As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 227 - 6 True Scary Stories (Hiking & Rest Stop Stories)

Episode Date: June 3, 2026

Today, on the 227th episode of the As The Raven Dreams podcast, we have 6 True Chilling stories. These stories come from the shadowy corners of reality, where everyday life takes an eerie twist & ordinary people experience the extraordinary. Today we will be diving into Scary Hiking & Rest Stop Stories. Hey There! Would you like to participate in the postcard exchange? It comes with a free ATRD Sticker! Just Send a post card to the following... Lucas PO BOX 8198 Rochester, MN 55903 If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to like or rate the podcast, and leave me a comment with your thoughts if the platform your on supports it! I upload episodes every 3 days, so there are 2 days between new uploads. The podcast consists of new scary story collections, Glitch in the matrix collections, and also what I call the "Dark Dreams" collections (which are older stories, remastered and layered with rain sounds). If you have a story to submit, would like to find where to listen to the podcast, or want to find me on social media platforms, all of that info can be found at https://www.astheravendreams.com You can also send stories into my subreddit (r/theravensdream) or email them to me at [e-mail] Want to check out some ATRD Podcast Merch? ➤ https://teechip.com/stores/astheravendreams Or for signed merch ➤ https://ko-fi.com/AsTheRavenDreams I wrote a novel, "The Insomniac's Experiment" by Raven Adams! Check it out on amazon (Or you can email me for a signed copy!) Join Patreon to get early access and support the Podcast! ➤ https://www.patreon.com/AsTheRavenDreams Check out my gaming channel with my pal Ghost_Ink ➤ @superNefariousBros On YouTube Thank you to all of the authors that have stories in todays episode... WalkingAlone, Aaron Montgomery, PoetryBy-TheOcean, OldFashionedBoy, OfficiallySleepy, CarlaP As Well As Any Author That Has Requested Anonymity. TimeStamps… Ad breaks after Story 1 & Story 4 1 ➤ 1:27 2 ➤ 10:29 3 ➤ 17:40 4 ➤ 23:37 5 ➤ 35:57 6 ➤ 48:16 ----- Disclaimer ➤ Episodes include a content warning for language and sensitive/disturbing content. Listener discretion is always advised. ALL Audio and visuals on this podcast are copyright of AS THE RAVEN DREAMS / RAVEN ADAMS and may not be duplicated, in any format. Bless This Mess. None of my audio is AI Generated, I am a real person reading real stories into a real microphone. Note: The podcast nor the host endorses any advertisements played during the podcast, ads are not chosen by ATRD or Raven Adams, they are chosen automatically by the advertisement systems by the platforms that host the podcast. I do not endorse, support, or promote any opinions or statements made in any adverts played during the show. #ScaryStories #UnexplainedMysteries #GlitchInTheMatrix Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey there, friends. Hope you're doing well on this lovely day. Yeah, it's lovely, right? Having some weird breathing thing going on, I think it's allergies. I took some allergy medication, waiting for it to kick in. It's still early morning. We'll see how that goes. If not, I have no plan. Anyways, hopefully you are doing well, and hopefully you enjoy today's collection of stories, of which we have, some scary park slash hiking, those kind of fit into the same category. I'll probably just put hiking on the thumbnail in the title. Stories, and then also some rest stop stories. So stories in the woods and stories off the highway.

Both places where things can happen, right? Anyways, hopefully you enjoy the stories. Hopefully I get to feel it 100%. Pretty sure I will. I usually do, so we'll see. Yeah. Hope I see you again here soon. Until then, my friends, please do enjoy the stories. Also, really quick, sorry. If you have a story you want to send in, as the ravendreams.com is a place to do it. If you have any trouble with that, you can email it's to As the Raven Dreams at gmail.com. Usually the site works. Sometimes there's random issues that we won't get into. Anyways, that's all. See again here soon and enjoy the stories. I've always loved going on long road trips. I loved the ones that I would go on with my parents and siblings. and I never grew out of it.

Of course, as an adult, I can't just up and go every time I get that itch, but I do make plans annually to take a trip somewhere, and I try to change it up each year. This time I was planning on checking out the mountains in Colorado. I loaded up my truck, and it was just going to be me and my dog Charlie for the next week. Charlie is a mix that I found walking along the side of the highway one day. I was just going to take him to the shelter, but it was late, so I brought him home with me for the night. He grew on me pretty quick.

He's full of energy and loves car rides just as much as I do, so we're a pretty good match, I think. The start was fine. We got past the state line when I noticed this car swerving through other cars in the distance. Yeah, you see people like that all the time, especially on these long stretches. It was one of those things where you go, geez, what a jerk, and you move on. I was in the right lane because, admittedly, I like to enjoy the drive when he came up behind me really fast.

I don't know why, but he stayed behind me for a few seconds before quickly swerving over and gunning it and passing me. No big deal, but when you see someone like that, they kind of stand out to you, so I know. noticed the car. Black sedan with an aftermarket spoiler that wasn't doing anything for it. Dark tinted windows. Red stripes down the side and a sticker on the back for some kind of university,

which I kind of found ironic. See what I mean? That stuff stands out. I saw him get off and exit a little further up, which also stood out that he couldn't just wait, but then I carried on my route. Later on, I see the same car coming up behind me again, acknowledging that he stopped and was going so fast that he once again caught up to me. He did the same thing and passed me and kept going.

