As The Raven Dreams Podcast - 3 TRUE Scary Camping Stories Guaranteed To Freak You Out!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Reese's peanut butter cups are the greatest, but let me play devil's advocate here. Let's see. So, no, that's a good thing. That's definitely not a problem. Reeses, you did it. You stumped this charming devil. Do you have a true scary story you want to send my way? Go to ashtravendreams.com slash submit,

Starting point is 00:00:20 or you can always check those links down below. And, of course, I just want to say thank you. As a child, I was really close to my father. I went everywhere with him. including camping, fishing, and hunting. He taught me how to set up a tent, how to prepare a fish to eat, and he tried his best to teach me hunting tips.

Starting point is 00:00:52 I enjoyed going with him, but it was hard for me to shoot them and even harder to prepare them. I typically cried, but I tried not to show it. My dad, though, bless him, never pressured me to do it, and he never teased me or made fun of me for it. He would end up doing that part when I wasn't around

Starting point is 00:01:16 or was sleeping or something. He even taught me some botany, and I knew what plants in our area to avoid, which ones were safe to eat, and so forth. I bring this up because he, of course, was the one that made me fall in love with camping in the great outdoors. So, when he died, teenager me took it very hard.

Starting point is 00:01:45 I was never that close to my mother, at least not nearly as close as I was with my dad. She hated that I never wanted to do the normal, girly things, that I would rather go fishing in the rain than coat a prom in a limo. So, when she tried to push more of those types of things on me, it only drove us further apart. When my father passed, I became a bit of a recluse for the longest time. I still had a year before I graduated, so I had to deal with my mother's wishes and demands until then. I did some of the things that she wanted me to, just to keep her happy, hoping I could use it for a future request, and just that happened. A couple of my friends from school were talking about going on a camping. trip when school was out, so with my grades going back up and keeping up with my chores,

Starting point is 00:02:47 I asked my mom if I could go. At first she was hesitant, but finally agreed to let me go. I was ecstatic, and hadn't been this happy in a long time. I started packing everything up to go and waited for my friend to pick me up. When they arrived, I threw my stuff in the back of the truck and hopped in before my mom could come back out and change her mind. And we were off. This was actually at a state park, so there were no designated camping grounds or spots. So you just had to find the place that you wanted to stay and set up.

Starting point is 00:03:29 When we got there, my friends found a place that was surrounded by nothing but trees. It was beautiful. I had never been here, so I was in awe of how tall these trees were. We set up a couple of tents that we had, and started our fire pit when one of my friends pulled out the alcohol in green. Yes, I know we shouldn't have, but I, for one, didn't realize that they had brought it. And I had also been in a dark place since my father died, so I made some bad choices. Overall, it was a great night, and a much-needed getaway.

Starting point is 00:04:10 We enjoyed ourselves that night, and I actually ended up passing out on a blanket by the fire. The next morning, I ended up waking up before everyone else, but I didn't want to wait around. I knew they were going to be out for a while, so I left them a note, grabbed my bag with the gear that I had, headed off on my own. I grabbed a pamphlet on our way there and saw that hunting and fishing was permitted. So I thought I would walk around to see if they had a shop

Starting point is 00:04:45 where you could buy or rent a pole. No luck finding the place, but I did get to the beautiful lake and got to watch another kid learn to fish for a bit. It was getting too depressing for me, though, so I decided to keep moving. I saw a tree on the other side of the lake that stood just a bit taller than the rest, and was slightly darker. Something told me that I needed to go over there, so that's where I headed.

Starting point is 00:05:17 As I got closer, I noticed there was a placard in front of the tree that explained what type it was, how it got there, etc. But what caught my attention was the border behind it. A few feet behind the tree lines was a cheap fence separating us from what appeared to be a field that had a lot of dead plants, debris, and the swords, as well as a sign that was warning of bears. Of course, curiosity got the best of me, and while no one was looking, I tossed my bag and jumped over the fence. I cautiously made my way through the forbidden land while watching to make sure no one spotted me. I finally got far enough away that I couldn't make out any people or the starting line, so I started exploring. Along the way, I was stopped by a horrible smell.

