camping in the yard is a childhood tradition for so many of us it's easy and seems safer than camping in the middle of the woods but one listener shares their story today about how their yard camp out turned into a living nightmare when a certain wolf-like creature comes running welcome back to unexplained encounters I'm your host Darkness prevails today's episode features an assortment of pure Terror and true stories of the unknown from real people such as new werewolf sightings loved ones from beyond the grave and Phantoms who demand to be heard I want to narrate
your scary stories of The Unexplained so send them to me at dark stories.org support unexplained encounters by following us on spotifi Apple podcasts or your favorite podcast app or you can subscribe to me Darkness prevails on YouTube if you want to go further beyond go to east.com plusus and sign up to be a member and you'll unlock access to membersonly horror content and you'll be able to download and listen without ads now let's begin I swear there was something outside my window from DeAndre 128 let me just preface a few things before we get into
the meat of this I'm currently 21 I used to live with my Grandma but things at the house got too crowded for me late last year my friend and his mom allowed me to stay at their place I've known them for quite a few years and I've always been super close with them so I consider them a second family things were going pretty good I always made sure I wasn't getting in anyone's way and I kept my things to a small but dedicated area now in 2024 I've been staying there for a little over 6
months and I started to get feelings for a friend who I've known for about a year at this point it turns out she also had these feelings so things started getting a little bit more serious and we officially started to date she lived about 24 hours away from me so we started to make plans to visit each other she said she'd prefer to fly to me because she wasn't sure her parents would be on board with us yet so she told them it was just a visit to a friend however if that was going to
happen I wasn't too keen on the idea of having her stay in the living room of a friend's house with me so I immediately started scouring for my first ever Place cut to about the middle of may we discussed her visiting in the middle of June just a month from this point I managed to find a place online and I was liking everything about what I was seeing it was a basement studio apartment it had decent rent all utilities included and it seemed to have more than enough space for my game consoles and collection so
I immediately applied my application was approved and they told me I could move in on June 1st June arrives and I start getting moved in things are going well there were a few Oddities with the unit But ultimately it was incredibly nice to have my own space it was quite a different feeling knowing nobody's there with me but it was a tradeoff I'm more than okay with my girlfriend and I started finalizing her visit we decided she was going to visit June 17th through the 21st honestly things couldn't be looking better we purchased her tickets
and my mom said she was willing to bring me to the airport to pick her up now all we had to do was wait then it was the day it was about 2:00 a.m. and my mom and I were leaving for the airport at around 7:00 a.m. I couldn't sleep because I was too excited to finally see her during this time it starts to storm and personally I'm a big fan of storms I always found them cozy after a long enough time of just lying down watching YouTube I decided I'd kill some time so I
grabbed my steam deck and started to play a game shortly after turning it on I hear some tapping at the window again I live in a basement unit so I have an erass window and my bed is laid right in front of it I figured it was just the storm since it's gotten pretty windy at this point so I continued playing as time goes on the tapping is very frequent and almost deliberate then it sounds like something was trying to open the outside window now obviously I have blinds so I can't see out there things
are getting a little disturbing for me I texted my girlfriend to hopefully ease my nerves I think I'm hallucinating or something I think something's outside my window it almost sounded like it was trying to open it what if it is someone if it really is they wouldn't have been here just sitting for nearly 3 hours right maybe I'm just hearing things I decided that maybe I was just nervous to meet her and these were the side effects I wasn't too sure but I decided maybe I should turn off my steam deck and try to get
some rest I got maybe an hour of sleep and woke up unable to go back to sleep I listened and didn't hear the tapping or anything out my window anymore so I decided to once again pick up my steam deck and play something less than 2 minutes in it starts happening again tap tap tap tap this is starting to really freak me out there was absolutely nothing for the hour I was just trying to sleep so what was going on I decided to test if there was really something there I turned off the screen waited
for about 5 minutes no Taps I turned it back on and the tapping started again now I was certain this wasn't just a tree branch or an animal there was something more out there I decided to slowly slide off my bed go to my chair across the room try to call a friend I'd feel much safer checking things out if I was on the phone with someone who lived nearby unfortunately no one was up I tried my mom and my grandma too but nobody was picking up I sat there for about half an hour processing