This time, there weren't any nearby exits, so he just disappeared in the distance. Further down the road, maybe an hour or so, I needed to make a stop for a restroom break. There was a modern rest stop coming up, so I chose it. Usually they have grassy areas or even designated spots for dogs, so I choose those. I pulled off the exit, and as I entered the parking lot, what else do I see but the familiar black car in a nearby spot? We both ended up at the same place. I cracked the window for Charlie and told him that he would be next,

and then I went in to use the facility. When I came back out, I noticed a guy get out of that car, walk to the back, and stare at the bumper. To be honest, I was expecting some young kid. I'm in my 30s and still have friends with cars like that, so I was genuinely surprised to see some 50-year-old man get out with gray hair. I remember chuckling to myself about the situation, but otherwise continued on with getting Charlie out of my truck. As we were walking around the front, Charlie had to take in the area and smell every square inch of grass. As he did this, I was also looking around the surrounding area. That's when I noticed the guy in the black sedan again.

He was on his knees behind his car, and then I saw him stand up, now holding his car plate, walk around to the back door and then pull out a second plate. I'm sure that everyone here is aware that that's not a normal thing. You don't switch out your plates like that. No, it wasn't just a cover or something like that either. I could see the full license plate. The one I saw on the road was a Missouri plate. The one he was now putting on was completely different.

The one that he was adding was a yellow color like New York or New Jersey, I think. We were walking back to my truck at this point, and when he was closing the door, he looked around and noticed me watching, I guess. He was squinting as he stared in my direction. I tried to act normal like I didn't care what he was doing by just doing a normal nod that you do at strangers in an awkward situation. And then I looked back down at Charlie. I could tell from the corner of my vision that he had thrown his arms in the air like one of those, you got a problem, kind of gestures. I ignored it, pretending that I didn't see him,

and continued to lead Charlie to the truck. I got as far as getting the door unlocked and opened and right as Charlie was jumping in. Someone had forcefully turned me around and pushed me against my vehicle. It was the guy from the sedan, and he was holding a screwdriver to my face. You like watching people?

weren't you taught not to stare? I had my hands up, and all I could muster was a, hey, man, I didn't see anything. But as he kept spouting off to me, my door was still open, and Charlie was losing his mind, barking non-stop. He was a protective dog, but he was usually all bark. The way he was growling, though, I was certainly thinking this guy was going to get attacked.

He was doing that snobing. gnarling, droll-fling, growl and bark that I had never heard him do before. This whole time, I had my hands up trying to convince the guy that I didn't see anything, but he kept waving his screwdriver in my face. That's when Charlie jumped out of the truck, and started jumping at the guy, snapping at his arm and sighed. It was a mess. He kept trying to shake him off and still look tough.

I didn't want Charlie to get hurt. so I was trying to calm him down and convince the guy to let go of me so I could get him. No one was listening at this point. There was some older couple by the doors that was just watching us, not doing or saying anything. The two of us were yelling at each other. I was talking calmly to Charlie. Nothing was happening. No one was making progress, I mean.

Then Charlie finally got a good grip of his arm and started back. pulling it. The guy raised his other arm with a screwdriver like he was going to hit Charlie, and that put me in a rage. You don't hurt my dog. It gave me an opening, so I grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him to the ground. I kind of felt that afterwards, because I watched his head bounce off the concrete. While he grabbed his head, I commanded Charlie back into the truck, and he jumped in. I ran in and then got in my side. and we burned the hell out of there. I'm sure that I probably looked just as guilty, but I didn't care.

It would have sucked if something happened to me, be it just getting roughed up or worse, but I couldn't stomach something happening to my dog. I was in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing good that would have come from that situation. I kept driving and looking around, paranoid that he was going to follow me, but I never saw him or anyone else following too close. Charlie kept jumping between the front and back seats to look out the windows. He would let out his little barks, but then eventually he did settle down,

which also helped me settle down. Once we found a little motel that allowed pets, we stopped for the night and had no other issues on our trip. I didn't tell my parents about it until I was back home because I knew my mom would freak out about it. She told me that I should have called the police, but I wasn't even thinking about that. I just wanted to get out of there quickly.

I don't know why he was switching his plates, but obviously there was no good reason for it. I'm just thankful that Charlie played protector that day. It's nice to know that if something ever happens, he has more guts than I do to protect us both. So this is something that happened a while back. I don't want to say the actual name of the park or location, but it's not really a popular one either, so don't worry. You're not really missing out.

It's not really just a park either. The very tip of it does have a small playground for kids and a shelter for parties, but the biggest part of it is the acres and acres of forest, trails, and cliffs to climb. There's a small hut-like building at the Info Center that is typically unmanned as well where you can pick up maps because otherwise it's all on you. There are a few signs posted along the way that show the path you're on, but otherwise it's not maintained. It's quite literally just nature,

and it's one of my favorite places to go. Parents don't take their kids through it because it's not an easy path, really. There's one smaller trail toward the front that goes around the small pond, but that's about it. I've seen scout groups standing around it while the adults talked. These trails are typically more for those who have experience, who have hiking gear, and I even talked to a guy who said he takes the longest trail there when he's practicing or training for upcoming events. I don't know what kind of hiking events are out there, but hey, more power to him. I'm not a professional in any sense of the word.

