for the weirdos.

I can just sleep in a bed of leaves if needed but with them, I wake at every sound and I have insurance on hand.

I get weirded out more in dark because I cannot see. Same thing happens if I am swimming and get water in my eyes.... I am not comfortable not being able to see clearly. Could being sucker punched a time or two cause that?? ;)

Bill
 
When I was in training at Ft. Knox I met a cavalryman from the Civil War one night on an FTX. We talked for a little while and he told me exactly how I would end my military career. Fast forward 2 years and I was laying in a hospital bed at BAMC, exactly as the old trooper said.

I was called a lot of things when telling this story, but my current shrink at the VA believes every word and shared his own experiences. He is a Cherokee with service in Korea and Vietnam.


Hmmm....it seems this thread is not about what I thought it was, my apologies, coffee hasn't kicked in yet.

Yes, when I am out and about I often feel as if I am being watched or stalked. 9 times out of 10 it is wildlife or my imagination (yaay PTSD), but every now and then it is someone. Last time it was a game warden. We scared the hell out of each other!
 
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Good stories! Idk if being sucker punched will do that to you or not, but it will make you more wary of people. My "best friend" kicked me in the coconuts a time or two--made me more wary, any time I saw that sneaky grin on her face I ran because I knew what she was up to.

The imagination can play tricks on us, and often it ends up scaring the snot out of us when it does happen. Sometimes it may be just a wariness, being too alert or expecting the worst..other times..look out. When I'm out and about in town, I watch the people around me and am wary of their intentions. I give a polite hello, smile and nod. I learned early in life to never judge a book by it's cover and stay alert.

Some people feel comforted by a gun on their side, others feel comforted by martial-arts training.. Me? A big dog, years of self-defense, and a
cannister of sabre spray..:D
 
My imagination is always running at a hundred miles an hour. Usually, it's at it's peak when I am in the woods or the field, at night, with a flashlight all over the place, maybe blundering right though a whole herd of deer. Big fat guy making enough noise to spook a herd of elephants with a big flashlight, the only creatures that are going to be in the vicinity are those on two feet planning a little thievery, and those on four looking for a midnight snack.

I have had a few times where my senses were heightened and the hairs went up on the back of my neck though. That urge to get the hell out. Sometimes. One of the strangest things that has happened to me is a coyote almost running into me, trying to get out of the driveway one night when I got home, he was probably trying to eat the cats (my brother almost hit a coyote on his dirt bike in the upper field, not even a hundred yards from the driveway). Lots of coyotes at home. I live in a rural area, I've always had the feeling that someone is watching me when I am on the back country roads, or on a trail. As long as I am not trespassing, and they don't come to the road to bother me, let 'em stare at fat people. I have a couple knives on me, a bottle of water and snack, and my walking stick. I always have dog biscuits for friendly pups, and a walking stick for the mean ones. One spring night, I was sitting a couple feet away from a bonfire in the garden, about an acre in size, about midnight, when I felt a presence. An animal I think may have been a skunk, raccoon or fox was walking just outside the light of the fire, which had burned down to embers. Of course my flashlight had gone out. I just remained perfectly still in the chair, with my small pocketknife that wouldn't have done a damn thing to the animal if it was rabid. It ambled through, took notice of me on the other side of the garden, grunted, and went through the brush. If it was a fox, and had called to her pups, even though I've heard momma fox holler for her pups a hundred times, that first yell chills my spine every time.

Supposedly, we don't have any large predators in my stomping grounds of central MD, DE and southern central PA. We have black bears in western MD, and every couple years a young male will travel through our area and get shot by DNR. Tales are prevalent about Bigfoot up here, but the majority of sightings have been in an area next to a powerplant, long known for it's illegal organic substances ;).
 
Funny you should bring this up. Just the other morning I had this feeling while in a treestand bowhunting. It just kept nagging at me...this feeling of being watched. I dunno what it was, probably some silly over exaggeration of my imagination!

DSCN0067.jpg

BTW, deer hunters, seldom, if ever, look up! ;)
 
Dan57 said:
Cool! How good are you at reading tracks? I'm always impressed with people who can do stuff like that.
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I'm not :p

I'm actually just assuming that males are generally larger and heavier than females. So they would make a longer/wider and deeper track.

