It Started as a Camping Trip and Ended in HORROR #camping

Hey guys, Chris here. Today we have a story about two young men who go camping in the deep forest of North Carolina and there, late at night, something comes into their camp and what happens to them is absolutely terrifying. That's next. All right, guys. I am high in the Sierra right now. It is a beautiful night. No wind. Sun is still up. It's going down pretty quickly and we got a little bit of snow on a nice little peak behind me here. I'm loving it. West Fork Carson River is down there making a lot of noise. And for tonight's beer, we have Gold Country Pilsner, got a crusty old miner on there. And that's from Auburn Ale House and it says, strike it rich flavor. Crusty old miner. Let's see what that tastes like. Oh, shook up a little bit in my pack. That's okay. So we can spill a little bit out here. Let's take a look at that. Oh yeah. Nice and amber-ish. I can see the gold right there. Little sudsy and Auburn Ale House. Wow. Really smooth finish. Almost a champagne finish to that. Got kind of a buttery taste to it. Very tasty beer. It's a, yeah, I like that. It's almost like an amber. Gold Country Pilsner. Daniel grew up in North Carolina in the town of Asheville. Went to high school there. A lot of memories there. Had some friends there. One of his friends was named Josh. Joshua. Joshua lived in a smaller town north of Asheville called Marshall. Marshall, interesting little town. It's very laid back. It's up in the mountains, 800 people. And east of there is the Pisgah National Forest. West and north of there is the Cherokee National Forest. And then south and west of there is the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Just beautiful country, thick forest, rivers, waterfalls, Appalachia. In 1991, Joshua bought some land north of where he lived, and he bought 48 acres. And his hope was to build a small cabin on it. Now it already had a home on it. He was happy with the home, but he wanted a little hunting cabin deep in the forest away from everybody. And he could do some fishing, go to the cabin, hang out there, and have kind of his own little backcountry hangout. And he contacted Daniel, and he said, hey, if you're interested, I could use some help. And I want to clear a little spot along the creek pretty deep in my property. And if you're willing to help me, you could use the cabin whenever you'd like if I'm not using it. And so Daniel thought, that's great, and yeah, I got some time, I could come up and help. And they talked about working for most of the day and then spending the night and then working the next day, half day, and then that's all he needed. And this cabin was going to be not much more than a Home Depot shed, 12 by 15, find a level spot, build a platform, kind of build up from there, siding, sheetrock the inside, get a nice roof on it, little porch cover and a little porch on the front, have it facing towards the creek. And put a couple of windows in it and maybe a cot and a wood stove, real simple. Daniel agreed, he thought this would be great, and they were collecting gear in the garage. They got the chainsaw, a rake, a shovel, pruners, loppers, there's some thick brush they had to take out, a couple of flashlights, and they were originally going to bring a big tarp, sleep under this tarp and have a campfire. And Josh at The Last Man said, I got a couple of small tents. They're not much, they're just these kind of V-shaped, almost like a Boy Scout tent, old army tent. There's no floor in them. We'll just set those up, they'd be a little bit nicer shelter and we can still have the campfire right in the middle and have these two tents. So they grabbed those tents and there was this road that went through the forest and it paralleled the stream very deep into the forest, into those 48 acres, and it was a pretty bumpy road to get back there. Josh knew if he was going to get materials back there in his truck, he was going to have to work on the road and then bring the materials in and down to the creek where this location was. So they decided they were going to hike in that morning with the gear, best they could carry it, a small backpack for as much as they could, a little bit of food. And they set off and they went down this trail, this essentially one-lane road, into the forest and then 20 minutes later or so, Josh knew right where to take a left and go into the forest and drop down this slope towards the creek where he had this spot picked out that was level near the stream. He was going to clear the little bit of land there for this cabin. They worked their way down the slope, really thick brush. They go about 150 yards before they even hear the stream. Not really a clearing, but it's level. Stream's over here and Josh says, this is where I think I should build the cabin, right here. It's level enough, got the creek, it's sloped up, very private, it's very remote. And so they dropped their gear, took a little break and started working. Got the chainsaw going, got the loppers going, taking out the brush and cutting a few small trees, limbing things off with a hatchet and just making this, not a huge area, just enough to get this cabin and a little bit of room around it in there. And they worked all day, really productive day. Josh was very happy. Daniel was really happy to help him and he thought this would be great to come out here with Josh or maybe even by himself sometime, do a little fishing in the stream. They were near six o'clock, end of the day, set the two tents up about 10, 12 feet apart, put a fire kind of in the middle, a little closer to Josh's and set up their camp and had some dinner. Starting to get dark, got the fire going. Here are the crickets, cicadas coming out and it's a nice night. It's very dark though, it's going to be very dark. There's no moon. They can see the stars, but they're in a very thick forest and they know that once the sun is completely down, it's going to be pitch black in there. They're sitting near the campfire. They're talking about what they want to do this summer, talking about some fishing, coming out some other weekends ahead of them. They're pretty excited, pretty happy. It's about nine o'clock and Daniel touches Josh and he says, hold on, hold