Strange occurrences and tales of the unexplained!

[Narbob]

I'll add to to the craziness. A couple years ago I was with my son camping west of Death Valley at a location called Papoose Flats. Alone and setting up in the valley near a rock outcropping, 'something' would not let us build a fire. It would smoke and smolder but no flame. I even resorted to lighter fluid and nothing. As the evening went on we discussed if the location could be haunted from the Indian and US Cavalry wars. I then reached over my shoulder and snapped a pic. The photo shows the rock behind us with the horizon top left, a hole through the rock middle left and ??? over my shoulder. I know there's skeptics and I'm okay with that. However, I see a clear face with a hat, pointy nose and chin as well as an eye almost grinning down at me. Needless to say we didn't sleep much that night. Oh and there was then unexplained screams we heard in the distance throughout the night.

 

[Murphy Slaw]

Awesome.

 

[cougargnw]

The trumpets would freak me out for sure. There are so many things we don't know about yet and when we stumble across them it scares the crap out of us. There was a thread like this year's ago on another forum i read and the stories of ghosts and the unknown guys had while camping would make you lose sleep. I personally haven't witnessed anything but always try to find new stuff and experiences

 

[Lassen]

I haven't experienced anything untoward as yet. But I do enjoy seeing satellites zip overhead in the very dark, very clear skies. And seeing meteors from time to time. Did see one blow up, sort of. Didn't see the actual meteor, but saw the flash from it as it blew up. Next day heard that it was witnessed across northern Nevada and California.

 

[k9sar]

I've been backpacking with the same group of guys since Boy Scouts back in the early 70's visiting state and national parks. I have witnessed some strange places and weird " We're being watched" feelings. The most strange was in Yellowstone while on a 14 day backcountry trip. We were camped for the day and followed a game trail to look for epic photo opportunities. Found a gorgeous meadow that seemed strange to all of us as soon as we stepped out of the tree line. There were no sounds at all.. no insects, birds or animals.... Just a strong feeling of being watched... all the hair on my body was standing on end. We looked at each other without saying a word and backed out of there, not wanting to turn our backs on the place. When we got a little distance away, we turned tail and noped our lil' a$$es on out of there. Later around the camp fire we shared rehashed the experience and it seemed we all had very similar feelings of being watched, a wrongness to the place and all our hair standing up.

 

[k9sar]

In 2005, I was a member of a disaster medical team deployed to the gulf coast for 2 months following Hurricane Katrina. Picture an ER in big tents.
We were traveling through the Lower Ninth Ward in a convoy guarded by Black Water PMCs. We had just pasted through yet another military check point and our guards asked us if we wanted to check out a real spooky place that the Rangers at the check point warned them about. When we got there it looked no different than any of the surviving houses around it but there was something really wrong about the place. Everybody in our vehicle were highly experienced ER staff and paramedics. We said an emphatic NO! The same spidey senses that kept my tail out of trouble while working night shift in the worst neighborhoods of Atlanta were seriously tingling there. When the Black Water guys were busting our chops about not going in, we said we would follow them in. They laughed and said Hell no! They told us that the Rangers wouldn't go in there either.

Later in our deployment we were operating as the ER for a hospital that had been founded in 1852 as a infirmary and then funded to hospital status by a silent film star back in the 1920's. Old place that was added to over the years so there was no easy way to get anywhere in the place. The maintenance staff had told us of some of the odd occurrences there. Hearing the swish of hose and squeaky shoes of a nurse on one floor and the sounds of a ball bouncing and children running down the hall on a floor that used to ward children during the various plagues that hit New Orleans over the years. The only operating elevators were the original Otis elevators that were installed in the first lobby. The only working laundry room was on the fourth floor while the rest of the hospital (except the ER) was completely empty. We always used the buddy system when going anywhere so there were 4 of us going to do laundry that night. When we finally found the elevators, the one closest to us opened by itself when we came around the corner. Okay, weird but we filed in and I was the last in facing the directly at the opening. The door wouldn't close even after pushing the floor button and the close door button multiple times. I had the impression that there was somebody in between me and the door so I asked "Please close the door" ...and the door closed immediately! There was some nervous laughter and my buddies suggested that I ask to go to the fourth floor. I reached over to punch the button and said fourth floor please. I didn't want to be on the darned thing if it just went up on its own. The door opened on the fourth floor and then closed. We repeated the same door refusing to close unless asked routine on the way back. This continued for the entire two weeks that we were at this facility. Over time I was the only one regularly doing laundry for night shift. We had a new guy that had just joined us and he was volunteered to join me. As usual, we repeated the ask to close the door business on the way up. The dryer wasn't working very well and the load needed another cycle. When I looked down the hall to see the new guy was getting on the opened elevator. I thought " Hey, I'll get to ride the other elevator for the first time." I pushed the down button, the door opened and I got on and started down. I could hear the other elevator door open and then close below me. When I got off the elevator, I had to pass the in front of the other weird one. The door opened by itself and I stated " No thanks, I'm done for the night" and the door closed.... By itself

We moved to another site shortly afterwards, but I've felt that whatever that was had followed me around for quite a long time afterwards.

