10 Confidential Scary Park Ranger Horror Stories (Compilation)

Do you ever notice how many trees there are i've heard it said there are more trees than stars in our galaxy amazing to think about. Isn'T it that's something as big as a star should be outnumbered by the trees on our planet in our galaxy at least that's a lot of trees and they're, all very old. Aren'T they so very old older than us, maybe somewhere out. There is a tree older than the dinosaurs buried in a mountain. Somehow having survived millions of years, i know we find fossils of trees, but what, if those fossils weren't dead? It'S interesting to think about that. There could be a tree out there, older than all of mankind's history. Do you think trees have thoughts after trees are alive and every living thing has some kind of mind, an intelligence driving it and if so, what do they think of us? I'Ve got a fair idea of what they think about humankind. I'M a park ranger - and this is my story. It all began when we got a call. None of us had been wanting to receive a child had gone missing. This wasn't unusual. People go missing all the time in the parks. However, what made this one unusual was how it happened. Maxi patton had been out with his mother on a picnic at 13 years old. He was a wild and rambunctious child, and if there was one thing he loved doing more than any other, it was climbing trees. If only he'd been more of a video game kit than an outdoors kind. Perhaps all this could have been avoided. You see it was when he was climbing a tree that he disappeared. His mother recounted everything in detail. They picked out a nice clearing on the edge of the woods near a large clump of trees. Maxie could climb on as he pleased we set up the blanket right here. Maxie wanted to climb that big pine tree. She pointed to it. I took my eyes off him for only a moment. She sobbed just one moment and when i looked back he was then she utterly broke down. The first thing we did was check out the tree in question. It was a pine tree, one of the tallest i'd ever seen. Clearly, it was very old how high up was he when he vanished? I asked his mother a little skeptical. A kid could just disappear without a trace while climbing a tree he was was halfway up. Then she continued sobbing. After that, it was obvious we weren't going to get anything else out of her still. I walked around the tree twice and i could clearly see the snapped branches and twigs where maxie had climbed up they ended at about halfway up. It was like he just stopped. Climbing then disappeared completely. We did a thorough search of the area first and found nothing well almost nothing c about 50 yards from the pine tree. I found a shoe covered in pine needles and tree sap. It was red and blue, a nicky brand symbol on the side. It seemed to have been there for a long while, but when i bent down and picked it up what i found inside plan of the first seat of doubt that this wasn't just a case of a woman losing track of her child there written in black permanent Marker was a name maxi patton. So how did it get here? Maxie'S mother was hysterical and became even more so when i brought the shoe to her, that's it that's my maxi's shoe. She grabbed it clutching it closed to her chest as she wailed and wailed. We had to take her away, taking the shoe from her was difficult, both physically and emotionally, that woman held the shoe to chest like it was a baby i'll, never forget how much that woman cried as she was taken away, sad to say, but the shoe was The only evidence we had of maxian where he'd gone, she was escorted to the park center. Where she'd wait for the paramedics, we know that she wanted to help, but in her condition, she'd only be a hindrance. The moment she was out of sight, however, was when one of my partners spotted maxi's blue shirt at the top of another pine tree hanging from a branch by the collar, a hundred yards in the opposite direction of where we'd found a shoe. He swore up and down that the shirt hadn't been there when we'd first looked and did so with such conviction that none of us doubted him. Even if we wanted to. We knew we had to get that shirt down. Somehow it was evidence, but then again, how had the shirt gotten up there? Unlike the pine tree maxie, had disappeared from this one had no sign of anyone having climbed on it. No broken twigs and branches slightly bent from where someone had climbed up and left the shirt. There were five of us when we went to first look for maxie, excluding myself. We didn't think we'd need that many, because, frankly, people go missing in the parks. All the time often they'd turn up in about a few hours, but we'd never dealt with something like this starting up at that shirt covered in pine needles. I think it began to dawn on all of us that we were dealing with something we weren't trained for. We radioed for backup, while trying to figure out how to get the shirt down. I volunteered to climb up the very first branch. I grabbed, however, broke in half instantly in the process. Scratching me across the hand. I cried out looking at the gash across my palm. It wasn't deep, but the skin had been broken. Blood was already pooling in it groaning at the sharp pain i clenched my hand into a fist trying to stifle the bleeding. I glared, stunned at the large branch which had just snapped when i touched it. My blood was already seeping down and towards the ground where it dripped onto the exposed roots of the pine tree below crap. I cried turning back around to the others, while clutching my wounded hand and my still healthy one park rangers always carry a first aid kit on hand, and they quickly helped me apply bandages to it. Wrapping my hand in cotton. What happened? One of the other park rangers asked me looking at the broken branch ludicrous it just broke. I snapped back despite myself my agitation at having been cut by the tree branch when it broke was severe, but then something else dawned on me. How had that tree branch cut me? It broke in the grip of my hand and shouldn't have been able to move in such a way as to leave a mark. This painful inadvertently, a shiver, went down my spine. I became acutely aware of how many trees were around us. Was i mistaken, or had their number increased since i'd last checked? I had to be mistaken. We need to split up and find maxie another park. Ranger said i was thankful, given it meant, i didn't have to focus on the trees anymore. What about the shirt another said indicating the garment at the top