Road trips, travel, and camping can be fun, but it’s not always bonfires, grills, roasted marshmallows, serene guitar music, friendly wildlife, and wholesome moments. Some trips are so traumatic that they continue to haunt people even years later.
Campers who were disturbed and scared by their experiences shared their most nightmarish and creepy stories in an online thread. We’ve collected their most chilling real-life stories to share with you, and it’s the kind of stuff we wouldn’t wish on anyone. Scroll down to read them, and don’t forget to share the spookiest ones around the fire with your friends.
#1
When I was in Boy Scouts (Pennsylvania, Troop 303), We made a trip to West Point for the annual Army v. Navy game.
Our troop was to spend the night in these really run down old triangular bunk houses at an old camp ground about an hour or so away from the school. Our scout masters were really s****y people, never really bothering to check the condition of the place beforehand, so we were all surprised by the terrible, musty and wood-rotten interiors.
The bunks were rusty and there were d**d bugs everywhere. A lot of us wanted to sleep in the cars instead, but the scoutmaster, a particularly s****y guy in the fold of f*cktards watching us, called us p*ssies and told us to man up.
So we grabbed our sleeping bags and did as we were told. Then, some time in the middle of the night, we started hearing a weird chittering. One of is turned on our flashlights and pointed it up at the vaulted ceiling.
Bats. Lots of them. Not surprisingly, someone screamed and the whole nest started wigging out. Everyone started panicking and running around, which only made the bats wig out even more.
The parent’s came running from the other bunkhouse when they heard the screams and got a face full of bats when they opened the door.
My dad took me out of that troop not to long after that.
Image source: RorschachtheMighty, Sofie D. / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#2
A couple years ago for my birthday my boyfriend and I went up to a northern Canadian park to go camping (we always do for both our birthdays).
On this particular occasion I remember it being a lot colder during our trip than previous times and within the first few days we were the only people within seeing or hearing distance in the park. It was super cool during the day but one night in particular things became extremely unsettling.
I remember waking up around 3am to a loud humming noise. As I was gaining consciousness, I turned over to see the outline of my boyfriends body in the dark beside me. As one is when waking up in the middle of the night, I was slightly out of it but as I kind of came too and was about to close my eyes and go back to sleep, a near blinding light lit up our campsite beyond the walls of our tent. I could clearly see the outlines of the table, trees, our truck, etc. all beyond the thin layer of fabric that was out tent. Instantly I broke out in a cold sweat and was paralyzed with fear.
Within seconds a figure appeared outside the door of our tent. I went to scream but no sounds came out. It was the figure of a man with a large “bowl like” head and as I watched it’s silhouette approach, it appeared as it was floating. Within what seemed like hours but must have only been seconds, it was in our tent hovering over us. Then I blacked out.
I did used to suffer from sleep paralysis but at this point in my life hadn’t had an episode for years (still haven’t since) and normally it’s only brought on when I’m extremely stressed out.
Not sure what happened this night, but celebrating my birthday is always a fun event and by no means was I feeling any sort of stress or anxiety prior to going to sleep that night.
We left the next morning.
Image source: MaryBeth2018, Margot Eidlitz / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#3
When I was a kid (12/13 or so) I was camping with Ventures (like boy scouts, but a bit older, co-ed, and like no parental supervision).
We were in a huge national park, a group of 7 of us, all around the same age (12-15). We had a four night/five day hike/camp planned out, and the parents all knew our route and when we were expected back. All of us, despite being young, had multiple years of camping experience, and between 3 and 15 similar camps done.
The trip started out pretty awesome. We made camp the first two nights at our desired sites, it was beautiful out, and we got up to the typical fun that kids get up to. Third night all three of our planned sites have people in them and we end up setting up maybe a little too close to a group of campers. We get our kitchen set up, dinner made, a fire going and then people just kinda start hanging out at our camp.
To re-iterate our ages, the oldest of us is 15. The group starting to mingle with is are all in their early 20s or so. Things start out friendly enough. We’re talking about camping, the Algonquin, and the Leafs. We refuse the friendly offers of drinks, and then the pushy ones. The mood turned a bit, and being as young as we are, we’re less than tactful about asking to be left alone. Voices were raised, they ended up leaving our camp, then we turned in for the night. I remember hearing their drunken revelry as I feel asleep.
At some point in the middle of the night I wake up to screaming and notice my tent is being shaken violently. I got out of my tent with my flashlight, shoeless and disoriented, and took in the chaos for a few seconds. At least 10 fully grown adults are in our camp breaking our tents, throwing our stuff around and screaming. It ended up devolving into a fight, where me and the other 3 boys I went with got beaten pretty badly. I don’t remember much of how the a*****t ended, but apparently when things were dying down they were saying super creepy, s****l, and threatening s**t to the girls.
We packed up to leave before the sun rose, and walked the first couple hours of the trail by flashlight. They’d stolen most of our food, our coleman stove, a lot of our tools, three of the backpacks, all of the girls’ undergarments and had damaged one of the tents past the point of being useable as a shelter. We were in the middle of our hike and still had another day and a half of hiking and another sleepless night to spend in the woods.
**TL;DR -** I went camping as a kid with some other people my age, we pissed off a group of campers, got beaten up and robbed. All while days away from civilization.
Image source: IonlyusethrowawaysA, Luna Andrade Arango / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Even though you can’t predict what rare and bizarre challenges might befall you on your trip, you can still prepare for the most common issues. Control what you can control and be responsible, but try not to stress yourself out about the rest. Being adaptable and quick-thinking matters more than equipment, in our experience. That being said, essential equipment is exactly that—essential.
The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents suggests always bringing enough food and water for your trip, and ensuring that both you and everyone else in your group have the appropriate equipment.