what I should do should I really call the police if it is just an animal I'd feel incredibly guilty for wasting their time I decided maybe it is just all a crazy coincidence and I went to lay back down not playing anything this time but then I heard movement not the type of movement for a rabbit or squirrel or anything like that this felt heavy I backed away again sliding off my bed except this time the sun was starting to rise revealing a shadow by this point the wind was already dying down so all the
movement out there was from that whatever it was a bit of time passed so I tried calling a few people again this time my grandma picks up thank goodness Grandma I think there's someone outside my window I see a shadow moving about out there I told her it's okay take a deep breath and call 9 11 and call me back as soon as you can okay okay Grandma I'll do that I hung up and immediately dialed 911 911 what's your emergency hello I think there might be someone trespassing in my backyard right outside my window
okay stay calm what's your name and address I proceeded to tell her the information okay we're sending two officers there just remain on the line and stay calm she replied during the wait I saw the movement getting more frantic I was starting to panic eventually the officers made it and I told them my window was just around back the officers went and searched the area they eventually came back to me and told me that they couldn't find anything as a matter of fact there were absolutely no Footprints of any kind near my window are you
kidding me I thought everything felt too coincidental for it to just be a branch or something I called my grandma back telling her what the police had told me she said maybe some drunk had stumbled his way into my ESS window regardless the whole Fiasco was over my mom and I left about 15 minutes after the cops came and we went to go pick up my girlfriend thankfully we had an amazing time and nothing like that happened again while she visited in fact it never happened again period but to this day I think about it
what would I have seen if I had just opened my blinds would I even be alive I'm honestly not too sure but I can assure you there was definitely something outside my window my dear friend raan from its Payton 101 in fourth grade I met my best friend railen we instantly became close when high school rolled around everyone thought we were together although we weren't we did everything together and absolutely could not be separated those were the good old times when he was still alive we were best friends until we were 24 about 3 years
ago one day we were hanging out at his place and we heard the window shatter into a thousand pieces he insisted I stay in his room while he went to check it out not even a minute later I heard gunshots and I knew for a fact that he didn't own a gun I came running into the living room only to see nothing but railin practice practically lifeless body on the floor lying in a pole of his own blood I remember screaming instantly I ran to him praying that he wouldn't be dead I could barely see
him breathing if I did at all I called an ambulance and the police begging them to hurry desperate not to lose my best friend I was also enraged at what the Intruder did someone had shot railen someone had tried to kill him and for what reason the police and ambulance came as fast as they could railan was rushed to the hospital the police searched and searched but just couldn't find the Intruder who shot railan I'm so deeply mad even still that they couldn't find him I don't know why he had to be killed why that
person did it and I'll never forgive them for what they did this happened a while back but I still miss him so very much when railen was in the hospital barely able to move he was able to tell me something I wish things didn't happen this way I'm sorry Peyton don't forget about me I swear in my life I'll never forget you I told him through sniffles alongside tears and a shaky voice he gave me his favorite necklace so a part of him could stick with me forever I still wear it and I rarely take
it off railen was my everything so it felt like a part of me fell apart when he passed around a year later I was at home alone I don't remember what I was doing though suddenly I heard my front door open up I went to go check it out but ly enough the door was still shut I was confused how had I heard it open but never heard it shut I put it to the back of my mind maybe I was hearing things I'd had a long and stressful week so I needed a breather I
decided I wanted to get out of the house and I chose Starbucks as my destination I only remember this small detail because of what happened after I got my order I went back to my car and drank my my coffee there suddenly I began to hear tapping on my passenger side window I looked over but I didn't see anyone then I turned back to look in front of me and I could have sworn I saw this figure a figure that looked exactly like railen he was there for a brief second and gone the next but
I swear to God I saw my best friend it didn't scare me I smiled at the fact that I was able to see him again even though it was so brief I went back home soon after smiling ear to ear all the way back it was getting a little late probably around 6:30 so I made some dinner I wanted to make raan's favorite meal and so I did shrimp Alfredo he loved it so much so just eating it made me tear up a little while eating I swear I Heard a Voice a voice that sounded
like raen and to me it sounded like I know you saw me I miss you too Payton I told my parents about it soon after dinner and even they were happy about it they also loved railan when he was alive this whole experience made me quite happy as I've missed him so much since then I've seen him for a quick second in various places all although this is quite a short experience it sure gave me joy in a way I'm glad I was able to see my best friend railan once [Music] more werewolf encounter in