I don't do it for training and I don't even necessarily do it for exercise, even though it is a great perk. I like that park simply because I like the trails. I like being alone to think, to listen to music, and just take in the world around me. I've gotten better at identifying birds and spiders because of it, I will say that, but really that's all there is to it for me. and I've never run into any problems or trouble either.

So back to the day of this event. I drove all the way out to this place. It's about an hour drive and kind of in the middle of nowhere, which may also explain why there aren't a lot of people at it. As I pulled into the gravel parking lot, I saw a few cop cars, a fire truck, and an unmarked van out front. It was definitely strange,

but I just assumed that maybe somebody got hurt, and they called for help. I still got out and began walking toward the path that I usually take. However, there were two cops standing nearby that approached me, as well as someone who was dressed like a park ranger. They greeted me, and I was being friendly trying to make conversation by asking what exactly was going on. One of the cops said that something suspicious was found in the woods,

so it had to be blocked off. The ranger explained, that no one was allowed back there until they cleared the area. They didn't give much away because I wasn't anybody important, but the ranger explained that I could still take the pond trail, which was the small one that I mentioned earlier. I thanked them and walked off towards the pond. It was a lot less satisfying.

There were still a lot of official people around, and there was even one of those CSI-style vans that pulled up, which got my attention. I had also apparently gotten the attention of one of the cops that was blocking off the entrance to another part of the trail, because he kept staring at me. He remained in place, hands on his hips, facing me and clearly watching me. The path was nowhere near as satisfying, and I was getting pretty annoyed with being watched so closely, so I just decided to leave and would try again the next week, and I went home. That night, there were already news stories online and people talking about it in the area. Turns out, there was a very small structure, probably the size of a large doghouse that was back there in the woods. It looked like part of a building that had collapsed or something, but it was hard to really tell what it was from or what it used to be.

It was surrounded by trees and way up on an incline. But anyway, a homeless man had apparently tried to call the little place his home for the day and rest, but instead he made a pretty horrifying discovery. There was a human leg in that little structure. Of course, I didn't see the leg, but some reports mentioned that it looked freshly cut off. Others said it was already long gone. Instead of taking off and pretending like he saw nothing, he, called it in. Hence the reason for all the officials out there. The crazy part is, I knew exactly

the little place in question. I had walked by it plenty of times. I actually thought it was kind of neat, and I took pictures of it one time that I was out there. I thought that at one point in time I could have walked by it while that human leg was sitting there. I could have discovered it myself if I had actually gone to check out the structure. And, to add to the mystery, they never found any more of a body after that. No one was found dead or injured in the area. No missing persons with one less leg. No hospital stays or reports.

No one even reported a leg missing or stolen. I know. Bad joke. But seriously, nothing else happened after that. I know what's entirely possible. that nature took its course out there, but to have police and investigators not find a single other piece of evidence was pretty bizarre to me. It was like that was the only thing dumped there.

Like I said, this has been several years now, but there are still no answers to this day. I've looked up some of the articles from back then, and I found some reports, but I haven't seen any follow-up on any of it. So as far as I know, it's still unsolved. But there's my story of the creepiest thing that's happened in my area that I could think of. I have gone back to that park many times since then, but unfortunately the small structure has since been completely demolished. The pieces still remain, so I'm unsure if it finally gave way to the elements, or if it was done by the city, or maybe even some other trailgoers.

But the memories and mysteries of what was once in that small hut still remained. P.S. I'm also including a photo of the small hut way before any of these events took place, just so you can see what I saw on those walks, and why the spot stands out. The little structure alone was kind of eerie. Now, just imagine what that man saw when he tried to take a nap. This was something that happened to me fairly recently, like last summer recently, and it's kind of strange, but I think. think it's worth sharing.

I was driving back home to Michigan after attending a week-long work conference in Indianapolis. I hate flying, so if I had to travel, I was driving, if at all possible. I'm used to driving, though, so it wasn't that big of a deal to me. However, I do tend to go longer than I probably should without eating, so when I started feeling a bit shaky. I told myself that I needed to stop and get something to eat to at least hold me over until I got to a major city. I came up to a rest stop along the way and decided to stop and see what I could get from a vending machine. It was your typical rest stop, single building with restrooms on each side, vending machines, maps, and tables in the center. Toward the back there was a small play

area for kids that was fenced off. When I walked in, there was a family that was just finishing up their lunch at a table. A trucker was just walking into the restroom, and a man was standing at the machines. I went to the restroom first and splashed some water on my face. It was pretty warm, and I would like to think I drink enough water, but it was still hot as hell out there. When I finished, I walked out and noticed that the family was no longer there, but the man at the machines was now on his knees, just putting his hand inside the opening.

As I looked over my options and the machine next to his, I noticed he now had his arm way deeper in the opening. I watched as he got closer to the machine, his cheek now pressing against the glass, facing away from me. I started pulling out my wallet as I watched him. Sometimes people do that if their purchase gets stuck. Sometimes they think they can just reach up there and grab an item, so I was kind of curious what his story was. I just simply asked if he was stuck. In a very calm and normal sounding voice, he said, nope, it took my money and Doritos. I gave a slight chuckle and said, oof, that's the worst, as I tapped my car to the machine. As I was punching in my choice, the man continued in that once again completely normal tone.

