This is a true story.
Five years ago I was working at at a popular outdoor gear retailer in a suburb north of Minneapolis. I was in my early 20s at the time, and just starting to collect enough gear to furnish my own camping trips.
I was living in an 4 bedroom apartment near the university with a few friends of mine. It was so much fun. Even though I had recently graduated, it had become the quintessential college experience for me.
Cycling was a big hobby of mine, too. I would often ride the 15+ miles it took me to commute to the store twice a day. I got really fit that way.
As the summer ended, our lease did too. I didn’t know where I wanted to live or what I wanted to do. As it turned out, another worker at the store had a spare bedroom that she would rent to me. I decided to take her up on it knowing that it was going to be a temporary. I could stay there for a month.
Unfortunately, I had procrastinated my search for a new living space and ended up being out on my ass for the month of October. I started thinking of options where I wouldn’t have to leave my job or move back in with my parents.
I figured I had enough gear, and if I put my large things in storage, I could adequately live out the month in campgrounds before my new lease started in November. I would park my car at the campsite, set up my tent, and then ride my bike into work. We had a shower and a kitchen at the store, so it was all working pretty smoothly.
Penny pincher and scofflaw that I am, I switched back and forth between two campgrounds. There was a nicer one to the west with proper facilities, and a primitive one to the north with nothing but a fire pit. At the western campground, I had to pay, but they had a place to take a shower and wash your dishes.
Eventually I figured out that I could get by without paying at the northern campground. If the park ranger came by in the morning, I would pay then. Sometimes they didn’t come at all. I was usually the only one out there, and I enjoyed the solitude for a time. Occasionally some teenagers would blast through the area to have a few beers or a quick bonfire, but never stay overnight.
I knew there were coyotes in the area as I could hear them hooping and hollering at night. If you’ve never heard a pack of coyotes, it can be one of the scariest things especially if you are out in the sticks on your own. I didn’t have any kind of self-defense; I’m a pacifist and bear spray isn’t required in that part of Minnesota.
The best thing to keep the coyotes from coming close to the campsite was to get a solid fire going. I would grab a few bundles of firewood each night and by the time I headed off to bed, the fire I had built would usually last until dawn. That was enough to keep me feeling safe out there.
One night, I woke up in the middle of the night to hear a completely different sound outside the tent. A loud huffing and snorting sound, like a large animal making aggressive noises. Even though I had just fallen asleep, my fire had already gone out.
I waited in the tent and made myself as quiet as possible. I could hear the animal moving around and all I knew was that it was large, angry and close to the tent. In my mind, it was a big buck or maybe even an elk.
Once I heard it begin to move away, I decided to get out of my tent to see if I could catch a glimpse of whatever it was. I didn’t see anything, but because it was almost a full moon that night I walked a ways into the field of tall grass next to the campground.
The grass was chest high in some places, and totally matted down in other spots that formed a trail. With the extra moonlight, it was easy to see where I was going, but I couldn’t see all the way across the field. I knew there was a pond in the middle of the field, houses lining one side, forest on the other, and beyond that a highway. I would guess it was no more than half a mile across, but over a mile deep. Far enough from the highway that I couldn’t hear the cars. I always hated that noise while camping.
I kept walking in the direction of the highway with the intent of making it to the lake and maybe seeing some herbivorous wildlife. They were probably just as scared of me as I was of them.
By the time I made it to the pond I was having a little spiritual moment. I stood near the edge on the matted and dried out grass just thinking about life and the experience I was having. Everything was black and white under the moon, in a surreal sort of way. Like an old movie. I looked toward the houses, the pond and then over to the forest. No wildlife this time, which came as a relief.
Feeling relaxed, I turned around and headed back to my tent to get the fire going again. It was halfway back when I saw it. On the side of the trail and hidden in the tall grass I saw a black gap. Investigative as I am, I walked over to it and looked into the field. First, I saw the shoes. As I scanned upward, I realized it was a dead body.
Gasping for air and goosebumps running all over my body, I took off running. I scrambled through the sleeping bag and other stuff in my tent to get my car keys and my phone. I had to get out of there. I almost spun out on the gravel road trying to get out of the campground. I drove to the nearest gas station and parked under the lights.
I called 911 and told them what I saw. They said they would send someone right away. About twenty minutes later, I saw a few county sheriff trucks whizz by, heading toward the campground entry. From where I was, I could see the bevy of police cars with sirens lighting up the night sky. I felt relieved that they were on the job.
I ended up waiting until morning in the gas station parking lot, half trying to sleep and the other half frantically thinking if what I had seen was real. As soon as it was fully light, I drove back to the campground to pack up my tent. I still couldn’t believe it.
The pathway entry to the field was cordoned off with police tape, with a few cop cars still in the campground parking lot. As I was packing up, an officer approached me and I gave a formal statement. He said thanks for doing what I did, and I asked if there was anything he could tell me about what they found.
He said no, that it was part of an active investigation and left it at that. I never heard anything else, and I haven’t gone camping since.