a remote neighborhood from anonmouse 419 this story started when my best friend e first moved into her new house she invited me over before school started again so around late August we planned to sleep outside in a large tent that could fit up to 20ish people in a little clearing in her backyard mind you she had a really big backyard we were enjoying the day exploring and swimming eating a bunch of junk food it was getting dark and we alongside her parents and grandmother went to start a bonfire in the fire pit we collectively went
searching for twig and sticks we soon came back with a big pile of sticks and twigs when it was completely dark we had a large fire going and E and I were making s'mores soon enough her grandmother left and her parents went inside for the night leading us to have to go to the tent of course we didn't go straight to bed since that would be boring so we played some games and ate more snacks we were casually being silly when all of a sudden we heard Twigs snapping we shook it off as a nocturnal
animal of some sort then went back to playing our games not even 2 minutes later we heard footsteps but they were practically running the closer they got the more we realized this was not an ordinary animal these were very heavy it sounded like they had come from the roadside due to them being so extremely close to us we were shaking scared out of our minds but then we heard it run past our tent then we were confused and scared now we had been pretty careful to make sure that we didn't leave anything out from previous
activities outside the tent so we didn't quite know why this animal was in a rush over in that direction we had a small window that we could look out of but we weren't too sure if we were going to be able to see a whole bunch due to where our tint was set up and yes just like we thought we weren't able to see much but what we did see was a tall and furry creature standing in the motion activated lights that my friend had installed on the front porch it was around 6 and 1/2
ft tall bending down to fit through the roof of the porch it had what appeared to be black fur almost as dark as the night itself we stay stared at the thing for a solid few minutes before it finally noticed us it stared back before we could duck out of the way those eyes looking at me will forever haunt my mind they were bright blue like we were staring into an Open Sky after it had noticed us it didn't run towards us but instead began to run away from us to the road we were horrified
and we planned on going back inside e and I didn't instantly go in since we were still as shaken as ever we went in an hour and a half later when we knew it would be safe we just covered E's window and tried to get some sleep we didn't say anything or try to wake up her parents since we didn't want to wake them up for a story that they probably wouldn't believe instead we waited until the morning and just as we expected they didn't believe a word of it I was thankful I had plans
with my brother that day so I wouldn't have to witness that creature again though only one week later my friend saw those same bright blue eyes staring at her through her window I don't care if anyone believes this story or not from what I know this world is not what you might expect what can I say just know you may not be a believer in things like this until it finally happens to you expect it when you would least expect it thank you for listening it knocked on our doors on Christmas Eve from Marshall skeleton
I'm about to tell you about a horrifying encounter that began one foggy Christmas Eve when Santa did not come down the chimney but instead something else did at the time my aunt was staying with us she reported that she heard someone trying to break into her basement around 3:00 a.m. on Christmas Eve she said that she thought someone had to use the bathroom and at first she thought it was one of us but we all denied this at breakfast we includes my sister husband and I Auntie said that the person trying to break into her
room rattled her door handle and tried to walk over to her bed scaring her to the core we all laughed saying maybe it was Santa due to the date of the alleged break-in which was Christmas Eve my mother also read that Christmas Eve is a common time for break-ins and due to all the valuable gifts lying about my aunt said it definitely wasn't Santa and that the person trying to break into her room was neither John Dolly nor fat but was in fact a woman my aunt said that there was a faint smell of rosewater
oil and stale flowers on the veil of the person trying to break into her room a visitor from Beyond the Grave wait a minute I thought the figure was wearing a bridal veil how maob to witness a spectral figure wearing a wispy Veil Laden with freshly dug Earth and smelling of graveyard flowers trying to enter your room in the middle of the night nevertheless I dismissed Auntie's words as the superstitions of an older woman the next night following Christmas I awoke at the witching hour just like my aunt had I looked over at my Red
digital alarm clock that read 1:00 a.m. usually I don't wake up at this time unless I've been roused from Deep Sleep by a noise or something this time something had definitely awoke me I heard my door handle rattling as if someone was trying to force themselves in and then I heard a group of voices multiple voices a male and a female should we break it quick grab the handle the male and female voice whispered to each other from my bed in the dark I was terrified I pulled the covers up over my face I prayed