of the tree, we'll come back for it later. The first one said dismissively. You know it's strange for the life of me. I cannot remember their names see i was still new at the time a rookie really. I barely knew what i was doing at the time. I never saw any of the other park rangers involved in the search for maxi patton again, most of the retired are transferred to a different park, but sometimes i do wonder if we all came back from that search. We split up into three pairs moving in a perimeter from maxi's last known location, the pine tree. I was paired up with a man whose name escapes me. I just know he was hispanic and that's all i can ever remember about him. We were sent north in case maxie or whatever was left of him had somehow gotten there. The others went east and west. If we found anything we had to radio it in and then come back. If we found a body we had to leave it undisturbed. That was obvious, of course, but i really hoped we wouldn't find anything, because what we'd found so far just didn't sit right with me. How did a shoe get 50 yards from his last known location, as i thought back to the moment when i had found that shoe, i began playing it over and over in my head. Something was nagging me about it. Hey pal said my partner. What i replied you ever climbed trees as a kid i nodded my face was beaming, as i thought back to those happy days when my partner's grimaced. However, i blinked confused what's wrong shaking his head, my partner muttered, something in spanish under his breath before he answered. I did too a few times, but he stopped walking and turned to face me one time when i was climbing a tree. Something happened. What i asked curious if this had anything to do with our current search. It was back in mexico before my family immigrated to the states. There was a tree in my abuelo's backyard. I climbed it every time i went over one day when i climbed to the very top. I was looking out over the entire land around my abuelo's house. I felt like i was king of the world. Then i saw it saw what my partner didn't answer. He opened his mouth paused then slowly closed it shaking his head. You wouldn't believe me, try me, i replied. He sighed then opened his mouth to say something when his eyes widened so large. He looked like a fish. He was looking at something behind me furrowing, my brow. I began to turn around when he grabbed my arm in a vice-like grip. Don'T he hissed through clenched teeth? Don'T look! I couldn't help myself. I wished. I had taken his advice when my eyes found the blue shirt of a young boy hanging from the bottom branches of a tree with a broken branch, probably about a hundred meters away. Blood was dripping from it onto the roots below my heart began, beating in my chest so fast. I thought it would burst, that's impossible. I muttered then blinked what i saw the moment. My eyes open will forever haunt me. The tree had come closer. My partner began cursing letting go of my arm and stumbling back. He crossed himself saying silent prayers. We have to go. He said with a shaking breath. Now i didn't argue. Instead, i began running my partner right next to me the whole time i didn't dare look back once and neither did he all thought of finding maxie was gone for all intents and purposes he might as well not exist at that moment. All that mattered was getting away from that tree exhaustion caught up with us. Eventually, though, and we stopped panting as we tried to catch our breath. Did that just happen? I said through my painful gasps of air. Did that actually just happen? I don't know. Amigo said my partner: did you see it move? I asked him no, he answered, but i saw the others moving, what their branches and leaves were moving. He answered. You heard that right i nodded by this point. I was thoroughly done with everything for lack of a better term. This was just too crazy. I was watching them for a while. He continued wondering why they were moving with no wind about then then, what i asked him he looked me grimly in the eyes. I saw a boy, he said the branches moved aside only briefly, but i saw the body of a little boy. He couldn't have been more than 13., but amigo we mustn't find that body. I didn't want to ask, but curiosity got the better of me why? Because that thing could never be called human, not after they're finished with it. What do you mean finished with it? My partner didn't answer. Instead, he began praying again in a shaking voice crossing himself over and over what was happening to maxie's body. I pressed not consciously. He didn't answer me at first. Instead, he licked his lips looking around us eyes, darting from one spot to another when he spoke, his voice was low and shaking the same thing i saw in my abuelo's backyard when i was a child. I didn't say anything to that. I just sat on a stone, leaning backward until my partner grabbed my shoulder. Don'T he whispered there's a tree behind you. I didn't need to look to know. He was right. It was obvious anyway. We hadn't left the forest. After all, what do we do? I asked him. I kept my eyes on his face intently because looking anywhere else meant seeing a tree ignore them. He answered firmly. They might leave us alone. If we do so, we did. We just sat on the ground facing each other catching our breath. I could hear the singing of birds, the gentle flow of a stream nearby, but the only thing i could pay attention to was the sounds. The trees made the soft creaking of wood, the swaying of leaves and branches on this windless day the trees brushing against each other. Neither of us said anything just looked at the ground to avoid the awkwardness of staring at each other's faces. For who knows how long? The silence between us was marked by our tense patience. Something was going to happen. We could feel it even after running from that thing, for god knows how long i didn't believe, we'd escaped it. It was still out there waiting just like us. I'Ve heard stories about how some hunters track their prey. They shot it first critically wounding. It then follow the blood trail. It leaves behind waiting for it to collapse from exhaustion. Why bother letting it put up a struggle when you can wait it out? I remembered those stories when i looked at my hand. The cotton around my palm was soaked a crimson red. Why is this happening? I asked my companion. He said nothing just stared at the ground. I'Ve never heard of this before i continued my voice, dull and tired. I'Ve heard stories of bigfoot mothman, even freaking