Strange experiences?

[professor]

I've been chased by elk hiking out west. It was kind of scary, as those critters are pretty big, even the does. I realized after a while that the chasing was initiated by my backing off quickly, and the elk was not coming after me. I think it just perceived my running, and wanted to run away from the same thing!

 

[Chip]

Rabbits scream horribly when injured/attacked. Fox can scream.
Coyote are more of a "yip" and howl, which doesn't sound normal, but you can tell what it is.
Anyone with siamese cats knows what they can sound like, so I would imagine bobcats,
especially looking for mates, could make similar screams.
Certain owls and hawks scream.

I'm taking my 2 boys and their 2 friends out this week-end.
Hopefully the night will be kind.

While trailer camping in Yosemite in 1973 with my parents, my sister and I decided to sleep outside on some cots.
About 2am I was aware of noise in the next campsite, a few minutes later I became VERY AWARE as a decent sized bear wandered into our site, sniffed my sister's head and then passed between our 2 cots. I could not move. Anyone who has ever experienced being "frozen with fear" knows. After it passed and moved on I woke my sister and we moved inside.
She was vaguely aware of something at her head and thought it was a fly she might swat.

 

[Jim lombard]

Hiking down from Whiteface in late September I was passing one of the lower ledges when I heard a dog barking frantically. It seemed close but I'd have to go through some bushes to find it. I almost went in but decided at the last minute that if it was somebody who was living or camping up there on the mountain they might not want to be disturbed. I was also alone...so I headed down and as I was walking out a truck pulled up alongside. They'd been bird hunting in the area and were missing a dog. I felt bad leaving that dog up there but it was nearly dark and I was exhausted so I just pointed the way up the trail.

 

[Chip]

The first time I heard a screaming fox, I thought it was a woman being attacked and screaming for her life. Could it have been a fox?

Check out some of the recorded sounds in this link. The night, distress and cottontail, especially. http://vulpes.org/foxden/sounds/

 

[forestgnome]

appalacian earthquake

Chip,

Thanks, excellent link. The screaming sounds I often hear are the distress call and the territory call of a redfox.

In April of 2003 (I think) I was sleeping in my tent with my dog in the Sandwich Range Wilderness. Just after sunrise, I was half awake, half dozing, when all of a sudden the whole tent jerked back and forth twice. My immediate thought was that a bear was shaking the tent in his mouth. A moment later I realized it was an earthquake. I checked the news when we came out, and it was indeed an earthquake. It's nice to be in a place where an earthquake is a wonderful natural phenomenon that puts a smile on your face

 

[coldmountain]

I hiked to the top of Chocorua during the solar eclipse in the early 90s.
(92-93?) It never got dark but it was like dusk for a few hours at lunchtime and the birds stopped chirping then back to sunny. Strange shadows all day.

 

[rondak46]

Screaming sound.

I was hiking up a mountain to get to a hunting spot. It was around 3:30 in the morning. All of a sudden I heard a screaming sound; It sounded female (human); and it sounded insane, mindless. It was really scary. I suddenly thought that some old fairy tales were true or that some creature from the Dungeons and Dragons Monster Manual was about to share a Mike lunch with her friends. My knees buckled and I was shaking so much that I was unable to load my gun, a muzzleloader. After a few minutes of quiet I was able to regain my composure and continue up the mountain.

I described the experience to a few veteran hunters and several of them said it was a Bobcat. Thats the closest I ever came to soiling myself out of fear.



Last weekend I was sleeping in a lean-to. As I was trying to sleep, I kept hearing a swishing sound. I figured it was animal that would soon pass. The sound was fairly persistent and began to consume my thoughts. I yelled a few times, and was on high alert for nearly an hour. I finally figured out what the sound was........ It was my eyelashes brushing against my sleeping bag as I blinked. Funny stuff like this has happened to me before.

