I used to go running with my dad a lot. We almost always brought our dog, because we would be running through fields and woods and stuff like that and there were no people or cars around, so we always let her run without a leash.

At about a quarter of the distance there is a little river crossing the track with a sloping riverside path. The doggie loved to run ahead and jump straight in the water. On this day however, we did not hear the usual splashing sounds so we went a little faster.

Well, we found the dog on the riverside path, with her nose deep between the buttcheeks of a completely naked man, who happened to take his no less naked female acquaintance in missionary there.

Looks of mutual horror were thrown around until my dad called back our dog and we continued running while pretending that nothing has happened.

MisterDropFish Report

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I've told this story before, but I'll tell it again.

I've encountered bears, snakes, moose, and recently a bobcat. But I never felt terror like I did when I was a kid.

I was at a beach in Juneau with my parents and sister when I was very young, it was a nice day the river was blue and so was the sky for once. A bunch of families with small children and babies were out just barbqueing. We were walking along the beach toward the picnic area and I heard a baby crying in the woods.

I learned about Kooshdakhaa and Wendigo and other stories about things mimicking people at school. But at the time it didn't cross my mind that it was odd nobody else was concerned about this crying child. So my stupid a*s let's my family walk ahead and I go into the woods.

I didn't get very far when I centered in on the sound, I could still see the beach from the trees. I didn't see a baby or kid on the ground anywhere, but I heard the sound again and looked up at a tree. It was a goddamn raven sitting there making baby noises.

A different raven swooped at me from the side and knocked my hat off and I took off running back to my parents. Later, the only thing I could think of as to why they did that was my hat was neon pink with sparkly sequins on it and they wanted the sequins. Scared the s**t outta me then and still creeps me out to think about.

Nairadvik Report

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Outdoorswoman here, ish, lol. I use the term lightly.

When I was in my early 20s, my friends and I thought it would be a brilliant idea to go night hiking through some woods said to be haunted. It was a very very very old town that died out due to some illness, I believe the rumors said tuberculosis. You can walk the horse path and there are stone foundations on either side of you. Really neat, actually. You were supposed to be able to hear children laughing and dancing in the trees, apparently.

Yeah, didn’t hear any children laughing, but I did record our whole hike.

That night, going over the footage with a friend of mine on his TV, he told me to stop and rewind. I did, and we must have rewound that thing 30 times.

There was a face peaking behind trees following us. Not a human face, a weird…. Gremlin type face, distorted. Large sunken eyes and a flat nose, pointy chin. We thought we were seeing things, but we watched it so many times, adjusted the brightness and contrast on his TV.

Sure as s**t.

Never went back.

millietonyblack Report

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My dad and I went backpacking a few years back. We got to the trailhead later than we had planned and decided we were going to start the hike anyways. 4 hours later the sun is going down and we still had over an hour left till we got to a suitable site to drop down.

We're now hiking in the dark with our headlamps when we here a low growl 20 or so feet off the trail from us. Then we heard something large moving through the underbrush and trees. We both looked at eachother and basicly ran up the trail as best we could in the dark on a rocky hill. It was 15 min before we stopped to catch our breaths.

Never saw it but hearing it so close by gave me a shot of primal fear that I didn't know I had.

kazariklightborn , Amel Uzunovic Report

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While on horseback came across a deer carcass. Horse was spooked and about 30 yards away saw a grizzly stand up...... Felt my heart pumping hard

Quiet-Cancer , cottonbro studio Report

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I had a 10+ gator try to roll my skiff and it wasnt just once. He was pretty relentless.

Tink2013 , Rene Ferrer Report

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In the 90s, I was on a week-long backpacking trip with my uncle in the Colorado high-country. He was a professional rock climbing-trail guide at the time, so he knew his stuff while off-the-grid.

The second day in, we were following some old trail that hadn't been groomed in years, and came across the outskirts of some random commune deep in the woods. We knew there were people there because we could see campfires and laughing/talking in the distance.

My uncle immediately freaks out, tells me to keep quiet, and then made us back track nearly five miles, and then around. It was the first and only time I've actually seen him panic off-the-grid.

Afterward, he lectured me that it was some kind of small sect or cult that had a rep for being very territorial in the area at the time, and was known to shoot at trespassers without provocation.

Avery_Di_Umbra Report

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I was camping in northern Minnesota at a large boy scout camp. We stayed in these large canvas old school military tents with large door flaps. One night/ early morning a bear wandered in and sat down outside our tent with his rump right on the door flap. My tent partner and I could see the bear outline and hear him as he was chillin. We were mortified just looking at each other, completely silent. We were maybe 11 or 12.

He eventually wandered off/ was scared off. Older scouts and adult leaders scared it off eventually but man that was a tense moment.

