As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 023 - Creepy Stalker and Hiking Stories - 10 True Scary Stories

Episode Date: April 22, 2022

Hello and Welcome to the 23rd episode of The ATRD Podcast! Today we have some intriguing and terrifying stories submitted by everyday people. In Today's Episode we will have stories about the horrors you find on the trail and some other stories about true creeps! ➤ Want your story featured? Go to https://www.astheravendreams.com/Submit ➤ Want to know where to follow me on the internet? Go to https://www.astheravendreams.com/the-nevermore for all my links! ➤ You can also get EARLY ACCESS By joining my Patreon! https://patreon.com/astheravendreams Today's Video contains stories by the following Authors... igotthejuice3, Amy, KeyTransportation743, Jamie, Nicole R, Kaitlin, and authors that have requested to remain anonymous.  ➤ All stories within are used w/ Either direct permission from the author- or under some level of CC license (where noted) True Stories are not verified, and should all be considered 'supposedly true'.  And Remember; You are loved, you are important, and you are valid. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/astheravendreams/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/astheravendreams/support Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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oh, that also. And profite. Via-a-rail, the voice that we love that we love. There's been an ongoing joke between my friends and I that I attract the weirdest crap. When we go hiking, camping, or even when we just drive to some abandoned spot to drink, something strange always happens. And I'm typically the one involved in it. One of the craziest ones for me was when we went through this trail in Utah.

The place we were going was, pretty much just for sightseeing and the walk. They had some campgrounds scattered around, but we tended to get loud and stupid, so we would chill on the trail somewhere and have a good time. I know we weren't supposed to, but as long as we weren't being disruptive to others, and we picked up after ourselves,

the Rangers pretty much left us alone. I'd brought my girlfriend at the time, since a couple of my friends were bringing theirs along as well, but the difference was that my girl really wasn't into the whole sleeping outside thing. She was definitely a city girl, but she wanted to spend more time with me so she tolerated it. So we hiked up to a spot that we've been to before and started unpacking some drinks and food to unwind.

At this point, my girl Amy, had enough of walking and was in a bad mood. The other girls tried to get her to lighten up and help her cool off, but it would only work so much. I appreciated them for trying, though. One thing that did get her to lighten up was the drinks. She would become a little extra after about four. Around this time, she would get aggressive or mean, so I would have to calm her down. This ended up starting a fight between us and she stormed off into the tent telling me I wasn't allowed in.

I didn't want to ruin the fun, so I told the rest of them I was going to go get some more sticks and stuff to add to the fire and walked away to cool off. It was at least an idea to think about things and have some time to myself. That's when things started to get wild. As I mentioned, we'd been on this trail before, so I was at least aware of the area to some extent. And I had an idea of where I was going, but I didn't do much outside of it because I was typically having fun with my friends. So I decided to climb up over this ledge and across the other side, to see if I could spot the other side of the highway or something else across. It was pretty dark at this point, so I did bring a flashlight with me to light my way, but that was it. It was a spur of the moment decision, so I wasn't expecting to need anything more.

As I was walking across, I noticed a faint light in the distance. It didn't look very far, and better yet, it looked like it was on the same side as me, so I decided to go check. it out. And as I got closer, I noticed a dark arch around the light that made it look like it was some sort of small cavern. I thought, hell yeah, something for me to explore real quick and maybe take everyone else to it, right? Once I reached it, I found the source of light, which was some old-looking lantern that had the fluid in it. It was flickering and looked low, so I don't know. how long it had been on, but it was strange that it was just

sitting there. I remember thinking to myself that it was like a porch light. Someone had left it on to get home. Then, I proceeded into the cavern. I had to duck down to get in, but then once inside,

I could almost stand up straight. It was crazy. But then I got to looking around in there, and I scanned the area with my flashlight. and saw some stuff on the ground. It looked like some kind of makeshift sleeping bag, or at least if it was one,

it was so old and dirty and falling apart that it just looked like a couple of blankets. There were a few other items near it. The ones I remembered were a little hand mirror, a metal bowl that looked like kind of one for a dog, and some kind of book with writing all over the front. It looked more like a diary or sketchbook style rather than a book to read. I was scanning the area to see if there was anything else, but there wasn't much else to the room.

There was a darker area in the back, but it looked like it was just a part where the wall jutted, so I'd ignored it. I was curious who could be staying here, and if they'd been here long or had just arrived. if they were nearby or if this stuff was old, so I wanted to check out the book. I picked it up, and the first page had a dedication on it. It said something about everything they did was thanks to them. Then flipping through, there was less and less writing and more scribbled notes and pictures. I went back to read one of the pages when I heard what sounded like someone gasping. It was loud enough that it made me jump up from the position that I was in.

I looked over to where I heard the sound, which was by the dark back wall, and now there looked like a person was peeking around the wall. Like I said, it didn't look like there was anything past it, so I didn't expect a person to be there. So, thinking I had just interrupted whoever was there, I put my hands up, dropped the book, apologized for intruding. I didn't have the flashlight on them, other than when I initially heard the gasp,

because I didn't want to blind them, so I had it down to my side. So, from what I could see, it looked like a person was either kneeling or was a small child, because their form was pretty short. I couldn't make out any details on the person, though. I told them I would leave and that I wasn't doing or pulling. planning on taking anything, and slowly walked backwards to leave. As I got closer to the entrance, something told me to put my light back on them. As I brought the flashlight up, so did the person.

I watched as the shadow grew smoothly straight up with the head now tilted to the side. This meant this thing was over six foot tall, because it was taller than me, and I was about 5'8. The way it stood up was creepy and unnatural as hell, and I was ready to nope out of there. I quickly turned around and I ran out of there. I thought I would just run back to where my friends were, but I could hear something catching up to me. I swear, I felt like I was in some weird horror movie, like it didn't feel weird. I got back to the ledge and I fell into it, and I stayed there for just a sudden. second, hoping I was either imagining it or that the person would lose me.

