It all happened one night, maybe a decade ago, with me (CJ) and two of my friends, Katie and Sarah*. We were all in our early twenties, borderline nocturnal, and all always itching for some sort of fun late night adventure.
So of course when one warm late spring night Katie offered up the suggestion for us to go tromp through the woods of a local park, me and Sarah were all too happy to join in. We made sure we had flash lights, water, pocket knives and some smokes, and made our way into the woods, making sure to park about a half mile away as to not draw attention from local authorities. Everything was going well enough, we went into the woods, and paused in a clearing with mostly mud as the floor.
I’m naturally a slower walker and I was bringing up the rear, my light on the ground to watch my footing, and some symbols in the dirt caught my attention. Just as I said “Hey guys–”, Katie sat on top of them, messing them up. It looked like Sarah’s shoes had kicked them up as well.”Y’all, I was trying to make out these symbols on the ground, check them out!”
Katie got up and we tried to make sense of the messed up symbols but couldn’t, and as we were talking in the clearing we heard a branch snap and all look up like startled deer. “What was that??” I whispered.
Katie, picking up a small rock and tossing it in the direction of the noise, wrote it off and said “Ah that’s gotta just be a raccoon or something.” Nothing seemed to get startled at the rock, no further movement was heard at the moment, but there was something uneasy in the pit of my stomach.
Something else rustled in the forest, bigger this time, and we all put our flashlights up at attention. “Anyone else feel a little uneasy?” I ask.
“Oh we’re fine,” Sarah says, with an eye roll.
“It’s just a deer, they’re real skittish around here,” said Katie, rustling a bush and throwing another stone. Again, no signs of anything fleeing the area.
Another rustling, sounding even bigger this time, the knot in my stomach growing. “Guys, come on, let’s go.”
“Oh you’re just Scooby Doo-ing it!”
“Yeah get a grip, Courage!”
“Well do y’all wanna stick around and get stabbed by a local hobo? Come on, I swear I’m really getting a weird feeling!”
Eventually, my friends oblige and we leave the clearing, the hair on my arms still standing on end as we ventured deeper into the woods. Maybe an hour goes by before we find a little ‘cave’ (more like a rock formation that worked like a lean-to) and we pit stop. We chat, light some smokes, they rib me about being a little bitch in the clearing. You know, the usual midnight when you’re young and dumb.
We were interrupted, though, by the sound of dirt bikes.
“Who the hell is going through these woods so late at night??” I muse aloud.
“Probably some dumb teenagers,” Sarah scoffed.
“Wanna go see if we can track em?” Katie suggested, a little gremlin spark in her eye. We all smirked with her, gathered our things, and followed our ears to the area we heard the dirt bikes. We were having a great time stalking our way through the woods, giggling and whispering amongst ourselves. But then we realized.
“Do you guys hear the dirt bikes anymore?” Sarah piped up.
“Now that you mention it, no, and do you see any tire marks in the ground??” I reply, shining my flashlight around our feet. “This would be about where they were, right?”
All of a sudden, the three of us felt the air get thick, it felt like static as goosebumps raised every last body hair we had. There was this feeling in the air for us to leave immediately, but not to run because we would have started a chase. Quietly and quickly, we turned and left the woods.
On the way out, Katie revealed that she saw something with a white face and black, empty eyes peer out from behind a tree before we realized it was time to go. Once we left the woods, we saw that face again at the edge of the trees. We smudged ourselves immediately once we got home, and thankfully were not followed. After some time to calm down and talk, we realized that the sound of those dirt bikes could have been a way to lure us back to that clearing, since that was the direction we were headed, the ghoul playing on our sense of curiosity and desire to run amok. I can imagine some other hikers may not have been so fortunate.
ETA: *names have been changed to protect privacy and whatnot