You know, they found a boy in one of these back in the 80s, in a machine like this. That's when I stopped. What an interesting choice of conversation. All I could say was, pardon? And then he explained how a little kid wanted something. The parents probably told him no, so he tried to climb inside to get it. It was what he said after that that creeped me out. Nobody noticed for a while.

They don't tell you that part. How long nobody noticed. I didn't say anything. I wasn't sure what to say or how to respond. Was he just messing with me to see how I would react? Was he about to start laughing and say that he was joking? I reached down slowly to grab my jerky, paying attention to the slot and where my arm went.

The man continued as I was joking. stood up. In the same matter-of-fact tone with a few grunts in between as he fished for his snack, he told me how his grandson does the same thing. He said that he tries to climb into things that he shouldn't.

I tried responding as neutral as possible and said yeah, kids do that sometimes. Then he responded with, yeah, he does it with the oven too, even when it's on. I didn't know what to do

with that sentence. Like I said, it was the flat tone that he used. Like it was a normal conversation, like telling me he doesn't like to eat carrots because they're orange kind of tone. I felt like the right thing to do was ask if he was okay and he said, yeah, so far he's been fine.

So far? What does that even mean? Finally, I heard the slight thud and watched him pull his arm out, now red, but holding a bag of chip. He opened it, 8-1, and then shrugged as he said, I wonder how many times kids go missing and they're just hiding in plain sight like that. As he chewed and stared at the machine squinting, like it went on for miles in there.

I just nodded, slowly turned around and walked outside as I listened to his bag while I walked away. I got back in my car and once I got my GPS back up, the car started and seatbelted on, I just sat and thought about what he said. Was he just a tired old man who makes morbid and strange small talk? Or did he just share something dark about his family without really thinking about it? I'm sure it was just the conversation in the empty quiet building in the middle of nowhere, but my jerky didn't quite taste right after that. And that was the last time that I tried to make conversation with someone at a rest stop, and the last time that I ate something from a vending machine.

So, thanks, random old guy with creepy facts. I can't eat beef jerking anymore, or think about anything else when I see Doritos. And, more importantly, I hope that your grandson continues to remain fine. My girlfriend, Megan, and I try to have an outing at least once a month. We try to find a day that's just for us. We may grab a coffee, spend time at a park, find a trail to hike, or maybe even go to a local nature center or zoo. Something not on electronics is the goal.

Bonus points if it's outdoors. We've been doing this for over a decade now, and while we're not perfect, we typically get around to it. The winter makes things a little more difficult, but we find other indoor places to go instead. One place we liked to go is a small state park that's about 45 minutes from us. It's not too intense of a trail either. It has some inclines, but the good things about it are the massive trees.

It's great even in the summer because most of the trail is shaded by the trees too. We're not professionals by any means, so it works for us. We arrived earlier that day, around 10.000. so we could enjoy some cooler air. The hike started out perfectly. There weren't too many people around and it wasn't too hot either. We were probably about two miles in when we passed a woman coming from the opposite direction. She caught our attention immediately because of the way she was dressed.

She did not look prepared for a long hike. She was in dressy sandals, a button-up blouse and black slacks. She looked like she had gotten lost on her way to a business meeting. On top of that, she had nothing with her. No backpack or even a purse. No hat or sunglasses, no bottle, just herself. She walked toward us and then stopped to sit on a nearby rock. When we made eye contact, I did what I normally do and smiled and gave her a simple nod.

I do this when I make eye contact with strangers because I'm awkward and don't know what else to do. She responded by smiling back and said good morning. We both responded to her and continued walking. We continued our conversation after passing her in about ten minutes in. I heard footsteps behind us. When I looked behind us, I saw the same businesswoman now walking in the same direction as us. It was weird at first because she was coming from the opposite direction, and more than likely, she would have had less to walk if she had continued the direction

she was going, rather than following us. But I wasn't going to pretend to know what she was doing, so I just moved on. We kept walking and chatting about whatever came to mind, and stopped occasionally to look at something along the trail or a bird in the trees. At one point, we stopped to take a picture of something, and, as expected, I looked around us to see the woman following behind in the distance. I don't know if she was walking slowly to not seem weird, or because it was hard to walk in those sandals. Who knows?

We started walking again, and Megan suggested that we find a place to stop for lunch. We had packed stuff to have a nice picnic out there, and based on the way she said it, I think it was also to try to shake off the woman that was following us. There would be no reason for her to stop like that around us if we did, so I agreed. We found a flat rock near an opening in the trees right off the path and decided to stop there.

I looked around as Megan unpacked our bag, and I didn't see the woman, so I figured that she was just slowing down or deciding to turn back. We got settled and began to enjoy our lunch and the day. As we ate, a few people passed by from the opposite direction. As predicted, it was starting to pick up. in the park. People with dogs, friends talking, there was even a lady pushing a stroller. Everyone was just living their own life, doing their own thing. Then, from the direction we had come from, I finally spotted the woman going up the incline. She was looking pretty worn out and her face was really red. It may have been weird that she changed course, but I could not get over the fact

that she was not dressed for this, and she didn't even have water on her. That wasn't safe. We kept a few extra plastic water bottles in our bag, and as she approached us, I asked Megan if she was okay with giving her a bottle, and she agreed. This time the woman had her full attention toward us.

