As The Raven Dreams Podcast - ATRD Ep. 238 - 6 True Scary Stories | Summer Stories & Camping Stories

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

Today, on the 238th 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 the horrors of the Summer & Scary thing that happened while Camping. 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... Brian R, GabbyGhoul, PW, Jeremy, EricJW, LOW As Well As Any Author That Has Requested Anonymity. TimeStamps… Ad breaks after Story 1 & Story 3 1 ➤ 2:22 2 ➤ 8:39 3 ➤ 18:11 4 ➤ 31:22 5 ➤ 44:55 6 ➤ 54:58 ----- 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 #CampingStories Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hello there, my beautiful friends. I hope you were all doing fantastic on this lovely Tuesday. I had to think about that for a moment. It is definitely Tuesday. The week seems to have gotten away from me. This month seems to have gotten away from me. Yeah, it's already past the middle of the month. We're down to less than two weeks of August left. And as such, we are starting. to tread away from those summer days, that, uh, that's sweltering heat. And I, for one, could not be more grateful for the fact that it's, it's, it's moving towards autumn. I am so ready for autumn.

I don't know if I could tell, but I'm not a summer dude. Not, uh, not much a summer person. I am more, more about the colder, uh, The colder weather. The cooler weather and the colder weather, hence, again, I moved to Minnesota. That would be why. Not really, not the exact and only reason, but the climate from Kansas to Minnesota is definitely different, and I love it here. I love the cooler air.

This morning, it was decent outside. The wife and I went to downtown to have breakfast. It was a fancy breakfast. It wasn't that fancy. But it was nice. nice little place in downtown had to figure out how to navigate the parking garages and the skywalks down there and we did we got there so uh i am yeah i'm blabbing and i need to stop so anyway today's stories are summer stories because this is right the end of summer i figured now

it's be appropriate time uh we got some summer camping and just some summer stories in general so hopefully you're ready for that as we wrap up these hot days okay anyways friends enjoy the scary stories, and until I see you again, please remember that you are loved, valid, and important, and the world is a better place with you in it. Until next time, sleep well, but enjoy the stories.

It's not over, so I screwed that up. Go listen to the stories. So I have an experience that I've wanted to share and finally got the chance to write it up. Some people may hear this and think that it's nothing too weird, or

may think I'm crazy or whatever, but It was freaky for me. I want to start off with a basic disclaimer of I'm a normal dude. I work a normal job. I don't do drugs and personally am skeptical of the paranormal. That said, I think I actually met someone that was possibly a demon four years ago. It was the middle of summer, ironically hot as hell. I had gotten off my late shift job, so it would have been somewhere between,

midnight and one in the morning. I decided I was going to pull up to a local 24-hour gas station to grab a soda. I didn't really need the caffeine, like I said, middle of the night, but I had that Dr. Pepper craving that Raven will completely understand. Damn right, I will. The parking lot was empty, minus my car and a beat-up old pickup idling off to the side. I walked into the store, gave the cashier a nod to say hello, and headed straight to the cooler, to visit the old doctor. When I grabbed the handle and opened the cooler door, is when I noticed that there was someone else standing nearly right next to me.

It was weird, because I didn't remember seeing him as I walked to the back, and I didn't notice him until I opened the door and saw a slight reflection in the glass. He was standing at the end of an aisle to my left, staring at a shelf of motor oils. I gave a slight glass. glance over toward him, for some reason. I really don't know why, but I felt like I needed to see this person

that had managed to escape my peripheral as I walked near him. He was wearing an old black hoodie that looked like it had gotten into a fight with a bottle of peroxide, and been left in the sun for a few days. This immediately was odd to me, because, like I said,

it was the dog days of summer, so it was still in the mid-80s outside, despite it being the middle of the night. He was also tall and looked to be really thin. Maybe lanky is the right word. Now, I will be the first to say that nothing about him should have stood out to me. Midnight at a gas station, in the middle of the week. I was bound to run into somebody that was a bit odd.

Heck, you run into weirdos at all hours when you go to the gas station. But there was something about this person that just felt really off to me. as I glanced at him. I tried to shake it off. I grabbed my soda and shut the door to the cooler, and then turned to walk back toward the cashier so I could get out of there. I swear to you, the second I turned my body toward this man, when I was about three feet or so away,

all of the warmth of my body just drained away. My hands went numb, the core of my body felt frozen, and I could feel the anxiety. settling in. My teeth seriously started chattering. It was like I was freaking out, and my body went into panic flight mode within a second, and solely because I turned and stepped near this random dude. What was worse, when I turned and my body started to shut down, the guy tilted his head to look back at me. This is when I went from, why do I feel so weird to, oh, I know. I know. need to run.

For the most part, he looked fairly normal, minus his head being a bit too small for his face. But it was his eyes that immediately sent me into a frenzy. It felt like the mask had slipped, because on his mostly normal human face were large, bright, red eyes. You know how old cameras used to make people's eyes red? It was that, but the entire eyeball. They were blood red with a slight shine or glow to them. He made it that much worse when he looked at me because, along with his sideways glance,

he decided that he wanted to smile at me, like he was telling me that he knew I could see the real him, and there was nothing I could do about the situation. This whole interaction was maybe three seconds at most. It was immediate, but it was also very, very real, and very disturbing to my lizard brain. I turned to leave, placed the Dr. Pepper on the counter on my way out, and nearly ran back to my car. Without even thinking or realizing all that was happening, I was back in my car and down the road stopped at a red light before my wits came back to me. When they did, I was sobbing and looking around like I was in the midst of a panic attack.