Altruistic-Cap-5957 Report

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I’ve had several but the one that scared me the most happened when I was a kid. There was a railroad track behind our house, a small patch of woods, then a road with a larger patch of woods on the other side. Anyway, I used to go out and play in the smaller patch of woods by myself and nobody else ever went out there. Not other kids, nobody. It was like my little sanctuary where I could get away for a while and escape.

One day I was sitting on this little hill just daydreaming when I heard something moving through the woods to my left. It sounded like a person, but like someone who was trying to walk quietly. I had a strong feeling someone was trying to sneak up on me so I slowly stood up and looked off to my left to get a better view. Sure enough, a man was walking through the woods toward me and I noticed that he was stopped. Like he was trying to make as little noise as possible.

Well I was a kid and could run fast. So I got out of there quick and was practically in my back yard before he could take another step. I can still remember he was an older man wearing a blue windbreaker and I had a strong feeling that he had seen me in the woods before, maybe when driving down the road or walking on the track.

I still think he had gone in the woods that day to try to track me down and had very bad intentions if he would have caught me. I never mentioned it to my parents or anything but I just had a strong gut feeling that I narrowly escaped a bad situation that day.

WoahVenom Report

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On a trail in the Angeles National Forest with a friend, about a mile in we hadn't seen anyone else since we entered. While rounding what we thought would be a secluded corner my friend pulled out a joint and went to light up, the noise of the lighter sparking caused something up the trail to turn around quickly... I couldn't tell what it was right away because the lighting was dappled from trees above and it was colored the same as the trail and rock.

I grabbed my friends arm and quietly said stop, stand up, don't turn around, walk backwards slowly... about 30 feet in front of us was a cougar. Easily bigger than any dog I've ever seen, save a great dane or bernese, but the musculature on it was otherworldly compared to any dog. It wasn't crouched like it was going to come for us, it was turned halfway with it's back arched, the way a housecat sizes up another housecat before they fight.

We backed up staring at the thing for what felt like forever, but was only probably 3-4 seconds before it realized we weren't coming towards it anymore and turned tail. It bounded up what I thought was a sheer 20-foot cliff with such ease it made my mind truly spin at the power of nature and thankful I wasn't asked to test it. We speed-walked back to the trail head with our heads on such a swivel they rightly should have popped off.

universeofdesign Report

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Hiking in Colorado through some old train tunnels with a friend, not far off from a fairly populated area. The train tunnels were fascinating, blasted out of mountain with some quite long/requiring headlamps, but definitely wouldn’t want to be there alone. We eventually dead-ended so backtracking the way we came. As we exited one tunnel, there was a severed deer head in the middle of the path that wasn’t there the first time we walked through. Not a recent kill, but still fully fleshed. On our way in to the area, there were some tents that were clearly used by homeless individuals maybe 150 yards off the path.

We took it as a clear sign we weren’t welcome and needed to leave immediately.

nealbeast Report

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Came across two grizzly bears in Montana.
Also bumped into a huge bison the same day he just ignored me thankfully and the bears. Not something I’d have ever come across as I live in Ireland so I was pretty scared

Secure_Dragonfruit69 Report

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Charged by a huge cottonmouth moccasin in the shallow waters of a lake. It was nesting season for mocs so obviously a female. Mocs are very aggressive and territorial.

redbull Report

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It's not terrifying but very spooky. A few years ago, my brother and I went backpacking in the central Cascades in Washington. We climbed up into this little valley nestled off the PCT. If you don't know how to get into it, you wouldn't know it was there. We are the only ones in the valley, and we know this because we hiked the valley after setting up camp. That night, I could hear the sounds of guitars and singing throughout the night. The next morning, I asked my brother, and he admitted he heard it too. We both figured it was the way the wind carried sounds of the waterfall across the valley. It still was haunting, though. Went there last summer and did not have a repeat of that music.

PumpkinGlass1393 , Josh Hild Report

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Decided to hike up Mt Warning (Qld, Aus) at about 10pm at night with my girlfriend. We were planning to hike up through the night which was about 3-4 hours, camp and smoke weed at the top and then catch the sunrise. Foolishly, we were hiking with a single torch and an iPhone light. About half way up and it’s pitch black, really quiet super creepy. We decide to have a break and take a seat on a log to chill. Out of nowhere we see a light way below us on the mountain side. It looked like a head lamp. Ok so maybe some else is hiking up in the middle of the night? Kind of freaked but whatever, we push on. For the next hour or so I would keep checking behind us and catching this light tracking behind us in and out of the tree line. We finally get to the summit which turns into a scramble and make it to the top. There is a platform up there so we set up and relax. I’m kind sketching out, the weed isn’t helping, but looking around expecting someone else to show up but no one came. We unpack sleeping bags, eat some food and no off to sleep. I woke up about 4am as the sky started to brighten up and find backpack gone with all out stuff in sprawled out across the platform. It was dead silent and just super eerie to wake up to. Anyways we both freaked, grabbed our stuff and basically ran back down the mountain.