What’s more, bring a first aid kit, insect repellent, and a tick removal tool.
#4
My girlfriend at the time and I went camping 5 hours away from home for her birthday/our anniversary. We made the trip the day after a big storm passed through. We left town early and got there in the early afternoon.
The guy at the entrance to the camp grounds mentioned there was NO ONE else staying there that weekend. We were like, “Oh, this is gonna be sick!!”
First, we drove down these long pathways to our designated area. As you got closer to it, the road narrowed. So basically, you had to back out to get out. We unloaded the car, got the tent set up, and decided to go walk around the woods. It was d**d silent. But it was still bright out, so we just took in all the nature we could and walked a few miles away. We reached this point in the woods where there were some…. weird looking white cabins. They were very uniform, all built the exact same way. Like, I guess they were a part of the camping grounds but they seemed WAY out of the way, and there was no sign of life. It felt eerie to be at, like we shouldn’t be there.
So we turned around and walked back. We took a breather in the tent, then tried to start a fire in the fire pit. Unfortuntely, neither of us had ever been camping before, and had no idea how to start a fire. We had bought some of those self-lighting logs from Walmart and some lighter fluid. But… everything else around us was soaked to the bone from the rain that had passed through the day before. We knew we needed kindling of some sort, but any dry sticks or leaves was far and few between.
Eventually, we got a small fire going and ate hot dogs and marshmallows and spent some time look at the stars. Then we noticed just how DARK it was out there. My girlfriend was easily spooked and was like, “can we get into the tent now?”
So we put the fire out and crawled into the tent. We were talking to each other but I could tell she was tense. Suddenly, she put her hand over my mouth and was like, “Shhh! Do you hear that?”
Before I could respond, we heard footsteps. Like… heavy footsteps. It sounded like a group of people walking. I whispered to her, “It’s probably just animals or something.”
Then we heard mumbling. Like, low mumbling. We couldn’t make out words, but it didnt sound like a sound an animal could make. It sounded like words but hushed and non-elaborted.
We sat in silence staring at each other in the dark for what felt like FOREVER. The mumbling got louder, as did the footsteps, until it sounded like it was right outside of our tent. We both froze. I don’t think either of us were breathing.
And then…. silence. We waited and waited and waited. I’m still not sure how much time passed. Eventually, my girlfriend said, “We have to get to your car.”
The adrenaline was pumping, so I peeked out of the tent into the darkness and told her to stay behind me, then we RAN to the car. I locked the doors and she was like, “WHAT THE F**K WAS THAT?? WE CAN’T STAY HERE. NO ONE IS OUT HERE BUT US. WHAT WAS THAT??”
I kept looking around for any signs of life, but we were seemingly alone. I looked at her and was like “okay…. I’m gonna grab our stuff, you stay in the car.” We only had our ice chest and our tent out. I hopped out and ran, grabbed our ice chest, tossed it into the backseat. As I turned around to go get the tent, I started hearing footsteps closing in again.
In a moment of pure terror, I YANKED the tent out of the ground, wrapped the tarp around it, and slung it over my shoulder like some panicked Santa Clause and shoved it into the trunk. I didn’t say anything when I got in the car except “do we have everything in here??” My girlfriend said yes and I FLOORED it in reverse out of our camping area.
Then we came to a fork in the road that went in like 6 different directions. I asked my girlfriend if she remembered which path we came down to get in here and she told me she didn’t know. We chose a random one and ended up in a different camping spot. I cursed under my breath and slammed it into reverse again.
Then I noticed from the angle we had exited from, I could see the main path back to the gate, thanks to a small sign behind an overgrown bush. As we hightailed it out of there, I noticed there was a single, small green light out in the woods to our right (near where our designated spot was.)
We drove the entire 5 hours back to our hometown and fell asleep on my girlfriend’s parents’ couch at around 4AM. We never talked about the trip ever again, and I haven’t had any desire to camp since lol.
Image source: yellow_slash_red, naraa .in.ub / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#5
When I was a kid, we used to go on camping trips in the summer with my parents caravan. One year, my sister and I decided that we wanted to sleep in a small tent instead, which was setup directly in front of the caravan. We didn’t even make it one night.
Every now and then the both of us clearly heard the sound of something rubbing against the tent. We were scared shitless, because we thought someone was walking around our tent. I don’t remember how we got out of the tent, I guess we started screaming for our parents at one point or something. My father took a look around and we tried again but after a while, heard the same sounds again. We ended up sleeping in the caravan anyway.
A few days later we still didn’t want to sleep in the tent, so my father started to disassemble it. Turns out, some animals built tunnels directly under the tent and in doing so, rubbed against the bottom wall. We didn’t notice anything, because we were lying on inflatable mattresses, we only heard the sound of them, rubbing against the wall.
It’s pretty funny now, but d**n were we creeped out at the time.
Image source: lote4, RDNE Stock project / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#6
I was camping in the woods one weekend.
When I got up in the morning someone had made a cup of tea and partially drank it and left out next to my fire.
It was a solo camp.
Image source: Magnus_40, Elina Sazonova / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Before you go camping, make sure that you have sorted out your emergency contacts. “Ask a friend or family member at home to be your emergency contact and leave your camping itinerary with them,” RoSPA suggests. Furthermore, if you have an emergency on your trip, immediately contact the authorities.
Meanwhile, KOA urges all campers to be aware of and prioritize their needs. “Camping is a fun experience, but it is also imperative to pay attention to your body, what it needs and how it reacts to the environment. Keep your wits about you, get plenty of sleep and limit your alcohol intake.”