Yeah, that was my wits coming back, so just imagine how I was feeling during the whole thing. I think I sat at that red light for somewhere close to ten minutes, trying to take deep breaths and figure out where I was or what I was doing. I ended up driving home and just going to bed. This is the only time something like this has ever happened to me, so I don't think it was a psychosis or anything like that. Maybe it was just really good contacts, but at the same time, it wasn't just the color of his eyes. It was everything about him. It was like the guy was emitting this aura of pure evil. I couldn't see it or anything like that, but just being near him put me in the state of primal fear.

And I really don't think they were contacts. I don't know what this was, or what he was, but I hope that I never experienced him. anything like that again. Okay, so I have a really weird and kind of freaky story I wanted to tell you about that happened to me. Literally last month. After sharing with some friends and finally having a moment to myself, I knew I had to write this up for you to share because I'm still kind of grossed out and confused by the situation. Not to mention, there are still unanswered questions.

When I have the time and nothing else to do, I like to go on a mini camping trip by myself. This usually happens when my girlfriend is out of town for work, so I'm usually home alone and bored. There's a state park about an hour from our apartment, so I like to go out there. I usually just hike one of the trails they have or fish all day, but it's better than sitting at home doing nothing all weekend. My girlfriend had a conference that she had to host in June, so I told her I was going to hit up the park for the weekend. We both knew there was no service in the park because we've camped there together plenty of times prior. So I texted her before I left and told her I would let her know when I got out. Otherwise, my phone stayed in the glove compartment.

It was no use carrying it around on me just to risk losing it or breaking it. I found one of the few open spots left, and I set up my tent. When I went alone, I didn't take much. It was different when it was the two of us. I left pretty early, wanting to have as much time as possible out there, so after setting up my tent, I emptied my bag to have just some essentials for a hike and left the area. There was one trail that I particularly liked because it was a bit more challenging. This meant that there were fewer feet.

families or larger groups on it. I'm always supportive of people challenging themselves or taking in the moments, but if you stop to talk to people, or to take a break or take pictures, I wish that more people would learn to get to the side of the trail. It makes it difficult for others who are trying to keep going to get around them. Anyway, I was going to take this same path that I have done in the past because at the top, there's a small waterfall that has a small trickle, but the water always feels refreshing and rewarding. I got to the top, ate a little snack that I had brought along, and then got up to head back down. Unfortunately, in the process of walking down the trail, I rolled my ankle causing me to fall and slam my knee right down on a rock.

Now, my ankle was sore and my knee was killing me. I stopped for a second to compose myself and looked at my leg. My knee was bleeding and I could already tell that it was going to bruise. The problem was that I wasn't exactly on a trail with a railing, nor did I have a walking stick. That's one thing that I never really bothered with, and now I'm starting to think they might be a good idea. So all I could do was really just hobble along and do my best with my now injured leg. I ended up having to rest a lot, which sucked, but I got there most of it on my own. There was a couple that came up behind me, and the man tried to help me along the rest of the path.

I just held on to his shoulder until we got closer to the end of the trail. They offered to go get a ranger to help out, but I declined their offer. My truck was at my campsite, so I knew that I would need to get back there anyways in order to get my stuff. So I just told him I'd be fine, and I thanked them for their help, and then we all went our separate ways. Once I was back at my setup, I figured that I would just take it easy for the night and then see how tomorrow went. However, it was becoming pretty apparent that I was not going to be able to do much of anything the next day. I was mad because I was planning on being out there for two more nights, but I wouldn't be able to do anything in the condition that I was in. My knee was already turning blue and purple from the bruises, and my ankle felt stiff from the swelling.

I decided that I would stay there for the night, not wanting to have to pack it all up, and drive with a bad ankle. However, I knew I at least needed to try to get the swelling down. I cleaned up my knee and made a quick ice pack with what I had. I needed to elevate it, so I rolled up a towel that I had brought, rolled down my passenger side window, and lied across my bench seat, with my leg sticking out of the window. It was kind of funny looking for sure, especially since people were there to camp, but I didn't really have many options.

I would have had to have piled up all my stuff at my feet to get enough elevation in the tent. The truck did just fine and still protected me from the elements and possible wildlife. It wasn't the most comfortable, but eventually exhaustion won and I was able to fall asleep. At some point, the night, I started hearing some shuffling sounds. It was like that soft crunching of leaves or dirt

being walked over. It didn't fully register at the time for me. I've been camping a lot, so noises like that were too common to mention every time. Usually I didn't even wake up for it. I'm pretty sure that I woke up to adjust or something when I heard it, and then I started drifting off back to sleep. But not long after that, I felt something at my feeling. feet. My first thought, mind you, was I was still in and out of it, and it was probably just a bug. It was a slight tickling sensation that you get when something is crawling on you. So, out of reflex, I just shook my foot.

I didn't feel it anymore, so I continued to try to sleep, but shortly after, that feeling came back. However, this time, it felt cooler, almost damp. I remember rubbing my feet together, still not willing to wake up, and thinking that maybe it was just a drizzle. There was a chance for light showers that night, pairing that with a slight breeze could definitely make my feet feel cold and clammy. That's genuinely what I remembered thinking that night. I still didn't think that I needed to get up or check on anything, but then the feeling became more consistent and firmer. That's what finally cut through my sleepy state and woke me up.

