a year ago in early winter I went hiking for a weekend in a national park not far from home it was supposed to be the last few days of good weather before the winter cold and snow came in so I wanted to get out while I still could there was a trail my buddy had told me about that went up to a nice view of a lake and wasn't crowded so I decided to try it out but when I got to the trail it wasn't what I expected there were no signs or markings there was
just a thin path going through some trees I walked down a little ways and while it still had no markings it seemed like a straightforward Trail to hike along as I walked it was clear that few people came this way there were almost no shoeprints in the dirt and the path didn't seem professional Ally made this didn't frighten me or anything but it was just something I took note of the forest along the path was really nice though full of Wildlife and falling leaves from the changing season about a mile in I walked past something
interesting another path leading off into the woods I stayed on the trail but I didn't really understand why there would be another path connecting to this all already rarely used path as I kept on walking though more of these side Trails started to show up they went off in random directions leading to what looked like nothing in particular it was really odd and then after about 3 hours of walking the trail I was on ended just like that there was no more path to follow all that was ahead was an endless row of trees and
forest and then out of nowhere I heard footsteps behind me I turned to see a guy walking in the distance he had a ripped up jacket on and no backpack and strangely he was walking across the trail I was on onto one of the side paths it didn't look like he saw me he was just looking down and walking the way he walked though and how he looked made me a bit creepy out so I made sure to not be seen as I watched him walk into the woods by then it looked like there wasn't
much daylight left and I decided to just abandon finding the lake and just hike back to my car however it only took me a few minutes to reach an intersection of paths that I didn't remember before immediately I thought about how the One path ended so abruptly and how that probably meant that it some point I went onto the wrong trail I looked down trying to see if there were any shoeprints of mine that I could follow but I didn't see any then I heard it again footsteps behind me I turned and looked out into
the forest in the distance that same man was standing and facing me he didn't move or say anything he just stood there as if he were watching me after a moment a chill ran through my body and I turned to take whatever Trail was in the opposite direction of the man I quickly hurried checking behind me multiple times but after a few minutes I'd lost track of the man I went down this Trail for over an hour still worried about both being lost and the strange [Music] man after a while of walking and moved off
the path and leaned against a tree taking a break to drink some water and not even a minute passed before I heard those same footsteps I stayed where I was behind the tree as the sound of their shuffling steps got louder and louder until the man walked right past the tree I was behind he looked focused on the path ahead like he thought I was still walking but there was no doubt in my mind that he was following me or at least trying to once he was gone I took the opportunity to run back the
way i' came getting to the intersection and choosing between two other paths that were in the right direction thankfully I'd made the right choice because halfway back to my car all I had was the dim Moonlight to guide me through the woods all I can say is that that man I saw didn't look like he was out there just for a hike and based on the way he was acting I think he had some terrible intentions that I may have just barely avoided I had just turned 19 and was staying at home from college for
the next few months for summer break my mom lives in the city in the same house I grew up in but my dad moved into a small home outside the city it was backed up to the woods and I always felt so relaxed while I was there just being away from everything felt very freeing anyway over the course of the summer I got the idea to go camping for just a night somewhere in the woods behind my dad's house I had all the gear already and I'd gone camping before so it just seemed like a
harmless fun night I didn't plan on going far out maybe just walking for a half hour then finding a good spot to set up so I left about 2 hours till sunset I walked with no music or anything just soaking in the environment and sounds of nature until I made it far enough out to start setting up my gear I pitched my tent and got a fire going then relaxed as the sun set and the woods fell quiet a couple hours into the night I went to bed I had planned to leave in the morning
but when I woke up I felt like hanging out for a little bit longer I went for a casual walk and sat by the tent surprisingly the day felt to have gone by really fast before I knew it the sun was making its way down I packed up my things and cleaned up then started walking back home I walked between the trees having a conversation with myself in my head to pass the time but as the sun started getting lower and lower I realized it had been a while since I'd left I stopped and lifted
my head looking around I didn't really recognize the area obviously there was no path so I could have just been walking in a slightly different direction but something seemed wrong after after an entire minute of looking around though I honestly had no clue which way to go if I had been going in the right direction I should have been home already or at least to the road that my dad's house was on racing the sun though I decided to just continue in the direction I was going hoping that at some point I'd reach a road
as I walked the woods got darker and darker sending me into somewhat of a nervous breakdown I was looking everywhere for anything to tell me where to go but now the woods were too dark to even see anything further than 30 or 40 ft but then I saw a light flickering in the distance I got excited walking quickly toward it until I could make out a dark house sitting in the middle of the trees I thought it was maybe one of my dad's neighbors or that it would at least Lead Me to a road that
I could walk along but as I approached the opening in the woods I didn't see anything no roads no light from other houses and not even a gravel driveway the house was old looking too resembling more of a cabin but there was a light in the downstairs window that was on so it definitely wasn't vacant I walked around to the other side of it staying in the tree line still but there were no no signs of any roads or houses on either side regrettably I decided my only option was to ask whoever lived there for
