Fear of the dark
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You need to get one of these...
Let it loose on your boat and any intruders will be given the good news quite quickly. Anyone questions what it is doing loose on your boat and you obviously have the proof that it was performing maintenance, which is obviously an ongoing thing on a boat.
End result, he won't be back. Well not in corporeal form anyway.
Ooh, beautiful...is she called "Hannah"?
The dark doesn't scare me much, though I'm not happy with the way I can't wake up as quickly as I'd like when out and about. This leads to me jumping at noises or half remembering seeing people in my camp, and basically not getting a good night's kip.
A couple of strange experiences, not scary, just odd though - last year, late September, France, on my motorbike. Been a brisk day, heading for the coast, when I could see BIG black clouds rolling up ahead. Dusk wasn't far off, so I decided to camp up. The road led me right past a municipal campsite in the middle of nowhere, so I dived in, and even though it was deserted (officially closed), I found a secluded corner and made camp. Just as the first big raindrops fell, I was secure, I ate and went to sleep. In the night, I was dreaming of bears, for some reason. Anyway, just as dawn was breaking, I woke to hear something wading in the river which ran beside where I'd camped, and in my mind, I "knew" it was a bear. Now whatever it was, it was wading upstream and must have been strong, because the current was fast with the rain. I actually shouted "Go away" (or words to that effect), and lo and behold, it paused...before setting off again. I'm certain it wasn't a man, it was too strong a current, but I didn't have the common sense to flip up the tarp and throw some light on it.
The previous year around the same time, I was in Italy, found myself in similar circumstances - big black clouds approaching at dusk, at Anzio. Looking out to sea, there were spirals forming and reaching down from the clouds, and I was concerned I was going to wake up in Oz. Anyway, I pitched up, took to the hammock and fell asleep. The lightning was intense, but flashes, with only the odd fork. As I lay there in the dark, I was sure I could hear trucks and engines heading up the beach past where I'd camped. The next day, of course, I realised that the beach landings during WW2 had been around there, so maybe the flashes and associated cracks of thunder, for all the world like an artillery barrage (I imagine!), had made an unconscious scenario inside my head? I didn't feel any desire to go looking for the endless vehicles which seemed to be coming up from the previously deserted beach, it literally sounded like an army driving past, and I was there on my lonesome!
Anyway, the point is that at night, the mind goes off at a tangent and gives false information, or adds 2 + 2 and comes up with 5. Breathe deep, tell yourself you belong to the night (sing the UFO track if you like), and you can keep a lid on your fears. Mostly.
Edit* Wha-hey!!! There goes my cherry!
Becoming alert at at noise in the dark is a perfectly natural reaction. Not going solo camping because there might be a noise in the dark is irrational.
Are you actually allowed to post details of observation duties? Unlike army types I have met who would say nothing.
Are you actually allowed to post details of observation duties? Unlike army types I have met who would say nothing.
I completely get the fear of the dark thing. In countries where animals could pose a real threat I'd be alert, maybe even on edge.
In the UK though I agree that human noise is the thing that gets me alert. The thought of some nutter wanting to chop you up is always in the back of your mind but at the same time, my fieldcraft is quite good. I like to think that if I was in a wood on my own with another human and I needed to vanish I could as long as I wasn't jumped or caught asleep.
Lets be realistic, you've got a much higher chance of being hit by a bus than being jumped in the dark and sliced up by a nut job. So, who here is afraid of busses?
In the UK though I agree that human noise is the thing that gets me alert. The thought of some nutter wanting to chop you up is always in the back of your mind but at the same time, my fieldcraft is quite good. I like to think that if I was in a wood on my own with another human and I needed to vanish I could as long as I wasn't jumped or caught asleep.
Lets be realistic, you've got a much higher chance of being hit by a bus than being jumped in the dark and sliced up by a nut job. So, who here is afraid of busses?
Seeing how angry he's getting I'm now scared of running into JonathanD in the woods... 
Still waiting on a pistachio update!
Still waiting on a pistachio update!
resnikov
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
We i'm afraid of having to use them. You should see some of the drongos who use buses round my way.. So, who here is afraid of busses?
We i'm afraid of having to use them. You should see some of the drongos who use buses round my way.
Aaah but thats like most of this thread - It's not the busses [or wild animals or the outdoors] that most people are afraid of - It's all the other human nutters that may be using it!
I been reading this and keeping up with the various posts about stalking. People stalking people I mean. Pisracio man falls into a simillar catergory to that of Bushscouts fan.... I too inhabit a boat and have a simillar issue. Diff erence is that i have a large body of evidence which demonstrates "pattern of behaviour".
Looking at some of the posts I think some people fail to take into account the type of
loners who behave in this way. I suggest people read Snakes in Suites to get an understanding of psychopathy and the types of people we may have to deal with in in the woods on the odd occasion. One of the most important things I think a bushcrafter, lone camper can do is to know and respect their foe.