Before I could even wave her over, she was already approaching us and asking how we were doing. We answered, and we asked the same. She gave us a vague hand. answer. To be honest, I was expecting her to mention why she was out there, dressed the way she was, but she didn't say anything about it. So I just offered her the water and she gladly took it, thanking us for it. I told her it was no problem and said that it didn't look like she had any honor and she confirmed saying that she forgot her water at home. She made some small talk with

Megan about her hair and from there, I noticed how she kept getting closer and talking about seemingly random things. Normally when the conversations with the stranger dwindles down, you carry on with your business. Not her. She kept finding random things to talk about. And I know that may seem rude and I wasn't trying to be. It was just something that I noticed. Maybe she was just lonely and wanted someone to talk to.

But it was just a tad bit strange to me that she saw two people eating together, a couple, and she didn't take that as maybe I should let them have their time together, or anything similar. So the conversation continued. We even began packing things up and she continued talking to both of us. And then we got up to start walking again. We both shook her hand to say nice to meet you, so long, and began walking once more. But as it goes, she was walking the same direction again, which made the goodbyes awkward. So she just continued to talk to us.

But after every few sentences, she would pause and say something like, Oh, you two are just so cute together. You two are adorable. And as she talked, she walked closer and closer to us. I didn't notice until we were home when Megan and I were talking about it, that her questions were directed towards and about me. She would ask me personal questions like what I did for work. where I grew up.

And then she would ask Megan how she felt about my job, or if I grew up with her too. Never really about her. Then she would make her little comments in between. It was strange, but we really didn't know what to do about it. She wasn't really doing anything wrong. She was walking the same trail as us, same as all the other people around us.

So it's not like we could really tell her to just go away or leave us alone. I could tell that Megan was getting tired of it by her facial expression that she gave when the woman wasn't looking at her. And mind you, this woman was older than us, maybe mid-40s, so it wasn't really a jealousy or flirty thing either. I just thought this lady was really clingy. So we kept up with what we were doing,

hoping she would eventually get bored of us or run out of things to talk about. But it just seemed like, as she ran out of questions to ask me, her conversations became more and more strange, talking about how she knew good people from bad, and how she knew that I was a good person. I'll never forget how she squeezed my arm, how she looked up at me with these wide eyes

and said to never let anyone take advantage of me. Then all hell broke loose. She looked at Megan and said, some people don't appreciate the good things they have. She never seemed to have any ill will towards her the entire walk, so it was very much out of nowhere. And while there was no room for jealousy in our relationship, Megan knows how to defend herself. This stopped her dead in her tracks, and she said, excuse me? The woman laughed and commented that she didn't deserve me, so Megan said that she needed to leave us alone.

I grabbed Megan's hand, getting between the two of them, and we continued to walk. I didn't look at the woman or acknowledge her, just kept my eye on Megan. Apparently, I should have been watching her, too. She quickly ran toward us and I turned to check when I heard the shuffling of feet. Before I could react, the woman shoved past me and tackled Megan. I was stunned at that moment. I couldn't believe what had just happened. I finally came back when I saw the woman raise a pocket knife in the air.

I ran at them and immediately tried to pull her off of Megan. Please notice that I said tried. This woman was not big in any sense of the word. She was slim and short, and I was a good 200 pounds at the time, and I was struggling. I don't know where the hell her strength was coming from. I could at least restrain her from swinging her arm down at Megan and eventually was able to get her to drop the knife, but she was still swinging her other arm at Megan's face. and her side.

Finally, someone saw the struggle and ran over to help me pull her off. Once Megan was able to get up, she helped restrain the woman. She'd been taking self-defense classes, but she explained to me afterward that it seemed that the woman knew something too. She kept trying a few moves, but she would avoid them. While we had her down, the other bystander called the Ranger Station for help. Shortly after they arrived, they told her that, If they let her up, she had to remain calm.

The woman that stopped with the man that helped us said that she had a taser and threatened to use it if she didn't. I let Megan stand up and back away first, and then we let the other lady up. She rolled over and continued to sit in the dirt. The Ranger ended up taking the woman back with him to file a report and took our information so we could give our side when he came back down. We stayed there after they left to calm down for a moment and clean up.

Megan had a pretty bad gash in her knee when she felt the grounds, so we were cleaning it up. The couple had given us some wipes they carried with them and chatted with them briefly about what had happened. They made sure that we were okay otherwise, and then they walked off. Thankfully, we didn't have too much of the trail left, so we could take it easy. Once back at the entrance, we met up with the Ranger and went over what all happened. They had called the police because Megan was attacked, but she chose not to press charges. I was upset and scared. We were kind to this lady, and she attacked my girlfriend for no reason.

Yet she had the kindness to let it go. And it's one of the reasons that I love her, honestly. We left there with some scrapes and one hell of a story to tell. We don't know whatever happened to this woman as we clearly heard nothing about her, and Megan healed up just fine. We've hiked that same trail before, and we both joked to not stop for strangers anymore, but honestly, we haven't run into any problems since then.