I swung my feet again, and to my surprise, I felt it made contact with something. Something softer, that wasn't something on my truck. I quickly sat up, and I pulled my feet back through the window, and looked at them. I rubbed the bottom of them where I felt the sensation, and they were wet. I turned on the cab light and looked at them. There were no marks, no blood. The one was definitely swollen, but that wasn't what confused me. The bottom of my feet and close to my toes were very wet.

I was honestly at a loss. I sat there for a second just processing everything. I definitely kicked something with my feet. My pads were wet, and now, taking a moment to register everything, I heard something shuffling around before and after I got up. So I have to ask the question. Was something licking my feet? I had to remind myself that I was in the middle of the park.

It was still weird, but entirely possible that maybe someone's dog got loose and was doing it. I pointed my flashlight out into the trees around me and didn't see anything, so I just rolled the windows up and went back to sleep with my legs entirely in the truck. It wasn't as comfortable, but I was too tired to care otherwise. The next morning I got up, feeling a little stiff with a very sore leg. I told myself that I just needed to finish putting stuff in my truck and break down the tent, and I could leave. But it was after I got out and stood by my truck, having some water, that I realized there was no way that was a dog that night. My truck sat pretty high, and with the angle,

my feet would have been even higher up. Even with the dog on its hind legs, it would have been a struggle to reach. I looked around my truck and I didn't see any animal tracks either. So then I was back to wondering, who the hell was messing with me? Thoroughly confused and a bit freaked out. I just threw the rest of my stuff in the bed so I could get the hell out of there. I went home and took a long shower feeling kind of gross. And I told my girlfriend about it.

I can laugh about it now with her, but I'm still at a loss for what that was. What was out there just freely licking people's feet? I will probably go back to that park, but I don't think I'll leave any of my body parts out in the open like that ever again. I've been wanting to share this story that was very scary for all of us involved, and honestly, even tragic. I'm coming up on a special day, so while it's on my mind and I have the time, I wanted to share it. I know this may not be something you normally read, but I think it would still fit, and also it has a good impact. Back when I completed my bachelor's degree, my family through a graduation party for me. I was still up in the air on whether I wanted to go back

from my master's, or stop, because I already had a pretty decent job that I was hoping to move up in. They didn't require a master's for it, but there were a few certifications they wanted, so I was leaning more towards studying for those instead. In the meantime, I was just ready to celebrate my accomplishments and take a much-deserved break from schooling. The party was going to be at my parents' house, so my childhood home. In the area where my parents lived, it was common for us to have a good chunk or acreage. Many people just let it remain wild with trees and whatnot. Some people used it for animals or gardens, and one couple completely renovated their house, adding on a green room in a large shed. I was friends with her grandson, so I got to check it out before, and it was pretty cool.

My family had animals, more so just a lot of chickens and goats. Because of this, it was common for a lot of us to have ATVs. Usually it was to get around the property, but a lot of us would take them out on the road too, typically in city to go to the store or something. It was a pretty common thing to see. So, back to the party. We had all the normal amenities in the kitchen, but we all were hanging out in the backyard. It was late August, and we finally had a break in the heat, so we were going to take advantage of it.

We played yard games, or he would take turns riding around on the ATVs, or giving the younger kids rides. As the hours passed and people began retiring to their permanent seats in a food coma, two of my friends and I continued riding around. We drove them over to my friend Kenneth's place, because he had a bit more property that we liked to ride around through. He bought his parents home from them when they moved to Florida, which was nice. My parents would sometimes tell me how they saw Kenneth at the store one day, and he was also around to help them if they ever needed someone. But anyway, after riding around his property, we grew bored of the slow and bumpy terrain, and we wanted to race more. So, we went to the road, and we tried there, but kept getting stopped by traffic, so. So, we gave up.

Actually, we gave up on the road and decided to take it elsewhere. Our immediate thought was the freeway nearby. It was a two-lane road that had a curve or hill here or there, but it was typically pretty open. It didn't get as busy as your normal highways, so we figured it was perfect for us. The three of us lined up on the road and would go as fast as we could to our designated end point. Sometimes we did stupid tricks, like riding it on the back tires only, or just stuff like that. At one point, Kenneth was showing off something he liked to do on his, which involved him basically writing it backwards. Like he was sitting on it backwards, but going forwards.

He looked funny doing it, and of course my other friend Chris and I were egging him on. As he kept doing it and we watched, we decided to record it to show. share or watch later and whatever else you did with stupid videos of your friends doing stupid things. I jumped on the back of Chris's ATV, and I pulled out my phone to start recording. Everything was normal, the three of us cracking up over Kenneth's antics. He was always the daredevil between us, always pushing the limits. He got in position, we shouted things at him, telling him to do this or that. We laughed. We were enjoying the moment like we were all kids again. Then, it all happened too fast for any of us to react. Chris turned his head forward again to look back

at the road. I heard him yell, oh, shh, and I looked forward to see a car flying over the hill. We were in the wrong lane. Kenneth was in the correct one. The car ahead was not the the wrong lane passing another car, most likely, but he really shouldn't have because this was a no passing zone because of the hills. We didn't have time to warn Kenneth. Chris swerved our ATV as the car tried to swerve back into the correct lane where we were, but it was too late. He hit Kenneth head on. We watched from the other side as Kenneth flipped in the air and hit the cement, followed by his ATV. Chris swerved surved surferved. so hard that ours also rolled, but we were fine. We immediately got off the ATV and ran to

