Fear of the dark

[cwillson]

... if some crazed maniac wants to molest a wild-camper then he better prepare to get feather-sticked because I am armed to the teeth!

Haha, brilliant! I think a lot of crazed maniacs seriously need to consider their tactics if they think of creeping up on a bushcrafter on camp! lol, a lot of suprised faces I would imagine when the realisation creeps in.....especially when the merry soul keeps chanting "there's nowt more scarey in these woods than ME" over and over while holding a 4 inch blade and an axe!

 

[wicca]

From what ive learned reading this thread you should be fine so long as your not in a tent,the 3 scariest stories all involved people in a tent,therefore no tent no spine chilling ghouls to scare you silly! SIMPLE.

Yep, an intents fear of the dark perhaps?

 

[Barn Owl]

I just parade around camp with a flaming torch singing 'War Pigs' by Black Sabbath.

Keeps most things at bay.

 

[Miyagi]

Liam;
After your long ordeal, when morning came, did you look for any footprint?

We did, though saw nothing, and when our relief came we couldn't get out of there fast enough.

No one else mentioned anything untoward and we hadn't heard any rumours beforehand that would have influenced us.

It's something neither of the two of us can rationally explain. I'm not superstitious nor afraid of the dark etc., my main worry in the woods at night is twisting my ankle.

Cheers,

Liam

 

[andybysea]

Admit it you'd been at the gun oil had'nt you?

 

[Miyagi]

Admit it you'd been at the gun oil had'nt you?

Shhhh!!!

Sniffing the jenolite (that we weren't allowed to use) for cleaning the working parts, getting a bit spaced from hexy fumes (hexy telly they called it), all possible reasons - but nope we were tactical (no naked flames, no hot food etc.)

It could've been the smell from the sleeping bags!!!

Interesting wee film there Chinkapin.

 

[Chinkapin]

Tengu;

I have heard of it, but only once. I was watching a documentary about searching for the Yeti, and it was briefly mentioned. That has been my only exposure to it. Cant say as I remember a lot about it, other than he would be a prime candidate for cases of mistaken identity.

 

[Fredcompanybushcraft]

The only thing I don't like in the woods is the fungi...
Don't know why, as I'm perfectly happy to eat button mushrooms!

 

[horsevad]

I have a similar story to that from two years ago. I fully recall staying wide awake all night sitting smack bang in the middle of my Akto facing the door with knife in hand, it was horrible. I didn't have pebbles chucked at me that night, but I did have freaky things happen. The first was quite early while reading a book and getting ready for a kip. Very clearly and heavily, a person dug their nails into my fly sheets and scraped their hand from top to bottom. To put it mildly, I shat myself. I was miles from anywhere, but what really freaked my out was my location. It is impossible in the place I camped, to walk without breaking twigs and stems loudly during the day let alone the night. I was in the middle of a damp wood next to a river and the terrain is littered with fallen trees, logs, branches etc. The nettles are four feet high, and navigation to my place is damned difficult if you know the place, and impossible without making noise.

Anyway, THAT happened, and I left it for a good five minutes listening for sound... nothing. Eventually I got up enough bottle to get out the tent and have a looksy. I have PNG's so was probably better equipped to track down and observe the offender than the offender was to observe me. I was sure that they were right next to the tent due to the silence. Got out and nothing. Not even in the distance with my PNG's. I looked around for fallen branches, and again, nothing. I crouched down out of sight and waited for the inevitable tell tale noise of movement that would happen, damned well nothing. Got back into my tent and did some serious talking to myself when it happened again. It was like the bloody Blair witch project. It happened four times that night and it was the most terrifying moments of my life. I only saw it happen once and the print was human sized, that really scared me. The sound was very loud and horrendous, as if the person/thing doing it had pointed nails. There was never a slightest sound of aproach or retreat, which is damned impossible with my senses being ultra attuned that night.

