The Followers in the Woods

​​The woods can be a very beautiful place thanks to the wonders of nature and the peaceful feeling it can bring on. But have you ever had an unusual sense of danger or unsettling moment when there was no reason to have one while alone in the forest?

It could be the middle of the afternoon, completely bright and sunny out, and yet you get the sense that something is watching you; something dangerous and scary. At first, you think it might be an animal, but you can’t see or hear anything that could cause you to have such a strong feeling of danger. So you try to forget about it and continue on your way with your hike until you get back to whatever park center or parking lot you started in. Anyone who’s spent any time out in the woods alone has likely had this kind of experience, but what if you saw what it was making you feel this way? You’d probably never venture out alone again. And that is what happened to me.
 
You see, I actually caught a glimpse of what it is that made me feel so worried and afraid in an otherwise safe environment.  I was at my favorite state park, hiking the trails like I always did on the weekend, when I started to get that sense of fear creeping up the back of my neck. I would usually bring along a friend or my dog, Davey, but decided to go alone that time. I am not sure if I would have witnessed what I ended up seeing if friends were with me or even the dog, because what I saw seemed impossible even to my own eyes. Part of me wonders if I really saw them, but I know that they were really there and not just a trick of the light or something like that.
 
The way the trail worked is that you’d have to go about four miles out and then turn around and come back down a different trail that ran somewhat near the first one. That was the best way to experience the park, since you’d get to see a little bit of everything it had to offer throughout the entire eight miles of trails. I had just hit the turn-around point when I had the strong feeling to…turn around. I could have sworn that I heard what sounded like a few extra sets of footsteps before I turned, but I did not see anyone else near me on the path or anywhere in the woods off the trail. The first time I heard it, I figured it must either be an animal scurrying about or maybe the wind causing the branches sway, but it wasn’t really that windy and there wasn’t anything other than birds around me.
 
The further I went, the more often I’d hear what sounded like people walking almost directly behind me on the path. I could hear the crunching of sticks and leafs under “their” feet, but every time I turned back to look, I’d see nothing and the sound would stop. That quick moment of uneasiness had turned into several minutes before I finally heard something that sounded like whispers directly into my ears on both sides. I spun around once more and instead of seeing people standing right behind me like I had suspected, there were two very distinct shapes far down the trail from me.
 
It looked like two people, a man and a woman, dressed in very dark robes with hoods pulled up. They were moving in my direction, but instead of walking, it looked as though they were floating just above the ground. I couldn’t see their faces, but knew that I didn’t want to wait around for a closer look. They both had very poor posture and their movement was so smooth that it was unnatural. I don’t know whether they were ghosts or spirits or demons, but I nearly fainted at the image of them moving towards me.
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I turned back away from them and made a mad dash the rest of the way out of the park. I never once stopped to look and see if they, whatever they were, were following me still because I did not really want to find out. I never went back to the park, and gave up hiking as a hobby altogether. I haven’t really told my friends why, because I know they wouldn’t believe me. I just tell them that I get the creeps out there and prefer to just walk Davey in the dog park near my house.

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