Kenneth, pulling the ATV off of him. One of his legs was pointing in an unnatural direction, and he was unconscious. We didn't want to move him, but I checked his pulse to make sure he was still alive. That's when he groaned and opened his eyes. He tried to smile, but he said that his head was killing him. There was already blood starting to pull around him. Chris was already on the phone calling 911, and the car that had been passed stopped and came over to check for us too. I stayed next to Kenneth until the ambulance arrived,

and when they started asking questions, he was still partially out of it, but I remember him clearly asking, what happened to my leg. They loaded him up on the stretcher and rushed him to the hospital, and we were left to give him. statements and outline exactly what happened. That's when I remembered the video.

I showed one of the officers, but unfortunately, or fortunately for me, I guess, I didn't get the actual impact. At that point, you heard Chris shout, and then he swerved, causing me to actually drop my phone as I went to grab the bars on the back. But even with the fall cracking my screen, you could hear the sound of the impact. I still can't watch the phone. that video. I called my dad to have him bring his truck so we could load Kenneth's ATV in the back as it was undriveable, and Chris rode his back. We then went to the hospital to hear the start

of the bad news. Kenneth had an injury to his lower spinal cord, which left him paralyzed from the waist down. That was one of the hardest things for him to find out. Kenneth was always on the move. He loved to travel, and he loved to push the limits, as he was. you all now know. In the time it took me to get his bachelors, he had already visited six other countries. He was always showing me pictures of the mountain hiking that he did, the boat rides in the middle of the ocean,

or camping in Australia. He lived life many people envied. And now he was confined to a wheelchair. He didn't take it well. I was there when he got the news, as well as his girlfriend at the time, and he told us to leave. We stayed in the waiting room for several hours, checking on him every so often.

The following two years were their own kind of horror, just a slower one. Kenneth had to learn a whole new life. He went through physical therapy, and he did his best to navigate his new life. We still hung out, and he would make jokes about it, so the rest of us wouldn't feel so guilty either. I know it was hard for me, but I never showed it around him. I knew that would only piss him off more. Chris struggled with it, too, blaming himself for not warning Kenneth, and he still came around, but it wasn't as often.

I think that he was fighting his own demons, too. It wasn't always good, though. Kenneth had some real lows, and it put a huge strain on his relationship, too. Nikki was very supportive and helped in any way she could, but sometimes Kenneth would get irritated by it, not willing to give up the control. Eventually it was too much. She tried to help, but he pushed her away to the point that he told her to get out.

She was heartbroken, but she left and she didn't try to come back. She confided in me about it because I was close to both of them. She still did care a lot about him, but they split up. She came around for parties, but it was just as a friend. Kenneth seemed to be finding healthy solutions to his dark days. He had a therapist, and he started looking into activities he could still participate in, or ones that were specifically for those with disabilities.

There for a while, things were looking up, and I was proud of how far he had come. Even Nikki was happy to hear how he was doing. I knew that he still cared for her, so I was hopeful that they would have a second chance. Unfortunately, we only ever see what's on the surface. I won't pretend that I understood everything he was carrying, because I don't think any of us fully did. While the funny and carefree Kenneth we all knew was still around, there was also a side that he didn't show us most of the time. And by the time any of us saw the signs clearly enough to act, it was... too late.

We had a small gathering of friends one night, and after reminiscing on some things, we tried to be more light-hearted, but it was clear that it was not a good day for him. I remember asking him if he wanted some company that night, offering to stay over, but he declined, insisting that he was fine. He was a great liar, apparently. I pushed it a few times, but finally relented, and I went home that night and then texted. texted him about something that happened earlier that day, and he responded. The next morning I called to ask him if he wanted breakfast.

I wanted to pick up something, and it also gave me a reason to go over there. He didn't answer, so I just got ready for the day, preparing to just show up. Then Nikki called me about a cryptic message she got from him late at night while she was still sleeping. He wasn't answering her either. I found him that morning. I'm not writing this to scare anyone with a creepy guy stalking me or my friends today. I'm writing this because this has by far been the scariest thing I've ever lived through. I had to watch my friend's entire life change because of one stupid choice we made that summer.

Granted, that car was on the wrong side of the road, and they are to blame too, but if we hadn't been on that road doing stupid stunts for laughs, he would still be here. And that's something I've had to live with for this last decade at this point. The anniversary of his death is in a week. I've had to go through my own therapy to cope with the loss and the guilt, the guilt of surviving the accident and the guilt of not doing more to help him, or to stop him. But I have come to terms with it for the most part. I still have my own bad days here and there, but I will be okay. My goal here was to share my scariest moment, but also I hope that I can save just one life with my story. Think twice before you go out to do that stupid stunt. Think twice before speeding.

It may be funny or awesome in the moment, but all it takes is one outside factor, just one thing that's outside of your control to make your whole world crumble around you. But also, on the other side of that, please know that you are never alone. If you ever have those same thoughts as my friend Kenneth, please reach out to anyone. There are more people that care than you think. I promise you that. So, stay safe, be smart, and always look out for each other. This is something that happened to my girlfriend and I back in 2012. We both loved camping, and it was a fun and cheap trip that we could take together.

