Just Freaked myself out!

[commandocal]

Haha know what ya mean!, A rabbit or something moving in the bushes, i have a think what it is "Uh oh its a deranged serial killer ill stay still and hide for a minute and get my knife out!" seriously that bad lol mind goes into override

 

[woodstock]

I dont normally get lost but i freak out quite a bit lol, I have this thing wher i can just go sit in the woods whatever weahter, dark or day and i am at peace but i second i imagine im hearing/seeing something my mind tells me i am and i start to flap big time

Not good trait if your stuck in a OP for 4 or 5 days in the middle of nowhere

 

[bushtank]

i left the local pub at about 11:40pm after being there since 2:30pm
it was in january there was about 2inch of snow on the ground
and i thought i know i will walk home so into the woods i go
now i know these woods very well but when drunk and snowing
i got a bit of the beaten track i had a good idea what direction to go
so just went straight on i went down a bank and up to my cheast in bog
as i pulled myself out i just had to laugh and i was roaring
on my own in the middle of a wood and still about 1.5 miles away from home
i got to a golf course which is at the back of my place and i just had to sit down
i was shivering so hard that i ached really bad i laid down for a bit and felt myself
falling asleep so i gave my face a good slapping got to my back door
i banged on the door and my wife would not let me in until i took all my
clothes of as i was coated in mud the bottom of my jeans were frozen solid
i didnt freak out at all but i did have a good sence of humour and that is the best thing to have appart from sat navigation

 

[Matt Weir]

I thought I had already mentioned my 'pan' experience here but can't find it. Anyway I have experienced the exact same thing in my local woods once when I slightly deviated from the path, looked up, had a momentary total loss of sense of direction followed by a few moments of panic. Very irrational as the wood is pretty small and although I knew that this was irrational I just couldn't shake the feeling for a few seconds. Pretty horrible really and even though I've never experienced it since I remember it quite vividly and empathize with any poor soul that suffers panic attacks and the like.

I don't think going by the response to the thead that this kind of thing is very rare and can happen to anyone.

LOL @ pan's moobs

 

[Seagull]

This Pan fellah, he has quite a bit to answer for, with his putting of irrational thoughts into the minds of folk.

When beach fishing, on early winter evenings, a mist or perhaps the sea spume would become a backboard, on to which would be projected shadows of people backlit by their pressure lamps........... and suddenly the vis would seem to close-in and you'ld get the uncomfortable feeling of not knowing where you were.......even though you knew your site very well.

Lots of idle whistling suddenly starts...

Ceeg

 

[xylaria]

Like pibbleb I feel I have a very good sense of direction, but when it fails it does so in style. I can't recall been startled by any natural spirits, but I do however have phobias. The spring bush moot this year I got a piece of wood stuck into the ligament at the back of my thumb. My Tweezers weren't sharp enough to get it out, so asked around for a pointy pair. To cut a long story I didn't get a good pair tweezers, someone gave me first aid in a manner that made me panic and they lost the visable end of the very large splinter by examining it. I asked the nearest knowledgeable looking woman where the willow grew and then ran into the woods.

I didn't find any willow where she sent me, but did find alot of comfry. I squished it up with my good hand and then applied. At this point the thumb was now very swollen. The pain putting the plant on it made my head spin, so I lay down and sort of went out for a bit. When I came round i merrily headed off in the wrong direction. Having been driven to bush moot in car I had no idea where I was. I was lost for about three hours, it took about an hour to get sense of direction back and two hours to find somewhere familiar to orientate. The thought of having to make shelter if I didn't sort myself out didn't panic me anywhere near as much as been given paternalistic medical attention.

I got myself back as dusk fell, and splinter has now calcified into the ligament and is due to be removed next week by specialist surgeon. I carry a really good pair of tweezers and scalpel now. It is not I don't find nature scary sometimes it just I find doctors and people that act like them terrifying.

 

[John Fenna]

Oh yes - Pan turned me around in a hazel coppice I know well and which has several old trcks through it....I was only yards from the path I wanted but had to do a box search to find it - wierd!

 

[spamel]

Try to look for the little things in the event of being turned by Pan. Try using the analogue watch and sun method to find your direction, look on the trunks of trees for moss, not always a cast iron indicator of direction, but it normally grows on the southern side. Look at the trees, more often than not a tree will throw its' branches out on the southern side, but up on the northern side to try and reach the sunlight. Learn the prevailing winds in your area, trees will often be bent over in the direction the wind blows. Also, carry a piece of white chalk. Blaze a trail with your chalk by marking the trees with your chalk to show the path you have travelled. Use maybe a line for the direction you travelled, and on the other side of the tree a cross to show the way back.

 

[Matt Weir]

Try to look for the little things in the event of being turned by Pan. Try using the analogue watch and sun method to find your direction, look on the trunks of trees for moss, not always a cast iron indicator of direction, but it normally grows on the southern side. Look at the trees, more often than not a tree will throw its' branches out on the southern side, but up on the northern side to try and reach the sunlight. Learn the prevailing winds in your area, trees will often be bent over in the direction the wind blows. Also, carry a piece of white chalk. Blaze a trail with your chalk by marking the trees with your chalk to show the path you have travelled. Use maybe a line for the direction you travelled, and on the other side of the tree a cross to show the way back.