 

[Mark]

More Screams

My brothers and I were camping just north of Dix Pond in the Adirondacks one spring a few years ago. We were relaxing around the fire, having a nice conversation, when we heard something like a girl scream. It rose in pitch and intensity and lasted about 4 or 5 seconds. It seemed to come from a tree top not too far from us. We all just stared at each other with eyes as wide as silver dollars wondering what the heck that was! Everyone said the hair on the back of their neck was standing straight up. (Odd how these primal reactions are still with us.) The light from our small fire got a lot less comforting in the moments following the scream!

We never did figure out what we heard, although we speculated that since the sound was immediately followed by the sounds of an owl hooting, it may have been the death scream of some owl's dinner. Still, I can't imagine what small forest animal could make such a blood curdling sound! Our experience made for a great campfire story to tell the kids, perhaps with just a little embellishment.

 

[jbrown]

While sleeping on the ground between two parked cars in a trailhead parking lot (sleeping bag on mattress, silnylon tarp laid over top like a sheet...) I was awakened by the most unusual sound I've ever heard before or since. It began as a very high-pitched, very loud moan-like sound which lasted for a few seconds, then went to a guttural gurgling that descended in pitch until it died out in a low rumble. This happened twice, I think, accompanied by leaves crunching and sticks cracking. It seemed to be only 15-20 feet away and was loud enough to wake up a friend sleeping in his car. (Yes, all of my friends were accounted for, so I know it wasn't a prank by anyone I know...)

By the way, when I was young, we had cats as pets that were great hunters. On more than one night, we heard the sound of them killing a rabbit, it sounds just like a woman or young girl screaming. Very scary for a 9 year old sleeping by an open window...

 

[dr_wu002]

By the way, when I was young, we had cats as pets that were great hunters. On more than one night, we heard the sound of them killing a rabbit, it sounds just like a woman or young girl screaming. Very scary for a 9 year old sleeping by an open window...

I have pet mice and rats. The mice bite each other constantly and squeak loudly but it's very high pitched. The rats on the other hand don't bite each other but they "fight" (they look like they shadow box with one another -- they don't even hit each other) and when they do they make a horrific screaming sound. You wouldn't mistake it for human, but here's an animal about the size of your foot that can make a pretty impressive sound. I bet a rabbit or some larger animal could make a sound a little deeper that sounds more human. But the rat noises would scare me if I was in the woods -- and they're not killing each other, they're barely even fighting, more like bothering each other, trying to steal the other's bits of chicken that I fed to 'em.

The other morning while in the bathroom I was startled by the sounds of a female screaming bloody murder. I figured either A) there was an intruder in our apartment, attacking my girlfriend or B) one of our cats had gotten decapitated and Jess just discovered it. So I went running out, with my pants down around my ankles, only to discover that Jess was screaming because one of the mice had escaped and the cats were licking it. They slobbered all over the thing (which wasn't squeaking or hurt) but didn't really do much else besides that. It wasn't in the woods but it did startle me.

-Dr. Wu

 

[Jkrew81]

I once found a suite case filled with insense and spam going up Bondcliff little ways back in the woods when I was looking for a backcountry site. It was pretty freaky due to the fact that I was expecting to run away and trip on a dead body or whatnot. Have any of you ever thought how scary that would be?

 

[dr_wu002]

It was pretty freaky due to the fact that I was expecting to run away and trip on a dead body or whatnot. Have any of you ever thought how scary that would be?

Umm, apparently that has happened to a member of this site...

Did you eat the spam?

-Dr. Wu

 

[Chip]

the other's bits of chicken that I fed to 'em.
-Dr. Wu

Rats !? There's a "tastes just like chicken" joke in there somewhere, Doc.

 

[el-bagr]

The Long-eared Owl makes both stereotypical moaning "hoots" and horrible cat-like screaming cries. First time we heard one skiing into Church Ponds at dusk was very spooky: despite knowing it wasn't possible, it sounded like a mountain lion killing a horse while an owl stood watch. I bet it's responsible for quite a few scares!

