Here's some more 2 legged creepy, sorry if it's too long. Don't expect an amazing story or anything. If you all care though, the second story is actually what prompted me to discover bladeforums:
I had a bad experience once as a boyscout, camping out in the cut. Long story short, we thought the camp site was haunted because stuff kept moving around disappearing, then reappearing. Then stuff started falling from the sky, branches, pine cones, rocks. Took us about two days to figure out the yokels were terrorizing us. They eventually started using a slingshot, so we packed up, and packed out. Truthfully we were scared s***less, because we never saw them.
Recently, however (about 6 months ago or so) I had my creepiest run in yet. For the record, I don't get frightened too easily, especially by people. But since we are talking about hairs standing up on our necks, and things that just don't feel right:
*As a preface, early last season my pack was stolen, and my gear with it. I hadn't replaced it yet at the time.*
My Lady and I (we had only been dating a couple months) decide to go out on a hike, a pretty casual one, but in a fairly uninhabited by other hikers kind of area. It's one of those sunny, mild days, where the birds are all out, the air is crisp, and in the morning and the evening you need a jacket. Before setting out we stop to get a map, and a ranger mentions if we plan to be out long, we ought to take a light with us. I remember thinking at the time "we don't need a light" but decided better safe than sorry, so I went back to the car, rummaged around, and found this cheap first aid kit that had a worse than made in china plastic flashlight in it...I'm talking one of those tiny cheap flashlights that costs less than a buck, made out of translucent plastic so thin and brittle you could literally crush it into bits if you stepped on it, and the slightest whack and the thing would just crack into pieces...
So keep in mind, my pack had been stolen about a year earlier, and I hadn't done any hiking since. This was just supposed to be a casual hike. So we set out with two walmart hiking poles, the chintzy flashlight, and a winchester mini pocket tool with a pen blade, some water and some snacks. At the time, this felt like overkill. My Lady actually teased me about "we're not going to need a flashlight..."
In an effort to be brief, the hike was beautiful. The only things we were thinking about were the beauty of nature, the smell of the sea air, and each other. It was so nice, that we ended up hiking about 6 miles in from the nearest trailhead. Not to far at all. It was so peaceful, we only ran into a couple other people the whole time. It was just me and her. We continued to hike until we reached the end of the trail, and found ourselves on an outcropping staring out at the sea. We sat there and ate some snacks, had a great time. We ended up dozing off for a few, just laying in the sun relaxing and enjoying each other.
So we wake up, and eat some more. Keep talking. It's so private out here and removed, not one of those regular hiking trails with no privacy. We actually start foolin around a bit etc. Eventually I decide we ought to get moving. We have about 6 miles or so to hump back, and its getting toward late afternoon/early evening.
It is at this exact moment that I look up and see two men, standing about 50 yards from us with cameras looking right at us. I was really annoyed, because we were having a very private moment, and the area we were in was far removed. Also, it situated such that while being private and secluded, to get to it, you have to walk about 100 yards or so in a beeline where you can see exactly what is going on. Had I walked around the bend off trail, and seen a private alcove on an outcropping like this and two lovers obviously having a moment, I would have just turned around. It's a very private feeling spot that we found (no pun intended.) But these guys didn't turn around and head back. Also I know the area well, and this wasn't one of those "known about" spots, it's really removed. But then again I don't own the land, so its not my right to say who can and can't be there...
I was annoyed, but I didn't give it a second thought. So the two men keep walking towards us to our private spot, we just keep talking, looking at the ocean. Eventually they arrive at the outcropping. And here is where it just isn't right. They don't look at us. They don't say Hi. Nothing. When hikers see each other, especially so far out, you always say Hi. These guys don't say a damn thing. And looking back...they didn't take one single picture. They just stood there staring out at the ocean, not saying a word, and not acknowledging us. Like I said before, I'm not afraid of people. But something just didn't sit right with me...she and I just kept talking away, but at the back of my mind my instincts were nagging me. So she asks me if I want leave now, but I said "in a few". I decided to wait these guys out, as I for some reason didn't want them behind us on the trail. After about 25 minutes or so, they headed out, back down the trail. FYI once back on trail, it is very linear without any intersecting trailheads for about 4 miles.
As soon as they leave, she looks at me and says "They sure were creepy." I paused for a second, but then continued our conversation. After about 25 minutes or so we decided to head out. At this point, I knew we needed to get moving because we were going to hit dusk if we had a slow pace. We get to it, and I purposefully try to keep our pace quick. We just keep talking away, laughing etc. After the 100 hundred yards I had already forgot all about our visitors. We keep our pace up on this linear trail we are on, not seeing a single other person the whole time. The sun keeps falling, we keep walking, it is beautiful..
With about three miles left to go, evening turns into dusk, and it starts to get a bit chilly. She puts on her jacket. We are both tired at this point. As the trail starts to descend toward the forrest (we had been under open skies thus far), all of a sudden I get the absolute CHILLS. The hairs on the back of my neck stand straight up, and I cock my head to one side. She looks at me and asks "what?" I tell her nothing and we keep walking. She is talking up a storm at this point, and I'm just listening to her talk. About 10 minutes later, I hear some branches cracking behind us. Not wanting to alarm her, I casually look behind us while she is talking. No one should be on the trail. We went to the end, and didn't see a single other person besides the two men that crashed our make out spot, and we left 30 minutes after them. So what do I see? About 100 yards back, two men, that look identical to the ones we saw (hard to tell as it was almost dusk out).
We keep walking, and then it suddenly hit me. Who could be on the trail? We didn't see anyone else. More importantly, we had been keeping a very spirited pace, you would have to try to keep pace with us with how fast we had been walking.