dog men in michigan, some people say they've, seen aliens, others, goblins and fairies, and they always say they see them in the woods peeking around a corner watching them hiding behind something like a rock or a a. I couldn't say it because they were still all around us listening, but i've never heard of anyone being hunted by a tree. When i said that i don't know why i did. I guess accepting the reality of what was happening would make it easier it didn't, because when my partner looked up at me suddenly i could see it in his eyes. He was disappointed in me. I was talking in the presence of other trees. I didn't care. This was just too weird any rational part of my brain was long since dead. Unable to deal with how bizarre this was. I wondered if my partner was going through the same thing then again he claimed to have experienced this thing before. Are we sure they're trees? He said slowly like he was talking to a child. What i answered and eyes narrowed. My father once told me a story. It was about a demon possessing a woman. He knew as a child. He said she went stark raving mad biting people and scratching her face when he finished. I couldn't help but wonder if demons only possessed people are you saying a demon has possessed a tree and is hunting us. Maybe he answered. Who knows i mean how do we even know of that thing? Was a tree? Looked like one to me. I replied trying not to peek over my shoulder to see if it was behind me, but trees. Don'T move that fast and they don't carry around pieces of clothing, they don't chase people. You said you saw them with a boy's body. I pointed out my partner swallowed crossing himself. I did i did. I wish i hadn't, but i did and let me tell you, amigo trees aren't capable of doing what was happening to that boy. I didn't say anything: the sun broke through the leaf canopy above us, and i squinted from the glare. So did my partner part of me thought he made a compelling case, but another felt like there was something we were missing missing. That was it when a tree falls, i said, and no one is around what sound does it make my partner furred his brow confused? How do we know trees? Don'T chase people down? How do we know they can't move in the blink of an eye or take a young boy without anyone noticing and carry away his body? What are you saying that trees are capable of doing that? Maybe they are. I replied: maybe we aren't the first to have seen them either. You think there might be others. When you were a kid. You saw something in your grandfather's backyard right, something involving trees through the sun's glare. I could see his face going pale. Maybe you were one of the lucky few to live and tell the tale what he said mouthing hanging open when a person goes missing in the savannah. Some people believe they were killed by the local wildlife and nobody doubts that africa is full of dangerous beasts i'll. Let that sink in, let my partner begin to understand what i was going to say before i finished when a person goes missing in the forest. Sometimes people assume they were killed by the local wildlife mountain lions bears wolves, but nobody ever stops and thinks about the trees all around us because nobody ever notices them. I pressed my lips together when i finished my partner looked at me in disbelief and horror. Dumbfounded, do you have any proof? He said slowly same amount of proof, as you do, for demons possessing trees. Only a theory, then my partner's face brightened with a dark realization. What? If? What? If we're both wrong, i blinked my mind began racing with possibilities. What if we were both wrong, what if this wasn't trees or demons, but something else entirely if it was then what was after us. I was about to say something when i noticed it: the shadow which had fallen between us perfectly still on the ground like a border keeping us apart a long thick black line, one with several appendages sticking outward from it. My heart skipped a beat, as my eyes widened. I knew my partner saw it when he cursed screaming and backing away. However, there was one part of the shadow which made my blood run: cold. One of the appendages was broken and from it hung the silhouette of a shirt and slowly very slowly. It was getting bigger unable to help myself. I began following the shadows trail to its source, knowing full well what had made it. I could just see it in my peripheral vision, like a patient hunter waiting for its prey to roll over and die. When i heard the most comforting sound in my life, the distant hum of a car, speeding down the road passing us by, i turned back to my partner locking eyes with him. At that moment, we both had the same idea. It was our one chance of getting out of this nightmare. Neither of us knew if it would work, but we didn't have a choice because the shadow had nearly doubled in size and a tree was creaking very loudly. We ran faster than i ever have in my life before or since we ignored everything around us, especially the silent inescapable trees. We ran across their roots, push through their leaves duct under their branches swerve to avoid running into their trunks. I didn't care if i touched them anymore. If i was fast enough, i could get away from them, then they wouldn't catch me. But what about that infernal, creaking, always right on our heels. What would happen when it stopped? We couldn't be near it when that happened. Our very lives depended on it, so caught up in sprinting out of those godforsaken trees. I didn't think to look at my path. My foot hit something large and solid, and i cried out losing my balance. My partner was in front of me and looked over his shoulder bewildered. He stopped and reached out his arms. I grabbed onto them and planted my foot back on the ground, pushing myself forward both of us kept running. We didn't need to check what i had tripped on. It was bound to happen at some point. We'D been running over them for ages when we saw the grey asphalt of the road. My heart leapt for joy, the creaking behind us had become distant, growing, fainter and fainter. I knew damn well. We were safe the moment we reached that road and that i felt something brush against my back something i knew all too well. The hard rigid texture of tree bark, the next thing i knew i was laying on my back against the burning asphalt panting. As i caught my breath, my partner was bent over me. His face obscuring the sun. There were tears running down his face. I saw it touch you, he said to me weeping. It was so close