We went to a park that was about an hour away from us. You also had to reserve your spots in advance because they were prone to filling up fast. While it was an extra step that could sometimes be a pain for some people, it was at least nice to have that assurance that you didn't make the drive and then end up not being able to find a place because it was full. You would have a ticket for your assigned spot, so we could get to our destination, set up, and unpack, and then just enjoy ourselves. Once we arrived and started getting our tent up,

I noticed another woman walking by with a large hiking bag, very full and dressed to the tea for a very long hike. My girlfriend, Samantha, and I were far from professionals. We were more so just two girls that enjoyed the outdoors and wanted to see more of it. And so, sometimes we struggled with our tent. The hiking girl walked by, must have noticed, so she came over to help when she saw one of our stakes coming out of the ground. She helped us with it, and we all had a good laugh about it. I remember her telling us about a good method or order of steps when pitching a tent to make sure that it's even and stable.

Then we introduced ourselves. She told us her name was Kate. We thanked her for her help, and then she walked off. We wanted to start and end our trip at the beach, so once we got all set up, we grabbed our cover-ups and walked there. It wasn't too far of a walk from our spot, which was a nice score for us. We got in the water, swam, and talked as we were lazing about. Sam mentioned Kate was sitting in the sand. I looked over and saw her, sitting with her large bags still on, still in hiking boots and clothes.

It was strange, but not everyone swims at the beach. Maybe she was just stopping and taking in the scenery. But I had to agree with Sam. She looked kind of sad. Since she was so nice to us and helped us, we both agreed to go sit with her and see if she wanted some company. We waved at her as we got out, and she waved back, smiling at us. We asked if we could sit with her and she said yes, and that's when we started talking. We talked about ourselves, our lives, our park, our pets, and we even started sharing snacks, too.

The woman shared some things about herself, but nothing too in depth. She did mention that she was on a much-needed solo trip after a pretty impactful invent in her life. We didn't push, but Sam, always the empathetic kind, offered her company at our campsite later on if she wanted. I didn't mind either. We were both outgoing, and I was always down for more friends. Shortly after, we headed back to our campsite to start making dinner, leaving Kate behind. Back at our site, we ate our hamburgers and talked about our week.

During this time, we heard the sound of feet shuffling across the gravel trail and looked up to see Kate walking by. We greeted her. And she walked over when we offered her food. As she sat down and ate with us, she asked if we would mind if she set up by us. We didn't have a problem with it. Either way, she would have had to have paid for a spot to camp, so whether she was with us or a reserved spot, it wouldn't have made much of a difference, so we really didn't mind.

There was plenty of room, so we agreed, and she began pulling out her tent kit. Other than that, we all talked and enjoyed our night, until I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. We said good night, and then Sam and I went to bed, leaving her by the fire. Later that night, Sam nudged me and softly whispered asking me to listen. Grogly, I lied still and just listened. I could hear someone crying. A woman.

Sam asked if I thought it was Kate, and I shrugged. I, very slowly and quietly, not wanting to make it known, zipped open part of our tent. Ours had a solid coverer and then a netted part to keep the bugs out. The netted part was unzipped, so it was just the solid part. I opened it just enough to look out, and I saw Kate still sitting at the fire, now with a plastic shopping bag next to her.

I watched as she pulled some papers out of the bag, looked at them, and then tossed them all into the fire. I watched her do this a few times. Some of them she ripped in half and threw in. But as I watched, her cries turned to giggles as she ripped the papers in half, and then she would slowly go back to crying. I slowly zipped the tent back up, told Sam to not bother her, and we lied back down. It seemed like she just needed a moment alone, and I didn't think it would be appropriate to disturb her. I'll be honest.

It was a little eerie trying to fall asleep as someone was crying. and giggling in the background, but eventually we did. The next day, we got up and saw the fire still smoldering a bit, and Kate's tent was zipped up. I could see pieces of paper and pictures that weren't fully burned, but nothing that we could really make out what it was. We put the fire out completely, not wanting to leave it like that while we were gone. We gathered our stuff, and we walked down to the showers to get ready for the day. We wanted to try one of the trails, so...

We dressed the part. We went back to our site, grabbed breakfast quietly in case Kate was still asleep, and then headed out. Much like when we hiked, we only took what we needed. Everything else stayed in our bags, zipped up in our tent. These campsites were for non-vehicles, so no RVs or cars. We had to leave our car in the parking lot and walk to our place, so we brought everything we needed with us. This is why we had a rolling cooler and limited the amount and types of food that we brought. So we had a simple bag used for hiking that we just put the essentials in.

It wasn't anything like what Kate was lugging around, but it did enough for us. When we came back around to our site, Kate's tent was still there but was now open and empty. It wasn't anything strange, though, because she did have a huge bag. Maybe she had just packed everything up, including her sleeping bag. while she was out, to each their own. We rested for a bit and then decided to go check out the river. When we came back from the river, Kate's tent was still open and empty, with no sign of her ever having come back.

We were a little confused, maybe a little concerned for her too, knowing that she was crying the night prior. But not having any way of contacting her, there wasn't anything we could really do about it. We stayed at the site after that, making dinner and just relaxing by the fire and reading. Then we went to bed. Still not seeing Kate come back. The only thing I had to hang on to was the fact that her tent was still there, so she would have to be back eventually to come get it, right? Maybe we might hear her again over the night, too.