Starting point is 00:06:20 Hunting with my dad so many times, I knew exactly what it was, too. No real surprise, though, as it is a forest, wildlife is bound to die or become prey, so I continued on my way. The smell, however, was just getting stronger, so I assumed that I was probably approaching it. I wasn't ready to turn back yet, so I just hoped that I didn't end up disturbing something in the process. The good news was that nothing was there to put me in danger. but the bad news was that I found the source of the smell. It looked like it was a coyote. I know this may be too much for some,

Starting point is 00:07:06 but it looked like it had been cut open like it was being cleaned or prepped by a hunter. The problem was that it hadn't been touched other than the cut on its abdomen. Who would hunt a coyote of all animals? And then just leave it like this. I thought it was weird, but I carried along the way. After several feet and the smell starting to dissipate, I lightened up a bit and continued to explore.

Starting point is 00:07:37 Not long after, though, I came across a bunch of tree branches and rotting broken logs. I started looking through it to see if there was anything of interest in the pieces when I noticed that some of it was wet. I thought it was just sap, or water, until I got closer and wiped a piece along the ground with my shoe. It was blood. As mentioned, it was still wet like it was fresh.

Starting point is 00:08:07 This kind of put me on edge after seeing the coyote earlier. I had no idea what this was from or what caused it, but a stupid me wanted to continue on further along. I ended up smelling decay again, but this time it was much worse. I ended up pulling my button up over my nose, and I tried to mask the smell. With what I had already seen, though,

Starting point is 00:08:33 I was determined to find out what was causing this. There was a small ditch that I had to pass over, and on the other side, the grass was even taller. I was about 5'5 at the time, and it went up to about my knees. As I started going over the ditch, I noticed another dead animal in the water. It, again, looked like a small coyote or a fox.

Starting point is 00:09:00 This one was harder to tell by the condition it was in, so I quickly jumped over and walked along the side of the ditch. A few feet away, there was an opening in the grass, like someone else had walked through it. What better time to pass through it, right? I could see in the distance, though, what looked like a very old tent. so I thought I would make my way toward it. Cautiously.

Starting point is 00:09:26 Along the way, I started to spot blood again. This time, it looked like a trail, like something was being dragged. As I got closer to the tent, the smell became almost unbearable. I pulled myself together and made the final steps to the tent. However, this was not actually a tent. It looked like a tarp that was thrown over

Starting point is 00:09:51 a low-hanging branch. I don't know if that was done on purpose, or if someone was staying in it, but that was the least of my fears. In front of this tent was another tarp, spread out on the ground, being held down by four or five carcasses of coyotes, foxes, and a wild hog. These, however, were not looking like they were hunted in the sense to take home. They were mutilated. There was also one that had been attached to a tree.

Starting point is 00:10:25 Its head was missing, hanging upside down, and even worse, it looked like it was done with some kind of spear. But the part that astounded me even more was how high up it was. The spear was out of my reach, so how tall was the person that did this? And why would they do this? And was it even a person? With the combination of alcohol, the heat, and the fear, I ended up getting sick and quickly tried to get out of there. I didn't want whatever was out there to find me.

Starting point is 00:11:02 I did find my way back by a close route. That way I didn't have to see or smell any of that again. But when I approached the tree line near a different part of the lake, I noticed that it had been cut, pushed down and then attempted to be pulled. put back up. Someone or some thing has obviously been back there, as well as in the actual park, which terrified me even more. What the hell kind of thing is out there with us and doing those kinds of things back there? I regretfully didn't tell anyone, though. Hell, I didn't know if it could have been someone that worked here and I wasn't supposed to be back there anyways, so I couldn't even think about what I could say.

Starting point is 00:11:49 I could finally breathe easy being around a large group of people and started walking back to my friends and trying to have a good rest of our trip. I can tell you one thing, though. It wasn't easy, and I still haven't forgotten about it. I grew up in a very busy family. Both of my parents worked a lot and were hardly home, meaning time together was few and far in between.