As I sat there, I heard what sounded like someone running towards me and then just stop. Then they whispered, Where are you? Thankfully, they immediately ran back off and I didn't move until I didn't hear the footsteps anymore. I pulled myself back over the ledge and made a mad dad. back to my friends. When I got there, I was trying to explain to them what I just saw, and of course, they all thought I was just messing with them. Apparently, Amy was still awake, or had woken up and heard everything. I was hoping she wouldn't because I knew she would freak out, and she did, and now no longer wanted to stay there.

It was way too dark for us to try to walk back out, and quite frankly, I wasn't comfortable with whatever or whoever that person was walking around. So I made up some BS about it being a joke to try and calm her down. We all finally went to bed, but I couldn't sleep. I remember faking it a few times to avoid conversations with Amy, though. The next morning was a bit weird, and we all tried to make light of the situation and joke around to at least, have some last minute fun.

But I think we all just thought that it was more than a bit off. We left, and that was the last time Amy went with me until we split up. My friends were interested in the cave, though, so we actually went back out there the next week or so. It took us a while to find it, but thankfully we went during the day so that we could see better. The lantern that I saw was gone, but when we went in, the sleeping bag and the mirror were still there. But the bowl was gone, and the book looked like it had been caught on fire. We went back to where that person was standing, and to my surprise, it actually had more space back there than I expected. It didn't go anywhere, but it was almost like a closet, if there would have been like a door there.

But back there, there was a pile of bones. I wouldn't call any of us that smart, so we couldn't tell what kind of bones they were, and if they were human or animal, but a couple of them were really long, like leg or arm bones. But, of course, it would have made it easier, but there were no skulls. My friend thought it was weird, but joked about it and we left. There was no other sign of anyone being there. So, yeah, I don't know what that was, but I assume it was a person since they talked,

but nothing else about them really seemed human. I don't care for that trail anymore, but thankfully my friends still like me tagging along. I guess I'm just there to keep things interesting. I was 16 to 17 female. I worked at a small family-owned, bakery. This bakery has been in my town for 50 plus years and has been owned by the current owners for over 20. Since the bakery has been there so long, we had a lot of regular customers

and the owner's friends coming in on a regular basis. There was this elderly couple that came in for the first couple of months that I worked there, and they were so sweet. So I would strike up conversation with them, since they could come in first thing in the morning when we weren't busy. One day, they brought in their grandson, 27 to 28 male, and I made my usual conversation. After that day, the grandson would come in almost every single day, usually without his grandparents. At first, I just thought that it was lonely, and he was a very single day. close with our owner's son, so I didn't think anything of it. Then, he started to get creepy.

He asked me how old I was. I was 16 at the time, but I'm tall and looked generally older. So I told him. And he responded that that was too bad. I didn't look 16 and was then asking when my birthday was and when I would turn 18. He asked what high school I went to, and I couldn't lie because he knew I lived in the area. He kept making comments about how nice my body was, how pretty I am, telling me he hasn't ever seen anyone who's looked like me, and that he was fascinated by my looks.

When I wore skirts or tops that were tight, he would comment on how short my skirt was. or how my top fit perfectly and how it flattered me. I started to get creeped out after a couple of days of these questions and comments, so I told my coworker who was a couple of years older than me, and she said that she would try to distract him so I didn't have to deal with him. The next day, I came into work and my coworker served him, and I thought I was going to get away. This was on a weekend at the bakery, which was very much very,

very busy. I only got two breaks a day, and so I used them wisely and usually watched Netflix or listened to music. So there I am with my headphones in, on my break. He comes and sits down next to me and starts striking up conversation. During this conversation, I mentioned that I had a boyfriend, and then he asked to see pictures of him and I, and asked if he was a good guy. and then it progressed to him asking if he satisfies me. I was very uncomfortable, so I was hardly giving him responses, but he still stayed until the end of my break. This pattern continued for a while. He knew my name, so he found my Instagram and would reply to all of my stories, comment on all my posts,

and DM me random things like memes, and... send me my own post saying how nice my face looked, my body, etc. I started to ignore his DMs, so he would delete what he sent and then ask me when he saw me next why I didn't reply. A while later, I broke up with my boyfriend, and so I deleted my post with him, and the creepy guy noticed within the same day. He saw me at work and was at work. asking me what I was doing this weekend, if I had plans. I said I did, and I brushed it off, but he kept saying how he has tickets for some

fare that was going on in our city and how he had no one to go with. At this point, I felt like there was nothing I could do because his family was very close with the owner, but I finally worked up the courage and told the owner's daughter. She was very surprised, as she'd known. known this guy his whole life, and she said that she would speak to him about boundaries and how he should keep his distance from me. But she wouldn't ban him from the store. A couple of days later, he comes in again and completely ignores me, and then keeps staring at me from across the store, looking angry. He did this until he was about to leave, and then asked why I had told my boss

that he made me uncomfortable. I told him that I was seven. at this point, and he was 10 years older than me, and that I didn't appreciate the comments. He said he didn't see a problem because he didn't make a move until my boyfriend and I had broken up. I was honestly really scared, and it just so happened that I was thinking of quitting because school was a lot, and I was getting ready to go to university.

That comment just completely put me off, so I quit the next day, because the timing was right anyway. I blocked his social media, and every so often I get random accounts that all have a variation of the same username, and I block them too. Luckily, I haven't had any encounters, as I haven't gone back to that job since I quit. The last situation that happened with him actually happened last week. My grandparents would go to this bakery before I even worked there to get a dessert that they liked. They called me, and we were just catching up, and they mentioned that they went to my old job,

and how the owner and his children and another guy in his 20s she hasn't seen before said hi. I asked her who the man was, I thought he might have been a regular customer or something. After talking it over with her, it was obvious it was the same. same creepy guy. I told her all the stories, and she mentioned that he says he hopes I'm having a good time at X University. I live in a different city, hours away, for school, and I never told anybody at that job where I was going.