amigo, so close, i've never seen anyone run as fast. You did we're safe. Now he began murmuring. We'Re safe praise. The lord we're safe, i didn't say anything just grunted as i pushed myself off the asphalt, i didn't remember even setting foot on it, my body ached and my lungs demanded oxygen, which i was only too eager to provide. I looked back at the woods. We'D come out of marked by broken twigs and foliage pressed into the ground was the spot we'd both burst from onto the asphalt beyond it. I saw only trees and not a single blue speck anywhere. I smiled relieved and stood up glancing to the other side of the road and my smile vanished when i saw the blue shirt laying on the edge of it. The inside of the collar was facing me and on the white tag, was a name written in black marker maxi patton i blinked and it was gone. I didn't tell my partner, he thought we were safe. Why should i take that away from him? Instead, both of us went back to the ranger station, tired, thirsty, starving the other pairs had already beaten us to the station. When we arrived they'd been trying to work the radio but stopped when they saw us come in, nothing happened to them. They didn't find anything either they didn't ask where we had been for the last three hours. They knew better than to do that. Nobody ever tried in the days that followed either we didn't tell anyone about what happened. Some things are better left forgotten. A couple of weeks later, my partner resigned. He cited intense emotional trauma as his reason. I did the same thing. Three months later, i didn't keep in contact with him. He didn't try to. Instead, i moved to the city surrounded by buildings and cars in the modern world. I avoid the parks, botanical gardens anywhere a single tree. Is i stay away from it? I'Ve always believed it was the only way to keep myself safe. I do enjoy going to a park. My apartment overlooks. There are no trees there, only grass and bushes. That is until i'm not sure what to do anymore, because i had a dream. Last night there was a pine tree in my apartment and one of the lower branches is broken. I thought it was just a symptom of my trauma. Then i saw the tree in the park and it's getting closer. I'M a wildlife ranger at america's largest blackwater swamp. Now, i'm trapped here, i've been working as a wildlife officer at the okeefenoke state park since 2010.. It'S a pretty great job, if i'm being honest, i've always loved nature and being from the area. The heat and humidity never bothered me there's been some strange stuff going on. Lately, though, the job doesn't involve a whole lot, mostly just patrolling the swamps to make sure nobody is hunting illegally and keeping an eye out for any possible fire hazards during the summer months. Really it's just a peaceful place to be assuming you keep plenty of bug spray on you. At all times, i've been on the overnight shift for the last few weeks, while the regular officer is out on paternity leave before he left. He told me i would probably see a few weird things typical around the florida georgia line method out: rednecks kids sneaking off into the swamp to bang and the swamp lights. The first two were typical on day shift 2. So i wasn't worried about that. The swamp lights threw me for a loop, though the lights are an old superstition, supposedly it's spirits of lost souls that have died in the swamp, trying to lure others to a watery death. There'S a natural explanation for it, though methane and phosphorus gas from the swamp mixes and gives off a glow. It actually looks pretty cool after the first scare. It gives you those aren't. The scariest thing that's been happening, though i was out on one of my patrols. A couple of weeks ago and the big fan both that we used to get around the areas where boardwalks haven't been built in and i noticed something huge floating in the water not far from me. I steered over that way and focused my spotlight onto it. It was an alligator, well it used to be an alligator at one time. This one had been a monster at least 15 feet long and built. Like truck. Looked like something that crawled out of jurassic park, it had been torn to shreds gashes all along the length of its body, and the head was barely hanging on hey captain. I said into my radio: what's going on smith, the captain answered back into the radio. She was stationed back at the main office at the swamp entrance. We always kept at least two people on shift in case of any accidents or the rare wildlife attack. I'Ve got a dead gator out here in section 14., i said back, i picked up a branch from nearby and started poking the corpse in the water trying to flip it around and see if there were any other distinguishing marks, probably just one of the older ones Out there, nature will sort it out. Captain answered back dead animals were nothing new in the swamp, especially with the amount of wildlife out here, but this was something i had never seen before negative cap. This gator is a giant and it's been ripped apart, ripped apart by what she sounded surprised couldn't say i blamed her beats the crap out of me. I said i still couldn't tell whether it had been torn apart by claws or teeth. The head had been ripped, though the skin was stretched and the bones were sticking out and jagged pikes, i'm getting the hell out of here before it comes back, though you think one of the bears might have done it. Old methuselah has been a bit more crotchety than usual. Lately. Methuselah was a black bear that had been tagged in the swamp back in the late 80s. He was the oldest bear. We had on record out here and was somewhat of a local celebrity. He mostly kept to himself and seemed to get along with most of the gators in the swamp, usually swimming along beside them. Most of the time no way methuselah could have done this. I said back into the radio i'm heading back to the office no head over to the cabin. If there's something big out there, i don't want you out in the open at night head in and wait until it's light out we'll come get you f. I hated the old cabins. We had a few spreads out throughout the swamp because of how large it was mostly. They were used as ranger outposts now, but they started out as little hunting cabins back in the early 1900s. They were small and up on huge stilts to keep them out of the water plus to make sure the black bears didn't wander into them and make a nice little home. I headed over to the nearest one about a 20-minute ride in the boat. The whole way over. I was going over