 

[old_man]

I was out on Eleven Mile Reservoir west of Colorado Springs at about 6am in a canoe by my self casting for Pike. The lake was mirror smooth and totally silent. All the sudden all hell broke loose from behind me. It was a couple of F-111's practicing low level maneuvers. They went over at no more than 50 feet up at just below Mach and the sound actually made the surface water dance. Since they were at almost Mach, I had only a second or so notice. I had to clean out my shorts. They probably thought it was funny. Me...not so much.

 

[robrtsmtn]

A long time ago while living near the front range in Colorado, a friend and I took his 8 ft. plastic boat into a glacial Circ lake just below timberline. Wanting to be on the water at sunrise, we launched the boat in the dark of predawn. After rowing from shore we began to hear strange moaning sounds echoing around us almost like a low breeze through the pines, but there was no breeze. We both decided we had no intent of going ashore with these sounds around us and spent close to an hour rowing around in circles as this eerie sound continued. Finally, as the sun rose against the peaks in the background of the lake, we could see about a dozen naked hippies in lotus posture along the shore all chanting "ooommmmm, ooommmm".

 

[Laughing Otter]

A long time ago while living near the front range in Colorado, a friend and I took his 8 ft. plastic boat into a glacial Circ lake just below timberline. Wanting to be on the water at sunrise, we launched the boat in the dark of predawn. After rowing from shore we began to hear strange moaning sounds echoing around us almost like a low breeze through the pines, but there was no breeze. We both decided we had no intent of going ashore with these sounds around us and spent close to an hour rowing around in circles as this eerie sound continued. Finally, as the sun rose against the peaks in the background of the lake, we could see about a dozen naked hippies in lotus posture along the shore all chanting "ooommmmm, ooommmm".

LOL, not sure what's scarier...unknown moaning, or naked hippies moaning!

 

[Stephanie]

1. I'm not going to tell a story. I'll just say Gettysburg battlefield at night. Wear some depends.

 

[old_man]

I hear voices in my head all the time. Does that count?

You guys are just jealous because the voices don't talk to you.

 

[mark_themachinst_guy]

My buddy and I just started a podcast about the "unnatural and unexplained" stuff. We plan to record our first episode this weekend, I'll definitely mention a few of the things I've read on this thread. We're both into camping and overlanding too, so maybe we'll throw some of that in there.
We're not the tinfoil hat type by any means, we just like talking about weird shit. I think it'll be more of a comedy podcast than anything else. If anyone's interested I'll DM you a link to the episode once it goes on air. We titled it "Something Supernatural"

 

[The other Sean]

While not in the middle of nowhere, once while putting my dog out first thing in the morning in the middle of winter, I heard what sounded like much like a high speed metal on metal screeching sound mixed with a large choir holding one note off in the distance. This was at 4:30 in the morning and almost sounded more organic than man made. Spooky....

Turns out (as most sounds turn out to be) it was coming from the river which is about 2 miles from my house. As it was explained by the news as due to the super quick temp drop (it went WAY below zero overnight) the ice on the river was doing odd things and making strange noises.

 

[k9sar]

