Fear of the dark

[Beardy Adam]

This is my first post and I've been reading this thread for the last 2 hours or so from beginning to end. Jonathan, please tell me you've been back again?! As somebody else said, if it is indeed a person doing this and you are quite sure he is doing it to scare you or to practise his tracking skills then be safe! But on the other hand I am really wanting you to go back there and lay some traps and perhaps catch this guy out.

This thread is fantastic so I may as well contribute.

I've wild camped by myself in the wilds of Scotland and a few overnighters in the Yorkshire Dales where I live. I can honestly say I've never had anything spooky or unexplained happened to me or any terrifying experiences. The only time I was frightened, and not for long mind you was when I was camping alongside a track, making my way towards Arrochar. I camped up opposite a large and sheer rocky outcrop with the track inbetween and Loch Long to my left, with waist high ferns to the back of my tent. At around 1am I was woke up by the sound of a girl screaming, short and shriek it was. I was quickly alert and I lay there in silence with eyes wide and my heart was racing. I kept my headtorch off. I heard a rustling to the right of my tent and I literally felt my senses go into overdrive and adrenaline pumped. I could feel my hair stand on end and my ears felt like they were almost twitching. 'Oh ****' I thought to myself. 'Someone is next to my tent'. Partly to shine some very dim light and to check the time, I looked at my watch and again I heard the rustling, again to the right but louder this time. Thoughts of brown underpants filled my head. I heard the shrieking noise again and that's when I realised how much of an idiot I was being. I heard the shrieking noise and at the end I heard a 'KAW, Kut!'.

It sounded EXACTLY like a scream but it wasn't, it was a bird call. My mind then went back to hours before when I was setting up camp and I looked to the top of the rocks and saw 4 large birds sat on there, calling between themselves. Okay, so it wasn't a girl screaming, panic over I thought to myself. But what about this rustling? And I was reaching for my headtorch I realised what the rustling was...it was me leaning over on a plastic bag that had worked its way under my sleeping mat whilst I was asleep! At that moment I literally let out a chuckle to myself, called myself a dickhead and then slept quite soundly till the morning.

Just goes to show, as soon as you let fear take over your mind turns to spuds! I've camped up on the moors and and the strange noises that birds and other wild animals make can seem scary at first but quickly you realise you are not the only living being out there.

Someone a few posts back also mentioned leaving a bothy because of things that go bump in the night. I've only ever stopped in two bothies and one (Meanach) was alone a few weeks ago. Quite small it is with a stone and wooden floored room and as soon as I entered it I felt a little uneasy, partly because its small and the little windows don't let in much light and also because I was remembering the silly stories of bothy ghosts I've read on the bloomin' internet! Cooked up and got in the sleeping bag and had a crap nights sleep, barely slept a wink. I kept hearing scraping noises and small thumps in the walls which I told myself was a mouse. I checked the bothy book the next morning and lo and behold it was full of comments about this courageous resident mouse that likes to steal slices of bread and bin bags off people. It was also blowing a gale outside which rattled the door like crazy and the rain battered on the thin roof, which didn't help! I can honestly say if I would have heard any hobnail boots that night I'd have got a fire going, curled in the corner and waited for morning!!

 

[JonathanD]

Great stories guys, keep them coming.

I'm going to try and get out there tomorrow. I will set some sign traps.

 

[Robbi]

can i have your knives please jonathan ? ( when you don't come back that is !! )

stay safe matey !!

 

[JonathanD]

can i have your knives please jonathan ? ( when you don't come back that is !! )

stay safe matey !!

They will all be on my belt when I go down there next

 

[Robbi]

all of them ? LOL !

 

[Beardy Adam]

Haha. He'll go into the wood looking like somebody who walked through a hunting shop whilst wearing magnets.