We both slept through the night, not hearing a thing and woke up to see the fire completely out, as we left at the day. night prior. Kate's tent was still open and still empty. It was still strange and possibly not being back all night did concern us. We said that we would tell someone at the visitor's center on our way out and explain how she just wanted to set up with us. We were leaving that day, so we went for another swim at the beach, again, showered when we were done, and headed back to the start packing up to leave. We put our bags by the firepins. We put our bags by the firepins. and broke down our tent, and then I started to dig in my bag from my car keys, but I couldn't find them. I had them in the side pocket to easily grab, but they were not in either one.

Maybe one of us tossed them in the main bag, so I started digging around. No luck. I completely dumped the bag and still could not find them. Sam noticed, and I told her what was happening. It sucked that my keys were. gone because that keyring had my car key, the house key, and the garage key, as well as keys to people's home that trust me with them. But Sam told me that she at least had the spare key to the car in her wallet, so she went to fish it out. That's when she started panicking as

she couldn't find our wallet. Our bags had our clothes and toiletries in them, plus mine had my keys and a small clip wallet. You probably wouldn't be able to tell it. was a wallet at first glance. Sam has a larger wallet in her bag where she could store that spare key, but now it was completely missing. We were both pretty concerned, and upset. If her wallet was missing, that meant any card she had as well as cash and her ID, and we were both without our keys. We were confused as to how it could have happened. Now, we didn't have a way to lock our tense, but no one ever messes with other people's stuff like that here. It's just kind of one of those rules that everyone knows. But somehow, very specific things were missing of ours,

and we found it hard to believe that we could have just dropped them at some point on our way to our spot. With nothing left for us to do, we started walking back to the entrance. We didn't get phone reception in the park, so the plan was to ask if we could use a phone in the visitor center to see if my brother could possibly spend an hour driving to us with the other spare key. I didn't really want to pay for a tow all the way back, but things only got worse from there. We tried to get to the car to see if we by chance left door or the trunk unlocked so we could put our stuff in there, but surprise, surprise, the car was gone. The parking lot wasn't huge, so we could walk the whole thing, and my dark blue little Nissan was nowhere to be found.

So not only were our keys and wallet missing, but so was our car. Had someone really just robbed us and taken our vehicle? We went back into the visitor center and told them that we needed to file a report and explained everything that had happened. We had to wait for the police to arrive and tell them the same. And the entire time, we both had to consider that all of this could, have been Kate, the girl that helped us in the beginning, that looked alone and sad, the one that was burning stuff in our fire two nights ago. Did she really go through our stuff one of the times we were away from our camp? After they took our report, we still had to wait for my brother to come and pick us up, and I was so thankful to see his face. We were both defeated and scared as to what

we may have been involved in. The police went to our campsite, and we noticed more people coming and going, like they were collecting stuff. Who was this person that we were camping with? To wrap up the story, we still have never heard anything more or about that Kate person. About two weeks after this event, they did find my car, abandoned, and completely totaled. It had gone over immediately totaled. and the front was completely smashed in.

So that wasn't a fun process either. The only thing that I can think is that Kate had to have something to do with it, right? The fact that we never saw her after that night and she abandoned her own tent, I think that speaks volumes. I don't know what she was going through, or maybe all of it was part of an elaborate scheme,

but she really put us in a very bad and scary situation. situation. Sam had to replace all of her accounts, thankfully, as there were ATM attempts on her debit card, but they all failed because they didn't use the right pin, but there's always that concern of her ID being stolen, too. Could the suspect have tried to do something worse with it? We really have no clue. Then we were also left stranded in a large state park, waiting on the kindness of others to get us back home. I am still angry and confused about the situation, especially after showing her kindness, but also if this was all her doing, then wherever she is now, I hope that she's a happier and better person. Hey, Raven, I have a story I wanted to tell you about that happened to my friend and I a few years back. It still comes up randomly, and I thought that it would fit in one of your videos, too. my friend Louis and I were going to visit another friend that we hadn't seen in a while. He had bought a new house after a recent divorce and was having a small get-together. I guess you could kind of call it a housewarming party,

even though he'd been living there for a good six months or so at this point. Time got away from us. But even though he'd been there for some time, he joked about how he was living a little bare-bones, so Lewis and I chipped in to buy him a couch. He sent pictures of how he just had two lawn chairs in his living room and that everyone needed to bring their own chairs, so we brought a couch.

The problem is we had never been there before, nor were we familiar with this area, so we were relying on GPS alone. All we knew was that he was basically living in the middle of nowhere. We had about an hour drive ahead of us in the middle of July, and no AC in my crappy little truck, but I was looking forward to it. The drive started out fine.

Lewis and I talked a lot, caught up on life, aired some grievances with work and family, and caught up on movies or shows that we had seen. At one point in the trip, we exited the highway and made our way onto a very narrow road. I knew then that we were getting into the thick of it, when my GPS started to lose signal,

making me almost miss a turn. I had to hit my brakes pretty hard, and Lewis made fun of me, but I made the turn. We remained on that road for some time, and the other cars were becoming less and less. There were fields on both sides of us, with a random dilapidated barn or silo here or there. He really lived way out there, I thought to myself. Along that road, my GPS kept chiming in. about losing signal, searching for signal, etc. So we had to piece together the directions. Lewis checked the directions real quick, saying them out loud, but I don't know who we were trying

to kid. We both suck at directions. At one point, it said the name of a street that we had to turn on and then went out for the last time. We were trying to remember what road it had said, knowing it was coming up soon. The problem was that the roads here were all numbers, and we couldn't remember if it said 128 or 138. Well, I just took the turn closest thinking that it had to be close because it had mentioned it. That was my first mistake. The road that we turned on was just gravel, which wasn't really a surprise. He did say his house was on a gravel road, so I assume that we were heading in the right direction.