The hair on my neck and that "feeling" continued. Another minute and I look back, now I only see 1 person, but it is one of the two I had just seen a minute before. We were walking fast. My mind starts racing...something feels off...I decide to assess the situation. I take stock. All I have on my is a slip joint pen blade, and two super crappy hiking poles, and this crap flashlight. Suddenly I realize, while I'm probably over reacting, I'm not able to guarantee her safety against two. Assuming no guns, I'm reasonable confident against one person, no matter who he is, that at the very least they won't lay a hand on her. But two? Can't make that promise.
So I decide right then and there, that it isn't worth the risk to find out, and we need to lose these people. I don't want her to worry so I tell her casually "it's getting dark, we need to walk as fast as possible." She seems disconcerted by my change in tone, and me interrupting our conversation. So of course she starts to argue "what do you mean dark, look...there is plenty of light out! We are fine." So I stare at her and say "Better safe than sorry." She submits, and we start walking as fast as possible, almost a jog.
And this is where I feel a loss of control: My instincts had been firing off the whole time. We are tired, it's dusk headed for twilight, and as I look back, now there are two men again, except this time they are twice as close. We keep walking fast. She is still talking up a storm, totally unawares. I am aware that whoever these guys are, they are purposefully trying to catch up with us, because you would have to run or jog to do so. I'm a fast walker by default, and we were hauling ass. Not cool. I look back again about 30 seconds later...even though we were practically running, they aren't any farther away, by the look of it, even maybe 10 yards closer.
It's now dusk, and as the path continues we continue to descend and end up under a very thick tree canopy. The farther we go in, the darker it gets. I turn the flashlight on. Nothing. Shake it. Ok now light. The dimmest crappiest light I've ever seen. A keychain light is like batman's spotlight in comparison. We keep walking fast. I'm getting downright worried. Not wanting to alarm her, but wanting to keep as low a profile as possible, I ask her cooly "hey you know if we talk less and are more quiet, we might see some cool wildlife." She agrees and we stop talking, and keep walking fast fast fast. I continue to keep an eye behind us, nothing. They are gone. A bit of relief washes over me, I relax a little bit. Then she stumbles and annoyed says "why are we walking so fast?" Before I could answer, I hear a rustle, and we both look up and behind us. Coming around the bend, entering into the forest are two men. She appears startled. I tell her "Look, I didn't want to alarm you, but they have been behind us for awhile. We've been walking really really fast, but they keep walking faster. Don't freak out, but we need to keep moving as fast as possible. I'm sure it's nothing, but I don't want to find out." So she says "Do you think its those two creepy guys from before? Those guys gave me the chills." I told her I didn't know, and got us moving again, this time, basically a jog.
As we continue, it is now getting dark very very quickly, something I had forgotten: If its dusk out in the open, in a thick wood it is dark. And it started to get very dark, very quickly. We stop for a second look behind us with the flashlight, and they are even CLOSER. It is dead quiet out, and they aren't talking at all. With our back turned and practically jogging, I can hear them and it almost sounds like they are running to keep up with us. At this point she is very alarmed, senses my fear, and says "I'm scared baby! What if they have a gun?"
I don't know what possessed me to do this, but I turned off the flashlight, gave it to her, grabbed her hand and told her "If anything happens, you take the flashlight and your hiking pole, and you run down that trail carefully (she is a runner) and don't stop until you hit the road and find people." She replies "What's going to happen?" And I say "We aren't going to find out."
I take her hand, and we start running. After about 25 yards the trail has a bend in it, with a heavily wooded gully to the right. I grab her, pull her off trail with me, and push through the vegetation about 5 meters down toward the gully. I pull her down with me into the bushes and push her head low, I crouch as low as possible almost laying down, looking up and to my left at the trail. We wait.
Honestly I don't know how long it was, It seemed like forever we waited. The blood was pulsing in my ears. She tried to ask to me a question I said "Shhhhh...". She looks pale and scared. After what seemed like a lifetime, (probably only 45 seconds to a minute) we hear soft, quick footsteps. Around the ben two figures, barely distinguishable by the moonlight come towards us very quickly, with flashlights. They stop about 10 feet from where we went off trail and start shining their flashlights around. I hear them whispering...almost indistinguishable. The only words I could make out were "where...go?? ... "damnit.." ... "told you.." .... "hot ass." At the last one, she must have heard it too, because I could feel her breathing quicken. We waited. Finally after searching around for probably 30 seconds, they whispered something again and started jogging in the direction we had been moving. We waited 10 minutes or so, I can't be sure. I walked her down into the gully, crossed the small stream there, and up the other side. We followed a deer path in the general direction of the trail head being very careful to be quiet, she was very nervous. We made our way toward the road and where our car was parked. Upon spotting it, we paused before exiting the wood to make sure no one was around. We walked swiftly to the car, got in and drove off.
Sorry I guess this was a long one. But let me say this:
I've never felt so vulnerable before in my life. And it wasn't because of my safety. It was hers. I couldn't guarantee it. And yes nothing happened. In fact, after a few minutes of driving and the heater and some tunes, we were both laughing again and she was pondering if perhaps we over-reacted. Maybe so. Who knows? But I'm glad we didn't stick around to find out. I will never go out unprepared again. I immediately started building a new up to date survival/hiking/camping kit up. I found bladeforums, bought the best flashlights money can buy, and now carry a worthy blade again every day, and have a nice fixed blade in my hiking kit.
Thanks for listening, sorry again for the length.
. A lot of the places I go hiking are fairly close to working farms or developments, but on some stretches just get an eerie feeling. Like this one, the Howard Tunnel. Only 2 or so miles to hike to off the parking lot, beautiful area. Must be a helluva party at night, those Civil War ghosts sure do like to raise hell. Raises the hackles on the back of my neck whenever I walk through the tunnel. Not my pics. 