that these people would not come in assuming it might be related to what my aunt had seen the door handle rattled loudly one more time and I could actually see it moving and twisting there but then the figures disappeared and everything went quiet the odd part about this is that my door wasn't even locked so they whoever they were could have come in if they really wanted to the next day my mom concerned and encouraged by our stories of what appeared to be a Breakin to her called the local police asking if they had heard
of a string of thefts in the area on Christmas Eve the police said that they hadn't heard of any residential break-ins occurring in the area of course this makes me wonder who were they these figures or entities who rattled door knobs and whispered to each other in the black of night on Christmas Eve you'd think it was a holy night right right or is the night open for strange things like this to come in my mom did agree to contact a spiritualist who had been to our house before a smudge session and cleansing was conducted
the spiritualists said the place had had a very dark energy Christmas Eve or not there's a skin walker in the forest from zinx before I begin this story I want to say that this has been my first encounter with anything paranormal and I live in central czechia please correct me if I say the creature is some other folklore creature because it's just what it seems to be this story happened around 2022 in the late summer I was outside with my friend riding our bikes as we usually did he mentioned to me a small Forest where
his friend had thrown a party a few days ago it was around 20 minutes away from where we were and we decided to go there together at the time it was 3:00 p.m. so we had all the time we needed really it was summer after all my friend we'll call him Jay and I went through the roads of the city and into a more rural part of the state I live in since there were no cars on the downhill Road he and I went as fast as we could so instead of having to go for
20 minutes we managed to get there in about 12 I was an adrenaline junkie back then so the feeling of riding downhill on a bicycle at 50 km an hour was a great experience for a kid like me we stopped at a small opening by the road it led to a tree covered path as soon as I started going down the path on my my bike I got this weird Eerie feeling from the place even though it was bright and sunny outside the thick forest and leaves made it quite dark in the woods furthermore I
pushed through the weird feeling I got from the place and as we got to the center of the forest where a burnt out campfire was I jumped off my bike and put down my bag even though it was a particularly hot day the forest felt cold and sent shivers down my spine I then placed my bag on a small bench next to the campfire pulling out a bottle of water and offering some to Jay we started to play some music chatting and showing each other memes laughing and joking about things I then showed Jay my
knife that my cousin had given me for my birthday earlier in the year he thought it was cool as I was showing him the knife we heard an earpiercing scream from around the corner and a group of bushes and trees except something about the scream felt off it felt off in a way like something was trying to mimic a voice trying to sound like a woman in pain but not completely accurate Jay and I exchanged terrified looks eyes darting around afterwards we put all our stuff back in our bags and jumped onto our bikes we
got the heck out of there I swear as we were leaving though I looked back and there behind a tree I saw two white glowing eyes staring back at me from the darkness of the forest as soon as Jay and I hit the road we rode away as of our lives were on the line which they might as well have been as soon as we made it into a more populated area we finally slowed down to catch our breaths between panting breaths I asked Jay dude what the heck was that did you also hear that
he looked back at me fear clear in his eyes and nodded he then verbally agreed now I'm a guy who is really into paranormal stuff and I believe the thing we encountered was a skinwalker even after 2 years I'm still terrified of going back there I've been there once since the incident and when I was there again there was an old man he had a huge old gash under his eye we asked him if he knew about anything paranormal going around these parts but he just Shrugged said he didn't know what we were talking about
looking back at the situation I was in I think if I would have acted a little later I may not be here to tell the tale two story from Medi The Candle Circle I know the story I'm about to tell you is going to sound similar to what you might see in movies but it really happened to me this event made me realize some fictional movies have more truth to them than what you'd think back when I was around 16 or so I was obsessed with the occult scary movies unexplained footage ghost hunting shows you
name it and I've seen or heard of it I had a friend with similar interests who enjoyed watching scary movies with me one day we were home alone after school at my house we decided it would be fun to light a circle of candles and see if we could make contact with any Spirits we decided my room would be the best place because I only had one door and two windows that would need closed or covered my room was on the second floor and he had to go through my little sister's room to get to
mine it was a bonus room built above the garage we lit a large circle of small candles and sat in the middle we held hands Enchanted for the spirits to communicate with us while we recorded everything with our phones for a while nothing happened and we just sat and stared at the candle lights suddenly the the candles began to Flicker and move at first we tried to blame each other we looked around checking if the windows and doors were truly shut we even went as far as blocking the slit under the door with towels before