what in the world could have torn that gator apart, usually they're, pretty docile, there's plenty of food for them out here, so one wouldn't have any reason to attack a bear for food and a bear is the only thing out here, big enough To have done that the only ones out here are black bears anyway and they're more likely to run than fight. I coasted up to the cabin and stopped the boat fan, pulling it toward the nearest stilt and tying it down with the sound of the fan, not overtaking my hearing, i started to notice just how quiet it was. Usually there were cicadas frogs, crickets and all kinds of other wildlife making noise all over the swamp. Now i didn't even hear the usual owls in the trees. It was like everything had run away. Once everything was tied down. I grabbed onto the ladder and started the climb up into the cabin. I pushed open the small trap door and pulled myself into the cabin it smelled like mildew and dirt, but at least it was a safe place to sleep out of reach of any dangerous animals. I looked around the cabin until i finally found the generator in the corner. Luckily we have someone come out to these once a month and replace all the gas and make sure nothing has chewed through the wiring. I would actually have light and some air conditioning so tonight wouldn't be too bad. That'S when i realized the gas canister was mostly empty. They must have forgotten to hit this one. Last month, i still have a supply of batteries down in the boat and we keep some small lanterns around, but it wouldn't be nearly as good as having all the lights on the cabin i looked out the window into the swamp. There was a bright light coming from about 50 feet away. It looked too bright to be one of the swamplights, hey captain, i said into my radio. You got somebody coming out to me right now. You and i are the only ones out here tonight. She said back ain't. Nobody coming out there until sun comes up more light, started to pop up near the first one they were spaced out, but all just as bright there's lights out there captain i think, they're moving toward me. I tried to hide the shakiness in my voice. The lights were getting closer. Just hang tight. Try to get some solar radio cut out with a high pitched burst of static cap cap. Can you hear me it was useless. The only thing coming through was a low buzz of static. I'M gone. I looked at my watch. It was only 11 19 pm. I had at least eight hours before someone would be out here. The scream started a few minutes later. It sounded like a child. The screams when a kid falls and scrapes their knee and don't know what to do about it. They were anguished. They were coming from the direction of the lights f. This i said to myself: i'm not sticking around for this crap. I grabbed a lantern and the flare gun off the wall and pulled up the trapdoor to get onto the ladder i practically jumped down to the boat and started to unite it from the stilts i reached down to the engine to pull the cord. It was gone. The pull cord had been cut off. There was no way to get the fan going. I'M stuck here. The screams grew louder and i turned to see the lights only a few feet away. I hightailed my ass up the ladder. I could hear something ripping at the boat behind me as i close the trapdoor. I heard the splinter of on of the stilts and felt the cabin sway. I'Ve got my cell phone and my signal comes and goes i'm going to try and keep updates going. As i can, i've got every lamp in the cabin on and i'm sitting in a corner as far away from any of the windows as i can get, the screaming has stopped, but i can see the glow of the lights coming in through one of the windows. If you're reading this send help part two, according to the clock and calendar, we keep in the cabin i've been here for two days, not that i would be able to tell seeing as the sun hasn't come out this entire time. It'S been dark, since i got here that night. The only light i've seen is from those goddamn swamp lights out there and they've been coming and going as they please. I still don't know what they are, but i know there's something else out there with them. I'Ve been trying to sleep since i've been here not like. I have the ability to do much else. The boat is trashed, one of the stilts of the cabin is splintered and i sure, as hell, can't swim out of here. I was looking out the window last night between naps and saw something moving between the lights that were out there. It was big at least the size of a suv it around the perimeter around the cabin walking on four legs. It wasn't a bear. I knew that we didn't have any bears that size in the swamp. I hope to whatever gods are listening, that it isn't a gator. I can't get too good of a look at it with how it's weaving in between the swamp lights, but i saw it knock over a tree on its way through. So here we are two days stuck in this hole of a cabin surrounded by floating lights, that scream and whatever biological nightmare shambling around out there. I know some people asked why i didn't call the captain using my cell. You really think i didn't try that i just get a busy signal. I'Ve tried sending out texts and messages too, but they all just show read. I haven't gotten anything back. I really hope someone can tell the captain that i'm out here, if they ask i'm in the section 14 to 18 cabin out near the gator bog holy ass, it hit me if i'm near the gator bog, then there's a boardwalk not too far from here. Maybe a mile or two that will lead me directly out to the swamp entrance and the head office. I looked around the cabin and found the map that we keep of the entire swamp with all of our trails and stations marked okay, i'm in sector 14 and the boardwalk is a mile and a half southwest of me right over the florida border. I'M going to have to try to sneak out of here, though maybe i can make a paddle for the boat that way i don't have to swim. I looked around the cabin taking inventory of what i have available. There are some battery packs, a set of radios, a flare gun and the emergency rifle with 20 rounds of ammo, plus the lantern, and a couple of flashlights with glow sticks as backup. I think, there's a back up or in the fan boat. But i'll need to check to be sure. The other thing i'll have to do is distract the lights and whatever that thing is in there, i may need to use either a flare or a few of the rounds of ammo. I don't think bullets will hurt the lights, though i thought it over for a few minutes. This was going to take some trial and error before i