-gaius-octavius- Report

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Backpacking in Oregon a couple years ago. My dog found a black bear cub in a tree and ran over to it, very interested. The mom noticed and wasn’t happy. I called my dog back to me and the mom started following my dog. I wasn’t sure if mama bear was going to teach us a lesson or not, so those dozens of seconds before she turned around back to her cub felt like an eternity.

artemislt Report

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I was backcountry camping in Yosemite (between half-dome and Cloud's Rest) with some friends. Meaning we had regular tents/sleeping bags far out on the hiking trails away from the village. Sleeping around the fire pit were 2 tents and one guy in a [bivy sack](https://www.rei.com/media/5e6b8bba-584c-4c3e-8dbe-f75640da220d.jpg?size=784x588) (it's like a bag your sleeping bag goes in to protect you from mosquitos or dew).

Around 6am just as the sun was coming up I was awoken to the sound of soft but heavy foot steps and heavy breathing outside of my tent. I then heard heavy sniffing from the direction of where I had propped my backpack up against a tree. Then the sniffing stopped, and in front of my tent entrance I saw a 3ft tall 250+ pound black bear walk over to the firepit and start sniffing the pit.

It was probably about 10feet from the entrance to my tent.

After about 30 seconds of sniffing the pit, the bear walked over to my friend who's snoring away, on his back, face up, in his bivy sack, and began to sniff my friend's chest and face. The bear's nose was about 5inches from my friend's face. All the while my friend was still sleeping. I knew if I made noise to scare the bear, there's a chance I could wake up my friend, which would in turn startle the bear and then my friend might not have a face, if you get my drift.

After about 30seconds of sniffing my friend, the bear plodded off to where we had our bear canister wedged in a tree and knocked it about 50feet down the trail (it never opened it).

brownlawn Report

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When I was younger I went to a state park with my family, there’s a fairly large hiking trail up a hill that leads to a cave. Well me being a child I thought they were taking too long, so I took off up the trail into the woods, ended up losing the trail and screaming for help for a good 20 minutes. I fully convinced myself that I could survive for at least two days, build a shelter, and catch some food. I’m glad they found me before I set up camp. Another time I had just woken up from my first night on a camping trip and decided to walk to the lake. About 5 minutes into my walk I look to my left and see 5 wild boars about 20 yards from me, that was possibly scarier than the first in incident.

NaturalResponsible75 , cottonbro studio Report

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Was in the Grampians,Victoria, Australia, rock climbing, searching for new climbs on the northern side to be exact. Came across a man at his caravan with a 44 on the table and a s**t load of green trees. Exchanged hello’s and I told him I’d go looking for climbs on the south side… turned around and walked out. Felt like I had a gun pointed at the back of my head.

Ecstatic-Tomato458 Report

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A tie between two events.

First one I was venturing deep in the woods when I came across what I can only describe as a shanty town. The entire time I was there, I felt like I was being watched. So I waltzed on out of there as fast as I could lol.

Second one was when I stumbled on a black bear. I still don't know how we didn't hear each other but he was on the other side of a thicket when I walked passed it and spotted him. Fortunately for me, he was a scaredy cat, and he scrambled off when he saw me. Still scared the s**t out of me

Cyanora Report

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Out camping. I was off foraging and finding kindling when I got a sense I was being watched. I felt a little off so I readied my hatchet. I couldn't see what set me off, but I kept it in one hand while I got rest of my kindling. When I got back to camp I saw my site all messed up and several big claw marks on the tree I'd hung my food from. The food bag was still hanging there. I figured a bear or mountain lion was digging through my camp. My danger sense was still going, but I didn't have the day light to get back to my car. I set my fire and kept myself ready for a fight. I prepped some alarm traps with a bit of 550 cord and my tent stakes. I improvised a hammock out of my tent tarp and the shredded remains of my tent. I used every last bit of cordage I had prepping for the night. The makeshift hammock was pretty comfy and where I positioned it I got a decent amount of heat from the fire. I think I dozed a few times in the night, but any stick crack or pop woke me up. At some point in the dark, my fire was low and I heard one of my alarm traps get set off. It sounded like the rope got tangled with an animal because it kept going a bit longer than I expected. My adrenaline kicked in and I jumped from my hammock in my camp shoes and made a bunch of noise like the hulk. Hatchet and camp knife in hands I rush the edge of my camp on the alarmed side and I heard the cans from my alarm travel away. Whatever it was, their element of surprise was ruined. I didn't sleep the rest of the night and just kept an eye on my fire and the tree line. At dawn I did a quick recon and salvaged my traps. The one was missing as I suspected. I only searched a few yards around, but figured it was a lost cause. I packed up and hiked back to my car.