we began so we knew there could not be any drafts suddenly the candles blew completely sideways in a perfect circle around us my friend thought it would be cool to ask questions and give these Spirits directions on how to communicate with us she said something like move the candles to the left or right for yes or no she asked if we were speaking to a man and the candles flickered to the side that meant yes she then asked if he was friendly and the candles again flickered to the side that said yes we began to
have fun with it asking a few more questions that were getting sillier by the minute we were just a couple of teens messing around after all suddenly all the candles stopped moving and nothing happened for a few minutes as we were losing interest and about to stop the whole thing we started to hear knocking coming from downstairs not someone knocking on the front door or anything consistent but occasional knocking through the whole house every few seconds it would have been impossible for someone to run around without us hearing them knocking on the different places throughout
the house they started out faint but grew in intensity until it sounded as if someone was hitting the walls with a baseball bat we started to panic and I yelled out for my parents hoping it was just one of them but no one answered me back then the house fell silent we waited in fear staring at each other just when I was about to say we should stop this we heard loud crashing steps coming up the stairs quickly we blew the candles out and said the closing saying right before the person made it to the
top of the steps and as suddenly as everything had begun the house fell silent again I ran out of my room to the stairs to see if someone was there but as you would expect from a story like this the house was empty I checked both floors and even the basement and girl G but nobody else was home I even called my parents but they both assured me that they were still at work this whole ordeal lasted about 15 minutes but it felt like a lifetime when we played the recordings back you couldn't hear any
knocking but there were faint screams that we couldn't hear while they happened you could also hear The Stomping of the stairs on the recording that was the first and last time I ever tried to communicate at with Spirits be careful who or what you call for as you never know what will answer you the voice of death when I was 12 years old my great-grandfather passed away being the patriarch of the family many of my family members were devastated it wasn't a sudden or Unexpected death but that didn't make it hurt any less my great-grandparents
were your typical Irish family they had 12 kids and hundreds of grandchildren and great-grandchildren the day after my grandy passed I decided to spend the night at my great-grandmother's house with my great aunt Sarah and my first cousin Mark when I arrived I found my nana at her seat at the end of the kitchen table with her usual lit cigarette and cup of tea it was about midnight by then and I settled down at the table with her Sarah and Mark my whole family consists of these night owls so it wasn't uncommon for us to
be up late into the night together around 2: a.m. it started to rain outside the kitchen was surrounded by big glass windows and a sliding glass door as we sat and reminisced about Grampy the weather worsened quickly suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder and a flash of lightning Illuminating the entire house then the house was engulfed in darkness the power had gone out this wasn't unusual in our area during storms as we lived on a man-made island of sorts we were used to things breaking easily here and taking a while to be fixed
everyone went about their conversations as if this was a normal incident all of a sudden something overcame me I felt this Rush of nausea and my face began to tingle and go numb abruptly the world fell silent around me and all I could hear was the voice in my ear at first it was a whisper that I strained to hear but rapidly it grew louder and I was able to clearly understand what it was saying to me someone is dead my head rushed with thoughts I mean of course someone was dead my gry had just
died the day before I felt that if I didn't repeat what the voice was telling in me it would continue to weaken me it was a weird feeling to not be in control of my body but to still be fully conscious and aware of my surroundings I was having an internal battle with myself because as much as I somehow knew how to stop this I didn't want to upset my nana who had been through enough pain already finally after about 3 minutes and feeling like I was on the brink of losing Consciousness a loud bang
erupted from outside died everyone fell silent I then blurted out someone is dead everyone looked over to me puzzled and I repeated myself someone is dead my aunt trying to diffuse the situation said someone probably just hit a pole and that's what that noise was not sure how that was supposed to lighten the mood but I commend her effort at trying to deflect my crazy outburst immediately after I said the words my body instantly felt relief it was as if a weight was lifted off my chest and the nausea and faintness disappeared in an instant
everyone decided it was best to go to bed now by then it was just past 3:00 a.m. as I got ready to lie down my cousin came to me very frightened he was checking all the doors and windows to make sure they were locked and was asking me more about why I said that I explained what had happened to me and how I knew the only way to make it stop was to say that allowed to everyone he was nervous to say the least and we ended up each taking a couch in the living room