 

[Rabbitsmacker]

jonathand

this thread is very unerving. i just looked over my shoulder into the kitchen! just making sure!!!!
the guy in the woods, leaving the prints, do you reckon they were freebies? to keep you intrigued? or laid by error? or... having watched your movements and realised you'd possibly pick them out, put down to worry you? but then you say they were an accidental discovery? i honestly don't know how you can keep going back, its freaky.
could you wade in? along the river? is it slow enough? try some neoprene chest waders or a dry suit? then find some cover and then back up onto the bank and observe from a shady spot thru the night with yr png's? that way you could drop into the area as noislessly as he seems to be able to do. then light him up with one of those million candle jobbies?


how do you travel to your entry point? car? is it parked up in a obvious spot that is easily observed by locals? when i lived back in the midlands me and some mates used to go and tromp over kinver edge and drakelow tunnels most weekends doing what young lads do, running around doing camo stuff and bb guns etc, my dad had worked in the tunnels in the late 60's early 70's and i had a pretty good idea from him of what i was looking around in regards to surface buildings. well we used to always get dropped off at the same place, and i started doing a photgraphic study of the remaining buildings and so we got a bit of clandestine type stuff to occupy us and got to be outdoors. one time we observed the bbc deploying all their sat equipment rapidly from unmarked van and men in gas masks, and got the poo scared out of ourselves thinking the base had gone active and then common sense prevailed and we watched for a bit and pulled out. later when we were watching noels house party and they were there at the tunnels, we went straight back down there in the dark and blagged a tour of the tunnels! cool! later it was revealed the gas masks and protective suits were needed due to the bad air inthere caused by the purifiers not running. though it was claimed that a woman had been living in there all week as a forfeit on the show, well they put her in ther that day we reckon.

on another occasion, we were stalked for the entire time we were there, always from a distance but whoever it was they stuck with us ALL DAY, even for lunch, we got so freaked out that we buggered off walked out. shortly after being dropped off, we always laid up for a bit to try and get the lay of the land and get ourselves sorted, but on this one occasion someone was already inthere waiting. they were a bit noisey from the start but always kept hidden up, but they stuck with us like glue. been back since and haven't been scared, but it can be eery.

going to look up who this john brown is or something, i'll check back thru the thread. but the human sized pits i seem to recall hearing they were used in ambushes to dropinto or come from unoticed or quickly. but very weird that someone is doing this to you, do you think they are a permanent resident? can you broaden your search for signs of habitation.
be very careful, he's a playing games.

 

[JonathanD]

I go there far too infrequently for him to be targeting me alone and leaving prints for me to find. The only time I actually found his prints that were recognisable as human where when I was doing exactly as you suggested... in the river in a wetsuit. I was looking for otter sign. Since I found clear prints there, I was able to find partial prints elsewhere by following his entrance and exit points, otherwise I'd be in the dark as to these actions.

I don't live too far away, so don't park nearby. I used to work in surveillence in the military overseas, so my fieldcraft is pretty good, even if rusty. So being followed from the area is not an issue for me, especially along a towpath as it's impossible to stay concealed and I'm always aware of whats around me anyway, as I am lookin for animals. I don't feel nervous about venturing there during the day at all, night time doesn't bother me too much as long as I'm openly camping. If I try to be sneaky or stealthy, then I would feel as if I'm doing something dangerous. So I won't.

 

[zarkwon]

Have you looked for any sign of the fox hole you suspected he must have been hiding in next to your tent on the night he scraped your tent? Seems to me that the whole premise of an unhinged malicious tracker hangs on that. It would have to have been quite a structure to withstand your weight in case you walked over him, did you always use the same spot? How did he know you wouldn't set up your tent/build a fire on him? If someone good is taking care to leave no sign it seems unlikely that he would drop pistachio shells in his favourite spots. The footprint on the river bank says to me someone crossed and simply didn't want to get their boots wet. The trigger is interesting though you might expect that someone buying and bringing pistachios wouldn't need to trap food. Of course, the simplest explanation to account for all the facts as stated would be that it is a scary story

 

[JonathanD]