go anywhere and i've seen what those things out there can do to the cabin. So they could break me in half no problem i'll load up a flare and see what that does. I have six flares total, so one shouldn't be an issue. I loaded it up, stood at the window and took aim at the nearest light. The flare shot off the red light, almost blinding me before it landed. I saw it pass through the light. The light changed. It had a face now, gaunt with hollow black eyes. Sharp teeth showed from the twisted maw, almost as if it was screaming in terror. I heard a roar of anger from it and it shot toward the cabin howling. I pulled the shutter trying to close the window before it got here, desperately hoping that would keep it out it banged against the side of the cabin, and i could hear claws scraping against the wood. At least i finally had an answer to their state. They were solid, so maybe bullets could hurt them. Okay, i think i'm ready there's a small propane tank under the camp stove in the corner. I can rig that to a flare, throw it out there and shoot it as a distraction. Then i jump down from the trapdoor land in the boat and row. My way out of here i'm going to wait for a while and observe that swamp light i shot. It is still howling outside. That'S a sound, i'm never going to forget it's! It'S like a child screaming but warped as if it's being put through an echo and drawn out god. I hope i make it out of this hell hole the radio suddenly let out a burst of static. I could hear a voice coming through cason cason. Are you out there holy s? It was the captain cap. Can you hear me i'm here, i'm in the section 14 cabin, i shouted back into it. The howling outside got louder the clawing at the wall more furious case, and we searched the cabin you weren't there. Where the hell are you, what does she mean? I'Ve been here for two days they had to have seen my boat down there. Look. We found your boat back near that torn up gator just stay where you are we'll find you captain, i'm in the cabin i haven't left the damn cabin. I shouted back. I was panicking now. If they couldn't find me. What hope did i have? I think leaving is my only hope. I need to get the hell out of here and at least get back to the main office from there. I can at least been a little more safe behind some cinderblock walls. Instead of this old rickety cabin, i have to go through with my plan. I'M writing all this into my phone and setting it up to go out automatically. When i have signal again, if i don't make it, hopefully somebody can read this and find my body. I still don't know what the giant creature is out there, but i assume it's what tore up that gator the other night i'll, try and update again, if i can make it out of here god, please, let me make it out of here. I climbed the stairs in the forest and still regret it. Thirteen years ago i went mute and i am finally able to talk about what happened from a young age. I was an extroverted and a stubborn girl, although i always listened to my parents, but that time at 12 years i felt rebellious my neighborhood held a girl scout camp every year. My parents didn't allow me to go, but this time i felt old enough, which was my first mistake me and kelly, my best friend begged our parents, but they refused because they are responsible adults who cared about us, but to us 12 year olds they seemed like Monsters so i made a plan. We told our parents that we are going to katie's house for a sleepover. They talked to katie's parents and we did stay at katie's for approximately 12 minutes and then we left for our epic camping trip, kelly decided on the place. Lutenburg woods - and that was our second mistake kelly and i have been best friends ever since we were little recently. It was her birthday and i gifted her a unicorn bracelet which she never took off. Our neighborhood is surrounded by woods. The girl scout camp took place in the eastern part of westeria forest, so we were quite far away. We didn't really have any camping gear, just two pillows a blanket, a small barbie tent, a flashlight and some snacks enough for a day. We rode our cycles from katie's to the woods. At first everything seemed nice, we heard birds, chirping and cars go by, the weather was nice and warm. We saw squirrels and rabbits jumping around, but as we went on, the forest grew thicker. We were tired of running around, so we sat under a dark shaded tree. We ate our snacks and i tried to scare kelly, but what will happen next terrifies me to the core as we started, walking down the wrecked trail again, we couldn't hear or see any animals. The only sounds we could hear were of the rustling of the leaves. There was an eerie presence in the woods. I felt uncomfortable and suffocated, and then there was a sudden cloud burst. It felt, like the whole woods were closing in on us an ominous feeling wrapped around me. The trees looked like tall intimidating creatures, the peel of thunder startled us and both of us ran for shelter in a state of panic. I realized that kelly was missing. Fog surrounded me, so i couldn't see anything, but i could feel she wasn't here after i calmed down. I investigated my surroundings and scouted for kelly. As i said before, where i live was quite warm, but here it felt like it dropped about 10 degrees anyway, while walking down the path, i noticed something it was iron. As far as i know that wasn't natural, why would there be human-made stuff so deep in the forest i walked closer to it and in betwixt of the fog i saw an iron staircase. It seemed new, polished and untouched by nature, almost as though time had stopped for it. It seemed like someone had cut the stairs from a house and put them here. I was so mesmerized by them that it didn't even register to me that all the sounds were blocked off. At this point i could hear nothing but my own breathe. Looking at the stairs, i felt an unexplained morbid feeling to climb up them. At that time. I felt like it was a must to climb. I had no choice, so i did. I started climbing them with each step. I felt disconnected from reality. Nothing mattered. Eventually. I couldn't even hear my own breathe or was i not breathing? You may think that creepy sounds and screams are scary, but no silence dead silence is the most terrifying thing that could destroy a person. This type of silence will make your skin crawl and make you want to rip your ears out. There was only the final step left between me and whatever lies beyond the last thing that i could recollect was feeling a