to sleep for the night the next day many of my family came to visit it was a blur of bodies trying to comfort and console each other I was talking to my cousin M and his sister l when the phone rang my nana answered the phone abruptly letting out the most devastating cry I've ever heard she fell to the floor crying and yelling don't you say that to me everyone was so confused and rushing to her side being only 12 years old I was ushered into the living room as the adults tried to shelter us
from the situation but there were no doors in the room so I could clearly hear the the commotion in the kitchen right next to us L snuck into the kitchen to investigate coming back a few minutes later as she came up to M and me my mother had just walked over to our group asking what had happened as she had just gotten here without skipping a beat my cousin L said that our other cousin a had committed suicide in the early hours of the morning and everyone including my nana had just found out at this
point I had completely forgotten about the night before surprisingly but my cousin M certainly had not his eyes looked like they were going to fall out of his head he looked at all of us and said you told us last night that this had happened suddenly he spewed the events of the past night to my mother and cousin and kept saying she's psychic she's a psychic to this day he still says that it's a story he seems to love to reminisce about almost every time we're together I don't know if I'm psychic I've had many
other weird things happen to me but that night it was this voice that started in my ear then took over my body that warned us I'm not sure if this was my grandy trying to warn us or something more Sinister at play either way it has happened to me one other time when I was 14 but not sense it was a scary experience for me but both times as soon as I spoke the words I was hearing aloud which were basically me saying that death was coming the events stopped immediately I've done a lot of
research and I'm torn between psychic empathy episodes some type of possession or maybe just a ghostly warning any ideas are greatly appreciated stay safe everyone and be careful ful of the voice of death an Idaho werewolf encounter from some thinking I spent the summer of 2010 in a little slice of Idaho Wilderness that most people will never visit or even know exists my uncle owns an old privately leased hunting cabin near the edges of the Boise National Forest about a 2-hour Drive from any big city we're talking a long Gravel Road and no cell phone
reception for the most part and dense clusters of pines and Douglas fur that seem to swallow every sound except the wind I was 19 years old helping my uncle out by doing some light repairs stalking firewood making sure the place would be livable for the upcoming hunting season that cabin was worn it had no electricity except for a gas generator it had a water pump out back and squeaky floorboards that never let you forget you were alone out there it was mid June and Al those some days were pleasantly warm the nights got cold and
eerily quiet it wasn't my first time out in the woods I'd grown up in Idaho and loved Outdoor Adventures but I'd never stayed someplace so utterly remote before alone for that matter for weeks at a time still I welcomed the Solitude figuring I could catch up on some reading and maybe do some fishing in the nearby Creek my uncle had taught me a few Basics to keep myself safe how to Bear prooof the trash keep an eye out for cougars be mindful that sometimes especially at dusk you can sense animals before you ever see them
I was about a week into my stay when I noticed the first weird thing Footprints not the usual elk or deer tracks which were abundant around those parts but something that looked K9 only it was spectacularly too large like a big dog had stepped through the mud and I mean the biggest dog you've ever seen more odd yet was the placement normally animal tracks followed some sort of pattern but these seemed spaced out like something had been walking upright a distinct line of them LED from the tree line toward the cabin's back door then disappeared
into the pine needles they were faint now partially dried in the Sun but there was enough left to make me do a double take I'm no expert tracker but I've spent enough time Outdoors to recognize an unusual Trail I brushed it off thinking maybe a stray dog had been sniffing around we did sometimes get Hunter's dogs wandering close by if they got off leash but upright maybe it was hopping or limping or something I forced myself to forget about it but a tickle of Doubt remained in the back of my mind that night I was
sitting on the old rickety porch reading by the last streaks of daylight the porch faced a clearing that stretched about 50 yards before the real thick forest began no Road lights no neighbors just the hush of the Wind Through The Pines that was when I heard a rustling sound from somewhere out in the clearing could have been a deer maybe the wind but then came a single low growl so quiet I almost believed I'd imagined it I froze straining my ears nothing else just the hiss of the breeze then the cicas kicked up singing in
that way that always feels like they're drowning out something more important I told myself I was spooking over nothing and went inside but I made sure to bolt the door something I hadn't bothered doing before over the next few days I started to see other signs I'd occasionally find strange scratches near the cabin's baseboards on the outside walls long thin gouges that didn't look like random animal claw marks they were too close together almost parallel one evening about an hour after dark I had the generator running so I could heat up some soup on the