However, Megan did convince me to go to some of her self-defense classes, so if it ever did happen again, hopefully, I won't freeze up the next time. Hi, Raven. My name is Carla, and I'm... I'm in my 50s now, but at the time of the story, I was in my 30s. This was probably the scariest thing to ever happen to me. I was taking my two sons to see my mother for the weekend of her birthday.

They were 6 and 10 at the time. We hadn't been to visit her in person in some time due to our situation back home. My husband at the time and I had gotten a divorce that was not on good terms, and the custody battle for my boys remained a difficult one. I had full custody of them. He got unsupervised visitation every other weekend and for two whole weeks during the summer. He even got them for most holidays, something I agreed to. He wasn't a danger to them, never laid a finger on them,

but after our youngest was born, he started to change and his priorities shifted drastically. To be honest, they became more like property to him rather than his kids. It wasn't until the divorce that he tried to act like he cared. The house was in my name, so he moved out, but he fought for the kids. He didn't have a stable living place, so the courts ruled that they could stay with me. He didn't like this, but he lived with it, and I tried to be as fair as possible. The weekend that we went to my mom's was the weekend the boys were with me, so they didn't lose time with their dad. However, since we were leaving the state, I did report it to the caseworker and whomever else needed to know and it was approved.

I wanted to make sure that everything was above the table, and everyone knew what was happening to make sure the trip was as stress-free as possible. My ex-husband, David, was certainly the type to try anything he could to cause problems. The drive started fine. If you've ever been in a long car ride with young kids, you'll understand. We were about four or five hours into the drive when we had to make a stop. I definitely needed a restroom break and a caffeine refill, and the boys were definitely getting restless. I figured that we could find a rest stop, stretch our legs, let the two of them run around for a bit,

and maybe get some food. We stopped at a modern rest stop along the state line. It had a little gift shop-style store in it and a gas station next to it. With all the little things in the shop, the boys were very quickly distracted. They wanted to buy a gift for their dad. I agreed, and let them both pick out one item.

My 10-year-old Randy had a hard time deciding, going back and forth between what he wanted, so I had to give him an ultimatum. Once he finally chose his gift, we walked over to get our food and drinks. Randy again had chosen something, but changed his mind when his younger brother, Sean, picked something out, so we delayed a little bit again, but really no big deal. We walked up to the checkout and waited in line. Because it was a larger rest stop, they were actually quite busy. I had Randy next to me and was carrying Sean. Randy was typically really good at staying by my side, and since I was carrying multiple items, I wasn't holding his hand.

It was our turn to check out, so I put everything on the counter, and the cashier was putting it all in a bag for me. I was trying to fish my wallet out of my purse as she made small talk. Finally, I managed to pay and grab our belongings, and I stepped to the side to get out of line. I went to hand Randy the bag when my heart dropped. Randy wasn't there. If you've never experienced that specific parental panic of your child missing, I truly hope that you never do. It's like having the air sucked out of the room.

I tried to remain calm. Clearly, he had to be around, something just caught as a day. attention. I looked around the store and yelled for him, and I couldn't find him. I started to panic, asking if anyone had seen him. I rushed out the door, poor Sean bouncing around my arms, and was just hoping that maybe he got impatient and already walked out to the car. As I ran outside, I looked toward my car and thought I was going to be sick. I saw Randy walking along the sidewalk, hand in hand, with his dad. I had no idea how David got there or even found us.

He knew we were going to go see my mom, but to be there right at that moment had to mean that he was following us. And what's worse, I didn't even notice. I screamed at David and they both turned to look, Randy looking confused, not quite scared, at that point, just trying to keep up with his dad's long strides. He paused long enough to look at me, and then continued walking as if I wasn't yelling at him. I caught up to them and was yelling at him asking what the hell he thought he was doing and why he was even there. That's when he accused me of kidnapping the boys.

He was shouting and getting the attention of others, making me look like the bad guy. He said that he did not give me permission to take them out of the state, and that I was breaking the law. I was livid. I did my best not to yell in front of our kids, but that day I could not hold back. I was telling him that it wasn't his choice, that it was my scheduled weekend, and I got permission from the courts. He threatened to call the police, and I laughed. I told him to do it. I actually begged him to because I knew that he would be the one arrested, or at least told to leave. He was holding his phone, and as he was flipping it open and dialing,

I told Randy to come back to me, now looking scared. I was still holding Sean and trying to comfort both of them to let them know everything was okay. I didn't want them to hear us fighting anymore than they already have, especially if they were going to be police around, so I told them that we would go sit in. the van and eat our snacks. I started walking toward the passenger side when I felt someone grabbed my arm and yank it backwards, the same arm that was holding Sean. It caused me to step

funny, and Sean fell to the ground, and I stumbled backwards landing on my rear. At that moment, I watched David scoop up Sean, shove him in the van, now in tears and probably hurt, and he yelled at Randy to get in, which, He did. He may have been scared, maybe even worried about me, but that was still his dad, and he listened to him. I don't and never would blame him either. But now, with both boys in my van, he jumped into the driver's seat and started it. He had a copy of the key that I never took from him because I just never really thought about it.

