Hello, readers. This is an account of an encounter I had when I was young, I think I was maybe ten, twelve years old at the time. I’m posting this here in case anyone knows what happened or if they’ve also had an experience. Over a decade later, I still vividly remember it.
Back then, I lived in the upper Northeast of the United States. For obvious reasons, I will not tell you the exact location, but it was a heavily wooded rural community that used to be owned by major logging companies.
I grew up in one of those old dying communities that had outlived its purpose when the logging industry left, leaving behind their vast swaffs of forest. When they left, the town’s main income went with them, and the town dried up.
Officially, the loggers left because the soil was prone to collapse from how waterlogged it was, unable to handle their heavy equipment. Unofficially, around bonfires late at night, the locals would say that they left after finding human remains.
Now, whose remains they were was up for debate. Some people would say it was a Native America burial ground, others say a forgotten cemetery, or just a couple of hunters who got lost in the woods.
But, that doesn’t really matter. Just backstory, I guess. Let you know what kind of place it was. Anyways, when was a young I used to go for walks late at night. We lived way back in the woods, but not so far that I couldn’t see my neighbors if I tried.
Anyone who grew up in the woods would know that weird shit happens sometimes. Wild dogs, coyotes, foxes, deer, there’s all kinds of wildlife that can mess up a kid. So, when I went out I always carried a knife or two on me, but I almost never carried a flashlight. Usually, the stars and moon would be enough to light the road and paths through the trees, and at night the only time I needed a light was if I wanted to go off the path- and the older I got, the less I wanted to do that.
Now, knowing all that, here’s the story.
I was walking around my block, maybe a 5 mile walk alone at night. Usually, it’d take me about an hour or two, walking alone down the roads that winded through the woods. It was maybe one, two in the morning. I was maybe 20 minutes from home when I heard a branch snap in the trees.
Normally, I would write it off as nothing. Branches snap all the time, those woods are full of life. But for some reason, a chill ran down my spine. Like, I was being watched. I tensed and stopped, but the feeling didn’t go away. Nervously, I kept walking. I crossed the street, coming up on an old crop field. I think it was either beans or corn that year, but I can’t remember. All I know is that I heard rustling as soon as I got near the field, as if something walked into the field out of the woods.
I fumbled in my hoodie for my phone; one of those old blocky phones from the late 2000s. I found the flashlight on it, and shone it at the field but couldn’t see anything. But the rustling was getting closer.
Now, when there’s an animal coming after you, you’re not supposed to run. Most of the animals around there aren’t brave enough to fight if you stand your ground. But I was young, and I freaked. I took off, running as fast as my legs would carry me.
I heard the thing in the field, chasing me. It wasn’t rustling anymore, but crashing through the plants. When I crossed the creek, I heard it splash loudly into the water as it followed. It sounded huge. Maybe that was just because I was such a small kid, I don’t know. But as soon as I made it back to my property, the sounds stopped. Like, right at the edge of the property, not even at the end of the treeline. As soon as I passed our “NO TRESSPASSING” signs, it abruptly stopped moving. I ran into the house and crawled into my bed, but I didn’t sleep a wink that night.
Weeks go by, and I hadn’t had another encounter with an animal or anything. Just serene wilderness, quiet walks. Peaceful. Granted, I never stayed out that late again, not for years.
But, one night my older brother came home for the weekend. He was two years older, but lived with his dad most of the time. Since we rarely got to hang out, he decided to go walking with me. He laughed when I handed him a knife for his belt, but he humored me and hooked it on.
This night, we went further than usual, down past the pond the creek feeds into. Me and him were just talking, laughing about stupid teen drama when he suddenly gets quiet and asks if I heard that. I strain my ears against the sounds of the creek and insects. It’s faint, but it almost sounds like heavy breathing. I shake my head, saying it’s probably just our breath bouncing off the water and trees or something. We shrug and start walking, but don’t make it more than three steps when we stop.
Someone was in the trees. We could CLEARLY hear them snap a branch. But, when we listened we couldn’t hear anything else. Just our own breathing. We take a few more steps. Whoever, or whatever, started moving in time with us. We could hear heavy steps coming from the trees, perfectly matching our own steps. But it wasn’t an echo; whatever it was was stepping on branches and kicking rocks while we were on a paved road.
We looked at each other, and simultaneously had the same thought; don’t acknowledge it. Whatever it was, don’t look. Don’t try to see it. Just keep walking and pretend we didn’t hear it.
We grew up loving myths and monsters. And if it was a person, who knew what they’d do if they knew we knew they were following us? But the myths all say not to acknowledge the Things In The Woods. So we kept walking, all the way to the corner, then turned around and started heading back.
Whatever it was, it followed us. No animal would have a reason to stop at that corner; the woods kept going. The road didn’t even turn in that direction. Why was it turning back with us?
We kept going. Pretending we didn’t hear. Pretending we weren’t freaking out inside. We try walking at a casual pace, that is, until we get to the pond. We hear whatever it is splash around in the pond.
You might be picturing something cutesy. This was not the nice styled pond you see in parks. It was filled with algae, snapping turtles, and was well over 10 ft deep.
And this thing walked right into it. We froze, having irrefutable proof it was right beside us, no more than 10 feet away, only separated by a single willow tree. But, as “usual”, the thing stopped moving when we did. Whatever it was stopped right in the middle of the pond. We started walking forward, and heard it splashing, keeping pace. It didn’t sound like swimming, more like when somebody walks around in a pool.
But, as I said, the pond was over 10 feet deep. Without looking at each other, me and my brother started to run.
Obviously, it ran after us, crashing through the underbrush as it launched out of the pond at speed. We didn’t look, only ran as hard as we could home. Whatever it was, it didn’t follow us across the road, stopping across the road from our property.
As we locked ourselves in our shared bedroom, I swore I heard something screaming in the woods for the rest of the night. Needless to say, that was the last time my brother went walking with me at night.