Starting point is 00:12:28 We spent a lot of time with babysitters and relatives, and when we did, on the rare occasion, have a family vacation, it wasn't all that special. It was typically a hotel with a pool that me and my siblings would play in, and maybe one of my parents while the other one was working in the room. I bring this up because my now-wife, girlfriend at the time, had a completely different family. They always had time together,

Starting point is 00:13:02 including weekly dinners, get-togethers, and vacations. They started inviting me on vacations with them, and it was always a blast. Resorts, staying at their condo in South Carolina, all kinds of memories. One thing that my wife loved to do was go camping with her father. She said they usually went to the family, the same campground, but always went as far back as they could, and deeper into the woods.

Starting point is 00:13:33 So, that way, there were less people around to bother them. They also liked doing this so they could go fishing without anyone else disturbing the waters. I had never camped in my life, and the closest thing to fishing I had done was those little toy fishing games you see at the state fair, so when they asked me to join them, them, I didn't hesitate. My wife and I went and got supplies for myself, some new stuff for her, and a fancy blue tent for ourselves.

Starting point is 00:14:10 We made our way to the campground right outside a little city in Wisconsin and met her dad in the parking lot. We then followed him towards the back of the grounds, parked, and then started grabbing our gear to walk through the trees, and bushes. When we got through it, though, I knew it had to be the perfect spots to camp. I could just barely make out our vehicles, but you could hardly even hear the other cars driving by. Because of the walk to get there, you also had plenty of time to hear someone approaching.

Starting point is 00:14:49 We set up our tents, got our fire pit ready, and then started getting our fishing gear in order. I, embarrassingly, needed help with mine, but thankfully my wife, Jen, helped while Mike teased me. All in fun, though. Once we finished, we walked a little further down by the water, and we started fishing. It went pretty well. I had some troubles, but nothing that stopped me or held me back from doing it more. We started our fire, made a small dinner, and just relaxed. It was a great first night camping, in my opinion.

Starting point is 00:15:31 It wasn't until we went to bed, the problems started occurring. I had a lot of trouble falling asleep. I couldn't get comfortable. I got too hot. Every little sound I heard made me sit up and look around. I know it made no sense, and I was being unreasonable. But I suppose with it being my first time, I wasn't used to not sleeping on a mattress, behind a locked door.

Starting point is 00:16:02 All the while, I was impressed as to how deep in sleep Jen and my snoring father-in-law was. Thankfully, I did finally fall asleep, but I was awoken by another sound sometime later. I rolled over to hold my wife when I noticed she wasn't in the tent, thinking maybe, she was going to relieve herself, I just waited for her to return. I remember checking my watch, and the time was around two in the morning. I laid there and managed to fall asleep, and again woke up to a noise. However, my wife still hadn't returned. I looked at my watch, and it was now a little past four.

Starting point is 00:16:50 As I started to put my watch back down and unzip my sleeping bag, The tent started to be opened, and in came my wife. Tired, and not at all coherent. I just asked her if she was okay. Her only response was, tired. She slipped back into her sleeping bag and was right back out. I didn't give it much attention after that, and just worked on falling back asleep.

Starting point is 00:17:21 The next morning, I was groggy, but I was ready to, to get the day started and enjoy this time that we had. We would be out here for two more nights, so I wanted to do all I could while we were there. We made a quick breakfast, went to a nearby hiking trail for several hours, and then we went swimming. From there, we took showers in the rooms they had set up nearby, and headed back to our spot to fish some more. I did better this time around, and with all we did, I was hopeful that I could crash that. I did. I was out pretty quick, but I woke up when I had to use the restroom. As I rolled over, I noticed that Jen wasn't in the tent again.

Starting point is 00:18:11 I checked my watch, and it was around two in the morning once more. I thought it was just a coincidence, but I sat up, waiting for. for her to get back so I could go out there. When she didn't return for several minutes, and with it getting harder for me to hold it, I finally just got up and went out. I grabbed a flashlight, walked straight from the entrance to our tent

Starting point is 00:18:36 through the trees a little way over, and took care of my business. As I was walking back, I was trying to look to see if I could find Jen. I saw our tent, our fire to the right and then Mike's tent on the other side, facing the opposite way of ours. But no Jen.