help I walked up to the front door listening for a second before ringing the doorbell immediately I heard footsteps running down some stairs and right up to the other side knowing they were probably looking at me through the peephole I called out to them hi sorry I'm just lost I was hoping you could tell me which direction the nearest street is there was a pause then they open the door two men stood there both looking to be in their 40s and appearing kind of dished one of them took a step forward and looked outside behind
me at the tree line as if looking for anyone else there was a moment where both of them were quiet come inside we'll help you out one of the men said opening the door wider and stepping aside I'm okay I just need you to point me in the right direction please I said not wanting to go in some random house in the woods and also not really seeing the point to it both men frowned then one spoke saying he just wanted to talk about why I was out here I told them I was just camping
and got lost but they looked at each other like I was lying then one of them stepped out and stood pretty close to me as he looked around at the trees more intently when he stepped out though he revealed the room behind him which only had a small lamp in the middle of the floor surrounded by nothing but dust I took a step away from the man and both of them suddenly turned cold their facial expressions and body language just became empty as they stood there in silence before the one lunged at me trying to
tackle me to the ground luckily I reacted quick enough to slip away before the other man got to me I sprinted for the trees hearing one of the men's footsteps coming up behind me but once I made it into the woods the man gave up the Chase and soon after the lights from the house shut off hours passed before I made it to a road finding out I had hiked miles in the wrong direction I told my dad about the encounter though and he took it to the police to investigate but we were terrified to
hear that the house I wandered into was an old vacation cabin that was abandoned decades ago whoever those men were likely used a generator to power the lights and whatever else they were doing but why they were there nobody knows the way they were acting though seemed like they were trying to not get caught so if they had succeeded in getting me into their house I'm not sure if I ever would have gotten [Music] out I was driving back to my Hometown from a work trip I had earlier in the week I declined the free
flight to and from because I decided to take some time off to myself while I was there to enjoy a small vacation driving long distance wasn't something I'd ever really done before though the most I'd gone was about 10 hours and that was with a stop at a hotel halfway but this road trip was way longer it was nearly 20 hours and I had only scheduled a single Hotel but just because I'd never driven that long before didn't make me think I couldn't do it the drive started out okay going through cities and towns and
having plenty of other cars around me seemingly taking the same route as I got further out though cars became a lot less common and the towns had pretty much disappeared the roads were nothing but fields of grass on either side or dense forests by 5:00 p.m. the light drizzling that had started earlier became more intense pouring rain down hard enough to make it difficult to see it seemed like the more I drove into this forested area the harder the rain fell I'd hoped it would stop by Sunset but it didn't I was now really focused
on the road driving really slow and trying to make sure I navigated the road carefully without sliding into a ditch I drove through this awful rain for probably an entire hour past Sunset when I started to realize the road was getting a lot more winding rather than straight it began taking me much deeper into the forest where the trees were close together and blocking All Views after a while I started getting nervous thinking this was really odd for a highway to be like this I slowed down and pulled off to the side of the road
stopping on the shoulder I took my phone out and tried searching up the directions but there was no service all I'd remembered of the route was that I had to take the same Highway pretty much the entire way there maybe I was on the right Road and was just paranoid or maybe I'd been focusing so hard on trying to see through the rain that I'd accidentally merged onto a different Road the problem is that I had no way to figure out which of those two possibilities was right I looked out the windows in hopes I'd
see a sign or anything that could give me an idea of where I was all I could see through the harsh rain were the woods All Around Me Fading Into total black beyond my headlights but then only a minute or so after I had stopped there a light came up behind me I looked in the mirror as it got brighter rounding one of the corners and coming toward my car their headlights were so bright I couldn't even see their car though all I could see was the beaming glare in my [Music] mirrors I watched as
the light started moving slower and slower until it stopped right behind my car part of me felt relieved that someone stopped to help me but another part of me was thinking of the other possibilities a whole minute passed as the car stayed there leaving their headlights on and showing no signs of anything until a door suddenly opened it was still too bright to see much of anything but the dark outline of a man emerged from the light and came right up to my window the man was wearing a dark hoodie and seemed unbothered by the
rain as he leaned on the door while I rolled the window down a couple inches he asked if I needed help and I responded by explaining that I just just needed to know where I was and if I was still on the right Highway he looked at me then at my back seat as he nodded yeah I can help you let me just get my phone he began walking off as I rolled my window back up to block out the rain there was something off about my interaction with him but I couldn't figure out what
it was it just felt off why didn't he know what road we were on or if we were on the highway I watched in the mirrors until the man went behind the glaring lights again but I could see him shuffling around with something in his car for a few moments before he came back out he made his way over but in the moments before he reached my car I caught a glimpse of something in his hand just as I reacted and put the car in drive the man suddenly knelt down by my back tire and
jammed something in it I slammed on the gas seeing the man get visibly startled and jump back as I drove away as fast as I could I knew he'd probably try to catch up so I drove in a panic for several minutes fearing the thought of seeing the lights come up behind me luckily though they never did I made it about 3 miles before I finally happened upon an intersection with a sign for a gas station up ahead when I pulled in I of course called the police but I also found that the man had
stabbed my tire with a screwdriver that was still wedged into the side of the tire hanging partially out that still being in there and covering the hole is probably the only reason I was able to make it away without breaking down on the road if I had been even a second too late at driving away I don't think I would have ever been seen after that night