I don't have it on my social medias either, so I have no idea how he would know where I go to school. Every so often, those accounts do pop up. but since I'm hours away from my home city, I think I'm in the clear for now. I hope that I don't ever have to encounter him again. I want to preface this story by saying that this one was submitted to me a long time ago by somebody, and I honestly have no idea if I ever used it. I think it ended up getting lost in the mix of stories somehow,

and I just didn't realize it was there, so I'm very sorry to Amy, the person who submitted this, And I hope that if I didn't use it, I hope that that didn't dissuade you from listening to my channel. Just know that it was there, I just apparently missed it or didn't realize it was. And if I did use it, well, I'm using it again. And hopefully you all can still enjoy the story, because it's a good one. It should be in the video, absolutely. So here we go. My name is Amy, and for privacy reasons, I'll keep out my exact location where this story took.

place. I grew up in a smaller suburban town in a Midwestern state. The story is not very horror movie scary or bone-chilling, but more so very creepy, real life, scary. The neighborhood that my family and I lived in seemed safe enough up until a flow of crimes against children were happening. At one point, a young girl on our block was snatched out of her bedroom window and assaulted right on her front lawn. After that, my parents were extra cautious about where my sister and I were playing. I remember one instance where I was in our front yard with my father who was doing some yard work, and I saw a white unmarked van driving slowly around the block, with the back

sliding door wide open. Once my parents had spotted this, they know that. They know, longer allowed my younger sister and me to play in our front yard, and I believe they even notified the police of that suspicious van. Moving on, this particular incident happened after a year or two after these scary and creepy occurrences had been happening. I believe I was around 11 or 12, and my sister was just two years younger than me. One evening during our summer break, my sister and I wanted to get out of the house and ride our bikes. My mom was at work, and my dad was home, and was usually fine with us going out

as long as we stayed close in the neighborhood and stuck together. My parents had drilled in our heads the warnings of strangers and what to do should we ever encounter anyone. So my dad let us take our bikes and bike around the playground at our school, which was no more than two blocks away from our house. Before we peddled to the playground slash park, my sister and I liked to ride our bikes around the parking lot of the ice arena, which was just a block up from our home.

The ice arena had a large parking lot, which made it fun for cruising your bike around. As we were doing circles around the building, which was deserted, I noticed a tan minivan pull into the parking lot and park in one of the spaces. I didn't pay much attention right away, and my sister and I continued to cruise our bikes around the building, enjoying the summer breeze. Each time we passed that section of the parking lot, I saw the van that was just parked there, and the driver of the van had not exited his vehicle. I caught up to my sister and stated that it was odd the man in that van was just sitting there

and appeared to be watching us ride around the parking lot. My sister agreed, and we decided to leave the area and pedal towards the school playground, which was not far from the arena. As we peddled away from the parking lot, I looked back and saw the van was still parked and didn't follow us. I felt a little more relieved, and we eventually got to the playground. Neither my sister or I felt like playing on the playground, but I just wanted to ride our bikes around the school building and through the blacktop and playground areas. As we rounded one corner of the school, I noticed the same tan minivan cruising up the street.

My red flags started going up, and I told my sister the same van. van that had been parked at the arena, was now driving towards the school. My sister didn't seem to mind, however, and stated that she thought we would be safe since there was one or two other kids playing on the playground. Still, I felt a bit uneasy, and began to keep my eyes more alert to the van. After circling the school building a few more times, we noticed that the remaining kids at the playground had left. The sun was starting to dip into the sky, which was our dad's rule, that we had to head for home around that time. I didn't see the van anywhere in the last few minutes and just decided we were okay,

but as soon as we started riding through the school parking lot, we saw the van again. It was parked up the small short hill that led up the school parking lot entrance. My sister and I veered our bikes on to the opposite side to avoid riding close past the van, but the driver of the van suddenly stuck his arm out the window and tried waving for us to slow down. We slowed our pace, but did not stop completely next to the van. The driver then stuck his head out the window and said, Hey, can you two please stop for a second? I need your help.

We braked a few feet from the van, unsure of what to do. The man smiled, but had a concerned look on his face. He said, Sorry to bother you two girls, but I've been driving around because I lost my dog. I'm sure you saw me drive around earlier because I live in this neighborhood. And I was out looking for him. He's a golden retriever, goes by the name of Buster. Would you two be willing to come with me to help find him?

My sister and I both exchanged nervous looks, and me being the braver one, stated we had to get home as our father was waiting for us. The stranger looked disappointed and said again that he couldn't stop thinking about his dog and how much he's worried about him being left out all by himself and how we could really use our help. He also added that his dog loves kids, so if he heard or saw a kid calling out to him, he might be more willing to come back. My sister, being the more trusting one, started to get a sympathetic look on her face

and began to walk her bike closer to the van. I grabbed her arm and tugged her back. Just the way this man looked and smiled at us made my skin crawl. I knew even at such a young age that this man was not being truthful. I nudged my sister and said that we needed to leave now. We began to pedal away and down the road. The stranger did not say anything more and started his car and did a quick U-turn and then sped off in the opposite direction.

We peddled home and we kept looking behind and around us to make sure that he wasn't following. When we reached our house, we ran in to tell our dad who contacted the police. The next day, we were playing with my childhood friend, Alex, and his sister Sarah, who was a couple years older than Alex and I, and we shared with them the creepy experience with the man in the van. Sarah got a strange look on her face and said that she and her friend Diane were going on a walk in the same neighborhood last night when a man in a tan van drove up to them.

He had told them the same story, how he had told them the same story, he had lost his dog and how he needed help from kids to find him. Only this time, Sarah's friend had walked up to the van and just close enough to see that the man was not wearing any pants. Sarah said Diane screamed and they ran in the opposite direction of the van. The man sped off and they made it safely to Sarah and Alex's house, where they informed their mother and she dialed the police. As Sarah was telling me this, I remember feeling incredibly scared and relieved at the same time, how my sister and I could have been victims of kidnapping, or worse.