#7
Was out camping with a cousin of mine and I was asleep in my tent. In the middle of the night I felt something touching and slithering in me. I ignored it at first believing that I was still home and it was my brother or some s**t, but then when I finally realized where I was and opened my eyes. It was a caterpillar.
Scariest s**t I’ve experienced in my whole life.
Image source: RealBonix, Karolina / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#8
Was out with a friend for a weekend camping trip in the middle of nowhere North Georgia. We stopped at a local grocery store to stock up on snacks and beer when we found out it was a dry county. We asked the cashier if there was a nearby county where we could buy beer. She gave us directions to a bar that was right across the county line, about a ten minute drive. So we decided that if we couldn’t buy beer we would just stop and have a couple before heading to the campsite. We followed the directions that she gave us and as it was getting dark we pulled up to building with no signs saying it was a bar and had all of its windows bricked in. It had a single lightbulb over the screened door entrance and it seem to be the only light around. We sat in the car for a minute and made several nervous jokes about the movie Deliverance then decided that we didn’t need a drink after all. The next day we were chatting with other campers at the site we were staying at, who seem to be locals, and we mentioned the bar. A couple of them told us independently that that place was not and has never been a bar and that they thought we we’re being lured into trouble.
Image source: droeyourhero, Дмитрий Рощупкин / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#9
I think I have the creepiest story. We used to have a stationary caravan on a campground right at the northern sea. The campground was very small, there were like 40-50 caravans stationed there and a few empty slots for people with tents. We stayed there for holiday one year and for some reason left a day earlier than we had planned. And in that particular night, someone got m******d right next to our caravan. It was two women sleeping in a rented caravan, and the ex boyfriend of one of the women went to that camping ground at night and stabbed his ex and her friend. They dragged themselves out of the caravan and died right next to our caravan. Our caravan was on the first page of all newspapers, was in the news on tv, it was crazy. Hadn’t we left a day early, we’d have seen that women d*e.
Image source: anon, Egor Komarov / Pexels (not the actual photo)
What are the scariest things that you’ve ever experienced while camping or journeying through nature? Have you ever witnessed anything that you couldn’t rationally explain, no matter how much you’ve researched it later? Camping aside, what global issues or social trends genuinely scare you the most?
On the flip side, what are some of the most wholesome camping moments you’ve had that bring a smile to your face when you remember them?
We want to hear your stories! Share yours—the nightmarish and the good—in the comments at the bottom of this post.
#10
Headed to the toilet block in the middle of the night and see 100 kangaroos sitting motionless staring at you.
Image source: tubbyx7, Manuel Moreno / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#11
When I was in high school, my friends and I went out to a really remote spot in the mountains to camp. Just to get there, you needed a pretty serious off-roader. It was about 30 miles up a super rough road. There were river crossings, huge boulders in the road, and tons of sand pits.
This road took us all day. And all day we didn’t see a single other person.
No one passed us, we didn’t see anyone camping. Nothing. At one point, one of my friends noted it looked like no one had even driven on the road in awhile. Which was weird, because this was in Colorado and roads/trails like this are really popular.
Something worth pointing out – this road led into a box canyon, which is basically nature’s cul-de-sac. The road we were on was the only road in, and the only road out. All around us was massive cliffs. And another thing, we were deep in the mountains, far from any cell service. On top of that, we were in a box canyon, which even if you’re next to a city, never has service.
All that said, we eventually got to the spot and set up camp.
Every time we went camping, we played capture the flag. This trip was no exception. We waited for it to get dark, then started.
In the middle of the second round, me and one of my friends, on my team, hop up on the road (which ran parallel to area we were playing in). It seemed like a good way to get around to the other flag.
Walking down road, we began to see a glow coming towards us. Our first thought was its another 4×4 coming towards us. But as it got closer, we realized it was a young woman holding up her phone, looking for service. She was still at a distance, but we could tell she was panicky. She was rushing and stumbling at the same time. She didn’t seem drunk. It was weird. We called out:
“Hello?”
No response. But it wasn’t just that she ignored us. It was more like she didn’t even realize we were there.
We tried again, “You ok?”
Nothing.
As she’s passing us, we realize she’s crying.
Again, “You ok?”
She stumbles right pass us, never showing a single sign that she saw us. The whole time, just looking at her phone for service.
My friend and I are frozen. We watch her go. Still stumbling, still crying. She rounded a turn, then disappeared.
I yell out to my everyone else to meet back at camp. We do. I tell them what we saw. And I’m not proud to admit this (because it seemed like she needed help) but we got creeped out. We said we’d stay in camp that night, and in the morning, we’d go looking.
The first thing we do in the morning is decide there must be some other people camped down the road. They must know her. So we go down to the end of the road. There’s no sign of anyone. Then we decided to go to the entrance of the road and look for the woman. So we drive to the entrance, which took all day. Nothing.
I still feel guilty for not trying harder to help her. But thinking about how she got in that position, it just doesn’t make sense. She didn’t look like a hiker, she had on regular jeans and a sweater. If she had gotten in the canyon from the other side, it would require a very technical decent. She would have needed gear, and she didn’t even have a back pack.
We were pretty sure we were the only ones that had driven down that road in a while, so it’s not like someone dropped her off or left her. And the whole time we saw her, she was holding up her phone looking for service. If she knew the area at all, she would know there was no way she was going to find service.
I don’t know what to make of it. But I do know that the image of that woman stumbling in the dark, crying, has been seared in my brain ever since.
Image source: white_grey_black, Wendelin Jacober / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#12
When I was a teen me and two friends went camping and woke up in the middle of the night to a knife scraping along the sides on the tent at waist height, it went on for what was probably only a minute but felt like a lifetime. Then it stopped and we waited maybe an hour and left without unpacking the tent.