All good advice Spam but I think the issue is the weirdness of the 'lost' feeling when you know you are 5 steps away from the path

 

[Timinwales]

It is not I don't find nature scary sometimes it just I find doctors and people that act like them terrifying.

Here here,...and the one place I am absolutely guarenteed to get lost despite all the signs is a hosptal, or town centeruppy_dog

Cheers Tim

 

[woodstock]

Guys if you get freaked out when outside civilisation my advice to you would be stay within your comfort zone and move your perimeters a little at a time going into the wild and feeling scared is in my thinking not very therapeutic and certainly no good for your mental state, living outdoors should be a fulfilling experience, I spend at the very least 2 days a week outdoors and have done for years in all seasons

 

[pibbleb]

Good advice I was wondering what I'd been doing wrong for the last 30 years lol!

 

[Timinwales]

Nature should be (and is) scarey at times, as for freaking out depends what we mean by it, mild agitation or full on panic attack?. I have suffered from the former (which was bad enough, because it just is'nt me) but to date have never fallen foul of the latter.
I've witnessed it though halfway up Tryfan on a February morning it took 15 mins to get the individual concerned to let go of the rock and complete the step a situation that given the experience, mind set and fittness level of said person none of us would ever have predicted.
I think the type of freaking out most people here are talking about is more a disorientation, which comes as a total shock because they are well within their comfort levels, and often in areas they know well. I know I've experienced this and it's not pleasant and is down right wierd, but it happens to us all sooner or later.

SMILE its the weekend Tim

PS Woodstock theres nothing civilised about city centers(too many people) and hospitals (just deeply unpleasent places) in my book. I will always be far more likely to get lost wandering round the likes of the metro center, medowhall or a supermarket than out in the real world.

 

[woodstock]

PS Woodstock theres nothing civilised about city centers(too many people) and hospitals (just deeply unpleasent places) in my book. I will always be far more likely to get lost wandering round the likes of the metro center, medowhall or a supermarket than out in the real world.[/QUOTE]

I never made any mention off city centres or the like I was referring to places where people inhabit in large numbers, that was just your interpretation of what I wrote which is ok but its not right, ITS ALL THE REAL WORLD whether concrete or vegetation the world is what we make it its our own reality

 

[Timinwales]

PS ITS ALL THE REAL WORLD whether concrete or vegetation the world is what we make it its our own reality

Accurate got to give you that, perhaps I used poor examples, C'est le guerre,
Tim

 

[Thijzzz]

Just had a early morning stroll in a small forest. Part of this I know well, part of this not so well. I went for the part I didn't know well.
My precautions:
1. Take digital picture of every map I see (Dutch "forestry commission" places maps on many entrances to the forest) so I can check the map in my camera.

2. Bring compass

Mind you: I parked at a road that went straight from South to East, and it's the border of the forest. So, anywhere in there, I would just have to walk bearing S-E to reach the road, right? Right!

Got so (pleasantly) desorientated, that my sense of direction told me to go this way, compass told me to got exactly in the other direction. I walked by the compass, and found the road. I had to walk the road for 2 miles back to get to the car. I guess the forest was not so small as I imagined....

And another one: same forest, didn't know it so well then, went on a night hike with 2 friends. I had a small compass, and used the same method. (different road, same principle.)

We wandered off and after 2 hours or so were completely lost. 1 of my friends had a PDA with Tomtom, and used it's compass function. Point was: it said the exact opposite of what my compass told us. We trusted the compass and ended up at a road I knew, and again spent 1 hour walking back to the car. Tomtom kept insisting we had to go the other way all the way back, even when we arrived AT the car. Tomtom can't be trusted, I'll tell you that.

Girlfriend was furious when I came home uppy_dog

 

[Greg]

look on the trunks of trees for moss, not always a cast iron indicator of direction, but it normally grows on the southern side.

I hate correcting people Spam but you will find that the moss will grow more invariably on the north side of trees (in the shaded area) away from the sun!
Although like you said it isn't too reliable as it actually depends on the environmental conditions of the area the moss is growing, so it can actually grow in any direction!

 

[tommy the cat]

Got a bit freaked out recently when camping on my own. I walked off from my hammock to get a signal on my phone and lost the hammock! DOH! Got to say it was dark and everything looked so different in the dark with just the light from the head torch. It was a great relief when I found it and it made the camp feel really like home.
Apart from that I really hate white outs I think sensory deprivation is not for me.
D

 

[commandocal]

Not that i get scared, im just lying there peacefully not a care in the world and my mind wanders, "hmm someone could be watching they could see my fire..." then i get thinking about it and all the natural movements i was hearing before suddenly become some deranged killer so i am on 'edge' for a few minutes and pull my knife closer to me and all that then i forget about itn but its a justified worry

 

[Tengu]

You read too many novels....

I never get lost but then I dont go too many places to get lost in.