I was relieved that Sarah and her friend weren't hurt too, and that our parents had been diligent in warning us to be wary of strangers. So, even though this story doesn't have an incredibly bad ending, and it's not that scary, it is more so just a good lesson. If you have kids, this goes without saying, but please warn them about strangers and how to avoid a dangerous situation, much like the ones that my sister, Sarah, and Diane, and myself were all involved in. As a parent now myself, it scares me to think that something like this could happen to my own child. So please take the story as a good lesson and just be careful.

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Depos minimum of $10. Veye to be in a fashion responsible. The conditions apply. For better understanding, this happened in the mid-90s. And there was very little adult supervision. The summer when I was nine, there were four attempts to kidnap me. Two guys each tried twice. I'll start with the mailman.

In June, I was spending a weekend at my dad's apartment. building, and his other kids and I were out in the little playground area when I noticed someone staring at me. It was the mail carrier at the outdoor block of resident mailboxes. He glanced around, and when he saw me looking at him, and then walked up. Now, I already didn't trust adults, so my first instinct was to step toward him to keep my little half-brothers behind me, but he just kept looking around and then said, Hey, want to see my truck?

It's really cool. Come on. I refused, and I waited for him to leave, but he just glared at me and kept telling me how great mail trucks were and how much I have to see it. I had no idea how to get us away from him, but luckily a woman with her own kid came over and he just stomped off. When I told my dad, he rolled his eyes at me,

and said that I must have misunderstood. I think it was pretty clear. About a month later, back at my mom's house across town, I was walking down the block to visit a friend, and, at her mailbox, I glanced over and it's the same guy. He seemed as surprised as I was, and we both just froze and stared at each other. He snapped out of it before me and did his sketchy-looking-all-around thing.

Then, just started to reach for me. I bolted. I'm pretty sure I was up the driveway and into my friend's house in under a second. Now for the worst guy. Again, in June, before my first encounter with the creepy mailman, a friend and I were sitting on the curb in front of her house, trying in absolute vain to think of something fun to do. We were deep in shooting down each other's half-assed ideas,

when a big, old, noisy car pulled up next to us. The driver rolled down his window and just went, Come here. I was horrified when my friend started to get up. I jumped up too and grabbed her hand, but had no idea what to do. The driver said that he had something for us, and my friend pulled away to move toward the car.

I tried to grab her again, but before I could really be. do anything, some steady traffic started down the street, and the guy just threw something out of the window and drove away. It was pictures. I didn't want to tell my parents for fear of somehow being blamed. My then-stepdad was literal garbage, and could have found a way to make having those junk picks my fault. But I trusted her parents enough to tell them. Her dad asked about the guy in the car, but neither of us could give any useful information, so I didn't think anything would come of it.

In August, after both mailman events, I was much more careful, but still walked around my neighborhood alone. This time, near the corner of my block, I noticed a car slowing down and I recognized it. I started speedwalking to get away, but the junk pick purse. Pervert sped up a bit and rolled down the window. The words, alone today? Still kind of haunt me. I kept up my almost running walk and stared ahead,

but he pushed the passenger door open and just yelled, Get in. I was off. With my traumatic summer, I had made plans. To get away, I started cutting through yards and down the tiny alley behind my block. At my locked gate, I scrambled up the chain link fence and tore through the backyard and into the house. Honestly, I'm still kind of proud of managing that.

For the next few years, I didn't leave my yard alone, and to this day, if anyone seriously scares me, I swing on them. Rough summer. Hi, so this happened about 15 years ago when I was 18. I used to work in a newsagents slash cafe franchise in a large mall. We got a lot of creeps for some reason, to the point that all of us girls stopped wearing makeup and tried to have the worst hairstyles that we could, to make us as unappealing as possible. So you can imagine the extent of the issue. I've always looked younger.

I had to show my ID to buy alcohol until I was 30, so with no makeup I probably looked about 15. One day, a creepy dad comes in with a son. The dad is over 50, huge, bald, dressed all in leather, biker style, and the son is about my age, and he looks like a stereotypical nerd. Thin, tall, glasses, looking at his hair. feet. If first, the dad asks to buy a bus ticket. I checked the drawer, which was pretty low, and I had to bend to look in it, which is important, for the bus tickets, but I don't see any. So I ask a co-worker to go check if there are any more in the back. She comes back and says that

we're out. So I say, I'm sorry, sir, we don't have any tickets at the moment. And here's where the creepiness begins. Him? Oh, that's a shame. Could you maybe look in the drawer again? He looks so pretty when you bend over. I'm a bit shocked, but I just say that I'm sure we don't have any left, sir. I can see him looking at our cigarette shelf, which goes all the way up to the ceiling. He makes a smug face, and then says that he wants Marlboros.

They're at the very top, and I would have to get on a ladder to get them, but for that very reason, we had a box of the cigarettes from top shelves under the counter. So, I make a smug face too and pull the marlborers from there. Then he says, Oh, no, I was hoping you'd get on the ladder, and I'd have a better look at you.

Me, trying very hard not to just yell screw off. Well, I have them here, so no need for the ladder. him that's a shame what's that pendant you have here well basically shoving his face into my cleavage i jumped back of course i was really uncomfortable at this point i now know that the easiest way out of it would be to just ask a male colleague to take over but it was my first job and i didn't know any better so i didn't say anything and was just quickly packing his stupid cigarettes so I could get rid of him ASAP. In the meantime, his poor son, visibly embarrassed, pulled his sleeve once every so often and went, Dad, can we please just go? But the dad didn't react to that at all. I mean total silence.

Didn't even look at him. Finally, the sigs are packed. I tell him his total, and as he's paying, he goes, What time do you get off work tonight, honey? with a sleazy smile. The sun is completely red in his face and just keeps repeating, Dad, let's just go, to no avail, of course. At this moment, something finally clicked in my brain,

and I remembered an interview with a beauty pageant contestant. You read a lot of BS magazines working in a place like that, who said her best way to blow off old creeps is to make them feel well old. So I smiled my most beautiful smile and said with a sweet giggly voice, Oh, sir, I think you're even older than my daddy. Well, that did it.

