You will never believe what happened. It was a hot Summer night, and I was camping in the woods with three of my friends. These woods have always been shrouded in mystery, and local folklore tales say that the forest is haunted. But my friends and I, feeling adventurous, decided to go camping deep in the heart of these very woods. We were armed with nothing but a tent, some food, and a thirst for adventure. The sun was just starting to dip below the horizon, and we had just finished setting up our tent for the night. We had picked a spot near a river so we could listen to the soothing sound of the river while we were falling asleep. We spent the evening roasting marshmallows and telling ghost stories around the campfire. Little did we know, we were about to experience something far more terrifying than any of our stories.
It got late, and all four of us crawled into the tent, and were just getting into our sleeping bags when we heard rustling in the distance. At first, we assumed it was just an animal. The sounds grew louder and more persistent. We tried to ignore it and go to sleep, but the rustling turned into scratching, and then tapping. The tapping was so close it sounded like it was on the side of our tent. My friend pointed out that it almost sounded like someone, or something was trying to get our attention. We argued with each other about who should go and check the noise. I eventually got fed up of the arguing and got out of my sleeping bag to investigate.
I unzipped the tent and peeked outside into the darkness. There was nothing there. Just pitch black and the sound of the river. I shrugged it off and told my friends there was nothing there. The noise had stopped by now, so I zipped up the tent again. I began to get back into my sleeping bag, but the tapping started again. We tried to ignore it for a while longer, but eventually, the noise became so annoying to us that we all decided to get up and go find what was making the noise, as we were all too scared to go and check by ourselves.
We got out of our sleeping bags and stepped outside the tent. At first we didn’t see anything. Just darkness. But as our eyes adjusted, we saw something that still haunts me to this day. Standing next to our tent was a figure, seemingly made of some weird, sagging, hairy, flesh like material. We all noticed it at the same time, and we were all paralyzed with fear. It stood at least ten feet tall, with an extremely skinny frame. It’s eyes glowed an unsettling pure yellow, and it was smiling with a big, uncanny grin that showed its sharp teeth. Its hulking frame stood in the shadows next to our tent, just staring at us, smiling, as if waiting for us to make a move, while still tapping on the side of our tent every few seconds. I felt a chill run down my spine, and I could see the fear in my friends’ eyes.
Suddenly, the figure spoke, opening it’s sick, twisted lips. Its voice was abnormally low and gravelly. It echoed throughout the trees.
“Why do you dare trespass in my woods?” it said, almost lightheartedly, giving a big smile as it talked to us.
Too shocked to respond, we just stared at it, not moving. Too afraid to move. It’s lips twisted from a smile, to a annoyed frown, and then it was just gone. One second it was there, the next it wasn’t. That was the last we saw of the strange creature that night. We spent the rest of the night huddled together, too scared to sleep. Barely speaking to each other because of the shock of what we just witnessed. That whole night, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched, even inside our tent. The next morning, we packed up our campsite and left the woods as quickly as we could.
Even back in our homes in the city, that feeling of being watched never left me. Not for one second. It was like the figure had followed us, and I couldn’t shake off the fear that it could be waiting for me somewhere in the shadows. I started having nightmares about it, and I became anxious and paranoid about it every second I was awake.
The next day, I confided in a friend who was into the supernatural, and she suggested that what we had seen could have been a demon. She warned me that demons could attach themselves to people, and that they were hard to get rid of once they did. I brushed it off at first, but the nightmares continued, and my fear intensified.
It had been a few days since my most recent nightmare of the beast, and about a week since we had gotten back to the city. I had just gotten into bed, and I was reading a book. There was a scratching noise at my window. I assumed it was the willow branch that was up against my window, as it was windy, and the branch often scraped my window on windy nights. I noticed something strange about the noise however. It didn’t seem to die down with the wind. In fact, the wind had stopped, but I could still hear the tapping of the branch, just a few feet from the top of my head. What’s more, the noise was eerily similar to the sound of the scratching on the tent that night. I twisted my blinds open the smallest amount I could and peered out through the slits. Just a few inches from my face, the figure was there. Motionless. Staring directly into my eyes as if it could see into my soul. It’s eyes glowing brighter than I remember. It’s grin twisted even more than I remember. There was no pane of glass separating me and this strange being, as I had left my window open. It was like time had stood still, and I was transported back to that night in the woods. I was paralyzed by fear and couldn’t move.
“Did you think you could escape me?” it said, its voice low, gravelly and almost sympathetic sounding.
I regained my senses the moment I smelled the monster’s stinky breath, and reached up to shut the window. But the figure simply put one finger in the way of the window, and it wouldn’t budge. It was like it had supernatural strength. I felt a coldness wash over me as the creature climbed through the window into the room. In this being’s presence, the room seemed to drop at least ten degrees. I knew that I was in the presence of something far beyond my understanding.
The figure started to whisper in my ear, its words were like venom to my brain. Nothing it said made any sense, but the words still made my brain feel like it was being eaten from the inside out. I could feel my mind slipping away. My vision started to fade, and sound came in pulses to my ears. It was like I was in some sort of trance, with no control over my body. I fell into a deep sleep.
Then I woke up. I was alone in my apartment and light was streaming in through the blinds. I got up, shaking and sweating, and looked at myself in the mirror. The first thing I noticed was a strange grey mark on the side of my neck that looked like some sort of strange symbol. I tried rubbing it off, but it seemed as if it was branded into my skin. Not knowing what else to do, I carried on with my day, making a mental note to see a doctor and therapist as soon as I could. However, as I went on with my everyday tasks, the fear and paranoia never left me, and I was never truly free of the strange being’s grip.
Now, years later, I still see the figure in my dreams. It taunts me, it torments me, and I know that I will never truly get it’s influence out of my head. I fear that the mark has made me one of its slaves. I think it’s a sort of hive mind being, gaining power and energy off of every victim that enters it’s forest. I have come to this conclusion because I have found that I can never use my full brain power. Since that day, I will randomly forget important things, or struggle with simple mental tasks for no apparent reason. I can almost feel a part of my mind being eaten away by a supernatural force. I have tried to contact my friends. One of them has gone mysteriously missing, and the other two describe very similar experiences to what I have gone through. With enough victims, I think this being could become very powerful, and perhaps start reaching beyond just the forest to claim victims as it’s own.
So if you ever find yourself in the woods on a hot summer night, please, be careful. You never know what kind of horrors are hiding in the shadows, waiting to use you for their own gain.