Later that week we found out it was one of our friends that we hadn’t invited, she had followed us and waited! Creepy AF!
Edit for more context: The friend in question, S, admitted that it was her when accusing us of being bad friends for not inviting her along. She had no remorse for what she did and just laughed it off. I have no contact with her and haven’t for years but this post had made me wonder where she is now.
I always felt really bad for her even though I didn’t fully comprehend her situation at home until I was older. Her mom was an alcoholic, her dad showed up every few months and banned her from leaving the house, he also used to sneak in to her bedroom at night! She broke his fingers once and he didn’t show back up for a long time. S had the kind of OCD where she had to turn taps, light switches, open and close doors etc a certain amount of times and she always had to navigate streets the same way. Her number changed every Sunday, on a good week it would be three, on a bad week she would always be late because the number was so high.
After writing this, I am the one who feels so bad about the camping incident, she probably felt abandoned by us and that’s why she did what she did.
Image source: purplelesscare, Jonathan Cooper / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#13
My dad and grandpa like to fish and hunt a lot. One night they decided to spend the night on the river in the Appalachian mountains. It was really late and they said they heard these awful screams coming from the woods on the opposite side of the river. He said it was inhuman and definitely not a mountain lion or anything like that. ( he would know) My dad is a pretty big guy and doesn’t scare very easily. But in that moment he was frozen with fear and just held his breath until the screams finally stopped. He felt like whatever it was knew that they were there,and wasn’t happy about it. It gives him goosebumps just thinking about it. Needless to say, they won’t fish there at night anymore.
Image source: DecentHuman_No13, Joshua Earle / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#14
Not my experience but my Mom’s and the reason she didn’t let any of my siblings and I go camping.
She had gone camping with her friends sometime in the 80’s it was the first time she had ever gone and she didn’t exactly know anything about camping. The way she tells it her friends picked the moat isolated place in the woods that they could so they could drink (underaged) without anyone coming along to check on them.
After partying until about 1 in the morning they decided to go down for the night. My mom woke up and had heard some noises and shook her friend awake as she was scared. Her friend just assured her it was animals and normal and to go back to sleep. So she did.
The next morning they woke up to large boot prints circling around their tent and camp fire. The foot prints came from the woods and left in the same direction. They couldn’t trace it further because of the foliage. They packed up and left that day even though they were supposed to be there for a week. Apparently they weren’t the only ones this happened to and boot prints were found a number of times over the next two years. No one was ever caught doing it.
Image source: anon, Salim Da / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#15
My Ex and I went camping with one of her friends a few years back. We were sitting around the fire and drinking when this dude just decided he wanted to join us.
Not a y’know, mountain man or anything, just one of those weekend outdoorsman types.
I’d have been fine if he had introduced himself, or bothered to ask if he could share our fire or something but no he just wandered out from the brush and plopped his a*s down without a word. We just sat in silence for what felt like hours but was probably less that a minute before he started talking about his day hiking and making random small talk.
Image source: DrBoots, Franco Chavol / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#16
Went camping with some new friends once, and one demanded he not share a tent with anyone because he sleepwalks. After we had already made the plans that he would share a tent with one friend while my girlfriend and I would have our own. Said whatever, was kind of pissed about it but left it so we could still enjoy the weekend. Gf and I shared an awkward tent with basically a rando.
That night, I was woken up by my gf who said “[first friends name] is freaking me out.” So, I looked outside the tent and dude is just walking in circles. I told her he sleepwalks so we just need to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.
Like 30 sec later, he starts screaming “HELLO?” at the top of his lungs. And that goes on for a while. Just standing in the middle of the campsite screaming. At this point we’re all awake and watching him like w*f. Then he turns toward the woods, screams “HELLO,” and points his f*****g pistol into the nothingness (luckily away from us.)
Now, up to this point I didn’t even know he brought his g*n. So, I went ahead and got mine out too bcuz I was thinking like “s**t, he is going to sleep shoot us.” But he doesn’t. Instead he put his g*n down, went into his tent, and went immediately back to sleep.
Next morning I asked him what the f**k he was doing. Turned out he waz not asleep and he thought he had heard coyotes, so his first thought was to wander off by himself into the night instead of waking any of us up. I never camped with him again.
A few years later, he made the news for scaring the s**t out of an entire campsite one night because he was running through the woods and firing his g*n erratically because he, “saw Bigfoot and was trying to track him down.” Really weird guy.
Image source: compost-imposter, Mohamed hamdi / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#17
Years ago my girlfriend and I were teachers and in June of each year, we would take a group of kids camping. We had a twelve-person tent set up on our site which was right next to a small lake. The site included a picnic table and a fire ring. Part of the trip was telling campfire stories about the Jersey Devil since the campground was located in an area where there had been many sitings over the years. The kids enjoyed being scared and they couldn’t wait to return the following year. This was around the fifth annual trip we had taken and, up to that point, nothing had happened.
On the last night after the stories, when the kids were safely asleep, my GF and I sat by the campfire in beach chairs. We had just bought a new puppy and she was tied to the tent on a long lead so she could run around. Suddenly the logs in the fire collapsed and the light from the fire dimmed considerably. Our propane torch that was on the picnic table dimmed at the same time. It became almost pitch black and that’s when the puppy started to growl. She was right next to me and every hair on her back was standing straight up as she stared into the darkness. Suddenly from out of the water comes this large figure about 20 yards from our site. At first, I thought it was a person but then it bent over and started running on all fours. I could only see the outline of the thing and the back end was higher than the front. It wasn’t a bear or a dog or a deer. It looked and ran like something I had never seen. It was in no hurry as it just trotted by and into the woods near our site.