I work and exercise my dogs at Kennesaw Mountain National Park which is a Civil War site in Georgia. We usually go to the west side of the park where there are fewer visitors. There are numerous fighting positions in the area including cannon emplacements. Recently I was walking my dog along a trail called 24 Gun Trail that follows along a Union cannon line. I had finished my coffee and placed my steel coffee mug on a flat stump 3-4' off the trail to be picked up on the way back. My dog and I had gone about 30 feet when we heard a metallic banging behind us. We turned around to see the mug laying in the middle of the trail easily 6' from where I had left it. The woods are open for a long way and there was no wind. It was not possible for anyone to have snuck up to knock the mug to the ground and not be seen or heard. While I was staring at the mug my German Shepherd stared to the side of the stump....she just stared and stared and then looked up at me.
There was an vacant home near this that as you approached the house on the road, you would glimpse what appeared to be a figure dressed in an Civil War officer's uniform standing by an ancient pine tree looking up at the mountain. When you did a double take, there was nothing there. I saw this many times over the 48 years that I've lived in the area.
There is another section in a field that's just behind where I saw the apparition that my dogs would act strangely. My older dog is a German Shepherd /Akita mix. Quite a few times in this area, he would stop and stare suddenly, growling aggressively with all of his hackles standing on end. This would last only 30 seconds or so and then his hackles would smooth down and he would go on as if nothing had happened. Always happens in the same section of the park. My other dog is a working SAR dog, breed and trained to be fearless. One day about 300' behind where I saw the apparition, she stopped suddenly on the trail and wouldn't go forward. She just stared up the trail. I gave her another "forward" command and she turned 90 degrees and pushed through grass that was over her head till she got to the end of her 25' lead. She then went forward parallel to the trail dragging her lead through the grass until we had gone a couple hundred feet passed where she had been staring and then she turned back to the trail. Once she returned to my side, she looked back down the trail for a moment and we finished our walk. This is in an open field where I could see a long way, there was nothing there! She has never repeated this behavior.

A friend wanted me to pass on his experience at the park. He is a Civil War re-enactor. He was posing for a photograph with his group near one of the monuments there. He was on the outside back row. The guy next to him tried to hand him several of what appeared to be authentic cartridges stating "You're gonna need these.". My buddy told him no thanks. When the photo was developed there was an empty space where this other guy was supposed to be and nobody else saw him or recognized his description. My friend swears to this and is not one to B.S.

 

[squishware]

I worked second shift in the Engineering Department at the Ritz Carlton in Sarasota. When the overnight guy called in I would have to cover the overnight shift. It was the only shift we could access the Spa for repairs. Very scary spot and famously haunted.

 

[Phillylynch]

I'm seeing lots of strange lights stories on this thread so I might as well add my own. It was around sunset and I was out with one of my buds getting firewood and brush to burn in a big pile, we were near the edge of the forest on his property and suddenly we look over at a stump from a tree we cut down a few weeks ago and we see these two dim white lights hovering around the stump. We just stood there watching at first we thought it was someone with a flashlight so I yelled out "hey is anyone there!" No response. I decided just to shine my flashlight over at the stump and once I did there was nothing there, Its as if the lights weren't even there in the first place. We decided it would be best just to get what we need and get out asap. after we got back and lit the fire we spent a few mins just trying to figure out what we saw.

 

[Arizona Overland]

I'm most likely going to be alienated, laughed at, ostracized, and maybe even talked about as the "crazy" guy here on OB.......BUT, my curiosity is the driving force here.

As some of you know, I am a professional backpacking and kayaking guide, I also teach primitive skills survival. I also spend a lot of time solo in the mountains, woods, deserts, etc. Not only here in Washington state, but all over the world. I have lived in 18 countries and 3 states in my lifetime and been to many more. I mention all this, not to boast but to set the tone and backstory for this topic.

In all my travels I have experienced unusual phenomenon, odd occurrences, unexplained events, and just plain weird shit. For example...Unexplained time loss, unnatural lights in the sky, Unusual sounds and smells that have my dogs hiding behind me, feelings of dread or fear that suddenly trigger my "fight or flight" response for no reason, as well as seeing things that I have convinced myself...I couldn't have seen, but I saw. Now this doesn't happen every time I go out...but on occasion it has and continues to happen.

So, just curious if anyone else out here has experienced anything they can't explain while overlanding or camping, hiking, backpacking, etc....I'd like to hear your story. LOL, of course I do expect some sarcasm and poking fun at my expense, but...it is what it is...

This is interesting. So, were you probed?

 

[Arizona Overland]

I saw "something" far, far away one night in the sky. It was too fast and eratic and I'm pretty sure it was unidentified. Other people saw it, so if I'm crazy, I'll have company.

"Fight or flight" is a very real sense that I've learned to take VERY serious.

As a gigging musician for 35+ years, I used to drive home from bars listening to "Coast to Coast" and such. That stuff will weird you out after a long night.............

What do you play?

 

[Laughing Otter]

This is interesting. So, were you probed?

not that I'm aware of, lol, but...those aliens could've erased my memory!

 

[Arizona Overland]

not that I'm aware of, lol, but...those aliens could've erased my memory!

Ive heard thats what they do. So, well just figure you were indeed probed, and you liked it.