push. That'S it i fell and lost consciousness. When i woke up, it was still pouring even heavier than before. After i made sense of what was happening i felt like being watched, then i heard my name rebecca in a low, distorted voice. It didn't sound human. I got up and looked around and saw the thing that haunts my dreams. Every last thread of hope was shredded by this deep despair. What i saw was a thing so horrifying that i can't even begin to describe it. It was tall and had two dark holes for eyes, a huge distorted, grin which stretched from one side to the other. It had huge limbs with sharp claws covered with disgusting blood. I was petrified looking at it, it continued to say my name in a now childlike voice. It began to walk towards me repeating my name in the same disturbing voice in a state of panic. I searched for a weapon and my eyes landed on a piece of wood. Without thinking i swung the piece of wood hitting it until it was a bloody mess. After i realized what i had done, i ran away i kept running and running in my attempt at escaping that demon. I barely noticed the sounds of the woods, panting and gasping for air. I finally made it out and dashed to my home away from the deathly forest i broke in and started crying hysterically kelly's parents. The atoms were also there talking with my parents, all of them shared the look of despair on their faces. There were cookies on the coffee table which were untouched. My once sugar-loving parents were now anxiously making phone calls. My angsty teenage brother was actually out of his room and nervously listening to the conversation kelly's mom, mrs adams, who once was a fashion, diva and always wore makeup, was rough and sobbing, and even mr adams, the most cheerful person i knew, was on the verge of Tears when their eyes met mine, they were completely taken. Aback mom, threw everything, including the expensive new cell phone and ran towards me. They hugged me so tightly that it was hard to breathe all my anxiety, faded away when my mom brushed the dirt off my face. For a second, everything was roses and butterflies. Until i saw the look on mr and mrs adams faces, i could feel hope blossoming in their hearts. Their hope was like a beautiful stained glass window, which was shattered by the despairing news of the absence of their daughter. When they questioned me about kelly, my silence gave them the answer. I could see the color drain out of their faces. The forest rangers searched the entire forest until they came across a battered mess which dna confirmed to be kelly. It seemed she was beaten repeatedly. With a blunt object. She seemed like an unrecognized pile of flesh kelly, who once was a high-spirited girl obsessed with unicorns and nature, was now a part of the soil we identified her because of the bracelet i gifted her, which was also covered with blood nearby. They found a piece of wood covered with the blood of kelly, which was likely the murder weapon. There was no trace of fingerprints footprints or any other evidence due to the torrential rain giving an upper hand to the culprit. Now, even after 13 years, they couldn't identify the perpetrator of this crime. I'Ve told this traumatic tale to many, but there's one detail. I always fail to mention. After hitting the monster, my eyes laid upon the lifeless body of my best friend, kelly adams, i'm the son of an army ranger, i'm also the army's greatest mistake. I always had a good relationship with my father. He was an army veteran and i would love it when he recounted war stories about his time in the jungles of vietnam or the deserts of kuwait. He would always tell me one before bed about his time as an army ranger when he led his team to liberate villages, negotiate hostages and crush rival troops. He was my hero when i grew older. I already knew that i wanted to go into the army. I ate to fight terror and be as much of a hero, as my dad was. I had trained for years to be in pristine shape. When i turned 18., i put in all the effort my dad did to achieve his level of prominence, night blindness, the inability to see and dim light or at night. So i couldn't see as well in the dark. I was ready, but the army decided that i wasn't and with that my lifelong dream, along with the work i put into it, was crushed. I was just about to walk out the door when i felt a tap on my soldier. I spun around to find an army ranger standing in front of me. The ranger looked down on me, an impressive feat for a six feet: seven inches guy, like myself, he had a solid but weathered face and a graying five o'clock shadow showing to be the only visible hair on his head. He had to be in his late 50s to early 60s, but his eyes showed otherwise a hawks eyes burned holes into my own. As i stared up at the man. Could you come back with me? Mister the ranger stopped for a second to check the forms i had filled out at the start of the examination before barking out ferguson. I followed him to one of the back rooms of the facility where i sat facing him and a young asian man in a white lab coat labeled dr andrew lee, the doctor stared at me and spoke so, mr ferguson, walter is fine. I interjected he looked at me almost non-amused and repeated so walter. We see that you are in pristine shape to serve our military. However, it appears that you suffer from extreme nictilopia which forced us to not be able to accept you into the nation's military. There is, however, another option. I looked at him now intrigued. What is it dr lee answered? The army is looking for ways to helpfully increase the performance of soldiers. You would make for the perfect test subject. Would you be willing to join it for a second? I hesitated, i thought that maybe i shouldn't do this - that i should just walk out of this building become an engineer, get married and forget about being in the army, but my father's face flashed into my mind, and i knew that there was only one answer. Of course, sir, it would be another three months before i was flown out to an undisclosed military base in the middle of the wilderness. I know that said base in the u.s, but i could not begin to tell you which state it was in as soon as we arrived, i was strapped to a gurney and wheeled to a room that looked exactly like any other hospital room. Minus a window understand that by hospital room i mean horror movie hospital room, the ones where the light is always on. Yet it always seems too dark where the white walls always seem gray and the room's door doubled as a heavy-duty locking system. It was safe to say that i was immediately regretting my decision as the door was locked behind us, dr lee, reached into his medical card and revealed a syringe filled with from what i can guess. 