I felt like I was going to be sick. I had no idea what he was going to do. He was in my van. I didn't recognize any of the vehicles there. He could have had a new car or was using a rental. Either way, I didn't see his old clunky car that he used to have, so I certainly didn't have a key to that. I did the only thing I could think to do, and that was scream.

I screamed for my boys, and I screamed for help. I screamed that he was taking them. and to my sheer surprise, someone was listening. I watched a man run past me toward the van as he was backing up, and when he couldn't open the door, he jumped on the hood. I was standing up at this point, just frozen in place. David was now driving down the ramp to get back on the highway while this man was still standing on the hood, yelling at him to stop.

People were now standing close by and talking. I heard someone on the phone reporting a kidnapping, and I remember all the emotion boiling over inside of me. I was hurt, angry and terrified, and now I was feeling sick. I continued to watch in horror as David swerved back and forth, trying to get the guy off the hood. They got towards the bottom of the on-ramp when David swerved too hard.

The tires squealed, the van turned sharply, and was grinding against the railing until he came to a stop. I didn't know what I was thinking at that moment, but I just ran as fast as I could down that ramp. I didn't even look if there were any other cars trying to leave. I just ran. When I got to the van, I could hear the boys screaming from inside. David was still conscious, but he was staring straight ahead,

both hands tightly holding on to the steering wheel. Now that I was looking at the man that jumped on the hood, he couldn't have been older than 20 years old. He was young and had just risked his life for me and my boys. We were yelling at David to get out of the van or to at least unlock the doors, but he didn't budge. I had to get Randy to unlock the sliding door and open it, and he did it in a heartbeat. The kid that helped me open the front door, turned the van off and took his keys, and David still wouldn't get out. After getting the boys out, I squeezed them and I would not let them go.

I even hugged the kid that helped me. He risked his life for my kids, for a complete stranger, and I will never forget that. We walked back up to the rest stop where the couple that was with the kid that helped me also hugged me and said that they called the police. We went back to the rest stop and they even bought my boys a toy. and a drink as we left our stuff in the van. The kindness that family showed me and my boys was tantamount.

They kept them calm until the police arrived. As expected, David was arrested. Thankfully, all the damage on the van was cosmetic, so I was able to continue our trip with it. I'll be it shaky and nervous to even stop again, even though I knew he wouldn't be there. I made it to my mom's and she was very happy to see us. too, and we did have a good time. The kids even seemed to forget about the whole situation, and were able to enjoy themselves, too. And in case anyone is curious, David was charged with kidnapping, but I didn't want him to lose

access to his sons. I know he wasn't a good person, but he was typically good to the boys, and I knew they were the only thing that was keeping him around. I agreed to let him still have visitation on the requirement that it was supervised until they were old enough to choose what they wanted. Randy has even told me that he appreciated me for making that decision even though it was a hard one.

I saw David for the first time in years when Sean got married and thankfully he is not the same person he used to be. He did a lot of self-reflecting and I think that day at the rest stop really imprinted on all of us for better and for worse and I will never forget it this is something that affected me and my boyfriend at the time back when we were teenagers

it was the early 2000s so quite some time ago and when in my opinion parents weren't as strict with their kids as they are now I say that because my My parents gave me a lot of freedom. I was practically allowed to go wherever I wanted as long as they knew where I was. This was one of those times. My boyfriend and I liked to go out to this rundown park.

The playground was on the south side, but it was so old that people didn't often go to it. There's a large trail that goes through it and spans pretty far outside the park too. We walked at once, and it actually took us about two hours, so it's pretty pretty much. pretty nice. But what we really liked about this park was off the trail. We made our own path that went deeper into the trees, and unless you actually walked back there, you couldn't see us, which was good because it was our getaway so we could smoke in peace. We would just lie there staring up through the trees, listening to the sounds around us, not bothering anyone or anything, just enjoying nature and the vibe. To get to our spot,

We had to hike up an incline, which is where we stopped to look at this bug that I spotted on a tree. I thought it was cool and artsy, and I took my crappy little digital camera I had with me everywhere. While snapping some photos, I was looking over the ledge and saw a backpack sitting there on the side, along with a pair of regular-looking sneakers next to it. It caught my attention for a few reasons. First, of course, because backpacks aren't normally found in the wire. But I didn't see anyone around. Like someone had just set it down for a moment.

The second reason it was weird were the shoes. They were neatly lined up next to the backpack, like someone had set them there like that. And lastly, both the backpack and the shoes looked like they had been there for some time. They looked sun faded and really dirty. You know those shoes that you see randomly on the side of the street, or something.

They've clearly been there for some time, as my point. I pointed them out to my boyfriend, Kenneth, and we both made the face that we knew. We wanted to go check it out. The problem, however, was, as I mentioned, we were on an incline. In order to properly get down to the backpack, we'd have to walk back down and around on the trail to find it.

But we were lazy teenagers, so we were trying to figure out how to climb down to get to it. The ledge had basically eroded, so it wasn't exactly a sturdy way to get down. We tried a few different spots, but ultimately we kept slipping. We didn't want to risk not having an easy way back up. Again, didn't want to have to walk back around. So we ended up giving up.