He got red, grabbed the sun, and literally stormed out dragging the kid behind him. He even left his sigs, so a silver lining there because I'm a smoker, and since they were paid for, and he didn't come back for them, my boss let me take them. Still, it was really creepy, and I'm actually uncomfortable thinking about it even after these 15 years.

I'm also sorry for the kid. He seemed nice, and I can't imagine the embarrassment I'd feel if my dad was hitting on and harassing girls my age. Me and a friend of mine used to get together at least once a month. and go hiking in one of the forests near us. We even made a few trips into the local national park because we wanted to get through all of the trails. The one by us has a few different paths in it.

That can take some time to get through, so we dedicated each trip to one path. However, that's also because we tend to divert off the trails so we can get away from the groups of people and tourists, and actually look around and enjoy the view. This event occurred one of the times we were going through that very park. We gathered our normal bag of gear that we took with us, water, a couple of snacks, a few emergency items like a small knife,

first aid kit, things like that. And we met up at the park. I typically left my cell phone in my car because once we got deep in, to the trees, it was kind of worthless anyways. My friend Troy, though, always kept his on him, even though he always had the same result. So, we got there, and started heading to the last path that we hadn't tried before. This one was a bit more of an incline, so we found ourselves taking a few extra breaks on our way through. It was also towards the beginning of summer and was superhuman.

that day, so I know that was probably part of it. We stopped and waited for people to pass and looked around to try and find a good place to divert from the path. We finally found one, as we estimated where the lake would run, and decided we wanted to head towards that. We walked over by some trees, passed a pile of dead branches and other debris, and we're now no longer in view of said path. The trees provided some shade too, which did make it a little easier on us as well.

I don't feel like it was long after this point that we ended up running into this guy. We were laughing and joking about something, and we were pretty loud about it. When I saw this guy just standing in front of the tree, I nudged my friend to get their attention, and they stopped and they looked at them with me. This guy didn't even look back at us, and the way he was dressed was even more bizarre to me. He had one of those thick, puffy jackets on, with some really dirty and ripped jeans.

He also had some long hair that looked like it hadn't been brushed in a while, as you could see the huge knot in the back of it. I didn't know what to do, so I just apologized for disrupting him, and when he still said nothing or looked over, I motioned for my friend to walk around him so we could keep going. As we did, I looked back to see his face, and I noticed that it looked just as dirty. But it was more the look on his face that confused me even more.

He looked very cross, like he was trying to remember something or was extremely angry about something. Curious to know if he was really mad or possibly injured or lost, I asked him if he was okay, and I didn't get a response. As my friend was telling me not to, I decided to approach him to, I guess, get a better look at him. Still, he didn't take his angry look off of the tree in front of him.

When I got closer, I also noticed that the dirt on his face looked flaky, like it was dried blood. So I again asked him if he was okay or if he needed any help, but still nothing. My friend kept saying that we needed to go and that he was freaking him out, but part of me didn't feel right leaving him. So I pulled out my extra bottle of water and a bag of. trail mix, and I said it next to the tree. As I started walking back, that's when I heard the guy mumbling something.

So I turned back around thinking he was talking to me. He was just mumbling a bunch of nonsense, though, as I couldn't make out anything he was saying. So I just continued walking back to my friend when he did finally say something coherent. Not that it made much sense, though. He said, tell me. Tell me your secrets. I replied with, I'm sorry, what? Him, still staring at the tree.

He has secrets. Tell me your secrets. My friend was about ready to leave my ass at that point, so I just turned back and we made a brisk walk away from him. I looked back a few times and he never moved, so we carried on. After a little bit of time, we finally got through the trees, and we didn't quite make it to the lake, but did find a little offshoot stream of some sort. We sat there for a few, splashed water on our faces,

and just kind of chilled for a bit. We noticed the orange and pink in the sky, and knew that we needed to start heading back, so we started making our way out. As we were walking, I was curious if that guy was still there so I could report it to someone to let them know, because that definitely was not normal, and he probably needed help. I know we took either the same path back, or pretty close to it, based on the trail of flat grass and dirt that we left, so it wasn't hard to trace our way back. And we definitely found the guy, but he was far from okay.

As we approached, it looked like he had his hands on the side of the tree, and we could hear grunts or mumbling as we got closer. Again, my friend stayed back while I got closer, and this guy was seriously smashing his head into the same tree repeatedly, There was blood all over his face, his hands, his chest. You could see the blood dripping on his shirt and coat, getting caked into his beard, and all over the ground in front of him. On top of this, he was now screaming. Tell me why. Tell me why, what are you hiding?

Over and over with every smash. While this is happening, my friend is yelling behind me, What the hell are you doing? Don't touch him. What is wrong with him? And I'm just trying to figure out what the hell to do. If this guy didn't stop soon, he's going to cause some serious damage or even kill himself. I decided to basically pummel him, but it didn't even phase him. He started crawling back to the tree to keep going. I told my friend to run back to get help because I didn't want to leave him a little.

alone, but I wasn't going to be able to stop him and make him come with us. My friend didn't waste any time, though, and he took off back towards the trails. I tried a few times pulling him away from the tree, but every time he would make his way back to it. With how many times I repeated this insane process, it seemed like my friend got back at record speed. Thankfully, he was accompanied by a park ranger who was able to subdue the man enough to get some ties on his wrists and get him to sit on the ground. From there, though, he just rocked back and forth sitting on the ground as he screamed and cried. Some police showed up too. We gave them our statement and had to try and convince them that we had nothing to do with him,

except for trying to save his life. And then we were finally allowed to leave. We wanted to see what happened with the guy, though, so we sat in my car and waited to see him come out. When they came down to the entrance, the guy was sitting in the back of one of the little trailers the ranger drove around in, and he looked out of it. I don't know what happened to him from that point on, though.

The only other update we got was when a detective called me and asked if I had seen anyone else with him. And he mentioned that because they'd found other items indicating that there may have been someone with him at some point. I did tell them that I had left food and water for him, and I even mentioned the brand so they knew, and they said that that wasn't what they meant. They explained that they had found some clothing and a note.