1 000 milliliters of a clear liquid, as i strained my eyes to look at it. I noticed the word prodige 3 written on the side of it. The doctor inserted the needle into the crook of my left arm before unstrapping me and leaving everything felt fine at first, but my body started aching about half an hour after i was administered the drug. It honestly felt, like my body, was fighting a war on itself. It felt foreign, yet it felt natural. At the same time, my arms felt too long, but too short my legs felt like they were growing stronger than ever, but they are feeling as weak as cooked pasta. At the same time, my entire body just felt right and wrong in every way possible. That is the only thing that can give justice to what i experienced after i was given a meal. I prayed my dad was not only an army veteran, but he was also a deeply devoted christian. My faith is another part of him that rubbed off on me that night, i prayed for the sick and the elderly, but i prayed for answers too answers to this experiment. For example, what was the point? What was happening to me? Why no answers came? The same thing happened. The next day, wake up get injected with protege 3 eat, relax, pray fall asleep, my schedule may have been common, but the side effects of the medication were not all that was happening to me was that i was getting taller and stronger, but it just felt wrong. I understand that my body was changing, but it wasn't changing the way it felt like it was changing the way it felt it was horrendous. Like my molecules were individually splitting apart, i have no idea how long passed before the cut it seemed like a normal day until i noticed that the medical cart was bulkier than i remembered. I watched him reach on the card and pull out a wolf skull and a knife. I was suddenly afraid i thrashed in the restraints as he moved the knife closer to my head. I passed out right before the knife touched me. I woke up alone. The only comfort i had was my dinner. I raised the navy bean soup to my lips to notice that they're further forward than normal. I lifted the metal spoon to my face something unnatural stared back at me. It had a lupine snout with skin stretched over its elongated maw and a pair of 16-point antlers sticking out of its head. It looked terrifying, but one factor made it much more horrifying than the monster itself. That monster was me. It was then that i prayed harder than i had ever prayed. I asked god why why do i suffer while sinners are relieved? Why is this the path i am told to take? Why does humanity see me as the monster instead of the monster wearing a white lab coat? I was lamenting in my thoughts when the lights went out a couple of subjects from a neighboring plant. Three teenage boys named erebus a and sleddog, had escaped and cut power to their facility and the surrounding facilities with this all doors were unlocked. As soon as i realized this i burst through the now open door. I ran blindly due to night blindness trying to escape. I somehow reached the front doors and fled, not knowing where i was going until bright. Light shone ahead of me. The van stopped as soon as i scrambled out onto the road that moment was one of the most terrifying moments in my life. I thought they'd turn tail and start running sliding so wildly that they slam into a tree. Instead, a young boy with wavy dirty blonde hair and an almost square face walked out of the back. Despite the urgency that could be noticed on his face, he seemed confident which was surprising, acknowledging my freakish face and the fact that he was barely scraping six feet tall come on. He says in a deep voice. I can only stand in shock that he'd talk to me. We can help you just get in the back. He yelled back at me. That was all it took for me to clamber into the back of the truck first off. Can you talk the boy asked inquisitively? I answered a curt yes in reply. Next, do you have a name in which i again tersely responded walter, the feelings that were suppressed for, however long came flooding out? I tried to stop it, but i could still feel tears leaking out of my fiendish eyes. The boy asked me if i was all right in which i laid every bit of information. I knew upon him my rejection from the army, my flight out here, the laborious months, prodig 3, the cut everything he looked at me sympathetically, taking notes and absorbing information. Proverbs. 12 10 inches are the only words that the boy said after everything. What i answered bewildered proverbs 12 10. Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel in god's eyes, you're no more an outcast than the football quarterback or a common housefly, and there will always be those that see it. You may never return to normal, but you are as much of a person as anyone else in our care. You just need to learn to see that the boy stated. I looked at that kid and i felt a sense of relief wash over me. The truck slowed to a stop and i could only assume that we reached our destination. The boy went to exit the back, but i hurriedly called out wait. What is your name? He turned back to me and replied. My name is nick, but everyone here calls me nightwalker with that. He jumped out of the van and made his way towards some unseen destination. I stepped out and gazed up at the night sky for the first time in what seemed like eons i stared up at the heavens and asked for forgiveness for my rage earlier. I then turned around and walked towards the large white fortress. I am the son of an army ranger. I am the army's greatest mistake, but i am not a monster as there are no monsters in god's eyes, john gann's, home away from home is the woods specifically it's the woods of mission. Tejas state park 21 miles northeast of crockett texas. He works as a park ranger taking church groups and school trips through the forest, showing them the woods he so dearly loves. He also shows them relics from the local caddo indians that used to live there, as well as pioneers who settled a couple of miles away. At the rice house back home. He has a wife who is retired and his best friends. He loves his wife and friends, but the park was like that friend that you never really talked to, but you got to know him and enjoy his company. He was at peace with the local wildlife which he had know all his life on breaks.