Starting point is 00:18:57 I started walking around the pit to see if she was over by her dad's tent when I noticed a light coming from the ground facing away from the tent. I started approaching the light, which already had me panicking, as it was towards the dense trees, so it made it look like there were a lot of people standing there. After reasoning with myself that they were just trees, that's when I noticed they weren't all trees. Jen was standing there, tall, not moving, looking slightly up towards a tree.

Starting point is 00:19:31 I picked up her flashlight and I asked if she was okay. No response. I walked in front of her, and I noticed her eyes were wide open, staring into this tree. I looked up into the tree to see if I could see anything, But there was nothing there. I then looked back at her, put my hand on her shoulder, and said her name. She didn't respond. It was...

Starting point is 00:19:58 Weird. And I didn't know what to do. So I just told her I was heading back to the tent and walked away, looking back at her every few steps. She never moved, never said anything. her stare didn't break. I went back to the tent and I fell asleep. I didn't know how long it had been at first, but I woke up to her coming back in.

Starting point is 00:20:28 I checked the time, and again it was four in the morning. I asked her if she was okay since she had been out there for a few hours. Again, the only response I got was hired, and she fell asleep. I just sat there. staring at her for a few seconds before I finally fell asleep. The next morning, I asked her how she slept. She said she actually felt exhausted, like she didn't hardly sleep, and then joked how mine and her dad's snoring kept her up.

Starting point is 00:21:03 So, I mentioned her being up for about two hours staring at the tree. She thought I was choking at first, but then I explained how she did this the night before, and again this last night and how I found her. She didn't recall any of this. She said she never left to go to the bathroom. She wasn't looking at a tree or anything. But I was adamant that she had. She just shrugged it off, saying maybe she's sleepwalked.

Starting point is 00:21:33 I agreed, since she didn't remember this, but she doesn't sleepwalk. I've never seen her do so in our apartment, at least. Not wanting to dwell on it. We enjoyed our last day there doing stuff around the campsite and visiting a few places that Mike wanted to go to. Night came, and I readied myself for bed. This time, though, I decided to try to stay up to catch Jen leaving the tent. We went to bed. I laid there for a while, and after she fell asleep, I pulled out my book that I had brought to read.

Starting point is 00:22:10 It helped for a bit, but I couldn't hold my eyes open. and much longer, and started drifting off. However, I awoke to hear the tent being zipped up. I looked at the clock, and it was 158 a.m. I got out, and I watched her as she walked through those trees again, no shoes on, holding just the flashlight. When she got to that same tree, she dropped the flashlight and just stared up at it. So, I again approached her.

Starting point is 00:22:44 saw the blank look on her face staring up at this tree. I walked all around it to see if I could see anything at all. There was nothing there. I shined the flashlight in her face, and she didn't even flinch or blink. Finally, I grabbed her by both of her shoulders and gently shook her, calling her name. And like some creepy-ass movie,

Starting point is 00:23:09 she slowly looked down at me and said, It's waiting. And then, slowly looked back up at this tree. I let go over shoulders, looked back up at the tree one more time, and just saw the branches move. I could not see a damn thing, but that was enough to make me run back to the tent. I know. Call me whatever you want for leaving my wife there,

Starting point is 00:23:35 but I felt something obviously preferred her presence over mine. I definitely couldn't sleep after that. So I stayed awake, waiting to see her return. Like clockwork, she came back at 4.17 a.m., and then went right back to sleep. It apparently showed the next morning that I didn't sleep well. As we were packing up, I walked around that tree one more time to see if there was anything there, and nothing. The only thing slightly off seemed to be the gap between some of the branches. Kind of like when something big goes through a bush,

