The Campfire
Reader Stories
True Tales and Commentary From Our Odd Subscriber Family
This was weird.
In the early 2000’s, my friends and I were hiking at Bear Mountain State Park in NY. One of us came up with the brilliant idea that if we went off-trail and straight up the mountain, we would save some time and see some things that nobody ever does. He was right… About halfway up the mountain, we encountered three men arguing, standing around a metal industrial barrel. They were not dressed in Ranger or hiking gear; in fact, they all had dress shoes and one had a blazer on! Startled at seeing us, they got quiet and just stared at us as we moved past them. It felt very unnerving and we kept looking behind to make sure that they were not following us!
We reported the incident to a Ranger later, and she scolded us for leaving the trail and then dismissed us.
F6016 in FL
About 12 years ago I was hiking with my family on a popular trail, Ravens Cliffs Falls, in NE GA. It was a weekday and off-season, so we had this gorgeous trail mostly to ourselves. As we were heading back, a mile or so from the parking lot, the forest got noticeably quiet, and we started smelling a pervasive, terrible, almost musty smell. We quickened our pace in hopes of getting through it, but I had the strange feeling that we were being watched. The smell subsided and the forest sounds came back. My wife was worried that we may have been close to a bear, but I suspected something a little more… “Squatchy”.
Definitely Not REI Shoppers...
Tom in GA
Smells... Squatchy
In the early 1980’s I lived in the Hudson Valley.
For a time we were seeing lights in the sky on a semi-regular basis, which became widely known as the Hudson Vally UFO Incident. These were allegedly debunked, with authorities saying that it was stunt pilots out of Stormville Airport flying Cessnas with blacked-out wings and lights. However, I know what a Cessna sounds like and these had no sound (not to mention that no photos of those planes or names of the pilots have been recorded). Furthermore, one night I went out to check on my barking dog and saw, right above me, a large cigar shaped craft with several glowing lights on one side hovering a few hundred feet above my backyard! I froze in terror and watched as it slowly moved away. I ran into my house to tell my parents, and when they went outside, it was gone.
TF709 in NY
That Ain't No Cessna
I just saw the trailer for Godzilla Minus Zero. Damn! Minus One was such a great movie, I can’t wait to see this one!
3 Months Until the BIG GUY Returns!
TC in NY
Tom in FL
A Dreadful Connection
Several years ago, I was on a business trip in Charleston SC. It was early evening and I was walking down to meet my colleagues at a waterfront restaurant, I was by myself and just enjoying the walk. I turned down a cobblestone street and within moments, I had an all encompassing feeling of sorrow and dread. It was as if someone threw a heavy emotional blanket over me. Still feeling this way, I felt compelled to look to my left and saw that I was walking past the old slave mart. As I kept walking and the feeling left me, as if that blanket was attached to the building and slowly pulled off of me. As I moved onto the next block, it was gone altogether, except for a lingering feeling that I had established a connection with something.
This happened a second time.
I had some business in Montgomery AL. My meeting was in the afternoon, and I was staying downtown, so I go up early to take a jog. While running through Riverfront Park, the same exact feeling came over me, so much so that I had to stop and walk. As I walked I came upon a sign that described the slave trade route through Montgomery, and the current park sits on one of the areas where slaves were taken in chains from river boats up to the city to be warehoused and auctioned. I pushed through the feeling and started jogging again, and as I moved out from the park, the feeling left me.
Curious, I went back to the park that evening, and I did not get that feeling back.
I've visited other places connected with slavery but I have only had that horrible feeling twice. I don't ever want to feel it again.
Zorros99
GFan87
Rock Apes!
I have a buddy, who has since passed, that was a Navy Seal in Vietnam. Like most veterans, he didn't talk much about the war, but one night, while we were having some drinks at a bar in Ft. Lauderdale, he told me a story about Rock Apes.
I had heard of Rock Apes before, my Dad was also a Vietnam vet, but I didn't know much about them. I heard that they were sort of like a Vietnamese Bigfoot and they were called Rock Apes because they threw rocks at our guys from deep in the woods and were seldom seen.
Now, my buddy told me that they had been on patrol earlier that day and been assaulted with rocks from these things. Mostly harmless but it pissed them off. That evening he was on guard duty (I don't know if there is a technical term for that) and he saw a Rock Ape walking along the ridgeline several hundred yards away. This was late in the war, when morale wasn't exactly sky-high and discipline in general, even for his team, was a little loose. He aimed his rifle and opened fire...
What followed was comedic, and I don't want to stray too far from the story, but long story short, his shots startled someone and within minutes his entire fire base (again, not sure if that is the right term) opened up on this Rock Ape, including artillery!
Later they went out on patrol looking for a body count. They found nothing. Not a body part, not a hair, no evidence of any living creature.
DDiver94
Our Ghost Did Not Like Our China
Gifts from Leif Erikson
I grew up in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn, NY. My family was not exactly wealthy, with ELEVEN of us living in a two bedroom 1 bathroom apartment over a small business on 69th street, a few blocks from the railroad tracks. In retrospect, I don't think I ever slept alone until I joined the Marine Corps!
With money being scarce, I took it seriously when I kept having visions of money being buried in front of the Leif Eriksson memorial, at the Leif Eriksson park not too far away. I told my older sister, Barbara about it over and over until one day she broke down and took me there, likely just to get me off of her back.
We approached the monument and I pointed to the ground, "There." We looked around to make sure nobody was watching and then began pulling back the grass near the base. And there is was! It wasn't a whole lot, but it was a handful of change! We were both astonished! As we started back I saw a tree and something inside me said to look there as well. Barbara, a little more convinced of my "psychic abilities", agreed to try it. "Right there", I pointed. "Whaaattt?!" We found more change under that grass as well!
"Anymore?' she asked. I didn't feel there was anymore so we went back home with a good amount of change. This was the early 1950's... we thought we were rich!
That was the first time I felt as though I had a guardian angel watching over me. It wasn't the last.
MarineCop43
We always suspected that we had a ghost in our house.
From time to time, things were moved or went missing. Sometimes we heard footsteps in our attic or noises from another empty room. Many times we felt like there was somebody in the room with us when we were all alone in our little 1950s house, which was built by hand by the original owner.
Our ghost was generally mischievous, and we never felt as though it would bring any harm to us. It did, however, show its temper one time.
My husband and my brother were at the house alone, in our living room watching a movie on the VHS. Whether the movie was boring or they were tired they had both fallen asleep.
They awoke to a crash like they had never heard before! My entire collection of fine china, except for ONE piece, was laying in pieces where the floor met the wall in my kitchen! This was crazy in itself but when you find out that I kept my china in a cabinet ON THE OTHER SIDE of the kitchen, it was a bizarre mystery.
To make a strange story stranger, ONE piece of china was left in my cabinet, and my son's old flute, which, for some reason I stored on top of my china, was sitting exactly as it always had - untouched, on the last remaining plate!
It was decided not to ever watch that movie in our home again.
My3Sons
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