We agreed that when we left and would have to walk back down anyway, that we would go grab it. So we continued on our path and we had a good time up to. there, doing what we normally did. We were up there for a few hours before we decided to finally head back, both of us hungry and tired. We walked back down, but I, for one, was feeling more tired than usual. I assumed Kenneth was feeling the same, because he wasn't talking as much. We got back to the car and sat there for a while before we finally left.

We stopped somewhere to eat and talked some more before he finally. took me home, and from there I had a normal night, talked some with my mom, but then spent most of the night in my bedroom. Clearly, the backpack was a long, forgotten idea for both of us. A few days later, on a school night, I was in my room with my sister just talking about random stuff when my mom called me into the living room. She was watching TV when I approached and asked me what park it was that I went to all the time. I told her the name and she said that's what I thought and then told me that I wasn't allowed to go there anymore.

I thought I was in trouble, like she found out why I had been going there based on her tone. Right as I went to ask why in a very defensive manner, she pointed to the TV and I read the text across the bottom. Remains found in local park. She began telling me that someone was high. hiking along the trail and came across a bag of some sort that their dog wouldn't stop sniffing. They opened it and found bones.

And based on what they saw and what the authorities said, they were definitely human and they were small. And yes, it was the same park we went to and frequented. My stomach dropped. My mind immediately went to that backpack that we had forgotten about. Could that have been the one they found this body in? They had footage of the tree line with the police tape wrapped around the trees. I could see a part of the ledge, but I couldn't confirm that it was the exact spot that the backpack had been. I didn't know if I should say anything or not.

I was kind of frozen in place. Unfortunately, my mom could tell something was wrong and asked me about it. I told her about the last time we went there and that we had seen a backpack, but we never approached it or looked at it. I also told her about how it looked and that no one was around. She told me that we did the right thing by not looking at it, but then again asked me to not go back there thinking it was dangerous. My thought was that it just appeared to be a dumping ground for the person, not that a deed was actually done there, but I agreed with her.

To be honest, I wasn't really interesting going back there after that anyways. I told Kenneth about it later that night, too, kind of freaking out about it. He didn't seem as concerned as I was, more so just shocked and said that he was kind of disappointed that we had forgotten to check it out. I disagreed. I could not imagine opening a bag and seeing that. That kind of stuff sticks with people. The images, not to mention the bad vibe that could come with it. I definitely believe in the parof.

a normal. My grandma's house is haunted, but that's a story for another time. And I didn't want something to attach to me because I disturbed its resting place, even though they should have a proper resting place, not a backpack in the woods. Needless to say, I was pretty freaked out about the whole event for some time. We went back to the same park a few days later and checked out where the backpack was. The grass was flattened in the area. Stuff was definitely disturbed. There were a few cigarette butts that were clearly more recent and the backpack was gone. I was pretty confident at that point that it was the same one that we spotted. It didn't seem to affect Kenneth as much, but I thought about it for the longest time.

The thought of us opening it and seeing the remains? For months and even years after, I would see a plastic bag or something similar on the side of the road or something and my mind would instantly start to wonder what could be inside. A kind of morbid curiosity, I'm sure. Clearly, I am an adult now and I don't have episodes when I see litter on the side of the road, but at that time, being so close to something so unnatural and sinister freaked me out. I brought it up to my mom one year because I was reminded of it and was asking if it was ever solved, but she couldn't remember either.

The problem was that the remains were definitely from somebody young. I don't know if it was an infant or maybe a toddler or something, so I'm not sure it was ever solved, or if maybe they were left by someone that was supposed to care for them. The only thing I think about when I tell this story is that I hope that they're at peace wherever they now sleep. Hello there, friends, Raven here. Welcome to the end of this episode of As the Raven Dreams.

I hope that you genuinely enjoyed this collection of scary stories, as I enjoyed putting them together for you. If the platform you're on has the option to follow the podcast or leave ratings or reviews, please do consider doing so as it helps the podcast grow. Of course, if you enjoy the content, that is. If you didn't enjoy it, then feel free to also leave a rating as honesty is important, and I take all feedback seriously. Also, I do have a YouTube channel. It's a lot of the same content, but we do live streams on Saturdays around 6 p.m. Central, so if you're free one Saturday night and want to come over and say hi, I would love to have you there.

We just kind of have a good time doing whatever we want for the few hours that I'm online. You can also join the Patreon, patreon.com slash as the Raven Dreams, for early access to all this content. Check out the website, astherravendreams.com for information and where you can listen to the podcast, find on my social media link, Find the merch store, and send in your own stories to keep the podcast going, as it pretty much exists on crowdsourced content at this point. All of you really do keep the show going, so a huge thank you for that. Also on the website is information about the book that I wrote, titled The Insomniacs Experiment by Raven Adams. It's a psychological thriller, and I think it's pretty good. You might actually like it. Check it out. It's available on Amazon. Or if you want a signed copy, you can email me to see if I have to see if I have a

have any left, and I will absolutely oblige if I do. Although that said, friends, I hope you have a lovely rest of your day. I hope I see you again here very soon. But until then, remember that you are loved, you are valid, you are important, and the world is a better place with you in it. Don't forget that. Until next time, much love, and sleep well.