I noticed that there's a post about wanting to know how long tracks last in nettles and long grass in back country... Funny there's a lot of nettles around my home.... Not casting aspertions, but...
Looking at some of the posts I think some people fail to take into account the type of
loners who behave in this way. I suggest people read Snakes in Suites to get an understanding of psychopathy and the types of people we may have to deal with in in the woods on the odd occasion. One of the most important things I think a bushcrafter, lone camper can do is to know and respect their foe.
I noticed that there's a post about wanting to know how long tracks last in nettles and long grass in back country... Funny there's a lot of nettles around my home.... Not casting aspertions, but...
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29 pages has put my mind at ease; I'm not the only "tough" guy who is still occasionally perturbed by things that go bump in the night!
When I solo camp on private land, I usually hunt too so it's not unusual to have a shotgun or rifle at arm's length. There have been some instances in the past though, namely in North American wilderness where even a loaded 30-06 didn't fill me with confidence. Without delving into the esoteric, I genuinely believe that there are things in this world which have no mention in modern science. It would be arrogant to think that we've got Earth and all her beings exhaustively documented and rationalised.
When I solo camp on private land, I usually hunt too so it's not unusual to have a shotgun or rifle at arm's length. There have been some instances in the past though, namely in North American wilderness where even a loaded 30-06 didn't fill me with confidence. Without delving into the esoteric, I genuinely believe that there are things in this world which have no mention in modern science. It would be arrogant to think that we've got Earth and all her beings exhaustively documented and rationalised.
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i would have said if it was a proper sneaky beaky observation post in northern ireland etc then no, but seeing as he was on deepest darkest salisbury plains its a safe bet the guy was on exercise
anyhoo bring back pistachio man!
oh and before i forget has anyone been watching the tv show 'finding bigfoot' on discovery? thoughts?
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Human behaviour, especially that of the unhinged can be perplexing. I work in mental health with people who at times can be unpredictable. Take that unpredictability and add some skills and one of the least understood aspects of psychopathy, the lack of empathy and extreme risk taking there is a formidable and frightening for. Add to it OCD and there is a personality coctail of the unhinged. Thank goodness its only 1% of the total population.
Spent most of today reading this thread, very interesting stuff! Coincidentally a friend told me a very unsettling story last Tuesday that fits right in..
We (the girlfriend, our friend and me) went for a walk to look at a group of baby squirrels I had found a couple days previous (forgot camera, typical) and were talking about doing a couple overnighters this summer. Of course we got to the subjects of scary stuff at night. While talking about this our friend told us a story about her dad, while being drunk and armed with a shotgun, taking hostage two "trespassers" who were foraging mushrooms on his terrain. Allegedly there was a third person who managed to escape. Needless to say I did not sleep well that night..
We (the girlfriend, our friend and me) went for a walk to look at a group of baby squirrels I had found a couple days previous (forgot camera, typical) and were talking about doing a couple overnighters this summer. Of course we got to the subjects of scary stuff at night. While talking about this our friend told us a story about her dad, while being drunk and armed with a shotgun, taking hostage two "trespassers" who were foraging mushrooms on his terrain. Allegedly there was a third person who managed to escape. Needless to say I did not sleep well that night..
A very interesting thread i must say, and the one that made me join BCUK
Unfortunatly (or should that be fortunatly??) i have never had any experences as anyone else has mentioned (yes i have read all of them, took me a while but i got there in the end).
But it seems to me that fear of the dark is natural, humans have evolved colour vision, at the expence of our night vision, creatures that see well in the dark are colour blind, so it is natural for us to sleep sleep in the dark when we cannot see. And this lack of sight would heighten our other senses and make us jumpy, which was always useful when there were scarier things out there like mammoths
Unfortunatly (or should that be fortunatly??) i have never had any experences as anyone else has mentioned (yes i have read all of them, took me a while but i got there in the end).
But it seems to me that fear of the dark is natural, humans have evolved colour vision, at the expence of our night vision, creatures that see well in the dark are colour blind, so it is natural for us to sleep sleep in the dark when we cannot see. And this lack of sight would heighten our other senses and make us jumpy, which was always useful when there were scarier things out there like mammoths
Yeah, but who wants to be trampled by a mammoth in the middle of the night when you are trying to kip? Not my ancestors, obviously...
Solo camping at cross fell. Basher setup and all ready for a nap my dogs are with me.
Fell a sleep but woke up hearing bangs? (that would be warcop range's ) back to sleep again
but woke up again the dogs barking like hell. I could hear loud foot steps? 3 to 4 hours later
The dogs are still going mad and me armed to the teeth with the smallest pen knife ever. I looked out of the Basher
and there in front if me was a flock of sheep!!
Fell a sleep but woke up hearing bangs? (that would be warcop range's ) back to sleep again
but woke up again the dogs barking like hell. I could hear loud foot steps? 3 to 4 hours later
The dogs are still going mad and me armed to the teeth with the smallest pen knife ever. I looked out of the Basher
and there in front if me was a flock of sheep!!
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