on, stop, listen. And they're listening. They can hear the stream. It's pretty quiet because it's flowing pretty level. There's still some sound from the stream. Fire is cracking, but they can hear something walking in the forest. And it's concerning for Josh because he's thinking and he's thinking out loud. He says, who the heck is out here on my property and well after dark? It's like nine o'clock. And they're listening and they can hear this sound and it sounds very like somebody's just casually walking through the forest. Almost as if Daniel, let's say, walked off into the forest to get some firewood and he just casually walked back. It just sounded like a person walking in the forest, but there was no voices or conversation or anything. There was just this walking and it was coming towards them, coming right towards them, up the stream, but slightly up the slope this way. Downstreams that way. And they could hear it coming towards their camp. They both stood up and then Josh noticed and he said, you hear that? He goes, yeah, I'm hearing this. He goes, no, no, no. The crickets and the cicadas stopped and it was dead quiet except for this walking. And then that stopped and it wasn't too far away. 35, maybe 40 feet, maybe 50 feet. They didn't really know, but they could hear whatever it was. And this wasn't crashing through the forest. It wasn't running. It didn't sound aggressive. It just sounded like somebody just casually walking in the forest. And they were concerned, but they weren't fearful. They weren't like full of fear, like let's start running away or something. And they actually had a discussion. They said, well, I don't know, I don't want to, I don't feel like hiking out up the slope 150 yards through the brush to that old bumpy road. And then following that 20 minutes back to your house. So they both agreed, I think we'll be okay. Maybe it's a deer. Maybe it's a bear. I don't know. Whatever it is, whatever it was, it stopped. Maybe it quietly walked away. This animal of some kind got the fire, got the two tents. They're settled in. They just had dinner. Like, all right, let's just stay here for the night. They kind of hang out. They're on alert, listening. Don't hear anything else. Like, all right, I guess we're going to be okay. They both go into their tents. Josh falls asleep. Daniel's laying awake, listening, doesn't hear anything. He's got a flashlight next to him, next to his sleeping bag, between the tent wall and his sleeping bag. It's right there. He needs it. Josh has got one as well. He's got brakes and shovels. He's got weapons to fight with if they have to, just outside the tent. So they both fall asleep. And about three hours later, about 1 a.m., he wakes up to this horrible, blood-curdling scream. And he sits up, and he's all disoriented, and he's trying to figure out, what was that? And then he realizes it was Joshua. And the scream wasn't really long. It was, like, maybe two seconds. It was almost just this burst, this outburst of, ah, just really quick but loud. And he reaches and grabs his flashlight. He pulls it up, and he turns it on, illuminates the inside of the tent. And right at that moment, he hears something running straight for his tent, like, really fast. And it's getting closer to his tent. And then, suddenly, Josh burst through the door of the tent. There was two snaps holding the two flaps together. That was it. He burst through the tent. And he's sitting in the tent, and his face is wet from sweat. And his eyes are big, and they're filled with terror. And he's just staring at Daniel. And Daniel goes, what's going on? Are you OK? What's going on? And Josh just stares at him, and he goes, shh, shh. And it's quiet. And then Josh slowly turns, and he looks towards the opening of the tent and the two flaps, and he parts them with his hands. And then he whispers with his back turned to Daniel, and Joshua says, it's out there. And Daniel looks at him, and he says, what's out there? Josh goes, shh, again. They're both sitting there in the tent, listening intently. They're looking down, putting their heads back and forth, trying to get their ears to catch anything. And then they hear that walking sound again, walking in the forest. But this time, it's upstream, a little bit up the slope, but it's walking straight for camp, very intentional and very loud. And it's getting louder. And it's coming straight for their camp, straight for the tent. They're sitting there, just waiting, holding their breath. And then without warning, the tent is ripped up from the ground, and they're in darkness. The flashlight no longer has the effect because it was illuminating the tent. Now it's just a beam of light shining into the night sky. It's pitch black. Something had just grabbed the top of the tent and just pulled it straight up and dropped it. And they're sitting there, exposed, vulnerable, filled with fear. Daniel has a flashlight, and he starts shining it around, like, what is going on? We've got to find out what's going on, protect ourselves. He's shining. And then down towards the creek, he sees some movement. Something large moves into the brush behind this large tree, this tree trunk, an oak tree. And it disappears. And it's dead quiet again. He's like, Josh, right there, right there. And they're both looking down by the creek, down by this tree, kind of going back and forth, trying to catch it in case it moves. And they're watching down here. And then they see these two red eyes peer out from behind this tree really high up. And the light is reflecting, creating this pinkish-red reflection in the eyes. And then it slowly goes back behind the tree, and it's gone. And they're sitting there just knowing they can't just get up and run out of the forest. There's something out there. And they can't defend themselves. They're just extremely vulnerable at this moment. And then they hear, whatever this thing is down there, they hear some movement in the brush, like it's thrashing around, crashing in the brush behind this big tree right down by the creek. And they're sitting there looking at each other with a flashlight. Then they hear down the stream and then back up the slope. This way, the opposite direction, they hear three tree knocks, these really loud knocks. And