Lewis, too. We continued driving for quite some time down this road until I hit a very unmarked intersection. Now I didn't know where to go. We looked down the left and the right to see if we could spot anything to give us an idea. We couldn't even call our friend because we weren't getting a signal on our phones. Looking to the left, I didn't see any kind of house, and I also figured that if it was to the left, we could just continue taking the last road we were on. So with Lewis agreeing, we went right.

We were still on a gravel road, but definitely only big enough for one vehicle at a time. I drove slower in case a car did come from the other direction, so I could do my best to move over. At one point something came up that made us think that we probably did make a wrong turn. It was starting to look more like private property than an actual street. I was with Lewis on that one, so I stopped and tried to do a K-turn so we could go back. After successfully turning around, we headed back the way we came. My thought was to get back on that last road that we had service on,

take down all the directions and to go from there, but as we drove back, I was going a little slower than normal, so that I didn't miss that unmarked intersection when an SUV came up behind me. Like I mentioned, the road was pretty narrow, so I tried to move to the side so they could get around me. What I didn't expect was the SUV to stop at an angle, blocking me from going forward. I stopped, not wanting to hit them, but before I could process anything else, five large men crawled out of this SUV. They were all in jeans, wanted overalls, and all shirtless. but the part that really stood out

was the large guns that four of them were carrying. Lewis immediately started to tell me to back up over and over. I got as far as putting it in reverse when one of the guys stood behind my truck and another grabbed my shoulder as my windows were still down. Another ran over to Lewis's side and pointed the guns right at our face. We were both freaking the hell out.

We had our hands up and my foot on the break to afraid to even try and park it. The guy on my side immediately started shouting, demanding to know who we were. We both started talking at the same time, saying our names, where we were from, Lewis spouting off how he has a family at home that would be expecting us before the guy told us to shut up. He told me to park the truck and turn it off, which I did. The guy on my side again asked for my name, and I told him. He asked what was in the bed of my truck, because we had the couch covered in blankets and a tarp,

and I explained it was a couch for my friend. This is probably when it really dawned on me that I become a straight chatterbox when I'm nervous. I began explaining that our friend lived around here and how he had just moved. Well, not just moved, but we had never been there before. how we got in this couch because he didn't have one, and how we got lost because our GPS stopped working, and I couldn't call Calvin, and I just would not stop talking. But during my incessant rambling,

the guy on Lewis's side stopped and asked what our friend's name was again. I repeated, Calvin, and the guy on my side said, Calvin, about yea tall, long, dark hair. Confused, I confirmed that that was what he looked like. like. The guy took the gun off of me and pointed it in the air to the northeast and said, You went the wrong way. He's down over there. I was still scared as hell, but wait, did this guy know, Calvin? The man on Lewis's side had a smirk on his face, and Lewis asked out loud what I was just thinking. The man confirmed that he'd seen him around and that they don't take too well to trespassers,

but he said that we must be cool if we knew him. The man on my side, his weapon now completely down, smiled and said how he makes the best smoked ribs. The other guy laughed and all I could think was how I was about to piss myself out of fear, thinking we were going to die. The guys all started back towards their SUV, and the guy by my window patted me on the shoulder. He said,

nah, you guys are all right. He then gave us better directions in how to get to his place and even led us out to the intersection. He pulled up next to us to explain again how to go the rest of the way and we were off. Lewis was still pale-faced but clearly just as confused as I was.

Finally he said, what the hell just happened? And we both laughed, still shaking a bit. We finally got to Calvin's place, and after a punch to the shoulder, I told him that he could have warned us about the murderous locals. I described the men, and he laughed and explained who they were. Apparently, the road that I turned down was more so a very long driveway. They had deer cams out there, and as soon as they saw an unrecognized vehicle, they were quick to correct them. He said that he had met them before at the local, and only bar that they had. He would pop

in occasionally to get out of the house, and instead of hiding in the corner, afraid of all the weird looks he would get, he let himself be known and bought drinks for everyone. That seemed to open them up to him. He said that he's helped them from time to time with tech stuff, but didn't expect them to really remember him to that extent. Calvin was surprised and thankful for the couch, and we all had a good time. We ended up crashing there that night, not wanting to drive back under the influence, of course. The next day, Calvin let us back out to the main road so that I didn't make any stupid wrong turns again, and we got back home in one piece.

I've been back out there since then, but I've always made sure to make a mental note of how to get there, so now I never go down the wrong road. Even though they may have been more bark than bite, the weapons were enough to scare off anyone. So, hopefully, no one else made the same mistake that I made that day. Hey, Raven, I have a story about a camping trip that I took with some friends last year that scared the hell out of me at the time. The trip was myself, my girlfriend Maria, and our friends Raquel and James. We all wanted to get out and do something together. something that we hadn't been able to do in a hot minute, but we were also pretty broke.

