A Collection of Scary Stories, Rituals, and Urban Legends

☽ | A Strange Night in the Woods

note: this is a personal story that my mom shared with me, i asked her to write it down so i could publish it here and share with you :) credit to my momma!

   When I was eight years old we were camping in the Hood River area. The year was June 1974. I'm not sure where we were, but it was a ten mile drive into the wilderness.  My family were migrant workers, and we were in between jobs.  My Dad liked to camp as far away from civilization as he could.  He felt it was safer for us.  The road we traveled was full of danger.  From other transients to wild animals where we stayed.  We traveled around a green Datsun pick up with a camper on the back.  Just me, my brother, Mom and Dad.  We would sleep at night inside the camper.  There was a plywood board with a mattress on top for my parents and my brother and I would sleep in separate sleeping bags in the middle section on the floor.

    The valley we were in was beautiful.  There were large white cliffs that came down to the river just across from us.  The bank was full of white gravel and the river was a beautiful blue.  It was a ritual before we made any camp that my Mother would walk about half a mile around us looking for bear sign.  On this particular trip she was showing me what to look for. High up in the tree there would be claw marks where a bear was taking his territory or scat on the ground.  She would also make sure there were no berry bushes near that would be their feeding ground.  She would look closely at all fallen trees to make sure there were no signs it was torn open by claws.  My mother was three quarters Indian, and was fluent in what to look for in nature.  From herbs to what was good for dinner. 

    We both scouted the normal range and did not see anything that looked like it was related to bear sign so we were good to stay for awhile.  We made camp and settled in for the night.  Each of us kids had to take a bath in the cold river water, but it was warm enough outside to be pleasant. Our evening went well with us making dinner.  Nothing too special just what could be heated up by an open fire.  I enjoyed the soda pop we had, because it was really cold from being in the river.  Us kids had soda pop too, and I always loved how cold it got in the stream.

   There was always a ritual about getting ready to go to sleep.  We would get camp "bugout" ready.  The fire would be put out, all our things would be packed away in the camper.  Including our garbage, which was put in the front of the camper in a special shelf. The truck would be parked with the camper facing the water and the front of the car ready to head out. All the doors were locked.  The camper door and the truck cab doors.  My Father was always careful like that. We usually liked to sleep outside, but for some reason I didn't want to. I didn't want to say anything, but I'd had a prickly feeling all evening. Mom must have known something was up, because she backed me by saying it would be really cold later on.  As a little backstory I was prone to having strange "feelings" when danger was near.  I'd had it most of my childhood, and my Mom just said children were more susceptible to that kind of thing.   So we all decided to stay inside the camper.  Later we would be glad we did.

     My Father always slept on the front side of the mattress in case he had to go outside quickly to defend us.  After we had all settled in and were sound asleep I woke with a start.  I could feel danger around us, and was just going to turn to my Dad, when I felt his hand on my shoulder.  I looked up at him and he put his finger to his lips in the classic "be silent" gesture.  I moved my head back to my pillow and stayed still. Fear making me forget to breath.  I could tell by my brother's breathing that he was awake as well.  That's when I noticed the smell.  It's a scent I had never smelled before, and have never smelled since.  It smelled like musky garbage that has been left out in the sun too long.  Even that is not a true description.  It was just horrible. I listened intently, and  could faintly hear movement around the outside of the camper.  It was hard to tell over the thundering of my heart.  I may have been still, but I was scared.

    Above me I felt as my parents move.  My Dad moved over my Mom and was trying to quietly open the camper window and the truck window so he could slide into the truck cab.  He suddenly stopped when he saw something peering into the window of the cab.  I heard him say a quiet "Jesus" under his breath.  After a few minutes I heard faint rustling noise move around the left side of the camper.  That's when my Dad started moving again. 

   Suddenly the thing let out a eardrum shattering roar.  It was the loudest thing I had ever heard.  It didn't sound like a bear's roar, but deeper and angry. As it roared it started shaking the camper on the left side.   That spurred my Dad on and he was through the window, in the front seat of the cab, had the pickup fired up, lights on and moving in a matter of minutes. I heard footsteps following along behind us as my Dad floored it and we tore out of that area like the hounds of hell were on our heels. He didn't stop until we were back on the black top, and headed into town.  We stayed the rest of the night in a local park. Dad parked right under the street lamp in the parking lot. When he got back in the camper he was pale and shaking.  Which was odd for my father.  He was used to staring down all kinds of danger, so for him to be that shaken...scared me all over again.

    Later they discussed what happened when they thought us kids were asleep.  Dad had never seen a creature like that before. It wasn't a bear, because it walked on two legs and the head had appeared...well...not like a bear. There was no snout like a bear, and the face had seemed scrunched in.  Plus it was huge.  Tall and broad shouldered and covered in long hair.  It took them a long time to settle  down and go to sleep.  As it turned out I wouldn't sleep until morning.  I started at every little sound outside the camper.  The event stayed with me for a long time. 

    Needless to say we never went back to that area again. As far as I know, that area is blocked off to any campers to this day.