I jumped up and ran to my car and turned on the lights. The car lights lit up our campsite but there was no sign of anything out of the ordinary. I told my GF to wake the kids because we were leaving. She was the braver one and convinced me to stay. We eventually calmed down and turned in for the night. I laid down by the tent opening with a large butcher knife and did not sleep until the sun came up. Nothing like this has ever happened to me before or since but I swear I saw something that was not a man or an animal. I haven’t been back camping since.
Image source: fetteration, Diego Santiago / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#18
Slept in my car an woke up to a arm an hand print on the window.
Image source: boredonairplane, Darya Grey_Owl / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#19
I have spent a ton of time in the wood, camping and hunting. I was camping with family and we heard the most horrific and animalistic sound coming through the trees. It was night and we had a lantern, so a small ring of light with pitch black beyond. Our dog shot straight up, hackled and the terrifying, gutteral growling and animal screaming got closer. We all braced for some monster to come spilling from the darkness, adrenaline pumping, dog fighting to break free. Suddenly the animals burst into the light….it was two racoons fighting. They stopped, looked at us and kinda had the , “oh s**t” look on their faces and kinda sidled back into the darkness.
To this day it is still the most terrify experience I’ve had in the wood.
Image source: NodePoker, Bernd Dittrich / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#20
This happened on a trip a few years ago one night mid-week, when the park is usually quieter. I woke up having to use the bathroom around 2am, so I left the trailer to go to the comfort stations. The site was one of those corner sites, so there’s a really short trail in the back of the site through the woods before you get to the lights where the washroom is. You can technically go around the front, but I figured I would just cut through there like I usually do to save time because I was tired. As I’m passing the middle of the trail, I hear a light noise that sounds like it’s right beside my ear. It sounded like giggling? So I picked up the pace a little bit and started looking for a raccoon or porcupine or something (they make weird noises) but I couldn’t see anything or hear any twigs cracking which I thought was weird. No sign of a person out there either. As soon as the last thought crossed my mind I swear to this day that I heard something deeper in the woods in a female voice say “Hello?”. To say I jumped was an understatement. I sprinted full throttle to the lights, tripped on a log and ripped my pant leg and shin. I made it to the bathrooms alive feeling painful and kind of stupid.
Once I was at the comfort station I did my business, and talked myself out of it being anything unnatural like the good biologist that I am. I figured I must have just misheard a raccoon or something.. I didn’t really believe in the paranormal, so worse case it was an actual person. I didn’t feel like getting jumped by some weirdo while I’m out at night by myself, so I made the decision to take the longer way back in the open road and skip the shortcut. As I passed by the entrance way for the woods (giving it a WIDE berth if we’re being honest), again, I can only tell you what I heard, but I swear as clear as day I heard a whisper that said “come back”.
I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever run in my life. I’m a little embarrassed to say I don’t do camp bathrooms at night by myself anymore, but I can’t explain what happened. Luckily my family got a new trailer the following season with an indoor bathroom so it hasn’t been an issue since.
Image source: ComfortableAd3519, Mohamed elamine M’siouri / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#21
A large cougar encircled our tent on the West Coast Trail and was sniffing the tent in the middle of the night. In the morning his tracks were all around us in the damp sand. My wife heard it, but I was asleep the whole time!
Image source: CantTakeMeSeriously, Caleb Falkenhagen / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#22
I was camping in yellowstone on a cold night and I was asleep in my sleeping bag in my tent when I kinda woke up and felt something warm curled up against my legs and I kinda snuggle back down because my dog usually sleeps there… then I realised i wasn’t at home so it wasn’t her. So I slowly lift my head to see what’s in my tent… 2 baby cougars had come in my tent and curled up with me, their mum was curled in the corner. I just laid there, it was magical and scary. At around 5 a.m. they got up and left.
Image source: warkifiedchocobo, Caleb Falkenhagen / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#23
My mom’s boyfriend watching us. We would never have known, but he couldn’t handle it when we all started talking s**t about him. All of the sudden he speaks up from the shadows, lmfao!
Image source: ItsSnake45, Fayson Merege / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#24
Went camping with my family when I was little. I remember one night there were bears (probably 2) that came to our camp site in the middle of the night. They came to our tent and I remember seeing their noses pressed up against the tent. My dad stayed up all night with his rifle in his hand. Luckily nothing happened and they just left.
Image source: anon, Andreas Ebner / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#25
I was 10 or 15 miles into the backcountry wilderness with a friend on a multi-day backpacking trip. We were trout fishing for our supper on a small stream fairly close to the timberline. Seemingly out of nowhere, a game warden on horseback materialized just a few yards from where I stood. He dismounted, marched right up to me and demanded to have a look at the contents of my creel.
It wasn’t a problem, but it was very unnerving (which, I’m sure, was his intent) the way he had apparently stalked and snuck up on us. My friend and I weren’t novices at being in the backcountry, so we were both a bit humbled how this man had managed to “ambush” us, especially given the sparseness of the vegetation available to cover his approach. My heart was racing for quite a while after that encounter and I vowed to get better at maintaining my situational awareness.
He was a good man, though. Turns out I did have a fish that was a bit outside the size limit due to my misunderstanding the regulation for that particular stream. The game warden just advised me that I needed to “get that fish on the fire and eat it tonight.” He would have been within his rights to cite me and confiscate my fishing rod and tackle, which would have really stunk.