They wouldn't give more information than that, so I assumed it's probably important or serious, maybe, but I saw nothing else there. So, yeah, that was the last time that I saw that guy, obviously. And the last time I was ever approached about it, other than when my friend brought it up to remember or tell someone else about it. We did go back to that trail that same month. I think it was about two weeks after.

We went so we could see if we could find anything else to tell us what had happened. The trail, of course, was different due to some new growth, but once we got around the general area, the tree was pretty easy to spot. The tree had bark missing, and there was a gouge in it. It was at the perfect height for someone to be smashing their head into it. It was eerie seeing it standing right where he was, racking my brain as to what was. was going on in his head. That was actually the last time we took that path.

My friend thought it was too messed up to look at anymore, so we never went back. I know it's entirely possible the guy was just a little messed up and that there was nothing else to it other than he needed help. But that is just a scene that I can never get out of my head. A few years ago, I, 26 female, used to work at a job where I usually wouldn't get off until around 11 p.m. I didn't mind it for the most part. I'm a night owl by nature, but I read a lot of let's not meet, and I watch a lot of horror movies. I wouldn't say that I'm paranoid, but I'm definitely cautious. This one particular night, I was driving home along one of the main roads.

It was late enough that traffic was fairly scarce, but not so late that I felt like I was the only one out, especially because there had been a Jeep behind me for a good while at that point. When it came time for me to make my first turn, the Jeep followed. This wasn't particularly unusual. I was still on a big road, so I didn't think anything of it. I needed to get gas, and luckily there was a fairly busy and well-lit station on my way home. I feel like the layout is important, so bear with me. From the road I was on, you had to turn left onto a side street,

and then turn right onto a street that runs parallel with the grocery store, and then turn right again to get into the gas station. It's a very specific destination, and there's no through traffic. When I went to make the first left, the Jeep got into the turn lane with me. This is when I started paying attention. They'd already been behind me for a good 10 to 15 minutes, and it seemed unlikely that they were just coincidentally going to the same gas station as me, considering how many there were in that area.

but like I said there's also a grocery store that's open 24 hours so I thought maybe that's where they were going however they still followed after me when I turned into the gas station I pulled up to one of the pumps in the middle lane put my car in park and watched the Jeep in my rear view

there was no way in hell I was getting out of my car until I figured out what they were doing If they pulled up to a pump and started getting gas, I would just laugh at myself and carry on. They didn't pull up to a pump. They lurked at the back of the lot, just idling in place for close to a minute. Finally, they started slowly driving around the far end of the pumps until they stopped again, in front of my car, maybe 15 feet away. Unfortunately, they had tinted windows, so I couldn't see who was in the car or what they were doing, but after another brief period of time, they just drove off.

I got gas and drove home, keeping an eye out, but I didn't see them again. Edit, I just realized something that honestly made me sick to my stomach. If I hadn't decided to get gas that night, and if I had to be, you know, they were, in fact, following me, my next turn would have taken me into a very large, very dark, and very empty park. It takes almost five minutes to drive through, and it has a million speed bumps, so there isn't any quick escape. I hate thinking about what could have happened if I hadn't stopped.

Yikes. Maybe this doesn't count as creepy, and I'm reading into it. it too much, but I still think it's weird, and it really freaked me out at the time. I have no idea what they were doing. Were they following me? Was it just a coincidence after all? I'll never know for sure, but thanks. I hated it. I'd been with my fiancé for two years at the time, known him around four or five, and had a year of no contact in there. In early, 2020, there was one point where he threw a giant piece of Lexon, plastic trophy case covering, down the hall after he had stubbed his toe, which should have been a huge red flag.

Then, in early October of 2020, one of the first things I wake up to, was my now ex-fiancee on the phone with a friend, stating that I basically wasn't going to clean our cat litter. He's really allergic to the ammonia. He was complaining that we couldn't afford any new litter, which wasn't the truth. It's just that he overspent on a lot of remote-controlled trucks and cars from his work. That was a hobby. And it became obsessive. For more context, my kitchen has a hallway, then a wall,

and then a gap for an entrance for the kitchen, and then another small wall that has a glass cabinet, right there. There's basically a small nook that has a kitchen table and cabinet right before the entrance to the kitchen. So I came out of the bedroom and told him to take our dog outside to pee and that I would clean the cat litter right now. Take some responsibility. I saw that he was soldering LED lights onto the bottom of one of the RC cars. So I was just cleaning up a bit of dishes and small scraps of paper, recycling, etc. from the living room and the kitchen, while telling him it was rude of him to say that I was not going to clean for 15 days

when I could just do it right now as he takes the dog outside. He then proceeds to speak the words, Do you not see what I'm working with? Do you want me to burn you? And actually started stabbing the air. I got very upset. I unplugged the soldering iron and said, Take the damn dog out that you do absolutely nothing with,

and I'll clean the litter right now. How dare you? What the hell? And as I was walking out of the entrance to the kitchen, he ended up shoving me against the wall with a glass cabinet. So I was kind of in between a cabinet and a wall, and he shoved me against the wall. My head hit the wall,

and he grabbed my clothes so hard, that he was practically grabbing my skin. Then, he just sat back down and continued soldering. I was so upset that that had even happened to me. I literally told him I have PTSD from the father of my child, and now it was him doing it to me, that I flung a couple of the RC cars that were right beside the cabinet on a plastic shelf unit, and then proceeded to yell at him to get out.

Then he said, Huh, we're smashing stuff now And picked up the heaviest RC And threw it at my glass cabinet But I was right there and I caught it in the air It could open my hand and knee really bad that I needed stitches That I ended up not getting due to embarrassment I thought it was better than glass being everywhere

From my mother's broken cabinet that she'd given me Four months later, I killed. kicked him out, because he was way too rough on her dog because she had had an accident. What a pathetic piece of human flesh. My sister, we'll call her Kay, and I always remind each other of this particular event from our middle school days, on and off. It's something that has truly stuck with us all of these years. It's summer 2012 in a small town in South Carolina. My sister and I have our two friends staying the night, Angel and Carmen, fake names, of course.