Starting point is 00:24:14 and leaves a gap. Something had definitely been in that tree, but I saw nothing. I just told them I had trouble sleeping, and I didn't bring it up until after we got home. We didn't have smartphones at the time, so I couldn't really take a picture or a video of it, but she believed me for some reason. She still didn't remember any of this,

Starting point is 00:24:39 but I sure as hell did. What's even we've gone camping since, at other places, with no incident. I was reminded of this because Mike is retiring and was planning a trip out to that same campsite. With a kid of our own now, we're thinking about going with him. But if she does this again,

Starting point is 00:25:01 or if our kid does, I'm just sleeping in my car. Reese's peanut butter cups are the greatest, but let me play devil's advocate here. Let's see, so... No, that's a good thing. That's definitely not a problem. Races, you did it.

Starting point is 00:25:26 You stumped this charming devil. My friends and I often went camping in the summer in a remote place in Kentucky. It was a small, unknown area that you could easily miss, especially if you're not looking for it. This was great for us because that meant that there was never anyone around to bother us or throw off our fun. Sometimes we would invite a new person or our partners to join us, but that was it.

Starting point is 00:26:02 It was supposed to be for new homes, but after cutting down some of the trees, they ended up leaving the area untouched and never put in any houses. Including myself and my girlfriend Robin, there were going to be six people there for the weekend. I wanted some. some time alone with Robin, so we decided that we would stay an extra day or two after they left.

Starting point is 00:26:30 Once we got there and got all settled, everyone started drinking and being stupid. It was a great time, but Robin wasn't one for the crate outdoors. She wanted to join and be with me, which was sweet, but she couldn't stand the bugs. She didn't like the idea of sleeping in a tent on just blankets, and she definitely didn't like that there were no restrooms nearby. But she was a trooper. She tried her best to have a good time, and I think she did once she started getting a little buzzed.

Starting point is 00:27:10 The first night was great, other than Robin waking up to every sound and slight movement. The next day was fine as well. well, just sitting around, drinking, and just hanging out. It's nice not having any expectations or errands to run, and just being able to kick back, eat, and sleep at your leisure. However, later that evening, while we were all talking and having a good time, Robin started looking around and staring hard into the darkness.

Starting point is 00:27:45 After doing this a few times, I asked her what was going on. She said she felt like someone was watching us. I brushed it off at first, thinking it was just her starting to get paranoid with it getting darker. She shrugged it off at first too, but then I started seeing her go right back to it. I asked her again if there was something she actually saw. She again said no. but just felt uneasy. I suggested maybe we head to bed early,

Starting point is 00:28:22 thinking maybe it would help, to which she didn't hesitate, and we headed off to our tent. We laid there, and I started drifting off while she was reading a book. I'm not sure how long I was out, but at one point, she started shaking my arm trying to wake me up.

Starting point is 00:28:44 When I tried to ask her what, she put a finger to her mouth telling me to be quiet and to listen. I sat there quietly, hearing only my friend's radio at first. When I mentioned this, Robin said, The Footsteps. So I again listened when I finally started hearing what sounded like slow, in-patterned footsteps. I tried telling her it was probably one of the others, walking around drunk or trying to go to the bathroom. So, to calm her down and ease the tension, I made a comment out loud to the effect of, Don't be going over here by our tent! And smirked, looking at Robin.

Starting point is 00:29:34 She didn't find it very funny, and neither did the person by our tent by the sound of the groan I heard. Before I could respond, though, one of my friends hollered back asking what I was talking about. I asked who was by my tent, and they said they were the only ones awake. Seeing Robbins freaked out face, I got out of the tent to see who was messing with us. That's when I confirmed my friend was right. He started getting out of his tent, too, and we both looked over behind my tent. To my shock, it was an older guy. He had long, matted hair that looked like it hadn't been brushed in years.

Starting point is 00:30:20 His face was covered in what looked like dirt and scabs. He was wearing boxers, a t-shirt, and slippers. Again, this was a remote area. There aren't any businesses or homes nearby, so I have no idea where this guy came from. Not knowing what to do, I just looked at him and said, Uh, hello? The man would not make direct eye contact. He always looked around me, or at the ground.