Have you looked for any sign of the fox hole you suspected he must have been hiding in next to your tent on the night he scraped your tent? Seems to me that the whole premise of an unhinged malicious tracker hangs on that. It would have to have been quite a structure to withstand your weight in case you walked over him, did you always use the same spot? How did he know you wouldn't set up your tent/build a fire on him? If someone good is taking care to leave no sign it seems unlikely that he would drop pistachio shells in his favourite spots. The footprint on the river bank says to me someone crossed and simply didn't want to get their boots wet. The trigger is interesting though you might expect that someone buying and bringing pistachios wouldn't need to trap food. Of course, the simplest explanation to account for all the facts as stated would be that it is a scary story

Where I camp is a nightmare to get too through the undergrowth, and as it has always been wet when I've gone back these past few weeks, I didn't want to leave any sign. The fact is though, these fox holes are in other parts of the woods and are roughly about four foot by three foot and three feet deep. I think if it was there, then it was concelaed in the vegetation to the side and not somewhere where you would walk on it.

The pistachios were also in dense undergrowth and would never have been found had I not have suspected what this person was doing. You can't really cross this stream as it is so overgrown. When you get in, you get muddy and wet all over. The person that made those footprints walked all over the area in bare feet. If it wasn't for the obvious footprints, I never would have found the ones in the wooded area. Besides, the first ones I found where two years back now, and I've found them regularly since then. This person goes there alot.

 

[Retired Member southey]

Just wondering, have you had a look along the oposit bank to where you founs the bare foot prints, for any obvious entrance points, if there are, are there any boot prints that could suggest walking to the stream, removing boots, it might explain the bare feet? If comming from that direction is an option of course.

 

[JonathanD]

Just wondering, have you had a look along the oposit bank to where you founs the bare foot prints, for any obvious entrance points, if there are, are there any boot prints that could suggest walking to the stream, removing boots, it might explain the bare feet? If comming from that direction is an option of course.

Bare feet in all directions. I can't find his in and out point and suspect he is using a fallen tree over the stream. My in and out point is hard to miss as you just can't get in and out without a load of struggling and vegetation damage.

 

[Rabbitsmacker]

vietcong style stuff!! how the hell is he getting through all that without leaving sign#? my vote is 'carpet,flying,magic,dpm'.
the fallen tree sounds most likely though, no disturbed sign on the said tree is there? are there many on that stretch that could give multiple entry points because if its regularly used you may be able to identify his type of sign if there is only one log over the stream. once you've got yr eye in on his signature you may be able to follow him up better. on the subject of signature, don't know anyone with a thermal imagery scope do you? would get you the upper hand! lol, bring out james bond!
this is really interesting stuff. photos are of good quality, obviously a dab hand!

 

[Beardy Adam]

This gets more interesting all the time. Jonathan, you've got to bust him! One, so we can all agree that it was no supernatural blair witch style ghost scraping your tent that night. And two, I am intrigued but also concerned that somebody would be mad or strange enough to sit in the woods all night knowing they are causing somebody else distress by scraping the wall of their tent. If it wasn't for the fact somebody mentioned this tracking school I would never have suspected a person would be doing it, even though I don't believe in ghosts.

How sure are you that he is one of these tracker folk, and do you think he actually lives in the woodland, what with these foxholes and what have you? I have no idea about the size, scale or terrain of the woodland so its hard for me to envisage your campsite.

 

[JonathanD]

I haven't checked the tree over the stream for sign, but I'd bet it is there. If I wasn't carrying my camera, I would have had a look, but it would have required too much energy and faffing to be honest.

There are two trees over the stream. One a natural fall, the other I haven't checked, but suspect felled.

I don't think he lives there, but very near by. Judging by the trigger stick and sign, I think that whoever suggested the Tom Brown connection, may very well be spot on the money.

 

[Beardy Adam]

So what is going to happen next in this little mystery then? Have you got any ideas or got anything planned?

 

[JonathanD]

Just waiting for a dry period so I can go looksey without leaving sign.

 

[Laurentius]

Ever thought that he might be a member here and reading this thread, well it would be a way to get an edge

 

[Harley]

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Schizophrenia/Pages/Symptoms.aspx

 

[Beardy Adam]

http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Schizophrenia/Pages/Symptoms.aspx

Care to elaborate?