The night started as usual as any middle school girl sleepover. Little did we know, the decisions we made in the following hours were going to scar us for years to come. My sister and I lived alone with our grandmother, roughly two miles from the town. At some point after my grandmother had went to sleep, we, meaning K, Angel, and Carmen, and I hatched an idea to walk ourselves to town to have a midnight stroll, more like 1 to 2 a.m. So, sure enough, we toughened it out for two miles

and found ourselves walking the back street's neighborhood behind the train tracks that separated us from the main road, We were walking side by side, with me on the far right closest to the houses, Angel and Carmen smushed between me and Kay on the far left. As we're walking and carrying on our conversation, something in my brain told me I needed to look into the yard on my right. I turned to look in that direction, and immediately jump back finding myself next to my sister Kay and shout,

What the hell? Everyone's asking me what's going on, as I'm telling them to look. They look over to see a man well over six foot, partially hidden behind a tree cloaked by darkness. At this point, he's now coming toward us at a slow but determined pace. We absolutely take off running to the end of the street. I'm looking behind me while running the entire time. and he was indeed chasing us now. Thankfully, everybody but him had the same idea to jump the train tracks

and head over to the slightly more busy but still completely dead main road and regroup. After looking around and making sure he didn't follow us, we steadily made haste two miles back to our grandmother's house. I remember checking our surroundings the entire way home, and being as quiet as possible so as to not draw attention. We got back around 4 a.m., sat in silence for a bit, and then went to sleep. We never told a soul what happened that night. There's something else here now, something new.

From, exclusively on Paramount Plus, it's the series Stephen King calls Scarious Hell. Everything here is impossible, but it's also real. Sci-fi vision calls it the best show streaming right now. We're running out of time and we still don't know the rules. Don't miss what the movie blog calls something you need to watch. Saving those children is how we all go home. From Binge All Episodes exclusively on Paramount Plus. Since my parents put me in Boy Scouts as a kid,

I fell in love with anything outdoors, like camping and hiking. One thing I could never do, though, was hunt or. or fish. So, when I say the outdoors, that includes the wildlife too. My dad tried to take me hunting once, and I cried, so I could teach you how to live out in the wilderness on your own, but we'd be living on a vegetarian diet. Sorry. So anyways, as a kid, I would walk around our backyard, as it ran along some trees, and I always had my own little adventure out there. As I got older, I would go to different parks and trails to challenge myself and learn more. I had a fair share of friends, but not many that were as hyped about hiking as I was.

People start craving meat and Wi-Fi after a few days without it. So I found myself going solo, but I was never quite. alone. I always brought along my dog, Parker. Parker was a lab, and I got him when he was just a puppy from a friend of my mom's. I worked hard with training him because I wanted to be able to take him with me on these trips and to be off leash for it too. I know there are some parks that require a leash, and I did still bring it, but if we were deep in the back where there were rarely any people, I him off. He was very well behaved. He loved being able to run as fast as he could through the trees, jump into the water, and he wouldn't hurt anyone. There are plenty of kids that have stopped us

before to pet him, and he would sit and just patiently wait until they were done. He wouldn't even growl when playing with me. He's always a blast to have tagging along on these adventures of mine. after I finished college, I wanted to go on a trip to some of the best hiking trails that I had found. This was going to take me through a couple of states, so I planned on it taking at least a month or so. We made it through two parks, and we had a great time, too. I made some friends that actually gave me their info, because they actually wanted to meet up and do the same thing. I got a few suggestions of places to add to my list as well, and overall, just had a good time. It was the third one that really messed up the whole mood of the trip.

I don't want to give specifics for privacy reasons on a few sides, but I will say that it was in a western state. This park had a huge hiking trail that had campgrounds scattered around, as some people would stop, and rest and continue on the next day. There was even an area for rock climbing instead of taking the path all the way around to the top. I loved rock climbing, but I really did it since I had Parker with me. My friends joked about me getting a harness to put him on my back, but I think with how heavy he is, that wouldn't have been possible or safe. So, we just enjoyed the scenery and would walk our way around.

The sun was starting to set, and I started noticing people setting up little camps, but I didn't want to be around others, so I tried to push forward some more to be a little more alone. It was getting dark at this point, but I got further up and I couldn't hear people anymore, so I decided to stop there. I set up my little tent, pulled out something to eat for myself and Parker. Don't worry, he wasn't a vegetarian. and I settled in for the night. Now, most of the time, I don't have trouble sleeping outdoors.

The sound of just crickets or the wind was enough to knock me out, but for some reason, that night, I could not shake this feeling. I tossed and turned for a while, not seeming to be able to get comfortable. The bigger problem that I had with this, though, was that Parker was awake too. He was looking at one side of the tent, mouth closed with his head tilted. It was normal for us to have deer or raccoons walking around, so I figured that's what had caught his attention.

But that also doesn't normally keep me awake. I decided to peek out there to see what it was, though, and maybe scare it off so we could both get some sleep. Parker was quick to run out of the tent, but there was nothing around, and not even a sign of anything. Nothing had been moved or touched. Parker had even seemed surprised when there was nothing there but us. So we went back to the tent and tried to sleep again without much luck. I felt like I was being watched.

Like the feeling you get when you know someone is behind you, Looking over your shoulder, it was quite uncomfortable. I finally fell asleep at some point, probably because the exhaustion outweighed my paranoid mind, and I managed to sleep for a few hours. When we got up the next morning, we looked around our spot again, but saw no signs of anything entering. I just chalked it up to me being paranoid again and not sleeping very well, and told myself that I needed to drink more water. So, we packed up, and we moved on.