The next morning as soon as it was light, I was gone. Left the tent there until the afternoon and had friends with me. The really scary thing was that there was only my prints in the mud around the tent.... impossible. Every time I camp out alone, it is a mental battle to put his to the back of my mind.

Did you have light in your tent?

Do you have either Lucanus cervus, Geotrupes stercorosus or similar in the area?

These rather large insects (the male Lucanus cervus grows up to 9 cm in lenght) can fly and are attracted to light. A large Geotrupes stercorosus (or similar) flying into a tent flysheet can create a sound quite similar to that of human nails against such a flysheet.

They keep coming round again - trying to find an entrance to the light. When they bump into the flysheet they try to locate an opening, - thereby creating the impression of some fingernails running along the flysheet.

 

[andythecelt]

I spent well over a decade in the private security business, starting out with bouncing and eventually having my own firm employing 6 staff. I've spent more solitary dark hours out in the middle of nowhere than I care to remember. I'm certainly not fearless by any stretch of the imagination but being alone in the dark certainly isn't one of them.
I've spent years at a time doing solo night shifts, basically getting paid to creep around in the dark. Stately homes, farms, universities and so on.
I don't mean to make light of what were understandably distressing experiences to those that have had the bottle to tell their stories in any way, however I couldn't help but notice that in each of them the person acted rather passively. I'd like to repeat, I'm not saying I'd have acted any differently, after all I wasn't even there. That said, if you act passively (perfectly natural when you're afraid) you'll stay scared. If you become more proactive the fear tends to dissipate quickly. Confronting the bogeyman is ultimately the less frightening option. If anyone was genuinely building up to attack you they'd likely do so whether you were sitting in the dark terrified or standing outside with a torch or a fire and a big stick screaming "Come on then you f***er!" at the top of your lungs. At least the second option stands a chance of scaring them off but more importantly you're actually doing something.

 

[Rattebek]

I had a bad experience in a forest one night not too long ago, but it had nothing to do with zombies or bigfoot or other annoying nocturnal entities. It was all the fault of my companions.

This is probably pretty much a tl;dr crappy English non-story, unlike some of the others posted here, but I think it says something about human behavior when confronted with something unfamiliar.

What happened was quite simple: a friend of mine had just turned 26 and his family threw a party in a farmhouse somewhere west of Brussels. The farmhouse was an ideal spot because it had all the space a drunk crowd could need for a birthday party. It was located in the middle of nowhere, and we could make lots of noise without being hassled by neighbors or cops. Around nightfall we decided to take a walk in the forest outside. eight of us set out for a stroll; two people who know the place inside out, the rest of us had never been there before. We had three flashlights (one was mine, I always have one on me). There was no moon and the weather was bordering on rain. The forest was literally pitch black. And we had two annoying, nervous little girls...

So we strolled and strolled, until we found ourselves in a spot that we deemed comfy enough to sit down and chatter away. But the little girls started acting more and more scared. They became so annoying that the two people who knew the forest decided that it was time to escort them back home. The other four of us didn't want to leave, and agreed to head back after the first party had left. We said goodbye, and we watched their flashlights light up the trees around them, until they were gone.

After about a quarter of an hour, we saw new flashes in the distance, pointing at us, but coming from another direction than the one our friends took. We pointed our flashlights toward it, but there was nothing to be seen. The flashes kept shining on us for a few more minutes, and then they stopped. No-one revealed themselves, no-one came up to us. We just dismissed everything because we assumed that it was one of our friends who had snuck back to scare us a bit. But it did make us want to return to the house anyway.

I did still have a general idea of where we were, but my friends all had different opinions. Because we were just having fun we didn't really want to get into survival mode and try to get out as fast and efficiently as possible. We just naively allowed ourselves to become completely disorientated, and that's when the rain kicked in. I grew aware of the fact that the forest was becoming more dangerous; there were very slippery slopes and holes everywhere. I didn't want anyone to fall and break something, so I wanted people to stick together so that no-one would get lost. One of my friends wasn't so concerned and kept on changing his mind about which way to take. He wouldn't have been such a problem if he didn't constantly wander off, preventing us from walking in one fixed direction. He forced us to keep walking in circles. His girlfriend got more and more anxious because of his behavior and she kept screaming at him. Another friend didn't want anything to do with the situation anymore and for some reason started playing all his ringtones on his cell phone on maximum volume, and he just wouldn't quit. Seriously, I wanted to kick the guy in the balls and break his cell phone on his skull.