The scariest part was not knowing what was out there. Maybe if I would have seen it Ii would have been able to rationalize the situation, but that was the last time I camped alone without a rifle.

GoodRighter Report

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1. I saw a caiman eating a dog.

2. I nearly pissed myself out in the mountains, because I was listening to music taking pictures for tinder. And in-between songs I hear a rattling sound. Lo and behold behind me in the tree I was using for shade was a timber rattler very pissed off that I'm standing 2 ft away from em.

A_Generic_White_Guy Report

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Saw a puma chase and catch a rabbit. The poor rabbit's noises were terrifying.

flying-pineapple27 , Mohd Fazlin Mohd Effendy Ooi Report

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Outdoorswoman. Was hiking and came across a man riding a cruiser fully in the nude. Like no pants, no shirt. Nothing. He saw me approach, hopped off his bike and scurried off the trail for a moment. He came back (still pantsless but now wearing a shirt) and took off back into the trail. I didn’t want to keep going but it was the only way I could go.

Hematomawoes Report

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Not really out in the wild, but: I did pools in Phx, going up to cave creek, I consistently ran into lynx, bobcats, javelinas, and rattlesnakes. 2 lynx, sitting on the pool eq wall. Bobcats liked to wander around and slowly stare you down as they slowly amble away. A javelina pack where the old sow stood in front of me as the pack and little ones walked past. Rattlesnakes? Everywhere. Nests of them under houses or in the pool eq area. If you saw a straight stick, early in the morning, on the road.. it wasn't. It's a rattler.

MasterDragon13 Report

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I once saw a bear kill a moose pretty close to me

Relevant-Candy-2884 Report

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I called an elk to camp.

Was camping with my family in our luxury camp kit( I have 3 types of camp kit). This one has a blow up mattress. I blow it up with an accordion style raft pump. This pump makes what’s best described as an elk mating bugle. This is no cell service deep in the woods type of camping. It was also rut season. Sitting around the camp fire after wife daughter and dog went to bed, I heard a large creature about 50’ from me. Never saw it but the mass and noise makes me think I called an elk from across the valley.

Another story

Wife’s sister and boy friend flew into town and they wanted to go camping. Was driving down a very rough road quickly (vehicle is modified and I enjoy off-roading) to an awesome campsite that has a bluff to sunrise and sunset with one road in and out. Again very deep in the woods. Everyone was falling asleep on the drive so nobody else saw. Driving down the road the largest cinnamon bear I’ve ever seen jumped in front of my 4runner ran 100 yards then ducked out. We were maybe 1/4 mile from where I planned to camp. Bear was the size of my 4runner from the windshield forward (guessing 1200+ lb). We did not camp where I planned. I’m comfortable with bear while I camp as they are usually 6-700 lb black bear and I have safe guards to fight that off. Not this bear, I could double my mace and guns and still wouldn’t mess with that guy.

jeeves585 Report

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Met a wild hog on a path one day. You know, leathery, angry, four-legged murder-tanks? I stopped, stayed completely still and silent, and it just looked at me, then went on.

I had no gun on me. Didn't even have anything in the truck worth shooting at it. Went out there to do some fishing with naught but a .22 revolver for decapitating rattlesnakes. So glad it wasn't feeling murdery that day.

Surprise_Corgi Report

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Canoe river trip, one I’ve done many times before. On a 1.25 mile portage through woods. Only a few miles from a town with a motel-taxidermy as the main place to stay. Group of kids show up on trail out of the woods. See me and go back in. They moved silently through the forest. Deliverance vibes all around. Moped out of there.

Wiicycle Report

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I live in a more rural part of Germany so one night when I was riding my bike back home after I went swimming I encountered a wolf. I got rather scared so I just drove to a farm that I knew and waited there for my parents to come pick me up while I got a hot cocoa from the people there.
I should maybe add that I was 15 at the time and knew the people at that farm because they're our closest neighbours (but still 2 or so km away from our farm)

ich_mag_Fendt Report

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When I was maybe 11 or 12 I did this survival camp out with the Boy Scouts where weed build our own shelter and sleep in it over night and I couldn’t stop sleep walking and waking up pretty far from the campsite this happened maybe 5 times that night some times it was just out side the shelter sometimes it was completely off site and it was really hard to find my way back

Drywalleater03 Report

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4am walking to my deer blind a female was screaming my name over and over, the closest house is a good 10 miles in any direction,I’m not well known in that area,and there’s no way my dad not only knew which spot I was hunting that day nor woke my mother(the complete opposite of a light sleeper and morning person) to beat me to my spot and beat me back with a cold car

rftopwg1776 Report

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