electric hot plate I then heard a hard thump on one of the porch posts grabbing a flashlight I peaked outside through a side window thinking I was about to see a bear rummaging around instead I caught a glimpse of something tall a canine shape silhouetted against the moonlit clearing it was there for a split second then it shot off into the darkness too fast for me to even process process my heart skipped a beat and I quickly shut off the porch light killing the generator I stayed crouched by the window listening for movement I don't
scare easily but the shape I saw was just too large to be a typical wolf or coyote and that sense of it moving on two legs clung to my mind still I tried to make sense of it a tall wolf on a Ed legs maybe but why sure they can stand or hop around for short bursts but not like a human and they would need a good reason to do that it made no sense I slept that night with a loaded shotgun next to me though I barely got any sleep a few days later I
drove into the nearest town to pick up more supplies and to call my uncle from the pay phone at the only gas station he told me not to worry he said I was probably seeing a black bear or a large dog he reminded me to keep the doors locked and the trash sealed I didn't mention the footprints or the standing part because I knew he'd scoff at that reluctantly I headed back to the cabin deciding I'd give it another week before bailing out I was starting to feel on edge at all hours like something was
watching me through the trees on my second evening back the air turned unusually still there was no Breeze and no no animal noises just this thick silence I wandered out to the porch with my flashlight scanning the clearing nothing then from behind me I heard a scraping sound against the wood panels of the cabin my blood turned cold I spun around shining the flashlight across the front wall that's when I saw it its silhouette about 7 ft tall tall hunched with a head like a German Shepherd or a wolf muzzle elongated ears perked up even
in the poor light I could see the rough fur on its back two eyes glowed reflecting the flashlights Beam with a pale sickly greenish yellow shine it had a wide chest and the arms were more like that of a man than any animal they were pinned at its sides as it pressed up against the cabin wall wall its claws were long curved and resting against the wood I froze I swear I could feel its gaze like a physical thing time seemed to slow down and my heart pounded so violently I thought I might pass out
the creature's lip curled revealing fangs without thinking I took a step back slowly the boards under my boot squeaking its ears twitched at the sound then in aemotion almost too quick to register it dropped onto all fours and bolted away from the porch clearing the steps in a single leap I heard a heavy thud as it landed on the ground then it loped into the dark disappearing into the tree line I was left standing there shotgun forgotten inside my flashlight shaking so badly the beam was jumping around it felt like a long time before before
I could even breathe normally I rushed inside locking the door I even slid a heavy table in front of it I then grabbed my gun I stayed up the rest of the night with every light on the generator whining in the background every so often I heard distant snapping Twigs the faintest TOs but nothing came back to the porch morning brought relief with the Sun out I went outside with the gun to inspect the cabin's exterior sure enough there were fresh scratch marks where I'd seen the creature the tracks around the porch were a confusing
mix of paw prints and something that looked more humanoid the front paws or maybe feet had a different shape as if the creature could switch between standing upright and dropping to all fours naturally and easily the hair on the back of my neck stood up just looking at those prints I didn't want to stay another minute but I did need to gather my stuff secure the cabin and hope I never had to come back alone still I told myself it might have just been a big wolf it was suffering from M or some other condition
even though I knew that couldn't account for how it stood on two legs with such ease my rational side flailed for any explanation but in my gut I knew I had encountered something beyond the ordinary wildlife of Idaho I waited until midday when the sun was high to hurry and pack my gear I made several runs to the truck occasionally spinning around to check the forest line at one point I heard the crunching of leaves and my eyes landed on a shape crouched among the thick Pines nearly blending in with the dark it was about
a 100 yards away just watching me though it was too dark to see details I recognized that K9 silhouette my heart seemed to stop but I kept myself moving refusing to appear panicked maybe it respected that I was leaving like I was no longer a threat or even a curiosity it didn't charge or try to stop me I tossed the last bag into the truck jumped in and peeled out down the gravel road my uncle was upset that I left early but after hearing the trimor in my voice when I tried to explain he didn't
push me too hard I never quite told him the full story I said it was a big wolf or a strange bear that put me on edge he's teased me about it over the years but I know what I saw I think about it sometimes how large and unnaturally human those mov ments were the intelligence behind its eyes there was no sense of aimless wild aggression it felt calculating observant like it was deciding whether or not to do something to me the cabin is still in our family though I've refused to return there alone ever
