The Why Files: Operation Podcast - 72: The Dark Watchers: Silent Guardians of the Pines

Episode Date: August 28, 2022

The Dark Watchers: Silent Guardians of the Pines The Santa Lucia mountain range runs from Monterey and down the coast of California. For hundreds of years, stories have been told about entities that keep watch over the mountains. Sometimes seen out of the corner of the eye, always from a distance. Stare too long and they vanish. If you're ever hiking the wilderness of Big Sur and feel like you're being watched?  It's because you are. twpmaa3h --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thewhyfiles/support

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The Santa Lucia mountain range runs from Monterey and down the coast of California. For hundreds of years, stories have been told about entities that keep watch over the mountains. Sometimes seen out of the corner of the eye and always from a distance. Stare too long and they vanish. If you're ever hiking in the wilderness of Big Sur and feel like you're being watched, it's because you are. Nobody knows how long the dark watchers have been guarding the Santa Lucias, but stories go back to the Spanish settlers in the early 18th century. The San Lucia mountains were the final obstacle before reaching the Pacific Ocean.

This was a dangerous climb and had to be done carefully. As they slowly made their way through the mountains, the settlers reported seeing dark figures watching them. And they called them Los Vigilantes Oscuros. Oh, you're not going to jump in with the translation? Um, it's literally the title of the episode. I know, but usually... It's time to take off the training wheels, sport. My back hurts from carrying you. Years later, American settlers reported seeing the same thing.

So whether Native American tribe, Spanish settler, or casual hiker, everyone who travels the area gets an anxious feeling that they're being silently observed. It happens in the late afternoon, right before dusk. In the hills, usually when it's hazy, and you feel eyes on you from somewhere. You turn around and see a dark figure about 10 feet tall. It has long, thin legs and arms. You can't see its face, except for maybe dimly glowing eyes. Some have described them as wearing wide brimmed hats and cloaks. And just as your eyes adjust and your brain starts to make sense of what you're seeing, the figure vanishes. According to people who have seen the dark watchers, they are unsettling but don't seem

to be dangerous. They spend most of their time in the shadows of the forest, but they will come out if people are close. Legend says they're entities that follow travelers through the mountains. They have excellent hearing and eyesight. And if they detect any type of technology like a phone or GPS, they won't appear. One famous person who saw the dark watchers was the author John Steinbeck. In his story Flight, a character sees a dark figure staring at him from on top of a hill. Habbé looked suspiciously back every minute or so, and his eyes saw the tops of the ridges ahead. Once, on a white barren spur, he saw a black figure for a

moment, but he looked quickly away, for it was one of the dark watchers. No one knew who the watchers were, nor where they lived, but it was better to ignore them and never to show interest in them. They did not bother one who stayed on the trail and minded his own business. The dark watchers were a bit of a family obsession for the Steinbecks. John Steinbeck's son Thomas wrote a book about them. His mother Olive actually interacted with them. She often told stories about her time as a young teacher. To get to work, she would have to travel the dark woods of the mountains.

She said she saw Dark Watchers several times. And she would leave gifts of flowers and food, and would receive gifts from the Watchers on her way home. What gift would she get? They wouldn't kill her in her sleep? No, the Dark Watchers would bring her flowers too. Creepiest romance ever. There have been sightings of Dark Watchers recently, and what's spooky is the descriptions are all very similar. I'll link you to a page where you can read a bunch of them, but here are a few of my favorites. One day I was hiking the mountains where I lived near Bled, California. As I went further on the

trail, I felt like I was being watched. The hair on my arms stood up. I turned around, worried it was a mountain lion. At the top of the mountain, I saw a hooded human figure. I couldn't see its face. The hood and cloak looked tattered and ripped. It made no sound. I turned around and went back the way I came. I never went back to that area of the mountain range again. Dan, Phoenix, Arizona.

One day a friend and I were coming back from Los Angeles. We passed the San Luis Obispo Reservoir and saw something at the end of the mountain. It was a really big human figure, but it wasn't. It had a black cape like the Grim Reaper and holding a staff. It was in the daytime, so I knew it wasn't a person. These dark watchers are real. Elizabeth, San Mateo, California. So what are the dark watchers? Well, nobody knows for sure, but there are a couple of theories. The first one is that it's a simple case of

pareidolia. Pareidolia is the human tendency to perceive a specific image in a random visual pattern. Some cases of pareidolia can be pretty compelling. I mean, look at this. Well, now that will haunt me in my dreams. Or the bacon murder clown. Yeah, you got any funny ones? These are awful. A pigeon poops a self-portrait. That's more like it. The woman who looks like a Muppet. Or these peppers, which are apparently dying to get out.

Once your brain makes the connection between that random image and a real-life object, you can't not see it. The Dark Watchers could be long shadows caused by trees that, because of pareidolia, people perceive as tall figures. Maybe this is the reason they're only seen at dawn or dusk. This is when shadows are the longest. What people perceive as a Grim Reaper's staff is just a branch. And the hats are just the tops of trees.

But that doesn't explain the tops of trees, but that doesn't explain the pictures of the Dark Watchers. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. You sailed beyond the horizon in search of an island scrubbed from every map.

You battled krakens and navigated through storms. Your spade struck the lid of a long-lost treasure chest. While you cooked a lasagna. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover best-selling adventure stories on Audible. You searched for your informant

who disappeared without a trace. You knew there were witnesses, but lips were sealed. You swept the city, driving closer to the truth. While curled up on the couch with your cat. There's more to imagine when you listen. Discover heart-pounding thrillers on Audible. There's a phenomenon called the Brachen Specter. It's named after

the Brachen Peak in the Harz Mountains of Germany. And for hundreds of years, locals have reported seeing shadowy figures on the Brachen Peak. But what this actually is, is the shadow of a hiker or a mountain climber. What happens is, when the sun is directly behind the subject, a shadow is cast

on the mountain mist below. The specters are often surrounded by a rainbow halo. This rainbow effect is called a glory and is caused by sunlight refracting off water droplets in the mist. And you could sometimes see this effect when you fly. If the conditions are right, you'll see the shadow of the plane surrounded by a glory. On the mountain, when the sun is low in the sky like dawn or dusk, the shadow can look huge. So could this be the dark watchers that people are seeing in the mountains? Their own shadows? Nope. I don't know. The glories are pretty spectacular. You'd think that would have worked its way into the story. And a Brock inspector will stay there until the conditions change. But everyone who's claimed to see a dark watcher says they disappear very quickly.

And skeptics have added other theories like hypoxia. Hiking is at elevation where there's less oxygen could be causing hallucinations. They also try to explain that feeling of being watched is the result of being exposed to infrasound. When wind rushes down the side of a mountain, it can sometimes create sound under 19 hertz, just below human

hearing. When exposed to infrasound, especially at high amplitudes, many report feeling anxious, even fearful. Others have reported chills running down their spine. But these theories don't explain how people see dark watchers from a moving car. I'm not saying they're real, but I will admit the scientific explanations are a little thin. I don't think we can put this one in the debunked column. We'll be still my heart. And look, people who are new to the channel sometimes think that I'm a skeptic, set out to debunk their favorite urban legend.

But that's absolutely not what I'm here to do. I love the legends as much as anyone. But most of all, I want to know the truth. Because if we can debunk 99% of these stories, doesn't that make the other 1% so much more fun? Thank you so much for hanging out with me today. My name is AJ. That's Hecklefish. This has been The Y Files.

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