it sounded like when a baseball player, he just hits one, and it's a home run. He just cracks it just perfectly. And it's got that just crack sound, but loud, just echoing through the forest, through this valley. And it went three times, but much louder on a tree back this way. And then almost like as a response to it, down this way, where they saw the creature and the eyes, they heard the same thing. But it sounded more like it was a hand slapping the side of this tree. They couldn't see anything, but they could hear it. And they could see the tree vibrating in the branches moving. They're sitting there listening to this. Daniel's got the flashlight. He's shining it down there, just feeling helpless. And he hears this kind of a huff growl, not a howl, just kind of a, like directed at them. They could just feel it direct at them with this deep bass, this deep bass, and they could almost feel it vibrating their chest, like whatever it was, was trying to herd them out of there. And this knocking is going on behind them. They can hear the movement down here. And Daniel says, there's no fight or flight. There's nothing we can do. And it's like they're cornered. They can't run. They can't fight because there's just the darkness all around them. And the whatever's in the forest, Bigfoot, Daniel had this thought in his head, like if a tiger got let out of a cage at a zoo and you were cornered, you couldn't fight it and you couldn't run, the only thing you could do was to try to calm it and talk to it and kind of almost reason with it if you could, if that's possible. That's your only hope. And so he sits there up on his knees and he puts his hands out like this and he puts his right hand up and he goes, we're sorry. We're sorry. We don't mean you any harm. Please, we don't mean you any harm. We will leave in the morning. We will be gone. And that's all he said. And then the knocking stopped and the pounding stopped down in the forest. It was quiet again. There was still some movement. You could hear movement down there. And then it was this, not a howl, kind of this, this huff, like one more huffing sound, this deep bass huff sound. And then they heard the movement up here and it was moving away back into the forest. The sound was diminishing away and then the sound down by the creek, they heard some movement and then it started moving away. They were leaving. Whatever this was, they didn't know at that moment what it was, was leaving. And they're sitting there in darkness except for the flashlight and they're in shock and they're trying to figure out what to do. They didn't want to run back to the house because it's too far to go again. It was just not going to be running around. So Josh said, how about we set up one of the tents? Get the fire going and then you can rest and I'll stay up for an hour and then we'll switch and I'll rest and you can watch for a while. And that's what they did. They did that till the sun came up. They didn't hear anything else. They didn't see anything. They were both exhausted, but they were able to get some form of rest. They got up. They walked down towards the creek. They didn't see any footprints. Kind of some dents in the grass, but it was a lot of grass, a lot of brush. Kind of where it must have been standing was right here. They looked behind the tree. They didn't want to go up and down the stream, do a big search and a big investigation. They thought, let's just get out of here. Let's get out of here while we have a chance. So they broke down their camp, grabbed their equipment, got the packs on and they started heading up the slope to get to the road. It's much easier during the day. They were happy it was day. They were happy they were getting out of there. They got to the road. They worked their way back, got to the house. They were relieved, freaked out still, and they were trying to sort out what happened. Realized Bigfoot Sasquatch was in his forest. He decided not to build his cabin down in that spot, that location along the creek. He built it much closer to his house. It was easier to get the materials to it. Over the years, Joshua said he would hear sounds in the forest, movement, occasionally a howl, high-pitched scream, late at night, very distant, and usually in the spring or the fall, just occasionally. And then Daniel thought about it and he thought, these things were threatened, but they could have attacked us. We were very vulnerable. They could have came in and destroyed us, and they gave us a chance. And we obviously showed something when he communicated to them, when he tried to talk to them, maybe in his tones, maybe nothing specific, but maybe just his tones and his attitude and his heart was one of, you know, we're not going to hurt you. And they received that. And that's probably what saved them, was that they were able to have that communication with them, and just enough so these things would trust them and let them go, and let them alone. And so they were not a threat, and they made it. And that is our story for tonight. My beer is done, and I can hear the frogs starting to go off over, and there's a pond down in this little basin over here. Pretty cool. It's like a mini lake or something. Pretty wild. The sun's going down really fast. I got a little bit of a hike. I think I'm going to have you guys come with me if you'd like. Hopefully it won't be dark by the time I get back to my truck, but it's dropping fast, so we're going to get going here. But that is our story for tonight, and I'm going to pack up myself and get out of here. There's that frog pond. That is the frog pond behind me, and the frogs stopped just now. Wait, they're starting up again. Okay, keep moving. This is where the term keep hiking comes in. Keep hiking. Keep going. I love all these boulders. It's crazy. They're everywhere. All right, I made it back on the road. I'm going to go a ways down the road here. All right, I see the truck. We're almost there. It's getting dark very fast. Oh my gosh. All right, looks like we made it, guys. Thank you for watching. If you guys like stories about the strange unexplained and things that go bump or croak in the night, like and subscribe. You guys know how to do that. And as always, we'll see you next time, and keep hiking.