This story takes place in northeast Washington state. There is a very creepy mine hidden tucked away deep in the northeast Washington state colville national forest close to the Idaho border.
I stumbled across it while rockhounding one day. It was a culvert you had to crawl thru to get to the entrance in the side of a mountain, people must’ve been little to get in n out of this place the opening only being 3ft wide by 3ft tall then as you got through the culvert you could see the mine.
The mine was barred off welded across by iron bars 3” thick every 8” or so. Behind it you could see a sign made years ago still legible saying Danger do not enter, mine could collapse, contain explosives yet detonated, extreme sudden drop offs, and low level oxygen.
As if that wasn’t enough to freak you out it was a smaller tunnel as I flashed my phone light down to see what I could see a round bored out rock that was drilled all the way through with about 6” of standing water on the floor of the mine.
I seen what I could and made my way back down the mountain through the forest to my parked car about 1/2 mile down the uncharted path of brush, sticks, ponderosa pines, and rocks tripping you up constantly. I got into my car and went home.
A friend had called me pretty drunk, asking me what I was up too? I said “pretty bored on a Friday night” he was already in the driveway honking. “Let’s Go” he said, I grabbed a sweatshirt and jumped in. It was my buddy Andrew his gf Ariel and I. I started drinking as they both were already pretty tuned up.
We were cruising backroads and I started to get a bit tipsy after 5-6 coors lights. I felt brave and said “hey I know of this mine hidden a ways up in the mountains wanna get flashlights n check it out” they were all excited “ hell yeah” Andrew said.
Little did I know that was one of the dumbest choices I have made unknowing of the terror that lies ahead. It was about 2 am when we set out towards the road where the mine was we got there and the road had been Kelly humped to avoid any further vehicle travel, we got out stumbling around making our way over the Kelly humps and started up the old US forest trail. It was pitch black so we used our phone flashlights to see.
We could only see about 5 ft in front of us as it was very dark. The trail was covered with foliage and brush making it a difficult but manageable trek. Then we heard it for the first time like a child crying alone in the woods off in the distance. We all looked at each other and paused. Thinking it was our mind playing tricks on us we kept onward toward the mine I had discovered during the daylight.
It wasn’t too far of a hike maybe 30 mins up the trail thru steep loose rock terrain. As we got closer a second time we heard the baby cries just briefly and it was much closer.
It was freakishly scary coming from towards the mine. As we got closer to the mine we heard a low growl then seen a silhouette of a tall skinny humanoid creature then it came into view, it had antlers and a sunken in body pale skin with patchy fur on the body, large hands with razor sharp claws and very long arms, White hollow eyes and a stench of death, It was bipedal but it’s long skinny legs looked broken as they were bent the wrong way, It was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen in my life, like something out of horror movie.
It then spoke the same thing I had just said moments ago to Andrew and Ariel stating “ cmon guys it’s just a little further ahead”. and sounded just like me without moving it’s mouth at all. that’s what did it for me and we all then knew we had been lured up closer to the cave by this thing as if it knew we were coming.
We all panicked and started to run back towards the car, everyone for themselves as we were unarmed, with the loose rock and Ariel being the slowest, she fell, and Andrew and I heard a shriek and screaming and thrashing as whatever it was had gotten Ariel.
Andrew and I expected the worst as we had made it back to flat ground still hearing what sounded like chewing crunching and just the most terrible sounds you could imagine.
We both made it out luckily got in the car and took off. I had to drag Andrew along as he didn’t want to leave Ariel behind, but we both knew that she was gone. frantic and still terrified we decided to go back up there at first light. The next morning we made our way back up the trail where Ariel was last seen only to find blood everywhere.
No pieces of ariels clothing and no sign of any remains. Did it take her whole body or consume it? What was that thing? We reported it to the police and they sent a search and rescue team to cover the whole mountainside within a ten mile radius.
They searched hard for a good week and came back with nothing no sign of anything. They called the search off. A couple days later we seen a few national guard vehicles and black SUVs with a helicopter searching the whole area.
That part of the forest became a restricted area with no access to the public. Nobody knew anything as they were keeping everything pretty secretive. Andrew and I were brought in for questioning by two guys in black suits.
They said “so your friend was mauled by a bear or cougar eh”. Andrew said “No it was something else, something not of this world”. The guy in the suit then said, “We don’t need to scare the public now saying some creature is loose in the national forest”. “So we need you both to sign a document stating that what you saw was just a normal forest animal and it attacked”. “We have everything taken care of so there’s no need to worry anymore”.
Andrew wanted to argue but these guys looked very serious and they meant business. So we did as we were told. And we could risk imprisonment if we ever spoke of this again. The Government knew what was up there and they either killed and disposed of it or captured it and moved it somewhere away from the public. They were acting very strange and secretive about everything.
Still no body, no Ariel, she just vanished no bones, clothing, or anything, so many people just vanish in the National Forest and are unaccounted for. The government covers up the truth to not scare people away from camping or spending time in the forests because it’s a money maker.
Now days you have to buy a pass just to park in nearly any national forest access. We know what we saw and many other people have seen or encountered similar creatures. Were they made to be quiet as well? What is really going on in the national forests. This experience has made me second guess ever going camping again.