Meanwhile we're wet, our vision is impaired because everything is pitch black, and the flashlights keep throwing scary shadows. Our hearing is impaired because of the screaming and the ringtones... All the time I'm still kinda thinking about the weird flashlight we saw in the distance. Someone could still have been out there, and he wouldn't have any trouble following us without being seen.

Long story short, we got out safely. But I was astonished to see how quickly people start behaving irrationally! It literally took us no longer than 15 minutes to start screaming at each other. The thing is, you can learn to control your own emotions and irrational fears if you put some work into it; but you can never really control how other people act in strange situations, and that's what I think is the scariest of all.

 

[Miyagi]

I couldn't help but notice that in each of them the person acted rather passively.

Passive!! Passive!?

Far from it my friend, my heart was going like a runaway train, and my sphincter was going like an old football rattle.

By the time of the "Night of the Invisible Feet", I'd already done a couple of years in green, had gained black belts in Judo, Karate, Goshinjitsu, Aikido and Jujutsu.

I thought I was the mutts nuts (looking back, what a tube I must've been with that attitude and ego). I went on to work 12 years on the doors and out of all that nothing has put the wind up me like that night.

But, I know where you're coming from.

I have no explanation for it, I'm glad there was another witness, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest (unlike Dave), and to be honest I'd almost forgotten about it until this thread reminded me.

Stranger things have happened at sea, they tell me.

Any sailors on board?

Cheers,

Liam

 

[Barn Owl]

Passive!! Passive!?

Far from it my friend, my heart was going like a runaway train, and my sphincter was going like an old football rattle.

By the time of the "Night of the Invisible Feet", I'd already done a couple of years in green, had gained black belts in Judo, Karate, Goshinjitsu, Aikido and Jujutsu.

I thought I was the mutts nuts (looking back, what a tube I must've been with that attitude and ego). I went on to work 12 years on the doors and out of all that nothing has put the wind up me like that night.

But, I know where you're coming from.

I have no explanation for it, I'm glad there was another witness, and it doesn't bother me in the slightest (unlike Dave), and to be honest I'd almost forgotten about it until this thread reminded me.

Stranger things have happened at sea, they tell me.

Any sailors on board?

Cheers,

Liam

Simple answer Liam...

Ye weren't wearing your wellies..

Wellies will conquer all...ask a sheep why...

Seriously though I've been a ghost/horror fan since a boy but never had a real 'experience'.

I've been on surveillance ops in the middle of nowhere and in buildings supposedly haunted but try as I might 'they' have never shown themselves.

I do believe however there is somehow other dimensions holding the 'essence' of folk like a recorder,playing back to us somehow.

I have relations who have witnessed a 'presence' in their home but it eventually waned.

The only thing to fear really is fear itself.

One thing to learn here...never sneak up on a 'shrafter from behind,lest you get a sharp thing where the sun don't shine...

 

[Miyagi]

Simple answer Liam...

Ye weren't wearing your wellies..

I knew there was a rational explanation for it!!

Wellies will conquer all...ask a sheep why...

You forget about a leather belt...

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
For thou art with me;
Thy cambrelle lining and thy insoles, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of the J cloth;
Thou annointest my soles with talcum;
My wellies, folded over."

If I didny have my feet in wellies...

Liam

 

[Barn Owl]

I knew there was a rational explanation for it!!



You forget about a leather belt...

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil:
For thou art with me;
Thy cambrelle lining and thy insoles, they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of the J cloth;
Thou annointest my soles with talcum;
My wellies, folded over."

If I didny have my feet in wellies...

