This happened to me a few years back. I had organized a backcountry camping trip with my best friend, to a hilly forested area about an hour from our city, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. We studied maps beforehand and picked a site off a not so well travelled trail right near fairly large clearing but far enough in the woods that we wouldn’t get accidentally spotted by a hiker or park ranger. Once the long weekend rolled around we packed up the car and headed out. Three nights were all we planned for. We arrived at the parking lot right on schedule, grabbed our packs and headed out.
For the first three or so miles we only met two other hikers, exchanged passing pleasantries and kept walking. It was a nice clear day in late summer and we were expecting to see more people out but honestly it was better this way because our style of camping doesn’t generally fall into the legal category as you’re only supposed to camp in pre designated spots according to the park rules. We made it to the bend in trail we had marked off, took a look around to make sure no one was watching and ducked off the path into the woods.
We made it to the clearing about an hour later and decided to stay in the cover of the trees and skirt it until we made it to the other side. With map and gps in hand we found the site we had plotted weeks before. The site was perfect, it was a small, less dense area of the woods and we had a few hours of sunlight left so we got to work digging and gathering rocks to make a small fire pit, setting up the two, one person tents we brought and gathering brush and small logs from the surrounding area.
After all was said and done, and the campsite built up to our liking, we decided to relax as the sun began to set behind the trees. We enjoyed a few shots of vodka and a well-deserved cigarette while we waited out the sun. Once the darkness had set in we lit the fire and cooked up a ration and ate in silence, enjoying the serene sounds of nature at night. We passed the bottle back and forth until the fire burned down and decided to call it a night. This would be the last peaceful moment we would share together.
My eyes snapped open a few hours later when I felt the cold rain hit my face. I jolted upright; my heart was pounding as I was no longer in my tent. I looked around frantically trying to get my bearings but it was too dark. I reached into my pocket and grabbed my small emergency flashlight and clicked it on. I swept the beam around me and quickly realized I was in the clearing. Right in the middle of it.
I stood up quickly and felt a shooting pain in my right ankle. I fell back to ground and rolled up my pant leg to find a deep red mark that wrapped all the way around. I stood up again, this time favouring my left and swept the flashlight around me once more. There was a trail of matted grass leading up to me as if I had crawled all this way. I gathered myself and started to shuffle back the way the new trail led. I didn’t really know what to think at this point, as I was walking I was running different scenarios through my head as to how I could’ve ended up out here. Crawling in my sleep seemed to be the most logical, until I got closer to the campsite.
I was maybe twenty meters from the edge of the forest and I heard a snap, then another. Unmistakable footsteps. I switched off the flashlight and got low in the tall grass. I figured my friend was up having a piss. What a good time to scare him. In complete darkness I crept slowly towards the sound, I remember grinning the whole time thinking I was going to get him good.
The footsteps ahead of me stopped and I seized my opportunity, now right on the forest edge I stood up and jumped out from behind a tree switching on the flashlight as I did. I really wish I hadn’t. The beam of light illuminated the forest in front of me and what I saw wasn’t my friend at all.
What stood maybe ten feet in front of me was an almost translucent white humanoid like creature. With a shriek it whipped around revealing a head with no eyes, long arms that ended in long bony claw like fingers and a ribcage pressed against tight malnourished skin. That was all I saw before I clicked the light off and ran to the closest tree. I took cover behind it and held my breath.
The creature let out an ear piercing howl like nothing I had ever heard before, and took off running in the opposite direction. i waited behind that tree until the noises of it crashing through the brush faded out, and then waited another five minutes just to be sure. I sprinted back into camp and crashed through the door of my friend’s tent. He was already up and asked me about the noise. I told him what I had seen. He must have seen the look in my face and realized I wasn’t messing around. We got up and grabbed our packs and ran towards the clearing, leaving most of our gear behind.
I started to hear the howls again when we reached about halfway through the clearing, only this time it sounded like there was dozens of them, coming from behind and beside us, giving chase. We kept sprinting and never looked back. By the time the sun had come up the horrible howling had faded away and we had managed to find the trail we initially came in on. Out of breath but not willing to stop we walked that trail as fast as we could. We had passed one group of hikers before getting to the car but this time there was no time for pleasantries.
That was the last time we ever went backcountry camping and we’ve never told anyone about this until now.