Image source: anon, cottonbro studio / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#26
Back when I was in high school, a buddy and I dated a couple girls from a nearby town. One of the girl’s family had a cabin out in the country near a creek that we would hang out at on Friday and Saturday nights. On one of those nights we were hanging out being innocent smart decision making teenagers and started hearing weird noises out in the forest. Like crashing through bushes and stuff. We figured it was deer and went back to what we were doing. Then we heard what sounded like something being scraped along the side of the cabin at about the same time a fog started setting in. We were freaked the eff out. We waited about 30 minutes or so after the sounds stopped and hauled a*s out of there. As we got down the road we saw a guy with a thousand yard stare just slowly walking down the road all Michael Myers like. Nothing ever happened but definitely the creepiest thing I’ve ever experienced.
Image source: JacobBJones, Peter Holmboe / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#27
When I was 7 in Florida we went camping near a spring we swam at quite often. I woke up one morning and went down to the spring to wash up and there was a HUGE gater on the bank that hissed at me. It had to be 15-20 feet long, easily 5x my height. I stopped, and noped right out.
Image source: stratospaly, Deb Hayes / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#28
While camping with my class on a fun weekend canoeing trip, I woke up at night and heard someone running around outside the tent, and its breathing sounded like… what I can only describe, as an adult with my years of experience, as someone trying not to panic or not to cry openly, not quite sobbing but clearly “freaking out” sort of wheezing. You know what I mean.
it was very clearly a two-footed creature, but it sounded very small and fast. We were all at least 13 so we weren’t that tiny, none of us were. It ran all around the camp in all directions but never touched anything, and then it *ran away*, its quick steps getting lighter and lighter until it was gone in the distance.
I was lying on my back listening the whole time, and then as it left I turned onto my side… and the kid beside me in the tent was *awake with her wide eyes staring straight at me, blankly*. I was like, “you got woken up too?” and she nodded and then turned over.
I asked her about it the next day and she didn’t remember, nobody remembered. I tried to bring it up, but the teacher insinuated that I was just making it up for attention, so I gave up. No idea what the f**k is was, if you have an idea let me know.
**edit:** I have another story.
This one probably has an explanation though. I was with my aunt/cousin and their family camping in an old 70s camper by a lake. It had been raining all evening, and the wind was pretty crazy so we were all freaking out a bit as our camper rocked around in the storm, but eventually we got to bed. In the middle of the night I woke up with the moon streaming in through the window on my face, I remember it being REALLY bright, enough to easily read by.
so I sat up slowly and looked out the window, with a clear view through the trees to the lake, and the moon had its reflection glittering on the water, it was very beautiful… but on the water seemed to be something that flew around much like a moth or a bug would, in a strange dance where it’d almost touch the water but then go up again, like it was teasing or faking out. It would go around in circles, not evenly or anything but just repeatedly, and if I were to calulate the size of it going by how far out on the lake it was, it’d be about the size of a cat, and I saw it’s reflection on the water so it wasn’t a bug or a trick of the light… it was difficult to make out what it actually was. It just went around and around, illuminated in the moonlight, until its circles grew wide enough that it went behind the trees. I kept watching hoping it’d come back out again but it never did.
Image source: No-Bewt, marnock / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#29
Avid backpacker, trekker and mountaineer… April 2015 I was on a 100 mi adventure in Grand Escalate in Southern Utah. I was camped out about 5mi from Coyote Gulch and in the middle of the night there was this ear piercing screech unlike anything I’ve ever heard before. I’ve heard most game noises, but this sounded almost artificial and it felt like it was over head. I was nervous because of the W*F moment but I popped out of my tent and just saw this colorful swirl in the sky like a Van Gogh paint stroke and just stood there jaw dropped and went right back into my tent, took an a*s load of melatonin and knocked the f**k out. I didn’t really question it for a long time. I honestly try to forget it because it just feels weird even thinking about it.
Image source: Green_Bee6, Erik Schereder / Pexels (not the actual photo)
#30
My friend and I were in the car ready to leave for a music festival when we got notice it was cancelled. We were all ready to go, so we decided to just drive and find somewhere to camp for the weekend instead.
We ended up in a sort of summer resort area upstate. It was the end of season, so the place was completely empty. But it was pretty, nice lake and scenery, so we figured we’d stay. There were no pesky families with kids to interfere with the partying we intended to do.
The semi-creepy, but friendly attendant assigned us a site, so we drove down to it. We quickly noticed they’d put us in the site that was furthest away from everything. Literally on the edge of the woods, surrounded by empty sites, completely isolated. We thought it was weird, but still, it was what we wanted, to just drink and smoke in the woods in peace.
So we set up camp, then f****d around until it got dark. As soon as we settled down in the tent and put out the lantern, we heard an unmistakable sound – off to the left of us, where there was nothing but empty campsites, maybe 100 yards away – someone was slowly and deliberately sharpening an axe or a knife against stone. Long, slow, metallic strokes. Over and over and over.
My friend was terrified, but I was laughing, thinking this attendant guy was obviously f*****g with us city slickers. She insisted we would have heard him coming, and decided to call the check-in booth. He was there. It was almost half a mile away, there’s no way he could’ve gotten there in time, and we could still hear the sharpening sound. And the attendant guy confirmed there was no one in the place except us.
We ended the night locked in the car, holding a can of bear mace. My friend fell asleep, but I watched and listened all night. Shortly before sunrise, the noise stopped. The sun came up, and there was nobody around anywhere. Still can’t explain it.
Image source: Chachibald, Curated Lifestyle / Unsplash (not the actual photo)
#31
What sounded like a dozen coyotes about 40 feet from our tent while camping during early spring. Circling around while yipping for 30min straight.
Image source: Manna_Hontana
#32
Girlfriend and I were tent camping and there were maybe only 5 other campers in the campground, all spread apart.
Well in the middle of the night we both awaken because we hear footsteps maybe 20 feet from our tent. We both just lay there d**d quiet listening to the footsteps. They were very slow, and not moving around much. No other breathing sounds and it didn’t sound particularly heavy. We both thought it was a person.