I do know that you can measure a persons height by the length of their stride, but I forget what the math is on that one...
 
Was training for a ascent up my country's highest mountain in a state park with hiking friend. He was noisy all the time and talkative but this time he walked ahead of me.
Unusually quiet through out the course and especially muted when we past through a stone wall on both side and the hair on my back just stood like grasses in winter;up and wet. Indeed there's something i could feel was watching us.
Upon returning to the car park i asked the fellow friend why he was silent. He told me this:
Dude why do you think i let you walk behind me? The thing you mentioned has followed us through out the walk and always behind you.

My goosebumps went on like the one on Turkey.

I made it a point everytime i go into bush or jungle i asked for "permission"
 
Many years ago I had two such incidents when I was a paperboy on the outskirts of Indianapolis. Both incidents happened when I was 12-13 years old and had already had the route for about three years so I was very used to the houses and streets and walking around at 5 am.

In the first incident, it was in July or August so it was getting light nice and early. The route was in the suburbs and everyone wanted their paper on the front porch so I just walked from house to house. I was almost done with the route, with only about 15 houses to go and suddenly the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I got the feeling that I was being watched and followed. The feeling continued almost until the end of the road. I tried looking but I could never see anyone or anything.

The next day I took my 7 cell flash light with me as well as two knives. Same spots, same feeling. This continued for a few days. Finally I had one of my friends stay overnight and do the route with me the next morning. I said nothing to him about what was going on. We would just walk down the center of the street and he would deliver to the house on the right and I would take the one on the left and then we would meet back in the street and go on. When we got to the area at the end of the street, I felt the hair on my neck stand up again. He immediately turned around and looked behind us. He then stated that he thought we should walk together for the rest of the houses.

I told my folks what was going on, and a couple of my customers were early risers so I told them too in case I needed to bang on their door, then after about three weeks it just stopped. It came back again about a month later and lasted for about a week and then I never felt it again.

Second incident was very strange. One of the streets had eight houses back in the woods. To get back to the houses you had to come out to the road and go across a bridge over a creek or else ford the creek through the woods. Usually I walked out to the bridge. This time as I walked down the driveway out to the bridge I noticed that there was a car parked on the bridge with no lights on. I just walked straight across the street to the next house. Then I ducked behind that house and took off my paper bag and just grabbed the papers for the houses in the woods. I went down through the woods and forded the creek and made my way back to the houses and delivered the papers. Now I was coming up behind the car and it was still parked on the bridge. I could hear other people in the woods. I went back to one of my customers who was usually awake early and knocked on their door and called my dad and the deputy sherriff and then went back on the front porch to wait. I could hear voices but could not make out what they were saying.

Couple of minutes later I heard a car door close. About three minutes after that dad showed up along with the sherriff. Dad had passed a car on his way down so the sherriff tried but never found it.

The next morning I felt like I was being watched. I turned around and there was a beautiful, massive german shepard about 10 feet behind me. I knew all the dogs on the street and he did not belong. He did not bark, did not growl and did not attack. He also would not let me get close to him. He just stayed 8-10 feet behind me and followed me while I delivered to those 8 houses in the woods and then he would disapear once I went back over the bridge.

This went on for about a month. One afternoon I was out collecting (getting paid) from the houses in the woods and there he was again. I was trying to talk to him and make friends and a man came walking down the street and called the dog by name. Come to find out This dog had been a guard dog at a car dealership that evolved into a family pet.

The man told me that suddenly one morning the dog was at the back door wanting to go out. This was odd because the dog never wanted to go out at 5:30 am. Twenty minutes later he came in and went to sleep. This had been going on every morning. That afternoon when I was collecting, the dog suddenly bolted out of the yard and his owner decided to follow him and see where he was going. He was going to walk me through the woods.

The dog continued to escort me for about another three weeks then stopped. I never saw a car on the bridge again.

Sorry I rambled so long.
 
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Good stories, good stories!! Hehe, helps me to keep my mind off of my knee...had a little slip yesterday.
 
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