 

[coldwater]

little men

A few "strange noise" experiences I've had are my weirder/less explained experiences, but those have been covered in full by others, so I'll relate this one.

One time I was finishing a long-ish (for me) bushwhack hike in the spring -- I was out of shape, and tired at the end of a relatively long day. As I glanced to the side, for a second out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw a "little man" sitting on a log nearby watching me. Like a Rumplestiltschen-type of man, or a larger leprechaun.

When I looked closer, it was clear there was nothing but a few shadows, but it made me realize how easily the stories of such faeries and the like could have developed.

For a second I actually thought to myself -- "don't worry, there's nothing he can do to you -- you know right from wrong." ... because in the stories these little guys are always getting people into trouble in some way, getting them enmeshed in some problem they have to get out of. Then I also thought to myself, "wow, but I'm really tired, what if it *tricked* me somehow! I might not have the mental resistance right now that I usually would!"

It was an interesting experience. The rest of the hike finished without incident.

 

[erugs]

An Oar

Several years ago I saw a guy hiking along Franconia Ridge with an oar.

 

[Orphic Seth]

Several years ago I saw a guy hiking along Franconia Ridge with an oar.

Odysseus. You should have asked him what it was (feign ignorance) so he could plant it and go home.

 

[jfb]

Back in the summer of 1976, I was living in East Hartford, CT and one Sunday afternoon decided to take a walk along the top of the dike on the western bank of the Connecticut River.

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=18&n=4627831&e=694430&size=s&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25

After parking at Riverside Park, I walked north and saw a guy standing at the top of the corner of the dike. He was a fairly large guy, built like a football player and was just standing on top looking around. I got to the top and said "Hi" and continued on. About 1/4 mile north, there was another guy I could see just standing there looking around also.

As I continued along the dike, I noticed a white Cadillac parked near the pumping station at the end of the dead-end road. I continued north for a while and the Cadillac drove to the intersection near I-91, then turned around and headed back to the pumping station. The two guys on the dike were still just looking around.

After a while, I turned south and noticed an older gentleman, flanked by two other "bodyguards" walking up the dike from out of the area between the dike and river. This area was criss-crossed by trails and was mostly overgrown brush and kind of swampy. The older guy was tall, with white hair and wore a white suit and white shoes. I guess he owned the Cadillac.

The group got to the top and started walking north as I was heading south. I said "Hi" to them and continued on. When I got back down the dike to the parking lot, I was curious and decided to see if any trails followed the river. I found one and headed upriver a little until I realized someone was following me. I stopped and looked at the river for a while and he just stood in the trail watching me. At that point, I decided to go back to the car and drove away and haven't been back since.

 

[BEUCS]

Many, many years ago I did a bushwack up to Carrigain Pond and camped a few nights along the north end of the pond. At times while I was just hanging out I swore I heard music. It had the sound of something playing over a cheap transistor radio. The sound always seemed to be coming from the brook where the pond emptied out. The few times I investigated all I would hear would be the gurgling and splashing of the water as it made it's way down stream. It was kind of annoying as I could'nt turn it off or change the station and the reception was lousey.

 

[John H Swanson]

Bushwhacking alone in the dacks I saw what appeared to be an upright board painted with a check pattern. As I neared it, I soon realized that it was the rudder of a downed plane (actually a glider) It was bright white and red. The wings had been ripped off on crash landing. So clean that it looked relatively new. I thought to myself, oh sh--! I'm gonna find a body. Fortunately (i guess) the canopy was crashed from the egress either for escape or rescue. I got the tail # and confirmed it was of Canadian registry. The owner was not listed on "transport canada" as the glider had not been re-registered after the crash. In the post hike conversations, I hatched a plan to haul it out in winter. Not sure about the salvage laws/rules; I couldn't find a good use for it; I'm already in possessions of too many white elephants. It's probably still there. BTW, it was near to a small airport, I guess the pilot just lost his air.

In hindsight, I would be curious to go back and see if I marked the position correctly of the map. Certainly be a good SAR exercise.

JHS