since a few other relatives have stayed up there mostly in groups one cousin of mine even joked did you see the werewolf yet though we all chuckled I noticed my uncle's face stiffen a bit as if he wasn't entirely sure my story was a joke sometimes at holiday Gatherings he'll tell folks he swears he saw some sort of monster everyone laughs but I smile tightly and think if only you actually knew that's my story people can believe it or not but I will tell you this if you ever wandered deep into the Wilderness near the
Boise National Forest and hear a low growl or see a hulking Shadow among the Pines you might want to think twice before staying the night the Dogman or whatever it is could be out there keeping a good eye on you if it decides to step into your light you won't forget it because I haven't [Music] the house behind the school grounds from Ariel 543 when I was in the fifth grade I went to school in a small town in Montana over in the plains I have since moved across the state but I still hate thinking
back on it at the time I was friends with two girls named hie and Bella I haven't seen them since I moved as they were not great people what one day Bella's older brother and his friend went to an abandoned house on the school grounds for context Bella and her brother lived behind the school only about 30 yard away from this house when they went inside they found pictures of a little boy around the house and normal household items but everything was covered in dust the two boys saw a check on a table and when
Bella's brother tried to grab it he felt a pain on his back later they found found scratch marks on his back they decided to keep looking around and found a hole in the roof that led to the attic something was looking down at them from there I never got a description of what it was and I'm glad I didn't the next day Bella told me and hie about her brother's experience and the three of us decided to check it out ourselves I remember it was a Thursday we didn't have school the next day so that's
when we went to the house the boys followed us there and told us they had locked the doors though we later learned they never did we didn't immediately go inside not just because they told us not to we wanted to walk around the house first so the boys wouldn't see us enter after they left we started at the front door and began walking to the other side at the corner there was a piece of wire fence and a wooden wheel leaning against the wall we stopped to look at the wheel but then we heard something
big moving inside on the second floor I guess the walls of the place were quite thin we all ran into a patch of grass between Bella's house the school and the abandoned house though we could still see it clearly once we were at a safe distance we looked back and saw the shape of a head watching us through the open window we couldn't see any details just the shape as we started to walk back toward the school where our mom moms were going to pick us up we looked at the house again the head was
gone but in a different window that was boarded up we saw a white hand sticking out it looked like it was both waving and trying to escape at the same time we ran again until we reached the student parking lot strangely we found a line of hair ties spaced 4 to 5 ft apart stopping at the beginning of the sidewalk against the school we weren't sure if this was related to what just happened as they hadn't been there before or if it was just a student being silly our school was K through 12 later that
month weird things started to happen one day at school Bella heard something big walking on the school roof while she was in the bathroom later that day it looked like something had kicked a thin border decoration off the roof as it was now hanging off Bella also heard a door open in her house when she was Home Alone I never felt unwatched in my home anymore I have one more short story a couple of months before or after that event I can't remember which my sister mother and I were sleeping in my mom's room with
our two cocker spaniels my grandmother was asleep in her room I was the only one awake besides the cats and dogs I heard Footsteps in the kitchen but they were too light to be my grandmothers the cats never came downstairs we didn't have my current cat yet and both dogs were in the room with us I woke my mother up and told her and she said it's just the dogs go to sleep before going back to sleep herself I personally think it was my great-grandmother she had died in that very house a couple of years
ago I wonder if she was the presence I felt watching me too sadly we had to leave that house shortly afterward so that town was not good for us it is no longer in the family but to this day Paranormal Activity seems to follow me weird noises in the country When I visit my father my crush's mother getting dragged out of her bed by her hair by something unseen and much more so if you're in a small town and you start to hear rumors believe them it's always nice when my favorite monster makes an appearance
or two werewolves and dog men that is heck maybe they're different creatures but they're similar enough to give me the willies that brings us to the end of this episode of unexplained encounters if you're listening on Spotify or apple podcasts it's January 1st 2025 happy New Year let's make 2025 the year of plentiful fears and fewer failures thanks for listening to unexplained encounters into to yet another New Year I'm Darkness prevails you should should follow me on X at dark prevails to see my hottest takes like my love for dairy and my fear of looking
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