Liam

That's another good tip...
Annoint thy feet with talcum before bed and have a hot water bottle(in the absence of good alcohol) and you'll kip like a baby.

 

[pinenut]

I like the advice from Andythecelt. Next time I'm alone in the woods at night and wondering what the **** that sound was, I'll explore. I think you hit the nail on the head with your point.

So a lot of you believe in ghosts? Coming to the conclusion that the only reasonable answer is something from a another dimension is to me insane. Keep searching. I'm sure many psychologists could dazzle you by sharing examples of some amazing collective mind ****. I'm 99% sure the scariest and most powerful thing in the woods is your mind. Let it loose and it can scew you completely.

 

[Bravo4]

I already gave up a ghost story here,
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43297&highlight=ghost+story
...I've just a couple other personal experiences but they are not going to help anyone overcome what is, perhaps, an unreasonable Fear of the Dark.....mu-ah ha ha...

When I was 7 years old I lived in a small town called Cape Elizabeth, Maine. We lived in a scary house and there were more local ghost stories than any 7yo needs to know. Every third house or so was haunted and had a ghost and a story to go with it. The big houses directly on the coast were all built by ship's captains back in the day. All these houses have a sort of outdoor patio, high up on the house that looks onto the sea. "Widow's Walks" they are called, I believe. We were fairly adventurous kids but there were some places no sane kid (oxymoron)would go. Lost many a ball, kite, and balsa glider over the years.
"I'm not gonna get it, You go get it."
I ain't afraid of no ghost but I am getting a chill and my face just flushed reading some of these recent sightings....
http://www.ghostsofamerica.com/0/Maine_Cape_Elizabeth_ghost_sightings.html
http://www.prairieghosts.com/capee.html
ps, flashlights and axes have no apparent effect on ghosts other than to annoy them.
be afraid.....be Very afraid...
MUUAAWWW HAA HAA

 

[Tengu]

North Rona has a grimly reputation.

And when I was there I had some very disturbing dreams.

Not nightmares, but severely twisted in a way normal dreaming doesnt get.

One person asked me if the island was haunted. I said no. (perhaps he got dreams too? Frank Fraser darling did)

I thought it was the seriously weird sounds the Leaches Petrels made.

The impression I got of the island was of a happy place, not even very remote.

The island `knows` where it is.

 

[Bushwhacker]

Try having a group of Howler Monkeys in the trees above you just before sundown, they make a really impressive noise - like Satan himself.

 

[JonathanD]

Did you have light in your tent?

Do you have either Lucanus cervus, Geotrupes stercorosus or similar in the area?

These rather large insects (the male Lucanus cervus grows up to 9 cm in lenght) can fly and are attracted to light. A large Geotrupes stercorosus (or similar) flying into a tent flysheet can create a sound quite similar to that of human nails against such a flysheet.

They keep coming round again - trying to find an entrance to the light. When they bump into the flysheet they try to locate an opening, - thereby creating the impression of some fingernails running along the flysheet.

Definitely not an insect. This thing had the weight to push the outer skin of my tent into the inner micromesh.

There is an update to the story and it has definitely put me off returning there during day or night. September last year I went there with my gf to see if we could spot any otters. Mid afternoon, so nowt scary about that. All around that area was bare footprints, human that is - and every single one of them was from someone who was walking on the balls of their feet. Understandable if you were tiptoeing around, but these were full strides and could be tracked all around the area. Not once had this person walked on the whole foot, which if you try it around the house, takes some doing. But the really freaky thing that makes you wonder what the Hell this person was thinking or doing, was that every now and then, this person had gone and walked on all fours as you could see fingerprints vary clearly for quite some distance. Whoever it was had even gone down into the stream head first like that and continued out the other side.

Now, that person, is clearly unhinged, and I'm not wanting to bump into him in the middle of the night as I will surely be appearing in court shortly afterwards with a charge of manslaughter by decapitation against me. My gf took quite a few pictures so I'll get them and put them up for you to see what folks get up to.