Weirdest part is that after about 30 seconds of that the footsteps just stopped. Like, no trailing off into the distance, nothing. Like they just stopped and that was that. Still don’t know how or what that was about.
Image source: ContentKeanu
#33
The unfortunately named Meat Cove, Nova Scotia. Very remote (20 years ago anyway), no services to speak of. One road in is the same road out. Narrow strip of land between forbidding hills and the ocean. The one campground for miles and miles around. We’re tuckered out and need a place to crash. The groundskeeper at the front, this old lady who looked like the crypt keeper. She looks us straight in the eye and says “You need to leave. Now.” No questions asked we noped the f**k out of there, never even got a campsite.
Image source: CrieDeCoeur
#34
My daughter and I do a girl’s camping trip in Moab, Utah every year for her birthday. This year when, it was cold and rainy and even snowed one night – which meant that there were not a lot of other campers. We camped by ourselves off a remote dirt rode in the shadow of a giant bluff. We didn’t get much hiking in the first night because it was so cold and wet. Once it warmed up the next morning, we set off to explore our surroundings. In the dirt road that went past our camp – there were GIANT foot steps. It looked as though some giant man ran past our camp barefoot in the night – or a wendigo. We were convinced it was the latter. Why on earth would someone go running through the red clay in the cold of the night past a remote campsite?
Image source: Javacatcafe
#35
I needed to s**t so I went out into the woods at night away from the camp site and I had this strange feeling something was stalking me. I hurried back and come to find out there was a f*****g mountain lion not even 10 feet from me. I found out because the people camping next to us had spotted it a couple hours before sundown.
Image source: Throbbingprepuce
#36
Was camping at some old horse corrals. Behind us was a creepy old outhouse in the middle of really thick timber. Completely dark, no sunlight touched it at all, and we heard weird noises coming from it during night. A few days after we left, a wildfire (The Snake River Complex wildfire in Idaho this summer) tore through there and burned the entire forest to the ground. When the fire was contained we traveled back to the camp grounds and saw everything burned, all except for that patch of timber with the creepy outhouse.
Image source: BisonnotBuffalo2016
#37
I had a moose run through my campsite in the middle of the night. I could feel the vibrations from the ground and it sounded like a car crashing through the woods. Wee!
Image source: ArturoBukowski
#38
When I was younger and we went to a camping site, at the time I was sleeping in a tent with my family. Now this tent kinda has a separation from the green sleeping area and a wide space in the middle. Anyways.
At about 1 ‘o’ clock in the morning(wayyy past the campsite curfew) there were a bunch of drunk as f**k men in their late twenties maybe? Early thirties? They were older than I was at the time.
Just outside our tent we hear them like, talking, really loudly. Then I heard glass smash, and I see through a little gap in the tent that there are about 3 dudes like standing around a broken beer bottle. The one of the guys f*****g *opens our tent* and steps inside.
My dad being the hero he was unzipped the barrier and almost sucker-punched the dude in the face, but sadly couldn’t as he tried to run out. Note the tried. He tripped on the tent and fell face first into the dirt. 7 year old me and my 10 year old brother were laughing our heads off at this dude, while my mom had a look of complete and utter shock.
Image source: Coshmu
#39
Went on a camping trip with school. Slept in massive tents that held like 7 people per tent. Woke up in the middle of the night, not sure what time but it was late. I knew this because the campfire wasn’t lit, and after we all went into our tents the teachers would stay out. So I wake up confused as s**t because at the time I was a dumb kid. Suddenly I hear the most demonic screech I’ve ever heard. I laid back down as still as possible. Turns out other kids also heard it and the next morning we ask the teachers what the noise was. They said it was a f*****g deer.
Image source: anon
#40
Camping in Greece, we were the only people on the site run by a delightful if slightly crazy lady with no teeth. After we set up our tents we went exploring a bit we found a caravan tent that still had food on the plates outside it and we even spied a wheelchair at the back of it, add to that the rolls of fly covered fly paper and the creepy vibe was pretty d**n intense. We continue on and fi d another tent, well what was left of it. It looked like a bear had torn it to pieces it was in shreds and there was stuff all over. Creepy meter was off the charts at this point so ofc we took some pics and decided to name the place camp d***h (backpacking round Greece involved alot of ouzo).
After we’d got some more supplies (beer, ouzo and beans) from the local shop we were cooking dinner and some dude in sodding biker leathers turns up and just slowly drags the shredded tent away like it’s no big deal….
We stayed for 2 nights and even got pissed with the owner lady and her bazillion stray dogs on one night, we had a great time.
Image source: venarez
#41
When i was in middle school, my whole class went on a 5 day camping trip. On the first night we set up our tents and went to bed. At about 2 or 3 am i and the others in my tent woke up because some sort of large animal was poking at our tent. We also heard the sounds of wolves and heard the screaming of some kind of animal. Everyone was scared for the rest of the camping trip and we all got little to no sleep.
Image source: Willing_Bullfrog_231
#42
Drifter on the Trail.
Right after graduating high-school, me an three friends decided to hike the Appalachian Trail from central-west Pennsylvania to New Jersey.
Out in the middle of thr wilderness, miles from the nearest shelter, this weather-worn man with dirty, shoulder length hair comes rushing out of the brush onto the trail in front of us.
His out fit was mis-marched hiking gear, and up close it was clear he had seen hard times. Though he was young, his hands were scarred, skin pock marked. And around his waited, I kid you not…he had freaking a machete tied to his belt.
So this fine gentlemen introduced himself by the moniker “Lone Wolf”, and claimed he was a lost through-hiker, hiking the AT South to North. The fact he had no pack however was odd.