As we got a few hours in, we started running into people that we hadn't seen before. I assumed they were probably there the night before, and it was at that point they were ahead of me, and they had stopped again for a break. They actually had a few kids with them, with probably enough strollers and harnesses, for them not to be walking, but to me, that just seemed excessive. I felt that this was too far out of the way to take kids so young, where you don't know how

they could even react to something out here. Not to mention how loud they were. I'm sorry. People that go to places like that and treat it like it's just a normal public park, drive me crazy. Again, I liked being out here to escape civilization, and that stuff really really. ruined it for me, so I tried to get ahead of them as quickly as I could, and get back to zoning out alone. It seemed like I'd finally gotten past the bulk of the people, as I hadn't seen anyone for a while

and probably wouldn't seem any more at this point, or at least none with kids as the path became less visible and more just gravel. With the amount that I had left of the trail, I estimated that I could be able to be able to get close to the end, stay one more night, and then leave. That way, I didn't risk walking on the trail in the dark. As we climbed up the trail, though, I started feeling on edge again, the same way that I did the night before. So my first thought, again, was to look around for wildlife, but when I saw nothing, I became more on edge, wondering if there was someone hiding nearby. It wouldn't be the first time someone was robbed in a park like this. However,

I don't take much with me of value other than my dog and a knife that my dad gave me, but people are still dangerous. So I started paying closer attention to my surroundings to make sure nothing caught me by surprise. After a few of not running into anyone or anything, I thought again I was just getting paranoid since I was so secluded. But that's when I started hearing someone crying. It sounded like a really small child. My first thought was I was actually going to run into someone with a baby up here. But when the trail flattened out and I didn't see anyone,

it just added to the confusion. At this point, I was now racking my brain trying to figure out where the crying was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from the brush off the side of the trail. That kicked me into Ranger mode, and I was worried someone may be lost or injured. So I broke off from the trail to go into the dense trees. Sure enough, the crying got louder. I marked my trail however I could by marking the trees,

leaving the flags that I had with me, just things like that, could get back easily. The crying got louder, but I didn't find anyone. I stood in the middle of these trees looking around trying to hone in better on where they were. Now, Parker had been beside me this whole time, and I could tell that he could hear the crying, too, by the way, he stopped panting and cocked his head to the side. So while I'm standing there, I look down at him to see him on all fours just looking around. He wasn't sitting and waiting like he normally does when I stop.

He looked ready to move. He did this typically when we were playing fetch, or he was impatiently waiting for me to tell him to follow or something. This also made me realize that it wasn't just me. So I gave him the signal to lead the way, and immediately he was looking around, sniffing the ground, and was on a mission. He led me to a pile of dead leaves

and branches that looked like it had been purposely put there, like someone was cleaning up and just left it there. But it's usual, at least it had been for me, to see something like this in a national park. That kind of stuff is typically left alone, unless it's close to the trail or something. But when Parker started digging around it, I did the same.

I was horrified thinking of what I could find, but instead all I found was a baby harness. It was one of those strap ones that you could wear on your back, but what was it doing out here? And where was the owner of said harness? At this point I was holding on to the harness looking to see if had any kind of tag on it, like a suitcase or something. I don't have kids. I don't know how that works. and that's when I noticed the crying stopped. I looked around to see if anything changed, but still, there were no signs of any other people. I was thinking I needed to get back and call for help, because this could be more serious than it looked.

But when I called for Parker to follow, he had the same stance and was looking around. I was curious what else he had, so I told him to take the lead again. This time he would stop and look around and whimper and then just keep moving. It was starting to worry me with how much he started whimpering, but he wouldn't stop to let me check him out to make sure he wasn't hurt or anything. Sadly, he was definitely on the right trail. He led me to a small ravine that dipped down on the other side of a small cliff. He ran past me to a tree that had fallen and was rotting,

and when he got to the other side, he sat down by it and barked for me. When I walked over to the side that he was on, I found a woman face down in the mud. I immediately checked for a pulse, but by how cold she was, I knew that she wasn't alive. It was definitely tragic, and not something I would ever want to find on a trip like this, but what was more bizarre to me was that she was that she was. She wasn't dressed like she was hiking or camping. She had an office suit on. It was a nice skirt, one heel, and even a matching blazer.

Why was she out here dressed like that? Shaken, I followed my path back to the trail and managed to make my way to one of the emergency systems they have along the trails and waited on the side for someone to arrive. I led them down to where she was, gave my statement, and since it was just two people, I actually helped them move the tree some so they could get her out better. That's when I noticed that she was missing an arm. I think they could tell it was too much for me at that point, and they let me go.

I started walking back up to the path and had to tell the cops what all I knew and how I found her. They actually asked me if Parker was a cadaver dog, and I, They were surprised when I said that he wasn't. I hadn't even thought about it until he mentioned it like. His ability to find her was just phenomenal. I actually got a ride back with one of the Rangers because, at that point, I wasn't really in the mood to finish my trip, let alone sleep there. I left them my information and went to a nearby hotel for the night.

I called my parents and told them about what had happened, and they were asking if I was okay, and they also thought that what Parker did was amazing. So that really took me out of the mood for the rest of my trip. I told myself as a kid and growing up that I wanted to help people and teach others to appreciate nature, but finding someone too late, it really takes a lot out of you.

All I can say is that if you're interested in getting into serious, backpacking and hiking, make sure you are prepared, and that people know where you're going. I really don't think she was out there for fun, but still, it's important to know. And in case anyone was interested, I found a news article about her being found, but they had no information on who she was, but they did mention that she was a mother. So that then made me question about the harness that I found, which I'd given that to the police as well, and that was the last I ever heard of it. I'm still out hiking and camping even to this day with Parker by my side, but I still wonder sometimes where that crying was coming from. And where Parker's ability to find her had come from as well.

That was today's episode of the As the Raven Dreams podcast. Thank you so very much for listening, and I really hope you enjoyed these scary stories. If you want to support the channel further, please do consider checking out my YouTube channel. Just search As the Raven Dreams on YouTube and subscribing. You can also join the channel or go to my Patreon for early access to all of my content,

all of it's appreciated, and never expected. But if it happens, thank you. Well, that said, friends, I will see you on the next episode of the As the Raven Dreams podcast. But of course, until then, sleep well.