Thankfully, there's a park nearby that was free and the campgrounds were first come first serve. We just had to buy our food and drinks, really. James had a tent for them, and I borrowed one of my dads so that I was also taken care of. We all split the grocery list up, and we already had a large cooler we used for occasional parties. The plan was to really just chill. There was a lake there with a swimming area, as well as a river that you could check out. There was a small sandy area with a net for beach volleyball, and then the regular park stuff, like for kids or hiking.

I figured that we would swim, maybe play some ball, but otherwise we weren't going to do too much other than that. We liked playing poker for fun, so we brought along some playing cards, too. I didn't really care what we did. I was just happy to get out. So the day that we got there, we chilled around the fire and talked. Messed around, ate, drank, just all the normal stuff. The drive was about two hours out, so I know I was pretty tired already from the drive, too. I was expecting most of the fun to come the next day.

After hanging out for a while, all of us were a little buzzed and in good spirits. We slowly started drifting off to bed. As I was sleeping, I kept waking up with that urge to use the bathroom. I was just trying to ignore it, not wanting to stumble around in the dark, in my sleepy and drunk mind state. But of course, that wasn't going to happen. I finally got up, grabbed the mini flashlight that I kept clipped to the outside of the tent for this very reason, because the park was unmanned for the most part. There weren't really any bathrooms around all the camps.

It would have been a good walk for me to get to one, and normally that would be fine during the day, but like I said, I wasn't about to stumble around and end up getting hurt or lost trying to find it in my current state. So I went into the trees behind our campsite to relieve myself. As I'm finishing up, I start to hear footsteps. It wasn't just the wind moving around the leaves or something. This was very clearly the sound of someone walking. I guess it's one of those things where you're certain you know what the sound is, but you still want to find the source. Maybe to make sure that you're right or something.

So that's what I did. I turned the flashlight back on and started looking through the trees to find something. Then my flashlight caught something reflective, so I did a double take back to where I saw it. And, man, if I hadn't just gone, I probably would have pissed myself. right there. In the distance to my left was a small kid, wearing an oversized t-shirt, with wide, unblinking eyes just staring at me. I was about to take off, scared as hell, when it finally dawned on me that this was a child, a child alone in the dark in the trees, and not a single soul around. I was whispering, but was trying to ask if they were okay.

When they didn't answer, I held out my hands, like you do when you're approaching someone or an animal to show that you're not a threat. Again, I was half awake and drunk, so I didn't really know what to do. I asked again if they were okay, and finally the kid blinked and just said in a flat tone, they left me here. There's no way, right? No one left their kid out in the woods like this. She must have just been lost, right? This was when I felt like I was in a weird situation. I couldn't just leave a child in the middle of the woods in the dark,

but I also didn't want to look like a weirdo walking around with a kid in the dark. I tried asking her if she knew where she had come from, or where her camp was, and she just kept shrugging and looking around. So, I asked her if she wanted help looking and trying to her. she nodded. I gave her my flashlight to hold, which seemed to make her feel better, too. I started walking through the trees behind her, thinking maybe that's where she had come from, but the further we went, the more trees there were with less and less light. She didn't even have shoes on. I didn't want her to get hurt, but I also didn't want to pick

her up, because, again, middle-aged man, little girl in the woods. However, I did have another option. Raquel and Maria actually worked at a daycare together. That's how they became close friends and how I met James. I asked the girl if she wanted to follow me to meet my girlfriend and explained how she's really good with lost kids, and the kid agreed. I found our camp a lot easier and told the girl to wait by the fire pit. I went into our tent, and I woke up Maria and told her what happened. and she got up pretty quick at the lost girl part.

Still groggy, she came out and saw the girl just standing there. I watched her kneel down and talked to the girl, and then she put her arms out like she wanted to be picked up, and Maria obliged. I pointed to where I found her, and we started back in that direction. I'm telling you that we must have walked a good distance because I was growing impatient. Where the hell did this kid come from, and how did she get so far? out. We walked through a lot of trees and two other campsites until we finally came across one that had a small pink tent. The girl yelled, they're here, and pointed at the tents. She started wiggling,

so Maria put her down, and we watched her run to the larger green tent. As she was unzipping it, a man popped his head out and looked at the girl and then back at us, puzzled. He got out, and man, am I glad that Maria was with me because that guy had his eye on me for a strong moment. Maria explained that we found her in the trees, and she claimed that she was left behind. The man, I assumed the dad, immediately changed his look to one of confusion and slight amusement. He looked at the girl and told her that she was supposed to wake them up if she needed anything. Mom then popped out of the same tent and was also told the same thing. She explained that she was supposed to be asleep in the pink tent with her sister, who was 14.

But she must have gotten up at some point, possibly to use the restroom as well. They thanked us for bringing her back and we left. I was thankful that Maria was there because that dad looked like he was about to lay down the law, seeing his little girl with me out in the dark. But honestly, I think I was more terrified of how far that girl got on her own in the dark. I want to say that other people would have done the same thing for her, but you just never know. I was worried for her. She could have been hurt or fallen into the water if she went much further or something.

We do laugh about it now, how the little girl scared the hell out of me that night, but the fact still stands. That was the first time I've ever been terrified of a kid, and hopefully the last. 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 to the podcast, find all my social media links, 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 any left, and I will absolutely oblige if I do. Although, 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.