Hikers Describe The Creepiest Thing They've Ever Seen Hiking

Where do you think horror movies get their inspiration for the crazy things that happen to hikers and campers in the woods? Straight from real life of course! We’ve compiled a list of some of the creepiest true stories and oddest encounters people have come across while communing with nature. The one thing most of the hikers on our list have in common is unlike their movie counterparts, they don’t stick around to risk being hacked to pieces by Jason and his buddies. Which one of the below real life hiking alone scenarios is your favorite and that you will be sure to add to your repertoire of scary campfire stories? Vote on your favorite and tell us why!

“I was hiking in southern Virginia and came to a shelter. At this point it was about an hour until sundown and two other hikers had already set up camp and gotten a fire going. I decided to sling my tent up and make some dinner. I'm sitting there munching on my crappy re-hydrated dinner as the sun is going down. As my eyes began to adjust to the darkness, I glanced over towards the shelter and suddenly realize that I can see the whites of a person’s eyes in the shelter. This dude had smeared soot from the firepit all over his face and body, and had been sitting in the shadows watching the other hikers and myself the entire time. I tried to stealthily let the other hikers know what was up and I go the hell out of there.”  

"Bushwalking in NSW (Australia), me and my friend came across this weird platform looking thing made out of rocks. Later that year, the cops arrested some bloke on suspicion of the murders of a series of backpackers who had gone missing over the course of a few years, and at the sites of several of the murders slightly off in the bush were these “altars.” Turns out, it was the altars we found. They were typically no more than 300 yards from the victim's shallow graves. The guy who was arrested and subsequently convicted for the murders is Ivan Milat, Australia's worst serial killer."

“When I was out exploring an old abandoned quarry with some friends, we found this dude standing, staring at this rock, occasionally twitching, but he never turned around. We were pretty creeped out so didn't investigate, and left pretty soon after. Later on that night, we found out that another friend was driving down the lane that runs parallel to the quarry and found a guy in a black coat standing in the middle of the road who wouldn't move. She was pretty freaked out and had to reverse all the way back up the lane in the dark because he was still there. Pretty sure it was the same guy.”

“A mate and I hiked through the bush near Tamborine Mountain, Australia,in 2010. We made our own trail, slashing through vines with machetes. It was a lot of fun and really off the beaten track. A couple of hours into our hike, we started to hear DUM BUM BUM BUM, the beat of jungle drums. Weird as hell, right? These drum beats had absolutely no place in the Australian jungle. Our curiosity piqued, we headed towards the sound. Slashing through a thick wall of vines, we emerged into a clearing and saw the source of the drums. We saw about 25 guys wearing grass skirts and dancing around a fire. They noticed us. The drums stopped. Utter silence. They all stared at us. We were terrified. Then rhe director ran up, yelled, 'Cut,' and asked us what we thought we were doing. We had stumbled onto the film set of a KitKat commercial.”

“A few summers ago, I was canoeing in Boundary Waters with some friends. A few days into our trip, we found the creepiest campsite on an island. There was brand-new, abandoned camping equipment everywhere and throughout the campsite, sticks with the ends charred had been stuck in the ground. In the remains of the fire was a heavily charred toothbrush, along with the remains of a wallet, glasses, papers and some clothes. The creepiest part was near the edge where a single petrified moose alter had been wedged between some boulders and surrounded by charred sticks in a circle. We got the hell out of there and as far away as we could before night. It looked like a scene straight out of a horror movie.”

“This past winter I hiked a very high peak with a buddy of mine and camped out overnight. Everything was fine the entire first day we were there. We had a great night’s sleep and woke up early to hike back to the parking area. On the way back down the trail my friend and I noticed that someone else had been hiking as well. About a mile after walking, I stopped and saw that my full name, first and last, was drawn into the snow on the side of the foot path. I didn't do it, neither did my friend. It was snowing a bit throughout the night and if it was drawn the day before, the snow would have covered it up. We got a bit freaked out and decided to hustle back to our car so we could get out of there. We finally get back to the parking area and I went to sign myself out of the registry book. When I turned the page to where I signed in, I see that someone had scribbled out all of my information so you couldn't read it anymore. No one else had signed into the book besides myself for three days. I will NOT be going back there.”

“My two friends and I were hiking in a pretty popular spot with a 150-ft waterfall that takes about 45 minutes of uphill hiking. We decided to go to the bottom of the waterfall where there are various little pools and boulders and the water runs off from the waterfall. This is not on the main trail and not many hikers ever veer off of the main trail. We found a 22-year-old girl face down in the mud, both legs broken with compound fractures. She had no cell phone, no water, no food, and nothing to keep her warm. Her friend was already dead.
 

We called 9-1-1 and gave her any supplies we had. Eventually a helicopter showed up and they flew her to the nearest hospital. It turns out she was hiking with her friend the NIGHT BEFORE when they both fell off of the waterfall. Her friend must have gone to get help, but unfortunately died less than 100 yards from where we found the girl, so no one knew she was hurt or that she was even there. It's a miracle she was still alive and mind blowing to think what she had gone through when we found her 20 hours later.”

"Hiking the AT in PA for a week: my brother and I came across a young man who had hung himself. We sprinted up to the bluff where he was strung up. I wrapped my arms around his waist to take weight off his neck while my brother cut him down with his knife. The guy had thrown the rope up over a tall branch and lashed it off with a clove hitch at the trunk like you'd hang a bear-bag. Must have climbed the branches and dropped once laced in. We probably shouldn't have even tried, he was dead for some time before we happened across him. Fortunately no critters had come to tear him apart before we found him, it would have only gotten grislier. We called 9-1-1. This ended our trip pretty damn quick."  

"I took my young children to a cave not far from our house. It was a popular spot but we had the place to ourselves. You can walk through it in about 30 minutes without too much difficulty. It has a tiny exit at the opposite end. It was pretty muddy, so we decided to turn around and head back to the entrance. Halfway back, there was a lit candle sitting about eight feet up one side. It was definitely not there on the first trip. I went into full-on protective-dad-mode knowing there was likely someone hiding in the dark while we walked the rest of the way out."

“As a biology major who remembered how to identify bones from my anatomy class, I'm pretty sure our dogs found bones from a small human while we were hiking off trail outside Colorado Springs. I told my friends they could belong to a recently kidnapped and murdered girl, Heather Dawn Church.They convinced me I was being dramatic and I forgot about it. A couple years later her body was found in the exact same area.”