Starting point is 00:30:54 He also never responded. So instead, I asked, How did you get here? By now, Robin came out of the tent and gasped at the side of this man. This time he did respond. but not in English. Unfortunately, I don't know any other language, but I can typically tell if it's at least Spanish or French,

Starting point is 00:31:20 and it was neither of those. I asked if he knew English, and again he just mumbled something in a different language. Robin then asked him if he needed help, and she offered to call 911. When she said this, he kept shaking his head over and over, saying no, no, no, no, no. Then, as he started to walk away, he was holding his side.

Starting point is 00:31:48 Robin tried shouting to him, but he kept saying no and something else, and walked away into the night. I thought it was definitely bizarre and had no idea how this man in his condition had even got there. She said we should probably call someone in case he got out somewhere and had something wrong with him. My friend didn't like this idea since we could all get in trouble for trespassing. We had all been drinking, and there was no way it would be safe for any of us to drive. So I calmed Robin down and told her that we would just leave with them tomorrow instead of staying longer, and call the police on our way out.

Starting point is 00:32:34 so they can come looking for him. To which she agreed. The next morning, we got up, had a little breakfast, and started packing to head home. The rest of the group was taking a bit longer to leave, but Robin was anxious to see if she could find this guy before we left. So, we started driving around to see if we could find him, but no luck.

Starting point is 00:33:00 The area wasn't that big, but we still didn't see him around. round. Thinking he probably wandered off somewhere, Robin was upset but understood that there wasn't anything else we could do. So we headed back over to our friends and helped as the last of them left. Nothing came of the situation until a few days later. Robin had come over to my place and immediately pulled up a news article. It was about a body that they had found, close to to where we were camping. It was an older guy in his 60s

Starting point is 00:33:38 that had been stabbed and bled out. I don't remember the name anymore, but what I do remember was that he was Swedish. Then they also showed a picture of the victim. It was the same guy that we saw while camping just in better health. That also explained the different language

Starting point is 00:34:00 that he was speaking. It was pretty heartbreaking. This guy was standing right in front of us, probably holding his side from a stabbing, and he didn't want us to call the police. Why? And to top it all off, the suspect was still wanted. Was the killer nearby? Did he walk by like this guy did while we were asleep?

Starting point is 00:34:26 Robin ended up going to the police and talking to them, and I can't blame her. She has too kind of a heart, which made it even. worse on her, knowing that we didn't do anything. I don't know if they ever caught the suspect, but I sure hope so, for everyone's safety, and so that man can be at peace. So that was a collection of true, scary, camping, horror, terrifying stories by people that went camping and had a scary story to tell afterwards. I'm just going to go with true camping horror stories.

Starting point is 00:35:14 Anyways, yeah, so I've been camping once in my life, and it sucked, kind of. Sleeping on the ground, it's not very comfortable. I don't really like it that much. And, uh, I don't know. I'm more of a civilization kind of guy. No, I don't know. My ancestors would be ashamed. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this collection of stories, and if you did, please do hit that thumbs up button.

Starting point is 00:35:40 And if you're new to the channel, you can also subscribe. That would really help me out a lot. Um, yeah, so, what was gonna say? Oh, if you really want to support the channel further, you can leave me a comment. Interactions are huge on YouTube, so doing that would be great for me. You can also hit the join button or go to patreon.com slash as the Raven Dreams to support even more. And for as little as 99 cents a month, you can get early access to all my content. How's that sound?

Starting point is 00:36:09 Because to me, it sounds like a deal, just saying. So, all that said, a huge thing. Thank you to everyone who listens. That is really what's most important, and it means the world to me. So thank you. And I thank you to everyone who lets me use their stories. As always, it's greatly appreciated. Yeah, because if I had to write everything, I guarantee you I wouldn't get this much content out. Anyways, friends, I hope you have a beautiful day, and I hope you have a great weekend, and I hope I will see you on the next video. But until then, sleep well.

As The Raven Dreams Podcast - 3 TRUE Scary Camping Stories Guaranteed To Freak You Out!

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