But being really stupid 18 year olds, with that sense of invisible energy common to that age, we didn’t immediately get the hell away from him. He was weirdly charming, and we were kind of amused, in a perverse way. We figured he leaves us be if we we’re friendly, so we offered him some cigarettes.
As he’s smoking it, “Lone Wolf” starts staring at my friend Gwen with weird looks, and making uncomfortable conversation directed at her…and only her. So we took off pretty quick and hoped that would be the last we’d see of him.
NOPE
Two hours later we break for a rest on a tall rock, and to our shock, we see” Lone Wolf”, machete in tow, sneaking along in the brush next to the trail. We immediately double our pace hoping to lose the guy, but he managed to follow us all day. With each hour we realize beyond any doubt that he is following us, and our pace became more and more urgent.
By night fall we lost track of the drifter, but were jumping at every snapped twig, and moving shadow. hours pass and we don’t see anyone, so we decide so build a fire.
No one could sleep. Throughout the evening we heard the periodic sound of brush and twigs breaking beyond the firelight. Half panicking I called out to the darkness. Something is definitely moving just out of sight.
“Hello?”
The noises suddenly stopped, and I felt the sinking dread of full panic chilling my blood. I drew my utility knife, sweaty plams shaking.
“We’ve got a g*n!”
My friend shouts; a lie. He reaches into his bag, and pulling the handle of a camping frying pan out, which in the dark looked vaguely g*nlike. He waved around in the firelight.
There was science then rapid crunching leaves, and the more distant sound of twigs breaking. Then silence.
The next day a local ranger came up to us as we were approaching the next shelter, and asked if we’d seen a man matching “Lone Wolf’s” description. Apparently someone had been attacked – beaten and robbed nearby. The ranger phoned the sheriff about our story and told us they’d look for the guy.
The ranger saw we were shaken, and was nice enough to give us a ride up a fire trail a few miles so we could get out of the area.
I still shutter think about what they guy would have done had we not scared off.
Image source: Brainpain27
#43
Well, this was a few years ago, we a group of friends usually go to a farmhouse which is of a relative of our friend located inside a forest, the most beautiful place, peaceful and quiet. So we went there and put a campfire and we had few drinks.
I think around past 1 am [ IST ] three of us went to the river located down of the farmhouse, the path only is through the forest, we stayed there for a while went further and as we were high well let’s just say we were very playful, screaming and everywhere, and suddenly it felt like someone was watching us, we didn’t give a thought of that and went back thinking it was the best thing to do.
We are almost reaching the house and suddenly someone scolded us like “**look at the time, is this the time to be roaming here go and sleep**” in a loud voice and we all thought it was the relative, but all we could see was a black shadow, we just thought we were hammered and just went up to the house, and the awesome part some of the friends were still at the fire camp and we looked inside the house to see the relative d**d sleeping, we asked if any went by or the relative, they all said “**no one went from here only you three, and it been over an hour, we are waiting for you guys**”, well that made us wake up from the dizziness right away.
Image source: astro_abhi
#44
Not necessarily “creepy”, but scary af. Was camping, staring at the stars, when a meteorite flew overhead and towards mountain we were camping near, when it exploded. It was probably a couple of miles away when it popped, but sounded like dynamite going off & lit the sky up to almost daytime levels.
Image source: risingmoon01
#45
Last summer we bought a camper and spent the summer and fall camping all over. On one of our first trips to New Hampshire we woke up from the camper to find a huge pile of bear s**t right outside the steps and in several areas of our site. Kind of freaked us out a little knowing how close a bear was.
Image source: myverygoodusername12
#46
I’m an avid backpacker; I’ve logged over 40 days of backpacking this year, about 20 of them solo. All out west in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming. I’ve been woken up by a ton of crazy noises, but it’s all just animals- Although when you wake up your heart is racing since you can’t always ID what exactly it is, and it’s startling. Even if they come up to your tent, you just turn on your light and yell at them to f**k off and they leave. They know what you and your tent are, most are just curious or looking for food.
The more I go out the less s**t bothers me. I do carry a pistol with an 800 lumen light, but it’s actually people who I’m worried about; humans are the real monsters in the dark.
Image source: FlatAffect3
#47
My dad was the boy scout leader for a few years. One time he couldn’t make the whole week so mom went out to finish the last two days, I was about 6 at the time and tagged along (my brother was there so I couldn’t stay home). Shortly before dawn we saw the tent flap open and one of the campers sticks his head in with a cup and says in the creepiest whisper voice ‘lemonade’ then ran away. 19 years later and I still have no idea if it was lemonade or pee.
Image source: spartanleaves
#48
Was camping a mile or so below the base of the Mt. Bierstadt trailhead near Gerogetown, Colorado on Guanella Pass. We were trying to get a high altitude night in before heading off to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro the next week. My wife (gf at the time) and I had gotten pizza at a place on the drive there and were VERY careful to eat it in the car, never let it (or any other food) out of the car, and not have any food at our campsite. The plan was to camp, leave at 5am, and climb Bierstadt & Mt. Evans by the Sawtooth ridge the next morning.
Around Xam (no clue, was dark and had no watch) I hear heavy footsteps and panting. Then something starts pawing at our tent. Heavy breathing. Grunting. Heavy steps circling around our tent. *Could* it be a moose? No, I *feel* it is a bear (though a moose is honestly probably more dangerous, it’s the only animal a bear is afraid of). My eyes are wide open and I assume my wife’s are too, but I can’t see them, pitch dark.
The next morning I find out my wife slept thru it. We find bear tracks all around our tent.
Image source: fleetmack
Follow Us
